Chocolate tallcake

Chocolate tallcake
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

This was huge - and we all shared it. It was pretty good, cake was moist.

Salad bar and peach martini

Salad bar and peach martini
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

This was the first visit all of us made to Ruby Tuesdays. There was a salad bar, sort of like Ponderosa's - and it was pretty good (I didn't take a photo as there were tons of people taking food and I didn't want to freak them out)! With the cheddar broccoli soup and the salad, it was very filling. Peach martini was the martini of the day - and that cost $5.

Ruby Tuesday

Ruby Tuesday
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

K was flying back to Germany for a very quick trip home. She said she didn't want to put me out and so she got a ride with someone else. When she got there however, it turned out her plane was delayed and she wouldn't be able to take the next connection. After a lot of shifting around, she finally got another plane - but 6 hours later. Since she's only going for 5 days, she's wasting several hours. This was after she got locked out of her flat today too.

Simian and I went down and had dinner with her. Thanks to the GPS, we found a nearby Ruby Tuesdays and then she went back to the airport to catch her flight.

Trees at sunset

Trees at sunset
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

The most beautiful time of day - sunset :)

Golden trees

Golden trees
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

The trees are starting to turn gold. It even snowed in parts of Maryland two days ago - snow in October is pretty much unheard of! I'm glad to have forecasts of a sunny weekend!

Side of house

Side of house
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I kind of liked the privacy that the trees growing next to the house gave, but they were leaning on the windows and the house and that wasn't good. The area is now much more cleared out - no more secret garden! Also on the plus side I have a gorgeus view across the field now.

Hedges trimmed

Hedges trimmed
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

The hedges now also have been shaped instead of being one huge bush.

Front of house

Front of house
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

We finally had some sun (yay!) after quite a few gloomy days. Here's a photo of the front of the house after the hedges have been trimmed and tidied. There was also apparently supposed to be an area for you to walk into the garden from the path - and the obstructing plants were all weeds.

Santoni's

Santoni's
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Santoni's was also on the same premises. They had some groceries and fruit, but it seemed their strong suit is cooked food. You could literally never cook another meal again and just pop in for deli food.

Woolstock Yarn Shop

Woolstock Yarn Shop
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I had to go drop off some mail at the post office and drop by the local UPS so I found a cluster of shops about 5 miles away. They had this shop, Woolstock. The shop isn't gigantic but it is stuffed full of yarn! It also seems to be run by a bunch of people who just happen to really like to knit. One of them asked if I needed help. I said I was there to find out if they had wool that Mom wanted. Mom, they have a website and their washable 100% wool starts at around $10.95. That's for 20 yards. She also said to call or email if you have any questions as not their entire catalogue is online.

Beer bread and lentil soup

Beer bread and lentil soup
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I made lentil soup and beer bread for dinner. It was pretty good - the soup called for squash, but I had cauliflower I wanted to use up and it was just as hearty.

It was very windy today. I went running early in the day to avoid the worse of the wind because of the wind advisory. I was all wrapped up warm and was all nice and toasty. However I've never run in wind that bad, and at one point I was almost stationery, then I realised once the gust had passed that my legs were pumping pretty hard after all!

Fall fruit crumble

Fall fruit crumble
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I made a fall fruit crumble from the latest Gourmet magazine. Lovely - I used the apples and pears I bought from the farm yesterday and the cranberry which came in a huge pack.

Squash and pumpkin

Squash and pumpkin
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Now I know why Linus in Charlie Brown talks about the Giant Pumpkin rising from the field :)

Troll booth

Troll booth
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

On the farm, there was a troll booth which was pretty funny.

Tractor Ride

Tractor Ride
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Simian and I went for lunch at 5 Guys and then went to do a bit of grocery shopping. We decided to stop by Baughers to get some fruit. Here's the tractor ride - you can go out on the tractor and pick apples but we just wanted to go and buy some fruit. They even have Chinese pears.

Jade

Jade
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

It's M's birthday on Monday so Simian and G went home first to prepare the house while P and I walked around some more with M and then went to have a cup of hot chocolate with her.

When we got home, M was surprised - Jade was there as a guest. It's been a while since we saw her and she's grown again.

Armour Fish

Armour Fish
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

We saw this lovely piece as we were leaving. The artist was apprently inspired by coats of armour.

Horse head

Horse head
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Another lovely piece.

Goose

Goose
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I love this relief. Apparently, Egyptian mythology speaks of the great goose that lay the egg that gave birth to the world.

Fibulae

Clasps
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

These little clasps helped to fasten clothes and garments in medieval times.

Iris brooch

Iris brooch
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

This in an early 20th century brooch shaped obviously like an iris. There were some beautiful pieces from Tiffany's.

Kingfisher ornament

Kingfisher ornament
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

The Walters Art Gallery is having a special exhibition on 5000 years of jewellery. This piece was made of kingfisher feathers.

G & M's friend P also came with us. He's visiting from out of town.

Lentil soup

Lentil soup
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Vegetarian soup - my favourite !

Foole M'damas

Medames
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

We also shared a foole m'damas - fava beans in olive oil and lemon, which tasted not as great as I expected it to.

Mezze Platter

Mezze Platter
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Simian and I shared a mezze platter. They also had pita bread and lovely dips - the chilli one you can see in the background was excellent.

Date and pine nut drink

Date and pine nut drink
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I had a date and pine nut drink which tasted a little like bandung for some reason.

Lebanese Taverna Menu

Lebanese Taverna Menu
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Simian and I met G and M for lunch at Lebanese Taverna on what was forecasted to be (and turned out to be) a wet day. It pretty much rained non-stop.

Club Charles

Club Charles
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

We went back to the lab where Simian had a bit of work to do, then K, W, Simian and I went to the Club Charles and then to the Depot where 80s night was on - my first time at both places. These were some of the Halloween decorations at the Club Charles. They weren't kidding about the music - there was a lot of Joy Division and New Order. W was playing Name that tune with me and he won hands down.

Tortellini

Tortellini
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

What else did Simian order but the tortellini. K had the gnocchi which was fantastic. As we were finishing, who should walk in but suntaneye and her husby? :)

Minestrone

Minestrone
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

For once, they had vegetarian soup at Tutti Gusti. I was very pleased!

Cheese Pizza

Cheese Pizza
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I had to go and have my arm checked to see if I had a positive reaction to the tuberculous test. Fortunately there was no reaction (I suspect it was because the needle didn't quite go in as the lady doing the test said. She said it would be enough to show a reaction though if there was one).

Then I went to Simian's lab and caught up with some friends, before we headed to Tutti Gusti with K, HJ and E. I don't understand how they make cheese pizza this good.

Fire down the road

Last night Simian worked late and when he got home, we saw fire trucks racing down past our house. It's pretty unusual to say the least, so we went to take a look - and it turned out the house two houses down was on fire. When I say two houses down, it really isn't all that close because there's space between each house and a road between the house burning and the house next to us. Simian went to see if he could help but the fire fighters were keeping people away.

Interestingly a fire truck can only carry 80 gallons of water I was told - and so they went to the pond just behind to fill up with water. The fire was put out but when I went jogging, I saw the windows were blackened and some had blown out.

The fire department is made up of volunteers - they just sent a fire raising appeal out and I had just written a cheque. Now it makes me even more inclined to give!

Fresh eggs

Fresh eggs
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

The chickens apparently lay a lot of eggs - so we got fresh eggs from R & G as the chickens apparently lay between 8 and 9 eggs every single day. Lovely. One of the chickens lays slightly green eggs!

Chickens

Chickens
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

At R and G's new home (which they moved into before selling us our present home), they have chickens again. G reared them from tiny chicks and they have a huge chicken run - this is just a small section. I've also never known that chickens can run that fast.

Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I baked a pecan pie and some muffins and went visiting today - I went to see R, who used to own our house and brought the pie over. I also went to the bank and to Petco - there are so many new toys!

I dropped in at Joann's to see if there was any wool Mom wanted and I think Mom would like it. It's similar to Spotlight.

On the way home, I dropped by to see A, but she was away. I said hi to her husband and father in law and then headed home.

Makeover

At the very least, if Sarah Palin doesn't become VP, she got a nice sparkling wardrobe out of it.

Vegetarian chilli

Vegetarian chilli
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Yesterday was quiet - or rather it was very windy out though sunny, so I spent the day in.

Today I went to the doctor for my green card check up - I brought along all my Singapore vaccinations, but unfortunately I didn't have a certificate for chicken pox, so I had to get that again. Also I got rubella but not mumps - and that's a three in one shot. I also got a tetanus jab and then went to get blood work done. As you can imagine that pretty much took the whole afternoon :)

Came home and made vegetarian chilli. Have to start wearing gloves when I jog because it's getting chilly!

Garden

Garden
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Here's my garden being cut down today - apparently it hadn't been manicured for years, and they're doing it now. It was amazing what the difference is from just a day's work. I'll take photos when it's all done to show the difference.

Hollywood Director Attack Ads

This is fantastic - especially the Wes Anderson one!

Appetisers

Appetisers
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

The appetisers were pretty yummy - not quite Raj though M!

Mulligatawny

Mulligatawny
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I had mulligatawny soup - wasn't bad but not the best I've had.

Mango Grove

Mango Grove
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I met Simian and K at Mango Grove for dinner.

Frost

Frost
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

There was a severe weather warning last night because of frost. We turned on the heat for the first time to make sure that the pipes didn't freeze as well.

Here's a photo off my video camera - Simian went hiking with K this morning at Old Rag and borrowed my camera as he can't find his charger. A bunch of people were supposed to go by couldn't make it in the end. I managed to get up at 6 but the thought of the cold drove me right back into bed. Simian's argument - you won't get to see Old Rag with its colour like this again - wasn't convincing enough. I saw it once, and it was good enough for me :) Also after a seven hour round trip hike the last time, when I lost my toenail, when I got to the top, it was highly anti-climatic. I was kind of like, I climbed so much for this??? It was the guilt angle that got me out of bed in the first place - it's K's birthday and I know Simian loves this mountain too, and if he had worked on that one, I probably would have gone :)

You can see the frost melting slowly in the photo and it's warming up. I love sun.

Cake

Cake
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

We also had three kinds of dessert, excluding the bizarre birthday cake that simian and I decorated. There was also cheesecake, homemade cardamom ice cream and pumpkin pie. Yum!

Dinner

Dinner
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

This was just some of the food at dinner. We had mushroom crepes, baked pumpkins, red beets, taco salad, bruschetta, cheese, bread, nachos, salsa and guacamole, some meat for the meatarians and Simian's 10x.

Dryer duct

Dryer duct
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Since there's less sun these days, and since it's colder (but dryer), we'll probably be using the dryer more. Simian thought it was a waste to let the heat channel out of the house so we bought a dryer duct to channel the heat (and some of the humidity) back into the house.

Costumes

Costumes
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Halloween is just around the corner - this is just a small section of the costumes they had.

Party City

Party City
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

We went to Party City to pick up some birthday supplies. The place is HUGE.

Birthday cake

Birthday cake
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

It's K's 30th birthday tomorrow and we're headed over to celebrate tonight. Here's the cake I baked, and which Simian helped to decorate. The smile is supposed to be lopsided deliberately according to Simian.

Corn fritters

Corn fritters
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I also made corn fritters from a recipe I cut out of the Straits Times a few weeks ago. They were very good.

Cauliflower soup

Cauliflower soup
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

M, your early Christmas present came at the best time. After a week of really nice, warm weather, the temperature plunged. We're expecting a freeze watch tomorrow night. It's about 6 degrees out now - fortunately the house is much warmer. We haven't turned the heat on yet but I think we'll need to tomorrow.

What do you do when it's cold? Make soup - and the immersion blender was awesome to use!

Garage workshop

Garage workshop
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Simian at work in the garage. He built the worktable and the shelves you can see in the picture too.

Lumber yard

Lumber yard
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

One of the aisles where you can buy lumber. Simian went and selected the good lumber.