Jon Stewart's speech at the Rally For Sanity.

Awesome - even if I did watch this at home :)

The Kiss Me guys

 

I dubbed these the Kiss Me guys - the guy on the extreme right holding the "Kiss Me, I'm a Muslim" sign actually had a girl go up and ask if she could kiss him. He agreed :)

What was interesting was how mixed the crowd was. Even though the Daily Show is supposed to be something watched by a lot of young people, there were a lot of older people there.

We trudged back slightly before the end of the rally so we could get in line to get on the Metro home. We waited another 40 minutes or so - only to have people cut in right at the station entrance. The group of people in front of us (with yet another really well behaved child) tried to call them out on it. One of the guys pointedly told them the queue was from the back. People either pretended they hadn't heard/ignored the rest of us/refused to make eye contact/or pretended they were in line for hot dogs. You just knew the fuzzy good feelings couldn't last :)

Simian took a video - and we'll upload some of it when he gets back from camping!

Crowd

 

See the stage? Don't worry - I didn't either (it's the tiny sliver you can see through the crowd in the upper right hand photo).

There were so many people there probably twittering/texting and surfing that everything went down. No one could text/twitter/etc. People came from all over - I had never seen so many different license plates in one place. The couple in front of us at the L'Enfant Metro station on the way back were from Norway and trying to catch a flight at 5 pm!

We're still waiting for crowd estimates but there were a LOT of people. All the food trucks were stripped bare and we could find nothing to eat!

More signs!

 

At the National Mall

 

We left the house at 10 am and finally made it to the Rally site at 2 pm - and of course we couldn't see anything. I didn't really expect we would. The atmosphere though was fantastic. People were walking around with all sorts of signs and I did hear R2D2 on stage (the rest of it was just muffly noise). The funny thing is I had to come home and watch Jon Stewart's speech - and will probably catch the rest of the rally online :)

Another fun fact - Simian said he had never smelt more weed even at a concert by one of the Grateful Dead members :)

Signs in the Parking Lot

 

The flip side of the "Let's Agree to Disagree" sign was "Hi Mom" :)

Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive

 

M - as promised, a blow by blow account!

Despite Simian's aversion to huge crowds (and I have to admit I'm not a fan either!), we went to the Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive.

This is the line outside Greenbelt Metro Station. Note this is not the same line taken from three different angles - this is the line as it inched along around the parking lot. Simian dropped me first so I could get us tickets to get on the Metro - and I stumbled across a parking space while looking for the end of the line so we got parking. Yay!

On the other hand, the Metro was woefully unprepared for this. It's not like they didn't know that there were going to be thousands taking the Metro. We waited 40 minutes in line (with the nice Indian couple who had come down from New Jersey, the friendly older couple behind us, and a young guy with his three year old who was perfectly behaved) only to find out as we reached the entrance that the line was for people paying cash. There was a separate line for people who had credit cards and wanted to use the machine. This was conveyed to us by a Metro official who gave us a very cryptic message. In the end, I went forward, and Simian stayed in the line till we confirmed that this was indeed the case.

A woman in the metro muttered that this was all a conspiracy to keep us from getting there!

Caramel Apples

 

We went to pick up my wedding ring from Annapolis today (it's back and bright and SHINY after polishing). On the way back to the car, we stopped to look at the lovely Caramel Apples but we didn't want to spoil our appetites so we had a divinity roll - still sinful but much smaller!

Fall

 

It's always amazing to me how gorgeous fall is - it rained for most of today and we had a tornado warning last night - but it brightened up for a little bit. Plus it's been surprisingly nice and warm - we're supposed to get cool weather this weekend.

I've seen the first juncos appear as well - a sure sign it's getting cooler.

Cauliflower and Parmesan cake and Apple pancake

 

I made a Cauliflower and Parmesan cake for dinner. I also made an apple pancake for dessert - it's not really a pancake at all, more a puffy cake. I daren't put my saucepan into the oven, so I just baked it in my pie dish and it seemed to turn out fine.

Ice !

Ice !
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Simian got up bright and early to go take his ham radio license yesterday. After studying for really the better part of half a day (he had an allergy earlier), he aced it! He's not waiting for his call sign.

He came to pick me up and then we went to get eggs and also some apples. We went to a new farm down in Westminster - they're usually all so much further from the main roads than I expect them to be.

We stopped by Salsarita's to try the place out. The woman behind the counter asked what we'd like and recommended a nacho combination, all the while telling Simian it was cheaper than Taco Bell (it really wasn't - but as Simian said, we certainly hope it's BETTER than Taco Bell). I thought of trying the taco salad, but she told me that was in the $7 region - I guess she thought we looked very broke! Food wasn't fantastic.

We went by the Cow - they opened a new outlet in Westminster. I've always wanted to try their Reisterstown outlet, but never have. My hairdresser told me the peanut butter ice was fantastic and that's what we had. It's ice by the way and not ice cream - so it's a little less creamy.

People are out selling crabs in full force - you can see tons of trucks selling them at about $10 for a dozen.

Mushroom, tomato, potato pizza

Mushroom, tomato, potato pizza
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I made pizza, using my new favourite dough. I added potatoes, tomatoes and basil from our garden, and some tomato sauce and mushrooms and of course cheese. It was pretty tasty!

Tomatoes

Tomatoes
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

First frost of the season tonight so Simian covered up all the plants. I harvested a few tomatoes - these were some of the larger ones. The yellow ones were still a little tart, but I used two in a pizza anyway!

Crisps and ORCs

Crisps and ORCs
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I made these crisps from Nigella Lawson's recipe and they went very well with the blue cheese that we bought. I also made ORCs because when I asked Simian if he wanted to try something new, he shot me an incredulous look.

Blue Moon

 

With Simian at work, D and I headed down to Blue Moon Cafe for what I told D was one of the must have meals in Bmore. D had eggs with crab meat and hash browns and I had the amazing Captain Crunch French Toast. I'm pretty sure the thing could kill you. D tried some, and I gave my leftovers to a very polite (and saavy) homeless man - the man asked if we were the people giving out food to the homeless :)

We headed to Hampden, walked around, and then came home. Simian came home in the evening and we all went to the airport and ate at Duclaws there before D caught his flight home. It was really good to see D again - it's been too long since we last saw him.

Day out in DC

 

Simian, D and I went to DC today, stopping first in Rockville for lunch at A & J's, which was fantastic as always. Then, Simian drove us into DC, where we miraculously found parking which was both free AND near the National Mall.

We went around some of the monuments (the Washington and the Lincoln) and then went to the Air and Space Museum, and the National Gallery (which was supposed to close at 7:30 pm according to the website but actually closed at 6).

Then we headed back to Bmore to get D a taste of crab cake at John Steven's, amd then we went to Pitango's for ice cream.

The New Pornographer's

 

We headed down to Rams Head Live! to see the New Pornographers tonight. Unfortunately Neko Case wasn't there and the sound was a bit sketchy at bits but otherwise it was a great concert. I didn't much care for opening band, Tokyo Police Club. I brought only my compact - but we did manage to get a shot of the set list, though it was blurry!

Gettysburg

 

D, Simian and I went to Gettysburg today. It was really crowded probably because the weather was nice - a tad chilly but very sunny. We went by our favourite cafe there and had Spinach Artichoke dip and the four bean chilli again.

We also made a point to look for the 20th Maine Regiment's monument. After Simian and I watched Gettysburg, we wanted to see where the actual encounter took place.

Rosemary Garlic Fries

Rosemary Garlic Fries
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

D is visiting from London. Yesterday was wet and miserable so we went to the AVAM to see their new exhibition. We went for dinner with Simian to Brewer's Art - we scored a tiny table in the corner which we had to squeeze into, hence no more photos :)

D and Simian went to Old Rag today. I stayed home and cleaned house instead and baked a cake.

BBQ jackfruit

 

With jackfruit coming out of our ears, we decided to try and make pulled BBQ style jackfruit. It turned out pretty good - not like pulled pork, but tasty all the same. I wonder why my jackfruit is so much lighter in colour though.

I also realised that I had never made M's favourite cake for Simian. Since I had a tub of sour cream about to expire, I made sour cream coffeecake last night. The blender I have here (a present from Suntaneye!) makes it so much easier to make the streusel than the one I have in Singapore.

Stink Bug Song

Boy does this song ring true. We found 10 stink bugs today - including 5 in the wee hours of this morning along.

Quarryville, PA

 

We had to drive up to Quarryville, just across the Maryland State line for Warrior Dash. Quarryville is in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which is home to many of the Amish and Mennonites. We saw several buggies on the roads. We wanted to go for a Smorsgaboard afterward, but then remembered today was Sunday. We ended up at the Quarryville Family Restaurant, where the food was pretty good! I learnt however that Blueberry Boston Cream Pie is not a pie - but a cake!

I made pizza for dinner. The dough was resting from last week and I think it was even better today!

Warrior Dash

 

Simian, Will, A and A's brother and his wife took part in Warrior Dash today. I decided to just hang around and be the photographer because even though I'm pretty sure I could do the distance, I wasn't sure I could (1) handle the obstacles and (2) there was mud.

Did I mention there was mud? It was just sheer gratuitous mud because at the end they just made the participants crawl through a pool of mud. I didn't manage to get a shot of Simian in the mud because people were sort of blocking the way, but I'm pretty sure they'll get it on the website! People were diving in - and even though there was a fire truck stationed there to hose people off, there was mud. Everywhere.

Unfortunately, A's sister-in-law fell and hurt her knee. She had to be taken to the hospital to get it cleaned out and have stitches. She's okay and it's a good thing it wasn't more serious.

Dinner at My Thai

 

Simian and I spent the afternoon battling stink bugs. He came up with a solution that seems to work pretty well but they were swarming. We must have killed 50 of them and more kept landing!

A bluebird landed on our deck - I haven't seen it all summer, and now it's back. We also headed down town for A's birthday party at My Thai - the food there was better than we remembered. It wasn't as sweet as the last time we ate there.

Sesame Street: Smell Like A Monster

I love this!

Pressies

Pressies
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Will and A got back from their honeymoon last week and today Simian and I were given pressies! They got a ton of really cool stuff for us as you can see. Looking at my pressies, I realise that I've gone from being the Cat Lady to the Bird Lady :)

Cut jackfruit

Cut jackfruit
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Cutting and cleaning jackfruit is a pain. Simian and I spent more than an hour doing it yesterday and now we have enough jackfruit to drown it.

Simian stayed home today to clean up the garage. He also finished Angry Birds - and got three stars for everything, as he wants me to let everyone know :)

We finally ate the apple pie and the winesap apples are truly amazing in pie.

Apple pies

 

Simian spent some time working in the yard today, trimming branches and cleaning out areas. He also started cleaning out the garage.

Over the past few days, Simian had also been chopping a tree down with an axe - our neighbour R saw him, and came out to help with his chain saw. He also offered to haul the wood to the landfill for us.

I decided to bake him an apple pie to thank him - and to make ourselves one too. Here are the pies on the counter - we were very patient and decided to wait to eat them tomorrow. I used Winesaps from Carolyn's Orchards that we purchased today - apparently they are a good apple to use in pie. The smell of the apple is quite lovely.

I also made this pizza - it turned out well! The dough was really yummy. I have another batch of dough leftover so might try it with blue cheese the next time, per Simian's suggestion.

The weather is taking another turn for the wet (and cold). My denial of the fact that summer is over may soon have to come crashing into reality.

Annapolis and Jackfruit!

 

Simian and I went to Annapolis today - one of the stones on my wedding band fell off so we went to get it fixed. We had lunch at Potato Valley Cafe, which was awesome. It sounds like a simple concept - baked potato with all kinds of toppings on them, but the potato was done just right. The skin was nice and crisp. We found that the Ben and Jerry's had closed down, but that they now have an Atwater's and a Vaccaro's in the Market House down by the water. I looked closely at the Napoleans and realised they're millefeuilles - Mom's favourite. They come in several different flavours. Simian and I however shared a chocolate cannoli cake.

We stopped by H-mart on the way home and they were selling these giant jackfruits. A lady in front of us was loading her cart up with them, so I stopped her and asked her how to pick a sweet jackfruit. Simian and I then got a whole bunch of advice, including the fact that we should not eat them for at least three more days :) I didn't realise however that it weighed 20 pounds so we paid almost $30 for the jackfruit! I'm now looking up jackfruit recipes!

Pecan Pie

 

It rained all day today - I made a pecan pie (and more ORCs for Simian) yesterday but I forgot you need to let the pie set so we had it after dinner. I have to say it was much better than the last pecan pie I had in Singapore even if I am biased. I'm going to just make my own pecan pie from here on out - unless we go down South. I have to try a Southern Pecan Pie :)

It's been raining and raining - it's almost like Singapore :)