Farm!

My cousins came to visit in Baltimore, and we took the opportunity to go visit S's family's farm. S's farm was super fun - there were animals all over the place and I even got to sit on a horse, while S led me carefully around :)

Dinner at O and P's

O and P were amazing hosts who let us stay for a whole week. P cooked for us several times - making Lentil Stew and cooking up whole meals in minutes. He made us Pizza and a great Frittata. I contributed Banana cake.

Fine Palate

We had lunch at Fine Palate yesterday because J had to get to work by 2 pm. M, WW, and E came and we met D and J there. We had an early birthday lunch for D. Simian realised that he had done his exams in the same building we had lunch in.

Pekoe and Imp

Simian and I went for a tea tasting with Pekoe and Imp. I learnt a lot about tea from the two knowledgeable ladies!

Artichoke Cafe

We had lunch at Artichoke Cafe with new friends (and friends of friends), H and T, who recently moved here from the US. They were the ones who suggested the place though. I was glad that for a change, we had a brunch menu that didn't have just Eggs Benedict!
They had a nice bunch of vegetables and fruit growing in their garden. They mentioned Edible Gardens helped them set up and that their soil was imported from Korea. I noticed their tomatoes were of the cherry variety though - no large heirlooms - but they looked good.

Udon

We asked Little E what she wanted to eat last week - noodles, said she :) When we walked to the restaurant, she declared she wanted Udon specifically so she had that at Shimbashi Soba which has children sized portions!

Birthday Lunch at Spruce

J invited us for a birthday lunch at Spruce two weekends ago. It was great catching up with D & J and of course, M, WW and Little E (because she is no longer a baby!) were there too.

Summer in Maryland

Suntaneye and I went for dinner on Wednesday night and we went to Cafe Hon. Neither of us had been there in a while. For some reason, everyone seemed to be in Hampden. This was the first time we had to circle around for a parking space but we found one quickly! There are tons of new places in Hampden though it's nice to see some old favourites there.

Here are some of the goldfinches on my finch sock and the lillies have just bloomed in the garden. It is also incredibly hot. On the plus side, clothes dry incredibly fast outside :)

Brunch at N's

We got in late Friday night to Maryland - Simian some how watched seven movies and I managed a dismal three compared to him . I saw The Silver Linings Playbook which was funny. Skyfall was possibly my favourite Bond yet and that's saying a lot. I had to stop watching to tell Simian that it was the Goldfinger/Thunderball Aston Martin. Also, a film that includes Turner and Joseph Wright of Derby's paintings in the National Gallery is awesome :)

I also watched Shores of Hope (a pretty inaccurate translation from the German Wir Wollten aufs Meer)  - which was also good and with a cast of some of the best German actors.

We got in and I cleaned on Saturday and then on Sunday, Simian and I went over for brunch with a whole bunch of people from Simian's old lab at N's home. We saw Suntaneye very briefly as she was feeling under the weather, and then went to Will's before heading to Trader Joe's. Suntaneye also gave me a huge box of TJ's stuff! Thanks Suntaneye!

The cat in the photo lives with Nick and he was not sure what to make of the human children running around.

Lunch

I had lunch with J and D yesterday at Fine Palate - it was lovely to catch up with them, so much so I didn't take photos of the food :) D also got me a copy of Palestine which I've heard is fantastic!

I did pop next door though to take some photos of the church.

Pekoe and Imp

After lunch in town with an acquaintance from Bmore, Simian went back to work and I headed to see Imp do her thing. Imp has a new venture called Pekoe and Imp - check it out if you are in Singapore! I got lost in Ion - and realised I had never been to the Mandarin Gallery before either! Imp did a great tasting session though. I especially like the Darjeeling they had on the tasting menu. It was lovely chatting with Imp and her partner and learning about tea from the two obviously knowledgeable and passionate women!

M's visit

Our friend, M, was in town again for a lightning quick trip. We picked her up on Monday night, took her for a quick drink, and then on Tuesday, M and I went to check out a number of schools. On Wednesday night, Simian, a friend of M's friend (who is also vegetarian) and I went to eat at North South East West. We followed it up with ice cream at the Ice Cream Gallery. I had the delectable avocado and gula melaka and the sea salt caramel!

BaliThai

Our friend, G, was in town for a lightning quick trip. We went to Balithai for dinner as we had already taken him for Indian food for lunch and this was a mix of Thai and Indonesian!

Cards against Humanity and Tea!

Imp and PlanetofSound stopped by today for tea and we got to break out the Cards Against Humanity. It was hilariously fun - Imp beat us all soundly!

Imp also demonstrated how she prepares her tea. It was lovely to see her as she was so calm and focused while steeping and pouring the tea. She made the whole pouring almost into a ceremony. Being a Pleb however, I can't tell you much about the tea. It tasted a little different from the type in the Chinese restaurants, but not so much that I'd be able to tell the difference if it hadn't been pointed out to me!

Monopoly

We had so much fun playing Monopoly (brought by other D :)) that we ended up extending lunch all the way till dinner. Obviously, Monopoly does not work with more than 6 people so Simian and D were killing us by buying everything but the game never ended :) We all trooped off for chicken rice at Pow Sing afterwards.

Package

Thank you for the lovely Christmas package Suntaneye and her Husby. My first reaction was oh no, they shouldn't have, followed,I am shamed to admit, by the thought of whether there was Trader Joe's goodness inside. Suntaneye did not disappoint. This does not mean however, that you should repeat this again! Thank you guys! I will wait for Simian to come home before ripping into this :)))

Pottery and Pies

 

Imp, Simian and I went to Mom's pottery class the other day - the quality of the work was really impressive. Here is Mom working on one of her pots.

Imp and Planetofsound also brought over Baja Fresh the other day for dinner. I made a bittersweet chocolate Pecan Pie and it turned out pretty yummy - Gourmet rules the day again!

Nantucket Grill

When M and WW said that the Nantucket Grill had cakes that were the size of a child's coffin, they weren't kidding. The food there was good but the cakes were the real star. We went on free cake night, which meant we only had a half slice - a good six layers instead of twelve. I still couldn't finish my cake, which was pretty amazing for me.

M's cooking

Besides taking me out to eat several times, M also decided to stuff me by cooking several times. She made pancakes, masala burgers and herbal soup among other things. Lots of stuff was from the fantastic Trader Joe's  which M jazzed up - including these Chocolate Croissants that were so good I went back to Maryland and bought some myself. When M leaves NC,Trader Joe's will weep.

Pumpkins

Little E has a love for pumpkins - so her parents bought her a huge pumpkin which she was delighted with.