Weekend Roundup

Wow, it's been a great weekend. I feel like I did so much that I now need another day off before I can be rested and ready for work this week. If only...

Friday
I had been looking forward to Friday for a long time, cuz a bunch of us went out for our big holiday cheer plans. After a quick dinner/drink at Elephant & Castle, we went over to The Warner Theatre to check out The Nutcracker. It was a lot of fun! I had been forewarned that it was a "reinterpretation" of the show, and it's definitely different. It's set in WAshington DC, with most of the first act taking place in a home in Georgetown post-Civil War. Frederick Douglass makes a cameo appearance, actually played by Frederick Douglass IV. The second act features Daniel Boone, Ma Barnum and her clowns, cardinals and a big tomcat (not to be confused with TomKat), the Cherry Blossom Fairy, and more. The usual Arabian Dance was changed to be a dance portraying Anacostia Indians. That particular dance was hot. Like, HAWT hot. The male and female dancer were both just in loincloths, and I couldn't stop staring at their amazing bodies. He had a 12-pack and an awe-inspiring back. And her abs, wow. I'd love to have a body like that.

After the show, we decided to check out the John Harvard's Brew House that's right next to the theater. We only stayed for one drink. The beer wasn't that great, and the ambience was all wrong. Way too brighlyt lit, and the whole scene wasn't very welcoming. Plus the pink prickly pear stuff just wasn't something we were looking for after all. It only took a short discussion to figure out where we wanted to go next. MH and I have long told the story of the surprisingly good time we had at the Hard Rock Cafe once about 2 years ago, and we thought we'd see if the 2nd time was as good as the first. And it was! We chowed down on fatty appetizers, drank a bunch more, and had a sing-along of our own to the videos they were playing on all those big tv screens. Can't beat the fact that Meatloaf was playing both when we entered AND when we left. I think I want to have a hard rock sing-along at my wedding someday. A little Paradise By The Dashboard Lights would set the right mood....

Then I came home to find a wonderful Christmas surprise!

Saturday
Brunette, Onyah, CL and I headed out for a very pleasant Saturday afternoon. We went to my new favorite restaurant, Matchbox, for lunch. Mmmm, the sliders are fantastic. I had the Bistro Salad again, which I highly recommend. And this time I tried the pizza, splitting a pepperoni with CL. Also very yummy!

Then we saw Syriana. Good movie. It's very intelligent, very challenging, and very complicated. I don't know if I could actually outline the plot clearly to anyone else, cuz there was a lot to follow along, but I really enjoyed it. I predict some nominations there - maybe writing and directing.

Sunday
Today, CG, SM and I took the long drive up past Fort Meade to a friend's house for his 40th birthday party. I don't go to adult house parties very often - the kind with a yard and kids and neighbors and stuff. It was a lot of fun! Our friend and his wife put out an amazing spread of food. We started eating and drinking at about 1:30 and kept going until 6. They had a huge array of appetizers, including shrimp, sushi, brushetta, crudite, etc. There was also a crock pot full of delicious homemade tomato basil soup. (The recipe came from the City Tavern cookbook, full of recipes from Philadelphia's founding days. I need to look it up.) The real hit of the day was the beef tenderloin he had cooked on the grill, with a Dinosaur dipping sauce (from a place in Syracuse). He called it "mutha" sauce. It was unbelievably delicious. This friend has created total ManLand in his basement, with a full bar and beer on tap. In the course of the afternoon, I drank a huge stein of beer, mulled wine, a vodka sour, and egg nog. Wow, more mixing. By the time I got home at 7 I was more than a little tipsy! Not bad doing laundry on a Sunday evening, half in the bag....