7 1/2 years (and many thousands of dollars) later, she's finally got it!

Congratulations, Dear Katka!

March 7: This day in history

From Eine Kleine Blog

The wonderful wife and I spent a lovely day at the National Gallery: Gaugin, Canaletto, a surprisingly good buffet lunch, and then the Chester Dale Collection:

• Gaugin. I don't get it. I don't find the pictures -- most of them, anyway -- at all interesting, and the colors seem washed out. A few of the early pieces are nice, but the Tahiti pictures? Please!
• Canaletto. Technically well done, but interesting? Not so much. If I understand correctly, his goal was to provide wealthy tourists with mementos of their visit to Venice -- big, high-priced, one-of-a-kind . . . um . . . er . . . postcards. If we hadn't been to Venice, the exhibit wouldn't have meant anything to us; as it was, it was pretty cool. The coolest item was a map drawn almost 300 years ago; we came within a couple blocks of finding the hotel we stayed at a two years ago.
  
• Lunch. Italian themed to tie in to the Canaletto exhibit: pasta, carpaccio of beef, parmesan, salad, seafood soup, eggplant something or other. I passed on the eggplant; the rest was really quite good -- including the $9 glass of wine.
• Chester Dale. A fabulous collection -- Picasso, Monet, Cassat, Renoir, Matisse, etc. Too bad you missed it.

Inn at Little Washington

I started writing this post on the 15th. Today's the 29th. Better late -- two weeks late -- than never?

On Thursday, the 13th, we went to the Inn at Little Washington to kick off Mary Ellen's 60th birthday celebration. (See the previous post, "Every year at this time . . . ")

Last spring, Cassie and Roger gave us an outrageously large gift certificate for the Inn -- ostensibly as thanks for helping them get their house ready for sale. They would have saved a lot of money (and got better workmanship) if they'd just hired a union carpenter and a professional interior designer.

Washington, Virginia is about an hour and a half from Vienna. We arrived around 3:30 and checked into the bed and breakfast we would be staying at -- the Foster Harris House. I'm not wild about B&Bs, but neither am I wild about a long drive over dark country roads after eating and drinking for several hours. Also, the B&B made the trip a little more special.

Washington is the county seat of Rappahanock County, but it is still a small town. Very, very small. The "downtown" is four blocks long and two blocks wide. Total population of the town: 147. After dropping our bag at the B&B and enjoying a complimentary glass of wine, it took us a total of about 15 minutes to see everything there is to see in town. Thence, back to the B&B to relax in back yard, me with a New Yorker article about colic, of all things, and Mary Ellen with a sudoku. I also got a chance to play fetch with our hosts' beautiful young Labrador retriever.

Our dinner reservation was for 6:30. Service was excellent and very correct, but less formal and much more down-to-earth than I expected. We began with a small tray of four tiny appetizers (shrimp, watermelon, something else, and something else), followed by a tomato, beet, and orange (I think) bisque that was very good.

Mary Ellen ordered:

• Crisp Maryland crabcakes with a trio of summer sauces: garden sorrel, classic tartar and roasted red pepper
• Seared diver's scallop with olive tapenade in gazpacho, and, as her main course,
• Pan seared grouper on parsley risotto and ginger stewed tomatoes with caramelized baby bok-choy

Dan ordered:

• Fire and Ice: Seared tuna sashimi with daikon radish and cucumber sorbet
• Carpaccio of herb crusted baby lamb with tabouli and rosemary mustard, and, as his main course,
• Pepper crusted tuna pretending to be a filet mignon capped with seared duck foie gras on charred onions with a burgundy butter sauce

Pretty good memory, huh?

(No. They gave us a menu as a souvenir. )

Inn_at_LW

Click the menu for a larger view.

A waitress suggested appropriate wines for the main courses.

Mary Ellen's meal was very good. Dan's was outstanding.

For dessert, Mary Ellen asked for "Seven deadly sins: a sampling of seven of our most decadent desserts" and Dan asked for a glass of Courvoisier. Bless her heart, Mary Ellen shared her dessert with Dan. Dan didn't share his Courvoisier with Mary Ellen.

Afterwards, we were given a short tour of the kitchen and then we strolled back to the B&B, arriving a little before 10, and enjoyed (well, sipped at) a glass of port in the living room before turning in.

The second "B" part of our B&B was at 9:00 the next morning, and it was a little more elaborate than we're accustomed to. OJ and coffee, of course, along with fresh baked croissant and a custard yogurt with fresh fruit. Then, poached egg on puff pastry with sun-dried tomato sausage and avocado salsa. Finish with a tiny wedge of German pancake filled with lemon curd. Lots of firsts for me: My first yogurt, my first poached egg, my first avocado. I could have lived a full life without ever tasting any of them, but I can't say that they caused me any problem.

Every year at this time . . .

. . . our house turns into a flower shop. She's 60 now, believe it or not, but she'll always be 22 to me.

Click the picture for a larger view.

Update (9/29): The celebrations ran for a week:

• Thursday the 13: Dinner at the Inn at Little Washington and a night at the Foster Harris House B&B
• Friday the 14th: A party at her friend Shari's house with other birthday girls
• Saturday the 15th: A cake at a dinner party with friends from church
• Sunday the 16th: A neighborhood block party. Is that another birthday cake I see?
• Monday the 17th: 3 couples plus Cassie and Abby drop by for a surprise dinner party.
• Tuesday the 18th: The day itself. Dinner, cake, and presents with Cassie, Abby, Roger, and Katka.
• Wednesday the 19th: A meeting of officers of the citizens' association is interrupted by someone carrying a cake and singing a familiar song.
• Thursday the 20th: A fancy dinner with John and Esther (who also turned 60 recently).

63 and still kicking

Well, 63 anyway.

A lovely birthday yesterday, and I raked in the goodies:

• Maria cooked Indian and made a peach pie.
• A photo of the Tae Kwon Do princess from Cassie, which I share with you here.
  
• Computer files that I asked for from Roger.
• A drawing of Abby at the beach from . . . you guessed it.
  
• A polo shirt and bottle of Demänovka from Katka.

(Also from Katka, and in blatant disregard of my wishes: A gift certificate that entitles me to anything I want at Amazon for the rest of my life. Can I get you something?)

The karate princess, 5 1/2 (going on 15).

(In the original, the sand is much more subtle. Unfortuntely, it disappeared in the scan, so I had to use Gimp to add it back in.)

Notable birthdays

The stars must line up differently 9 months before July 12.
Happy Birthday to Julius Ceasar, Jack Larkins, Oscar Hammerstein, Jack Larkins, Bill Cosby, Jack Larkins, Buckminster Fuller, Jack Larkins, Henry David Thoreau, Jack Larkins, and Van Cluburn.

And to Jack Larkins.