Just One Thing

I was making a fairly forgettable dinner the other night - actually it must have been pretty forgettable because I'm having trouble remembering the menu. It was an autopilot meal and I realized it needed just a little something to keep us awake while we nourished ourselves.

So I threw together a little dijon vinaigrette to pep up our asparagus. I used a little white wine vinegar, some extra virgin olive oil, a dab of Dijon mustard and a bit of salt and pepper. Naturally, I mixed it all together because this is our city kitchen and we don't have any fancy cruets here!

No, it's not a recipe for culinary innovation, but in the humdrum days of winter when getting a meal together can be more of a chore than a gastronomic adventure, adding that one small thing that makes it better can be all it takes to feel like you "made dinner".

Arlington Dogs

Lexi is quite physically preventing me from posting right now as she paws me to get me to pet her. These dogs are pretty darn spoiled, but LOOK at them. How can we not spoil them? They are completely irresistible. 

And yet, as we had our single meeting with the Animal Behaviorist, I did shrink a little when she scoffed at "Arlington Dogs" a couple of times. Alexandria is pretty known for its dogs. Businesses are dog-friendly. The streets are filled with dogs. But Arlington Dogs appear to have a name of their own among some in the dog world. It may have been when we reached into the fridge for the leftover steak to use with Kirby in his training exercise.

We called the Animal Behaviorist because Kirby, our wonderful rescue Kerry Blue Terrier has been with us almost a year and even though he's made loads of progress, we still think he's afraid a lot and we wanted to get whatever advice an expert could give to make him more comfortable in the world.

When I started to research Animal Behaviorists I nearly fainted at the rates - let me just say, we are all in the wrong business. But, after three hours with our doggy shrink we were encouraged and loaded up with new ideas to help Kirby catch up with dogs who didn't spend the first half year of their lives in deprivation.

To take our yuppy puppy parenthood to the max Lexi is headed to the doggy dentist on Thursday. Although we usually think of Lexi as pretty flawless, she's had a secret flaw since puppyhood - she has bad teeth. When the tips of her teeth turned brown when she was a pup we took her to the doggy dentist who said she'd had a virus and was left with depleted enamel. Anyway, six years later it looks like she's due for a check up - so off to the doggy dentist we will go.

Pampered pooches indeed.

Fried Chicken for Frazzled Times

Yeah, yeah, I'm MIA and you want your posts. I want not to have rocks in my kidneys and for all my customers to be patient and pleasant. See? We all want things.

There have been a few things cooking lately. When I mentioned the possibility of fried chicken in passing, Jac let me know that would be a very pleasing and acceptable supper. When I made said chicken I knew I wanted my vegetarian baked beans to go with, but that left the plate a little light on the green so I whipped up some creamed spinach. I added a little Italian cheese blend to the spinach since I had about 1/2 a cup that needed to go somewhere.

Founding Farmers: We Have a Winner

We seem to have a new favorite restaurant, Founding Farmers.

Our plan had been to take advantage of the Restaurant Week menu. When we arrived, we couldn't resist branching out across the menu. We waited for our dining companions at the bar. I glanced at a table where a manager's lunch was getting cold waiting for him and marvelled at a beautiful looking burger. It was camera-ready.

We were seated in a booth by the bar and the atmosphere was wonderful. The canisters of vegetables on display are enticing and artistic. They have corn that looks just picked and we wanted some of that pronto! 

Our friends are martini aficionados. They were pleased to find new things to try and still be able to get their pitch perfect martinis. She commented that the Dark & Stormy Evenings (?) were wonderful and ordered a couple. Jac was delighted by the beer selection.

Our husbands ordered a dozen oysters. We non-oyster people ordered the onion, brie and apple flatbread and were ecstatic with that dish. I was skeptical that light "caramelized" onions would have the flavor or texture, but we grasped for the next bite. The oysters got a strong endorsement from our husbands (mine has been ordering them everywhere around town and when we came home was still saying how good they were).

We ordered Prime Rib rare, 2 steak & enchilada dishes, and I had the skirt steak switching mac n' cheese for potatoes. All came with the cheese covered corn. When the food arrived we were delighted. Everything was cooked to order. The corn (which I'd first tasted at a wedding in 2007 and have pursued relentlessly since) was heavenly. I did wish that I'd stuck with the mashed potatoes, but my dining companions enjoyed snagging bites from my plate. Jac, who does not rave about food (much to my dismay) grabbed his forkful of enchilada and declared, "You have to try this!" He explained he'd ordered the enchiladas and assumed they'd be forgettable but these were wonderful.

Jac is steadfastly anti-dessert. He would always rather spend the calories on a beer. But not at Founding Farmers, there he couldn't wait to try out the red velvet cake. He is a Southern boy, from Lynchburg, VA and Red Velvet Cake done right is a thing of pride. I have been with him for nine years, I have never seen him enjoy a dessert as he did the Red Velvet Cake.

Our companions enjoyed the s'mores pudding. I ordered the apple turnover with cinnamon ice cream and anticipated a completely forgettable crust (either a puff pastry or a bland pie crust). I was delighted by the subtly spiced crust and filling. The ice cream was the perfect accompaniment.

Oh, did I use the word "delighted" too much? Sorry about that. It couldn't be helped.

A Meme About My Husband

There are a heap of memes over there on Facebook and everywhere else I guess where we talk about ourselves. Well, it happens to be Valentine's day and I have a husband worthy of meme-ing.

1. On our first date he wore a pale green Oxford and a (tasteful) floral tie. I can still see it, 9 years later.

2. He wishes I loved seafood and I wish I did for him.

3. He loves discovering a new beer.

4. He adores his kitties and pets them whenever they ask.

5. He would rather not have the pasta.

6. He wakes up whenever he needs to for work without an alarm clock.

7. He falls asleep in under 3 minutes without fail.

8. He would like to be in a hammock listening to music or in a bath with a book most of the time.

9. He loathes peas.

10. He loves pomegranate juice, mangoes and blood oranges.

11. He does the laundry. (see also #25)

12. He likes to explore caches of old things.

13. He likes long story arcs in dramatic programs.

14. He wears shorts year round.

15. He has recently re-discovered polo shirts.

16. He is a scholar of pop culture.

17. He is usually reading three or four books at a time and will finish one every couple of days. Even though his job is reading.

18. He kinda digs wearing hats besides baseball caps and wouldn't mind donning one more often.

19. He can be happy even in adverse conditions.

20. He would like to go back to Vegas sooner rather than later.

21. He has been told, "You are the kindest man I have ever known."

22. And they were right.

23. Although a bit agnostic, he loves God's creatures great and small.

24. He has a very quick wit.

25. His wife is incredibly lucky and in love.

Of Valentines and Insides

Things have been very quiet Chez Magniferous. In part it is the lack of cooking and creative endeavors brought about by another nasty bout with kidney rocks. In part it is the fluctuation of the seasons that has left us with the makings for a winter meal getting shoved into the freezer because it's a scorching 70 degrees in February.

We have also been working on another project. It is to socialize our children. I suppose I should say our dogs because that is what they are, really I do know that. See, Lexi is delighted by the attention of people. That's what makes her eligible to be a great therapy dog - which she'll demonstrate once wellness returns to the hive. But Lexi could give a fig about dogs. She doesn't really need her ass sniffed, thank you very much and she is happy to let you know that. She has enough friends. Really, she doesn't want another dog on her radar. Dogs just steal your food, take up room on the bed that used to be yours, and mess up all your good toys. So, why bother with dogs?

Kirby is a dog's dog. He gets the pack mentality. He longs to run in a pack of 100 dogs across the fields of Kerry. He wants to sniff enough dog heine in this life to last him through the next. He wants to show the biggest, baddest dog at the dog park that he can roll with the big dogs. But holy god if you are a human stay the eff away from me you, you, you, bi-ped! Only recently Kirby has shown us that he is a deeply loving dog. He really does want to sit on your lap and get pets. He wants to give kisses until you make him stop. He likes us. Other people? Not. So. Much. At All. Really.

So, our project most afternoons has involved rounding up ebony and ivory and hauling them down to the greatest dog park known to man (or at least us). There, they both heel without being asked until one of them finally feels comfortable enough to stray a few feet in another direction to check out a person or a dog. And as we watch Kirby shake in terror (at times) Jac will say, "How do we get him to stop that?" and I say, "By doing this - over and over." And they are making progress. I think Lexi even took a little trip to Dog Derriere Island today. But it's a long process. I'm glad we're doing it though. I think they'll be happier, healthier dogs for it.

And for us, the dog park counts as an "activity", "light exercise", and something vaguely social. My delight though is spotting all the different breeds and puzzling out the ones that don't come to mind instantly. It's doubly challenging because besides a high volume of single breed dogs there's a cornucopia of mixed breed dogs where you first have to wonder whether they're one "breed" or a variety. 

And there is no payoff like watching Kirby take off in the tainted stream after a pack of dogs, bounding through the water at high speed and moving to second in the pack. He doesn't even know that there are people there anymore. He knows that he is free and running wild with his mates and he hopes that playtime will never end.

North and West

We Washingtonians (and suburbanites) don't get a lot of thrills. The Inauguration was a great party. For once people talked about D.C. without using the long-outdated "murder capital of the world". They talked about where we eat, where we mingle, who lives here and who visits here. But moments of fame rather than infamy are fleeting for this town, so we cling to whatever we can get.

So when Obama mocked our snow day last week, I gave him a newbie pass. Eventually, he, like the rest of us, will cheer Federal Unscheduled (aka Liberal) Leave. He will see the closing of Loudoun or Faquier County schools as a positive sign. He will wish those three inches of slushy flakes into a full-fledged snow day. 

We had a brief flirtation with snow storm mania over the weekend. For a while it looked like DC could get hit with one of the biggest storms in years. Unfortunately even that wasn't saying much because we have had a serious lack of sledding weather. Our hopes began to soar. The Capital Weather Gang blog featured scientific and emotional debates over the latest models. But, it wasn't to be and this morning - the morning of the potential snowpocalypse - we were greeted with a few puny flakes. 

That's what we get for living in the middle of the East Coast - not quite cold enough for the good storms.