On Fri. Peter and I took full advantage of the nice, spring-like weather in the DC-area (temps in the 70s!) and took a walk at the college campus where he works and the nearby neighborhood where we used to live. All of the college students were out and about enjoying the weather too; there was really kind of a street-party vibe going on. We gave up trying to count how many frat house barbecues we passed :) We were hoping that some college students would invite us to share their hamburgers and hot dogs but no luck so we headed home for pizza and a movie. We watched Eat Pray Love. Cinematography=gorgeous. Acting/Storyline/Etc.=mediocre. I remembered from reading the book that Elizabeth Gilbert certainly had a way with words but that overall I thought the book was a bit on the self-indulgent side, and I felt the same about the movie. Sat. was a lazy morning with a yummy breakfast of biscuits and honey and then we ran some errands that we had been needing to do for awhile. Peter got two pairs of new sneakers, and I got a bike! My bike was stolen last year (apparently a rite of passage when you live in the DC-area), and I really missed riding last spring and fall. Now I'm fully prepared to tackle those trails when the first signs of spring come (so excited for that!) :) Getting home from the mall was quite an adventure on Sat. because there were brush fires in our area!!! It was an extremely windy day, and a fire that started at some kind of factory ended up burning acres and acres of land. The smoke was so bad that the police had to close I-95 for awhile. Needless to say, traffic was horrible, and Peter and I had to be creative taking back roads home. After that, Peter took me out to eat (in the opposite direction of the fires!) for our belated Valentine's Day. Deep Creek Restaurant and Marina was terrific! We both love seafood, and our meals (he had scallops, I had crab) were fantastic. We had a table looking out onto the water, and a group of swans (?!) decided to swim by while we were eating which was fun to see. Sun. was church, lunch with friends (we went to a Vietnamese noodle place which was a new experience for me, and I loved it!), a grocery store and library run, and then talking to our families and relaxing. Mon. was a holiday for me, and I stayed home the entire day and cleaned like a crazy woman! Maybe it was spring fever or something, but I really went to town and was exhausted that night. I also almost finished organizing my recipe cuttings into binders. I've had a drawer full of recipe cuttings for about five years now and it was getting out of control (meaning the drawer was overflowing and I couldn't find anything in there!) so I finally decided to do something about it. P can't tease me any more about taking 3 years to find a recipe :)
Speaking of recipes, I tried one new recipe last week that I think deserves a shout out: Bacon Pierogi Bake
(image from Cooking Light)
Potato dumplings and cheese in cream sauce baked and topped with bacon, tomatoes, and green onions. Yum! Low in calories, fat, etc. and quick to prepare and easy on the budget. Even better! Peter didn't think that he liked pierogis, but he liked this and I'll definitely be making this again.
I don't really have a good transition into speaking about The Bachelor so I'm just going to jump in. I'm SO glad that Michelle was given the heave-ho last week!!! I was worried that she was going to be kept for the drama factor, but, thankfully, no. I really think that she thought she was going to win with all of her shenanigans and couldn't believe that her scheming didn't pay off when Brad didn't hand her a rose. Not sad to see her go at all! I was sad, though, to see Shawntel leave this week. She seemed so nice and genuine, and I really admired her for having such a different occupation. I'm rooting for Ashley now, even though I like Emily too :) I loved the hometown visits this week, and Ashley's family is too cute for words!
Can't wait to see the finale!!!
