criplomats

Happy birthday, John!

We celebrated John’s #55 by hosting a dozen friends for an evening of cooking at Culinaire last Sunday night, the cooking school John’s been attending. We really had a blast and made a delicious dinner! It was a really good evening with friends – Rick & Claire, Jimmi, Thomas, Sarah & Aaron, Nick & Wendy, Scott & Tammy, and Ben & Angela. We made a wonderful little gem and avocado salad, grilled steaks with bleu cheese sauce,  potatoes au gratin, and pavlova – yum!

Click to see all of our pictures. Happy birthday, John!

Tammy and Scott

With Aaron

Jimmi, Claire, Rick

Nick and Wendy

Ben and Angela

Sarah and the birthday boy

Thomas

Jimmi

Halloween

I left last Sunday afternoon for an overnight flight to Montevideo, Uruguay.  Lucky for me, it was Halloween at the embassy on Wednesday, so I got to see the festivities – they really go all out there – all the sections decorated and dressed up, then employees’ children came through for candy.  Lots of fun!

Consular section’s Day of the Dead altar

With Leslie

Consular section theme

I had a fast, but good, trip to the consular section – I was in the office for three days before coming back on the Thursday night overnight flight.  I didn’t get out a lot while I was there – just walked around the neighborhood some, but otherwise stayed in (one night was chilly and rainy).  It’s such a beautiful city.

Lovely Montevideo

My favorite boulevard along the golf course

Montevideo

Sunrise over the river

Yesterday I went to Georgetown to see a morning showing of “A Star is Born” (again), then replenished our oil and vinegar supply at my favorite store (we’ve been using a lot of garlic-infused olive oil for roasting veggies).  It was a crisp, beautiful fall day!

It seems that DC skipped fall and went straight to winter – it’s been very chilly this week.  It’s also been a bit of a low-key week.  John went to cooking class Monday evening – I’ve continued to benefit from that! He cooked a lovely salmon poached in olive oil served on a carrot purée this afternoon for lunch – yum!

I went to Main State twice for lunch this week. One day I ate with my old friends from Guadalajara, Shayne and Chris. Friday, John, Jimmi, Della and I had an A-100 reunion which was nice. I also met my good friend Pam for lunch another day – nice to catch up with everyone!

With Chuck Dodson at the Starlite

I really had a great trip to Hot Springs – I loved sitting by the fire at David and Alison’s house on the lake and yakking with them. I got to see the fabulous Chuck Dodson Monday night – we had dinner at our fave Mexican restaurant in town (El Padrino), then finally got to go to the Starlite Lounge with him. We ended the evening watching the new “A Star is Born.” Thanks for a fun evening, Chuck!

I left the house early Tuesday morning to catch my flight, and as David and Allie were leaving to spend a few days in Eureka Springs.  Thursday afternoon we had an A-100 happy hour at Ris where I got to visit with John, Jimmi, Ben T., and Ed G.

Our sweet friend Jimmi at happy hour

Friday night John and I met Maribel and Juan from Juarez at the Continental Beer Garden – a lovely evening and so fun to see Maribel again! After that, Jimmi and I met Amy and Donna at the Congressional Cemetery for Souls Stroll! We walked through the cemetery and heard tales of some of the folks buried there – very cool!

J. Edgar Hoover’s grave

Congressional Cemetery

Saturday John took me to see a most excellent production of Beetlejuice at the National Theatre – it was wonderful! So entertaining and great sets and costumes! Our magician friend Michael Weber did the illusions, so that was fun to watch, too.

Beetlejuice!

Afterward we went to Wendy’s birthday party in Falls Church – we had a fun time catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.

Today John hosted a few guys to play a board game, while I hit the museums! I went to the east building of the National Gallery or Art, then stopped in the Museum of Natural History to see the exhibit on narwhals.

John, David, John, and Justin and a very elaborate board game

Museum of Natural History

Great White Shark jaws!!!

Narwhal tusks!

Rothko!

Beautiful Georgia O’Keefe

Along the way going to the National Mall

What a great week! And it’s chilly!!!

Never gets old!

David and Alison

I left early Saturday morning for a quick trip back to Hot Springs – it’s been wonderful so far. When I arrived it was cold and pouring down rain and continued to do so all day! But that’s ok – we built a fire in the fireplace, opened a bottle of wine, and had a delicious homemade lasagne dinner.

This morning I went for a walk, then David and I brought the boat home from the shop – we decided it was a lovely day to be out on the lake, so we picked up Alison and tooled around some more…we came home for a while, then couldn’t resist another ride around – likely the last of the season and a lovely day for it – a bit overcast, no one else on the lake save the occasional fisherman.

Afterward we sat out by the fire pit and cooked up some victuals on the grill – then finished off the night with another fire and some Bailey’s Irish Cream – what a great day!

The lake is ours!

Goat Island!

Pretty Buddy