Hi ho, hi ho...

It's back to work I went.

The rest of my vacation time was spent:
1. Trying to cook, and I do mean trying. I got a very cool birthday gift from my mom, and I decided that since I had the time to dig out the blender and the mandolin that I would seriously cook something that sounded delicious but hard. Yes, I thought that seafood sausage actually sounded good, particularly that there was no casing involved. It was to be served with a spicy barbeque sauce and a jicama slaw, and topped with a lovely Asian chimichurri. It ended up being served with a side of newspaper and shredded bills, as it promptly went in the trash. I accidently bought celery root instead of jicama (it had rolled into the rightful jicama spot on the shelf and I definitely couldn't pick it out of a line up) so the slaw was pretty gross... and the sausage.... (shuddering).

My attempt to redeem myself the next day was inspired by an episode of Good Eats on Food TV, which is second only to the BFC. Alton whipped up a lovely buttercream frosting that didn't involve a pound of Crisco. Cool, I thought. I can do that too. Then I caught an episode of something wedding cake related, where each frosting layer was flavored with something. Mmmmm. I have a really great cake recipe that the Sunday Source of the Post a few years ago (really really good cake from what I hear to be a really really good restaurant), so I planned out my yummy vanilla cake with a layer of chocolate ganache, a layer of plain butter cream, and a layer of buttercream mixed with Oreos. I baked the cake. I made the ganache. I made the buttercream, which turned into a bucket of froth in the mixer. I went to bed. I tried again the next day, and ended up with the same pile of froth. By that time I was done looking at the cake and had half eaten the bag of generic Oreos (Tuxedos! -- deemed just as tasty as the original and half the price, which is good for those of us who drive gas guzzlers), so into the trash it all went. Wasteful? Absolutely. I promise I'll recycle to make up for it, or something of the sort.

2. Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Frasier. House Hunters.

3. Lunch out with the hubby during which I openly mocked the poor suckers checking their watches with their ID badges tucked into their pockets. Suckers.

4. Gone Baby Gone on pay-per-view. Selected on the recommendation of my sister, who was miffed it didn't get an Oscar nod. Much much better than I expected it to be. Thanks, sis. Also continued on with the John Adams seriers when feeling awake enough to get in a little history.

5. IRONMAN! After considering a midnight showing for opening day, we opted for an early Friday a.m. viewing. You could hear comic book nerds salivating all over the theater. It was seriously good. Not long 'til Batman, now...

6. Hillwood, the DC estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post, as in Post cereal money. Ms. MP was self-made American royalty and transformed her mansion in the heart of the city into a museum to show her collection of French decorative arts, Faberge eggs, and Russian liturgical icons. 25 acres plunked in the middle of the city in what looks like any other neighborhood (well, not any other neighborhood, I suppose). Toured the gardens, poked around the house, joined my fellow hospice volunteers for high tea. Very fun. Later that night...

7. Better Speech and Hearing Month party, which usually turns into a full on kegger. It did. Who knew I'm still pretty good at Quarters after all these years?

And then it was Sunday. And then it was Sunday night. And I rolled my alarm back. I was almost sad, but I was looking forward to what feels like a new chapter. Only a few pages in to this week, but so far, so good.