Caught in the Webb

We got caught in the Travis Webb over the weekend. I think the visit was officially called 'Adam and Travis' All-Sports Weekend'. They saw Redskins game with Kevin and also a baseball game; went for a long bike ride around the monuments; bashed open a bag of cooked crabs and ate them under a highway; and got their BBQ fix at The Hill. I joined them for a night of drinking in Dupont with Steve and Julia; a visit to Bobby's Burger Palace; a tour around Georgetown University; shopping and lunch at Dean & Deluca; a sugar high at Georgetown Cupcakes; and an epic, small plates meal of contemporary Mexican and Latin American food. I say epic because it involved margaritas topped with sea salt foam, Mexican 'poutine' (hot, hand cut fries topped with dark chocolate mole, sweet crema and toasted sesame seeds), cactus petal salad and Travis eating a grasshopper taco (with a bit of help from Adam). The guys definitely get their foodie chops for that!

We were sorry to see him leave and excited for him to come back with Steph (we've yet to meet her, but she loves food and wine, loves Travis' dog, has great taste in apartments and is clearly gorgeous, so I've already added them to our favourite couple friends list in my head).

Weekends are the best.

Just Getting Started

Our summer travels, now a few weeks past, were great adventures. And, I think, richly deserved.

All throughout our twenties, Adam and I worked like dogs ... to pay off student debt, to pay off our mortgage, to get into university and through four degrees between us, to take care of our families and each other, to get published, healthy, noticed, happy.

We're hoping to spend most of our thirties traveling and pursuing creative projects (and might eventually spend our forties raising a kid, but hopefully, still traveling and being creative). Most people do it differently, traveling in their twenties, raising kids in their thirties and then bringing careers up to speed in mid-life.

We're thirty-one this summer, it's true. But we feel like we're just getting started.

Emery Leger Beach, New Brunswick

Adam and Chris finally got their annual beach day when we were in New Brunswick in August. It's so gratifying to see Adam with Chris. His face literally lights up when he even hears Chris' voice or sees him on Skype. In person, they can be even geekier together. Johnny and Sarah (with baby, Noah, who has yet to make his appearance) came along too. Babu dug himself a big bed in the wet sand. I 'read' (actually, I think it was more sleeping than reading) on Chris' batik blanket.

Incredible day.

Other People's Weddings

Other people's weddings are so much more fun than your own. ;-) Congratulations, Lukey. Adam was so, so happy to see you with your beautiful bride. Mary is perfect for you. Abram is perfect for a zoo.

Two Kinds of Cake

Cake I - As per my request, Adam ordered my birthday cake from the baker who made our wedding cake. Same flavour, too (vanilla cake with lemon butter cream icing). Knowing me well, he asked for the cake to be decorated in a 'funky and modern' way. Check out those stripes!

Cake II - Adam's little/middle brother, Luke, got married in August. His bride, below, the groom and their baby boy, Abram. Cake was vanilla with white chocolate between the layers. Tasted gorgeous. Wedding was in their own backyard.

Gillian Allison

Once, I was best friends with the coolest girl at Carleton North High School. Gillian had thick gorgeous hair, infectious enthusiasm and loads of compliments for everyone. Consequently, she owned the heart of literally every man within a ten mile radius and only dated varsity athletes. And, to my occasional envy, she lived in a pretty person's bubble and got away with all kinds of murder.

Now Gillian lives with her studly geek (similar to mine) on the North side of Fredericton. At least four rescued cats live with them and their two dogs. Their spare rooms are often occupied by a changeable roster of siblings and freeloading friends. She's still overly generous and still completely hilarious. And she designs sweet upcycled leather bags from her kitchen table for her business, My Old Bags.

Photo courtesy of D-Rex. P.S. Gillian, I like this shot because 'we really look like friends.' ;-)

I still want her to be my BFA.

Lucky, I got to stay with her a couple weeks ago in New Brunswick. She blew up balloons for my birthday and dug up a fan for our bedroom and let me feed leftovers to her dogs and served me tea in fancy, hand-thrown pottery.

I guess if there's one person whose more of a diva than Gillian, it's me.

Marion & Chilihowie, Virginia

During our long planning sessions, Adam and I decided we wanted to finish this journey with real fanfare!

That in mind, we booked a table at Townhouse, a small restaurant in Chilihowie, Virginia, a tiny town north of the Tennessee state line. Finding no place to stay overnight, we reserved a room in nearby Marion, a small town notable mostly for its former glory days. We stayed at the General Francis Marion Inn, critically-acclaimed for sleeping, dining and original art-deco staircases, but found the main street obviously lacking in stores, restaurants and actual human beings. Sagging from the heat and feeling the fine dust of desperation settling on our skin, we decided to hole up in our hotel room until dinner. I eased into a steaming bath in the gleaming white tub while Adam napped into late afternoon, tossing and turning in the room's creaky four-poster bed.

What kind of a bang is this?

Well, it might not sound like much, but to be honest, we were there for that little restaurant I mentioned above.

Town House has a short, but storied history, involving small-town restaurateurs who wanted to do more with their kitchen. They found a young couple (John Shields and Karen Urie looking to run their own show and hired them on, telling them to take whatever risks they wanted, push things toward their own vision.

So smart. Just trusting them to do their thing(s). They drew on their training for the fundamentals (Shields did time at Alinea in NYC and they met working at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago), but their inspiration is drawn from the Appalachians in which Chilihowie is nestled.

In not too much time, the pair were making a name for tiny Chilihowie where Town House is located. A writer from the NYT gave them gold stars and suddenly, people were driving from all over the country to try delicate tubes of shaved vegetable 'minestrone' or chewy, broken 'chocolate' made from cocoa-infused meringue.

No detailed review from this writer. I'm still off-duty. But it was lovely, quirky, surprising and fun. Parts were incredibly delicious. For me, the highlight was a 'deconstructed gazpacho' that clearly channels Michel Bras' iconic natural wonder of a 'salad.'

And it was our anniversary dinner.