Bon Appetit

For her birthday, my roommate Kelly received a cooking class at CulinAerie, a cooking school in downtown DC. After attending the class, Kelly wanted to return to the school, but this time as a volunteer. Kelly asked if I would be interested in joining her and I jumped at the opportunity.

The class that we volunteered for was called "Channeling your inner Julia Childs" and was centered around French cuisine. Our instructor, Susan Holt, was engaging and made cooking the traditional French cuisine easy!

As volunteers, Kelly and I arrived about an hour early to help prep the ingredients and cooking stations for the students. Once the class started we got to watch Susan's demonstration and then lend a hand to the students cooking; making sure they were following the steps to complete the meals and generously filling their wine glasses when empty (after all, cooking is more fun when you have a glass of wine handy).

The environment of the class was amazing. Everyone was having a fantastic time, including us volunteers. The class was about 3 hours long and included instruction and food and beverage. Once the class was over, it was our turn to enjoy the meal. Susan whipped up all three courses for us and then sat down to share dinner with us. I am looking forward to going back for both as a student and volunteer and would recommend that everyone else do the same!

http://www.culinaerie.com/

BREAKING NEWS

Olivia said "Sue" last night while I was talking to Victoria on the phone. She is definitely a babbling fool these days, but nothing sounded sweeter than when I heard her say this.

Pretty sure that concludes it, I am officially the favorite aunt....

I can't sit still...

Okay, that's a lie because I have been sitting still on this couch for the past 5 hours practically. If you're judging, you should be ashamed. It's Sunday, there's football on and I ate too much Wendy's earlier to be any ounce of productive.

However, on any other day besides (most) Sundays, you won't typically find me sitting still unless it's forced upon me. Jogging in place or doing a self choreographed dance routine in my cubicle isn't "work appropriate" I guess, or is it? The past couple of weekends have been no exception to this.

Last weekend, Steve and I ventured to Old Rag Mountain to do one of my favorite hikes. Anytime a hike includes a rock scramble in the description, you can sign me up. The hike is located just a little north of Luray, VA and is about 8 miles long. You may question your choice of choosing the hike while you are winding up the mountain, but once you get to the top, the views are worth it.

Pictures of our success below and a nice snapshot of "Angry Steve".