Like the Dollar Store of Restaurants

Although I had originally planned on spending the entire weekend knitting on the sock you saw in the "stuck in traffic" entry, plans change and friends throw impromptu Preakness gatherings. I won't tell you about Friday night, as it was the usual standing dinner appointment we have with my folks.

Saturday, we ran a bunch of errands. I went to the new yarn store on Main Street in Laurel. It's fairly small and only carries a limited selection of yarn from a particular company. There's a beginners crochet class next month I might take. After the yarn shop, we went to a couple consignment/thrift/junk shops along Main Street and then had lunch at Red Hot & Blue. Yum!

After shopping for Gourmet Tuesday groceries, we hung out for a bit and were invited to Freddy's to watch Preakness. Johnny was on call and wasn't really up to leaving the house, but I talked him into bringing a work shirt and his little van to Freddy's. Freddy cooked up some yummy steak, chicken, corn and potatoes. Two kinds of pie (chocolate satin and a key lime) for dessert.

For $10 a pick, we threw in our cash and randomly picked a horse from slips of paper in a hat. In previous years, Freddy or William would write the horse's name, the odds, and some trivial facts about the horse on the slip. Of course, the "facts" were usually made up... things like what the horse ate or where it was born. This year, it was just the name on cut up pieces of William's business card.

We all thought Johnny would be the big winner when he picked Barbaro. I had Hemingway's Key. The pot went to Mike, who picked Baldini or whatever the horse's name was. We should have done something like $50 for win, $30 for place and $10 to show. I would have gotten my money back! Maybe I should insist on that next time instead of doing the "winner takes all" thing. OK... yes, I'm bitter. Isn't it more fun when you have multiple winners though?

Anyway, after the race, we hung out on the back deck. Johnny was called down to Longfellow Street -- someone probably picked up the emergency phone in the elevator, which sends a message to the call service as if there was an emergency. No emergency, of course. Probably some ninny playing with the elevator. He quickly returned to the party and shortly afterwards, we were joined by Mangey and Susie, who had been working a wedding. Good times.

Sunday, Johnny was introduced to his first Taste of East Kensington (aka Wheaton). Every dish is a dollar and you get a pretty good sized tasting portion. It beats the other "Taste of" festivals in the DC area in that you don't have to buy stupid tickets. I think Bethesda is something crazy like 7 tickets for $20. And some of the booths want 2 or 3 tickets for a teeny portion.

The weather was really weird. When we left William's to walk up to the festival, it had started to rain a little. By the time we got up there, it was sunnier and warm. And then cloudy. Then sunny. Then breezy and very overcast. But the food was yummy. I tell ya... put meat on a stick and grill it... people line up like you're giving away crack! I had some delicious sweet basil chicken and rice, some roasted pork with red beans and rice, a pupusa and some cake (not a bad meal for $4). We hung out at the Los Cobanos bar for beers and margaritas but it was too hot in there to hang out. After listening to a bluesy band on the live stage and watching this chick dancing all... well, white trashy*, we parted ways with the chums and headed home.

On the plate this week... another dentist appointment, Gourmet Tuesday, Chumados play at Cabin John (sorry team, it's too far for us to haul our toocuses there) and then OBX-bound on Saturday! There's going to be some new folks at the beach this time (not new to us, just new to the normal beach group). The best part is there will be more cooks in the house and I may just sleep in (unless someone desperately wants Sausage Gravy and Biscuits)! Woot!

*** Since Cuello Roho asked, "white trash" in Thai is "khaya khaao". I know you'll butcher the pronounciation, so I'll tell ya later, K.