Go together well

We went to DC yesterday for a great day with friends. We started the day (at around noon) at Union Market, a recently-revitalized open air farmers' market with delicious ready-to-eat food, as well as fresh produce, meats, bread, and a variety of other artisanal products to buy. We wandered around and ate several tasty things: tacos from TaKorean (Korean style bulgogi beef in a taco), an empanada from DC Empanadas , lamb meatball sliders...and really amazing ice cream from Trickling Springs Creamery . We also picked up a variety of items (sausages, produce, and a baguette) for dinner before heading to Kingman Island  for a bluegrass festival.  {union market}   The weather was perfect for sitting on blankets, people- (and dog-) watching, and drinking beer the  bluegrass festival . We wandered on some of the trails and hoped to win a bike raffle (we didn't).  {bluegrass festival--plenty of bike parking!} We finished off the day at our friends' house...

My brother-in-law Mark is planning to go to Spain in May for a friend's wedding and to do some traveling. He asked for advice about things to do in Granada and southern Spain, so I got to reminisce about one (actually, two...because we went back for our honeymoon!) of the best times in my life (so far)!  I could talk about Granada for days...but instead I'll just share pictures of my favorite things: {views of the city from the Alhambra} { churros con chocolate } { tapas bars} {random Americans who  buy you roses and whom  you later marry} maybe that was specific to me {activities in caves: flamenco, night clubs } photo by Emily Guerra {wonderful Spanish women who make awesome food like s almorejo and tortillas } {views of the Alhambra from the Mirador de San Nicolas } photo by Ali Dumler {granadas (pomegranates) everywhere!} {Arab influence: the Alhambra, teterias (tea houses), the Albayzin, Arab baths } {general ama...

We got back to Baltimore late last night after a lovely weekend in Chicago, during which time we got to see lots of family and friends and to celebrate the baptism of a very sweet baby boy! {GP3 and "the Godfather"} We enjoyed too much good food (as we usually do when we go to Chicago), including wine and cheese at Bar Pastoral  (the cheese menu contained vivid descriptors like "curd-sey" and "squidgy"), tropical drinks (the "Dr. Fong") with Chinese food at Chef Shangri-La , and a cauliflower melt at the Marion Street Cheese Market . After such a food-filled weekend, I think we'll be eating salad for a few days! Regarding Earth Day: we did one of the worst things a person could do on Earth Day--we rode in an airplane. One of my greatest hopes is for someone to invent a solar-powered airplane that can fly as fast and carry as many passengers as a 747...because I love doing things to reduce my carbon footprint , but I also love to trave...

We flew to Chicago last night for the baptism of this little guy: {sweet nephew, baby Greg} We're hoping to see as many of our Chicago friends as possible this weekend--and we always have a list of must-eat food when we're here: Chicago-style hotdogs (our favorite place looked like this yesterday), dim sum in China Town, and the occasional Uncle Remus (best fried chicken in the history of the universe--probably). A couple of links for today: A dear friend's co-worker and friend was severely injured in the Boston Marathon bombing. Here is a link to raise money for her medical bills. On a much lighter note, I just received an email (through my Food Technology course) about this new aquaponics farm in Chicago!

I'm enrolled in a really interesting class called Food Technology & Health , and today we had a guest lecturer: Marianne Gillette, the Vice President of Applied Research at McCormick , who is quoted in this article   from Forbes. She talked about product development and the best-selling new food products of 2011 (table from foodprocessing.com ): {the only one I've tried is Pretzel M&M's...delicious}  Other random things... This article from the New York Times about the science of addictive junk food--fascinating (and scary)! A test to see if your smile still works . Mine does! A nice essay about marathon spectators. {a friendly sidewalk in Charles Village }