Weddings and Ball Games
July 20, 2009
What a weekend! I spent most of it outside -- in the woods and in the city -- and an amusing hour or so deep in a cellar in Silver Spring.
Let's start with a wedding in the woods!
On Saturday, my juggling pal Amy married her sweetheart Seth at Gambrill State Park near Frederick, Maryland. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was a small, delightful, beautiful casual wedding.The ceremony was held on the balcony of a little stone cabin perched on the edge of the mountain, overlooking the valley. After the vows, we all went back into the cabin for the reception -- a crab feast! And what a feast it was: steamed crabs, fried chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad, cole slaw, and good bread and rolls. Oh! I forgot about watermelon! The party favors were inscribed crab mallets and jars of Old Bay spice.
Joe and I had great fun instructing the less crab-picking knowledgeable about the best way to pick the sweet meat out of the shell.
And then! The polka band struck up a lively tune out on the patio. The bride and groomed danced their wedding polka and lots of folks joined in. Joe and I, being polka challenged, waited for a waltz, but we did dance. But the piece de resistance was this wonderful cake -- half almond with strawberry filling, half red velvet, and all delicious. It fact, I guess you could call it a crab cake! (Sorry.) (Not.) See the little bride and groom crabs? And the Old Bay and Mallet are also cake! Too cute for words.
On Sunday we went to our first Washington Nationals baseball game. Our seats were on the third base line, right behind the foul pole, in full sun. Good thing the temperature was only in the 80s and the humidity was low -- we baked instead of steamed.
This was my first visit to Nationals park. I love it; it's really a great ballpark, with every kind of great ballpark food you can imagine. I had a Ben's Chili Bowl classic half smoke, followed by a lovely icy lemon gelato. And plenty of water. Whew! The afternoon would have been perfect if the Naionals had won; alas, the Cubs delivered a beatdown to the poor DC team.
Even so, it was still a lot of fun...
In the sun...
With a home run...
by Adam Dunn!
There's more (oh boy, is there more!), but this post is already long enough. Stay tuned for the saga of Hardcore Sunday!