What do birthday parties and dragons have in common?Nothing.
Unless you’re LLC – i.e. mildly obsessed with all things China, possessing the skill and patience to make 200+ dumplings for 17 people, it is the Year of the Dragon, and your birthday is simultaneously a Chinese New Year Party.
So happy Year of the Dragon, and Happy Birthday LLC!
On Saturday night a troop of us trooped up to Glover Park for a Chinese New Year feast. We arrived to an apartment decorated with red streamers and lanterns and fortune cookies and those little red envelopes you give to kids for good luck. LLC outdid herself with the food: she made longevity noodles for long life, and 7 kinds of dumplings: shrimp/egg (my personal favorite), mushroom/cabbage, eggplant, sweet potato, spinach/mushroom/tofu, chive/mung bean, and noodles/mushrooms.
Her other China-loving friends made butter tofu and a delicious mushroom and eggplant dish. And I, of course, provided the birthday cake. Needless to say, we were stuffed. But before this Chinese ridiculousness on Saturday, Friday night I went out on H st (“H street? That’s far!” -- watch the video if you don’t know what I’m referring to). SpeedyKate and I hit up Khan’s (Mongolian, aka yum!), followed by The Pug.
My other weekend events included 3 hours and 20 minutes of pooling (not all at once – that’s an 80-minute run on Saturday followed by a 2-hour run on Sunday). Don’t worry, nothing is wrong with me. I’m just in the pool keeping SpeedyKate company.
(Baked and Wired is our favorite bakery and coffee shop. If you haven't been...you MUST go!)
6x6: Of course! I’ll meet you there in 15!
I love that I can always rely on her to meet me for coffee and/or baked goods. We convened at the shop. First we ordered our coffees (small regular, a dash of cream and one sugar for me). Then we went to the bakery side and contemplated the cookie and cupcake options. Hmmmmm….OMG. THEY HAVE CHEESECAKE. All cookie considerations were promptly pushed aside and we ordered a piece to split.
While snacking, we strategized 6x6’s new running plans, my work goals, our friends’ relationships, and just generally everything about the upcoming week.
Hope you too had a wonderful weekend!
