My fun weekend!

Now that more things have opened up as the pandemic wanes (but still continues...), I can actually pack my weekends like I did in the "before times"! Here were the highlights of my busy weekend:

1. Goat yoga

I had heard of goat yoga a while back, and I knew Beth Wolfe had organized goat yoga events for some time. But I had never gone until Saturday! It's hosted inside a church, which I think is funny; I guess we were inside since the church doesn't have a fenced-in area for the animals to be outside but not run away. This event was special because there were six baby goats there who were only a few weeks old! They weren't quite used to people yet, so this was a chance for them to be around humans and see that we aren't going to hurt them. They are so adorable! I'd say in the hour I was there, five minutes were spent on yoga, and the rest of the time was watching/petting/taking pictures of goats. You can see how the goats would be distracting:

I had previously done kangaroo yoga with the same instructor. While I can't say these kinds of events are the most strenuous yoga classes, they are definitely the most fun! I want to try kitten or puppy yoga next!

Image found here

2. Van Gogh Exhibition: The Immersive Experience

My boyfriend bought tickets for this, and I was certainly curious what it was, especially since I love art by the impressionists. We were out near Ivy City, and it was this huge space that had been converted into an interactive museum for this exhibition. I really enjoyed learning more about Van Gogh; I didn't know much about his real life beforehand. I think my favorite part was when you entered a huge room where his art was projected all over the walls and even on the floor! The paintings had been digitized and then moved and morphed like animations. We were cuddled up on pillows on the floor just watching the art dance around us. If you've been to ARTECHOUSE before, then it's kind of like that. The tickets are a little expensive, so had I not been invited by someone else, I'm not sure I would have paid to see a famous artists' works be projected on walls (I'd rather see the real thing!). But it was a fun, different experience. But bring a sweater: it's cold in there (even though they aren't protecting real art...). OR you could get a taste of it from YouTube:

Image found here

3. Drinks and Dinner after Van Gogh

After the art exhibit, my boyfriend and I wanted to go out for cocktails. Right down the street from the exhibit, we found Metrobar (which he had read about). It was a fun outdoor space with lots of picnic tables (and cute dogs!) to enjoy your drinks al fresco. All of the cocktails use spirits from local distilleries, like Republic Restoratives, One Eight, and Cotton & Reed; I love all of those places, so I think that's a great idea. They also had hard seltzers from DC Brau, which I didn't try but want to at some point! It's a cool spot in an up-and-coming area of the city. 

Image found here

4. Dinner at Via Ghibellina

After looking at the art and having a drink at Metrobar, we went into the heart of Ivy City and had dinner at. I had never been there before, but that's because they opened during the pandemic. It was packed, so clearly it's a popular spot! Their cocktails are also good (and actually cheaper than a glass of wine?). They handmake the pasta there, and the pizza is delicious! I don't think of myself as a pizza snob by any means, but after having their pizza, I realized I hadn't had real, authentic pizza for a long time. I highly recommend checking out this place! After dinner, we briefly walked around the area. Now I want to go back there to visit Gravitas, City Winery, and a new brewery, Other Half; they all have great rooftop spaces!

Our other friend Emily took the picture. Her finger is there to represent.

5. Polo Match with the DC Polo Society

I went to this event two years ago before the pandemic, and it was so much fun! So when I heard it was coming back, I had to go. Four of my girlfriends and I piled into my car and drove up to Poolesville to watching the horses. The set-up was different from last time. Previously, they had this outdoor area with picnic tables and such where you could sit and enjoy food and drinks. But this time, we had to drive to the other side of the fields, where there is no structure; you had to be prepared to tailgate. I did not realize this ahead of time, but we lucked out: someone had paid for three private tents, but we got there early, so we took over one of those and acted like we owned the place (we figured we'd move if someone asked us to). Luckily we were able to sit in the shade there in chairs (not in the grass in our lovely outfits) the entire time we were there. And each party got a free bottle of wine, so that was a nice surprise! We had so much fun enjoying the beautiful weather, chit-chatting, and watching the horses run back and forth. Anytime I get to eat and/or drink outside, I'm happy!

Image found here

6. Windridge Vineyards

Although there were technically two polo matches, one is certainly enough. So we left early and drove just a little bit aways to Windridge Vineyards, a new winery that opened up during the pandemic. I was there a few weeks ago with my boyfriend for the first time, so I had already discovered it and had made reservations for my girlfriends after the polo. Thank goodness I did: the place was packed! We had a nice picnic table all to ourselves looking out over the vineyard and enjoying the sun sinking lower into the sky. I helped myself to a glass of their bubbly rose, and we had dinner from the food truck there from Bangin BBQ (very good, btw). It was the perfect way to end such a lovely girls day!

I packed a lot in this past weekend, and next weekend will be no different!

My 2021 Labor Day Weekend

I always like to travel for long weekends, but with the pandemic still looming, I didn't want to go too far. So my dad and I went to New York City for a quick trip. We of course visited my grandma, but we had lots of other fun adventures, too! Here were the highlights of my trip:

1. Yankees vs. Orioles baseball game

Going to baseball games is one of my favorite summer activities, and after more than a year without sports, I want to go to as many games as possible! I'm from Maryland, so when I saw that the O's would be playing against the Yankees, I had to get tickets. Yankee Stadium is beautiful, and they actually allow you to bring your own food in so you don't have to pay $20 for some chicken tenders and fries. So we enjoyed a sub from a local deli as we watched the game. It started off slow, but in the end the Orioles won! They've had a pretty bad season, so you could hear the disappoint of the Yankees fans, since their team is so much better. I heard one guy say, "Come on, it's Baltimore!" But I was happy my team won!

2. Dinner at Ben's Kosher Deli

We used to always go to Ben's Best on Queen's Boulevard, but that has sadly closed. So we went to this restaurant, which is a chain, but still has very good food. We enjoyed all the classics: matzoh ball soup, half-sour pickles, knishes, corned beef sandwiches...the only thing missing was the black-and-white cookie! But since Rosh Hashanah was coming up, my grandmother had a yummy coffee cake for dessert waiting at home. Such good food!

You can see the globe for the 1964 World's Fair in the background.

3. The U.S. Open

I had gone to the U.S. Open for the first time three years ago, also during the Labor Day holiday (how convenient that this tennis tournament always takes place over a long weekend!). I was excited to go back again, even though I didn't recognize the names of the players we would see. We arrived early so I could buy my souvenir towel (smaller than the one you get at Wimbledon), and we watched two general admission matches. The match between Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens in Louis Armstrong Stadium was very good, especially knowing that they are partners in doubles and have won tournaments together! Then we saw the up-and-coming Carlos Alcaraz beat Peter Gojowczyk in the Grandstand. We finally made our way to Arthur Ashe Stadium for the evening's main event. Felix Auger-Aliassime from Canada defeated American Frances Tiafoe; I normally would root for any American, but it was getting so late I wanted Auger-Aliassime to win so we could get it over with. By the time the match was over, it was nearly 11:00 p.m., so we didn't even stay for the women's match. But we still got to watch three matches, so we certainly got our money's worth.

Such a fun weekend! I'll be heading back to NYC next month and do totally different things. Stay tuned!

Alanis Morissette Concert

Image found here

I originally bought tickets to see Alanis Morissette at Merriweather Post Pavilion not necessarily because I like her music (though I do!), but because Garbage was opening for her. My dad and I have seen Garbage perform multiple times*, so I wanted to get us tickets to see them again. But by the time I looked into tickets, lawn seats were sold out! So I  ponied up the dough to treat us to real seats; my dad had never had real seats at that venue before, and I think I only had once before, so I figured we'd pamper ourselves.

Last night we arrived just as gates opened and enjoyed our packed dinner (so nice that they let you bring your own food in!). We wandered the grounds a little after we ate, and then we moseyed our way to our seats. We were pretty close, too!

Cat Power was the first opener. I had heard her name before, but I wasn't familiar with her music. I felt bad that she was up on stage all alone and the half-empty crowd wasn't even listening. I think most of us were just waiting for her 30-minute set to be over with. But Garbage was next, and we were psyched! I didn't realize they had a new album out (No Gods No Masters), so unfortunately I didn't know most of the songs they sang. And they didn't sing any songs from their Bleed Like Me album, which is my favorite one (or Strange Little Birds for that matter). But here's a taste of their set list:

The Men Who Rule the World (probably my favorite of their new songs)

Personal Jesus (I liked their choice of cover song.)

And of course they did perform some of their hit songs:

Stupid Girl

I Think I'm Paranoid

Push It

When I Grow Up

I'm Only Happy When it Rains (Great encore song)

Then Alanis came on with her long blonde hair, wear an oversized orange, bedazzled T-shirt. Since 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of Alanis' huge album, Jagged Little Pill, I knew almost all her songs. She sang all the hits from that album, and even songs from there that I thought for sure she wouldn't do. It was fun singing along, and the crowd loved it! I liked how her band would play soft introductions before each song to give you a clue to what song to expect next. And on the large screen behind her, mini music-videos were playing that related to each song, which I enjoyed watching as well.

All I Really Want

Right Through You (I LOVE this song!)

Hand in My Pocket

Ironic (The crowd probably sang half the song for Alanis; we were so loud!)

You Oughta Know (HUGE hit!)

Ablaze (A song for her daughter. I had never heard it before, but I liked it a lot.)

You Learn

Perfect (I wasn't expecting her to perform this one.)

Head Over Feet (The crowd loved this and we were singing along the entire time. Such a romantic song!)

Uninvited (This song always makes me think of the movie, City of Angels.)

Mary Jane (Another one I wasn't expecting to hear)

Your House (I hadn't heard this one before. She mostly kept singing the chorus repeatedly, but the band changed up the style of music each time for a sort-of repeat medley.)

Thank U (An odd choice for an encore, I thought. But I guess it was to express thanks during this whole COVID time when we are all thinking about what we are thankful for.)

Such a fun concert! I hadn't been to this venue since August of 2019, and it was great to be back for such an amazing show!

*Here are the links to my previous blog posts about Garbage:

Garbage at Lincoln Theatre (2018)

Garbage at Wolf Trap (2017)

Garbage at Lincoln Theatre (2016)

Garbage at the 9:30 Club (2015)

2021 Delaware State Fair

Growing up, my family went to the Delaware State Fair every year.* Of course we couldn't go last year because of COVID-19, so I was excited that the fair was back in 2021! I immediately looked up the concerts at the fair, and as soon as I saw that Jo Dee Messina and Tracy Byrd were performing together, I bought tickets. I wasn't going to miss that, especially after a year-plus without live music!

My dad and I arrived well before showtime so that we could check out the rest of the fair. I am not sure if this is related to the pandemic, but there were not nearly as many farm animals as in the past. There were lots of sheep and goats, as well as a handful of cows and pigs. But there were no horses, chickens, rabbits... that was a bummer. But here are some photos my dad took of the cuties we did see:

And of course I enjoyed my annual funnel cake!

Some friends joined us for the concert, and it was so much fun! I had already seen Messina in concert a few years ago (read that blog post here), so I knew what to expect (i.e. some proselytizing mixed in with her hits). But this was the first time I saw Byrd in concert. He sang a lot of cover songs that I didn't recognize, but he performed some of his best hits, too. Check them out:

Just Let Me Be In Love

Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo

Lifestyles of the Not so Rich and Famous

I'm from the Country

Drinkin' Bone

I Wanna Feel That Way Again

Watermelon Crawl

Such a fun night! Just one more thing I'm so glad to have back after the pandemic!

*Read my blog post from the DE State Fair in 2016 and about the Reba concert I saw there in 2019.

Recipe: Cranberry Orange Bread

I was inspired to make a loaf of orange bread when my roommate bought dried orange slices from Trader Joe's:

I thought I could put them on top of the bread for a pretty decoration. But I was afraid the dough underneath would not cook, so I thought I'd add them when the bread was half-way done. That did not work. At that point the top of the loaf was already quite baked, so the orange slices would have just sat on top as opposed to being actually baked into the bread. So now we still have the orange slices left. Oh well. 

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com, and it looked pretty easy. I didn't have any cranberries or Craisins, so I strictly made orange bread. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1.5 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into small chunks
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tbl. grated orange juice
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup chopped cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a standard baking loaf pan.

2. Combine all dry ingredients. Stir butter into the flour mixture. Add wet ingredients and mix well. Fold in cranberries and walnuts. Spoon into prepared pan. 

3. Bake in the oven until toothpick inserted comes clean, about 60-75 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

As you can see, my bread is a little burnt and not very tall. It was only until I was typing the ingredient list did I realize I had forgotten the baking soda. Oops! But in the end, the bread did taste very good. It tastes like an orange muffin. It's only a bit dry, but it would go great with coffee or a large glass of milk. I would make it again!

Recipe: Soft Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

I knew I wanted to bake cookies this past weekend, but since I haven't been home in over a month, I didn't have any special ingredients in the house. But I didn't want to bake chocolate chip cookies; I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I don't really like them and think they're boring. But I did already have sprinkles in the pantry, so I thought I'd make sprinkle cookies. 

I googled "easy sprinkle cookies" and this was the first recipe that popped up. Any cookie recipe with the word "soft" in the title is good by me! I'm not sure I had made any recipes from the Celebrating Sweets blog before, but I was up for trying this one. 

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to cool room temp
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract, optional
• ¾ cup sprinkles

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter until smooth. Slowly pour in the sugar, mixing as you pour. Beat sugar and butter for a minute, until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract, mixing until combined and scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add ½ cup sprinkles and stir by hand until combined.
• Scoop a heaping tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball (or use a 1 ½ tablespoon scoop). Place ¼ cup sprinkles on a plate and press the tops of the dough balls in additional sprinkles (optional). Place dough balls onto prepared baking sheet leaving about an inch for spreading. 
• Bake for 8-10 minutes. The edges should be completely set, and the centers should look slightly under cooked, they will finish cooking while cooling on the baking sheet.
• Place the baking sheets on wire racks to cool. Repeat with remaining dough once the baking sheets are completely cool.

Very easy recipe, and SO YUMMY! These cookies turned out just as I had hope. I frequently have the bad habit of waiting until cookies start to get golden, but that would have meant these were overdone. So I only did 8 minutes, and that was perfect! I did not put sprinkles on the outside, and even though the website said specifically not to melt the butter, mine was mostly melted and it worked out fine. I also made the cookies probably half the size, just so I could get more of them (and even then I only ended up with 25). Very quick to make; I would totally make this recipe again!

4th of July in Los Angeles

I always like to take a trip for the 4th of July (well, other than during 2020 because of the pandemic). Several years ago, I kind of started a random tradition: I would visit a friend over the holiday, and the Baltimore Orioles would just happen to be playing the home city team. This happened during my trip to Seattle and a visit to Wisconsin. When I looked up who the Orioles were playing this year over Independence Day, it was the Los Angeles Angels. My sister lives in L.A., so I figured that's where I should go!

After a long morning of flying, we laid low at home, eating a Sunbasket lunch and watching the new Full Bloom show on HBO Max. I had just seen Maurice Harris on the Try Guys, so I was excited to see his series. After just chilling out (and taking a much-needed nap), it was time to head out for the baseball game!

I love the big baseball caps! And you can't tell, but I'm wearing my patriotic O's shirt.

I had never been to the Angels stadium before, so that was fun to check out. They sell a lot of monkey stuffed animals in the gift shops; I'm not sure what that's about. And they only had one food stand that sold chicken tenders. One! I feel like those are just as standard as hotdogs these days. But in the end I had something better:

Helmet nachos. Yes, it's a thing, and yes, they're delicious.

Another weird animal thing at this stadium: We're all used to hearing Queen songs at sporting events, but not quite like this video they showed on the Tron:

But about the actual game. The Orioles were ahead for a few innings, but then the Angels came back, winning by one run. We saw their superstar Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs and steal a base. He was certainly the MVP of the game, and he brought home a win for the Angels. Here's a recap of the whole game if you're interested.

On Saturday we mostly hung out in my sister's neighborhood. She took me for a walk in the Sepulveda Wildlife Area, since I always enjoy nature walks. It's interesting to see the different kinds of plants and animals that live in a drier climate than what I'm used to. I especially liked seeing some local squirrels run through their burrows, and we saw two female Allen's hummingbirds! Even though it was hot (and our shoulders did get a bit sunburned), it was nice to walk around and get our steps in.

We got to see more beautiful nature the next day at the Rose Garden at USC. I was in heaven! All of the roses were so beautiful; I must have taken a hundred photos. The varieties were all so cool, and they had fun names like "Secret," "Twilight Zone," "Dark Desire," and more. Here are just a few of them:

This was my favorite of the day!

This bee was voguing for me!

This plane is at the entrance to the California Science Center.

Our next stop was the California Science Center. On an earlier drive, I saw a poster for a Lego exhibit there, and I just had to see it! "The Art of the Brick" exhibit did not disappoint. Nathan Sawaya creates amazing pieces of art from LEGO. I'll let the pieces speak for themselves:

Recreation of the Girl with the Pearl Earring

It's hard to tell in the photo, but the waves are 3D!

A 2D LEGO "painting" of the artist's girlfriend

Photo credit: Tony Castillo

There was an entire zoo section! I liked the flamingos a lot!

One section featured photographs by Dean West that imposed images of LEGO creations into the picture. In this one, the dress is made of LEGO!

While the LEGO exhibit brought us to the museum, we wanted to check out what else there was to see. I'm not particularly interested in space exploration, but I was definitely into seeing their "Ecosystems" exhibits. The kelp forest one was my favorite. It felt like a miniature aquarium! We got to see so many cool animals; we even had the chance to touch sea urchins and sea stars. I could have spent hours in there just watching the animals do their thing. 

Photo credit: Tony Castillo

That's what the bottom of a sea star looks like!

Since we were in the area and it wasn't quite lunch time, we decided to check out the California African American Museum instead. It's a smaller museum and free to visit. I liked the interesting art, but I was disappointed that I couldn't make a donation at the museum. Even online, there's no simple donation form: you have to email someone to inquire about making a donation! Why would a museum make it so difficult to get themselves some money?!

Taylor and I went with her friends Darren and JP. Darren had never seen Dirty Dancing before!

We ended the 4th of July with an outdoor movie screening at the Hollywood Cemetery (sounds creepy, but it's just a big lawn!). Cinespia, a local movie theater, puts on these screenings, and this time they were showing Dirty Dancing, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. We had our little picnic set-up and enjoyed free snacks from Whole Foods and Smirnoff popsicles. Then it was show-time! I loved how the audience would react to the movie, like swooning when Patrick Swayze is first on screen. And right at the end when he lifts Baby up in the air, a single firework went off at the perfect moment. As the credits were rolling, the real fireworks show began, and it was fun being able to lay on the grass and just watch the bursts of color in the air right above us. So cool! It sounds like they host these outdoor movies throughout the summer and into the fall; if I lived in L.A., I would go to these all the time!

I think Taylor's friend Darren took this photo. How cool!

Vegan tacos, a generous portion of guacamole, and a raspberry margarita from Sugar Taco. Yum!

Whenever I visit my sister, we always eat at great restaurants. We had breakfast one morning at Marmalade Café; everything on the menu looked so good! I think I had been there before on a previous trip, but I honestly would eat there every time I see my sister (plus, they have a Groupon!). We also enjoyed vegan tacos at Sugar Taco, and you could have totally fooled me with those veggie meats! Right around the corner from her place, we enjoyed dinner from Rustic Spoon (a Thai restaurant with a farm-to-table name), and after the museums we went to the diner House of Pies, as featured on Jerry Seinfeld's show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (read about the episode here). My sister and I lamented on the fact that our stomachs are only so big: we wanted to eat everything! We didn't get to go to all the restaurants we had talked about, so we'll keep them on the list for my next visit. 

Bavarian chocolate banana cream pie with the best whipped cream!

Can't wait to go back to L.A.!