The end of 2007

Our last weekend in 2007 was filled with much of the same as the rest of our year – friends, laughs, games, and good eating!

Mark and Richard had us over on Friday for a screening of Waiting for Guffman. It’s a hilarious mockumetary about community theatre, which is oodles more entertaining when you’ve dabbled into community theatre yourself.

We spent Saturday evening with our 11th floor neighbor friends learning how to play their new game, Charoodles, a present from the Hanukkah Fairy. It’s a fun game that incorporates props into Charades. At this fateful evening, Sean gifted Lane a set of dice. These were not just any dice, but percentage dice, 20 sided dice, triangular dice, etc. It was all part of Sean’s plan to rekindle the Dungeons and Dragons fire burning within him. His plan worked, because as soon as we got home, Lane started searching through boxes that have remained unopened for years looking for his D&D books.

We spent a quiet new years eve with our 12th floor neighbors, Dan & Julia. We played games, had snacks and toasted to the new year. I’m so glad we’ve made friends with people in our building.

Yesterday, we used up some of our gift cards and then caught a movie with Sean & Jess – Charlie Wilson’s War. It was really an interesting film based on events I had little knowledge of before seeing the movie. It was informative and also entertaining. Sean & Jess joined us later that evening to help us attack the remaining Special Dessert in our refrigerator.

Some of our memorable 2007 moments have been:
Starting out the new year at a Gov't Mule Concert in NY
A visit from my mom early in the year
Going to Africa!
Our trip to CA to visit family and attend Matt James’ wedding
The Keane Concert
Our trip to Indiana
Our new niece, Mina, who was born on our wedding anniversary
Countless Game nights
All our New York visits
Another Gov't Mule Concert
Our vacation to the Dominican Republic
Sharing Thanksgiving with my brother and niece
Making new friends
And, of course, deciding to expand our little Grover family :)

I didn’t even bother cooking a splendid New Year’s dinner since we had tons of left overs from our culinary adventures earlier in the weekend. First, I am delighted that I can buy Gilroy garlic in Arlington, VA. On the side of my Costco sized garlic clove container was a recipe for garlic pasta. It was delicious. We heated up some olive oil, added lots of minced garlic, diced Portobello mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and a TON of chopped fresh parsley. We mixed that up with spaghetti and lots of parmesan cheese. Alongside that, we feasted on spicy Italian sausage sandwiches with bell peppers and onions that were sautéed in red wine, Dijon mustard, and a little tomato paste. Mmmm.

I also marinated some flank steak in a cilantro garlic pesto mixture and then used it in a stir fry loaded with green veggies – cabbage, sugar snap peas, broccoli, edamame, and bunches other. It was perfect with our basmati rice.

While I love being in the kitchen, it’s sometimes hard to decide what the heck to have for dinner every night without repeating lots of dishes. This is why I LOVE when Lane asks me to cook something. More on this after tonight’s dinner :)