Ice Skating

We went ice skating with some friends and had a great time. I wasn't sure how well Robert could ice skate so I had my camera ready to take pics of anything that may occur. He actually did better than me (not that that is saying much at all) but as you can see, I did catch a slip and giggled as I clicked away. Actually, I only captured it because he was attempting ice tricks...you know, the kind where you stop real hard and the ice sprays up, yup that'd be what he was doing. I didn't want to miss out on the trick shots so I handed him the camera and my "tricks" consisted of skating on one leg (while holding onto the wall) and twirling (yeah right, I just put my arms up like those fancy ice skaters do and told him to take the picture). Who knows maybe next time we'll try tricks for couple skating?!

The Story of the Black Pecan Pie

Hmmmmm, homemade pecan pie, am I right? I'm right. So, that's what I set out for. I asked around and got a good recipe for us to make our very own Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving. Meticulously, I followed marthastewart.com's directions, except, of course, when the recipe called for arranging the pecan halves in concentric circles around the pie. I mean, really, what am I? Betty Crocker? It's not going on the cover of Southern Living, it's going in my mouth. I scattered the pecans about and ensured they covered the entirety of the pie. In the oven it went and off to play the Wii... wii went. 15 minutes to go and, and from the kitchen, the sweetest and most innocent voice managed to utter the most horrific question: "umm, why is the pecan pie black?"

"What?!?!?!..." and I'm sure you can imagine, the pie was black because, quite simply, it was burnt. Lacking the resilience of delicious Omaha steaks (see "Historic St. Mary's City"), the pie was subject to overexposure of the oven elements. Misinformed by Stewart's online recipe, the pie I had been looking forward to for well over three weeks, now sat like an exile on the counter. It's not a total loss, though. Masked by gratuitous amounts of ice cream, the pie can be eaten, but the taste is bitter sweet, both literally and figuratively. And now, Martha, you owe me a pecan pie. So, if any of you see her around, squeeze her until a pecan pie pops out.

So, off to DC we went after Thanksgiving day. Unfortunately, no amount of city walking could possibly offset the 7700 calories consumed in one sitting, but apparently Lincoln couldn't care less. He just stared.

Tia standing in front of a tree and looking good as can be. I'm digging the winter look.
Here we are with Bill, the mascot of the US Naval Academy. During the first Army-Navy football game, in 1980, the Navy needed a mascot and picked up a goat on the way to West Point. They beat Army 24-0 and three years later, the goat became the permanent Navy mascot.

This is the bell, which was given to the Navy by the Japanese, which is rung everytime Navy beats Army in football. There was another bell which was rung everytime Navy beat Army in any other sport.

That's a cannon.

They say the first thing most people learn when they go to USNA is "Go Navy, Beat Army" and sure enough that was one of the first things we learned, the first was that the Navy has an academy.

Thank you Jane and Marty Horn for a wonderful weekend. Can't wait for Christmas!!