Happy Early Thanksgiving!

It's November, and that means it's Thanksgiving time. My friend and co-worker Nathalie, who is also one of Anastasia's favorite babysitters, throws a Thanksgiving dinner for her friends. This year, in order to fit in to Nathalie's super busy schedule, she ended up doing it on Veterans Day.

The dinner is sort of potluck, where each person is assigned a particular dish to bring. My assignment, a vegetable side dish, was actually pretty open ended, which I liked. I decided to do creamed spinach, which is super easy to make, and rich enough in flavor that I felt like it wouldn't get lost on plates laden with turkey, stuffing and gravy. The spinach made, Anastasia and I headed out.

She was very nervous when we arrived because she didn't recognize many faces. It didn't take her long to notice the cheese and crackers, which she at in abundance. She also enjoyed looking at Baby Colin, who was attending his first Thanksgiving. By the time we sat down for dinner, though, she was doing great.



Anastasia really enjoyed the turkey, the cranberry sauce, and the stuffing. Not so much with the mashed potatoes, or the creamed spinach. Well, vegetables were worth a shot.

Before we said goodnight, we managed to get one picture with Abby (Miss Photogenic) and Anastasia (who was happier than she looks):

Falling Leaves

The trees are really dropping their leaves now, so Orlando pulled out the leaf blower to clear the front yard and sidewalks. After a little while of blowing, he had a pretty good pile built up. Anastasia and I decided to take the opportunity for a bit of fun. In seconds, she was up to her knees.



She really thought throwing the leaves was fun.



But, when Orlando laid down and started to bury himself in the leaves, she got a little upset and told him that she didn't like it.



Then we decided that Daddy needed to get back to work, but not before one more toss of the leaves.

Annie's new coat

Daddy bought Anastasia a new winter coat. She was pretty excited to get to try it out. And, this week she learned how to put it on all by herself.



It was a pretty proud accomplishment. Now, if it would only get cold enough for a lime green puffer jacket to be needed.

Happy Halloween!

Anastasia was not terribly excited to get dressed up for Halloween. When we tried on her costume on Monday, she cried and said she didn't want to be a bumblebee. I was a little concerned that we would have a problem on Friday, but as soon as she realized there was candy, I was able to convince her to put on the costume in order to get a piece of candy.



She made a very cute bee, and with her friend Lily as a butterfly, we were well on the way to a super cute bug parade. Lily's baby brother Noah was a caterpillar, and their dog George was a super cute lady bug.



Our little bugs were very happy to be walking out in the neighborhood. We went to about a dozen houses, mostly friends and people we know. The girls were very excited to get started.



Initially, the two girls wanted to go inside, especially when they saw a kitty cat inside one of the first houses.



It didn't take long for them to get the gist of trick or treating. At our neighbor Kathleen's down the street, the girls knocked and her dog Hoover was very excited to meet the trick or treaters.



We went down the block and met up with some more of the neighborhood crew. Anastasia was very patient while all of the other kids got their candy, but she made sure she got hers, too.





After a while, the girls started to run out of steam, so we decided to head back. Anastasia was ready to be carried as we headed back to the house.



She was very good about waiting until we got home before trying to get into the candy. But, as soon as we got home, she was ready to dive in! Grandma Myney opened a sucker for her and she went to town while we continued to serve the neighborhood children their Halloween treats.



As you might have guessed, bedtime was pretty well delayed, but when it finally came to going to bed, she pretty much crashed. Unfortunately for me, it was only a few minutes after she went to bed that my stomach started to react to the virus that would keep me down all weekend.

Taste of Dupont Circle 2008

Tuesday night the Hitzigs had a great time eating in Dupont Circle. Every year, the Historic Main Streets Society puts on a fundraiser called Taste of Dupont Circle, where chefs from 12 of the neighborhood's restaurants compete for the title of Dupont Circle Chef of the Year.

Orlando won the competition in 2006 and 2007 (butter poached scallop with coral lobster sauce). Here's a picture of him winning the first year.



This year, he offered leg of lamb with English peas and minted jus, and we were hoping for a "three-peat". Here's how the voting works: Every guest at the event is given a poker chip that they use to cast their vote for Chef of the Year by dropping their chip into the bucket on the table of their favorite.

Myney, Anastasia and I arrived about 6:45 to begin tasting the offerings. I realized too late that I'd forgotten my camera, so I was only able to get a couple of quick pictures with the Iphone, and they didn't really turn out well. Hopefully the professional photographer who was there will have some good shots.

On to the food. Anastasia's favorite came from Al Tiramisu: baked ziti with lots of cheese (good thing she didn't get a vote). My favorite was Orlando's leg of lamb, Myney really like Orlando's lamb and the scallop offered by Pesce. Also on offer were a scallop with lentils and oxtail by Urbana, an open faced steak sandwich from Ruth's Chris, sausage with polenta from Darlington House and a Morrocan dish of phyllo dough filled with spiced beef and vermicelli on a bed of tomato sauce.

In the end, it was Pesce's chef who took home top honors. Orlando came in third, but even so, we all had a very good time and I'm already looking forward to next year's event.

Hail to the Redskins

We've had a hard time trying to get together with the Curtis family lately. We're all very busy, and we usually have to plan weeks in advance to get together with them. We actually had planned to get together in November, but yesterday, when I called to confirm that we were still on for that date, we figured out that it was possible for them to come by today, as long as we did it in the afternoon. So, we had an impromptu party for the Redskins game today. The Curtis kids were all kitted out in their Redskins gear.



We got some chips and ordered two pizzas during the game, and we were shocked to see the two large pizzas disappear completely in a matter of minutes. Thes 4 little ones can chow down!



It was a very nice day, made better by the fact that the Redskins won. Some how, we're actually doing pretty well this season. The boys were very excited that we won and we all sang the Redskins fight song.



The dogs always love it when the Curtis boys come over. Basil becomes especially rambunctious with the boys, who like chasing him and being chased by him. What this means is that they're going to sleep well tonight.

Surprising Abby

A couple of weeks ago, Nathalie and Ann and I decided that we wanted to throw a party for Abby's birthday. We decided that we needed to make it a surprise party and since Abby wasn't planning to do anything special for her birthday, we figured we'd really be able to shock her. We kept the guest list relatively small, and invited only women. We tried to make sure that the girls who came would keep the party going.

Food for the party included:

• Arugula, Walnuts and Dried Cranberries Salad
• Crudites with Spinach Dip
• Charcuterie, Cheese and Crackers
• Curried Chicken & Walnut Triangles
• Beef Skewers with Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce
• Smoked Salmon with Lemon and Capers
• Cosmos, wine and champagne to drink.

At work on Friday, we almost gave away the secret, but managed to keep Abby in the dark. Ann and Nathalie came home with me and we got started straight away in setting up the party. Anastasia was beautifully behaved and Myney helped out by keeping her occupied while we worked in the kitchen. Our guests began arriving about 7:30 and we were completely set up by 8:00.



We made personalized confetti using a bunch of really cute pictures of Abby. Combining that with some regular colored confetti helped to finish the look.



We hung out in the dining room while we waited for Abby to arrive. When she did, we managed to get a picture of the shock on her face.



Once she realized what was happening (and finished the phone call with her mom), she helped herself to a cosmo and got down to learning how we'd managed to pull this off and wander through the house to see what we'd put together for her.



We all settled in for an evening of chatting and a few games of Catchphrase. Julie told us about her meeting with the dating counselor, I shared the story of how Orlando and I met, and Abby shared the story of the Baby Mama Drama.

Orlando got home just before midnight, and the first few guests started to leave about then. We said good night to Julie and Nancy, and the rest of us managed to hang out for another couple hours. When we finally said good night, I sent Orlando upstairs while I got a little bit of cleaning done before going to be. All in all, a very fun night.