Since we had the chance to build a small cohort or coaching group at Georgetown, the four of us have talked about how cool it would be to have a weekend get away.  As it turns out our selection of last week was the PERFECT weekend.  Not a lot of school work was due, and with two out of town guests it was good to have a place to crash before class.  We only had one small assignment and that was to be prepared to discuss the "Smithfield Case" which was about raising hogs in North Carolina and the balance of environmental concerns and the affect on local culture.  We decided to discuss it over breakfast.

So here it was Thursday Evening and I got out of work early.  I had been soaking the beef and chicken since Wednesday, and I was anxious to show off my "grill skills" to my friends.  Usually Bethany is the head Chef, but this evening I had to show some maddddddd Lucky grill skills.

Here's the recipe for the Chicken

4-Boneless Chicken breasts, soaked overnight in a citrus marinate, with 2 sliced lemons and 1 sliced lime and 4-5 oz of Hurradura Repasado Tequila.

Meanwhile the Beef was:

Flank steak marinated overnight with Jack Daniels, Soy Sauce and BBQ sauce.

Flame broiled both...slightly dusted with CURT'S seasoning I then drip a little a little tequila on the chicken and a little JD on the beef.  This causes a wonderful flame that singes the spices in.  By the time you are done you get a nice slightly blackened external to the meat.

For toppings I put together a mixture pf green, red and orange peppers, onions, and fresh lettuce.  With the exception of the lettuce I put the other ingredients in a sauce pan and grill over the fire.  Pepper jack cheese is my preferred.  Fresh Salsa... heavy on the cilantro, sour cream and guacamole.  By the way, my friend Chas makes a KILLER Salsa and Guacamole... Dude....hook me up with your Recipe!!!

For the beef I stole a great recipe for Chimichurra sauce off www.epicurious.com Yummy!...tastes great on the chicken too.

Margaritas....lots of them.....I think Cabo Wabo Blanco Tequila was the preferred for our concoctions   Topped with Gran Marnier...a true Cadillac Margarita.  My Friend Dave recommends Gran Gala, but they didn't have it at my ABC store.

So imagine the tasty food and scrumptious drinks.....then what?

My wonderful wife Bethany ...and our curious kitten Lilliputian (Lilly for short) ---as in the place that Gulliver landed, land of the little people  

Chas and Lisa...from Charlottesville.  Both Native Virginians, they met at UVA.  Chas is in the music business, and manages fan clubs and musical talent at www.musictoday.com

Amanda...from Maine....a sous chef, and former "Hot-shot" fire fighter...she aspires to work for an organic cooperative.  She's been courting one such company for the last couple months....good luck Amanda! 

Anneliesa works at the Library of Congress and has been especially focused on her role with the Veteran's History Project that captures the stories of combat veterans.

so here we are with this enthusiastic group of people, ice cold beer, Gin and Tonic (Hendricks...preferably with a cucumber) and those KILLER MARGARITAS.....sponsored by "Tickle-ya" or TEQUILA

We solved the world's problems until 2:30 AM and then decided to crash.  I think 9:00 was the earliest anyone got up.  Bethany was up whipping together one of her famous mushroom and three cheese stradas.  I was hoping to show off my bloody Mary’s, but I think water and coffee was the best choice.  We discussed the Smithfield's case for Dr Hewlin's class and off to School we went.  Chas, Amanda and Anneliesa went to an alumni sponsored networking luncheon. 

Bethany and I went to Col Frazier's promotion.  BGen Dunford was the promoting officer; I saw a bunch of friends from my tour in Iraq as well as lieutenants and Captains I served with when Colonel Frazier was our boss at 2nd Battalion 11th Marines.

Off to class I went.  I caught up on sleep on Sunday and swung by work to make sure the next crop of Candidates was properly set up.  I' caught up the reading I should have done prior to the last weekend of class and am ready to get two big papers done.

The last big cool thing is that I swung by Andy and Lori Bergen's House and met their brand new 4-day old baby.  He's a strong little dude and I look forward to him growing up so I can tell him about how much a dear friend his dad has been for me.

This week was fun. Thursday night Doug's small conference group met at our house for dinner and a sleep over. I was quite proud of Doug as he prepared the entire feast. He made his tequila chicken fajitas and steak fajitas. In addition, he borrowed Luber's Margarita recipe and the conference group sure had a good time. They stayed up really late and I'm not sure exactly what happened as I went to bed pretty early.

 

Friday we were able to catch the promotion ceremony for one of Doug's old bosses. The ceremony was in front of the Iwo Jima memorial on a cold rainy day. How very appropo for a promotion ceremony of a Leatherneck! After the ceremony, Doug had to go to school but I stuck around for the reception at the Officers Club at Ft Meyers.

 

Saturday I went riding as usual but it turned out to be a very unusual day. Since Friday night was cold and rainy the horses had to stay in the stables and were feeling pretty frisky Saturday morning. Shortly after we reached the outdoor ring we were working on our working walks and troting when one of the ladies started to loose control of her horse. Instead of sitting deep in the saddle and nudging him on, she yanked on the reins to halt him which is one of the worst things you can do. If a horse is able to stand still, he can gather the strength in his hind legs to buck. Which is exactly what Yankee did. Three bucks later and she hit the ground. 911 was called immediately. One of the other students is a nurse so she jumped off her horse and went to the aid. I held the two horses and gave up my fleece. It was the first thing I remembered from my First Aid classes, to keep the patient as warm as possible to avoid shock. Even though it seemed like forever, the paramedics reached us in about seven minutes. (It helps that the fire house is only about a mile away). Class was definately over for the day and we headed back to the indoor ring and put our horses up. The rest of us congregated around the office and learned that our class mate did not have any family that was able to go the hospital so I volunteered. Off to Fairfax INOVA I went. They are supposed to have one of the best trauma centers in the area. They are definately very busy. The diagnosis was a elbow dislocation and possible nerve damage. As the orthopedic specialist was in an emergency surgery at the time and since the surgery was going to last for several hours, the ER doctor recommened that she have a sedative and the reduction be done. If you have ever seen a reduction, it is quite facsinating and scary at the same time. X-rays were then taking to make sure the bones were in place. After those x-rays were taking in the trauma room, she had to go to X-ray and get more pictures taken. After the x-rays came back, a technician came in to put a splint on and then we were good to go as soon as orthopedics came by for a last visit. Unfortunately for us, another trauma came in (it was also the day for riding accidents, there were two others in addition to us). So, it wasn't until 9:00 that we left the hospital. Now everyone is home but what a bummer as my classmate probably won't be able to ride for about five months or so til her arm heals.

 

Doug and I are also taking care of our neighbors three dogs. While walking them this morning, our other neighbors asked us if we could watch their two dogs at the end of the month. So, looks like we will get a little bit of a puppy fix this month.

 

Lilliputian is doing well. We let her out of quarnentine this weekend. Her first ringworm test came back negative and she had a second last week. We are supposed to wait til those come back in another two weeks but she seems healthy and it was negative. Personally, I couldn't take anymore quarentine. :)

 

A new class of candidates has checked in this weekend and so Doug is off to work this Sunday afternoon to check in on things. That's it for now. Take care.

Doug has been having a good slow period at work the last few weeks and this past week he spent catching up on Admin paperwork and getting his documentation in order so he could sell the Jeep. Friday he came home early from work and drove the Jeep out to CarMax which is near the Dulles airport. After he was done with the paperwork there, he gave me a call and I headed out to pick him up. While we were out that way, we stopped at a little Mexican restaurant in Chantilly. Now, I'm not a big fan of Mexican food but I was impressed. We had cactus salad to start and then split a fajita dish. There was enough left over that we had it for breakfast the next morning :) After dinner, we headed back to our side of town and went looking for a movie. We stopped by the theatre but nothing interesting was playing so home we went and popped the video for Raiders of the Lost Ark in.

 

Saturday morning, Doug headed for the DMV and I went to my riding lessons. I rode King. I've ridden him once before and then he went lame but now he is back and healthy. I was excited to ride him but he was a little more difficult than I remembered. We worked on group cantering and gymnastic exercises without our reins. In the middle of working on the cantering, I lost control and we went over a two foot jump. I tried to stop him before we got to the jump but he was having none of that so I just went into two point mode and we cleared the jump luckily.  It was very embarresing. Fortunately, I redeemed myself in going over the trot poles at a trot without my reins. It was scary at first but after the first time, it felt pretty good.

 

Saturday afternoon, Doug and I headed down to The Mall for the National Book Fair. We had tried to go last year but I got the dates wrong. It was nice that Doug had remembered though and took me yesterday. It was smaller than we expected but we did listen to some authors speaking about their books. Doug ran into Bob Woodward and we listened to the author of "Mayflower" - It was quite fascinating. We also stopped off at the National Archive tent where one of Doug's classmates was working in putting together interviews from American war veterans. On our way back to the car, we stopped to watch a game of frisbee football. Doug and I decided that we like football or rugby better because you can't hit anyone in frisbee football. :) Our last stop was the Native American Musuem. We had a quick snack and then drove back home to change for dinner. We met our friends Ian and Danielle at a little restaurant in the Cleveland Park area of DC. Since we had arrived a little early we did a little shopping at the local Petco. Doug found some new toys for Lilliputian. We were a party of nine for dinner and it was great. Dinner is always great when there is good food, good wine and good friends. We met one of Ian's friends from undergrad school and his girlfriend and their friend. Danielle also had her good friend and her husband down from Delaware for the weekend. They had spent the day touring some of the wineries in the Northern Virginia area. Dinner was great. Ian and Greg picked the wines, I picked some cheeses, Greg picked some meats, we had octupus and bruschetta, yummy marinated mushrooms, meatballs, squash and then Doug had pasta with squid ink while I had the fish. The server said it was Italian Sea Bass but I'm not so sure about that... Anyways, it was all good but then it was time to go.

 

This morning we went out for breakfast and then did a little shopping. Now Doug is off at the Raven's game with a friend from school and I'm catching up on the housework. Lilliputian is supervising. :) I can't wait for her to get the all clear from the vet. She was tested for ringworm almost two weeks ago and so far, so good. This past week she had her CBC test and her blood work came back negative which means her bone marrow is not being surpressed and we can continue on the medicine that the vet told us to give her. She gets tested again this coming Tuesday and if in two weeks that is also negative for ringworm she gets to come out of quarantine. Yeah! We are all going a little batty because it's like Doug and I are on quarantine as well. If we are in the house and not in the same room with her, she goes nuts. It sounds like she will break the door down and she meows loudly. Anyways, it will be good when she is all better. We can take her out for walks and enjoy the last of the nice weather before it gets too cold around here.

 

Well - I'm off. I need to finish the laundry before Doug gets back and maybe we will have time to do some grocery shopping this evening.