Mr. Shreg Goes to Washington

Shana:
We've been in DC for the past week and we've had plenty of time to explore the memorials and museums. The Air and Space Museum was really interesting and the exhibit about early inventions in flight corresponds perfectly to the book we've been listening too, "Airman" by Eoin Coffler. We've also appreciated the beautiful spring weather that is just SO much better than the wintery mix storms we left behind in Boston.















Now, we're packing up again and are about to head south. A final good bye party with all the DC friends tonight and then we're off to North Carolina.

Gourmet cooking ... New Jersey style

Greg:

After seeing "Spring Awakening" (which we highly recommend, btw) in NYC, we drove to DC. And where did we decide to stop for dinner between those two cities? That's right: beautiful Hackensack, NJ.

A few weeks ago, we saw a segment about White Manna's on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." It's a TINY burger joint in Hackensack whose specialty is sliders with onions cooked inside the meat. The place was packed with half the high school kids in town. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get our food, but it was completely worth it. We ended up ordering 10 sliders between us, and scarfed them down in about 5 minutes.

1st Stop

Shana:

1st Stop: New York City!
We decided to drive to New Haven, park there and take the train into the city. We had a great night with Julie and Diana eating Thai and playing a new game called "Don't Quote Me." (And, despite my inabilities to remember good quotes, I won!)

The next two days were full of excellent iconic New York experiences including a walk through Central Park, eating bagels and lox from H&H Bagels, 2 stops at Tasti D*Lite, seeing a great Broadway show (Spring Awakening-- I highly recommend), and getting lost on the subway.

We also volunteered at the New York StartingBloc Institute at Columbia Business School, which is the fellowship in Social Enterprise and Corporate Social Responsibility that I took part in last year. Anyone interested in CSR, sustainability, cross sector partnership, etc. must check it out at www.startingbloc.org

Yummy Goodness

Greg:

On our last night in Boston, we went to our pasta sauce making class at Dave's Fresh Pasta, taught by Dave himself. Dave made seven different sauces, including a marinara, a puttanesca, a pesto, a prosciutto and pea al fredo, and (our personal favorite) a red mussel sauce. Needless to say, we sampled everything and left the kitchen with our pants having been mysteriously shrunk.

Although it would be in our best interest to forget all of these recipes, we wanted to post the recipe for our favorite sauce (the red mussel). This may be as good as any pasta sauce I've ever had:

Red Mussel Sauce:

- Chop about 4 cloves of garlic (yes, James, you can add more). Cook them in a "puddle" of extra virgin olive oil (the garlic should "swim" in the oil) on low heat until very slightly brown;

- Add about one 35oz can of whole plum tomatoes. Crush the tomatoes in your hand before adding them to the pan. Do not add any extra liquid from the can;

- Add about a teaspoon of crushed red peppers (add more to taste);

- Bring to a frothy boil, then add about a cup of white wine;

- Add mussels. Keep stirring them in the pan until all are opened (throw away those that do not open);

- Add oregano and fresh parsley.

Almost every ingredient should be distinguishable, and the taste of olive oil should be prominent.

Happier days are ahead

Shana:
It's my last day of work and I'm anxious to hit the road. Sometime before we leave tomorrow, we still have to pack the car, mail several boxes of things that don't fit, return the cable box, do the laundry, and a whole lot of other errands-- oh my!

But, luckily my awesome coworkers took me out for a delicious farewell lunch and loaded me up with sweet things for the road including red sox crossword puzzles, a Relay For Life blanket, a starbucks gift card, and some itunes moolah. Let's just hope I can fit everything in my Matrix. Tonight we're going to a Pasta Sauce Cooking Class at Dave's Fresh Pasta -- one of our favorite places from College-- and, yes, we like to squeeze as many activities as possible in our last few moments in Boston.

I think my fortune cookie from lunch describes my life perfectly:
"Happier days are ahead. Your struggles are behind you."