Travel update

So the trip to DC came and went all too quickly, which tends to happen with spending time with good friends. As I said in my previous post, I took a train over to DC from Durham. The Durham station was small but cute. It had exposed brick walls, pictures of train cars from long ago and wood paneled walls. Here are a few pictures:

Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of pictures from our time in DC. I guess we were just having too much fun hanging out and catching up to take photos. We met at Union Station when I came in, and then headed back to Cassie's. She already had stuff planned for dinner, so we spent a nice evening hanging out and catching up.

The next day we headed to Georgetown. We spent the day window shopping and exploring the area. We had lunch at a cute little Italian place and then tried some frozen yogurt at Ice Berry. We also tried a great restaurant for dinner, going out for New Haven style pizza near Cassie's place.

On Sunday, we explored around Cassie's apartment and hit up shops there. Then we traveled out to see her work. But the trip would not be complete without a stop to Georgetown Cupcakes (the one from the TLC show). We went to their Bethesda location. The day before while in Georgetown the line went more than a block. In Bethesda, it wasn't that much better. We were a bit of a ways down the street, and of course it was pouring rain. Luckily, we only had to wait about 15 minutes or so. And then we had these goodies:

My favorite was the peanut butter fudge cupcake. Red velvet was also a hit with our group, as was the chocolate with the vanilla coconut frosting.

The next day it was time for Hollie and me to head out and for Cassie to head back to work. Hollie and I took the train back to Durham. Here is a pic of Hollie in the club car. We went to the cafe and got some snacks and enjoyed them in here.

All in all, it was a great trip, but more than anything, it was great to spend some time with friends I hadn't seen in awhile!

Our First Thanksgiving

Shawn and I spent Thanksgiving in Durham. It was our first Thanksgiving away from my family, which means it was also our first experience with hosting and cooking. Although I was nervous there would be some sort of kitchen fiasco, my fears were misplaced.

The day started off early for me, but not because I was cooking. I spent from 6 until 7 a.m. finishing up a media law paper and sending it off to my professor. I wanted to have my vacation media-law free, and finishing my paper allowed me to do that.

After finishing the paper, it was time to start getting some things ready. Shawn and I had picked up our good friend Hollie from the airport the night before, so before Hollie got up, I wanted to get a few things accomplished. I went ahead and made the brine for the turkey. The brine was actually really easy to do. It just involved dissolving salt and brown sugar into a soup pot of water and then submerging the turkey after the water had cooled. I had heard that this made for a really moist turkey, and we were not disappointed. Shawn of course had to handle the turkey, because anyone who knows me knows my dislike of handling raw meat.

While the turkey sat in the brine in the fridge, I made some appetizers. Cassie showed up a bit later, and she, Hollie, Shawn and I ate appetizers and played some board games. For appetizers we had deviled eggs, prawns and cocktail sauce, spinach dip in a bread bowl and a veggie platter. One appetizer per person may have been a bit excessive, but I enjoyed making and eating them, so it worked out.

After that it was time to get the turkey going. Shawn buttered the turkey as directed and put it into the oven. He felt just the turkey with butter wasn't festive enough, so Betsy (a.k.a. the turkey) got a headdress made of butter and carrots.

As we worked away in the kitchen, Bella played with Cassie and Hollie until it was time for her to rest. Thanksgiving for her was pretty much like any other day.

After the turkey was in the oven for awhile, it was time to make the sides. With the help of Hollie and Cassie I did the stuffing, green beans and gravy. Cassie made some excellent and very creamy mashed potatoes and Hollie made some delicious roasted sweet potatoes. We also had three types of cranberry sauce including our family friend Christa's amazing chipotle cranberry sauce that she sent all the way from Washington. I did forget to make the rolls however.

Overall, I would call Thanksgiving a success. After dinner we had pecan pie that I had made from Shawn's grandmother's amazing recipe. We also had some strawberry shortcake. We then just spent the evening hanging out and having a good time. Aside from many things I am thankful for such as my family's health and happiness, this Thanksgiving, I am also definitely thankful for good friends! 

Campus, Gardens and History--all in a weekend's work!

Our wonderful friend Cassie came to visit us for the weekend of October 16 (I know, I am a bit behind in posting), but I wanted to share some of the wonderful adventures we took with her.

The first stop Saturday morning was campus. We showed Cassie around the UNC campus and showed her my office. We also visited the Old Well, the main landmark on the UNC campus. We had to wait awhile to get a picture in front of it because everyone wants a picture in front of the Old Well.

We then moved on to lunch at Panera Bread. Yum. After that, we were off to the Botanical Garden that Shawn and I always drive by and say we should visit. We only walked though a portion of the garden, but it was pretty interesting. They had sculptures out in the various displays, one of which Cassie posed in front of.

We also spent some time there in the herb garden. They had the typical herbs, but they also had sections for poisonous herbs and medicinal herbs, too. One of the best parts though would have to be the awesome chess set. Cassie and Shawn took a stab at playing (or playing with the pieces anyway).

After checking out some more areas in the Botanical Garden we choose to head out back to Durham. We wanted to visit Historic Stagville. Historic Stagville is an old plantation that still has the slave quarters standing. It was so interesting to hear about the various people who lived there.

The plantation was one of the largest in the area and was almost like a self sustaining city, creating most everything the residents needed. The plantation had about 900 enslaved people who lived there at one time. It was ridiculous to see how nice the main house was compared to the slave quarters, and we only got to see the "nice" versions that were created after plantation owners realized the sub-par conditions were leading to sickness and therefore less productive workers.

The main house had wainscoting, paint, and imported fabrics and glass. It also had four poster beds. The houses for the enslaved people had one bed and pallets to sleep on and each room housed around 5-10 people. It was also really interesting because although there was a marked difference between the two settings, this plantation would be considered very modest compared to some that existed in the South. It was certainly an interesting tour.

Below are some pictures from a barn that was built in just under 5 months by some of the enslaved people. The barn didn't even use nails in the construction. It is believed that the barn was engineered by boat-makers who were brought in from the coast because of the various techniques they used. Also, the beams used in building the barn were hand-carved (see pic below). One of the beams extends all the way from one side to the other, and it is a solid beam of wood that would have been hand carved out of one large tree. It was very impressive.

After our day of adventures we spent the evening making and eating pizza and watching old movies and television shows. All in all it was a great weekend!