Melyssa-with-a-Y

In February, John decided we should go away for a weekend. Because of our schedules (mostly mine, sadly), we didn't get to go until this weekend. He chose a cute little B&B with individual cabins, in Fredericksburg, TX. Unfortunately, we waited a little too long to leave on Friday, so it took longer than it should have to get there. But, we picked up our keys and went to find some dinner. The food (and the beer!) at the Fredericksburg Brewing Company was just what we needed (maybe too much!), and John picked up a t-shirt that turned out to be perfect for our Saturday adventure. After dinner we went back and found our cabin at Barons Creekside . It was adorable! The cabin was originally built in Kentucky and brought to Fredericksburg. From what we could tell, it was sort of split in half, and they put the kitchen and bathroom area in the middle, between the living room and the bedroom. But it was just enough space for us. :) Saturday morning we got up relatively early and set...

More time-delayed photos, courtesy of AT&T. Here are our margaritas (his was top shelf, mine was sangria-margarita) at Matt's El Rancho . The waitress talked us into Bob's queso - queso with ground beef and guacamole in it - she really had to twist our arms, as you might imagine. Allyn practically licked the bowl. ;) The food at Matt's was good (his Tacos al Carbon was better than my Tacos al Pastor) but not great. Personally, I think Chuy's is better. We will be going there in November.

Unfortunately, my phone was having posting issues, so this took a while, but here's Allyn on the covered patio at Rudy's (did I mention that he loves outdoor dining?) right before we stuffed ourselves with brisket, turkey, sausage, cole slaw and potato salad. He liked it. Hm. That's an understatement. He offered to eat at Rudy's for every meal for the rest of the weekend, but I declined. :)

I'm pleased to report that a) it's been sunny in London (doh! I probably just jinxed us!) and b) we've really had a blast in the past two and a half days. We arrived on Wednesday morning. It's chilly, but not nearly as cold as it was last year. Or maybe I'm a lot less cold because I brought my super-warm wool coat this year! We hung out in the apartment for a bit, and then Bryan and I went out to find some lunch. Then it was naptime. Wednesday is also the customary trip to TESCO to stock up on groceries. We stopped at a pub for dinner - had to have fish 'n' chips! - and then went shopping. Prices seem reasonable when you look at the number in pounds sterling... then you do the math and realize that it's $1.65 to the pound. (Which is actually better than it used to be!) Mostly we need breakfast food. Thanksgiving Thursday, Mom, Dad and I went to the antiques market at Spittalfields . Many of the people in the shops wished us a Happy Thanksgiving. W...

(I mean the one in Oregon.... apparently there are a lot of other Portlands around the USA!) Today was filled with dining and shopping and football-watching. But let me start with last night's dinner, which was excellent. The front desk person at the hotel recommended a restaurant up the street called Southpark . I admit, I had visions of Stan, Kyle and Cartman at first, but it's actually a seafood restaurant with a distinctly Mediterranean flair. I forgot that it was a Friday night at 7:30pm... the place was packed. I ended up sitting at the bar in the Wine Bar section of the restaurant. It was very nice. I had a glass of Apolloni Pinot Grigio, and a small-ish dinner (it was already almost 10pm for me by then) of warm flatbreads with hummus, and the Pacific Northwest version of crabcakes. I was starving. Everything was very tasty, and the bartenders were really nice (one had even grown up in DC!), but between the time difference and the wine, I was starting to fade. ...

Monday is antique day at Covent Garden. We got up early and bundled up, and went to see the wares. I bought two pashminas for 5 pounds. We went to the Whittard's store again, but since it's before Xmas, the stuff that was all on sale last time was not quite so cheap. I bought some "hangover cure" tea and coffee... not sure when I'll need it, or who'll get it as a gift, but it seemed like it might be useful. :) I had wanted to go to the London Transport Museum to see the poster exhibit, but the museum entry wasn't cheap -- 10 pounds -- and it turned out that my friend Ben was on his way into London earlier in the day than I had expected. So we went to the shop and the cafe at the Transport Museum, and waited. I don't think I've seen Ben since the last Council HPC-AC me eting that I did, in April of '06. We had such a blast! He doesn't much like the tube, so we walked... and walked... and walked. First, we headed for the Ye Olde Watling ...

Last night was the USC-Notre Dame game in LA. This is the first time in six years that I haven't been there! (it's not so bad really, they only play at Thanksgiving every other year) At 1am, we brought up the online game-tracker and watched the beginnings of what we hoped would be a massacre by the Trojans. And it was! I went to bed after the first touchdown, but the final score was 38-3. Fight On! (and, Oregon State lost to Oregon, so SC might get to go to the Rose Bowl after all!) I thought about sleeping late, but decided to get up and go to the British Museum with Mom and Bryan. I mean, I'm only in London once a year -- if I'm lucky -- and the last time I was here was 3 years ago. I could spare an hour or two of sleep for the British Museum! of course, it was cold and rainy and gross outside, but it was worth it to go back and see the sarcophagus of Cleopatra and the Mesopotamian sculptures and Egyptian hieroglyphics. I love that stuff. :) I also love the a...

Starting with dinner last night: Indian food at Bengal Clipper near Betty's apartment. The food was tremendous, but the service was crap. (Betty did warn us that this was the case.) I hadn't seen Betty since she was in DC visiting, right before I moved to Texas. She hasn't changed! :) We took the tube to Tower Hill and walked across Tower Bridge. (Photos of this part of the evening did not come out well, because of my inability to hold 100% still when taking a photo at night. Oh well. You've all seen Tower Bridge before! Instead, I give you a photo of Big Ben that I took on the way back yesterday evening.) The food was very good, and we were part of a group of 13 -- Betty's oldest friend from high school and her husband were visiting from the DC area for Thanksgiving. Both of their sons live in London, too. And apparently the girlfriend of one of the sons went to Bryan's high school for a while, but was a year ahead of him. (did you follow that trail?) ...

No waking-up-at-6am-to-shop for us today... although given that I didn't really fall asleep until 7:30am, I could have! This time zone thing is a killer. I slept mostly from 7:30am to 10am. Then Bryan made breakfast. Eggs and bacon (or sausage) and toast and tomatoes. The kid can actually cook! :) We let the "grownups" go off on their own today, and Bry and I went to the Imperial War Museum to see the Ian Fleming/James Bond exhibit . It was REALLY well done. I hadn't realized how much Ian Fleming had used his personal experience in Naval Intelligence as influence on his Bond adventures. It was also interesting to see the gadgets and memorabilia from the movies, and how the films had differed from his original stories. (Many of the oddest villains were not written by Fleming at all -- like Jaws, Scaramanga, and Drax.) I bought some goodies and some Christmas presents at the shop! :) The Imperial War Museum is a huge place, full of moving exhibits and interestin...

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving! Today we started off with some quick antiquing at Spitalfields. (What, you thought this family could get through more than one day without a flea market?!) They've apparently updated the space recently, so there were fewer dealers, but a slew of new restaurants -- a Gourmet Burger Kitchen(gbk) , Wagamama , La Tasca , Giraffe , and some others. We didn't find much in the antique stalls, but the artist stalls on the other side were full of gorgeous goodies - purses, jewelry, shirts, dresses... (no, I didn't buy anything) We stopped for lunch at gbk -- a fancy version of Five Guys or Mighty Fine -- we just beat the lunchtime rush. Then we went looking for Be vis Marks , the oldest synagogue in London. After a minor challenge with the map, we found it, but we couldn't go inside. The "best kosher restaurant in London" is also there. After that, we walked over to the Guildhall Art Museum, to see an exhibit of GF Watts...

Aubrey decided that tonight we all had to get some religion. :) We were treated to a performance by the Austin Babtist Women at Oil Can Harry's. [I was one of the only five or six women in the place, and definitely one of the only straight ones!] We had dinner beforehand at Hut's hamburgers , an Austin institution. I hadn't been there yet. Big, greasy, messy burgers and pretty tasty fries. Yum! Anyway... the Babtist women have been singing together for nearly 22 years, raising money for HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, and other charitable causes. Altogether, they have raised over $6M! We had prime location in the front of the room to watch the show. And while they only did four or five songs, they were a RIOT! They were all decked out in wigs and makeup and dresses and high heels -- though amusingly, they didn't bother to shave off their facial hair! The dresses really reminded me of the dresses that grandmothers wear at Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and weddings. Definitely the kind...

If it's between Xmas and New Year's, it must be time for Dani's birthday! Last night we started with dinner at Rockland's . They don't do the babyback ribs so much in Austin, so I was craving them, and Rocklands' ribs are excellent! ( There was a minor delay when I started to drive to the wrong location, not realizing that Rockland's had moved... but fortunately Dani didn't let me get too far off course. ) :) After Elizabeth made a mess with the ribs, we went to Carpool to meet up with the rest of the crew. We even managed to get 4/5 of " Clueless in Clarendon " back together -- we missed you, Joanie! -- and did some excellent drunken singalongs. The bar had one tv tuned to NBC's " Singing Bee, " and once that ended, they played a nice selection of our favorite 80's songs. (Don't Stop Believin'!) Here's how Dani felt about the fact that we were celebrating her birthday: But this mood was lightened considera...

On Friday, Mom and I set off from Reno at about noon, headed to Fallen Leaf Lake, which is southwest of Lake Tahoe. We made it about ... 15 minutes, before we had to stop at Boomtown for some coffee. I took a few pictures of the mountains, and then we were off to the west. I didn't even notice when we crossed into California. We are driving a cute green Jeep Liberty. We stopped once on the road so I could take pictures, and then for lunch at the Olde Tahoe Cafe in Homewood. We just kept saying how beautiful the scenery was. And stopping by the side of the road so I could jump out and take pictures. :) When we called Mike (our host), he told us we'd definitely want to stop and take pictures when we got to Emerald Bay. He wasn't kidding! Unfortunately, up on top of that mountain, it was COLD! But a nice lady took a picture of us, and we returned the favor for her. Then we jumped back into the car and headed for Fallen Leaf. We missed the turnoff for Fallen Leaf Ro...

It was a long day. (Not actually bloody, but there was some sunburn involved.) The day started with brunch with my DC friends. We hit Whitlow's for the buffet, and by the time we got a table, it was already 11am - time for the crab legs to come out! It's wonderful to have a plate covered in crab legs, with a side of waffles and eggs and bacon. :) And great conversation with my favorite people to boot! Thanks to Amy & Rob, Dani, Jen, and Elizabeth for making my day! Then I headed for Bry's soccer game. It was a gorgeous day to be outside in DC - mid-70's and bright sunshine! In hindsight, when I noticed the soccer players putting on sunscreen, I probably should have asked to borrow some. My left upper-arm (I was facing north most of the game) is a nice bright pink color. My face and neck got a little color, too, with the v-neck shirt, but not as much -- although I now know why my chest felt like it was on fire when I was sitting in the airport. Yes, Washingto...

Last night Skyrocket played again, this time up at Hanover's in Pflugerville. (and yes, I say Puh-flugerville every time I say it, just because it's funny.) :) The bar was smoky, which was a shock - I haven't been in a place full of smokers since... 2006, I think - but at least it was indoors, so we didn't sweat to death unless we were actually dancing. The dance floor was small, but we didn't care! We took over the spot in front of the band, which also meant that Rebeka caught the eye of the lead singer, whether she liked it or not. They played a good run of 70's classics, and some great 80's tunes - everything from KISS' "Rock n Roll All Night" to Tom Jones' "She's a Lady" to Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" to the Clash's "Rock the Casbah." And we stayed for all three sets, so by the time we got out of there, it was 1am. Apparently it was also "Miller Chill" night... These two...

If you've ever eaten out on the patio at Rudy's in north Austin, you've seen the clear plastic bags of water hanging from the rafters. (I think we talk about those odd fixtures every time we eat there.) We've been told that the bags of water keep flies away, but I was never sure that was true. But if you hear something kooky like that from many different sources, does that make it true? Alton Brown is back on the road in "Feasting on Asphalt" on the Food Network. This year, they're riding up the Mississippi River, starting in New Orleans. In the first episode, AB was in a seafood shop, and noticed the bags of water hanging from the ceiling. Sure enough, the proprietor told him the bags were keeping the flies away! Here's a pseudo-scientific explanation . Believe what you will. (Having been to Rudy's and met up with some flies that clearly weren't intimidated by the bags of water, I'm still not convinced that it works!) And here's ...

Yes, it's been a while since I posted anything. Like a lot of my yarn-obsessed friends, I got sucked into Ravelry for a few days... and that was after four relatively relaxed days in DC, during which I walked at least 5 miles before 11am on Saturday ( Racing for the Cure!); ate Tex-Mex at Austin Grill , dim sum at Fortune, crab cakes (and the most amazing biscuits) at Acadiana and mezze at Lebanese Taverna ; wondered how I could ever have withstood the dust in the family basement for so many years; and finally got to see Tai Shan, the baby panda at the National Zoo (who is nearly 2, and will be shipped back to China soon!). Phew! Good thing I got all of that out of the way, because I don't know when I'll be getting back to town for a while. [I was going to post a panda picture, but I can't figure out where I uploaded them. Maybe later.] In today's news, another case of "I wish I were making this up": The WaPo and BBCNews are reporting that a watchdog...

This time, I was in DC for more than 40 hours . I managed to fit in time to see my former colleagues at the Council on Competitiveness, as well as Amy, Kelly & Jeff & Hannah, Dani (and Spiderman 3), Lisa, Jen, and some MBA folks. [Oh, and I went to a CASC meeting and some meetings on the Hill, of course.] And, I got a cute haircut! Phew! Random news: Amy & Rob and Amy's friend Mary are going to Australia later this month. They're hitting Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne in the space of a week! I gave her a list of things to do, but I think it might be too chilly to climb the Sydney Bridge by the time they get there. I can't believe it's been three years since we went ! Hannah has chosen the names she'd prefer for her soon-to-be-sibling, but I don't think Kelly is going to use them (there are too many Michaels already) so she has some others in mind. We won't know what sex the baby is until a few weeks from now, though. Not patient enough to be surp...

On Friday, Mom & Dad Fratkin, along with "Uncle" Norman, arrived in Austin. We tried to have lunch at Enoteca Vespaio on South Congress, but Dad & Norman were running a little late on the trek from Houston (too many antique stops, I suppose)... so Mom & I had lunch at the South Congress Cafe instead. Very tasty. I took Mom to see my new office in the afternoon, and she needed to chat with some of my co-workers. We went from there to the gym, where Tina kicked my a** (mostly because I hadn't been to the gym since Monday!) and mom got a quick massage. After we cleaned up, Norman used his little Garmin nuvi to find my house, and I gave them a quick tour. [You'd think mom had never seen a car navigation system before... she was enthralled!] Dad apparently approved of my house.... he even checked out the duplex that's for sale across the street. Dinner on Friday was at Castle Hill , one of Norman's favorites -- and now I know why! He had the Voodoo ...

Friday night Alex took me out for a belated birthday night. We went to a Cuban restaurant on 6th Street. We had mojitos (he'd never had one), I had ropa vieja with platanos fritos, and he had a traditional Cuban pork sandwich. I haven't had good Cuban food since my business trips to Miami in 2002-2003. This was excellent. We had to take our desserts "to-go" ... which is fine with a coconut empanada, but not so good with the flan. (So he gave his flan to another diner in the restaurant.) We'll definitely have to go back there. Then we went to Esther's Follies , but it wasn't the regular comedy show, it was the Latino Comedy Project . It was hilarious. We laughed SO hard -- fortunately A is not bothered by the fact that I laugh really loudly -- he was louder than I was! There were some anti-Dubya jokes and songs (there's one white guy in the group, so he got to be Shrub), and some fake "commercials," which you can see on their website. They did...