Big Weekend
So you may say, "Sarah and Greg, it has been ridiculously, absurdly long since your last update; what are you hiding from us?" And for most of that time, the answer would be "Nothing." We get up, we go to work, we come home, rinse and repeat. But seeing as it's more than two months since the last post (and a few days before our eleventh monthiversary), I believe I'll tell the story of this weekend.
Friday we went to a super cool event called Savor (and in fact we are visible, if not recognizable, in one of the photos now cycling on that page). Forty-eight craft breweries each brought two beers, and a catering company supplied canapes, soups, and chocolates for pairing. Rather than just wandering around and tasting at random, we attended a class (sorry, a salon) on beer and cheese pairing, presented by just about the most knowledgeable beer guy we'd ever heard. His name is Garret Oliver, he wrote the award-winning book The Brewmaster's Table (a good Greg gift if you're in need of one), and if he's giving a presentation within 100 miles of you, go.
After the class, then we wandered around and tasted at random.
Saturday was Wine in the Woods, where we also refrained from wandering and spent more time in classes. Even though the event wasn't overly crowded (it was the same day as the Preakness), it's still frustrating to push through clots of people for a measly ounce of wine, so we attended all four demonstrations, where you sit comfortably while people bring you two ounces of wine. Now we're talking. The presenters in the demo tent are from the local branch of Tasters Guild, and every year we leave the demo tent, brochure in hand, with every intent of joining. Maybe this year.
We went to the "Wine 101" and white wine classes, then left the tent briefly for provisions (cheeses and jerky), returning for red wines and dessert wines. We were unimpressed with the desserts they chose, and one of the reds had been selected for demonstration specifically because it was so bad, but we always enjoy the presentations themselves, and we always learn something. This year it was how to open a champagne bottle (and, conversely, how to open a screw-top with at least some level of panache--apparently something sommeliers have been concerned about for some time).
After the demos, the event is only open for another hour and a half, much of which we spent dancing to a fun band called King Teddy, who had brought a following of dancers from northern Virginia. Once the area in front of the stage became too muddy, we grabbed a few more samples and headed out, making this the first wine festival we ever attended without buying anything!
Sunday we participated in the first ever Washington Post Hunt, organized by Dave Barry, Gene Weingarten, and Tom Shroeder, who have been doing a similar thing for 20 years in Miami. We met up with a bunch of folks from the National Puzzlers League (another club we're not members of), divided ourselves into teams, and had a good time despite not coming close to winning. The hunt began with five puzzles to be solved in three hours, followed by a metapuzzle to be solved as quickly as possible. We solved the first group in about an hour (and most of the time was taken up by walking from one clue to the next), broke for lunch with an air of confidence, and then everything went downhill from there. If you're interested in a play-by-play, Eric Berlin's experience was very similar to ours (although his team did get one notch closer to the finish line).
After the hunt, the NPL crowd + us went out for dinner, then visited a bar near where I went to school that I had mysteriously never visited. The legendary Brickskeller boasts an astounding beer list, which we subsequently chipped away at for several hours. Our waitress was phenomenal: we're give her ideas like "I like Harp" or "less hoppy than that last one," and she'd flip through the list for a few seconds before coming up with something great...or at least unique.
We ended up having so much fun with the NPLers that we missed the last metro out of town! The bad news is, getting a cab in DC at midnight on a Sunday ain't easy, but the good news was it wasn't nearly as expensive as I had guesstimated.
And as if that weren't enough already, on Monday Sarah learned that her project team for her technology class had been selected as runners-up for the annual Dean's Award for their final project, "Recipe Republic." It's hard to feel bad about coming in second when (a) you didn't know about the award to begin with, and (b) the people who beat you are PhD candidates.
So how's that for an update?
Friday we went to a super cool event called Savor (and in fact we are visible, if not recognizable, in one of the photos now cycling on that page). Forty-eight craft breweries each brought two beers, and a catering company supplied canapes, soups, and chocolates for pairing. Rather than just wandering around and tasting at random, we attended a class (sorry, a salon) on beer and cheese pairing, presented by just about the most knowledgeable beer guy we'd ever heard. His name is Garret Oliver, he wrote the award-winning book The Brewmaster's Table (a good Greg gift if you're in need of one), and if he's giving a presentation within 100 miles of you, go.
After the class, then we wandered around and tasted at random.
Saturday was Wine in the Woods, where we also refrained from wandering and spent more time in classes. Even though the event wasn't overly crowded (it was the same day as the Preakness), it's still frustrating to push through clots of people for a measly ounce of wine, so we attended all four demonstrations, where you sit comfortably while people bring you two ounces of wine. Now we're talking. The presenters in the demo tent are from the local branch of Tasters Guild, and every year we leave the demo tent, brochure in hand, with every intent of joining. Maybe this year.
We went to the "Wine 101" and white wine classes, then left the tent briefly for provisions (cheeses and jerky), returning for red wines and dessert wines. We were unimpressed with the desserts they chose, and one of the reds had been selected for demonstration specifically because it was so bad, but we always enjoy the presentations themselves, and we always learn something. This year it was how to open a champagne bottle (and, conversely, how to open a screw-top with at least some level of panache--apparently something sommeliers have been concerned about for some time).
After the demos, the event is only open for another hour and a half, much of which we spent dancing to a fun band called King Teddy, who had brought a following of dancers from northern Virginia. Once the area in front of the stage became too muddy, we grabbed a few more samples and headed out, making this the first wine festival we ever attended without buying anything!
Sunday we participated in the first ever Washington Post Hunt, organized by Dave Barry, Gene Weingarten, and Tom Shroeder, who have been doing a similar thing for 20 years in Miami. We met up with a bunch of folks from the National Puzzlers League (another club we're not members of), divided ourselves into teams, and had a good time despite not coming close to winning. The hunt began with five puzzles to be solved in three hours, followed by a metapuzzle to be solved as quickly as possible. We solved the first group in about an hour (and most of the time was taken up by walking from one clue to the next), broke for lunch with an air of confidence, and then everything went downhill from there. If you're interested in a play-by-play, Eric Berlin's experience was very similar to ours (although his team did get one notch closer to the finish line).
After the hunt, the NPL crowd + us went out for dinner, then visited a bar near where I went to school that I had mysteriously never visited. The legendary Brickskeller boasts an astounding beer list, which we subsequently chipped away at for several hours. Our waitress was phenomenal: we're give her ideas like "I like Harp" or "less hoppy than that last one," and she'd flip through the list for a few seconds before coming up with something great...or at least unique.
We ended up having so much fun with the NPLers that we missed the last metro out of town! The bad news is, getting a cab in DC at midnight on a Sunday ain't easy, but the good news was it wasn't nearly as expensive as I had guesstimated.
And as if that weren't enough already, on Monday Sarah learned that her project team for her technology class had been selected as runners-up for the annual Dean's Award for their final project, "Recipe Republic." It's hard to feel bad about coming in second when (a) you didn't know about the award to begin with, and (b) the people who beat you are PhD candidates.
So how's that for an update?
posted by SJA at
6:35 PM
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