Pancakes, Hector and the Search for Happiness & 13.8 km Afternoon Bike Ride

Given that we had enough ingredients and that Alastair really likes them, and that he will be away in Mexico for a week - I decided to make Swedish style pancakes for brunch.

I spent the early afternoon watching: Hector and the search for happiness whilst waiting for the weather to get better.
The movie is about a psychiatrist searches the globe to find the secret of happiness - and below are some of his notes from the trip:

It had a slow start, but as it sounded promising so I decided to give it some slack until Hector started travelling. It was well worth it and an interesting film after all. Recommended for a rainy afternoon.

My Friend David Malcolm had set me a challenge to cycle at least 10k. So Alastair and I cycled along the old railway line to Bethesda for a beer at the Tap House and a late afternoon lunch at Cafe DeLuxe.

3.4 km Afternoon walk & 2x 2.3 km Evening bike ride

Needed to go to Giant and buy cheese, but had about an hour free - so made a walk of it.

In the evening we were invited to Eliana and Carlos. Debating how to get there we finally settled on Metro + Bicycle. So we took the Metro to Grosvenor and cycled from there.

My friend David Malcolm commented that this was not much exercise, but then that was not the point - it clearly states "Bike ride Transport". However = he has now challenged me to do 10 km tomorrow. Perhaps I take Alastair out for lunch somewhere 5 km away - let's see.

The evening was very nice with great grilled meet and interesting"Swedish" wine, bought on their road-trip down through New York State.

It was great to catch up with Eliana and as both Carlos and Alastair are in Mexico next week, we might meet up one day.

Coconut coated chicken thighs with a mango sauce

Take bonefree chicken thighs (or brest if you prefer) and flatten them out. Season with salt and pepper. Dip in whipped egg and then in cocnut flakes.

Finely chop mango, onion, red pepper and ginger. Add crushed garlic.

Cook onions, peppers, ginger and garlic until soft, while you pan-fry the chicken. Finally add mango and some creme fraiche to the sauce. Serve with rice.

Dogwood Tree Blooming & Chicken Noodles

Our Dogwood tree has finally started blooming. It is actually two trees planted together - one white and one pink, but looks great together. I have been told there are yellow ones as well, perhaps we should add another, but it will be much smaller :-(

Dinner was Chicken with noodles.
Chop chicken, spring onions and peppers, Stir-fry until soft.
Coock noodles according to the instructions and rinse in cold water.
Mix in noodles with chicken and vegetables - serve with chilli sauce.

Garden update

It is nice to have an unknown garden, although we have now lived here for 11 months so have discovered most things by now.

 My sunflowers, having grown very well in this hot and humid climate, have just started to flower. They are much taller than me and I so far have a yellow and a red one!

 It is a bit sad we are going away today. There are a lot more flowers on the way, but I hope they will still be here when we come back.

We also have some lovely pink flowers on the tree outside the middle bedroom and some new yellow flowers behind the watering hose.

Fort Lauderdale weekend - Day 3

Day 3 was spend kayaking around the canals. We did just over 5k (3.5 miles) along this strech in the middle. It was quite hard work, but very interesting to look at the houses on the water, and we saw a large bright green Iguana.

Kayaking followed by an American size ice cream, which was enough - no more meals needed!

We drove down the cost to Miami beach, but as I clearly remembered from my last visit, some 10 years ago, parking was an absolute nightmare, so we did not stop, just dropped off the car and enjoyed a few hours in the lounge, before heading off in separate directions (me home - Alastair Peru)

Fort Lauderdale weekend - day 2

View from breakfast place

Day 2 we found a nice place for breakfast, serving crepes with strawberries, cream and mimosas. Not a bad way to start the morning.

After breakfast we went for a little exploration trip in the rented electric blue car, and managed to find a new Hard Rock glass for me, as Hard Rock Cafe, Hotel & Casino at Hollywood, FL.

 Afternoon = reading and lazing by the pool.

Fort Lauderdale weekend - Day 1

With Alastair off to Peru again, through Miami, we thought we could have another Florida weekend and found me a cheap flight to Fort Lauderdale. Or so we thought. We did not read the rules and the airline charged me $50 for my carry-on bag. I flew with an airline called Spirit and based on this first experience I don't think I will fly them again. The check-in staff was very rude, the flight was 3 hours delayed, but nobody mentioned it, the gate stated Chicago and when I asked if it was the right gate anyway, they just told me Chicago was gate 9 but would not confirm regarding FLL.
Finally arrived around midnight and fortunately Alastair came and met me to take me to the hotel
We stayed at the Hyatt Pier 66 as most of the big chains on the seafront we full and we did not want to risk not finding a room. If I have to stick to the positive, the pool was nice:

The rest of the hotel was quite tired and it was about 20 minutes to walk to the beach.

Breakfast on the beach at St. Barts Cafe was OK, but not great. I did like the view though. 

Unfortunately they have built a 3-lane highway between all the restaurants and the beach. Although it looks quiet there were times with very heavy traffic.
In my next life I will become a traffic planner!

Fort Lauderdale has lots of canals with expensive yachts. Overall everything seems pretty upmarket and property prices were not that Interesting.

The beach was very nice though with soft white sand and the water was very warm.

North Beach, MD

A beautiful sunny day, time for lunch by Chesapeake Bay. After going over menus at a large selection of places we finally settles for Mango's Bar & Grill on North Beach, VA.
They were very busy and had no staff (guess they had called in sick to be able to go out in the sunshine or something). We had to wait a long time for a table, although there were tables available. The explanation was that even though the table itself was free, they had no server available. After close to 1 hour (originally was said to be 10 minutes) we asked for the check at the bar so that we could leave and drive off somewhere else. Just at that point we were offered a table, finally.
Then the next disappointment, the full menu was only available from 2 PM, which included some of the items I had in mind. But at that point we were too hungry to argue and just settled for something.

I had large shrimps marinated in pineapple-juice and coated in coconut flakes, served with Raspberry coulis. That was slightly odd, but actually quite nice.

We finished off with a walk along the pier and a view over the beach, which unfortunately was private and belonged to a resort.

North beach was not as nice as deal, the service was worse but the food itself was slightly nicer. Will try to make that myself sometime.

Pimms @British Embassy

Alastair got invited to the British Embassy, at a mingle-event for UK graduates living in DC, and I got to go too. I Ubered there as 35C / 90F and needed to look presentable. Lots of well dressed people getting out of taxis and queuing up to drive in to the embassy, causing a traffic jam on Massachusetts Avenue. The checks were less thorough than I expected with only an invitation and ID needed to be let in.
We were wondering what time to get there (invite was for 6pm) and decided to meet at the gate close to that time, which appeared to be about right. After signing in and receiving our name badges we proceeded upstairs and were welcomed by waiters with mixed drink trays. We both had champagne and then got to work on the mingling.
The bar was fully stocked with a variety of very British drinks, there were Fullers ESB, Strongbow, Gin&Tonic and of course Pimms No1. No more champagne for me, I stuck to Pimms the rest of the evening.

The British Ambassador and his wife showed up around 7 PM apologizing that the guest speaker was unable to  make it, but he wished us a lovely evening and made himself available for anyone who wanted to speak with him.
They opened the doors to the patio and as the evening cooled down slightly groups of people gathered outside, remembering their time at University back home and comparing experiences of DC.

I know I have said it before - but why can't they make ladies formal clothes with pockets? I refuse to carry a handbag around, but need to put my key, credit cards, ID and phone somewhere. It is not always you can bring your husband around. Today business cards would have been useful as well.
Leaving around 8pm many people was walking around watching their Uber-car arrivals on their smartphones.

Deale, MD

With hot weather expected for the next 4 months or so I though it was time we explore more of the shore around Chesapeake Bay. It is nice to be on the water when it is hot and there will be less mosquitoes. We have previously been to Annapolis and a few towns on the Eastern shore (Oxford, Cambridge & St Michael's), although nice - it is a long drive. This time I proposed Deale, MD, the closest place to DC just under an hour away. I did not know anything about it, just picked a spot on the map.
It was an easy drive and Deale turned out to be a very nice little small-town on the Bay, just as expected. We found a small seafood restaurant called: Skipper's Pier Restaurant.

 We had crab cakes which were great and are looking forward to returning. On the platform in the picture above, they were setting up for a live band playing and it was lovely to sit there and eat, overlooking the marina.

 After lunch we drove around the rest of Deale before heading through small very small coastal town down to Chesapeake Beach. Chesapeake Beach was much more commercial and a much larger town. There were hotels along the seafront and a distinct lack of parking, so very difficult go go out for a walk and a look around. Sometimes I wonder if these beach town actually want visitors? We will continue exploring the nearby Western Shore and are thinking of renting a sailing boat together with friends in the near future. To be continued.

Not a very nice view

Today I went to Chicago, or at least, I flew into Chicago O'Hare Airport and then set off in the opposite direction to the suburb of Schaumburg. Schaumburg is not a very nice place, it is full of outdoor shopping malls and business hotels and motorway intersections. However, my customer, US Cellular has an office here and I had a meeting with them.
To get to DCA (Reagan National Airport in DC) I booked the Super Shuttle, not that I can't claim a proper taxi, but because they are reliable and actually turn up on time. You can track your shuttle on-line until it reaches your door, on a map and know that you will get to the airport on time. Booking a taxi does not mean it shows up, and it is always a gamble to trek up to Wisconsin Avenue to just catch one.  This morning I checked as usual when I got up where my shuttle was and it turned out it was just around the corner (literally), which was a bit stressful as it was not supposed to pick me up for another 30 minutes. I quickly gathered my stuff and got ready, but it continued to hide around the corner. When it finally showed up (on time) I asked the driver about hiding around the corner and he was surprised i knew. He said he was early and did not want to stress me, which I guess was nice.
Meeting went well and we checked in to a different Hyatt (Regency) than normally, as the usual one was full. I must say I am NOT impressed by the view from my hotel window.

Spring arrived & today's Police action

Back from South America, Spring properly arrived in DC. We had several warm days before I left, but the trees and plants had not properly woken up.
Today I noticed:

Pink flowers on neighbors tree

Little blue flowers in our lawn - hmm... how do I cut the grass without damaging them?

The Tulips turned out to be yellow, but are almost done!

The green leaves on our hedge are turning red and the little tree above the tulips have pink leaves.

Little red flowers on the bush below the porch

Sun-flower seeds I sawed before I left for Peru & Bolivia are sprouting up

More blue flowers on the lawn in the back garden. They look nice - but are they weeds?

Tulips in the back garden are also yellow!

and some dandelions. I have to go and by a tool to dig them up before they spread.

Today's police action happened around lunch-time. A lorry was pulled over at our junction by a police car with the sirens on! Stayed for around 20-30 minutes.