Ryan and Sarah Peterson

Off We Go to the Land Down Under

2011-12-02T02:30:00.000-08:00

Today's the big day. Sarah and I are headed to Australia after months (or in Sarah's case, years) of planning. And I'll be bringing back a pet koala for everyone. Look for yours in the mail in a few weeks!

Holiday Madness II: Christmas

2011-11-28T18:43:00.000-08:00

Hello again. I told you this weekend was busy. Since Sarah and I are leaving for Australia on Friday, December 2nd, we figured we should get out our holiday decorations as quickly as possible so that we could enjoy them for a bit. This year Sarah decided to go full-on Martha Stewart by making sugar cookies that double as Christmas tree ornaments.

Frequent visitors to the blog may recognize these cookies as the same ones we have made in years past, so I suppose they have become somewhat of a holiday tradition. My favorite is the snow globe.

Sarah also made some sort of tinsel-type-thing to go around the tree, which looked pretty cool.

Our tree came out great this year. Hopefully it will still be alive when we come back from Australia on December 18th. I'll try to do a couple of posts while were in the land down under, but if not, I'll be sure to put up plenty of pictures when we get back.

Holiday Madness I: Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T18:32:00.001-08:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone. Sarah and I had a great holiday. Although it was really busy, we were glad to help out Sarah's mom in putting together the Thanksgiving meal. Our duties included the following:

Grandma Peterson's world-famous stuffing

Pumpkin pie with pecan-praline topping

Grandma Crapo's rolls

and sugar cookies

It all came together for a pretty tasty meal. After that, Sarah and I had a pretty good weekend, including a little Black Friday shopping and preparing for Christmas...

Hooray for the iPhone!

2011-11-12T05:18:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I finally decided the time had come for us to get some smartphones, and decided on the iPhone 4S. After an incredibly harrowing ordeal, they finally arrived, and we've been enjoying them ever since. This is one of the first pictures I took on the new amazing camera. Perhaps it symbolizes the dawn of the new age in the Peterson household. An age where we can get our iPhone to talk to us and tell us jokes.

Visit from the Folks

2011-11-12T04:47:00.001-08:00

Sorry I haven't been able to post for a while. It's been a pretty busy time for the Petersons. But a couple of weeks ago we had a great visit from my parents from Arizona. We had a lot fun together, including going on the Skyline Drive.

It's a nice drive through a stretch of the Shenandoah Valley, and right now is a prime time for looking at fall foliage, which my parents refer to as "leaf-peeping."

My parents were even in town for my birthday! It was great to have them here. Thanks for the visit!

Jack-o-Lanterns! UPDATED!

2011-10-28T04:32:00.001-07:00

Hey all, I decided to make a few additions to my Halloween post, since before it was just a picture of our jack-o-lanterns.

Here's a better picture of the pumpkins.

We went to our church Halloween party, and had to throw some costumes together at the last minute. Sarah went as a quite convincing PanAm-era flight attendant.

I thought I was going as some cool detective like Humphrey Bogart from "The Maltese Falcon," but everyone just said I looked like Inspector Gadget. Maybe I just have a goofy face.

Woohoo!

2011-10-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

I just found out I passed the Virginia Bar Exam! Now I can sue people!

The Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch in the Whole World

2011-10-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hey all. I guess Fall has officially arrived with the annual pumpkin selection. Sarah picked out some winners.

Ryan's 2011 Summer Movie Roundup

2011-09-14T05:22:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone. It's September, which means it's time for the annual summer movie roundup! I was actually quite impressed with this summer's offerings, unlike last year. And even though there were very few original projects (i.e. not sequels, prequels, remakes, or adaptations), most of the movies I saw exceeded my expectations. Although there were some disappointments (Pixar didn't make the cut this year), there were quite a few I really enjoyed. Onto the countdown.

5. THOR

Summer started off with a bang with a movie that was surprisingly good, considering its source material. With a movie about a god from another world who crash lands on our planet and has to fight something called a "frost giant," you wouldn't think the movie would be too impressive. But the director Kenneth Branagh (i.e. the guy who usually does all the Shakespeare movies) managed to pull in some real talent and make the movie at least somewhat credible. Thor has always been one of my least favorite comic book heroes, but with this movie I couldn't help but respect the god of thunder a little bit.

4. COWBOYS & ALIENS

I'll admit that I am a huge nerd who had been anxiously awaiting this movie all year. I could not pass up the chance to see James Bond and Indiana Jones shoot up some aliens in the Old West. It may be the cheesiest movie on this list, but I probably walked away with the biggest smile after seeing this one.

3. CAPTAIN AMERICA

It's probably a good sign when even Sarah is excited to see a summer movie. Captain America had heart, a brisk pace, a good villain, and lots of Nazis getting punched in the face. That's basically the same formula for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which is another one of my all-time favorites.

2. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

I probably had the lowest expectations for this particular movie, since I was a little worn out on X-Men films. But since I'm such a huge James Bond fan, they really nabbed me with the 60's Cold War-style feel that permeated the film. Fantastic movie, even if it did sort of mess with the timeline of all the other films. Even Sarah liked it, but that may be just because she liked all the furniture and fashion design.

1. SUPER 8

As you know, I'm a bit of a sucker for original summer fare (as previous roundup winners include such original films as Inception and Up). Although this movie did borrow somewhat from such Spielberg classics as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "E.T." (ever notice how much Spielberg loves aliens), this was an original and incredibly compelling story all its own. The child actors were brilliant, and this may be the only movie on this list that had an actual touching story to tell. Maybe I have a soft spot for this movie because of all the time I spent trying to make movies with my friends as a kid, but I do think it was the best of this summer's offerings.

There you have it. The roundup for 2011. Let me know if I missed any of your favorites.

So lonely...

2011-09-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I dropped Sarah off at the airport yesterday, so that she could fly to Central America, which means I'll be all by myself for the next month. Feel free to send me any condolences or gifts as I count down the days to September 30th. Only 25 days until I see Sarah again!

Arlington County Fair

2011-08-21T10:03:00.001-07:00

Sarah and I went to the Arlington County Fair last weekend. We had a great time looking at all the weird stuff and eating greasy food that you normally find at fairs. The highlights include:

Riding the scary, rickety ferris wheel run by a couple of Grateful Dead fans;

Playing the carnival games (Sarah played the shooting game and won an awesome stuffed monster thing);

I played the dart game and won a lame tiny whale;

And the highlight of the fair, the piglet races, where they have a bunch of piglets run around a track and we root on the winners. Our pig, Ham Solo, won two of the three races, so we were pretty proud.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

2011-07-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I've been preparing for the bar exam for the entire summer, and I am starting my new job at a law firm downtown on Monday, which means my summer vacation lasted for approximately three days. It mostly consisted of watching movies about alien invasions (Yay, Cowboys and Aliens! Boo, Transformers 3!) and going to the pool. I also cooked a lot, but here's the highlight, my homemade bacon egg mcmuffin.

First, I cooked an egg in a frying pan inside a biscuit cutter, which worked surprisingly well.

Next, I took a a biscuit I had made earlier in the week, and heated it up.

I added some melted cheddar cheese onto the egg, and plopped it on top of the biscuit.

Then I threw some bacon on top, and had myself an awesome breakfast. So there you have it. That's basically my entire summer vacation. It was brief, but I enjoyed it. Next week I finally join the ranks of the working masses!

I'm Free!!!

2011-07-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

I'm finally done with the bar exam! Yay! Too bad I have to start working next week. That is all.

Visit from my sister!

2011-07-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sarah and I are staying busy here in DC. I have to take the bar exam at the end of the month, so I am definitely trying to stay focused for that. Fortunately, I was able to take a little bit of a break because my sister Kim came to visit us this weekend! Kim had never been to the East Coast before, so we managed to squeeze in most of the DC sights and a quick trip to New York while she was in town.

The first couple of days we toured all over DC. We saw all the monuments and three museums in one day, since Kim wasn't slow and feeble like our parents.

We also had a blast in New York. We even managed to find some cheap Broadway tickets. We went to see Phantom of the Opera, even though we had all seen it years ago, mostly because pickings were slim at the box office and none of us wanted to see Sister Act.

We had a great time in New York (and in DC), so if anyone wants to come out and visit us, we'll be happy to show them a good time. Just wait until after I pass the bar.

Top Three Terrifying Cinematic Moments From My Childhood

2011-06-03T05:22:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Life is good here in Arlington, and Sarah and I are staying pretty busy this summer with work and bar preparation classes. I basically spend 8-9 hours per day preparing for one exam that I don't take until the end of July, so I suspect that this summer might start to feel a little tedious for me by the end of it.

In other news, however, we are in full swing of the summer movie season, which is one of my favorite times of year. So far I've actually been pretty impressed with the offerings, despite the numerous sequels and remakes. But it got me thinking that I haven't done a post about movies in a while, so here goes.

The other day I saw that Jurassic Park was on TV, and I remembered how scary it was the first time I went to see it. However, I was able to get over the initial heebie-jeebies, and I probably ended up seeing that film another ten times in the theaters. And then I got to thinking of some of the other terrifying movie moments I witnessed as a child that have since been seared into my brain. So here’s my list of movies you shouldn’t let your kids watch until they are at least 25.

3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

There’s no shortage of creepy scenes from this flick, but when the main bad guy, Mola Ram, shows up halfway through and pulls a guy’s heart out… good night. I didn’t sleep for weeks. Of course, it didn’t help that my sisters memorized the lines from that scene and would chase me around the house yelling, “Ka-li-ma, shut-di-day!” Thanks a lot, Kim and Jaime.

2. Willow

Perhaps a lot of you haven’t seen this movie, and you should definitely see it, but be warned. There’s a scene where this evil witch lady casts a spell and turns a bunch of people into pigs, and, man, is it terrifying. Watching Val Kilmer turn into a pig-man was some creepy stuff for a kid to take in. I don’t know why this movie was ever marketed to children.

1. The Princess Bride

Huh? You may wonder why this makes the list, when there are some genuinely terrifying scenes higher up. In short: ROUSs. When Wesley and Buttercup are climbing through the Fire Swamp discussing whether the Rodents of Unusual Size actually exist, I knew it was time to hide behind the couch, and I wouldn’t come out until they were safe.

GRADUATION!

2011-05-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

It's official: I am finally a law school graduate. This weekend we had our commencement on the National Mall, and then I got my diploma in the afternoon. Woohoo! Up next, I'll be studying for the Virginia Bar Exam, which I will be taking in late July, and then I'll start my job with Ermer Law Group, a small federal health care firm in Washington, DC. Sarah and I are so excited to be done, and to have a good job to start out with.

Asian Adventure: Food Edition

2011-05-03T05:30:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. As promised here are a few shots of some of the tasty food we ate while touring through the Orient. Sadly, I didn't take as many pictures as I originally thought, but here goes.

We only had time for one meal in Beijing, but we made the most of it, by getting some shrimp potstickers and a huge serving of double-fried duck breast, served with tiny sesame buns. It may not have been a great idea to have heavy fried food after 20 hours of traveling, since my stomach was a little angry afterward, but it was totally worth it.

One of the first meals we grabbed in Hong Kong was dim sum at a tiny hole in the wall called Tim Ho Wan. Tim Ho Wan is the cheapest restaurant in the world to have earned one Michelin Star, and it's famous for its baked pork buns. It won't win any awards for service (when I asked for something to drink other than tea, they told me to get up and go across the street to 7-11), but it was pretty tasty.

Supposedly the best place to eat with a view in Hong Kong is up on Victoria Peak. We were able to get a reservation right around sunset, and had an amazing view of the city as all the lights started to come on. Plus, the Indian food wasn't too bad either.

When we went to visit the Bid Buddha statue on Lantau Island, we also stopped by the Po Lin monastery, which is famous for its vegetarian restaurant. Not usually my thing, but they had some really tasty food, including deep-fried spring rolls.

We tried to eat every type of food we could find in Hong Kong. That included Peking Duck at one of the best restaurants in the city, high tea at the ancient British establishment The Peninsula Hotel, and spicy Szechuan food on Hong Kong Island. This was a plate of spicy orange beef that we got at the Szechuan restaurant Red Pepper.

And best part of all, it only took me a week and a half, but I finally managed to use chopsticks. Yay!

Asian Adventure: Hong Kong Edition

2011-04-25T13:05:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed the pictures of Beijing. Here are few pics of our week in Hong Kong. Enjoy.

Hong Kong is the busiest, loudest place I have ever visited. Every street is lit up by neon signs and filled with strange sights, smells, and sounds. Our hotel was located in Kowloon near many of the unique markets of Northern Hong Kong. This is part of the bird market, a place that not only sells birds, but also serves as a hangout for local old dudes who want to bring their birds so they can all sing to each other.

This is part of the Ladies' Market, although it sells just about everything you can imagine. I suppose this would be considered a residential neighborhood in Hong Kong, and it is still packed with people.

They also have a fish market, which again sells just about anything imaginable, including tropical fish, cats, rabbits, lizards, insects, etc. Those are fish hanging in the plastic bags behind Sarah.

One of our favorite attractions in Hong Kong (which also happened to be one of the cheapest) was taking the Star Ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island.

It offers amazing views of all of Hong Kong Island, and it only costs about 35 cents.

Hong Kong Island itself is the financial center, and it has some pretty amazing skyscrapers. All of the buildings apparently have to follow the principles of Feng Shui; otherwise they must collapse. We managed to take a picture of some of the skyscrapers in one of the few green spaces in the central district.

One of my favorite things that we did in Hong Kong was travel to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha. It's the largest, seated, outdoor Buddha in the world, which seems like a lot of qualifiers. To get to the Buddha, you get to take a 15-minute gondola ride which offers some spectacular views. Alternatively, you can hike to the Buddha, and it only takes about six hours! We decided to pass on that.

Here's a picture of the Buddha statue from our gondola ride.

Once you get to the site of the statue, you have to climb about 150 steps to actually see it up close.

I'd like to say that this is some ancient wonder of the world, but I think it was actually built about 30 years ago. Still, it's pretty cool.

The statue is located right next to the Po Lin monastery, which is one of the oldest monasteries in Hong Kong. This picture was taken from the inside of the monastery looking out at the Buddha statue.

Like I said, we loved taking the Star Ferry to and from Hong Kong Island. Here's a shot of the city all lit up at night.

For those of you who know me, you certainly know that I would not pass up the chance to have a suit made while in Hong Kong. Sarah and I finally settled on Mr. Joseph Ma, who made me an awesome three-piece light gray suit. If you're going to Hong Kong anytime soon, I recommend Mr. Ma.

On the Saturday before we left, Sarah and I decided to take the hydrofoil to Macao, another "special autonomous region" of China. It was settled and owned by Portugal up until a few years ago, and many of the people still speak Portuguese today. Although most of the city is covered in casinos, we spent most of our time in the historic city center, which still looks like an old Portuguese village even today.

Here's a picture of the ruins of a Jesuit cathedral built on a hill in the center of Macao. It burned down over 200 years ago, so only the facade remains today.

Sarah and I had an awesome time in Hong Kong. It really was the trip of a lifetime. If I have time later in the week, I'll certainly put up one more post of my favorite topic for any trip: the food.

Asian Adventure: Beijing Edition

2011-04-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! Sorry it's been a while since my last post; it has been a very busy couple of weeks. But I took my last law school final EVER yesterday, so life is good! I can't believe we made it all the way through law school. It will be nice to take a couple days off before I start preparing for the bar exam.

But in other news, Sarah and I had a fantastic time in Asia. We left on March 30th for my law school competition, and didn't get back until April 12th. We had a lot of fun, even though we didn't win the competition. Plus, Sarah managed to find a way for us to have an extended layover in Beijing on our way to Hong Kong, so here are some photos. I'll be sure to post more from the rest of our trip later in the week.

We arrived in Beijing at 5:20 in the morning after 23 hours of traveling, and immediately hopped in a cab to head to the Mutianyu portion of the Great Wall. In retrospect, hiking up a mountain at high altitude directly after a day of flying was probably not a good idea, but we made it to the top, and basically had the whole wall to ourselves.

Fortunately, Sarah and I had brought some pop tarts for an awesome Great Wall energy boost. I'm contemplating writing a letter to the makers of pop tarts to thank them. Those guys kept us alive and moving during our one-day marathon in Beijing.

After that, we had our cabbie drive us into town to go to Tiananmen Square and take some photos of the giant Communist statues. Sadly, the line to see Mao's creepy preserved corpse (behind me) was too long so we had to skip it.

After that, we made our way to the Forbidden City, which is just on the other side of the street. It is massive! It took use a while to go through and see it all, but it was really amazing.

Then we had some lunch, and were amazed to find we still had some time, so we made our way over to the Temple of Heaven to see some of the sights surrounding the Buddhist temple. By then, it was time to head back to the airport for our 6:30 flight to Hong Kong. We really packed in everything we could during our 12 hours in Beijing, and we had a great time. Stay tuned for an account of our adventures in the Special Autonomous Region of Hong Kong.

Busy busy!

2011-03-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posting in the last months, but this is definitely the busy time for me during the semester. Sarah and I are leaving for Hong Kong in 16 days, so there is still a lot I need to finish up before we go. We're both still alive and hanging in there. Ok, gotta run!

Oscars Update

2011-02-07T05:03:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

Sarah and I just got back from New York City for another job interview for me, so hopefully we'll hear some good news in a couple of weeks. I guess we've been to NYC enough times when it occurred to us that we didn't even take any pictures this time. But we had a great time, including, but not limited to, the following:

* Delicious Venezuelan arepas
* Cheap tickets to a matinee performance of Billy Elliot
* Double cheeseburger and a black-and-white shake from Shake Shack
* Shopping at all of Sarah's favorite stores
* Grabbing some culture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
* Tasty macarons from Bouchon Bakery

But onto more important matters. The Oscar nominations came out last week, and I was mostly happy with the nominees. However, I feel like there are some essential categories that the judges left out. Here are some that I think ought to be included:

Most Unintelligible Accent

Winner: Jeff Bridges, True Grit – Maybe the reason that I thought this movie was so entertaining was because I had no idea what they were saying, so I was forced to make up my own story. I could only understand about a third of what Jeff Bridges’ cowboy marshal said, so I may have to rent it and put the subtitles on. Great movie though!

Runner-Up: The rest of the cast of True Grit – Everyone in this movie was either an immigrant, insane, or had an injured tongue, so I may have missed some of their dialogue as well.

Best Fight Scene

Winner: Inception – The fight scene in the rotating hallway may be my favorite scene from the movies this year. To film it, the crew built an entire hotel hallway that could rotate on gigantic axis. Then they threw the actors in and let them scramble around inside. Who knew that kid with the long hair from ‘Third Rock from the Sun’ would turn into such a zero-gravity force to be reckoned with?

Runner-Up: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – Although this movie was pretty bizarre, the fight scenes in it were absolutely hilarious. And the fact that all of Scott’s enemies turned into coins after he beat them was the topper on the cake.

Biggest Tear Jerker

Winner: Toy Story 3, Fiery Doom – I thought Toy Story 3 would be lame, but I was very pleasantly surprised, especially by the entire ‘Great Escape’- esque final act. But, oh boy, there is one scene where the characters think they might be headed for their demise that’s pretty intense. I won’t spoil it, but bring some tissues.

Runner-Up: Toy Story 3, The End – Just when you have recovered from the aforementioned scene, BAM, they hit you with the ending that is just as heart-warming/heart-rending. Be prepared.

Awesomest Explosion

Winner: The A-Team – Every good movie should have at least one explosion. Great movies, on the other hand, have many explosions. I have explained to Sarah that this is why Pride and Prejudice is not a great movie, but to no avail. In the A-Team, the bad guy blows up an entire tanker ship with a rocket launcher, and it’s glorious. If Mr. Darcy had blown up that Wickham dude with a rocket launcher, Pride and Prejudice would have ruled.

Runner-Up: Iron Man 2 – This movie was basically one two-hour explosion, so it deserves an honorable mention.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

2011-01-26T18:06:00.001-08:00

It's Sarah's birthday today! And it looks like she got a pretty awesome gift too! Hope she let's me play with it. I love you, sweetheart!

Holidays 2010!

2011-01-15T09:01:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been such a long time since our last post. The holidays are crazy for everyone, I suppose, and we have been all over the country. So here's one big giant post of everything we did this holiday season.

First up, we surprised my parents by coming to visit them for Thanksgiving. Sarah and I have always wanted to make a surprise visit home to Arizona, and I was glad that it finally worked out this year. I was excited to see the family, but I think Sarah was mostly stoked for her pork salad from Cafe Rio.

Thanksgiving was lots of fun, and it was great to see all of our brothers, sisters, and nephews back in Arizona.

As is usually the case, none of the boys ate any actual food. I suspect that they might have been raised by elves and only subscribe to the four candy food groups. Here's one of Aidan sneaking some M&Ms.

When we got back to DC, the Brutons were kind of enough to hold off on Thanksgiving until our return, so we got to have turkey, stuffing, and pecan pie twice!

After that, we decided to have a cookie swap party at out house for Christmas, in a tradition started by our friends the Albas last year. Sarah talked me into helping her painstakingly craft all of her usual intricate sugar cookies, and they turned out pretty well. My main contribution was the mouse cookies that you see below.

After that, it was back to Arizona for Christmas. This time we were able to stay for a whole week and visit with everyone, which was great. Sarah got a great big pile of presents, so she must have been pretty good this year.

I, on the other hand, got a gift bag with twenty bucks inside, so I don't know what that says about me. In actuality, I got lots of great stuff too (from both the Brutons and Petersons). THANKS EVERYONE!

Sarah and I had an awesome holiday season, but it's nice to get back into our usual schedule and stop eating pie and my Mom's awesome Texas sheet cake every day. I hope you all had a great Christmas as well, and I'll try to keep posting a little more frequently this year.

My Ode to Dr. Jones

2010-11-14T09:15:00.001-08:00

I promised I would be putting more movie-related stuff on the blog, so hopefully this is a good way to kick things off. I love the Indiana Jones movies. As far as adventure movies go, it doesn’t get much better than this. The other day I started thinking about my favorite moments from the films, and I came up with this list of my top five. For those hoping for the scene where Indy escapes a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge, I’m afraid nothing from the most recent movie, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, made it onto the list (but you can read my review of the movie here).

5. The Sword Fight That Wasn’t

There’s no way this scene couldn’t make the list. After fighting off a handful of baddies, he has to go up against one last Arabian ninja with a sword. Rather than waste time with another fight, he simply shoots the guy and moves on (ala Han Solo). Which begs the question, why didn’t he just shoot all the other people he was fighting in the previous scene?

Interesting Fact: I’m sure at this point that most people know the story that there was supposed to be a big sword fight right here, but that Harrison Ford was too sick to film it, so he suggested, “Why don’t I just shoot the guy instead?” But what you may not know is that not only was Harrison Ford sick, but in fact most of the cast and crew was deathly ill while filming in Tunisia. In fact, the only person who did not get sick was Steven Spielberg, who only ate cans of Spaghetti-O’s from the States the entire time they were in Tunisia.

4. Escaping the Night Club

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg originally came together because they wanted to make James Bond-type secret agent movie. Instead, they came up with our favorite adventurer archaeologist. I think this scene made it in, however, because they did want to see Indy in a tux fighting some bad guys at least once. The fact that he’s been poisoned and is frantically searching for the antidote made it all the better.

Interesting Fact: The name of the night club where the fight takes place is the Club Obi-Wan, as an homage to George Lucas’ other trilogy.

3. Indy’s Magic Hat

This isn’t as much a moment as it is a recurring theme. Indy’s gone through a lot to protect his beloved fedora, including nearly being smashed by booby traps. This screenshot above references the scene in the Last Crusade where Indy miraculously survived driving a tank off of a cliff. Just as he’s catching his breath to get ready for his next adventure, his long-lost hat miraculously blows from over the cliff edge and lands in his lap. Classic.

Interesting Fact: In the “Making of the Last Crusade” documentary, Harrison Ford was filmed stapling the fedora to his head before filming the tank chase sequence. Many people believed this to be real, but sadly, he never actually stapled his hat to his head (though he did use double-sided tape).

2. The Bridge Sequence

This scene brings to its close a series of amazing action sequences: fighting for his freedom, escaping in a mine cart, outrunning a wall of water, and finally facing enemies from both sides on a rickety rope bridge hanging precariously over a crocodile-infested river (all while missing one of his shirt sleeves). What’s the manliest thing you could do in this situation? Cut the bridge in half.

Interesting Fact: Steven Spielberg was in fact terrified of the rope bridge and refused to cross it, which meant he had to drive an extra mile and a half to get from one side to the other.

1. The Truck Chase

This is without a doubt one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed. After fighting his way through the snake-infested well of souls and dispatching a giant Nazi with the propeller of an airplane, he begins chasing after the truck containing the Ark of the Covenant. This scene is every bit as edge-of-my-seat exciting for me as it was the first time I watched it.

Interesting Fact: The truck chase was one of the first scenes filmed for the movie. Harrison Ford was actually dragged behind the truck for some of the shots, bruising his ribs. When asked if he was worried, he stated, "No. If it really was dangerous, they would have filmed more of the movie first."

So there you have it; my top five Indiana Jones moments. If I missed any that you think should have made the list (like the fact Indy continually seems to be beating up Nazis and stealing their clothes), please let me know with your comments. Thanks for reading!

Blog-apalooza Part I

2010-11-07T06:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted anything on the blog. That's why today we're putting up three posts of everything we have been up to in the last few weeks. First off, we completed the final do-it-yourself project of the move into our new place by covering up the hideous mirror walls that plague our front room.

For whatever reason our landlord thought some floor-to-ceiling mirrors would be awesome for his place. We're not allowed to take them down, so instead Sarah found a way to cover them up using fabric and ordinary spray starch.

It took us a few hours but we managed to cut the fabric and paste it up on the walls to get rid of seeing our reflections in every corner of the house.

The walls look great and we're glad to finally get them covered up. Also, there are two other new posts below, so please keep on reading.

Blog-apalooza Part II

2010-11-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, here's Part II of what we have been up to in October. On October 30, we went to Comedy Central's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, which was pretty fun. We had to stand around for a while on the Mall with a million other people before it finally got started, but it was actually pretty fun.

They had all sorts of different acts at the rally, including The Roots, Ozzy Osbourne, Cat Stevens, Sheryl Crowe, and a bunch of other performers; it was a lot of fun. Also, the idea was to bring signs to the rally that weren't divisive or argumentative, so these were some of our favorites.

And of course, no trip down to the Capitol would be complete without lunch at Good Stuff Eatery on Pennsylvania Avenue. They have some tasty burgers and the black-and-white shake rocks.

Blog-apalooza Part III

2010-11-07T06:41:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, welcome to the last of all our new posts on everything we have been up to this last month. We had a great time for Halloween, starting with pumpkin-carving. We went with something a little more traditional this year.

We went to the Ward Halloween Party this year (since we are now members of the Activities Committee) dressed as Waldo and Wanda from the Where's Waldo books. I'd put up a picture of us but you probably wouldn't be able to find us.

Summer Movie Roundup 2010

2010-10-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, it’s time for the annual summer movie review. Sorry it’s a bit late this year, but I was withholding judgment until I saw a few films that had recently come out on DVD. Also, I’m hoping to put more movie-related stuff on the blog from here on, so stay tuned for more of that in the future. Without further ado…

5. ROBIN HOOD

Although this movie was by no means great, it was definitely an entry on the “good” side of the many Robin Hood remakes. Russell Crowe does a decent job of bringing the character to life, except that he’s basically really angry all the time. However, you can always count on director Ridley Scott to give you a few really good action sequences. Oh, and apparently Robin Hood also laid the foundation for the Magna Carta. Who knew?

4. SALT

My one major complaint with movies where you don’t know if the main character is a good guy or a bad guy is that that question is usually answered within the first ten minutes of the movie. I remember going to see the film “Traitor” with Don Cheadle last year, and all the trailers made it look like you would spend the whole movie waiting to figure that out. But within the first five minutes, you know that his character is just an undercover good guy, rendering the title and plot of the film somewhat nonsensical.

Not so with Salt. I was impressed that they actually managed to keep you guessing right up until the very end, which raises this movie to the top of the recent undercover spy thrillers. You just have to suspend reality and believe that Russia has undercover agents working in the United States. Like that would ever happen in real life. Oh wait…

3. THE A-TEAM

I’ll admit that this one was a bit of a guilty pleasure, and I spent all Spring anxiously awaiting its arrival. This movie is completely ridiculous, which is what made it such an enjoyable summer film. Stuff explodes, someone makes a joke, unintelligible plot point, more stuff explodes, repeat. Yay!

2. TOY STORY 3

I didn’t exactly have high expectations for this film, which is surprising since this is Pixar, the film company that can do no wrong. I guess I was disappointed that they were doing another sequel to a series that I thought had already passed its heyday. On the contrary, this movie was fantastic! In addition to the incredible “Great Escape”-esque final act, the story really had an emotional impact exploring themes like growing up, friendship, and creepy baby dolls. It maybe even got me a little excited for their next sequel, Cars 2, due out in 2011.

1. INCEPTION

This was by far my most anticipated movie of the summer, and it did not disappoint. Not only is this my top movie of the summer, but I daresay that this movie belongs in my top ten films OF ALL TIME. This movie, in my humble opinion, was practically perfect. All of the actors were perfectly cast, the plot was intelligent and mind-bending, and the action sequences were something that no one had ever seen before. I’ve always been a big fan of the director, Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight), and this was a masterpiece. He has gone on record that he always wanted to direct a James Bond movie, and this was his answer to the sleek espionage genre, which even included a gripping snow fortress assault as an homage to his favorite Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Did I mention that I love this movie?

So there you have it. Let me know if I missed any that you think should have made the list. Also, I’ll be posting more movie-related articles when I have a little more free time (which has been hard to come by lately).

New Apartment!

2010-10-10T06:17:00.001-07:00

Well, I haven't been posting much on the blog lately, and the main reason for that is because we unexpectedly had to move this last month! The owners of our apartment were coming back unexpectedly from their overseas assignment, which gave us about two months to find a new place. Fortunately, we found one and were able to finish moving in over this last week. Now those of you who have seen our apartment may wonder why it looks exactly the same as the last one. We actually stayed in the same building, and moved from the third floor to the first floor. There have been some downsides (moving costs, crappy parking spot, etc.), but the new place has some definite upsides as well (we were allowed to paint, nicer appliances, fireplace). So overall we're pretty happy, especially now that I'm finally done hanging everything up.

Our living room is unfortunately a little bit smaller with the addition of the fireplace, but we were still able to make everything fit, and we're pretty happy with the outcome.

The bedroom looks about the same, except that there's a new coat of paint. We're excited to be able to stay in the same neighborhood and in the same ward, and I feel like we were really fortunate that this new place opened up in our building right as we were getting kicked out.

South American Adventure: Food Edition

2010-09-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone who knows me knows I love to eat. Which is why I had to dedicate a post just to all of the amazing food we had while we traveled around South America. Unfortunately, this blog website will only let me post five pictures at a time for some reason, so I had to limit this to just a few of the meals we had during our travels.

It was pretty chilly down in Buenos Aires, which made it perfect weather for "submarinos." Basically you get a glass of really hot milk and a chocolate bar (sometimes in the shape of a tiny chocolate submarine), and mix them together until the chocolate gets nice and melty. It's best enjoyed along with an "alfajor" which is a soft shortbread cookie filled with dulce de leche and dipped in chocolate. Pretty tasty stuff.

The king in Argentinean cuisine is most definitely beef. Between the two of us Sarah and I ate roughly the equivalent of an entire cow. My favorite was the "ojo de bife," which is their version of a ribeye, pictured here. All the cows are grass-fed in Argentina, as opposed to grain-fed like in the States, which leads to a slightly tougher, but much tastier piece of beef. It goes well with a slice of "provoleta," which is just a thick slab of provolone cheese, seasoned well and slapped on the grill until it grows tough and chewy on the outside, and warm and gooey on the inside.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of our dinner at La Bourgogne, which was a really fancy French restaurant in the ritzy part of northern Buenos Aires. It is consistently ranked by several travel magazines as the best restaurant in South America, and I figure it would be tough to pass up a chance to eat at the best restaurant on an entire continent. They gave us everything from foie gras and goat cheese gazpacho as starters to flambeed beef tenderloin and rack of lamb as an entree.

Chile isn't exactly known for its cuisine, but they did have some great national dishes. One of the most famous dishes is "pastel de choclo," which is somewhat like a pot pie. They put big pieces of bone-in chicken into a cast iron bowl and fill it with gravy and vegetables. Then they top it with a generous helping of cornbread mix with honey and bake the whole thing for half an hour. The whole meal was pretty hearty. We also had plenty of seafood since we were so close to the coast, which Sarah enjoyed (me not so much).

We always tried to taste some of the national favorites everywhere we went, which in Rio de Janeiro means "feijoada," a thick bean soup/stew filled with whatever meat they happened to have on hand that day. Our feijoada had steak, chicken, dried beef, tongue, and a couple other things. It was amazing, except for maybe the tongue. You usually pour it out over a bed of rice and eat with tons of toppings, including vegetables, fried bananas, and peppers.

Finally, one of our last meals in South America was one of the restaurants I was most excited about, "Porcau," which translates to "piggy." It's a Brazilian rodizio-style steakhouse, which means the waiters continue to bring you food until you ask them to stop. Although this wasn't entirely true, since they will give you more steak even when you tell them you don't want it. This restaurant has raised gluttony to an art form, and they serve you every conceivable variation of beef, chicken, and pork. One of the strangest may have been a strip steak they somehow stuffed with cheese, but it was all amazing.

So there you have it. Our culinary tour de force of three nations in South America. Sarah and I had such an awesome time there, and I'm sorry my blog posts have to go back to normal old boring life from here on out. Oh well, I hope you all keep reading anyway.

South American Adventure: Brazil Edition

2010-08-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! It's time for the final installment of our travelogue through South America. Sorry it took me a while to publish this post, but I was recovering from the bizarre South American flu-type illness that Sarah brought home from Chile and subsequently passed on to me. The good news is the doctor told us we don't have dengue fever, so we should be alright. Anyway, Brazil was awesome, and a great end to our trip through South America. The first few days we spent exploring the colonial areas in downtown Rio.

We also had to go up the two big mountains in Rio that everyone talks about. The weather cleared up a bit towards the end of our stay so we were able to get some great views of the city. On Thursday, we went to the Sugar Loaf hill overlooking the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. This picture was taken from the cable car we took up to the top.

The view was incredible, and there were even monkeys up on the hill, although Sarah said they looked scary so I wasn't allowed to get too close.

The next day we went up the Corcovado mountain to see the Cristo statute, which provides an even more amazing view of the whole city.

We had an amazing time traveling through South America. We were sad to go home, but it really was the trip of a lifetime. And don't worry, I still have plenty more pictures to post of all the food we ate on our travels. Adios.

South American Adventure: Chile Edition

2010-08-17T10:13:00.001-07:00

Well, it's time for the next update on our trip through South America. After spending a week in Argentina while Sarah finished up her classes, we hopped on a place and headed to Santiago, Chile. It was still pretty cold while we were there, but the city is very beautiful, clean, and has a sweet subway system. Here we are in the Plaza de las Armas, which is considered the center of the old colonial part of town. We were able to visit the National Cathedral and the several Pre-Columbian art museums.

This is at the top of a huge fortress/palace that was built on a hill in the center of town. Santiago is surrounded by mountains on three sides, so it offered a great view of the entire valley.

We also managed to take an old trolley car up to one of the larger hills on the outskirt of town to see their statue of the Virgin Mary that overlooks the entire city. It was amazing, but I suppose it kind of pales in comparison to Cristo statue that we visited in Rio de Janeiro (spoiler alert). Santiago was surprisingly a very modern, cosmopolitan city, and the people we're really nice, but we decided to take the last day in Chile and take a bus to...

Valparaiso! Valparaiso is a coastal fishing town that is built up into the hills surrounding the beach. There wasn't much to do there beyond walk around and look at the ocean, but we still had a great time wandering around.

All of the small neighborhoods in the hills offered some amazing views of the city and the ocean. We had a great time in Valparaiso and Sarah was able to get some tasty seafood before we finally headed back to Santiago. After that, we hopped on another place for the final leg of our journey to Brazil. Stay tuned!

South American Adventure: Argentina Edition

2010-08-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sarah and I are finally back from our trip down South. We had an amazing time in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Brazil. I ended up taking 572 pictures, so I figured I should devote one post to each part of our trip. Today we have our trip to Argentina, along with my side trip to Uruguay.

Buenos Aires is an absolutely beautiful city. It is filled with colonial homes and turn of the century, hotels, mansions, and opera houses. We had such a fun time wondering through all of the different neighborhoods around BA. One of the first things we did was head to the San Telmo Antiques Fair, which takes place in one of the older colonial parts of town.

One day when Sarah had class most of the day, I took a ferry across the Rio de la Plata into Uruguay. I visited the historic site of Colonia del Sacramento, which was a colonial port that constantly changed hands between the Spanish and the Portuguese. It's a cool little village that was lots of fun to explore.

BA is full of amazing parks. The city planners originally wanted the city to have a feel similar to London or Paris, and they included plenty of green areas and cafes to relax. This is one of the main botanical gardens, which is inhabited by about a thousand friendly cats. I made friends with a one-eyed pregnant cat, but I figured it was best not to take her home.

Everyone kept telling us that we had to visit the Recoleta cemetery, which is the final resting place of Evita, but I couldn't figure out why everyone wanted us to go see it. It was pretty cool. It's basically a cemetery village, with huge walls and corridors that you can get lost in. It's set up with streets and plazas and all the monuments are so large that it's hard to find your way around. It was cool, and would have been the perfect place to film an action movie shootout.

Finally, we had to head to the southern part of the city, which is considered the birthplace of the tango. The whole city is amazing with tons of interesting things to do. Stay tuned for an update on the other parts of our trip, as well as a post devoted to my favorite part of any vacation: food.

So Lonely

2010-07-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! Sarah has been down in South America for over two weeks now, so I think I'm starting to go a little bit crazy. Especially now that my internship with the judge is over, my only real interaction comes from shouting answers (in the form of a question) at the TV during Jeopardy. Sadly Alex never congratulates me when I get them right.

So it's been a lonely week with few people to talk to and no tasty homemade treats like the snickerdoodle cupcakes picture above. On the plus side, I am headed to South America myself on Friday, so I'll finally get to see my wife. We will be down there for two weeks, in which time we will travel to Buenos Aires, Santiago, and Rio de Janeiro. We are so excited, and I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures and stories to post when we get back. Adios!

Taking a Break from Routine

2010-06-24T18:55:00.001-07:00

I know Ryan is the one who usually updates our blog, and there is a reason for that, but I thought I would take a moment to share an exciting development. Starting next week I get to take a little break from my routine and go on an adventure! I am headed off to Buenos Aires for four weeks. Before everyone gets all up in arms about how I am abandoning my spouse I would like to mention that Ryan gets to come towards the end of my time down there. I am looking forward to this change and for a bit of time to relax. Ryan is planning on coming down later in July and then we are going on a multi-country trip! We are set to go to Uruguay, Chile and Brazil. I am really excited for this trip and also happy that Ryan will be able to come! Although it is currently winter down there I am perfectly ok with missing DC's lovely July weather. Especially after a day like today.

Arizona Trip

2010-06-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well, Sarah's off on another business trip, so I am home alone this week. I figured I would put up a few pictures of my trip from Arizona a few weeks ago. I was able to head home to see my oldest nephew Holden's baptism. It took him five tries, but it was probably for the best.

Plus, it was fun to see the rest of the fam. I had a great time.

Farewell, Jack!

2010-05-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

It is with a heavy heart that I have accepted the fact that 24 is no more. By far my favorite show of the last few years, I was able to sit through the recycled plotlines each year (why is there always a mole in CTU?) just to catch those fleeting glimpses of Jack kicking butt and killing dudes with a flare gun. For my own personal sendoff to Jack, here's a list of some of the best Bauer quotes from all eight seasons.

8. Jack: That's the problem with people like you, George. You want results, but you never want to get your hands dirty. I'd start rolling up your sleeves. (pause) I'm gonna need a hacksaw.

7. Nina: He's gonna put a bullet in my head before I can say "hello", then he's going to turn the gun on himself.
Jack: We'll make sure he doesn't turn the gun on himself.

6. Jack: You have no idea how far I'm willing to go to acquire your cooperation.

5. Jack: Let's get something straight, kid. The only reason you're still conscious is because I don't want to carry you. Now get in the van.

4. Jack: You're gonna tell me what I want to know, it's just a question of how much you want it to hurt.

3. Jack: You make one sound and I will rip your tongue out. Are we clear? Gray... people in this country are dying, and I need some answers. Are you gonna give 'em to me or am I gonna have to start hurting you?
Graem: Actually, you're hurting me now.
Jack: Trust me, I'm not.

2. Jack: (just before killing Fayed) Say hello to your brother.

1. Jack: (while strangling Tony) Tell me where the device is, or so help me I will kill you, and you will stay dead this time.

Parental Visit!

2010-05-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

This last week Sarah and I were lucky enough to have my parents come to DC for a visit. We had a great time taking them all over town to see a bunch of the sites that they missed last year. We went to the Capitol Building, Monticello, the Marjorie Mayweather Post House, the Museum of Natural History, the Holocaust Museum, and more. This picture was taken by our tour guide inside the Capitol.

We also ate at plenty of tasty places, including 2 Amy's, Ray's Hell-Burgers, Good Stuff Eatery, etc. Here's one of my folks at the Natural History Museum. They're the couple on the right of the picture.

Overall, I think my parents had a great trip, as long as I was able to set them down in the shade every few minutes with a big Coke in their hands. Also, after their visit, I was able to fly home with them to see my oldest nephew's baptism. I'll try to put up some pictures from that later this week!

Conquering the Macaron!

2010-04-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but school has been hectic. In fact, today is my last day of class as a second-year law student! I still have finals next week, but then I'll be free for the summer. I have an internship lined up with a judge in the DC Superior Court, so that should be interesting.

But enough about me. This post is about singing my wife's praises as a first-class baker. She's tackled some pretty ambitious baking projects in the past, but a few weeks ago she was determined to make a French macaron, which is no simple task.

For my exposition on the differences between French macarons and American macaroons, you can see the post below. A French macaron is essentially a meringue cookie, and is quite fussy (like most French food). Here's a picture of a pistachio-flavored macaron that we had in New York, which was amazing. And so the quest began.

Here are the macarons that Sarah made. The entire process consisted of a number of ridiculous tasks, including but not limited to: grinding toasted almonds to dust, "aging" six egg whites by leaving them out on the counter for two days, buying a "silpat" mat so that the cookies could be pulled off the cookie sheet, making sure that the temperature of the oven never varied more than five degrees from the desired temperature, and so on.

However, I'm happy to say Sarah pretty much dominated in macaron-baking, and the end product was pretty awesome. Rock on.

Cherry Blossom Festival

2010-04-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

This last weekend Sarah and I decided it was finally time to go out and see the National Zoo. It was still a little chilly here in DC, but fortunately all of the animals were laying out in the sun to stay warm, so we could see them.

Apparently the pandas at the National Zoo are notoriously difficult to photograph, since they are always hiding. In fact, the Zoo even has a contest to see who can get the best picture. Sarah thinks I should submit this one of a sulky panda to the contest.

The otters seemed to be having the best time soaking up some sun on the rocks. They all just sat in a pile on the rocks, occasionally rolling on to their backs to warm up their bellies. Ironically, this is how I spend most of my Saturdays as well.

Last Saturday was also the kick-off of the National Cherry Blossom festival, which celebrates the blooming of the 3000+ cherry blossom trees around DC that were given as a gift by the city of Tokyo in 1912. This year it also coincided with the Kite Festival, where people come fly their kites on the National Mall.

Plus, no Peterson outing would be complete without some cupcakes to finish it off. We stopped by "Hello Cupcake" in Dupont Circle on our way into town to pick up some snacks for the afternoon. I wanted to give mine to one of those sunbathing otters; it would have made his day.

Eating Our Way Through The Big Apple

2010-03-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

Given the sheer number of pictures of food that are on this blog, I assure you that Sarah and I do not each weigh 300 pounds. Although it is true that we love to cook at home and pig out on vacation, we try to be reasonably healthy the rest of the time. That being said, here are some pictures of our recent trip to New York, and all of the stuff we ate while we were there.

Promptly upon getting off the bus in NYC, our first stop was the Shake Shack, which may be one of the greatest burger places ever (it at least rivals In-n-Out for me, which is really saying something). If you're ever in the neighborhood, be sure to get the black-and-white shake. It rocks.

We spent a few hours trying to walk off the burgers, primarily so that we would have a reason to go to Levain Bakery later on. This bakery was founded by two ladies who regularly train for triathlons, and wanted a gigantic cookie to eat after they finished their races. They are famous for their chocolate chip walnut cookies (on an unrelated note, I think Sarah has a future as a hand model).

Don't worry, we did some cultural stuff to try and fill the hours between meals. We saw "West Side Story" on Broadway, visited a few museums and historic districts of Manhattan, and went to a rock concert at Madison Square Garden (the real reason for our trip to New York). Here's a shot of Sarah at the Museum of Natural History.

Here's me in front of a Triceratops. I waited until the sun went down, but it didn't come to life. I feel like Ben Stiller lied to me.

Our last snack before getting back on the bus to head home was a pistachio macaroon from Bouchon Bakery in Columbus Square. Unlike the American coconut-flavored version, European macaroons are more like an Oreo cookie, and quite tasty. Aside from that, we also managed to fit in Venezuelan arepas, bagels from our favorite deli, and ribs from Brooklyn's famous Dinosaur BBQ. Yay food!

Cafe Rio Night

2010-03-18T05:31:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posting lately. School has been crazy busy, and I haven't had a lot of free time. However, Sarah and I have done some pretty cool stuff in the past few weeks, so I'll try to put up some more pictures in a few days (especially of our trip to New York). Over Spring Break, we decided to have a Cafe Rio night. For those of you who haven't spent any time in Utah or Arizona, Cafe Rio is an amazing Mexican food place that my wife craves pretty much all the time. So if your in the mood, just ask me for the recipes. All you need to do is go to the store and buy all this crap (oh, and set aside about 12 hours to make it all).

I think the real key was to making our own pork barbacoa (the secret ingredient is Coke) and our own tortillas. They aren't nearly as hard to make as you would think, but it can be pretty difficult to find the necessary lard. When I asked for it at the grocery store, the manager told me that lard was "out of vogue."

I had the pork burrito complete with all the trimmings, and it actually came out pretty spot on. And of course we had to serve them in the aluminum trays to complete the Cafe Rio experience.

Sarah had the pork salad, and she told me I did a pretty good job with the tomatillo dressing, which basically makes or breaks the salad. So overall, it was a pretty amazing dinner, and we had plenty of leftovers.

Puppy Postscript

2010-02-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

Hey folks! I know that many of you were very upset to hear that we had to give Pippin back to the breeder this last week. We were pretty upset to see her go as well, especially since she looked pretty tentative when we dropped her off with all those other dogs. Well, I'm happy to report that Pippin is apparently having the time of her life. When I called to check in on Friday, they told me that she was having so much fun playing with all the other dogs, that she never seemed lonely or scared, and that "she didn't seem to miss us at all" (which is actually what we were hoping to hear). So even though it was a little disheartening for a while, it appears that everything has worked out for the best and little Pip is loving her new life in the country! Yay!

Sarah's Birthday Party!

2010-02-16T07:59:00.001-08:00

We're a little backlogged on blog posting, so I will try to get caught up on things that we have been doing lately. We seem to have dug out of the blizzard from last week, and Sarah and I are finally back at school and work. First off, I figured we should post some pictures from Sarah's awesome birthday party. It started with her birthday dinner that I prepared on Tuesday, which consisted of her favorite meal; beef bourguignon with potatoes au gratin. This time I took it up a notch and made some creme brulee for dessert. Here's an awesome action shot of the kitchen torch.

The meal came out pretty well this time, and Sarah and I had a great dinner together. It's great when times are tough to be able to have a nice meal with one another.

On Friday of the same week we had Sarah's birthday party. We made a pretty ambitious menu of lemon chicken with peanut satay dip, fried polenta cakes with chicken pesto topping, beef brisket wrapped in puff pastry, bacon cheese dip in a bread bowl, and lemon tassies for dessert. Oh, and a veggie plate we bought from the store.

Sarah helped make her own birthday cake, which is probably breaking some sort of birthday rule, but at least I decorated myself (which explains the noticeable lack of ornamentation).

Overall, the party seemed to be a success. We were so glad that so many of our friends were able to come celebrate with us. Thanks to all of you who came!

When It Rains, It Pours...

2010-02-11T13:43:00.000-08:00

Or perhaps I should say, when it snows, it blizzards. I thought I was really clever last week when I referred to an upcoming storm in an email as the snow-pocalypse, but then every other person in DC came up with the exact same name for the storm, so I guess I am not as creative as I thought. Sarah and I have been completely snowed in this entire week. We haven't gone to school or work, and really only leave the house to take the dog out. On the plus side, we have been doing tons of cooking, which includes chicken curry, chili, cornbread, biscuits, chocolate chip walnut cookies, hummus, and macaroni and cheese.

Aside from the snow storm of 2010, we have had some other bad news as well. I found out that I won't be flying out to California for an interview with a pharmaceutical company, since they have already filled the position. Also, Sarah's grandmother has had some pretty serious medical troubles from which she is recovering.

Finally, we found out that we have to give our precious puppy Pippin away. Sarah grew up with a dog and never had any allergic reactions, but since bringing Pippin home, she has had some pretty severe allergies. She met with an allergist who told her that there was really no solution that would keep Sarah from feeling so sick, and that she will most likely develop asthma if we keep Pippin in the house. Furthermore, there's a good chance that any children we have will be severely allergic as well, so a dog in the house just won't work.

Sarah and I are both very upset to have to find a new home for the Pip. She has filled our life with joy, despite the occasional mess on our rug or torn-up homework assignment (yes, my dog has actually eaten my homework). However, we feel that this will be the best solution for everyone involved. Sarah can finally start feeling better, we'll be able to prevent future respiratory problems, and Pippin will probably return to the breeder that we bought her from, where she can live with the rest of her Cavalier puppy family in the country (the breeder still owns Pippin's parents and grandparents). So overall, although we are very sad to see her go, we know that this will be for the best.

So, Sarah and I are making our way through this week, and trying to stave off cabin fever. Hopefully things will start to look up for the Petersons as the snow starts to melt. I'll try not to make everyone who is reading this post too sad, so I'll put up some pictures of Sarah's birthday party in a few days!

Christmas in Review

2010-01-17T16:43:00.001-08:00

Sorry it's been a while since anything has been posted on the blog. Sarah and I have been insanely busy the last few weeks getting back into school and work. We had a great time visiting our family in Ashburn as well as in Arizona.

It was great to go to Arizona and see all of our nephews. Also, we got to see Snake Eyes from the G.I. Joe movie, which was pretty cool.

The weather was great in Mesa. It was 75 degrees and sunny for most of the time that we were there.

We had a great trip visiting all our family for the holidays. Fortunately, Pippin was able to stay in Virginia and catch up on some sleep.

I Cook When I'm Lonely

2009-12-20T07:32:00.001-08:00

Most of you probably already know this, but the DC area has been hammered with snow this weekend. There are reports of it being as much as two feet of snow, which is pretty unheard of here in DC. Unfortunately, Sarah went to New York this weekend with her mom and grandma, and hasn't been able to come back since the roads are all blocked. So Pip and I have been trapped in the house for two days, trying to stave off cabin fever. Every five hours or so, I have to get completely outfitted in cold weather gear, carry Pip out to her favorite spot, dig through the snow down to the dirt so that she can stand up, and wait for her to do her business. But at least it gets us out of the house.

Since I had nothing to do and nowhere to go, I planned a somewhat extravagant meal for one. It consisted of slow-roasted beef brisket, buttermilk biscuits with cinnamon butter, potatoes gratin, and cinnamon-fried apples. It was pretty tasty, and kept me busy for a few hours. There's plenty of leftovers if anyone wants to swing by. Anyone? Hello? HELP

The Reason Why I'm Getting Fat

2009-12-18T13:52:00.000-08:00

The Christmas snack season is upon us, and Sarah's baking has been in swing. First, we had a Cookie Swap party at some friend's of ours, and Sarah made some awesome sugar cookies. The snow globe was my favorite, although it was somewhat labor-intensive.

Sarah also participated in a gingerbread contest at work. The idea was to be as creative as possible, so Sarah came up with a gingerbread recreation of the pyramids at Giza. I played a small role in that I got to make the crocodile out of gum paste.

Here's a good shot of one of the pyramids (we made two). The whole structure was pretty awesome, including two pyramids, a crocodile, graham cracker sand dunes, the Nile, and a miniature cookie Santa bringing gifts to the local Bedouins. The whole thing looked pretty cool, but we unfortunately do not have a picture of all of it together. Merry Christmas!

Pippin's Holiday Season

2009-12-11T11:41:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone. This is Pippin. My folks are busy because Sarah is working a lot and that man who feeds me has been studying for some type of exams all week. So I figured I should post something since they're busy and tell you about how my holiday season is going. It's been pretty good so far, considering it's the only one I have experienced. Here are some highlights. First, I went to Thanksgiving at a farm, where apparently everyone gets to eat turkey but me. It must be some sort of holiday designed to torture pets. On the plus side, I got to meet some kittens who were pretty cool.

When I got home, I had to spend a little more time than usual by myself, since the man who feeds me was so busy. Fortunately, I was able to find ways to entertain myself... by eating plaster and sheet rock to my heart's content. Unfortunately, I got a bit of a stomachache as a result, and my people were not pleased (probably because I ate three other holes in the bathroom wall too).

Their "solution" as they called it was to fence me in even more so than usual, so now when I am by myself at the house I have to sit in the bathroom and stay inside this fence. It's so degrading. I am not pleased.

To make matters worse, my people brought a friend over who also has a Cavalier. They let Floyd the Cavalier into my house! To sit on my couch! In my owner's lap! While I was sitting there already! I was not pleased.

Then, when I finally got to go outside, it was snowing. At first, I was pretty excited by how much ice there was (seeing as ice cubes are my favorite food), but then I realized how cold it was, and I wanted to go home. Fortunately, it only lasted a day or so, so my life is good. Well, talk to you later. I sleep about 18 hours a day, so writing this post has made me pretty tired. Bye!

Rejection Hurts

2009-12-08T22:39:00.000-08:00

It is with great sadness that I must report I will not be attending Georgetown University this January. I received the eloquent rejection letter the other day and though it was short it still stung. Granted my GRE score was laughable but I had hoped that my other credentials would swing things my way. I suppose its for the best considering that we are not entirely sure where we will end up within the next year and a half so perhaps it is better to save that $40,000 for something else.

Thanskgiving Time!

2009-12-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Sorry the month of November has been pretty much devoid of posts. Sarah and I have been super-busy getting ready for finals, and for the holidays. We had a great Thanksgiving, and a nice chance to relax. We traveled down to Hertford, North Carolina (Population: 1800), to visit Sarah's Grandma Jean down at the family homestead. We had a wonderful time catching up with family, eating, relaxing, and eating.

I took quite a few pictures of Grandma's house, which is filled to the brim with all sorts of Grandma-esque stuff (including old WWII food stamps, pillows with cats embroidered on them, etc.), but I thought this lovely collection of wooden ducks was especially endearing. Maybe someday Sarah and I can have our own duck collection.

We were able to make some great trips around the area, which is one of the oldest counties in North Carolina. In fact, they even had their own version of a tea party before Boston (it mainly consisted of a group of women writing a letter to a London newspaper, but it's the thought that counts). All in all, it is a very historic and interesting place.

Sarah and I were happy just to take some time to relax and take in the sights. Plus, Sarah's Grandma was a former tour guide, so she could tell us all about the different locations we were visiting.

I took quite a few pictures of the actual Thanksgiving feast, but I decided to focus on Sarah's ridiculously delicious rolls. This is actually a recipe from my grandma, and Sarah was able to make a faithful recreation for our Thanksgiving. We had a great trip to North Carolina, and I was sorry to come back and study for finals (which start next week). Wish me luck.

Halloween and Lots of Food!

2009-11-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween from the Petersons. Here's Pip and her favorite Halloween toy. We had a Halloween party with some of our friends, which was lots of fun.

We came up with all sorts of treats for the party, although they weren't exactly Halloween-themed per se. We had stuffed mushrooms, peanut butter pumpkin cookies, spinach artichoke dip, and chili biscuit bowls.

Sarah made an awesome Halloween cake for the party, complete with a chocolate gingerbread house, tree, and tombstones.

We were all pirates for this Halloween. As you can see, Pip is the captain, although she didn't really invoke fear into the hearts of her crew or anyone else at the party.

U2 and Monticello!

2009-10-19T19:08:00.001-07:00

Sarah and I have had a couple of crazy weeks. Although we have both been really busy with school and work, we have managed to have some fun too. A few weeks ago we went to a U2 concert as part of my birthday present, which was awesome. If you haven't heard about it, it involved an amazing stage called "the Claw" and was pretty cool. Plus, one of our favorite bands, Muse, opened for them so it was a great show all around.

Last weekend, we traveled to Charlottesville to see Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. It was beautiful, and it was nice to see all the leaves changing. Sorry both of these pictures are stock photos, but Sarah and I keep forgetting to bring a camera, so we have to manufacture these memories instead.

2009-10-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry there hasn't been much by way of blog posting lately. Sarah and I have been pretty busy lately. She has been swamped at work, as well as finishing up her Georgetown application, which she turned in yesterday. Meanwhile, I can't believe my semester is already halfway over. I have been busy with all sorts of projects, along with the eternal job hunt.

But overall, we are doing great. Life is good here in Arlington, despite the fact that it has been rainy all week. Pippin hates the rain, which makes potty time particularly unpleasant for her. However, she loves beards, so at least she can lick my beard when she gets home. Maybe I am leaving food in there or something, because she finds it delicious.

Ryan's Summer Movie Round-Up

2009-10-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

I realize that it is now October, so my annual summer movie roundup is a little late this year. But better late than never, because I know you're all dying to see what movies I picked. Overall, I felt like this wasn't the strongest summer movie season. So many of the big movies were sequels or other less-original fare, so I have limited my list to three films instead of the usual top five. But first, how about some honorable mentions:

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen - This movie was fun, but made absolutely no sense. Like many of the films this year, plot holes were rampant. Why did the evil robots bother dragging Sam's parents out into the middle of the desert? And how come there is a robot heaven?

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - I think it's safe to say whenever there's a colon in the title, that the film probably won't be that original. Although Wolverine did blow up like eight helicopters over the course of the movie, so it had that going for it.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - This one had a colon in the title, and it doesn't even have a sequel yet. It's like this movie was planning to be ridiculous from the get-go. Sarah and I agree, however, that the dialogue was top-notch. Upon discovering that the team would be heading to Paris, one character cleverly remarked, "I like croissants." Oscar-worthy.

Monsters v. Aliens - This was pretty clever, entertaining entry by Dreamworks, but they still don't seem to be at the same caliber as Pixar. Still, I'm sure this is better than the fourth Shrek movie that will be coming out next year.

And now on to the big three that made the cut!

3. Star Trek - Let me first say, that I hate Star Trek in general. When it comes to being a male teenage nerd, you can only like Star Wars or Star Trek. Liking both is completely unacceptable! I chose Star Wars as an adolescent in hopes that girls might still talk to me. Regardless, I was amazed at how good this Star Trek movie was. It completely revitalized the series and opened it up to a whole new audience. Although an excellent film, it was still not devoid of the plot holes that seemed to plague the summer movie season. Why was Spock living in some ice cave when he knew there was a weather station a few miles away?

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Although technically a sequel as well, I think this is by far the best Harry Potter movie to date. It was exciting, scary, humorous, and spent a lot of time developing the characters and setting up for the big two-part finale. Great movie!

1. Up - Pixar is awesome. We have all known this for years, and yet they continue to amaze us. I was impressed that they could make me almost cry with a robot love story last year, but they took it up a notch with the story of a cranky old man who lost the love of his life. Sarah cried for a good half hour of the film, and most of the way home, so I guess that's a winning endorsement. This movie had everything I could hope for in summer fare. And most of all, it finally answered the question of what a dog would say if it could talk.

LOL Pip

2009-09-20T16:49:00.001-07:00

2009-09-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

Pippin Strikes Back

2009-09-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

Things are good in the Peterson household for the most part. Sarah and I are staying busy with work and school, and the weather is starting to cool down here in DC. Sadly, there has been a rash of Pippin-peeing-on-Sarah's-favorite-Pottery-Barn-rug-related incidents lately, so we are having to keep a closer eye on Pip. I suspect this some type of retaliation for the bath we gave her a few days ago. As you can see in the picture above, she seems none to thrilled about the experience (although she loved the hair dryer afterwards). Hopefully, her memories of this horrid incident will soon fade, and we will be able to return to life as normal.

New York and Arizona!

2009-09-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

So this puppy has been taking up a bit of our time, which means I have been neglecting the blog in terms of other things that are going on in our lives. However, we have also been to both New York and Arizona in the last month. Just part of our cross-country search for someone who will hire me to work at their law firm next summer. Here's a picture of Sarah in the middle of Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan. The Domincian Day parade had just swept through town, so people were just wandering around in the middle of the street.
No trip to New York would be complete without cupcakes, so we of course stopped at Magnolia Bakery at Rockefeller Center.
Since the weather was so much nicer than our last visit, we were able to wander around the park and head to the zoo. This is a picture of Sarah by the sea lion pool. There's supposed to be a sea lion swimming right behind her, but I must have posted the wrong picture. I'm afraid I'm too lazy to go back and fix that, so just close your eyes and imagine an adorable sea lion cruising by over her left shoulder. Can you see it? Isn't it an awesome picture now?
We were able to stop in to Arizona the same time as my dad and sister Kim's birthday. As you can see, my dad is sporting a pretty awesome goatee now, and you can see my evil nephew plotting our demise in the bottom left corner.
Here is some of the rest of the fam. Sarah and I were so glad we were able to see our family in Arizona. We had a great time, and it was hard to come back to DC. But that was our trip around the nation. Hope you enjoyed it.

This dog is so cute!

2009-08-31T17:21:00.001-07:00

For your viewing pleasure

2009-08-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you are at home with a new puppy and your wife is out of town. You put your puppy in a cooler and then take pictures of her. Pippin is doing well. She is getting better on walks, and doing pretty well with potty training, so we keep moving forward!

Pippin Comes Home!

2009-08-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a while since we have posted anything. Sarah and I have been on a double vacation in New York and Arizona for job interviews/family bonding. We got back on Tuesday, and the next day we picked up our new puppy Pippin. She seemed a little tentative getting into the car, but she enjoyed the ride home from Maryland (as evidenced above).
Most new parents try and take a picture of their baby's first steps, so I figured I would try to record our puppy's first walk outside on a leash, which seemed to contain a lack of much actual walking. Apparently, she had never been on a leash before and didn't enjoy it. So I was able to capture Pippin in the act of not walking/not enjoying herself. Fortunately, she got better, and our walks have improved to some extent.
Here's an action photo of her not enjoying her leash further. But she seems to be doing a bit better today on her walks and her potty training today. So things are looking up for the new addition to the family.

Ryan's Solo Trip to Chicago

2009-08-05T18:15:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of my trip to Chicago. I got to go to Chi-Town for the ABA Annual Conference, which was pretty interesting. It's a really cool town. Unfortunately, I am not actually in any of these photos, since I was flying solo and didn't have anyone to take pictures of me most of the time. But I promise I was actually there, and I didn't just find these pictures on the internet. Here's the view of Lake Michigan outside our hotel window.
The Field Museum was really interesting. It had lots of stuffed animals (not toys, but actual animals), including the lions of Tsavo. Apparently these lions killed 140 people in the late 1800s before they were finally shot. Also, they were the inspiration for Hall & Oates' chart-topper "Maneater" (I may have made that last fact up).
Finally, this is a picture of the "bean" in Millenium Park. It's essentially a giant bean-shaped mirror, but it's pretty famous. Overall, my trip to Chicago was fun, but I missed the wife. Fortunately, we will be headed to New York this weekend, and then off to Arizona for a week. I'll check back in once we get back.

Blog-o-Rama (Part 1)

2009-07-27T19:37:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! I realize I have been neglecting my blogging duties lately, so I spent tonight completely updating the blog on all the things that we have been up to for the last months. So be sure to check out the three new posts underneath this one as well. I figured I would start off with some new pics of Pippin the puppy (also known as the Pirate Puppy because she sort of has an eyepatch).
We decided to drive out to visit her last Sunday. Even though it has only been a month, we could tell that she had grown a little. She seemed quite attached to Sarah especially, and even whimpered a bit when she left. She must love us already.
Here's one of Pippin with her sister, who has yet to be adopted. I feel like Pippin just told a hilarious joke, and her sister is laughing hysterically.

So, it was nice to get away for a bit and go visit our puppy. Unfortunately, we won't pick her up until August after we get back from our visit to Arizona. So, life is currently pretty good. Go ahead and check out the posts underneath to see what else we have been up to, unless of course you're not really interested, in which case I would wonder why you are on this blog to begin with. Also there is yet more exciting news that I didn't have time to put in an individual posting, namely the I am traveling to Chicago this weekend for the ABA Annual Meeting, and that Sarah and I will be heading to New York in a couple of weeks for a job interview with a big law firm. Wish me luck!

Blog-o-Rama (Part 2)

2009-07-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

So long, Kotters! This post is to say goodbye to our good friends, Jason and Kay Kotter. They are an awesome family that befriended us here in the ward, and unfortunately, they are leaving so Jason can go to grad school in Michigan. We wish them the best, and we will miss them and their two children, Abby and Oliver.

Blog-o-Rama (Part 3)

2009-07-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a glimpse into the madness from moving out of our last apartment. We got to the point where we couldn't find anything. A couple of days before we left the house, I could not figure out why our house smelled so bad. I searched forever before I found a plastic bag full of ex-frozen chicken that had been sitting on top of our buffet for two days. We had so many other bags lying around, we didn't even know it was there. I think you might even be able to see it stinking up our house in this picture.

Fortunately, the move is now behind us, and our new place looks great. I'll put some pictures up as soon as get it all together, as we have yet to put all our paintings up on the wall. But so far, everything looks great (and it doesn't smell like raw chicken).

Blog-o-Rama (Part 4)

2009-07-27T19:20:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from our trip to Baltimore, which we actually took about five weeks ago. We have really fallen behind with our posts. Our first night there, we visited Little Italy and had some amazing food, including pistachio-flavored gelato (which I seem to be enjoying a little too much). We even saw some old guys playing in their bocce ball league.
There are tons of really cool neighborhoods in Baltimore. We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast in a 100-year-old house that looked kind of like these. Sarah was a little scared that the place would be haunted, but we made it through unscathed.
Here's Sarah in front of Charm City Cakes, the subject of the Food Network show Ace of Cakes. Since baking cupcakes has become Sarah's religion, this is kind of like her pilgrimage to Cake Mecca.
We rode a paddle boat around the Inner Harbor as well, right before we went to the National Aquarium.
The Aquarium was fun, and we especially enjoyed the Dolphin Show. Baltimore was loads of fun, and it was nice to escape town for a few days.

The Great Move is Upon Us

2009-07-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted anything is awhile. The truth is that Sarah and I have both been ridiculously busy the past few weeks. Sarah has been working extra hours, as well as preparing to take the GRE next month. I have been working with my ABA internship while preparing resumes and cover letters to send out to law firms for the upcoming Fall Recruitment Program at GWU.

On top of all that, we are moving to a new place this Friday, which means we need to pack up all of our stuff in the next few days. Our new place is only a mile away, so I am debating just throwing things in the car and driving them over there. It would only take about 40 trips, and then I wouldn't have to buy any cardboard boxes. However, Sarah and I are still doing well. We are both pretty busy this week, but after this weekend, things should calm down quite a bit. Above, you will see a picture of our new place. We are really excited to finally move in. Then we'll be one step closer to finally getting our puppy!

PUPPY TIME!

2009-06-28T12:50:00.001-07:00

The Petersons have finally found their puppy! We have been thinking about getting one for some time, and now that we are moving into a place that allows dogs, the time was right for puppy purchasin'.
This little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel girl is 10 weeks old, and she is definitely the runt of her litter. She is the only white and brown one, and no one wanted her because she only has a brown ring around one eye instead of both. I think it makes her look kind of like a pirate. But she is really sweet, and lots of fun.
Sarah and I put down a deposit for the puppy, so that the owners will hang onto her for us until we are settled into our new place. She is so cute, and we already love her.

A Visit from my Parents!

2009-06-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

My parents came for a visit to DC. It was so fun to take them around town and show them all the sights. Plus, Sarah and I ate for free. Can't beat that! Here's a picture of us and Big George outside the GWU law school.
We also went to Mt. Vernon with my folks, which was pretty fun. It was really nice to be able to take my parents around some of these places. Plus, we went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries afterwards. Us Petersons love to eat.
Here's another picture of us at Mt. Vernon. The place is huge, and they had a really cool museum. George Washington was a pretty amazing guy. I'm glad I decided to go to his university.
And no trip to DC would be complete without a trip to Ben's Chili Bowl. This place is amazing. If you go, definitely get the chili cheese fries, and the chili half-smoke. Apparently, it's Bill Cosby's favorite.

Panama!

2009-05-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from our awesome trip to Panama. It was really hot and sticky, but we still managed to have a fun time. Here's the view out of our hotel room, which gives you a pretty good idea of what Panama City looks like.
We went on a trip to Monkey Island, which was pretty cool, since the monkeys climbed right up into the boat (after being coaxed inside with mango slices). They pretty much surrounded our boat and yelled at us, so it was fun. We also saw crocodiles, lizards, parrots, sloths, and howler monkeys on our boat tour.
Here we are pretending to be staying at some fancy hotel in an area called Gamboa. It's really nice and gives you a good view of the rain forest.
Here we are at the recently opened Panama Temple. It is an awesome building.
And no photo montage of Panama would be complete without a shot of the canal. Behold it in all its glory! It may not look like much, but the Panamanians make bank off this thing. So that was our trip to Panama in short. It was lots of fun, but it's nice to be back home in the states.

The Finals Period Begins!

2009-04-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well folks, finals time is upon us. The next two weeks of my life will be somewhat busy and stressful, but after that, I get to go on vacation to Panama! Hooray. Due to the labor-intensive nature of law school finals, you won't be hearing from me for a while. So I figured I would leave you a link to an equally entertaining blog. It's called Cake Wrecks, and all it has are pictures of horrible, hilarious cakes that people have made (like the freaky Easter Bunny in the picture below). Anywho, here's the link:

www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com

I hope you enjoy the weird cakes, and check back in a few weeks. Wish me luck. Initiating radio silence now.

Cherry Blossom Festival

2009-04-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I went out to the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC this weekend. It was pretty fun, although it was really windy and really crowded.
Here's an artsy picture that Sarah took. It came out pretty good considering my stinky camera.
Sarah and I feel really lucky ot be here in DC, where so many exciting things are going on all the time.

And the best part of all, Alex Trebek was the grand marshal of the parade! We had already been having an awesome day, but this just daily doubled it.

Willy Wonka Cupcakes

2009-03-31T17:08:00.000-07:00

Sarah volunteered to help out at her brother's play by selling cupcakes. The play was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, so we went with chocolate cupcakes with purple and green frosting.
We ended up making over 150 cupcakes, and we sold almost all of them. I was hoping we could spend it on groceries, but we'll probably end up buying more shoes. (Sarah is looking over my shoulder and she says this is not true).
Here's our awesome cupcake stand. We sold chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, and yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

Everything We Have Eaten In The Past Month

2009-03-07T14:14:00.001-08:00

Sorry it's been a while since we have posted anything. Sarah and I have both been really busy. Sarah has started a training program at work, and I have been pretty busy with Law School. However, I had the last week off for Spring Break, so I was able to catch up on naps. And, of course, Sarah and I were still able to find time to cook and to bake. This first picture is of some brownie cupcakes that Sarah made for Valentine's Day. They were pretty delicious.

I tried my hand at crepes for breakfast one morning, and they turned out pretty well. This one had raspberries, lemon zest, and powdered sugar, which was pretty tasty. The batter takes a while to make, but they're worth it.

One night during Spring Break, I decided to try making Cuban food, which turned out alright. I made a tropical-seasoned pork chop with an orange and lime glaze, with some yellow rice. It wasn't half bad. I also put up some Christmas lights to give it that authentic Hispanic restaurant feel.

For dessert, I was a little ambitious and made churros. Since I haven't had a good churro since Disneyland, I figured it was time to make my own. This is the dough that I had to make. It was massive, eggy, sticky, and ridiculous to make, but it turned out pretty good. It's worth it if you're a foodie like me and Sarah.

I gues this is the Spanish style of churros, because I made it with some chocolate dipping sauce. It was pretty much the greatest thing I have ever made in my life. Don't worry, I have plenty of dough in the freezer, so if you want some, come on over.

More Cupcakes!

2009-02-09T17:28:00.001-08:00

I promise that Sarah and I are not getting fat. We try to give as many of these cupcakes away, I swear. Anywho, Sarah made some awesome cupcakes for a baby shower this week. Thought you would like to see them!

New York!

2009-02-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry, it's been a while. I have been super busy with school, but we finally have some time to catch up on things. These pictures are from our trip to New York over Inauguration weekend. We had an awesome time! Here's a picture of me and Sarah on our way to see "Mary Poppins."
Here's Sarah at her happy place: Tiffany's on Fifth Avenue.
The Statue of Liberty was really cool, and not quite as cold as you might think. We also went to Ellis Island.
New York is an awesome city. We loved all the bagels, pastrami sandwiches, black and white cookies, and fried chicken.
Of course, no Peterson family vacation would be complete without cupcakes. We stopped by the Magnolia Bakery near Rockefeller Center, and had some awesome Inauguration cupcakes, but I refused to eat the Obama one. All in all, it was a pretty awesome trip!

Christmas with the Petersons!

2009-01-04T18:25:00.001-08:00

For our grand sendoff from Washington, DC, Sarah made us some more cupcakes. This time she did red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and they were pretty awesome. I was sad we had to give most of them away.

This is Christmas at the Petersons in Arizona, before all the children arrived. It all looks so calm and serene.

Here is my Mom's famous tower of treats. It had every type of Christmas treat known to man, and I managed to sample them all... daily.

Here Sarah marveling at all the gifts that Santa brought. I think she was just surprised that Santa chose to give her anything at all.

And last of all, this is our nephew, Sam. He's the biggest 3-month-old baby we've ever seen, but he's still pretty cool. Sarah and I had a fantastic Christmas.

Christmas Time is Here! (sung to the tune of the Charlie Brown special)

2008-12-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

Here we are gearing up for our Christmas card photo. You'll have to take our word that it's really cold, even though it looks like a balmy 80 degrees in this picture. We also went to the recently re-opened Muesuem of American History, which was pretty cool.

Here's Sarah. I made her pose in her Christmas dress in front of our tree that's barely taller than us. Also, we have some awesome stockings that Sarah's mom made for us.

These are the gingerbread men that Sarah made. I got to decorate quite a few of them, so I tried to get creative. See if you can find Batman, a football player, a stick figure, and a dude in his underpants.

We also went to see the temple lights on Sunday. Here's a picture of Sarah and her mom. Christmas is great, and we are so excited to go to Arizona this year. Yay!

Picture Time!

2008-12-06T11:06:00.001-08:00

So it's been a while since I have posted anything on the blog, mostly because of law school finals (which I should be studying for right now). But I figured we should add some pictures of the exciting non-law-school-final events of the recent weeks. First off, our table finally came, so now we have a place to eat! We were so excited that we took a picture with the box. As you'll notice, we're winners, because the box told us so.

Some folks in Sarah's family's ward started a tradition of having a pie party on Thanksgiving morning, where everyone brings a pie. Anyone who knows me knows that my priorities in life are as follows: (1) Sarah, (2) Pie, (3) Everything Else, so this was a pretty exciting event for me.

For Thanksgiving dinner at the Brutons, I was responsible for the Peterson family stuffing, and Sarah was responsible for the rolls. The rolls rocked, and Sarah did a great job, and I was so excited about my stuffing that I took a picture of it. Even my picky brother-in-law ate some, and he only likes rice!

Sarah got involved in a Gingerbread House competition at work, so we tried to think outside the box and stretch the bounds of the traditional gingerbread house to new heights. We came up with a gingerbread Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, which was pretty dang awesome. Sarah made the gingerbread from scratch (I helped by eating some), and then we cut out the pieces of gingerbread according to a complex posterboard model we built beforehand (I say complex because I even had to use a protractor). Also, we made that awesome snowman out of fondant frosting, and everything came out great.

Here's the more or less completed project, complete with reflecting pool! So those have been the highlights of the last few weeks. The rest of the time I have spent secluded in the bedroom pouring over unilateral agreements and forum non conveniens while Sarah watched Law & Order reruns all by her lonesome. Only two finals to go, and then I'm free!

The Long Wait is Over

2008-11-18T10:31:00.000-08:00

After so many months of waiting, Sarah and I finally got to go see Quantum of Solace over the weekend, and it rocked. I figured I couldn't let such a momentous event pass by without making mention of it on the blog. The movie was great. I will admit that it may not be as good as Casino Royale (Daniel Craig's first outing as 007), but this movie was a respectable entry into the canon of Bond films.

The action sequences were amazing, although they do seem to follow the same shaky-camera method made popular in the last few Bourne movies. The plot was pretty good, but it basically just serves as a vehicle for getting Bond from one continent to the next so that he can kill more bad guys. But between the car chase, boat chase, and airplane chase, you fail to notice the parts of the plot that don't really add up.

All in all, the movie was everything I could have hoped for, and sets a precedent for amazing Bond films yet to come. Hooray!

An Ode to Georgetown Cupcake

2008-11-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

Second only to my wife's amazing cupcakes, Georgetown Cupcake makes a pretty good snack. Whenever we are in Georgetown, we can't help but stop in.

It was nice to know that although our political differences may tear us apart, Georgetown Cupcake is there to bring us together again... with special election cupcakes!

Here's Sarah's Donkey cupcake. I can only presume that it tasted like hope.

Here's me and my elephant cupcake. It tasted like delicious, crushing defeat. Thanks, Georgetown Cupcake!

James Bond Party

2008-11-04T09:35:00.001-08:00

So, we had a pretty awesome James Bond party for my brithday on the 24th. We had a few friends over and made some fancy hors d'oeuvres, including (from left to right) asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, pecan-crusted chicken, onion and goat cheese tartlets, bruschetta, and madeleines.
The madeleines were my favorite. I got addicted to them in Romania and now Sarah makes them when I've been good.
Instead of a cake, I opted for Sarah's award-winning chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting. We were able to keep with the James Bond motif, too.

Here I am blowing out the candle on my cupcake tower. I was dressed in a full tuxedo when the night started, but here I've taken off the jacket and bowtie, which unfortunately makes me looks almost exactly like John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever.
The afterparty was a bit less exciting, but overall, it was an awesome birthday. Plus, we went and saw Coldplay this last weekend as a finale to the birthday extravaganza, and that was amazing too.

The Greatest Halloween Cake Ever!

2008-10-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I had a great time at the ward Halloween party. She dressed up in a traditional outfit from Panama, and I dressed up like I do on most days. One person asked if I was Robert Plant, so I guess I'll say that's who I was.

This is Sarah's amazing cake. It took a good ten hours to build the whole thing, but it was worth it. It won first prize at the Halloween party!

The windows took the most work. We used a special type of icing called color flow icing, and it takes about 2 days to set up completely. Then we glued them to some popsicle sticks and jammed them into the cake. And Sarah says she couldn't have done it without me, but she's just being nice.

Museum Day

2008-10-21T17:19:00.001-07:00

Sarah and I decided to go visit some of the awesome museum around DC, so we visited the Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum. Here are just a couple of pictures, including me with one of the statues from Easter Island, and Sarah in front of the Capitol. Also, I'm wearing my parents' favorite sweatshirt, so they should be glad to know I still have it.

Other people have interesting lives too!

2008-10-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

I have added a link on the side of our blog, so that people can look at some other fun blogs of some of our friends. Feel free to go to their websites, and make fun of them too!

DC Cupcake Competition Photos!

2008-10-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

We finally got some pictures from Sarah's cupcake competition. The competition was a lot of fun, and Sarah got second-place in the amateur division! She did a fantastic job, and was one of the few competitors who actually brought enough cupcakes for all of the people that showed up. I know because I helped frost all of them (Sarah's mom helped too).

Every participant had to have three types of cupcakes: chocolate with vanilla frosting, yellow with chocolate frosting, and a "wild card" entry. Sarah chose to do an Italian creme cake, which was a really creamy cupcake with walnuts and coconut. It was a real crowd-pleaser, and a couple of people asked Sarah is she would be willing to cater their upcoming events!

The cupcakes were delicious, but Sarah and I have sworn off of them for at least a month. We have moved on to pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and cakes for the ward Halloween party, and for my birthday. Stay tuned for pictures of the upcoming culinary masterpieces.

Ryan's Top 5 Summer Movies

2008-09-25T10:00:00.001-07:00

So summer is finally drawing to a close, bringing an end to my favorite time of year for movies (except of course for James Bond time - Nov. 14th). I figured this would be a good time to reflect back on some of the best films from the summer, so without further ado, here is my Top 5 from Summer 2008.

5. Kung Fu Panda

If I had to imagine would Jack Black would look like if he were animated, I would probably picture a fat panda who can't do anything, which is what makes this role perfect for him. I didn't go into this movie expecting a whole lot, but it was really hilarious, the action scenes were incredibly fun to watch, and the animation was great. I think everyone was pleasantly surprised, and glad to have something from the Dreamworks studio that wasn't another Shrek movie.

4. Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

This movie had everything going for it. Indiana Jones was back. The whip cracking was back. The gross bugs were back. An annoying sidekick was back. It had everything I was looking for to be number one on my list of perfect summer films, except for one fatal flaw: it was kind of a crappy movie. Parts of it just didn't make sense, and Indiana looks like he's ready for a nap after most of the fight scenes. For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, my advice to you is to rent the movie, watch the first hour and a half, and then turn it off. Trust me.

3. Wall-E

This is without a doubt the greatest movie about robot love I have ever scene (unless you consider Short Circuit a robot love story). The sound effects were all done by the same guy who made the sounds for R2-D2 in Star Wars, and that guy knows how to make you sympathize with robots. The movie itself is flawless. It had endearing characters, a great story, and delivers a good message without coming off as preachy. This is the movie on the list that came closest to making me cry (except for when I watched the last thirty minutes of Indiana Jones and realized how bad it was), and it really had a lot of heart.

2. The Dark Knight

This movie rocked. The action sequences were all amazing, and the story (at the risk of sounding cheesy) really brought up some interesting viewpoints on morality and responsibility. But what really drove this move were the characters. The Joker was incredibly creepy, and sometimes hilarious in a very macabre, gruesome way. And the pretty boy face-off between Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart wasn't too bad either. All in all, this was perhaps the best movie of the summer, but maybe not the most fun (which is what being a summer movie is all about). Which brings us to my number one...

1. Iron Man

Any movie that starts off playing AC/DC's "Back in Black" is already off to a really good start for me, so maybe I am bit biased. The movie was incredible. The actions sequences were stunning, and it suceeded in one area where almost every other superhero movie fails: comedy. The movie kept me laughing almost the entire time, and it managed to do that while still being an action movie. Most superhero films (i.e. X-Men, Hulk, Ghost Rider) make incredibly lame attempts to be funny, but this movie pulled it off beautifully.

So that rounds out the Top 5. If there are any you think should have been on there, feel free to let me know. Oh, and one final note. The new James Bond movie will probably be the greatest film ever, and will blow all of these out of the water.

Furniture Photos!

2008-09-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

This is our new coffee table. Now we can eat while watching Jeopardy. Our lives are complete.

This is the buffet that almost killed me, but I'm happy to say we're still friends.

Also, I have a beard now, which is inexplicably a completely different color than the rest of the hair on my head. I think my beard might be Irish.

CUPCAKES!!!

2008-09-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

Sarah is competing in a cupcake competition! She's got some amazing cupcake baking skills, so she'll put them to the test at a local contest on the 25th. I'll be the official taste tester in the family, so I'll keep you posted on how delicious everything is. Also, I finally found a way to put pictures on the blog again. Hooray! Here are some pictures of chocolate chip cheesecake filled cupcakes with chocolate ganache. Enjoy looking at them!

IKEA: The furniture I love to hate, and hate to love

2008-09-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

So, I have lost the cord that connects my camera to my computer, so I have no way of uploading pictures until I find another solution. But Sarah and I bought some awesome stuff at IKEA last weekend. We bought a coffee table, and something called a buffet, which is like a big side table (which presumably you could use to lay out your very own buffet if you so chose). It looks really cool, and if you really want to see it, I guess I can take a picture of it with my phone and send it to you.

I love the furniture now, but I definitely hated it last week. Not only did it threaten my own sanity, but it threatened my marriage as well. Something about trying to find the right wooden peg to put in a piece plywood can really bring out the worst in people, and Sarah and I fell victim to the IKEA madness. Fortunately, we only actually came to blows once or twice, and once the buffet was completely assembled, it seemed to restore harmony and peace to our home.

So I guess it's safe to say the most confusing and frustrating thing I have had to do since starting law school is put together that rediculous buffet (which I love so much), so I guess that's a good thing. School is going well, and the cases I have to read every day are pretty hilarious. Who's sues a bus company for being assaulted in the face with exhaust fumes? People are crazy!

Well, that's all for now. I'm going to go home and play with my buffet, seeing as were best friends now.

First Week of Law School

2008-08-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I seem to have survived my first eight days of law school. Sorry I haven't been able to post anything in a while, but life is good. Sarah and I are happy here in DC, and we are both staying really busy. Right now I am taking Criminal Law, Civil Procedure, Torts, Contracts, and a Writing Class. So we're doing great for now, but I can only imagine that school is going to get more and more busy as the semester goes on. See ya.

The New Desk (my home away from home)

2008-08-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

So here is the new desk that Sarah and I set up a few days ago. I figure I will be spending a lot of time here over the next three years, so it deserves its own post. Law school starts on Monday, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to get acquainted.

We have moved in!

2008-08-04T11:59:00.001-07:00

We are officially moved in to our new place. Plus we finally have furniture to sit on. We have our nice couch and love seat, and we have also fixed up the kitchen and the bedroom a bit. I added a few pictures so you could see what everything looks like. Sarah and I are so happy to be in our new home. Feel free to come by and check it out if you're in our neighborhood.

Ryan's Downward Spiral

2008-07-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

I suppose the long hours of no job and no school are finally getting the better of me. I realized this when I spent a few hours the other night making blueberry scones with a "zesty" lemon glaze. I suppose that is a pretty good indicator that I need to get back to more of a routine schedule. On the plus side, the scones were delicious. Maybe I could bake up a batch for my law school professors for the first day of class.

The End of Independent Study

2008-07-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

I am done with Independent Study forever!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all. :0)

Pictures of Our New Apartment (with someone else's stuff in it)

2008-07-22T10:55:00.001-07:00

Here are some photos of our new place. We took these when we signed the contract, so the owner's stuff is still inside it. The place is really nice. It's called the Cardinal House in Arlington, VA, and it is about ten minute's walk from the metro that I will need to take to school. We are planning on moving in sometime next week, so we'll put up some more pictures later on.

We have a front porch (sort of)! Since our apartment is on the ground floor, we have our own entrance to the place. There's even an area where we can sit outside and grill when we want to.

The kitchen is pretty nice. It's recently been redone with new countertops, cabinets, and appliances.
The bathroom has also recently been redone, and has some pretty sweet stonework inside the shower. We are really excited about moving in and having our own place again. Although I will miss the Wii/Playstation 2/XBox at Sarah's house. That new Mario Kart game is incredibly addictive.

No money, Mo' problems

2008-07-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hey folks. Sorry I haven't put much on the blog lately. My computer died, so I am waiting for my Iranian friend at the Computer Clinic to fix everything so I can start working on it again. As for exciting news, Sarah and I now have an apartment, as well as a couch and a love seat. Although we may not have any money, we have a place to sleep, and a place to watch TV. Woohoo!

Road Trip Across America

2008-07-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, and welcome to the blog. Sarah and I wanted to find a way to keep everyone posted on how we were doing here in DC. We're both doing great. Sarah is enjoying her job, and I'm enjoying sitting around the house, wishing I had a job. We're going to do our best to keep this blog updated, so that you all can see what we're up to. For starters, here are some choice pictures of our trip across America's heartland.

Here are all of our worldly possessions, packed up in two cubes. These cubes are supposedly sitting in Baltimore right now, waiting for us to find an apartment to put them in.

Here was the Cadillac Ranch in the middle of Texas. Truly, a bizarre place. Essentially, it's ten old Cadillacs that are buried halfway in the ground and covered in spray paint. Also, there appeared to be an old nuclear bomb there.

This is apparently the largest cross in the Western hemisphere. It was glorious.

We stopped at Neely's BBQ on our way through Memphis, TN. For those of you who aren't addicted to the Food Network, the Neely's have their own show, where they cook lots of meat and stuff.

The ribs were fantastic, and the beef brisket ruled.

So, that's it for now. Once I get some more pictures from the trip, I'll put some more up here on the blog. I gotta get back to watching Price is Right, because it's almost time for the Showcase Showdown. So long, everyone.

2008-05-27T20:23:00.000-07:00