South American Adventure: Argentina Edition

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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.