New Year's Day walk

The high temperature in our neck of the woods was in the mid-50s today, and Rob and I were jonesing to get outside. We always enjoy a good amble on either side of the Potomac so we headed to Great Falls National Park.

We came across the ruins of Matildaville on our walk. Matildaville is a ghost town of sorts that is now within the confines of the national park. It was founded by the father of Robert E. Lee, and he named it after his recently deceased wife Matilda.

When I first moved here almost three years ago, I was giddy at the amount of history that one can run into here without even trying. Now I'm becoming a jaded Washingtonian; George Washington this, Robert E. Lee that, President So-And-So the other thing ... who can keep it all straight?

That's not a chimney that Rob is standing next to. That's a wall! Those were built like they meant it.

We didn't walk past the falls today since we were in a mood for a brisk walk. Below the falls the Potomac was smooth and glassy, reflecting the grey-green rocks on the Maryland side.

I love coming out here when the leaves are off the trees because we can take the "high road" and still have great views of the river without the crowds!

Samosa Pie

Rob and I love samosas -- those crispy tetrahedrons of pastry filled with potatoes, onions, peas, and spices. We've become quite handy at forming the individual samosas, but I was still looking for a less time-consuming way to get my fix. I remember making hamburger pie as a kid and figured that a samosa pie had to be pretty darn tasty.

I typically use the samosa recipe in Manju Singh's The Spice Box: A Vegetarian Indian Cookbook and wanted to use that for the filling, but I wasn't sure about the baking time for pie and those other important details. I asked the interwebs if such a creation had been attempted before, and I found this blog entry at the cooks and the curious. I used their crust recipe and cooking times, a double dose of samosa filling for the pie, and it turned out fabulously! I think it might have been the best pie crust I ever made. We are stuffed and happy.

Our first Christmas

It started with Pumpkin breaking into Zellie's food, even though we gave him an extra big breakfast...

I got a new game! We'll both play it, but I think I like it more. We both love regular Blokus and have wanted to try Blokus Trigon since we saw it being played at a Mensa games party.

And Pumpkin got a self-help book, even though cats don't need any help. He is such a tolerant kitty to let us put ribbons on him!

It was a great first Christmas! And it's even starting to snow in Virginia. The weather prognosticators are consistently bi-polar on how much we get, ranging from "a dusting" to "snowmageddon part 2"! I'm hoping for somewhere in-between.

The Snowflake Tree

My friends Kris and Kevin in Maryland have enough Christmas trees in their house to rival Macy's. My favorite is the snowflake tree.