Honor

When I was in high school I took the Metro into DC to take pictures for the afternoon.
One of the things I remember seeing as I walked around was a memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This memorial is near the intersection of 9th Street & Pennsylvania Ave, NW. A small plaque near the memorial reads:



I really like the new FDR Memorial and visited it shortly after it opened in 1997. But I remember feeling a bit conflicted and was reminded of those feelings today as I walked down Pennsylvania Avenue and happened by the memorial again.
On the one hand there was this beautiful and subtle, yet majestic memorial honoring the 12 years this man gave in service to his country as President.
On the other hand, he spoke specifically and plainly of how he would like to be memorialized, if at all.

Do we honor the man in physical ways so everyone can see or do we honor the man by listening to his words and wishes? I realize this is a double-edged sword... it seems like in today's society if we do not spell things out, and create a physical manifestation of something... it is likely to be lost forever.

my first ever Dinner Party

So I have been cooking and baking a lot recently.
There are plenty of things to do with one's time when unemployed and have already have done your job-searching for the day... I have been filling up that time in the kitchen.

I enjoy cooking, but baking has quickly become one of my new passions. I really need to change this (or, at least curtail it.) I find it easy to cook healthy meals, but find it difficult to make healthy baked-goods. Healthy items of this ilk are rarely baked nor good. I don't want to compromise real butter, heavy cream, or sugar in an attempt to make a "healthy" pie... I'd much rather a full-fat, but VERY occasional, pie.

Anyway, I had a dinner party this past Thursday... my first ever. A few glitches, and minor burns aside, the evening came off quite well. This was in large part to my friends who pitched in with cutting, chopping, sautéing, setting the table, pouring drinks, and generally being of good cheer.
I am really lucky to have such awesome friends. Most recently, I feel lucky to have made a new friend in my good friend Tino's wife, Laura. I'm not terribly good at articulating, but I think the world is a better place knowing that Laura and Tino met each other and decided to make a life together.

Let me just say that I like beer. I like cheap, watery beer and I like fancy-pants beer with crazy-good flavor. Being a firm believer that different kinds of beer complements different kinds of food... I decided to have a beer-pairing dinner.

My only regret was the limited amount of people I could invite. So to that end I will likely have another dinner party in the next few months.
I like doing a beer pairing... that part I will probably keep. I may change up some things... like making the cooking a part of the party... and definitely have it on a weekend when the Metro runs late and people's enjoyment of the beer isn't limited by the train schedule.