Sadly, the weekend was a little stressful. Both boys were pretty demanding of our attention, and when they weren't physically pulling on us, they bickered. Some weekends are like that—even in Australia.
The Twin Cities experienced some severe thunderstorms on early Saturday morning—around 4 a.m. For the first time, I had a slight panic about tree limbs landing on the skylights about our bed, then remembered we had the tree in question removed in July. This storm's lightning was flickery and bizarre and was destined to keep me up. John and I didn't even have time to place wagers on how long it would be before the boys were in our bed when the skylight over his side of the bed started leaking. In a steady stream. Simon did wake up and found us in the den where I was reading HP7 to John. We all craved sleep so John and I each curled up with one of the boys. Winston managed, blessedly, to sleep through the storm. And, we were very lucky to have escaped any damage and to have retained our electricity.
Saturday: Simon went to a birthday party. Winston received a much needed haircut. The boys had a new sitter from the end of the block while John and I met our friend Liz M-P for a fantastic dinner at Saffron. We all shared a mezze platter with a feta cheese spread, potato salad with preserved lemon, lamb meatballs in harissa, and chickpeas. My meal started with a blue crab and avocado-citrus salad; the salmon-clam tagine (silky poached fish on a bed of sliced potatoes rather than couscous was unusual and tasty) was my main. For dessert we shared a tasty, spicy dried-fruit tart that was presented in a filo purse and a chocolate mousse cake, which didn't really meet expectations for a chocolate dessert.
Sunday: Simon served as John's tour guide when we saw the Pompeii exhibit (which really wasn't as good the second time around) at the Science Museum. Winston enjoyed looking at the little burial artifacts and satisfied his morbid curiosity in the room with the casts of people caught by Mt. Vesuvius' fiery blast. He's going to love the King Tut exhibit in Philadelphia, which we're going to see at the end of this week. On our way home, we had cocktails at our friends' Colin and Helena's. They served some really good food—cantaloupe wrapped with prosciutto; figs with blue cheese, walnuts, and balsamic vinegar; and a store-bought salsa that they doctored with fresh tomato chunks. Friends Sarah and Dave were also there. I made "Thomas Jefferson" macaroni and cheese—this is what the kids call the not-from-a-box version—for the boys' dinner. John and I were pretty sated from the food we'd eaten at C & H's but managed to help the boys with their mac and cheese...and another bottle of wine. Nothing like a Sunday night lush.
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