Friday in DC

Lunch in Georgetown

Ben & I spent an evening in DC last week. It looks like my sister Kata will be living there for a few months while working at the Children's Hospital so we went down to check out her new digs in NW DC. Then we headed south to the so called National Harbor to have dinner with Ben's brother and wife. We were a bit shocked by the sculpture "The Awakening", a five-piece, cast aluminum sculpture more than 70 feet in length and approximately 15 feet at its highest point.

On the docks at the National Harbor


"The Awakening"

Pizza, Games and Dinosaurs

Over the long Martin Luther King weekend our friends Silas and Laura visited us to renew our infamous Rook card game rivalry, mutually complain about the poor life decisions Silas and Ben choose when they pursued graduate studies, and check out Greenwich Village and the dinosaurs in NYC.

Thanks for the visit!

Making our Favorite Margherita Pizza at Home


In the Dinosaur room at The American Museum of Natural History


The typical roof shot with everyone who visits us :)

Je ne sais quo

The Majestic Niagara Falls

After 40 years of immigration from virtually every country, Toronto has realized its promise as a vibrant picture postcard of world culture. In just three days, Toni and I--and our Nordic passport holding friends Jefta and Tate--learned exactly how true this was as we grilled South Korean liver, laughed with an African-Canadian Quebecois comedian, listened to American Jazz music, ordered Baklava in the Greek sector, walked through a hobby farm in the middle of the city, relished Guacamole in north T.O., and ordered French delicacies-- je'voudrais une crêpe anybody?--in trendy Yorkville . Also, we learned that the Canadian side of Niagara Falls are way, way cooler (literally) than the smallish US side. Still, I'd pick Philadelphia over cosmopolitan Toronto any day of the week. There's just something je ne sais quoi about good olde Philly--just as long as I repress my hatred of the local obsession with the cheesesteak sandwich.


Walking the trendy streets of TO


Delicious French Crepes for Lunch (chocolate in our teeth for proof)

Brothers in front of the infamous Rocky Statue

The day we returned from our time in MN we were excited to have Ben's brother John, his wife Stacie and their daughter Elise for a visit. They had been in DC for Christmas and decided to come up to Philly for a short visit.

The day they were here we showed them the historic sites, had some cheese steaks and took them to the famous Philadelphia Zoo.

Thanks for making the trip!

Home for the Holidays

When people think of holiday travel the usual images of chaos, delays, and lost luggage come to mind. But Ben and I enjoy traveling during the Advent season. It reminds us of Mary and Joseph and the little one. So swiftly we flew to Minnesota before celebrating the incarnation of the little one with family in the city of Minneapolis. Fresh snow, clear skies, and that Scandinavian niceness put a smile on our faces in the land of the so many lakes. Alas we've now traveled back to Egypt--i.e. Philadelphia--beautiful in its own way, but not Minneapolis--it's no Jerusalem. So as the Jewish saying goes, next year in Jerusalem. Peace of Christ to you all this new year.

p.s. Please forgive the picture overload in this post...I promise to keep it to a minimum next post. :)


Drinks and Dessert with the girls and Ethan at Cafe Latte


Ben, Andy (groom), and Ryan in Colorado


Girls Christmas Brunch/Brow Bash at Jaide Salon


Making Pizza at home with Judson and Kata


In Rice Park after seeing White Christmas at the Ordway


Visiting G & G in Rochester on Christmas Eve


The Brandenburg, Muhrs around the tree on Christmas Day


Playing Ticket to Ride with Heidi and Brandon (our favorite game this Christmas)

Introducing The Pennsylvania Avenue Globetrotters.

BBB Rated 2008: Jazzed About Edition

I’m not going to pretend that I read so widely that I could rate a whole bunch of new hardbacks like I did in 2007 and 2006, but I am jazzed about a whole bunch of other things. Of course some things fell tone deaf in 08, so comment away. What’s on your Jazzed About/Tone Deaf List in 2008?

Best Waste of Time: That great European tradition, namely board games, in particular Ticket to Ride.™
Runner Up: The greatest invention since the printing press: the internet. While Gutenberg gave us the Bible, the web has gives us the joys of the FAIL Blog.

Film: Slumdog Millionaire
English director Danny Boyle’s exuberant drama cum romantic comedy cum technicolor musical about young Mumbai street beggars is downright Dickensian. Filmed with an Indian cast and production crew this slice of poetic justice deserves the Oscar for best picture.
Runner Up: Romania’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days is the exact opposite of Slumdog, but it will a haunt your mind all the same.

Politician: Boris Johnson
With the most memorable political season of my lifetime behind us, few Americans recall the truly revolutionary political moment: the election of a Tory—a cocky humorist Tory—as London’s major modo. Check out his ping-pong is coming home speech or his ruthless soccer tackle.
Runner Up: Tie. Barack Obama and Bobby Jindal.

News Story: Castro Resigns. Finally the Cold War is over.
Runner Up: The Economy Trumps Religion. Faith was simply not a primary concern on election day. That’s a good thing for people who value faith.

Sport: TSG Hoffenheim
Think it was a big deal that the Devil Ray’s beat out the Yankees and Red Sox to win the division with a tenth of their salary cap? Then imagine a AA team on top of the MLB. This is currently happening in Germany. The Bundesliga’s #1 team stems from a village. Literally.
Runner Up: World Series Champions Philadelphia Phillies

Non-Fiction: Lamin Sanneh, Disciples of All Nations.
Sanneh is one of the foremost interpreters of world Christianity and particularly of its recent history in Africa. His thesis about the translatability of the faith, his nuanced revisionist account of the missionary enterprise, and his account of the encounter between Islam and Christianity have influenced a generation of scholars.
Runner Up: The Limits of Power, by Andrew Bacevich. Bacevich speaks bluntly to his countrymen about their selfishness, their hubris, their sanctimony and the grave problems they now face.

Tone Deaf in 08
TDI8: The Dark Night. Sometimes a gritty, brilliantly acted, existential comic book movie is still a comic book movie.
TDI8: Republicans. How hard is it to get some new ideas in the playbook?
TDI8: Fannie, Freddie, AIG, and Lehman.
TDI8: The perfect Olympics. I forgot that spontaneity existed for those two flawlessly orchestrated weeks in August.