Friday, Mike and I left work a little early to begin our travels to Salem to visit both his parents and mine. We began our trip at about 4pm (2 hours later than we had hoped). The traffic on the beltway wasn't all that horrific, but 66 was another story. I normally drive, because I'm a horrible passenger, but Mike decided he'd take the wheel this trip. He always complains about my road rage.... but come to find out.... Mikey has some built up aggression towards other drivers as well. It seemed like everytime we'd make a break another slowdown would come out of no where. And it didn't get any better once we got on 81 South. I felt like we had a flashing sign on our car that read "If you drive slow... get in front of us!" Which made me then think of a great invention. I want to create a scrolling sign - much like the ones used on public transportation buses that merely say their destination - but mine would say things like "Get out of the left lane moron" or "It's the pedal on the right" or "Go back to North Caroline (or Maryland)" because we all know those states are notorious for bad drivers (love ya)! We saw a beautiful sunset and the "Rage Mobile" finally made it into Salem at about 9pm...
We dropped Emma off at Mike's parents house then headed into Salem to meet up with Patty, Mike and some of their friends at Mac N' Bobs. Many of you might remember this place - we went there after our wedding - I got carded in my wedding gown. (oh....fun times)
After a delicious quiche and soup, some hot wings for Mikey we headed back to the Merrill's to crash. We got up early (10am) Saturday morning and took full advantage of having a driveway and hose - we washed and waxed our car...I shampooed the rugs - our car looks better than the day we bought it! Let's see how long that last. We spent the rest of the day hanging out on the front porch chatting... until we couldn't ignore the smell of chicken cutlets coming from the kitchen. I swear, Mike's mom could open a restaurant and only serve her chicken cutlets or chicken parm...she'd make a killing!!! Oh, don't forget the chicken pinwheels!!! Sorry - I'm hungry.
At about 5 we headed over to my parents house, where you could smell the ribs cooking on the grill when we pulled into the driveway. Needless to say, we gorged ourselves on more food and then had a "friendly" game of Phase 10 with Travis & Christine.
We hung out on my parents back porch and admired my moms gardening capabilities and then went to bed... church the next morning!
I can't explain how much I love Salem. Our families are there and we practically know everyone in "town". When we visit there is always so much to fit in and there's hardly enough time to see all the people we want to. It's so relaxing and slow paced there. It's funny...I lived there for 22 years and hated it... nothing to do, no cool places to shop, only 1/maybe 2 good bars... now, it's hard to get me back in the car to come back to Alexandria. If you haven't had a chance to make a trip to Salem with us, I highly recommend it. It's a totally different world...I think you'd enjoy it!
HamachiGrilled young yellowtail served atop wilted baby bok choy, edamame, thin sliced daikon radish, julienne carrots, served with a ginger miso broth
Rotisserie ChickenLemon thyme marinated all natural breast & leg served with roasted fingerling potatoes and grilled asparagus
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