The Camaras » food

Beach and Dinner

Ross — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 03:25:18 +0000

Thursday was our last day on Oahu before we went up to Kauai. We took it easy by going to Ala Moana for a few hours. We got there plenty early and after some early clouds we got a good amount of sun. Unfortunately Ross managed to give himself a pretty good sun burn on his back. For dinner we met up with my high school classmates Keane and Kristyn at Wah Kung. Although service was a little slow at the restaurant we had a great time and got to catch up with them.

Nicole on the beach

Ross after a swim on the beach.

After dinner with Keane and Kristyn.

Swap Meet and Pagoda

Ross — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:17:17 +0000

Wednesday was a day off from the beach. In the morning we got up early to head out to the swap meet to buy stuff to bring back with us. Nicole bought some malasadas at the swap meet but they turned out to not be very yummy, (should have gone to leonard’s). For all the vendors there, they all sell mostly the same things and the trick is to find the best of each type of vendor. Mostly we bought some snacks to bring home and some gifts for friends with young children. We were beat by the time we were done since we had gone around Aloha Stadium twice.

Nicole buying her malasadas

Looking for gifts for people

Ross with his haul of snacks

After the swap meet we went home and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. I rearranged my mother’s living room and then went with her to costco to get her a new flat screen tv. For dinner Nicole and I headed back into town to use a gift certificate that Ray and Alice had won but were unable to use for a free two person dinner at Pagoda’s. We hadn’t bothered to make reservations since it was a wednesday but when we got there the place was pretty busy. Thankfully we got a table without too long of a wait and got to enjoy the Japanese buffet. I’m not sure how much of it Nicole liked but I had a blast with all the food.

Nicole in front of the koi ponds around Pagoda

Crab Legs!

North Shore

Ross — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:55:57 +0000

Day 3 of our Hawaii Vacation took us up to the north shore. It was overcast for a good portion of the morning and we had the occasional shower but we still got plenty of sun. In fact Ross managed to burn the back of his legs since he didn’t put any sun screen on back there.

Ross driving towards the north shore

Ross at Haleiwa beach.

Nicole’s pretty toenails she had done the day before with Janice and Phyllis.

Enjoy a quick nap

Ross enjoying the view.

For lunch we went to Macky’s Shrimp truck in Haleiwa. I don’t think Nicole was overly impressed with it but that may be because their specialty of garlic butter is not Nicole friendly. After lunch we went to grab dessert from Matsumoto’s which was so yummy. Nicole decided to branch out and try two flavors but I stuck with my traditional strawberry.

Ross can’t wait to get into the food

Nicole with her strawberry and pineapple shave ice.

Once we had our shave ice we headed back to the beach to catch a few more hours of sunshine before we headed home. While we were there in the afternoon we were lucky to see a bunch of turtles come all the way up to the edge of the water. Ross even managed to catch a couple of pictures of the turtle.

Turtle!!!!

Taste of Arlington

Ross — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:43:17 +0000

Last weekend in addition to the air show we had the Taste of Arlington on Sunday. It was ideal for us since it was just across the street from our apartment. We invited Jill, Esto, and Lucia to come down to our place and then head out to the festival. The weather was perfect and since you got 8 tastes for $20 there was tons of food to go around. The weather was perfect so there were tons of people that came out to the taste and towards the end some of the lines were getting kind of unreasonable. Thankfully we had gone early so we were leaving by the time it was wall to wall bodies.

Nicole and Lucia

Nicole, Michelle, and Jill checking out all the options.

Yay for crab cakes. The line was super long but was a good thing we went when we did. Cause the line got out of control later in the day

Now thats a pot of paella

Nicole, Michelle and Esto enjoying some of the food we got.

Ross, Esto and Lucia hanging out in the park after the taste.

Andrews Joint Forces Open House

Ross — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:40:57 +0000

On Saturday we went to Andrews AFB Joint Forces Open House. If you’re around DC this time next year I totally recommend going as we had an amazing time. Nicole’s high school friend was up visiting us this weekend so the three of us went to check out the open house. The event is free to the public and the only catch is you can’t drive on to the base you have to park or catch the metro to a designated spot and then they bus everyone to the base.

The open house had all kinds of planes on the ground that you could go up to and check out. They had both old historical planes and current working planes and vehicles. Also throughout the day they had air demonstrations of various military aircraft as well as the army’s demo jumper team (Golden Knights). The highlight/finally of the day was the performance by the Blue Angels which was awesome. I’ve never been to an air show that I can remember so it was a ton of fun. Here are just a couple of pictures of the day (I took 750 pictures).

The historical fly by with a WWII plane, F16 and F22.

Entrance to the show

Nicole and Michelle watching the planes up above.

Michelle in the cockpit

Army’s Golden Knight jump demonstration

Geico Skywritters.

Nicole and Michelle in front of a helicopter

Ross found a gun to play with

Abrams tank.. I want to drive this on the beltway.

Blue Angles diamond group. Look how close they are to one another.

Blue Angles high speed pass.

More Blue Angels

All 6 blue angels.

Nicole and Michelle waiting to get on the bus back to the metro. Only bummer of the day was that it took almost 2 hours to get back to the metro.

Ross and Nicole at the metro stop waiting to go home.

River Bluff Cabins

Ross — Sun, 02 May 2010 23:14:49 +0000

This past weekend Nicole and I went on a fun weekend getaway to a cabin in western virginia. It had been a busy few months for us so we planned this mini vacation. We didn’t have any plans for the weekend except to just relax and read at the cabin. This place was similar to the one we went to last year except it’s location. It was ideal since it was less than two hours away so we didn’t have to drive that far and we left after work on friday. Overall we had a good time but I was reminded that I’m a city boy since the bugs got on my nerves. We enjoyed the use of the hot tub and had a good time just hanging out with just the two of us.

The inside of the cabin.

Nicole looking beautiful

The hot tub in the screened porch

The outside of the cabin

Down by the river… We didn’t last long out there since there were tons of bugs.

Wine and a book. A great way to spend the afternoon.

Ross relaxing on the couch.

I’m so classy

Ross making dinner

Yummmy Smores…

If you’re interested the place we booked was River Bluff Cabins

Christmas Part 2

Ross — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:02:21 +0000

Christmas day morning we spent with Phil until Nicole’s mother came home from her parents and then we headed over there. We got a lazy start to the day and didn’t open gifts until 10AM. We had a good time opening all the gifts we had gotten from people. Afterwards we had a great breakfast casserole that Grandma Crnkovich had sent home with Phil the weekend before.

Nicole on christmas morning.

Nicole’s mom made it back to Cincinnati around 3 in the afternoon and it was a good thing she hadn’t come home any sooner since we had finally just gotten showered and cleaned up just as she called. So we packed up all our stuff and said goodbye to Phil and headed over to Jean’s place. At Jean’s place we hung out for a little bit and then exchanged gifts with her. I think Jean really liked the wedding album that Nicole had made and finally given to her. For dinner we did snow crab legs because it was fast and easy to do since Jean wasn’t home for most of the day. After dinner we went downstairs and setup the Wii and tried playing some of the new games that Nicole got for christmas. Unfortunately the Mario Party 8 that I had gotten for nicole didn’t work which was a bit of a bummer for the day.

Ross opening one of the shirts he received from jean.

Jean and Nicole looking at the wedding album.

Our snow crab dinner. So yummy.

Saturday was another relaxing day. We started of the day by getting a little bit of shopping done. Surprisingly it wasn’t really that crazy while we were out shopping but that could have been because we were out early and were home by 2PM. After a nap and some video game playing and hanging out we went out to dinner. Jean wanted to do a special dinner for us and instead of cooking we convinced her to take us to Montgomery Inn since I had never been there. This place is known for their ribs and is a favorite of Sean’s. Unfortunately because they are so good and popular they only take reservations for 5PM and anytime after that you just have to show up and wait. We ended up just getting reservations and going to dinner early. The place was enormous and had a ton of different rooms where middle to small functions could be held. It was also kinda interesting since as you moved through the place the atmosphere changed from really casual bar dinning to a more formal dining depending on which room you were in. I of course got the ribs since thats all I had heard about from the place. I thought they were quite good and better than anything I could get here in DC but they weren’t no dinosaur bbq ribs.

Nicole and Ross at Montgomery Inn

Jean at Montgomery Inn.

The next day was the end of our trip and after a quick breakfast with Jean we headed out. Since we got a good start in the morning we made it back to DC just after it got dark which left us with plenty of time to unwind and to go to the grocery store to get food.

Christmas

Ross — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:48:37 +0000

Christmas this year was back in Kentucky with Nicole’s parents. Since we both had recently changed jobs we didn’t have much vacation time and didn’t head out to Cincinnati until the 23rd. We left early on wednesday morning in an effort to try to beat traffic and we actually did really well hitting very minimal traffic. Also the roads were in good condition considering the amount of snow from the previous weekend. We ended up getting to Phil’s place around 4 in the afternoon but by the time we got there we were starving since we had really only stopped for gas and had skipped lunch. So our first order of business was to head out to LaRosa’s Pizza which is nicole’s favorite pizza place growing up. I had only vaguely remembered it from a previous visit. Although we were the only people there we really enjoyed our pizza and I thought it was quite excellent. By the time we thought to take pictures there was only a single slice left. After that we headed home and hung out at Phil’s place catching up and otherwise just taking it easy. Dessert that night required a trip out to Graters Ice cream which was the second of the three food places nicole just had to visit. Nicole loves this place because the chocolate chips there are enormous since they pour molten chocolate into their ice cream as they are making it.

Nicole enjoying her chocolate chip ice cream.

Hanging out at phil’s house. Phil and nicole’s old cat Mindy.

The next day was Christmas Eve and started off with a quick trip to the mall so I could pick up the last of my gifts for nicole. Originally I was supposed to get it the weekend before but thanks to snowpocalypse that didn’t happen. Luckily we got an early start in the morning and managed to get to the mall soon after it opened so it wasn’t too crazy while I got the shopping I needed done. Afterwards we went to the third place that nicole loves to go to when she is back home. We had an early lunch at Skyline Chili. I have to admit that the place has really started to grow on me over the years and now I really do like going there especially cause their cheese coneys are so yummy. All that finely grated cheese just can’t be beat.

Nicole and Phil outside Skyline.

After lunch we headed into downtown Cincinnati to go and see a model train exhibit put on by the local power company. When we got there we were greeted with a free warm cookie which was awesome. The train exhibit was a little small but still very good. The line moved quickly and we got to see the model train after only a few minutes. I really liked it and there was a surprising number of things going on.

The model train exhibit.

Nicole and Ross in front of the model trains.

Phil and Nicole in front of the trains.

The model train exhibit.

Look at the little construction workers. They even moved around.

After the trains we headed home and just hung out for the rest of the day. Nicole spent a little while trying to teach her dad how to play the Wii. Phil was a good sport about it and did a pretty good job playing. I spent most of the afternoon working on dinner since we were having prime rib and I was in charge of the meat. After dinner we headed out to catch midnight (10 pm) mass.

Phil playing the wii.

Nicole having fun beating her dad at wii golf.

Ross working on preparing his prime rib.

Nicole and Phil before church.

Plateau Holiday Party

Ross — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:08:28 +0000

Soon after joining Plateau I got an email announcing the Plateau Holiday Party. I was very excited about this since I haven’t been to a holiday party since my first year working when Chesapeake had a party in January. It’s a shame IBM never did one since I think they are a great time for workers to hang out outside of work and a chance for our spouses to meet some of the people we work with.

The holiday party was at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria. We decided to take the metro to Alexandria and then hop the free shuttle from the metro to Old Town that way neither of us were driving and we could enjoy ourselves. When we arrived at the party it was clear Plateau had gone all out for the holiday party and everything looked fantastic. There was a wide selection of some fancy looking food. We made a point of trying almost everything and most of it was quite yummy. Also a good portion of my division was in attendance so Nicole was able to meet quite a few of the people that I work with on a daily basis.

Nicole at the Holiday party.

Some of the desserts we tried. Most of that plate was very yummy.

One thing that blew me away at the party was that they were having door prizes. Initially they started small with $100 gift cards to area restaurants. But as the night progressed they went on to give away things like $1,000 gift certificates to skiing resort, a mac book pro, and even a 42″ TV. I even managed to win the second door prize given away which was a $100 gift card to Fogo de Chao. It was quite funny because I was at the bar trying to get a new drink and when they were announcing the prize all I heard was “all you can eat meat”. The next thing I know they were calling my name out and I went up to collect my gift. I’m excited to go to Fogo especially since we can now justify it since most of the meal will be on the company.

The live band that was pretty good.

Ross with some of the other developers that I work with.

Overall I had a really good time at the holiday party and was really impressed by the company. Luckily we managed to snag a cab home after the party as it was really starting to snow and was the start of what I later would call Snowpocalypse but that’s for another post.

A view of the street as we left the party.

Thanksgiving II

Ross — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:44:47 +0000

In the middle of December Nicole and I decided we didn’t get enough turkey at thanksgiving so we decided to cook a second thanksgiving. Oddly enough on friday night Sean called us up telling us he was going to be in town on Saturday and asked us if we wanted to get together. He had perfect timing since we were going to do our second thanksgiving on saturday and since he missed out on thanksgiving it would be perfect for him to come over. We went all out for our second thanksgiving. Nicole cooked her party mashed potatoes and grandma crnkovich’s green beans. I made the turkey and stove top stuffing and I even bought a can of cranberry sauce.

Prepping the turkey. Making use of the new skills I learned at thanksgiving.

The finished bird. Doesn’t it look good.

Ross and Sean with all the food before we sat down to eat. We did a surprisingly good job on all the food that was there.