Late Mardi Gras and Norouz Preparations

The best thing about having three cultures in our home (Persian, French, and American) is that there always seems to be a holiday around the corner. Tuesday we missed mardi gras so tonight I made crepes and we had French cider for a belated celebration. And before that we started the preparations for our Sofreh Haft Seen (a table with seven items that start with S in Farsi which brings luck in the new year).

This is the fish we got for our Haft Seen table.

His name is Norouz but we call him Nor for short.

Dying eggs.

Sohail dying eggs for the first time ever!!

Our mostly complete Haft Seen.

This is the first Haft Seen we've ever made.

And we went right on to the French traditions with mardi gras dinner.

Mt Vernon

Sarah recently found a great deal online for discount tickets to visit Mt Vernon. Last weekend we cashed in out vouchers to go visit George Washington's former home with Sarah, Barney, and their firends Jim and Laura. After the visit, we had lunch at a restaurant there before walking around Old Towne Alexandria.

Mt Vernon

It was a pretty grey day...

Still lots of snow on the ground.

Sarah, Barney, and Sohail

As we were walking around, we saw all these kids, who seemed to be on a school trip, run into the field to start a massive snowball fight!

Maman's Retirement and 60th Birthday

My Mom just turned 60 and retired in one shot. To celebrate we went to Harper's Ferry for a weekend of hiking, games, good food, and relaxing by the fire place. Then we were lucky enough to have Maman at home for a week. It was great to come home to someone who had had such great adventures every day and now I can't wait to retire.

Sohail and Derek relaxing already

Hiking

Derek making a snow angel

In Harper's Ferry

At the fish market in DC the following weekend

Happy Sohail

Happy Maman

happy 2011

Happy New Year! This year our friends Maria Clara and Daniel proposed to have a pot luck dinner but they ended up making the vast majority of the food! Daniel is Polish, Venezuelan, Canadian, and Spanish and all those nationalities were reflected in some way in our dinner except for the Canadian. For dinner we had Polish mushroom soup and perogis. We drank Cava from Spain. We had tres leches for dessert. At 12 seconds to midnight we tried to eat 12 grapes - each one of which represented a wish. The only problem with the grapes is that it's impossible to eat a grape a second and also try to make wishes at the same time. But thankfully we had Polish vodka to wash it all down. I only go through three (grapes not vodka) but it was lots of fun. Then we finished the evening off at a party that was a lot of fun.

Christmas in Charleston

Our first Christmas as newlyweds was spent in Charleston. We did a lot and took very few pictures but the highlights included the Tecklenburg and Barnwell Christmas parties, playing with Avea in the snow (or blizzard as she called it) and, of course, sharing great meals and moments with family.

Sohail took almost all the pictures so I was surprised to find photos of some things that seem commonplace to me now like this countdown to Christmas piece my grandmother made years ago.

The tree at my Mom's house was beautiful.

On Christmas morning I made eggs benedict for everyone.

We were all in a rush to eat so we could open presents!

Addy got a backpack go to hiking with her Dad.

first business trip

In mid-December I took my first business trip ever to beautiful Houston, Texas. The work was fascinating and I got to see Sohail's aunt Azadeh who lives there. It turns out Houston's not the most beautiful city in the world but it was a fun few days nonetheless.

With Azadeh at the Galleria Mall

This hotel is named after my brother

Azadeh also took me to see this amazing fountain.

Helen and Josh's Wedding

A few weeks ago I was in Charleston for my Helen and Josh's beautiful wedding.

The beautiful bride and handsome groom

Same people - celebrating their recent nuptials

Derek, Helen, and me

The rest of the weekend I got to bond with Max who was delighted when I found his Halloween costume.

On Sunday I had lunch with my Mom and Derek

And I had lunch on Saturday with my Dad and Joanne

Thanksgiving

This year was my first Thanksgiving with the Zandiehs as a Zandieh. And it was delicious!

Davyde saw a NY Times article on carving turkey and he put his learning to the test.

with great intensity

Then he recruited some help for the dark meat and I was happy to oblige remembering my childhood dream of being a butcher.

The dinner was fantastic. Sohail's parents prepared it all.

We all had to work a bit so the dining room turned into a computer lab for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday we all went to best buy to have a real suburban experience.

Saturday night we got together with Nate, Nerys and Daniel for dinner.

Nerys loves Persian food!

More November Fun

As we were wedding planning, we often thought about how much free time we would have in November. And now November's arrived and we're living it up. Here's what we've been up to.

Last weekend we stumbled upon this photos exhibit which was part of Photo Week DC.

Then we had lunch at Leopold's - a cafe in Georgetown that reminds me of Europe.

On our walk home we saw the amazing tree.

On Sunday, Sohail's family came over for lunch.

And this morning, I made eggs benedict.
Thanks Sarita for the poaching pods and Afsaneh for the double boiler!

Autumn Leaves

The leaves in DC have been spectacular lately so today we went hiking on Sugarloaf Mountain to really enjoy them.

A view of farmland

Sarah and Boston

having a picnic

frankie and boston fighting over a stick

Sohail was thrilled because Sarah and Barney brought Halloween candy including sweetarts

all of us

boston leading the way

the view at dusk

on our way home we stopped for apple cider

at this little vegetable shop