Wine & Cheese

I was lucky enough to be invited to a wine & cheese affair this past Saturday night, hosted by Aaron Scholer and Steph Morrison at his place in Dupont Circle. There was a fantastic spread of food and drink, including small salmon skewers with wasabi mayonnaise, breaded sausage, snow peas and other raw vegetables, little chocolate cube things, baked brie with raspberry jam, Ghiradelli chocolate, stuffed mushrooms, an apple tart, and a bewildering array of wines and cheeses. I went for the gouda in a pretty big way, but everything was incredibly good.

More so than the food, even, I enjoyed the company. I always look forward to seeing Steph & Aaron, but I also had the pleasure of visiting with Mike Cintron (along with his dad and stepmother), the Stockwells, Erica Mohr, Rob Moore, Angie Hidalgo, Abby Benson, Aaron's classmate Andy and his wife Philippa, and a number of their friends from the Capital Rowing Club. As often happens, there was a tendency to group off with folks you were more familiar with. The split was pretty much Coast Guard and Rowers, but there was some cross-pollination by the end of the evening. I had a fantastic time, and though I was there for more than 5 hours, it passed all too quickly.

It's worth mentioning that Aaron had a very nice library. I noticed many titles from my own shelves, plus more than a few that I've had on my shopping list for some time. A little heavy on the professional references (Rules of Order for the US Senate, etc) and more William Gibson than I care for, but on the whole it was outstanding.

Also on Saturday, I met with the movers and everything is set for the 11th. The plan calls for me to pack up about one room a night for the rest of the week. And by pack up, I mean little more than get all the loose items thrown in a box. I also still have to get all the utilities straightened out, but that shouldn't take too long. I'm just anxious to be done with the hassle of it.