Memorial Day Weekend 2008

Mom came to visit this weekend. She arrived in Maryland late Thursday evening and spent the night in Gaithersburg with Ellen and Harvey. She spent Friday afternoon with Ellen and came to Rockville when David and I were done with work. Marin played with Jerry for a bit before heading back home.



On Friday night, we went to dinner at Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande Café in Bethesda. Not only do they have great food, but the drinks are great and even the take-out bags are adorable.




Here, mom and I enjoy a delicious Chambord Margarita

After dinner we enjoyed the great weather and walked around downtown Bethesda for a bit and listened to the many street musicians out that evening.

David had to work on Saturday, so that morning mom and I ran some errands with Ellen. Since a visit from mom would not be complete without a pedicure, our next activity was to get our nails done. After a winter hiatus from pedicures, I am happy to report that I am now sporting some gorgeous dark purple toes and loving them!




We met up with Heather for a ladies lunch on the outdoor patio at Addies, and had a really nice afternoon. Later on, David joined us and we heading downtown to Fogo de Chão for dinner.



If you’ve never been to this Brazilian steakhouse, it is a unique and fun experience. Basically, you pay a fixed price (in DC it’s about $60/person which doesn’t include drinks) for your meal.



The restaurant features a variety of roasted meats presented on skewers and carved tableside by their Gaúcho chefs. They operate under the service concept of espeto corrido, which translates from Portuguese as ‘continuous service.’



Each guest uses a two-sided disk to control the pace of their meal. The green side signals the Gaucho chefs to bring out skewers of meats to carve at the table. The red side indicates a stopping point. Turning back to green lets the Gaucho chefs know to start offering the meats again.



In addition to the meat extravaganza going on around you, the restaurant also has an amazing salad bar and serves traditional side dishes of warm cheese bread, fried bananas, crispy polenta and seasoned mashed potatoes at the table.



There are locations in DC and Baltimore, as well as Atlanta, Austin, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis and Philadelphia- and I think they are opening one in Miami soon. I’d recommend making a reservation ahead of time because the place is always packed



Fogo Pros include:

• A wonderful salad bar with an interesting variety of ingredients.
• With a choice of 15 different cuts of meat, there's something to satisfy everyone's taste .
• The Gauchos ask how you like your meat prepared (rare, medium, etc) and cut your portion accordingly.
• The staff is always very nice.

Fogo Cons include:

• The fast pace of the restaurant. Because the Gaucho’s are running around so fast to serve other patrons, you feel compelled to rush as well. You can get very full very fast.
• The place is crowded. We've always been seated in great locations, but I'd hate to sit near the door or salad bar.
• Their meats are highly seasoned, and may not be suitable for those on a low-sodium diet.

After sleeping off our meat comas from the night before, mom and I drove into DC to visit Monty, Melissa and Asher on Sunday. He is incredibly adorable and has two fabulous parents.

Monty and Asher

Judy and Asher

Proud Parents

He does this awesome thing with his pacifier where he looks like Maggie Simpson- he sucks so hard it almost pops out of his mouth! (I hope this video works, its my first attempt at loading video to the blog)

The rest of the weekend was filled with house hunting, shopping (I seriously love Old Navy flip flops) spending more time with Ellen and Harney and enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. Its weekends like this I am so glad I have a convertible car.

Mom flew back to Long Island on Monday afternoon. It was great having her visit and we can’t wait to hear all about her new computer! (Now she can actually read the blog)