A Great Birthday Weekend

Labor Day Weekend was the setting for Tom's ___ Birthday. We're thrilled that Il Fornaio now has a restaurant in Reston. During our California years, we regularly dined at the ocean view Del Mar location, and when traveling around the state at at Carmel, Beverly Hills, and Irvine.

It was a lovely Saturday lunch and we had no problem getting an outside table. The only think missing was the Del Mar view! Tom's brother joined us for our leisurely lunch for five.

Later in the afternoon friends came and we celebrated with our first meal on the new porch. With selections from Wegmans (the sirloin!) and the Burke Farmers Market, our menu consisted of Insalata Caprese, a potato salad capers, red onion, and Zisola extra virgin olive oil (from Olio2go), canteloupe. I can't forget the Rosemary Ciabatta from Wes at The Bread Ovens at Quail Creek Farm.

Throughout the weekend I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseni. Very well written, but it was so depressing at times that I almost put it down, yet it was so compelling I couldn't stop reading. I'm astounded by the depth of torture in Afghan's bloody history. To call the society "conservative" is to be nice. It's hard to believe that those events could happen in my lifetime. I've knit for afghans for Afghans in the past and it is definitely time to do so again. The next deadline is October 12th!