Elliott and Friends

March 19, 2014 – Elliott and Friends

Since Elliott can’t do much traveling anymore, he especially appreciates having friends come here to visit.  Long-time friend Joel flew in from California on Monday morning and is staying here for a few days.  Elliott and Joel have been close friends since they met in the South of France in 1985.  First, Joel joined us for a combined holiday celebration, featuring raisin and caraway studded Irish soda bread for St. Patrick’s Day and prune-filled triangular pastries called hamantaschen for the Jewish holiday of Purim. 

Elliott and Joel on Monday

Soda bread and hamantaschen

 The cold wintery weather was a shock for Joel, so I cooked up a hearty dinner  – lentil soup, hotdogs, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, roasted beet salad, etc.  It was fun to see the two boys pack away the food.  In fact, I think Joel was a good role model for Elliott, who ate with uncharacteristic gusto.  And the next morning, Elliott impressed Joel by preparing oatmeal for his breakfast.  Afterwards, I put Joel to work shoveling snow!

Elliott making Joel's breakfast

 Later on Tuesday, a mutual friend that we know from the South of France drove over from beyond Annapolis, Maryland (nearly 2 hours in rush hour traffic) to see Elliott and Joel.   

Tony, Joel, Elliott and Marshall

 Over Chinese hot pot at Hotspot in Fairfax City, the boys reminisced about their shared experiences.  We all came back to the house to continue socializing before Tony had to face the drive home.  While they were here, the boys managed polish off a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry’s, several hamantaschen, assorted cookies, and more.  Thank goodness, because I’m trying to cut back on my consumption of sweets, and the less I have in the house, the easier it is.  I dared to step on the scale this morning and saw that I’ve gained another pound.  But I’ve been exercising a lot, so I suppose it could be muscle mass, right?