On Saturday morning we all headed west to Aldie, VA. What's in Aldie, VA you ask? Well, Willowsford is in Aldie, VA. And why is that important? Well, they were throwing a big bash to entice people to purchase their gi-NORMOUS homes and we are not the sort of people to miss a party!
None of us are in the market for a new house, but the free food, live jams and cooking demonstration with Mike Isabella of Top Chef fame brought us all on board for the trip. And we weren't alone. The place was packed! I guess when you include a 2-page spread in the Washington Post announcing this party filled with free stuff people come flocking.
The neighborhood was cute filled with all kinds of amenities including their own farm stand. Who wouldn't love their own farm stand down the street?! But I digress...the party was great. Good food, a blue grass band, a wine tasting and of course, the main attraction - Mike Isabella.
For those of you who don't know, Mike Isabella was on season 6 of Top Chef and was the runner-up on Top Chef Allstars. He is a DC guy - formerly the chef of Zaytinya and recently opened Italian restaurant Graffiato. Sue and I are big fans of the show so this B-list celebrity sighting was very exciting for us. After a quick cooking demonstration, he took the time to sign his new cookbook "Crazy Good Italian" and take some photos. James was not as star struck as we were, but he chilled out with us while Mike made some grub.
We briefly chatted with him asking some behind the scenes questions about the show. Apparently, they tape the show in 6 weeks and it is a HUGE pressure cooker. Said it is about 1,000 times more intense than it looks on TV. There are no plans for future TV, but he will appear in a few episodes of Bravo's new series "Life After Top Chef".
So, after getting over the excitement of Mike Isabella, we hit the Sinplicity ice cream truck for free ice cream (really good, btw) and headed out of dodge.
The rest of the weekend was filled with relaxing, eating and playing in baskets. Yes - you read that correctly. The brilliant Aunt Suzy founded the MOST fun game James has EVER played - Baby in a Basket!! While Ed and I popped out to the grocery store, Aunt Suzy was in charge and had the idea of putting James in his toy basket. GENIUS! He loved it - had a ball!! Now, whenever he gets a little cranky, we put him in the basket and he calms down and actually smiles. Thank you Aunt Suzy!!!
LOVE YOU AUNT SUZY!!!!
