Jill joined me after work Friday so we could get to Alexandria early, but I forgot the tix, so we had to head home first. We were only a couple minutes later for our reservation at Del Merei Grille, but the place was empty as they’d just opened, so we were ok. It was the only time we were going out during Restaurant Week, so I looked for the closest place to the Birchmere that was participating. They served frickles (fried pickles) to start, which sounded good but were way too salty. We both had the salad for the next course – I had the “blue jalapeno” dressing on mine, not very spicy but a very smooth blue cheese flavor. The entrées were really good, both of us had filets, Jill had the pair with the tasty Cajun Butter Smashed Potatoes while I had one with a Potato Hash Cake topped with Gorgonzola Bacon Butter, better than the Blue Cheese butter I make. For dessert, Jill had a peppermint brownie and I had the best carrot cake ever. I warm slice without frosting was served with what looked like a scoop of ice cream, but it turned out to be cream cheese frosting. Absolutely amazing, we’ll be back there.
And the reason we were down there was a show by JoCo with Paul and Storm. The geeks were in full force both on and off stage, with plenty of references to BSG, LOLcats and my first ever live Rickroll. The music was pretty fine as well, though Jill was unhappy with not one but two Neil Diamond covers.
Saturday I spent most of my time working on some DVDs during the day, then we went to a Firefly mystery party that was also a birthday party for my coworker Josh. I was Mal and Jill was Kaylee, and hopefully we’ll get some pictures soon (’cause I thought both our costumes were pretty good). The party was fun as the mystery was well done, and both Jill and I guessed the guilty party. The burgers and cake were good, too, and we came home so I could crash on the floor (Jill had to wake me up and send me to bed).
Sunday I finished off my DVDs during the afternoon, then took Illa for a walk and started on my main geeky pursuit of the day: doing the taxes by hand. I stopped to grill some chicken for dinner (just sprayed some oil on them and rolled them in a lemon/pepper mix), then got back to it. Good news: this year we actually get a refund (don’t care how much, just happy to get one), which is a help. Jill made us s’mores for dessert to celebrate. Now I’m watching the Oscars (late, I was watching TV and Michael Clayton while doing the taxes) and then it’s bedtime.