DC is about to get a total SNOWPOCALYPSE! Businesses are closing, schools are already closed, people are rushing home and most tragic of all, tomorrow’s roomie Valentine’s brunch is cancelled .

But that’s today and I haven’t seen you since yesterday. So let’s start there.

Culinary class was wonderful, as always. We did vegetables yesterday and made broccoli with cheesy bechamel - and there is a better name for that that isn’t in my notes! – haricots verts, brussels sprouts in bacon and chicken stock, ratatouille, butternut squash purée and roasted beets and goat cheese salad. Of course we tasted them all during demonstration and of course they were all wonderful.

Then we moved into the kitchens and made our own butternut squash puree, ratatouille and beet and goat cheese salad. They turned out pretty beautifully if I do say so myself!

Then I met a friend for drinks, missed the metro and got stuck in Gaithersburg for the night. So that didn’t go as planned! But at least I got to eat some delicious oatmeal pancakes in the middle of the night which kind of made me feel not so bad at all about my awful luck . Wouldn’t it be nice to have a picture of those too?

For a lovely Friday lunch today, my friends and I headed back to Zola Wine Kitchen. As you may recall the only other time I’ve been I was kinda disappointed. But I was also kinda determined to give it another try since the concept seems just so fabulous. And this time it was a success!

Caprese Sandwich on Focaccia - heirloom tomatoes, house made mozzarella, balsamic aioli, basil, mixed greens with goat cheese tots. Very, very yummy indeed. The bread was crisp and buttery and house made mozzarella? Heavenly.

So! Truly all I want to do is go home, SHOWER and sleep all weekend. And as luck would have it I think Mother Nature is about to make it so that’s all I get to do anyway .

See you when I’m snowbound!

- Beth