A Weekend Away (Part IIb/III) - aka Mahjong Madness

You know it's time to take a breather when you've been staring on-and-off at the same slide for 2 hours. No word of a lie! I am majorly failing in productivity today. I guess my mind is preoccupied with thoughts that don't exactly fall in the neuro category.

Thankfully blogging provides an excellent outlet for pent up thoughts. And don't worry, I'm not going to spill them all out here :P. Carrying on from last night...

...we ate our hearts out, feasting on two kinds of ribs, baked vegetables fresh from the garden, an eggplant cheddar bake, potatoes, and "sweetbread". Oh sweetbread...your name is so deceiving! You are actually animal pancreas in disguise! *note: we were forewarned of its true nature*.

I've never been a huge fan of animal organs. Sure, I've tasted them plenty of times (my food motto is try everything once...and give the dish the benefit of the doubt) but they're just not my thing. I did, however, manage to polish off my large helping of sweetbread...I'm hoping that it's made me a more cultured individual.

After a delicious dessert (baked apples stuffed with muesli and drizzled with yogurt & cream), we were off to a game of mahjong. I swear I need to join 'mahjong addicts anonymous' (MAA?) because we just played game after game after game and it wasn't until after midnight that we retired to our rooms! I love games that are based partially on strategy (Settlers of Catan, anyone?)...and the mini die are absolutely adorable.

I've officially won 2 games. From now on you may address me as Mahjong Master :P.

This morning we enjoyed another delicious breakfast while listening to the pouring rain. I always find it comforting to be safe inside with a warm beverage when there's a downpour or a heavy snowfall. But today Helen & I decided to embrace our adventurous side and went apple picking! We geared up with our raincoats and boots and were able to borrow some rainpants as well (thank goodness!).

Oh yes...this is the epitome of chic.

But at least I was well-protected!

We mainly focused our attention on one apple tree and picked a boxfull of them and were able to reach the high ones with the help of this ingenious device:

As we walked from tree to tree we were encouraged to grab an apple off and sample as much as we wished! Although I've eaten plenty of apples in my life I was still amazed by the variations of sweet, tart, texture, and thickness of skin. It was almost better than wine tasting ;).

Well, I should probably attempt to do some more studying. My sister tempted me with the proposal of watching White Christmas but we've decided to hold off as long as possible. In the meantime I'll satisfy my Christmas craving by listening to the soundtrack...sing-a-longs always encouraged!!