Me:  Captain, you’re gonna be my husband.

Captain:  That’s the plan, isn’t it?

Me:  Oh my goodness!

At my law school’s alumni holiday reception…

President of the Alumni Association: Can I say hello?  It’s so good to see you.  So, tell me how everything is, with the economy.

Me:  I started off at a big firm in California, and then I was laid off.

The person next to me:  I was deferred.  I don’t start work until September 2010.

Nice.

Earlier this week, Secretary Geithner graciously took pictures with Treasury staff at our annual holiday reception.  A little bit before it began, I trotted over to the Cash Room to get in line, and I wasn’t the first one to get there.  A great collection of men and women had already arrived, and they all were dressed in their Photo-with-the-Secretary Best.  They looked a lot like…a job fair.  A bunch of suit-clad, eager-looking individuals lining the halls of the Treasury – it was either a job fair or a line to see Timothy Geithner.

It makes sense, really.  If you’re nerdy enough to get a job at Treasury, you’re nerdy enough to dress up – and wait in line – for a chance to see the Secretary.

Clearly, my kind of place.

In an effort to prevent this space from turning into a bridal blog (Look at me!  Look at me!  I’m getting married!), I’ve given this post a completely un-sexy, totally wonky title that has nothing to do with weddings and sounds like it could be the name of a law school course.

And now that I’ve done that, here’s the wedding blather:

I am on the hunt for The Gown.  So far, I have gone to three places, two in the District and one in Bethesda.[FN1]  I have dragged both my sister and my poor friend Mrs. H to adjudicate, and they both have been wonderfully patient and helpful.  While I haven’t yet hit upon The Gown, I have at least eliminated  several options and I have some very strong contenders.

Problem is, when I go home and look online to see the gowns I’ve tried on, I invariably find websites offering to sew me custom-made knockoffs for incredibly cheap.  (Like, incredibly.  $280 for a custom-made, silk organza gown).  Many of these websites are run by tailors in China, and having had several of my other gowns and business suits made in China, I know I can trust the quality and the craftsmanship.  In fact, my father even offered to put me in touch with his “people” to ensure I would be doing business with a reputable, professional shop.  Even if something went incredibly wrong, if I ordered something now, I’d still have time to get it fixed before my wedding.  For a savings of up to 90% (NINETY!), this is something I could do.

And yet.  There is something yucky about enjoying the expertise of the wonderful ladies who have helped me and turning around to buy the product from somebody else.  I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the bridal salon last weekend, and I ought to reward that shop in particular for its gentle touch (read: respect of my budget).  It certainly helps that the shop had prices I readily could accept, and perhaps I should be basing my decision on that basis as well.  Buying from a shop in Bethesda, rather than from a shop in Shanghai, is my vote for a more reasonable, less inflated model of the bridal business in the United States.  And that’s worth the money.

——

FN1.  I loved the place in Bethesda.  Brides-to-be: check out Terri Lynn Bridal.  It’s a great little boutique where Terri herself will help you find gowns and where she’ll show you dresses that are actually within your price range,  not $500 above.  She’s got a great variety and a great touch, and even better: her prices are very reasonable, gowns AND alterations.  I wasn’t expecting much because I had wanted to see a particular gown, which they didn’t have, but it was so worth the trip.  Go go go.

Behold, the Captain and the Genius decorating our tree.

We’re very pleased with our tree.  We got it…at Whole Foods.  Seriously.  We were going to go to the girls’ school across the street, as they have an annual sale, but Saturday was windy, snowy, and cold.  Instead, we opted for the indoor tree lot in the Whole Foods parking garage.  Much to our delight, they had a great selection of trees for fifteen dollars less.  A competitive price at Whole Foods – who would have guessed?

Sometimes, I think I am a fuddy duddy.  Most of the time, I consider myself a fun-loving lady who likes to dance while doing the dishes (and I haven’t broken a dish yet!), but every so often, a little self-doubt creeps in and I wonder if I’m just the news/policy/music nerd I’m so afraid of being.

A long time ago, a good friend of mine suggested to me that perhaps closet nerds are the coolest kind of people, anyway.  The people driven towards intellectual, emotional, and spiritual pursuits because they crave a deeper satisfaction – these are the people worth knowing.  They challenge you, they push the envelope, and yes, they make you ever so slightly uncomfortable.

I thought the advice exceptional, and I’ve believed it ever since.  In college, I met similarly nerdy folk who loved what they were learning and whose commitment to excellence always kept me on my toes.  Same thing went for graduate school.  I went to professional school, but I found four or five other policy wonks who really wanted to grapple with ideas.  Law school wasn’t so much about acquiring knowledge, but the competition and intensity were enough to keep me excited.  I wasn’t wrestling with the finer concepts of res ipsa loquitor, but I was wrestling with something (i.e., the curve), and I found it plenty stimulating.  I was motivated, my friends were motivated, together we all were motivated.  It was great.

I bring this all up because recently I’ve been confronted with the reality that not everyone around me, despite my efforts to travel with “somebody better,” believes that nerdiness is good.  Some people, I’ve found, actually deplore the many virtues of nerdiness  I’ve outlined above.  Why learn for learning’s sake?  Why expend effort if you don’t have to?  Both are fair questions, I think.  Intellectual yearning doesn’t put food on the table, and surplus effort might be wasted effort.  Plus, it’s no fun to be made to feel like a loser for all my better efforts.  So sometimes I think I need to stop trying.  Who really needs to be great at everything?

Thing is, after thirty years of going, going, going, I’m finding it hard to take my foot off the gas pedal.  I like to work hard, and I like to feel good about what I’ve accomplished.  It’s pretty neat to say I’ve made a birthday cake (and frosting!) for my (future) mother-in-law completely from scratch.  And why bake a cake from scratch when there’s a perfectly good mix, with frosting that comes in a jar?  Because I can.

Besides, mediocrity is so passe.

Photo: Alex Wong – Getty Images via Washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post announced this morning that Tai Shan, that culminating feat of animal husbandry, international collaboration, and all things cute and furry, is going to leave DC.  He’s going back to China.

That whimpering you hear in the background – that’s me.

I love panda bears.  Like, REALLY love them.  I don’t know why I’m so in love with them, though it has been suggested to me that my Chinese extraction has something to do with it.  Maybe.  I would hate to think that devotion as deep as mine could be learned – it must be genetic.  At any rate, what I do know is that during the Summer of My Discontent (2006), when almost everything went wrong for me (academically, emotionally, professionally), my visit to the National Zoo – at the height of a sweltering DC summer – was the first time I’d smiled in weeks.

And now it’s time to say good-bye.

The holidays are in full swing and aren’t you thoroughly excited?  I am.  In the spirit of all the fabulous parties to which you’ve been invited, here’s a fun little recipe that’ll get you asked back again and again.  Maybe your hosts will see you only for your cookies, but why look a gift horse in the mouth?  They want you there, so go.  And bring these.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies, recipe adapted from foodtv.com

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Cookies:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups white chocolate chips

Glaze:

• 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 drops mint extract, or more to taste
• 3 1/2 teaspoons water

Set oven rack to middle, and preheat oven to 350F.   Line two cookie sheets with ungreased parchment paper.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a mixer beat together the butter with the sugars until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until smooth after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add in the vanilla. On a low speed beat in the flour mixture a little at a time. Gently mix in chocolate chips.

Drop teaspoons of the batter about 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Bake sheets one at a time until just cracked on top, about ten to twelve minutes. Cool completely.

While cookies are baking and cooling, make the glaze.  In a small bowl mix together the sugar, mint extract, and water until smooth. Transfer mixture to a medium resealable plastic bag and snip off the corner. Drizzle glaze over cooled cookies. Let cookies stand until set, about 10 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving.

As many of you know, the Captain is called “The Captain” because that was the rank he attained by the time he left the Army.  Even though he’s now been out more years than he was in (WOW), he still talks about his service and keeps in touch with his buddies.  He’s also taught me some lessons that are wonderfully helpful in civilian life.

One of those lessons is leader’s recon.  Leader’s recon is when you scout out your next location so you know what to expect.  Before I met the Captain I was certainly familiar with the concept (civilians call it a “dry run”), but never had I met anyone who valued it so highly and who practiced it so regularly as the Captain.  If we have to be somewhere unfamiliar, for example, he’ll drive there the night before.  If he wants to serve our guests a new recipe, he’ll test it out on me weeks in advance.  He truly makes a habit of getting things ready before they’re needed.  As for me, the only time I ever had done a dry run was when my mother drove me the night before to the high school where I was taking the SAT.  At the time, I thought the exercise overkill.  In retrospect…well, I did get into Brown.

This is all a very long way of saying that I’ve caught on to the idea of leader’s recon.  Which is good, because the spicy caramel popcorn that I wanted to serve my guests in a couple weeks did not turn out so great last night.

Spicy caramel popcorn

I found this recipe in the Times, and I thought it wonderfully exciting.  Sugar, butter, cayenne pepper – what’s not to love?

That is, until I let the caramel overheat because I was so giddy about its finally turning a caramel color.

Ooh, ooh - it's changing color!

Once caramel starts to turn brown you really have to keep an eye on it.  Otherwise, you go straight past delicious caramelly flavor and right into odd, vaguely burned aroma.  So no fussing with cameras and lighting and hey – where’d I put the wooden spoon?  Oh well.  Next time.