July 27th - Ed, Karyl, and Kendra

Karyl finished the Bar exam today! We are confident that she passed it with flying colors, and we were so happy that she chose to celebrate that momentous feat with dinner at Cafe Davis. Ed and Karyl recently moved to Atlanta (in May?) and so I only had opportunity to hang out with Karyl a couple of times before she went into her studying seclusion. Ed is the former debate coach at the University of Alabama, and he took a debate position at Emory this year to continue to shape young minds. They are currently living way on the other side of town, but we're trying to convince them to buy a condo not far from us. The complex is currently under construction, but the website says that it will feature a roof-top heated pool, and if there's anything I need in life, it's access to a roof-top heated pool. Karyl claims she needs to pass the Bar before they buy anything - I say that's crazy talk. What about my needs? Ha! ;)

Once again, we had vegetarians in our midst, so it was a meat free evening. I am never finished with cooking when people arrive, so it's really nice to have Kendra here as our greeter. Plus, she too attended law school long ago, so she and Karyl immediately had things to talk about. Dinner consisted of raw porcini salad (although I couldn't find any porcini mushrooms, so it was raw shiitake salad); garlic and herb roasted potatoes, zucchini with garlic and red pepper, and fried shiitake mushrooms. I added the last two menu items because I was afraid there wouldn't be enough food otherwise, and I used the batter recipe for the squid that we had earlier in the month. It seemed to work well, but I added a lot of additional spices, otherwise it would have been too bland. The beverage for the evening was an Australian Shiraz under the Tyrrell's label.

After dinner activities consisted of chatting - Mike and Ed about debate, and Karyl, Kendra and I about school and other topics. Dessert was fresh blueberries and strawberries with tofu vanilla ice cream (which strangely tastes like whipped cream to me, with a thicker consistency). I think everyone was a little worn out - at least I know I was very sleepy - so the evening ended fairly early. We'll see Ed again soon at the GSU debate institute, and hopefully Karyl will find some time to hang out at the hotel with us occasionally!