the blackmons in chicago

Kids in the Kitchen

This past Saturday, we took Baker to the Junior League of Washington's Kids in the Kitchen event at the YMCA. It was an awesome event and I'm so thankful for our friend Sarah Beth Lowe for telling us about it. They had a few celebrity chefs, Carla from Top Chef, Chef Rock from Hell's Kitchen, a Redskins football player, a celebrity fitness trainer, tons of healthy free food samples. It was really great.

Unfortunately, Baker woke up not feeling so well but in the hopes he'd feel a little better getting out of the house, we went out anyway. So, he wasn't too happy when he got there. On top of the fact that he doesn't do very well with so many people, and there were a lot of people, and it was crazy hot in there, so I think he was overwhelmed. But by the end, he was warmed up. More than anything, he wanted to go swimming in their pool! :)

Photo with Chef Rock - This guy is beyond the beyond nice. He was so warm and personable, easy to talk to. I felt like we knew him. What a great guy! We saw Carla as well but she had to leave before we got a picture of her. Everyone said she was wonderful though. I will tell you that we tried her broccoli pesto and I promise, I could I have eaten the entire table of that stuff. I'll find the recipe and put it on here because everyone needs to try it!

Baker was very excited about the trail mix bar and added every single ingredient to his bag!

On our way, we stopped for lunch. Yes, there were samples but we still needed some real food. We were thrilled beyond belief when we ran upon Nandos Peri-Peri! This was one of the little joints we used to eat at quite a bit in London because it was pretty normal food but Portuguese. It's all about the chicken and their Peri-Peri sauces. We knew DC had one but didn't think it had opened. Lo and behold, there are 3 and 2 of them are open!! So, of course, we had lunch there.

Notice his hair cut? Sigh. Let me side track for a moment and explain. I made an appointment with Mena, the last lady that did his hair. She works at a great salon on the Hill called Bubbles and someone recommended her for toddlers, esp those with curly hair. So I was thrilled with his cut and how it grew out. Without question, I would use her again. Knowing Brad's parents are coming in this week, we wanted to get a fresh cut and he needed it badly. Mena was scheduled to cut it Thurs but cancelled because she was sick. I stupidly made the appointment with someone else out of desperation. Knowing what I know now, it was a bad decision and despite telling her in detail how I wanted it cut, saying not to go short b/c we like it long, and showing her a picture of Baker's hair styled the way we like it, she did her own thing and cut it shorter than anyone has before. I left so angry that I could have spit nails that day. Urgh!

Never. Again.

Hooray for Nandos!

My chicken plate, medium spicy, with corn on the cob and mashed peas. I made a terrible mistake once in London and ordered it spicy. I could barely feel my lips when it was over.

Trying to give a sweet face. He loved Nandos too, esp their hummus and olives. He could eat these two things all day long.