And today's secret ingredient is..... ZUCCHINI!!

This weekend turned out to be very different than what we had planned. We were originally supposed to go down to MA - APO event for Erik, visiting Andrea for me. However, because of the fact that Erik wasn't feeling well on Thursday and didn't go to work, the mow crew got behind and had to work Saturday morning to make up what they hadn't finished. Well, they were at least SUPPOSE to work Saturday morning. Erik got in at 7:30am and started to get the mowers ready for travel to their first destination. By 8:30am or so, he was the only one there, aside from one of his bosses. Both of the guys he works with totally did not show up NOR did they call to say they weren't coming. And the ironic thing is, one of the guys literally just got a talking to for several no calls, no shows. What happens on Monday is yet to be determined, but what is definite is that both Erik and his other boss will probably be ripping them new, well deserved assholes.

But the weekend was good regardless. Friday after work, Dos and I went to a free gallery opening. Of course, it wasn't without an adventure. Dos could have sworn it was being held at Portland Pie Company. Well, we went to the only location of that place we knew, and there was nothing going on. So we then consulted The Phoenix which is where Dos saw it in the first place. She noticed that it said "151 Newbury Street." We thought it was odd that there would be a Portland Pie Company in that area, but we started walking in that direction anyway. To give you perspective, Newbury street is outside of the Old Port, heading in the direction of the East End which is sort of going toward our end of Portland (sort of). So we ended up walking around like idiots until Dos realized - it wasn't being held at Portland Pie Company. The FOOD was being PROVIDED by Portland Pie Company! I decided to spare her life, and we located 151 Newbury, which was actually the address of the artist's studio.

All I have to say is, this guy must make big bucks off of his photography. Since it was listed in The Phoenix, ANYONE was allowed to just show up. And it was free pizza, food, wine, AND beer! The guy even had his own beer taps, with good beer to boot! Apparently he does this every year and uses it as a time to celebrate his work, which focuses on photographs he's taken in Mexico. And the gallery was gorgeous and very unique - brick walls with mirrors hanging from the ceiling, windows that open out onto a sizable, city-fied courtyard (as I like to call it since, like in other cities such as Boston, the courtyard is essentially open space located between several buildings). He even had a band! So Dos and I had a really, really good time. We even bumped into a woman we used to work with at MPA who is also an artist. Her daughter was in town, so she didn't stay very long.

On Saturday, Erik and I went to the 40th annual WCSH6 art show that was held on Congress Street in Portland. We weren't able to go to it last year because we were in PA for Nick and Tat's wedding party. So we were quite surprised by the shear size of it! And it wasn't just Maine artists - we saw people from New Mexico! And then that evening we had Dos over for dinner. I made a cold zucchini soup (yes, I actually cooked something) with tabouli and bread, and Erik made an olive tampanade spread that we saw Tyler Florence use on How to Boil Water on the Food Network. It was all very tasty.