Birthday Treats

To help celebrate my birthday, my sister S met me in Boonsboro, MD to meet the author Nora Roberts at her bookstore. The book signing included 4 other authors, none of whom my sister and I were familiar with. S and I have been fans of Nora forever, so we were both excited to meet her for the first time. The bookstore (Turn the Page) is owned and operated by Nora's husband, Bruce Wilder. There was a huge turnout for the signing. We were in line for more than an hour just to get our ticket stub and know which letter of the alphabet group we would be in. With that done, we still had several hours before the actual signing would begin, so we decided to grab a bite to eat. Near the bookstore is a hole-in-the wall restaurant called Crawford's Restaurant, Guns and Ammo. I had to show the sign, as it's the first time I've had a meal at a place that "multitasks" like this. Yes, there were rifles mounted on the wall and ammo for sale behind the counter. Nonetheless, the food we were served was tasty and inexpensive -- always a great combination in my opinion! The menu offered something that S and I had never seen before: funnel cake fries. And that's exactly what they were -- french fry-shaped funnel cake dough, deep fried and served with a side of powdered sugar to sprinkle on top. They were delicious!

Right next door to the bookstore is a little gift shop/gallery called Gifts Inn BoonsBoro. The name ties the shop to the Inn BoonsBoro which is also owned by Nora and Bruce. The lotions, soaps and other toiletries provided for guests of the Inn are also available for sale a the gift shop. On this particular day, a local artist was making an appearance at the gift shop/gallery. She does amazing work with clay figures which she creates by hand. They're whimsical and extraordinarily detailed. She was just starting one while my sister and I were browsing the shop.

Finally, the time arrived to queue up for the book signing. The bookstore is not that big, and between all the bookshelves, special table displays and the people, it was a tight squeeze all the way up to the tables where the authors sat. All of the authors were pleasant and chatted as we made our way through and up to Nora. She was also very pleasant and obliged a photo with S and I behind her. Her son was next to her, helping her with the signing. He owns the only pizza joint in town, just a block from the bookstore.

With that done, it was time for lunch. We decided on the pizza joint. Upon entering, we were enveloped with the wonderful aromas of sauce and pizza dough. I all but drooled as we found ourselves a table! And what a bargain we got at this meal, too: 2 healthy slices of pizza PLUS a 20 oz. drink for $3.99. And worth every penny it was. This was some of the best pizza I have ever had. If it wasn't more than an hour's drive away, I'd become a regular customer! It was lovely to spend some one-on-one time with S, and I truly appreciated all the driving she did that day just to celebrate my birthday. Oh, and of course I'm grateful for an autographed copy of the latest J.D. Robb (a pen name of Nora's) book.

The following Sunday, R and P treated me to brunch at 219 Restaurant in Old Towne, Alexandria. The day was beautiful: sunny and very warm for November. 219 offers 2 menus on weekends: brunch and a smaller lunch menu. As I'd had breakfast that morning, I decided on a lunch dish. It was delicious and extremely filling. R baked me a birthday cake, which the waiter brought to the table complete with lit candles. It was yellow cake with dark chocolate icing, and both were laced with Kahlua. Yummy! It was really sweet of R and P to cut their NYC trip short a day just to help me celebrate.