Ingredients:
fresh artichokes (look for bright uniform green coloring and tight leaves)
1 lemon
1 stick butter
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Snap the stem from the artichoke.

With scissors, trim the top 3/4 inch of all the leaves, [...]

(p. 531 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking)

Cooking time: 20 minutes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves: [...]

Get personal with some LoCoWomen at meetup.com! Dinners, coffee, activism, spirituality and even a few play dates for the moms kids! Join us for titillating conversation, community involvement and a whole lot of fun that only a LoCo Woman can appreciate! Do you jive with the vibe?

Hidden in the strange land south of Home Depot in Ashburn Broadlands is a gem of a restaurant simply called American Flatbread.

“Food is important.

What we eat and how it is grown
intimately affects us and
the well-being of the world.”

George Schenk
American Flatbread Founder

So, while American Flatbread is neither a woman nor a woman-owned business, two LoCo women decided to go there anyway, in order to grasp at the sanity that the third week of summer vacation had ground up into a puree of sunscreen and playground mulch.

American Flatbread serves locally-grown, organic flatbread topped with everything from ham and apples to kalamata olives and goat cheese. Plus, they also have a dazzling selection of beer and wine to keep you on your alcohol-loving toes. I was shocked to discover they do not serve Heineken, but delighted when I was recommended a PILS beer, because it was pretty darn close to my beloved Heineken.

Not a Heiney, but that's ok!

From my hidden camera. Beer.

I had the “Revolution” because… I’m a rebel like that. Between drinking, chatting and taking pictures, I really didn’t get to eat a lot. This picture must have someone been altered. Obviously, I need to go back to try it again since I barely sampled my dinner.

You say you want a Revolution?

My friend, on the other hand, chose the much more responsible route (except for all of that meat and those artificial sweeteners, but that’s another blog entirely).  She ordered  a Hansen’s Diet Ginger Ale.

Yum, right?

…and a Pepperoni and Peppers flatbread…

Hey, at least it had green food on it!

…and, as I was finishing up my second beer (insert defensive reasoning behind two beers here) my dear friend ordered dessert, which looked really good, even for a chocolate-phobe like me.

Yeah, that's some good lookin' chocolate...

Dinner was great. I should have snapped a picture of my friend and I but she is anti-photo and I have no mind for details lately.