Today, James and I each feasted upon: one roasted sweet potato, half a Bartlett pear, a few candied pecans, and half an Italian roll toasted with gorgonzola dolce and topped with a slice of prosciutto. Yum.
Today: gnocchi from the seller of fresh pasta at Eastern Market tossed with sauteed spinach, onion, and smoked chicken sausage. Yessssssssssssssss.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Autumn abundance
OMG I could move in tomorrow. So fun.
I am especially missing New York now... we had a couple delightful friends from our NYC days over last night (now also stranded in DC). And despite our location being squarely in the greater DC area, it felt like a very New York night. Maybe because I associate New York with finishing off two bottles of wine and an entire (previously unopened) bottle of Madeira between four people. Life is good.
Now we are eating off the fruits of the dinner's leftover ingredients, which means deliciousness for several days to come. And deliciousness later today when we try Potenza with friends.
Overall, fall is DC is quite lovely--my apartment is at treetop level, and seeing all the lovely orange and red leaves outside is so nice. And I seriously freak out every time squirrels frolic through piles of colorful leaves. Look at me, getting frickin' poetic here. But seriously, those squirrels.
Oh, shout-out--we saw Mary Stuart at Artisphere in Rosslyn (put on by the Washington Shakespeare Company). The strong Washington Post review helped us put aside our fears of 18th-century German drama, and I must say, we are glad we did--it was excellent, very well-acted (and the translation was excellent--modern but not gratingly so). Definitely worth a night out, and those in VA have no excuses!
I am especially missing New York now... we had a couple delightful friends from our NYC days over last night (now also stranded in DC). And despite our location being squarely in the greater DC area, it felt like a very New York night. Maybe because I associate New York with finishing off two bottles of wine and an entire (previously unopened) bottle of Madeira between four people. Life is good.
Now we are eating off the fruits of the dinner's leftover ingredients, which means deliciousness for several days to come. And deliciousness later today when we try Potenza with friends.
Overall, fall is DC is quite lovely--my apartment is at treetop level, and seeing all the lovely orange and red leaves outside is so nice. And I seriously freak out every time squirrels frolic through piles of colorful leaves. Look at me, getting frickin' poetic here. But seriously, those squirrels.
Oh, shout-out--we saw Mary Stuart at Artisphere in Rosslyn (put on by the Washington Shakespeare Company). The strong Washington Post review helped us put aside our fears of 18th-century German drama, and I must say, we are glad we did--it was excellent, very well-acted (and the translation was excellent--modern but not gratingly so). Definitely worth a night out, and those in VA have no excuses!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Ride, eat, eat, read
Another weekend in DC... last night I met a friend for dinner. Rosslyn is delightfully convenient for getting most places, but the metro itself has its perils. One stop after I get on, we stop at Foggy Bottom, and 50 bajillion girls in miniskirts get on the train.
The ones sitting right in front of me (one on the laps of the other two, because heaven forfend she sit across the aisle from her bffs) conference: "We're going to Gallery, right?" one demands. Clearly, they were too much in a rush to even say the entire name of the stop--impressive in their hurry. "I think we transfer at Metro," another added, waiting for the third, apparently the sole holder of all information about the Washington Metro, to acquiesce.
Somehow I dodged all the marauding GWU students (they're like Visigoths, I tell you) to successfully alight at Oyamel for some nouveau (nuevo?) Mexican. Pretty tasty, but the most notable aspect of the evening was my first venture into the eating of insects (grasshopper, to be exact).
Better: Marvin, right off U Street. I swear the only reason they didn't end up much higher in the Washingtonian's list of the 100 top restaurants in DC is because it seems like too much of a sceney U St. bar. The scallops make you want to be a mermaid or something (you know, so you can befriend all the sea creatures and lull them into a false sense of security before easily slaughtering them for their tasty flesh).
Since I swear I do other things than just eat (did I mention the lovely tomato sauce I made tonight? Best comfort food meal EVER), I finished Toni Morrison's A Mercy. I liked it quite a bit. I thought it was very well-done. Yes. Okay, fine, I admit I never quite get as swept away by Morrison's work as I would like to, but it was more accessible than some of her other work (shorter, to start) and definitely worth the time.
The ones sitting right in front of me (one on the laps of the other two, because heaven forfend she sit across the aisle from her bffs) conference: "We're going to Gallery, right?" one demands. Clearly, they were too much in a rush to even say the entire name of the stop--impressive in their hurry. "I think we transfer at Metro," another added, waiting for the third, apparently the sole holder of all information about the Washington Metro, to acquiesce.
Somehow I dodged all the marauding GWU students (they're like Visigoths, I tell you) to successfully alight at Oyamel for some nouveau (nuevo?) Mexican. Pretty tasty, but the most notable aspect of the evening was my first venture into the eating of insects (grasshopper, to be exact).
Better: Marvin, right off U Street. I swear the only reason they didn't end up much higher in the Washingtonian's list of the 100 top restaurants in DC is because it seems like too much of a sceney U St. bar. The scallops make you want to be a mermaid or something (you know, so you can befriend all the sea creatures and lull them into a false sense of security before easily slaughtering them for their tasty flesh).
Since I swear I do other things than just eat (did I mention the lovely tomato sauce I made tonight? Best comfort food meal EVER), I finished Toni Morrison's A Mercy. I liked it quite a bit. I thought it was very well-done. Yes. Okay, fine, I admit I never quite get as swept away by Morrison's work as I would like to, but it was more accessible than some of her other work (shorter, to start) and definitely worth the time.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
"I want Lanvin, not flowers."
Crazy but delightful video for the Lanvin H&M collection.
I firmly believe life is more interesting when you're wearing a dress...
Via my delightful friend Carolyn of The Daily Obsession.
I firmly believe life is more interesting when you're wearing a dress...
Via my delightful friend Carolyn of The Daily Obsession.
Friday, November 12, 2010
As George Michael says, "You gotta have faith."
Happy Veteran's Day! I like the day off and the chance to ponder my favorite veteran, my beloved grandfather. Thanks for fighting the Nazis, Dziadziu! (One of my favorite signs from the Rally to Restore Sanity: an older gentleman carried one that said "I fought the Nazis, and they didn't look like Barack Obama.")
I have finally gotten all set up on my new computer with iTunes and was contemplating putting my Chinese recordings on my iPod. I feel like my iPod is kind of a graveyard of the languages I've attempted to learn, filled with Russian podcasts and Survival Bengali tapes--and how much of those languages can I speak now?
I suppose I have no choice but attain greater proficiency in Mandarin, since there is the teensy-weensy matter of the test looming in the distance. This week was definitely one for shooting my confidence balloon--just when I think I can say all sorts of things, I try to say them but no one can understand me, or else, no, wait, there are ten ways to say "to pay" or "to wear" or "to meet" and in that context you have to use a different one.
But at the same time, I know we've learned so much already, and we're less than a third of the way through. I trust in the system that has been designed to get us to the right place. Gotta have faith.
I have finally gotten all set up on my new computer with iTunes and was contemplating putting my Chinese recordings on my iPod. I feel like my iPod is kind of a graveyard of the languages I've attempted to learn, filled with Russian podcasts and Survival Bengali tapes--and how much of those languages can I speak now?
I suppose I have no choice but attain greater proficiency in Mandarin, since there is the teensy-weensy matter of the test looming in the distance. This week was definitely one for shooting my confidence balloon--just when I think I can say all sorts of things, I try to say them but no one can understand me, or else, no, wait, there are ten ways to say "to pay" or "to wear" or "to meet" and in that context you have to use a different one.
But at the same time, I know we've learned so much already, and we're less than a third of the way through. I trust in the system that has been designed to get us to the right place. Gotta have faith.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Workin' for the weekend
It's the weekend. I love the weekend. Woohoo.
It's been quite a pleasant weekend, in fact. Friday night we hit up the Westover Beer Garden in Falls Church. I did not know there was any sort of beer garden in Falls Church, and it was great fun, except now my coat smells like a firepit.
Yesterday we took a long walk to Trader Joe's--it was madness, sheer madness. The line to check out wrapped around the entire store. Oh, the things I do for snappea crisps and whole-wheat pizza dough. Also, note to self: never again attempt to walk on a sidewalk anywhere in Georgetown on a Saturday. Apparently the people there have never learned to walk on sidewalks, and thus it is far too dangerous a proposition.
Then we were all set to go to DC for dinner when I realized I hadn't gotten any confirmation email from OpenTable. I checked, and, oops, I accidentally made the reservation for next week. Sheer brilliance. So we decided to walk to Courthouse and try Ray's the Steaks, which worked out swimmingly--only waited 15 minutes for a table, and at what kind of steakhouse do you come out with a bill in the mere double digits for two people? Of course, we can never eat there again. I just filled my one-steak-per-year quota.
Today I met friends for brunch and a visit to Eastern Market--bought more of the fabulous nuts (more this time--so addictive), chatted with the Turkish lady whose jewelry I will someday break down and buy, and stocked up on delicious honeycrisps. Mmm.
Do I REALLY have to do Chinese homework now???
It's been quite a pleasant weekend, in fact. Friday night we hit up the Westover Beer Garden in Falls Church. I did not know there was any sort of beer garden in Falls Church, and it was great fun, except now my coat smells like a firepit.
Yesterday we took a long walk to Trader Joe's--it was madness, sheer madness. The line to check out wrapped around the entire store. Oh, the things I do for snappea crisps and whole-wheat pizza dough. Also, note to self: never again attempt to walk on a sidewalk anywhere in Georgetown on a Saturday. Apparently the people there have never learned to walk on sidewalks, and thus it is far too dangerous a proposition.
Then we were all set to go to DC for dinner when I realized I hadn't gotten any confirmation email from OpenTable. I checked, and, oops, I accidentally made the reservation for next week. Sheer brilliance. So we decided to walk to Courthouse and try Ray's the Steaks, which worked out swimmingly--only waited 15 minutes for a table, and at what kind of steakhouse do you come out with a bill in the mere double digits for two people? Of course, we can never eat there again. I just filled my one-steak-per-year quota.
Today I met friends for brunch and a visit to Eastern Market--bought more of the fabulous nuts (more this time--so addictive), chatted with the Turkish lady whose jewelry I will someday break down and buy, and stocked up on delicious honeycrisps. Mmm.
Do I REALLY have to do Chinese homework now???
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Lessons learned
Update on the last post: I vote no on the spicy quinoa salad. James likes it fine, but I think it's just way too much red onion for me. Come to think of it, I pretty much hate raw onion.
I had an incredible accomplishment today, which is that I finally went through the end of my UAB and got it all off our couch! Amazing!
Lessons learned from this experience: when you are at post and tempted to buy 15,000 scarves, think first about which ones will still appear attractive and wearable in your post-at-post life. Refrain from buying many of the rags that rickshaw pullers use to wipe stuff with, despite the assurances of your very stylish friend that they are HUGE with hipsters in Belgium. Remember that you cannot pull off said rickshaw-wiping-rags as scarves or as anything else except, perhaps, as rags, because you are (tragically) not a Belgian hipster.
End of public service announcement.
I had an incredible accomplishment today, which is that I finally went through the end of my UAB and got it all off our couch! Amazing!
Lessons learned from this experience: when you are at post and tempted to buy 15,000 scarves, think first about which ones will still appear attractive and wearable in your post-at-post life. Refrain from buying many of the rags that rickshaw pullers use to wipe stuff with, despite the assurances of your very stylish friend that they are HUGE with hipsters in Belgium. Remember that you cannot pull off said rickshaw-wiping-rags as scarves or as anything else except, perhaps, as rags, because you are (tragically) not a Belgian hipster.
End of public service announcement.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The things I do to use up a bunch of cilantro
Make fish tacos, of course. Amazingly delicious recipe. Worth harassing the Whole Foods fish man into measuring out for me a mere eight ounces of tilapia while he was trying to clean up and close down for the evening. Little known fact: I am very mean to fishmongers.
Tonight, we continue our battle against the fearsome herb with a spicy quinoa salad; we shall see. This is my first venture into quinoa territory; I'm going in with guns a-ready. Maybe a bayonet too.
In other news, life goes on. The cardboard coyotes at FSI continue to droop; the Canadian geese have returned to their old haunts, giving us non-chalant looks that say, "Who me? Afraid of that stupid cardboard coyote? Hah. As if. I TOTALLY was not buying it. I mean, when I stayed away... I mean, I was just busy. NOT afraid of the coyotes. Who are not real. FO REAL."
James started Chinese yesterday. I am trying to talk him down from tonal language fears. Apparently the only area of my life in which I approach any level of zen-ness is language learning.
Tonight, we continue our battle against the fearsome herb with a spicy quinoa salad; we shall see. This is my first venture into quinoa territory; I'm going in with guns a-ready. Maybe a bayonet too.
In other news, life goes on. The cardboard coyotes at FSI continue to droop; the Canadian geese have returned to their old haunts, giving us non-chalant looks that say, "Who me? Afraid of that stupid cardboard coyote? Hah. As if. I TOTALLY was not buying it. I mean, when I stayed away... I mean, I was just busy. NOT afraid of the coyotes. Who are not real. FO REAL."
James started Chinese yesterday. I am trying to talk him down from tonal language fears. Apparently the only area of my life in which I approach any level of zen-ness is language learning.
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