Wye Oak

I finally saw Wye Oak live last month at the 930 club.  I'm not very familiar with their newest album but I really love Civilian which came out a few years ago.

They make music that I like to fall into.  Take a listen.

Ripple

I cannot compare DC and NYC dining.  It's unfair.  But the limited options in DC just makes me that much more excited when I find a really good restaurant here.  A really good restaurant being one that is delicious throughout the entire meal because dessert seems to be a struggle here.

My friend Jamie was leaving DC on an extended assignment for work and we met up for dinner at Ripple in Cleveland Park. It was a cold and rainy day.  It was the kind of day where I was wearing the wrong shoes which never bodes well.  I was a little grumpy but that all disappeared when I started eating.

The restaurant itself is not exciting.  We were sat in the back and it's very dull looking.  The food deserved a much better space.  I started with the housemade ricotta with baby heirloom carrots, raw honey and black pepper.  I have been on kick lately about carrots.  They taste like candy to me and it's what I crave everyday.  This dish was beautiful and perfectly paired the sweet with the savory.

I was then super excited for the foods the make me think of Spring - ramps and fava beans.  The roasted halibut was perfect and flaky.  It was served over potatoes and oyster mushrooms.  This is my perfect memory of a fish at the moment.

It was really difficult for me to decide on dessert - not to have it but which one.  I was in a chocolate mood so I ate the twix mousse pie with chocolate mousse and housemade twix.  Jamie had the no bake ricotta cheesecake with rhubarb and almond-oat crust.  Happiness.

Sweet, Delicious Strawberries

I like convincing friends that a tractor ride is worthwhile on a Saturday morning.

Just so we can pick perfect strawberries.

It was crowded but we each filled up our containers in less than 30 minutes.  The fields were ready to be picked. The above photo shows a lot of green with the red but I was so focused on picking the ripe berries that I forgot to take photos.

It was just awkward trying to find the most comfortable picking position.

I may bake a cake today but they are so good eating unadorned.

Magnolia Blossoms and Cry Babies

A few weeks ago, Phor and I took advantage again of a perfect Spring day to visit the National Arboretum.  We were both surprised to find the magnolia trees blossoming.

I love the color combination of deep pink and bright blue.

I told Phor to pose in her best Mom-pose.

We wanted to find a place to eat with outdoor seating and decided on Room 11 in Columbia Heights which is where I also saw this awesome sign on a local church.

I sunk into the house salad and we split the pulled pork sammy (which was my favorite) and the grilled Korean short ribs.  

It's a lovely place to sit out on the patio and enjoy what's left of the sunlight.

I then found a showing of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and we raced to the theater out in Virginia.  I really liked the movie but I also loved catching this guy posing with his own paraphernalia in front of the movie poster.

My Childhood Favorites

And they are still my favorites in so many ways.  I walked to the National Museum of American History on one of the busiest days of the year as it was the Saturday of the Cherry Tree festival.  I've been wanting to go since I returned to DC and for some reason I just had to go that day.

I stopped for breakfast at the Red Apron Butcher and was very happy to see women dressed up like super heroes.

I wanted to only see two exhibits - the Muppets and Julia Child's kitchen.  It makes me laugh how excited I was to see the Muppets but watching The Muppet Show as a child really shaped my sense of humor.  It's a very funny show and they represent laughter and happiness to me.

It made me so very happy to see both of them. And also the awesome turquoise in Julia's kitchen.

I saw a few other cool items like President Lincoln's actual hat.

And a Sunstone from the original Latter-Day Saint Temple in Nauvoo, IL.

As soon as I saw these items, I ran away from the crowds.

Kraftwerk

There are certain bands that when they decide to tour bring out such a varied audience.  This was my first time standing next to folks in their 60s and also families with very small children at the 930 club.  But this is what happens when I see a music group that has been around since the 1970s and one that's been an influence on most of my current favorite bands.

People arrived very early to stand in line for this event.  It was a 3D tour and standing room only so the choice standing room was upstairs near the the balcony.  Phor and I arrived a little later because we were both coming from work and missed the balcony but stood on the bleacher seats up top.  I was still able to see most of what was going on.

The music was great and the images added to the whole concert.  Brookyn vegan has a great post on the shows in NYC which appears to have been identical in playlist to the show in DC.

The playlist -

The Robots
Metropolis
Numbers / Computer World
It's More Fun to Compute / Home Computer
Computer Love
The Man-Machine
Spacelab
The Model
Neon Lights
Autobahn
Prologue
Tour de France 1983
Tour de France 2003 (Étape 1)
Tour de France 2003 (Étape 2)
Airwaves
Geiger Counter / Radioactivity
Trans-Europe Express / Metal on Metal /Abzug
Boing Boom Tschak / Techno Pop / Musique Non Stop

Encore:
Aéro Dynamik
Planet of Visions

I Love Philadelphia With These Friends

There's something about a friend who picks you up early on a Saturday morning and has these waiting in the car for you.

Can you tell from Jenica's face where our first stop was when we arrived in Philadelphia?

It was also pretty incredible to have these two friends in the city with us as well.  We made them meet us at Federal Donuts.

Jenica and I ordered one each of the hot donuts - vanilla spice, strawberry lavender, and cinnamon brown sugar - as they are a donuts from heaven and must be eaten immediately. 

Jenica made donut art.

We dropped Ryan off at his hotel and we went to the Mutter Museum to view medical oddities.  This was the only photo I was allowed to take inside the building and it was raining so hard all day that I forgot to take photos outside.  This museum was crazy with objects like a 20 lb ovarian cyst.  It was fascinating.

We dropped Brigham off to run the Rocky steps at the museum and we went back to Ryan's hotel room for Jenica to get some work done.  I was just counting down the minutes until we picked Brig up to eat tacos!

I read about Los Gallos and it just always makes me so happy to find good tacos on the East Coast.  It doesn't happen often.  

We stopped off for gelato at Capogiro which was down the street from the club where Ryan was performing that night.  Once again, pretty cool to be with the entertainment walking into the club and being seated in the front.  Ryan was still funny the week after I had just seen him perform.  But this time we were all able to hang out in the green room in between Ryan's sets. 

At the end of the day, we dropped Brig off at the bus station and I drove us home to DC.  It was a late night but so very worth it.  I'll travel far distances through pouring rain for donuts and tacos and it's lovely to have friends who will do the same!