DC weekend trip with the girls.

And what a trip it was, beginning with a three hour drive from Richmond, VA to downtown Washington, DC a mere 90 miles, all highway, you would think you could do it in far less time.  Never the less we packed ourselves into Vicki's car and spent the three hours discussing the merits of various museums and restaurants as to ascertain how we would spend our time in DC.  Imagine 4 women, OK one is a pint size 11 year old, who all have an opinion as to what we should do in DC!

First up the US Marine Band free concert outside the Marine Barracks.  Well who knew you needed tickets for a free concert;  But having found that out we altered our original plan and decided that a dinner at Ulah Bistro about 1 mile from our hotel and then a nice walk to see the night lights of the monuments would be a good alternative.

 Although the restaurant was only a mile from the hotel, it was rainy and we were already 20 minutes late for our reservation due to the extra hour of traffic we grabbed a cab after quickly dumping our bags in the hotel room.

Dinner was terrific, a bottle of sparkling French Rose, a trio of seafood tartar (tuna with olives, scallops with avocado and salmon with dill....perfect!), a bowl of homemade French onion soup, Chesapeake crab and artichoke dip, and  duck fat fries all to share!!!  Imagine, can you, french fries fried lovingly in duck fat, it's better then great!  We were all so full of the appetizers that we almost didn't order dinner.  But we did and ordered for the table again, a grilled Caesar salad, a pizza and one soup for mom, oh and another order of the duck fat fries.  The grilled Caesar was really interesting and had a unique taste. A head of romaine lettuce was cut in half lengthwise and then grilled.  It was not too wilted but it had a unique charred taste that blended well with the dressing.   Unfortunately it was still raining so we did not take a walk to see the lights.

Saturday we headed out to the Martin Luther King Memorial (MLK) located across the tidal basin from the Jefferson Memorial.  On our walk over we encountered this massive Canadian water dog by the name of Moose!

 And enjoyed the other monuments along the way.

The MLK memorial to a man who was a proponent for opportunity for all - in America - and who openly disliked communism would perhaps be sadden to know that  the sculptor is a Chinese National, it was sculpted in China and even the granite was procured in China.  It's all a bit of a joke really. A true American icon ....produced in China.  Welcome to the future. Weren't there any American sculptures who could create a monument to this great historic leader?  Perhaps an American African ?? OK an American Chinese, how about any American? I had some pictures of the statue from last year when I first visited the site so I did not take any additional pictures.  Unfortunately I cannot find those pics so I have searched Google for some shots for you.  (pictures from internet.)

 I like this image with the cherry trees mature and in bloom.

 There is a wall surrounding the site with many MLK quotes inscribed on the wall.  This one was my favorite.

The monument is quite impressive and if you didn't know the details you would walk away thinking  - wow, great space, nice memorial.  If you know the details you are still very impressed but sad that it was not "made in America".   With that said perhaps the bottom line was, well the bottom line.  It all costs money and perhaps it's just too expensive to create this sort of monument in the good ole USA.  I don't know but I like to believe that we could have created this $120 million monument in the USA.

From the monument we headed to what I thought would be my favorite stop, the National Geographic Museum.  I didn't know that Nat Geo had a museum in it's headquarters building but it does.  Unfortunately it's not big but it also has a store!!! There is only one exhibit at a time and currently it is  - 100 Years of the Titanic.  I have seen enough Titanic programs on TV and of course saw the movie(!) so I wasn't so inclined to see the exhibit.  Fortunately there is also a free picture gallery on M street with wonderful photos from the Nat Geo team.  We spent some time in the store and then some time viewing the pictures.

At 12:40p we hustled up the street to the Tabard Inn for our lunch reservation at 1:00p.

A little background for you - " The Tabard Inn opened in 1922 and in its early years, the Tabard Inn was a popular meeting place for women’s social groups and clubs.  In fact, Rogers (the owner) had never intended to become a hotel operator, but simply desired a place “to just give parties.” She reflected that in its first decades the Tabard Inn “was full of debutantes…” During World War II, the Tabard Inn served as a boardinghouse for Navy Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). The rooms and lounges afforded luxurious accommodations, even for the seventy WAVES officers that were assigned to the Tabard Inn. One of the volunteers reported, “After the horrors we’d heard about the wartime housing shortage in the nation’s capital, we were delighted to be there." "  (from the Tabard Inn website, you can read more about it and see the menu here http://www.tabardinn.com/about_inn )

 Waiting for our table in the cozy reception area.

 Here we are in the back room waiting for our lunch, we were so hungry that I forgot to take pictures of our meal.  I had the poached eggs on savory cheese grits with fried oysters, it was incredible!

 We had planned to go to the Abraham Lincoln summer cottage museum but it was raining again and no one wanted to slosh around on the wet grounds.  After a quick vote we headed to Georgetown for some shopping. 

Soon it was time to head back to the hotel room to get ready for another meal!  And this one was going to be super special.

 

The four of us were hungry (again) and eager to have a "joyful eating experience". We were all looking forward to our dinner at Michel Ricard's  Central. http://www.centralmichelrichard.com/visit/.  

 We were quite star struck when we found out that Michel Richard was sitting behind us!

 And what a friendly fellow!

 We ordered for the table (of course) to start : frog legs, steak tartar with french fried and a frisse salad with poached egg and lardons.

 The duck legs were a bit on the gamey side and over seasoned but definitely worth trying, the steak tartar was perfect and the french fries were even better than the duck fat fries we had the night before, who would have thought that would be possible. The salad was a cascade of fresh greens slathered with a broken soft egg and fried bacon or as the French say lardons.  Central has a casual dining atmosphere with a menu to match.

We all decided that we did not want to share our mains so Sophie ordered the fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

 Mom had the soft shell crab.

 Vicki went for the Lamb shank.

 And I had the seared scallops with asparagus risotto.  Each plate was perfection. And although no one had room for dessert we did order one for the table. A massive Napoleon.

And we certainly did eat the whole thing!  It was a bit of a frenzy really as it was the best we had ever had.  Crisp flaky pastry, perfect cream in the center, all sitting on a pool of vanilla sauce. Yum! We staggered back to the hotel and collapsed on our beds.

Sunday morning we decided to go to the Eastern Market.  Eastern Market indicating the location of the market in DC, not an Asian influenced market.  Lots of neat local crafts as well as a food hall, reminiscent of a Chinese wet market in my neighborhood in Shanghai. although this one was much cleaner!

 And in case I was missing the interesting foods in China a smoked pigs tail to chew on!

We had a great weekend together, laughing too much, eating too much and having too much fun!


 

Lunch options at work

 Today I decided to find alternative lunch fare.  I was getting tired of the food from cafeteria 2, 3 and 5 offered at the University. I wandered over to the library where there is a Family Mart.  It's a bit like a Seven Eleven store selling drinks, chips and food items.  When I was teaching last spring I saw my students eat what looked like fairly edible food and they told me that they purchased it at the Family Mart in the library . I entered the store and was overwhelmed by the selection of items available and decided to buy a bunch. I would taste each one so that I know in the future which would be suitable for me.  First the sandwich - pasta in a hot dog bun.  I bought this because I never thought to put a carb with a carb in this manner and was curious to see if it was a good idea. If you look closely at the packaging, the cartoon character assures me that I will indeed enjoy this sandwich.  

Surprisingly the picture looked so much better then the actual product.(Yes, I am being a wise guy here.) Taste wise, well, I slipped one noodle into my mouth and actually thought it tasted pretty good.  Sesame oil and the sparkling MSG tempted you to want to try another bite.  I resisted as the meat (right side of bun) looked funny and overall,  all I could smell was the sweet sugary hot dog bun and the sesame oil; plus a carb overload was not my intention.  I was just curious to see this sandwich.  I wonder if the Chinese students think this is a typical American style sandwich?

 This next item seemed like it could be a huge success for me. An egg wrapped, rice filled, fried chicken "sushi" roll.  Who hasn't enjoyed a bit of fried chicken once in a while? 

I opened up the roll and some wilted lettuce and mayo was found inside.  Yikes, this was not looking good. Maybe I should have just taken a bite before investigating the insides.  But having lived in Shanghai for four years and having some special knowledge : i.e. what you see and think you understand is not necessarily what it is  - I continued my exploration of this lunch item.

A quick slice to open the fried chicken item only to find out....it's squid. Everything is not as it seems.  I continued to pull it apart and found 'pressed processed' squid or pollack, hard to tell, and decided I did not have the courage to taste it. I pitched it into the bin right along side the spaghetti sandwich.  Next up, what looks like a traditional California sushi roll.  

 My first concern when I pulled the sushi from the package was the slippery oily seaweed wrapper.  The corn, which you see peaking out of the seaweed wrapper, did not phase me as I thought a substitution would be used for avocados as they are not popular here and quite expensive.

 Unrolled we find another leaf of wilted lettuce, egg, soy "infused" sticky rice, a few kernels of corn and two krab sticks. I took a taste of the sticky rice and it was similar in taste to Zongzi or sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaf.....but it wasn't as good.  That  'roll' was sent hurdling through the air to land right next to the other two items in the bin. You can read about the traditional Chinese snack Zongzi here: http://www.lifeonnanchanglu.com/2012/06/shanghai-street-food-29-zongzi-sticky.html  from my friend Fiona.

On to the last three items. A slice of green melon, a buckwheat noodle dish and vegetable dumplings.

 The dumpling wrappers were a sad lot, some were very thick and others dried out surprisingly the vegetable filling was nicely seasoned with fresh ginger.   I ate two of those - insides only - with a squirt of the vinegar pouch that came with the box.  

 The last box seemed to be the least interesting of them all but it did have a good taste once you poured the vinegar sauce and wasabi on the noodles.  I didn't try the sliced ham but did nibble on the seaweed salad and it was OK.  After two bites decided it really was more yucky then good and dumped it into the trash.  Last but not least the green melon, it was sweet and crisp and perfect.  I ate the whole slice. 

Here ends the experiment, although there are many more foods to sample at the Family Mart I think I am clear that it's all pretty bad.   I suppose if craving a slice of melon I will know where to buy one. 

Birds, crickets and fish.

 I posted some pictures on Facebook two days ago and although the album is in the photos section it never popped up on the news feed/stream...whatever that page is called.  I was searching out the Facebook site to see how to post the pictures for all to see and came across a message that said I could share these photos with a link.   So I am trying it out.  Please click below or cut and paste to another page to see my day with the animals!   I hope this works.  Let me know in the comments section if you can access the link and how you did it.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3848718731730.2167696.1091056102&type=3
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3848718731730.2167696.1091056102&type=3&l=e0b1f4bf1b

Where there three guys washing the building?

 I noticed these guys washing our building yesterday and as I began to look closely I noticed three harnesses!

 Do you see the empty harness near the bottom of the bucket?  And doesn't it seem like the fellow with the hose is washing away "something", maybe human debris?

And here they are studying something on the ground........ the guy in the third harness maybe?!

Ladies Lunch at Shanghai Slims

The Friday afternoon before heading to Borneo (a month ago) I met up with some friends for a wine tasting lunch.

 (Note to self: no drinking before packing for a trip as results could be disconcerting. i.e. 9 pairs of sock for a 7 day trip and only 3 undergarments. Good thing it was a beach vacation and I would be spending all my time in a swimsuit!)

 We were scheduled to meet at Shanghai Slims at noon and were prepared to taste four wines and enjoy a good meal.

As it was a gorgeous day we sat outside. A menu was placed on top of each place setting and we had ample opportunity to read it. As I was busy chatting and catching up with pals  I neglected to read the menu carefully so I thought that I was getting a protein and a pasta!  I was really looking forward to some Gnocchi after my Tuna and although I was disappointed,  pasta was not the second main, I did not leave hungry. Aren't I greedy!

 The bread basket, need I say more?

We were then served a chopped salad, to share, with a large Parmesan crisp. I have eaten at Shanghai Slims before and this is my favorite salad.  I let the others enjoy the crisp but gobbled up all the crunchy vegetables.

In addition to the shared salad we had a cream of mushroom soup.  The menu did indicate that either a salad or soup would be served but the management of the restaurant decided to give us both.  I really don't know why but it was a nice treat.  The three mushroom soup should have just been called triple cream mushroom soup.  It was so rich and velvety and just heaven in a bowl.

Now the purpose of this lunch, besides getting together with friends, was to sample new wines. The wine purveyor decided to make this a game.  He served a white to start and asked us to write on the back of our menu, the grape and location of where the wine came from.  We were going to try four different types of wines and at the end who ever guessed them all correctly would win a bottle of wine.  John (the wine guy) must have done these lunches before and knew from experience that this kind of crowd doesn't really know their wines, he wasn't going to have to give anything away.  But if you asked us prior to the lunch we would have told we knew A LOT about wine.  Plus at this wine tasting John (wine guy) started us off with a glass of white and then gave us another glass when the first course started.  That's not a tasting that's just drinking.  Perhaps he wanted to get us tipsy so we wouldn't do well at the contest?  I don't know but we sure had fun!!!

First a white, then two reds and then we would be served a white with dessert.  

Here is my good friend Robyn who ordered her steak medium she thought the little flag was delightful!
There were four main course choices on the menu and everyone either ordered the steak or the tuna, I wonder if we all thought that pasta was the next course?

Steak!

My tuna, perfectly cooked and delicious!

Here we are at three glasses of wine, only one more course and glass to go.

I truly could not drink the last glass of wine nor eat my dessert.  I did taste both but had to push it away as I was bursting! The ultimate tiramisu, as claimed by Shanghai Slim, was yummy, too bad I didn't have any room left.  I wonder if the owner of Shanghai Slim is slim?  If he eats his own food - cream of mushroom soup, creamy tiramisu, oh remember the bread basket! - I think not!

So who guessed all four wines correctly?  For red #1 I guessed Shiraz and it was a Merlot and #2 red was Merlot and I guessed Shiraz.  I was totally wrong about the two whites. No one guessed all four correcly but there were two winners anyway, I think the wine guy drank a few as well and was feeling generous.  Robyn, pictured above with the medium steak, won a bottle as did another gal. 

I have been to another wine tasting dinner which John was also the purveyor of the wines and I am sorry I did not take a picture of him while at this lunch.  Sadly, John suddenly passed away 2 weeks ago.  He had lived in China for more then 30 years.  He frequently went back to Australia and New Zealand to buy wines and I assume to visit family.  He left behind a wife and family here in China.  We will miss John.