1. Not only did I have my monthly blood draw for the transplant center done this morning, but I also had about a thousand bucks, or about six tubes or so, worth of other blood drawn in support of my annual physical exam last week and in anticipation of my mid-March visit to the transplant center in Baltimore and my end of March appointment with my kidney doctor. This was a fasting lab and I went to Panera afterward and broke my fast with a cinnamon crunch bagel, toasted, with cream cheese and a cup of coffee.
2. I decided to make grocery shopping today a multi-hour effort and drove up to Columbia and spent a couple of hours walking the aisles of Wegman's, mainly for a change of pace. It was fun. I've come to terms with the model train choo-chooing overhead and surrendered to how huge the Wegman's store is and I lost myself looking at cheese from around the world, wet and shiny shellfish at the fish counter, the many meals in a box, some pre-cooked, others not, and the non-food items, especially kitchen utensils. I bought a good supply of groceries and had a pleasant conversation with the woman who checked out my cart about tiny cucumbers and how much she enjoys cucumber sauce.
3. I was looking for pita bread at Wegman's and, instead, came upon bags of Greek flatbread. I purchased a bag and on the front was a picture of falafel, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other food folded into a round of flatbread. I thought, aha!, the Deke and I would like such a thing for dinner. So, at home, I chopped up an eggplant into very small pieces, salted them, and sauteed them in olive oil. In the meantime, I cut thin slices of red onion, sliced up a few slightly larger than cherry tomatoes, sliced a couple of tiny cucumbers, and made a zesty lemon yogurt sauce. I also set out the taboule salad I purchased at Costco, to be either eaten as a side or to be part of the Greek sandwich. It was a great dinner -- full of flavor and substance -- and I will now always be on the lookout for Greek flatbread.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Monday, February 27, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/26/17: Preparing for Ed and Mike, Slow Beer, Popcorn
1. I have almost all the tickets and reservations made for Ed and Mike's visit next week. I just need to buy tickets for the hop on hop off bus in New York City. We have a good week planned with touring Maryland and Washington, D.C. and with day trips to Philadelphia and New York.
2. The Deke and I relaxed at DC Brau late in the afternoon, slow drinking some beer and, once the room emptied out, we had a great conversation with our tap master, Mike, who told us about his days as a third grade teacher in Washington, D. C.'s Petworth neighborhood.
3. We finished the evening with a bowl of popcorn.
2. The Deke and I relaxed at DC Brau late in the afternoon, slow drinking some beer and, once the room emptied out, we had a great conversation with our tap master, Mike, who told us about his days as a third grade teacher in Washington, D. C.'s Petworth neighborhood.
3. We finished the evening with a bowl of popcorn.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/25/17: A Luxurious Day Gets Underway, Listen to the Wind Blow, Beer Tasting
1. I was up at five this morning. The corgis stubbornly and ruthlessly demanded that I get up and feed them and take them out and I surrendered. Then I stayed up and so began a long and luxurious day of a little bit of cleaning up in our apartment home, working a couple of puzzles, enjoying a visit from Molly, Ana, David, and Olivia.
2. When Molly and the children left, I was going to go grocery shopping, but when Molly invited the Deke and me over for spaghetti dinner, meaning I wouldn't be fixing dinner tonight, I decided to stay home, listen to the thunderstorms, and make this as fully a day of inactivity as possible.
3. I took a bag of beer over to the Diazes and Molly, the Deke, and I did some beer tasting with my 6 oz. flight glasses. My favorite beer of the evening was Stone's Empirial IPA, which had been their 14th anniversary beer. They reissued it as an encore selection in celebration of their 20th anniversary. It's a British-style IPA and because I'm so used to hops grown in the USA and to American beer making styles, Empirial took some getting used to. Molly and the Deke were indifferent about this beer -- they switched to Double Duckpin -- and turned their unfinished 6 oz glasses over to me, and the deeper I dove into this bottle of beer, the more I enjoyed it and slowly old memories of drinking beer back in England in 1975 and 1979 came back, as did those sessions at 16 Tons when I'd grab a Belhaven out of the cooler or other days at the Bier Stein or at the Chip Shop in Brooklyn, NY or at The Highland Stillhouse in Oregon City when I'd order a pint of Old Speckled Hen.
I remembered back to September, 2012 and that British guy at the old Bier Stein location on 11th Street in Eugene who heard me order an Old Speckled Hen and proclaimed from the other end of the bar: "Looks like your a man who knows his beer." I wrote about this moment, here, when I refrained from telling this man that I didn't really know beer very well at all, but that I was going to drink the Old Speckled Hen for my own personal and spiritual reasons. Cheers! That was a fun moment and fun to have come back to me at the Diazes' dining table as I relished this bottle of Empirial IPA from Stone Brewing.
2. When Molly and the children left, I was going to go grocery shopping, but when Molly invited the Deke and me over for spaghetti dinner, meaning I wouldn't be fixing dinner tonight, I decided to stay home, listen to the thunderstorms, and make this as fully a day of inactivity as possible.
3. I took a bag of beer over to the Diazes and Molly, the Deke, and I did some beer tasting with my 6 oz. flight glasses. My favorite beer of the evening was Stone's Empirial IPA, which had been their 14th anniversary beer. They reissued it as an encore selection in celebration of their 20th anniversary. It's a British-style IPA and because I'm so used to hops grown in the USA and to American beer making styles, Empirial took some getting used to. Molly and the Deke were indifferent about this beer -- they switched to Double Duckpin -- and turned their unfinished 6 oz glasses over to me, and the deeper I dove into this bottle of beer, the more I enjoyed it and slowly old memories of drinking beer back in England in 1975 and 1979 came back, as did those sessions at 16 Tons when I'd grab a Belhaven out of the cooler or other days at the Bier Stein or at the Chip Shop in Brooklyn, NY or at The Highland Stillhouse in Oregon City when I'd order a pint of Old Speckled Hen.
I remembered back to September, 2012 and that British guy at the old Bier Stein location on 11th Street in Eugene who heard me order an Old Speckled Hen and proclaimed from the other end of the bar: "Looks like your a man who knows his beer." I wrote about this moment, here, when I refrained from telling this man that I didn't really know beer very well at all, but that I was going to drink the Old Speckled Hen for my own personal and spiritual reasons. Cheers! That was a fun moment and fun to have come back to me at the Diazes' dining table as I relished this bottle of Empirial IPA from Stone Brewing.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/24/17: Drive to Ivy City, Greenbelt Lake Stroll, Quick Beans and Rice
1. I thought I might take a little photo tour of Ivy City, a neighborhood in Northeast D. C., and take some pictures in the Mt. Olivet cemetery, as well. I wanted to park on West Virginia NE, but the parking places along the border of the cemetery were all taken and I took it as a sign to return another day, earlier, in the morning rather than the afternoon. As always, when I take these excursions out into our nation's capital, I learned more about getting around. I still haven't quite mastered the intersection of New York, West Virginia, and Montana. Like many intersections in D.C., it's poorly marked. Local knowledge helps a lot. I'm earning some of that knowledge, but I took some time when I returned home to study that intersection on a map, eager to return and see if I can smoothly go from New York Avenue NE to West Virginia, instead of repeatedly going on Montana instead.
2. I soon arrived back in Greenbelt and decided to stroll around Greenbelt Lake and take some pictures. The temperatures had crawled into the low 70s, warm enough to walk comfortably in shorts and a T-shirt. Immediately, I seized a few opportunities to take some faceless portraits; I love taking this kind of picture and it's been many months since I've given it a try. I also took some pictures that capture the lake and trail on this balmy day. If you'd like to see some of the pictures I took today, scroll down a ways.
3. The Deke had a long day at school. I picked her up at close to 6 o'clock and offered a trip to Old Line, but she declined. She just wanted to come home. Therefore, I had to make a quick dinner and I pulled up the black beans and rice recipe I've made quite often. It's an awesome recipe, among the very most flavorful and, if I cook basmati rice, I can have dinner ready in about a half an hour. We hadn't had this meal for a while and we loved it and, even if I've posted this recipe 1,000 times before, here it is again.
Here are some of the pictures I shot at Greenbelt Lake:
2. I soon arrived back in Greenbelt and decided to stroll around Greenbelt Lake and take some pictures. The temperatures had crawled into the low 70s, warm enough to walk comfortably in shorts and a T-shirt. Immediately, I seized a few opportunities to take some faceless portraits; I love taking this kind of picture and it's been many months since I've given it a try. I also took some pictures that capture the lake and trail on this balmy day. If you'd like to see some of the pictures I took today, scroll down a ways.
3. The Deke had a long day at school. I picked her up at close to 6 o'clock and offered a trip to Old Line, but she declined. She just wanted to come home. Therefore, I had to make a quick dinner and I pulled up the black beans and rice recipe I've made quite often. It's an awesome recipe, among the very most flavorful and, if I cook basmati rice, I can have dinner ready in about a half an hour. We hadn't had this meal for a while and we loved it and, even if I've posted this recipe 1,000 times before, here it is again.
Here are some of the pictures I shot at Greenbelt Lake:
Friday, February 24, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/23/17: Annual Exam, Educators at Old Line, *Aqualung* and Milk and Honey
1. I drove up to Fulton, MD to my primary doctor's new office and for my annual general exam. I won't know the full results until I have my blood work done this coming Monday, but the things he could check out in his office are in good shape. I have a lot of medical check-ups and tests in my near future, beginning with an all day visit to the U of Maryland Transplantation Center on March 15th -- I did one of these all day visits two years ago and I have to do them every two years as a part of being on the transplant list. Other things like TB test, chest X-ray, possibly some cardiology testing, and we'll see what else will happen after the all day visit. I have my six month check-up with my nephrologist in late March. As always, the best I can hope for is that my kidney function is stable. Until the bloodwork tells its tale, though, all I can really know is that I sure feel good.
2. Every so often a group of people who work for or who have been fired from Prince George's County School District get together for beers and some food and to give each other moral support. The Deke is part of this group and I get to sit in and listen. Late this afternoon, the group met at Old Line and listened to each other, laughed, commiserated, told sad stories, told some funny ones, and talked about stuff unrelated to school -- travel, retirement dreams, and family tales among other things. For many years, when I got together with fellow teachers, I was an insider and now I'm an outsider. I can't even pretend to be a part of the life of an educator any longer and my old stories from LCC seem really irrelevant in this context. I'm fine with being a silent listener and grateful that this group of people doesn't seem to mind me sitting in.
3. On our way out of Old Line, the Deke and I bought a bottle of Green Hat, the locally distilled gin I mentioned a couple of days ago. We each at a single drink of Green Hat at home and while the Deke finished up some school work, I put in the ear buds and listened to Jethro Tull's Aqualung and reminisced within myself about how this album, along with Jesus Christ Superstar, addressed questions about Christianity, Jesus, God, and the church in ways that deeply affected me forty-five years ago and remain with me today. I loved entering back into that period of my life again through Jethro Tull. Later, I watched an episode of Chopped: Redemption that featured a chef named Sammy Davis from Baltimore who now has a breakfast/brunch spot called Milk and Honey, a short distance from Old Line on Rt. 1 in Beltsville. I didn't know about this place, but one of the Deke's friends brought it up at the get together this evening and mentioned that the chef had been a winner on Chopped. Lo and behold, I did some searching and Sammy Davis' website has a video of the episode when he won and it's right here.
2. Every so often a group of people who work for or who have been fired from Prince George's County School District get together for beers and some food and to give each other moral support. The Deke is part of this group and I get to sit in and listen. Late this afternoon, the group met at Old Line and listened to each other, laughed, commiserated, told sad stories, told some funny ones, and talked about stuff unrelated to school -- travel, retirement dreams, and family tales among other things. For many years, when I got together with fellow teachers, I was an insider and now I'm an outsider. I can't even pretend to be a part of the life of an educator any longer and my old stories from LCC seem really irrelevant in this context. I'm fine with being a silent listener and grateful that this group of people doesn't seem to mind me sitting in.
3. On our way out of Old Line, the Deke and I bought a bottle of Green Hat, the locally distilled gin I mentioned a couple of days ago. We each at a single drink of Green Hat at home and while the Deke finished up some school work, I put in the ear buds and listened to Jethro Tull's Aqualung and reminisced within myself about how this album, along with Jesus Christ Superstar, addressed questions about Christianity, Jesus, God, and the church in ways that deeply affected me forty-five years ago and remain with me today. I loved entering back into that period of my life again through Jethro Tull. Later, I watched an episode of Chopped: Redemption that featured a chef named Sammy Davis from Baltimore who now has a breakfast/brunch spot called Milk and Honey, a short distance from Old Line on Rt. 1 in Beltsville. I didn't know about this place, but one of the Deke's friends brought it up at the get together this evening and mentioned that the chef had been a winner on Chopped. Lo and behold, I did some searching and Sammy Davis' website has a video of the episode when he won and it's right here.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/22/17: Found the Trail, Salad Bar, Deer in Bethesda
1. Okay. I knew there had to be trails leading into Little Falls Park and after closer examination of a map on Google, I figured it out and drove back to Bethesda, parked in the Shops at Sumner parking lot, and walked about five miles on the Capital Crest Trail, turned around at the Bethesda outdoor pool, and headed back to the car. We are having April in February here in Maryland and D. C. with temperatures in the sixties under sunny or only partly cloudy skies so the conditions were perfect for racking up 13,000 steps over the course of the day.
2. I hard-cooked some eggs, fried some bacon, set out salad leaves, chopped red pepper and red onion along with crumbled feta cheese and Kamalata olives and set out slices of French baguette with Shropshire blue cheese and the Deke and I each made our own salads and enjoyed the cheese and bread.
3. Look. I know I'm no Marlin Perkins when it comes to my occasional encounters with the wild kingdom, but, while walking through Little Falls Park on the Capital Crest Trail, I took these pictures:
2. I hard-cooked some eggs, fried some bacon, set out salad leaves, chopped red pepper and red onion along with crumbled feta cheese and Kamalata olives and set out slices of French baguette with Shropshire blue cheese and the Deke and I each made our own salads and enjoyed the cheese and bread.
3. Look. I know I'm no Marlin Perkins when it comes to my occasional encounters with the wild kingdom, but, while walking through Little Falls Park on the Capital Crest Trail, I took these pictures:
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/21/17: Touring NW D.C., Philly/NYC Trips, Green Hat Gin
1. I drove to the upper reaches of northwest Washington, DC because, on a map, Little Falls Park looked like it might be an interesting place to hike. On the map, I couldn't find an entry to the park, but I thought I'd figure out how to get in there once I was there in person. Turns out the park is home to a heavily secured reservoir and I never did figure out how to get in, but I drove around and just below American University, I admired streets of beautiful homes -- I don't know if any of them were mansions -- and found a very handsome Episcopal Church -- St. David's -- built out of rock. So, even though my hiking plans fell apart, I had fun looking at and learning a bit more about what's located in a part of D. C. that I've spent little time in.
2. When Ed and Mike come to visit in early March, we will make a day trip to Philadelphia and another one to NYC and I started to figure out bus schedules and other details of our travel and what we might do for a day each place.
3. The Deke wanted to grade some papers at the bar at Old Line and relax after work. Until today, I had never tried Green Hat Gin, distilled in Ivy City, the same neighborhood in D. C. where Atlas Brew Works is located. So I had a pour with a little ice in it and its taste nearly floored me -- it was completely unique, unlike any gin I'd ever sampled. I loved smelling this gin. Yes, the juniper presence was there, but so were lemons and even oranges and I think I could smell and taste something like flowers. Its taste, in a good way, stayed with me all evening and now I'm pretty sure that one of these Saturday afternoons when they are open, from 1-4, for tours and tastings and five buck cocktails that I'll have to pay the distillery a visit.
2. When Ed and Mike come to visit in early March, we will make a day trip to Philadelphia and another one to NYC and I started to figure out bus schedules and other details of our travel and what we might do for a day each place.
3. The Deke wanted to grade some papers at the bar at Old Line and relax after work. Until today, I had never tried Green Hat Gin, distilled in Ivy City, the same neighborhood in D. C. where Atlas Brew Works is located. So I had a pour with a little ice in it and its taste nearly floored me -- it was completely unique, unlike any gin I'd ever sampled. I loved smelling this gin. Yes, the juniper presence was there, but so were lemons and even oranges and I think I could smell and taste something like flowers. Its taste, in a good way, stayed with me all evening and now I'm pretty sure that one of these Saturday afternoons when they are open, from 1-4, for tours and tastings and five buck cocktails that I'll have to pay the distillery a visit.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/20/17: Good Floppin', Accidental Tour of D.C., Stu and the New Wave
1. The floppin' in the pool invigorated me today. The sequence of exercises worked perfectly and I thrived on the fifteen minutes of overtime I put in on my own after class ended.
2. Vicki, the Deke, and I went to the Diazes and then to Bethesda where Vicki will be visiting her sister-in-law. To our surprise and delight, Molly asked if she could join us, knowing that the Deke and I were planning to go out after we said farewell to Vicki. We left Bethesda and drove for several miles along Massachusetts Ave. and I listened to the Deke and Molly marvel at the sight of huge churches and cathedrals and at the elegance of one embassy after another as we passed along Embassy Row. I didn't perfectly navigate Scott Circle in D. C., but I recovered and we headed north and east on Rhode Island toward Eastern Avenue NE and ended our accidental tour of D. C. at DC Brau. It was a splendid and fun drive from Bethesda to DC Brau. It gave me more very welcome city driving experience and gave the Deke and Molly great sights to see and point out to each other. (I couldn't take my eyes off the road and the traffic to look.) We didn't plan this. We didn't really know what we were doing. We just went where the GPS voice told us to go, knowing we wanted to end up at DC Brau. Navigating the traffic circles and figuring out some directions on the fly made me feel like I was enrolled in a self-taught D. C. driver's ed class.
3. After about 50 minutes of a really fun drive, we arrived at DC Brau. Within an hour, the Deke, Molly, and I were the only customers in the tasting room. We enjoyed some Wings of Armageddon and were really pleased with DC Brau's latest beer, Savor the Swill, a crisp, subtly spicy Helles Lager, released on February 11th. Our tap master was named Stu and Stu loves 80s music and so our evening played out to a soundtrack of Human League, Wall of Voodoo, Madness, Katrina and the Waves, and a host of other artists from the early and glorious and golden days of MTV. I thanked Stu (a bona fide great guy) for the awesome music and we fell into an enthusiastic conversation about New Wave and other 80s music (his favs? The Cars and Blondie). The quality of my conversation with Stu was surpassed only by the wide-ranging yakking that transpired between the Deke, Molly, and me. The three of us don't get to go out together very often, but when we do, it's always a sterling time. Tonight was no exception.
2. Vicki, the Deke, and I went to the Diazes and then to Bethesda where Vicki will be visiting her sister-in-law. To our surprise and delight, Molly asked if she could join us, knowing that the Deke and I were planning to go out after we said farewell to Vicki. We left Bethesda and drove for several miles along Massachusetts Ave. and I listened to the Deke and Molly marvel at the sight of huge churches and cathedrals and at the elegance of one embassy after another as we passed along Embassy Row. I didn't perfectly navigate Scott Circle in D. C., but I recovered and we headed north and east on Rhode Island toward Eastern Avenue NE and ended our accidental tour of D. C. at DC Brau. It was a splendid and fun drive from Bethesda to DC Brau. It gave me more very welcome city driving experience and gave the Deke and Molly great sights to see and point out to each other. (I couldn't take my eyes off the road and the traffic to look.) We didn't plan this. We didn't really know what we were doing. We just went where the GPS voice told us to go, knowing we wanted to end up at DC Brau. Navigating the traffic circles and figuring out some directions on the fly made me feel like I was enrolled in a self-taught D. C. driver's ed class.
3. After about 50 minutes of a really fun drive, we arrived at DC Brau. Within an hour, the Deke, Molly, and I were the only customers in the tasting room. We enjoyed some Wings of Armageddon and were really pleased with DC Brau's latest beer, Savor the Swill, a crisp, subtly spicy Helles Lager, released on February 11th. Our tap master was named Stu and Stu loves 80s music and so our evening played out to a soundtrack of Human League, Wall of Voodoo, Madness, Katrina and the Waves, and a host of other artists from the early and glorious and golden days of MTV. I thanked Stu (a bona fide great guy) for the awesome music and we fell into an enthusiastic conversation about New Wave and other 80s music (his favs? The Cars and Blondie). The quality of my conversation with Stu was surpassed only by the wide-ranging yakking that transpired between the Deke, Molly, and me. The three of us don't get to go out together very often, but when we do, it's always a sterling time. Tonight was no exception.
Monday, February 20, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/19/17: Puzzles and Ale, Chicken Soup, Ah! To Be Like Warden and Robards
1. Last month, the Deke and I worshiped at St. John's church in Bethesda and had a great talk with Rev. Betsy Tesi who had served as a priest at St. Mary's in Eugene and moved out here some time before we did and now serves at St. John's. Two weeks ago, we didn't return to worship because the Deke was sick; last Sunday I was sick; today, our guest Vicki was laid out all day with some kind of bug and we all stayed home. I decided to take a day off from reading much about contemporary governmental history and stayed off of Twitter and didn't click on links on Facebook related to the news. Instead, I worked acrostic puzzles online. I opened a 22 oz bottle of Heavy Seas whisky barrel-aged rye ESB, called 21 -- named after the brewery's anniversary -- and took five hours to drink it, a personal record for working my way leisurely to the bottom of a bottle of ale.
2. In the refrigerator, I had stored jars of chicken stock I'd made recently. This came in handy because Vicki mentioned to the Deke how good chicken soup would taste. So I bought an already cooked chicken at the Co-op, took the meat off and chopped it up while I sauteed onion, carrots, and celery in the pot, added stock and chicken meat, and, in a separate pot, boiled rice noodles. When the noodles were done, I drained them and put them in the soup. Later on, Vicki ate a bowl of the soup and enjoyed it. We will hope that it was not only good tasting, but medicinal.
3. While I took a break from contemporary governmental history, I didn't take a break from 20th century governmental and journalistic history. The Deke decided to watch All the President's Men on her laptop and I listened to it while working puzzles. Whenever I dream of acting in a movie, there are three actors I wish I could be like. Two of them are in All the President's Men: Jack Warden and Jason Robards. I loved simply hearing their voices from the other side of the room and picturing how they give their characters a full life. (The third? Gene Hackman.)
2. In the refrigerator, I had stored jars of chicken stock I'd made recently. This came in handy because Vicki mentioned to the Deke how good chicken soup would taste. So I bought an already cooked chicken at the Co-op, took the meat off and chopped it up while I sauteed onion, carrots, and celery in the pot, added stock and chicken meat, and, in a separate pot, boiled rice noodles. When the noodles were done, I drained them and put them in the soup. Later on, Vicki ate a bowl of the soup and enjoyed it. We will hope that it was not only good tasting, but medicinal.
3. While I took a break from contemporary governmental history, I didn't take a break from 20th century governmental and journalistic history. The Deke decided to watch All the President's Men on her laptop and I listened to it while working puzzles. Whenever I dream of acting in a movie, there are three actors I wish I could be like. Two of them are in All the President's Men: Jack Warden and Jason Robards. I loved simply hearing their voices from the other side of the room and picturing how they give their characters a full life. (The third? Gene Hackman.)
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/18/17: Teacher Talk at Union Market, Joy at Atlas Brew Works, Perfect Pasta Dinner
1. As it got close to noon, Vicki, the Deke, and I piled into the Sube and darted down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and west on Rt. 50, into Washington, D. C., and parked in the lot in front of Union Market. The temperature was climbing toward 70 degrees, a relaxed mob was scattered outside the market, seated at communal tables, drinking coffee and diving into cardboard containers of food from around the world. Inside the market, the seams between the many food vendors and meat/fish markets were bursting with invigorated people, uplifted by the cloudless weather and moderate warmth. I continued my quest to memorize this market, who the vendors are, what they sell, and where they are located, and enjoyed the many little touchless tangos I danced with other visitors, as we exchanged smiles and worked to give each other space to move along.
Vicki, the Deke, and I bought lunch at the Red Apron's sandwich counter -- I chowed down on the Original Red Apron Burger -- and took it outside where we sort of miraculously sat at a table with three twenty (maybe early thirty) something youngsters who all turned out to be public school teachers. A cathartic conversation ensued about the challenges of teaching, the love of working with children, and the anxieties regarding the future of public education. It happened again. We fell into great conversation with astute, creative, deeply caring Millennials and we were kind of stunned as we made our way back to the car at our good fortune to have randomly landed at their table.
2. Not far from the Union Market is Atlas Brew Works and we decided to drop in and sample some of their splendid beers. Like Union Market, this joint was packed, indoors and outdoors, and hopping with joy and fun, the celebrative noise level magnified by a baby shower being given in the tasting room. We settled into three seats side by side by side along a counter and sampled all kinds of beer. My two favorites were both barrel-aged ales: the very same Town and Country Belgian Strong Ale I'd enjoyed last night at Old Line and Atlas' winter saison, La Saison de Brett. I really didn't want to leave. I wanted to keep sipping on these five oz. tasters of barrel-aged beer bliss, but, alas, we needed to move on to Phase III and IV of our day with Vicki.
3. Phase III? Naps.
Phase IV? Vicki volunteered to make dinner and, lo and behold, it turns out Vicki is also a devotee of that simple, tomato-y, buttery, onion-y richness, Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce, here. My contribution to the dinner was a trip to Panera to buy a baguette and to go to the Old Line Wine and Spirits shop and buy some wine. I did that, and I couldn't stop myself from also purchasing a sixer of the not always available Double Duckpin Imperial IPA. As I went to check out, I was asked to wait a minute for the cashier who was on a bathroom break and, at that moment, one of our favorite servers, Kristin, walked in and when I asked her how things were, she told me it was dead back in the bistro, thanks to the gorgeous day outside.
Hmmm.
No cashier.
Dead in the bistro.,
I decided to have a half pint of Town and Country.
So I walked back with Kristin, ordered a small glass of Atlas' red wine barrel-aged Belgian strong ale, chatted with James a little bit, watched Kristin sample the Town and Country ale, and soon I returned to the cashier out front and bought the wine and beer and headed back to our apartment home.
Our dinner was the epitome of simplicity and full flavor: a bowl of penne and Marcella Hazan's sauce, a small glass of wine, and slices of buttered baguette.
A perfect way to close a perfect day with Vicki.
Vicki, the Deke, and I bought lunch at the Red Apron's sandwich counter -- I chowed down on the Original Red Apron Burger -- and took it outside where we sort of miraculously sat at a table with three twenty (maybe early thirty) something youngsters who all turned out to be public school teachers. A cathartic conversation ensued about the challenges of teaching, the love of working with children, and the anxieties regarding the future of public education. It happened again. We fell into great conversation with astute, creative, deeply caring Millennials and we were kind of stunned as we made our way back to the car at our good fortune to have randomly landed at their table.
2. Not far from the Union Market is Atlas Brew Works and we decided to drop in and sample some of their splendid beers. Like Union Market, this joint was packed, indoors and outdoors, and hopping with joy and fun, the celebrative noise level magnified by a baby shower being given in the tasting room. We settled into three seats side by side by side along a counter and sampled all kinds of beer. My two favorites were both barrel-aged ales: the very same Town and Country Belgian Strong Ale I'd enjoyed last night at Old Line and Atlas' winter saison, La Saison de Brett. I really didn't want to leave. I wanted to keep sipping on these five oz. tasters of barrel-aged beer bliss, but, alas, we needed to move on to Phase III and IV of our day with Vicki.
3. Phase III? Naps.
Phase IV? Vicki volunteered to make dinner and, lo and behold, it turns out Vicki is also a devotee of that simple, tomato-y, buttery, onion-y richness, Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce, here. My contribution to the dinner was a trip to Panera to buy a baguette and to go to the Old Line Wine and Spirits shop and buy some wine. I did that, and I couldn't stop myself from also purchasing a sixer of the not always available Double Duckpin Imperial IPA. As I went to check out, I was asked to wait a minute for the cashier who was on a bathroom break and, at that moment, one of our favorite servers, Kristin, walked in and when I asked her how things were, she told me it was dead back in the bistro, thanks to the gorgeous day outside.
Hmmm.
No cashier.
Dead in the bistro.,
I decided to have a half pint of Town and Country.
So I walked back with Kristin, ordered a small glass of Atlas' red wine barrel-aged Belgian strong ale, chatted with James a little bit, watched Kristin sample the Town and Country ale, and soon I returned to the cashier out front and bought the wine and beer and headed back to our apartment home.
Our dinner was the epitome of simplicity and full flavor: a bowl of penne and Marcella Hazan's sauce, a small glass of wine, and slices of buttered baguette.
A perfect way to close a perfect day with Vicki.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/17/17: More Bowls, Picking Up Vicki, Old Line Blow Out
1. I returned to Target. I added one more dipping bowl for herbs/spice while cooking and made another of the little bowls into my kitchen counter receptacle for garlic cloves and fresh ginger. I also added four bowls to the cupboard. I'll use these to put chopped vegetables in whenever I, say, stir fry, saute, or make soup. I find it easier to put chopped vegetables in a bowl and then put them into the pan or pot than to transfer them off the cutting board. This is another step, thirty-five years in the making, of having my cooking area organized the way I want it. I guess it's about time.
2. I sprang into the Sube and crawled up the Balitimore-Washington Parkway to the vibrant, bustling Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport to pick up Vicki, who flew in from Seattle and will be spending the next few days with us. The stilted traffic going back toward Beltsville gave us plenty of opportunity to talk about a bunch of things.
3. The Deke had nailed down a table for the three of us at Old Line and our server, James, had a taste of Lagunitas' sour ale, Dark Swan, waiting for me. I liked it a lot, but prefer to drink sour beers after dinner, so I ordered a glass of Troeg's winter IPA, called Blizzard of Hops -- and what a blizzard it was, and I'm not talking Dairy Queen -- I'm talking a sleet storm of citrus and pine, a chaos of flavors. Our food came out -- the three of us shared an order of calamari, of feta cheese flatbread, and of hot chicken wings -- and I switched gears. I'd never tried Atlas Brewing's Town and Country, a Belgian Strong Ale, aged for nine months in red wine barrels. I loved this beer. James and I agreed that with each gulp the beer started out tasting like a good Belgian beer, but finished like a wine, making it a superb, tasty, and fascinating hybrid.
Drinking this beer transported me back to the good old days at the Bier Stein in Eugene when Shane and the Troxstar and Loren and I had occasional Belgian Beer Blowouts. Shane could be relied on to purchase us a bottle of Duchesse de Bourgogne, which I loved, and this Town and Country beer, brewed in D. C., reminded me of that beer and those great nights sharing bottles of Belgian beer at the Bier Stein. My favorite beers are not only packed with flavor, but packed with good memories as well, and Atlas' Town and Country served up both.
(That reminds me -- Shrove Tuesday is coming up on the 28th and our last Belgian Beer Blowout at the Bier Stein took place on Shrove Tuesday, March 4, 2014. It was epic. Our own Mardi Gras. And a beautiful thing.)
2. I sprang into the Sube and crawled up the Balitimore-Washington Parkway to the vibrant, bustling Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport to pick up Vicki, who flew in from Seattle and will be spending the next few days with us. The stilted traffic going back toward Beltsville gave us plenty of opportunity to talk about a bunch of things.
3. The Deke had nailed down a table for the three of us at Old Line and our server, James, had a taste of Lagunitas' sour ale, Dark Swan, waiting for me. I liked it a lot, but prefer to drink sour beers after dinner, so I ordered a glass of Troeg's winter IPA, called Blizzard of Hops -- and what a blizzard it was, and I'm not talking Dairy Queen -- I'm talking a sleet storm of citrus and pine, a chaos of flavors. Our food came out -- the three of us shared an order of calamari, of feta cheese flatbread, and of hot chicken wings -- and I switched gears. I'd never tried Atlas Brewing's Town and Country, a Belgian Strong Ale, aged for nine months in red wine barrels. I loved this beer. James and I agreed that with each gulp the beer started out tasting like a good Belgian beer, but finished like a wine, making it a superb, tasty, and fascinating hybrid.
Drinking this beer transported me back to the good old days at the Bier Stein in Eugene when Shane and the Troxstar and Loren and I had occasional Belgian Beer Blowouts. Shane could be relied on to purchase us a bottle of Duchesse de Bourgogne, which I loved, and this Town and Country beer, brewed in D. C., reminded me of that beer and those great nights sharing bottles of Belgian beer at the Bier Stein. My favorite beers are not only packed with flavor, but packed with good memories as well, and Atlas' Town and Country served up both.
(That reminds me -- Shrove Tuesday is coming up on the 28th and our last Belgian Beer Blowout at the Bier Stein took place on Shrove Tuesday, March 4, 2014. It was epic. Our own Mardi Gras. And a beautiful thing.)
Friday, February 17, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/16/17: Kitchen Organizing, Campbell's-Free Tuna Casserole, Food Pondering
1. Thanks to a household accident, I needed to go to Target and purchase a new electric kettle and I also bought four dip bowls so that now, on the counter where I cook, there is a row of squeeze bottles with oils, soy sauce, and vinegars and four dip bowls, one of salt, one of pepper, one of garlic powder, and one empty to put other herbs/spices in when the recipe calls for them. I also bought a second set of measuring spoons and these sit it a small cup on the counter at the ready for when I need to measure the salt/pepper/garlic powder or the herbs/spices. I'm not done organizing this cooking space just yet, but it's coming right along.
2. We've had these two cans of tuna sitting around for a couple of weeks and today I decided to fix a tuna casserole of some kind for dinner. I don't know if I've ever made one before. I searched online for a recipe with one criterion: no condensed soup. I found one and it turned out to be fantastic: creamy, cheesy, and thanks to the thyme and mustard, flavorful. The Deke heated hers up a bit with red pepper flakes, but I ate it as I cooked it. The only thing I'd do differently next time is either half the recipe or use two casserole dishes so that the casserole is shallower. This would highlight the potato chip topping's crunch more. (By the way the recipe called for crackers, but I opted for chips.) The recipe is easy to find. Just click right here.
3. I went back and watched the first episode of the series Eat the World. It's here. I love this episode. Marcus Samuelsson and host Emeril Lagasse dive into the world of New Nordic cuisine in Sweden. They visit a chef who cooks only with wood fire -- any of you remember my mention a while back of the reindeer heart taco? They also go out on a fishing boat and eat crawfish they just caught and later go to a fascinating fish market and Samulesson fixes a gorgeous meal in one of his restaurants. I loved listening to Marcus talk about how he and the other New Nordic chefs work to embrace the traditions of Nordic food and its focus on the elements of earth, water, and fire -- and air? hmm, not sure -- and then bring other country's influences into it. It made me wonder if I could re-imagine some of the staples I experienced as Silver Valley cuisine and, with the help of influences, say, from Thailand or Greece or Lebanon, make food that might combine my years growing up with some of the cooking I like to do in my adulthood. We'll see.
2. We've had these two cans of tuna sitting around for a couple of weeks and today I decided to fix a tuna casserole of some kind for dinner. I don't know if I've ever made one before. I searched online for a recipe with one criterion: no condensed soup. I found one and it turned out to be fantastic: creamy, cheesy, and thanks to the thyme and mustard, flavorful. The Deke heated hers up a bit with red pepper flakes, but I ate it as I cooked it. The only thing I'd do differently next time is either half the recipe or use two casserole dishes so that the casserole is shallower. This would highlight the potato chip topping's crunch more. (By the way the recipe called for crackers, but I opted for chips.) The recipe is easy to find. Just click right here.
3. I went back and watched the first episode of the series Eat the World. It's here. I love this episode. Marcus Samuelsson and host Emeril Lagasse dive into the world of New Nordic cuisine in Sweden. They visit a chef who cooks only with wood fire -- any of you remember my mention a while back of the reindeer heart taco? They also go out on a fishing boat and eat crawfish they just caught and later go to a fascinating fish market and Samulesson fixes a gorgeous meal in one of his restaurants. I loved listening to Marcus talk about how he and the other New Nordic chefs work to embrace the traditions of Nordic food and its focus on the elements of earth, water, and fire -- and air? hmm, not sure -- and then bring other country's influences into it. It made me wonder if I could re-imagine some of the staples I experienced as Silver Valley cuisine and, with the help of influences, say, from Thailand or Greece or Lebanon, make food that might combine my years growing up with some of the cooking I like to do in my adulthood. We'll see.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/15/17: Mom Fell -- Seems Okay, Lemon Ginger Stir Fry, Gnocchi After Hours
1. Christy called me around noon Eastern Standard Time to tell me that Mom seemed to be doing all right after she took a backward fall Tuesday evening in Carol and Paul's house, pulling her walker onto herself. It was a fluky accident. As the day moved along, I didn't receive any updates so that must mean nothing bad had developed during the day on Wednesday, although Mom must have bruised herself. Relieved that Mom had not seriously injured herself, I could then enjoy the rest of our conversation, especially Christy telling me about Mom's general improvement as her wound heals, her work at the library, her recent trip with Everett and the dogs to Montana, other family news, and what's happening with other people around Kellogg.
2. I wanted to use what we had on hand to make dinner tonight so I got out the electric fry pan and made a tofu, onion, and broccoli stir fry and a pot of white basmati rice. I really like broccoli and lemon, so I went online in search of a lemon stir fry sauce and I found one that combined vegetable broth (I used some of my homemade chicken stock), soy sauce, sesame oil, water, fresh ginger, garlic, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Thanks to this sauce, it was a killer stir fry. I spiced my bowl up with some sriracha, a little too much, in fact, so when I had a second half bowl of this stir fry, I put a small bit of sriracha in the bowl and then I could enjoy the heat without burying the lemon and ginger and garlic flavors of the sauce. Interested? The sauce recipe is the first half of a larger recipe found right here.
3. I enjoyed watching Marcus Samuelsson on an episode about New Nordic cuisine on Amazon's Eat the World and especially enjoyed his two part conversation with Ed Levine on the podcast, Special Sauce. Tonight, I went to the home page of Chopped and was happy to discover an episode of "After Hours" that I hadn't seen before and one of the chefs was Marcus Samuelsson. In an episode focused on pasta, he surprised everyone by making gnocchi. That reminded me that I've been wanting to give gnocchi a try and so I watched a couple of how-to videos and now it's just a matter of when I decide to do it.
2. I wanted to use what we had on hand to make dinner tonight so I got out the electric fry pan and made a tofu, onion, and broccoli stir fry and a pot of white basmati rice. I really like broccoli and lemon, so I went online in search of a lemon stir fry sauce and I found one that combined vegetable broth (I used some of my homemade chicken stock), soy sauce, sesame oil, water, fresh ginger, garlic, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Thanks to this sauce, it was a killer stir fry. I spiced my bowl up with some sriracha, a little too much, in fact, so when I had a second half bowl of this stir fry, I put a small bit of sriracha in the bowl and then I could enjoy the heat without burying the lemon and ginger and garlic flavors of the sauce. Interested? The sauce recipe is the first half of a larger recipe found right here.
3. I enjoyed watching Marcus Samuelsson on an episode about New Nordic cuisine on Amazon's Eat the World and especially enjoyed his two part conversation with Ed Levine on the podcast, Special Sauce. Tonight, I went to the home page of Chopped and was happy to discover an episode of "After Hours" that I hadn't seen before and one of the chefs was Marcus Samuelsson. In an episode focused on pasta, he surprised everyone by making gnocchi. That reminded me that I've been wanting to give gnocchi a try and so I watched a couple of how-to videos and now it's just a matter of when I decide to do it.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/14/17: Thanks to Phillip, Rock Creek Hike, Old Line is Chill
1. My gratitude to Philip who provides tech support at the school where the Deke works. This morning he bounded out to the Sube and enthusiastically helped me carry three of the four IKEA boxes into the school. He was so pumped to help that he carried the last one in all by himself, deadlifting it atop his shoulder, with a burst of energy fed by adrenaline and his eagerness to be of assistance.
2. Back in the old days, when I lived in North Idaho then Spokane and then Eugene, it took a few hours to drive to the nearest National Park. Here, in Greenbelt, and in Washington, D. C., National Parks abound. One of them, Greenbelt Park, is just minutes away from our apartment home and the nearby Baltimore-Washington Parkway is maintained by the National Park Service. A spacious National Park sits in northwest D.C. It's Rock Creek Park, the United States' third National Park (after Yellowstone and Mackinac), established in 1890. I buzzed over to Rock Creek Park early this afternoon, parked the Sube in the Nature Center parking lot and hiked a part of the Western Ridge Trail, humping up hills and down into a couple of creek beds, racking up nearly 10,000 steps and getting myself winded several times. It was not a good day for photographs; all the trees are bare and it was a gray, sunless day. No matter. I enjoyed being in the park, enjoyed how easily I got there, and look forward to returning -- especially as long as the temperatures are so chilly.
3. The Deke and I went to Old Line as soon as her work day was finished. It was perfect. The place was quiet. I was happy that the Barrel-Aged Big Punisher Double IPA from Jailbreak was still on tap. We split an order of calamari. As we left, the place was filling up with couples taking advantage of the three-course dinner special. We glided back to our apartment home to relax some more. I read. The Deke watched, and I listened to, Godfather, Part II.
2. Back in the old days, when I lived in North Idaho then Spokane and then Eugene, it took a few hours to drive to the nearest National Park. Here, in Greenbelt, and in Washington, D. C., National Parks abound. One of them, Greenbelt Park, is just minutes away from our apartment home and the nearby Baltimore-Washington Parkway is maintained by the National Park Service. A spacious National Park sits in northwest D.C. It's Rock Creek Park, the United States' third National Park (after Yellowstone and Mackinac), established in 1890. I buzzed over to Rock Creek Park early this afternoon, parked the Sube in the Nature Center parking lot and hiked a part of the Western Ridge Trail, humping up hills and down into a couple of creek beds, racking up nearly 10,000 steps and getting myself winded several times. It was not a good day for photographs; all the trees are bare and it was a gray, sunless day. No matter. I enjoyed being in the park, enjoyed how easily I got there, and look forward to returning -- especially as long as the temperatures are so chilly.
3. The Deke and I went to Old Line as soon as her work day was finished. It was perfect. The place was quiet. I was happy that the Barrel-Aged Big Punisher Double IPA from Jailbreak was still on tap. We split an order of calamari. As we left, the place was filling up with couples taking advantage of the three-course dinner special. We glided back to our apartment home to relax some more. I read. The Deke watched, and I listened to, Godfather, Part II.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/13/17: Working Out, I Like Tam, IKEA Smiles
1. After forty-five minutes of stretching, jogging, jumping, and flopping in the pool during class, I stuck around another fifteen minutes and ran in the pool and did an old football drill, but in the water, that improves both wind capacity and agility. I got out of the pool and soaked and thoroughly relaxed in the hot tub -- or as it's known in the aquatic center, the hydro-therapy pool.
2. I had gone since October without a hair cut. I was getting really tired of how my shaggy mop looked. Today I finally dragged myself into the Hair Cuttery and was very happy to discover that Tam was available to cut my hair. I miss my former favorite hair cutter, Angela, who left to have a baby and did not return, but Tam is my new favorite: she's friendly, skilled, and very efficient. I just have to get in more often. I really don't want to look like a mop again.
3. The Deke's school's PTA contributed an IKEA gift card toward buying some shelving for the two third grade classrooms -- the Deke bought her own shelving two years ago -- and I purchased the four boxes this evening. Unlike the first couple of times I went to IKEA, I really look forward to going there now. I don't feel lost anymore, I enjoy watching other customers and catching bits of their conversations as they make home furnishing decisions and, this evening, I had encounters with three friendly and helpful IKEA employees. I was grateful for their goodwill, excellent service, and our exchanges of warm smiles.
2. I had gone since October without a hair cut. I was getting really tired of how my shaggy mop looked. Today I finally dragged myself into the Hair Cuttery and was very happy to discover that Tam was available to cut my hair. I miss my former favorite hair cutter, Angela, who left to have a baby and did not return, but Tam is my new favorite: she's friendly, skilled, and very efficient. I just have to get in more often. I really don't want to look like a mop again.
3. The Deke's school's PTA contributed an IKEA gift card toward buying some shelving for the two third grade classrooms -- the Deke bought her own shelving two years ago -- and I purchased the four boxes this evening. Unlike the first couple of times I went to IKEA, I really look forward to going there now. I don't feel lost anymore, I enjoy watching other customers and catching bits of their conversations as they make home furnishing decisions and, this evening, I had encounters with three friendly and helpful IKEA employees. I was grateful for their goodwill, excellent service, and our exchanges of warm smiles.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/12/17: David Brooks' Sermon, Cooking Chicken, Podcast Dreams
1. The only thing not enjoyable about going to Jailbreak and Black Flag on Saturday was that I got sick by the time we got home. It was an intestinal bug of some kind. Consequently, the Deke and I did not go to church this morning, but we did listen on YouTube to the NYTime's columnist David Brooks give this morning's sermon at the National Cathedral. As he talked about beauty and the divine and about the loss of the ties that could bind us to one another in our country, I saw, in ways I won't detail here, my former life of study and teaching pass before my eyes and felt a rekindling of the love for specific ideas I worked with often in my reading and my teaching, ideas inspired in large part by Plato and especially by Shakespeare. If you'd like to hear his sermon, go here. It begins at about 35:30.
2. By early afternoon, my system had cleared out the bug -- or whatever happens when an illness is gone. The Deke went to the Diazes and I stayed home and played in the kitchen, cooking a whole chicken, taking the meat off its bones and storing it, and continuing my experiments with making chicken stock.
3. I went to bed and listened to the latest episode of The Big Listen, here, and throughout the night I dreamed of podcasts. In particular, I dreamed an episode broadcast by two sportswriters telling the story of their research about a baseball player from many decades ago who never made it to the big leagues, but who attracted their attention because his name was Capital Punishment.
2. By early afternoon, my system had cleared out the bug -- or whatever happens when an illness is gone. The Deke went to the Diazes and I stayed home and played in the kitchen, cooking a whole chicken, taking the meat off its bones and storing it, and continuing my experiments with making chicken stock.
3. I went to bed and listened to the latest episode of The Big Listen, here, and throughout the night I dreamed of podcasts. In particular, I dreamed an episode broadcast by two sportswriters telling the story of their research about a baseball player from many decades ago who never made it to the big leagues, but who attracted their attention because his name was Capital Punishment.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Sibling Photo Assignment #11: Black and White
Here's what Christy asked us to do -- way back in November -- for this photo assignment:
I've been mired in a deep photographic slump ever since I arrived in Kellogg back in November and upon my return to Maryland in mid-December. Part of it has to do with the cold weather and my reluctance to go on walks with my camera when it's so cold. So, I've been sitting on this assignment for about three months and I am thinking that posting this and getting the weight of not doing it off my mind might help free me up to get back to doing some shooting. These are the only pictures I took while in Kellogg.
For me, black and white photography is effective because there are no colors to distract my attention from the nature of the subject in the picture. So in portraits, if they are in black and white, my attention goes right to the qualities of the person, not to the color of their hair or the colors they are wearing or anything else. Although these pictures don't show it, I love taking black and white pictures to experiment with light and shadows.
If these pictures of bunnies and a raccoon and a toad on Mom's back deck make you smile or even laugh, then these pictures are effective. You might smile because you find them sweet or endearing. You might find them kind of silly, in a good way, and laugh or smile at that. But, whatever your response, I hope you'll find that the nature of these figures, whatever you find them to be, free of the distraction of color, comes through.
What makes effective black and white photographs? Is it the subject, the light, the composition? Take a series of black and white photos, explaining why they are effective.Christy's pictures are here and Carol's are here.
I've been mired in a deep photographic slump ever since I arrived in Kellogg back in November and upon my return to Maryland in mid-December. Part of it has to do with the cold weather and my reluctance to go on walks with my camera when it's so cold. So, I've been sitting on this assignment for about three months and I am thinking that posting this and getting the weight of not doing it off my mind might help free me up to get back to doing some shooting. These are the only pictures I took while in Kellogg.
For me, black and white photography is effective because there are no colors to distract my attention from the nature of the subject in the picture. So in portraits, if they are in black and white, my attention goes right to the qualities of the person, not to the color of their hair or the colors they are wearing or anything else. Although these pictures don't show it, I love taking black and white pictures to experiment with light and shadows.
If these pictures of bunnies and a raccoon and a toad on Mom's back deck make you smile or even laugh, then these pictures are effective. You might smile because you find them sweet or endearing. You might find them kind of silly, in a good way, and laugh or smile at that. But, whatever your response, I hope you'll find that the nature of these figures, whatever you find them to be, free of the distraction of color, comes through.
Three Beautiful Things 02/11/17: Jailbreak, Black Flag, Giggy's
1. The Deke and I decided to travel north and go to the Jailbreak Brewery in Laurel for the first time. The tasting room was a large room with lots of communal tables and off on one side were some comfortable looking living room chairs and sofas. The Deke enjoyed her Into the Night stout and I took advantage of Jailbreak having one cask conditioned beer on tap, their Big Punisher Double IPA with Equinox hops. Drinking this beer took me back to my introduction to cask conditioned ale all over England in 1979 and back to the days twenty years ago when I re-introduced myself to to cask conditioned beer at the High Street Brewery and Cafe in Eugene and took me back to those Sunday trips after church that Shane, Loren, the Troxstar, and I used to make to Oakridge where we enjoyed imperial pints of cask conditioned ale at the Brewers Union Local 180 Pub.
2. The Deke and I went to a another large tasting room in Columbia and each enjoyed a beer at the Black Flag Brewery -- another place we had never been. Like Jailbreak, the place was full of people, young and old and in between, yakkin', laughing -- one group was celebrating a 30th birthday. People to our left had their dog with them, so, like many tasting rooms at breweries, Black Flag welcomes well-behaved dogs. It was a good scene.
3. Giggy's BBQ food truck was parked in front of the Black Flag Brewery and the Deke and I split a robust fried shrimp and sausage po boy with lettuce and tomatoes and cajun kick sauce. Neither of us could have eaten the whole thing alone and the hand cut fries and creamy cole slaw were perfect sides.
2. The Deke and I went to a another large tasting room in Columbia and each enjoyed a beer at the Black Flag Brewery -- another place we had never been. Like Jailbreak, the place was full of people, young and old and in between, yakkin', laughing -- one group was celebrating a 30th birthday. People to our left had their dog with them, so, like many tasting rooms at breweries, Black Flag welcomes well-behaved dogs. It was a good scene.
3. Giggy's BBQ food truck was parked in front of the Black Flag Brewery and the Deke and I split a robust fried shrimp and sausage po boy with lettuce and tomatoes and cajun kick sauce. Neither of us could have eaten the whole thing alone and the hand cut fries and creamy cole slaw were perfect sides.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/10/17: Patient Customer Service, Falafel Wrap, Ana Loves Pictures
1. I had some business to take care of at Banfield at PetSmart and was very grateful to Desiree for her patience, humor, and goodwill as we solved a small debit card problem, got a prescription for Maggie updated, and scheduled Maggie and Charly for their next appointment in March.
2. Before going over to the Diazes, where the Deke would be spending the night while Molly and Hiram went on a date to see The Fifth Element at the Air and Space IMAX theater, we split a really tasty falafel wrap, perfectly seasoned with a tart and nutty lemon tahini dressing, at Quench.
3. After saying, "No!" three times when asked if she wanted to "see Bop", Ana, unprompted, walked over to me as I sat on a couch in the living room and plopped herself next to me so that we could look at a pictures of Molly when she was a little girl and look at animal pictures in a couple of Ana's books.
2. Before going over to the Diazes, where the Deke would be spending the night while Molly and Hiram went on a date to see The Fifth Element at the Air and Space IMAX theater, we split a really tasty falafel wrap, perfectly seasoned with a tart and nutty lemon tahini dressing, at Quench.
3. After saying, "No!" three times when asked if she wanted to "see Bop", Ana, unprompted, walked over to me as I sat on a couch in the living room and plopped herself next to me so that we could look at a pictures of Molly when she was a little girl and look at animal pictures in a couple of Ana's books.
Friday, February 10, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/09/17: A Day Inside, Wrestling with Curry, Good Talk with Lizzie
1. Temperatures plunged about forty degrees from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon and a fierce wind whipped up. It was a good day to stay inside, have a talk with Mom on the phone, do about five loads of laundry, and sort out the refrigerator. Mom sounded strong on the phone. She cooked a pot roast dinner for the family on Sunday and that is quite an achievement. I was glad she told me she got some help at the end with getting the roast out of the oven, making the gravy, setting the table, and other things, but she prepared the dinner herself.
2. I spent quite a bit of time this afternoon wrestling with a Thai curry. I got out the Kaeng Pa (or Jungle Curry) paste. Normally, it's the foundation for a curry that does not use coconut milk. I found a recipe that laid out the proportions between paste and chicken broth. I thought to myself that this seems like a lot of paste to go with this small amount of liquid, so I poured a quart of broth over the paste instead of two cups. After stir frying the paste, adding the broth, and boiling it, I couldn't bear the intensity of the pepper heat, so I got out three cans of coconut milk and cream and added them to the growing pot of curry. I baked tofu and eggplant, added them, and added green beans and spinach out of the freezer. I suddenly thought maybe some rice vermicelli noodles would taste good in this, so I boiled them and threw them in. All my efforts cooled off the spicy heat of the curry, and, sure enough, when the Deke and I got home for dinner, we agreed I'd done a pretty good job cooling off what had been a five alarm curry, leaving plenty of heat, but making it a spicy dish we could enjoy. I'll have to try to make coconut milk-less Kaeng Pa another time.
3. The Deke surprised me when, this afternoon, she texted me not only telling me to pick her up at 4:30, but also saying she'd like to go to DC Brau. We did just that. Things were quiet at DC Brau and we enjoyed some beer, but, most of all, we enjoyed having a great talk with Lizzie who was working the tasting room. She had recently returned from the West Coast and told us about her boyfriend starting the Master Brewing program at U. C. Davis and their trip out to Davis so he could get started. We've enjoyed talking with Lizzie before and, as happens so often at DC Brau, where youngsters are in charge, we had another great experience talking with and learning about the dreams and ambitions and experiences of these youngsters known of as Millennials. These young people at DC Brau really know how to work and are gracious and intelligent as well -- and, to top it off, they brew superb beer.
2. I spent quite a bit of time this afternoon wrestling with a Thai curry. I got out the Kaeng Pa (or Jungle Curry) paste. Normally, it's the foundation for a curry that does not use coconut milk. I found a recipe that laid out the proportions between paste and chicken broth. I thought to myself that this seems like a lot of paste to go with this small amount of liquid, so I poured a quart of broth over the paste instead of two cups. After stir frying the paste, adding the broth, and boiling it, I couldn't bear the intensity of the pepper heat, so I got out three cans of coconut milk and cream and added them to the growing pot of curry. I baked tofu and eggplant, added them, and added green beans and spinach out of the freezer. I suddenly thought maybe some rice vermicelli noodles would taste good in this, so I boiled them and threw them in. All my efforts cooled off the spicy heat of the curry, and, sure enough, when the Deke and I got home for dinner, we agreed I'd done a pretty good job cooling off what had been a five alarm curry, leaving plenty of heat, but making it a spicy dish we could enjoy. I'll have to try to make coconut milk-less Kaeng Pa another time.
3. The Deke surprised me when, this afternoon, she texted me not only telling me to pick her up at 4:30, but also saying she'd like to go to DC Brau. We did just that. Things were quiet at DC Brau and we enjoyed some beer, but, most of all, we enjoyed having a great talk with Lizzie who was working the tasting room. She had recently returned from the West Coast and told us about her boyfriend starting the Master Brewing program at U. C. Davis and their trip out to Davis so he could get started. We've enjoyed talking with Lizzie before and, as happens so often at DC Brau, where youngsters are in charge, we had another great experience talking with and learning about the dreams and ambitions and experiences of these youngsters known of as Millennials. These young people at DC Brau really know how to work and are gracious and intelligent as well -- and, to top it off, they brew superb beer.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/08/17: Leniency and Today's Knock, Walking the Anacostia, Jailbreak's Rare Beers
1. For any of you reading this who were students of mine, especially between 2000-14, you might remember I was pretty lenient. I accepted late papers all the time. I often relaxed rules. I tried to be understanding and, well, I was, more often than not, a softy. I was reminded of this tendency of mine about 9:30 this morning when I recognized the light knock on the door. I had just finished fried eggs over toast and was halfway through my mug of black tea and milk. It was David from upstairs. He looked like he'd been out of bed for about five minutes. He quietly, shyly, with a tinge of embarrassment, told me he needed a ride to school. No problem. I just needed a minute to get ready. We piled into the Sube and, once again, David expressed gratitude for the ride, albeit, with some chagrine. I had to smile. David is bringing back memories of when Molly and Patrick were teenagers and the mighty challenges the mornings often presented, especially for Patrick. I understand better now than I did then how difficult the mornings can be for teens. In fact, raising teens contributed to softening me, slowly becoming more understanding, more lenient. I never achieved full leniency, at home or at school. Still haven't. But, if David is putting me to the leniency test, so far, I'm passing it, happily.
Writing what I just wrote reminded me that back in 2009 I wrote about the ethic (or ethos?) of leniency as a central principle for writing. I wrote that here. This idea of being lenient was very much on my mind back on November 21, 2013, as evidenced in this Three Beautiful Things post, here.
2. The temperature rose into the low 70s today, a perfect day for walking. I steered the Sube down to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens because while I was away in November, the trail from the gardens to the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail was opened, as was a new stretch of the Riverwalk Trail, connecting the Bladensburg Waterfront Park to the aquatic gardens and beyond. I strolled along the eastern bank of the muddy Anacostia River and came back to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and walked on the land between the ponds, looking for turtles and admiring the peaceful geese. All vegetation is dormant now and the geese seemed to enjoy having all the water in several of the ponds all to themselves. I don't know yet if the pictures I took are blog worthy, but I'll check later today.
3. At Old Line today, Jailbreak Brewing of nearby Laurel took over four taps with rare beers and the Deke and I were among a small hoard of beer drinkers eager to sample them. We loved each one in the flight we shared: the Ephemeral IPA, Vol. II, Rymin' and Stealin' Spiced Rye Ale, spiced with peppercorn and cardamom, the powerfully chocolate-y and boozy Barrel Aged Dusk til Dawn Imperial Stout, and, my favorite, the Barrel Aged Big Punisher Double IPA, candy sweet thanks to the bourbon, but hoppy all the same. The last two beers were aged in Smooth Ambler Old Scout 10 barrels for three months.
Sean and Anthony, our two millennial buddies at the bar, both employees behind the scenes for Holiday Inn, one an accountant, the other a hospitality manager, also loved the beers and the four of us fell into a reasonable, calm discussion about the election of 2016. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their analysis. I also enjoyed what they had to say about their experiences taking English courses in college, once they knew I'd spent my adult life as a college English instructor. (Anthony loved his English courses, especially being assigned the book that changed his life and made all other novels make sense: The Invisible Man; Sean preferred math and science to English, but saw the value of English courses! I should have picked up their tabs.)
Writing what I just wrote reminded me that back in 2009 I wrote about the ethic (or ethos?) of leniency as a central principle for writing. I wrote that here. This idea of being lenient was very much on my mind back on November 21, 2013, as evidenced in this Three Beautiful Things post, here.
2. The temperature rose into the low 70s today, a perfect day for walking. I steered the Sube down to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens because while I was away in November, the trail from the gardens to the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail was opened, as was a new stretch of the Riverwalk Trail, connecting the Bladensburg Waterfront Park to the aquatic gardens and beyond. I strolled along the eastern bank of the muddy Anacostia River and came back to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and walked on the land between the ponds, looking for turtles and admiring the peaceful geese. All vegetation is dormant now and the geese seemed to enjoy having all the water in several of the ponds all to themselves. I don't know yet if the pictures I took are blog worthy, but I'll check later today.
3. At Old Line today, Jailbreak Brewing of nearby Laurel took over four taps with rare beers and the Deke and I were among a small hoard of beer drinkers eager to sample them. We loved each one in the flight we shared: the Ephemeral IPA, Vol. II, Rymin' and Stealin' Spiced Rye Ale, spiced with peppercorn and cardamom, the powerfully chocolate-y and boozy Barrel Aged Dusk til Dawn Imperial Stout, and, my favorite, the Barrel Aged Big Punisher Double IPA, candy sweet thanks to the bourbon, but hoppy all the same. The last two beers were aged in Smooth Ambler Old Scout 10 barrels for three months.
Sean and Anthony, our two millennial buddies at the bar, both employees behind the scenes for Holiday Inn, one an accountant, the other a hospitality manager, also loved the beers and the four of us fell into a reasonable, calm discussion about the election of 2016. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their analysis. I also enjoyed what they had to say about their experiences taking English courses in college, once they knew I'd spent my adult life as a college English instructor. (Anthony loved his English courses, especially being assigned the book that changed his life and made all other novels make sense: The Invisible Man; Sean preferred math and science to English, but saw the value of English courses! I should have picked up their tabs.)
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/07/17: Light Knock on the Door, Diving into Pho, Ana Knows Animals
1. I was nearly finished with my soft cooked eggs over 7 grain crunch toast and cup of black tea with milk when I heard a light knock at the door. It was David from upstairs. He'd missed his bus. He'd awakened once, but said it was too early to get up and the next time he woke up, it was too late to catch the bus. He asked me for a ride to school. I crated the dogs, ate my last bite of egg and toast, put on my shoes, and drove David the five minutes or so it takes to get to Greenbelt Middle School.
2. I took a drive into D.C. today. First, I wanted to locate a neighborhood pub on Rhode Island NE called Public Option. It's only open Friday-Sunday and they brew their own beer and I wanted to check out exactly where it sits on Rhode Island and see what the parking around there looked like. Then I decided to drive on Rhode Island all the way to Logan Circle, navigate it, and see what it felt like to drive to the ChurchKey on 14th and Rhode Island NW. I succeeded. I drove to the Brookland neighborhood next and parked in a residential neighborhood that reminded me, in part, of the Eugene neighborhood I lived in and a little bit of the Whitaker neighborhood. I walked to a Vietnamese restaurant I've read about, Pho 12, and, departing from my usual chicken pho order, dove into an excellent bowl of seafood pho, my first ever, and tried to make each bite or each spoonful of broth taste different, randomly adding bits of basil, jalapeno, lime, and bean sprouts that accompanied the soup and by selecting which seafood I ate -- crab, scallop, shrimp, or fish ball.
3. Molly and Hiram asked the Deke and me to watch Olivia, David, and Ana while they went on a date commemorating the 25th anniversary of Wayne's World by driving up to Hanover and seeing the movie in a theater. We did it. When it was about time for the Deke to help Olivia and David get ready for bed, Ana and I sat together and read books and Ana demonstrated her ability to point to and identify animal pictures as I asked her, "Where's the duck?" "Where's the dog?" The cat, frog, bear and others. We had a lot of fun.
2. I took a drive into D.C. today. First, I wanted to locate a neighborhood pub on Rhode Island NE called Public Option. It's only open Friday-Sunday and they brew their own beer and I wanted to check out exactly where it sits on Rhode Island and see what the parking around there looked like. Then I decided to drive on Rhode Island all the way to Logan Circle, navigate it, and see what it felt like to drive to the ChurchKey on 14th and Rhode Island NW. I succeeded. I drove to the Brookland neighborhood next and parked in a residential neighborhood that reminded me, in part, of the Eugene neighborhood I lived in and a little bit of the Whitaker neighborhood. I walked to a Vietnamese restaurant I've read about, Pho 12, and, departing from my usual chicken pho order, dove into an excellent bowl of seafood pho, my first ever, and tried to make each bite or each spoonful of broth taste different, randomly adding bits of basil, jalapeno, lime, and bean sprouts that accompanied the soup and by selecting which seafood I ate -- crab, scallop, shrimp, or fish ball.
3. Molly and Hiram asked the Deke and me to watch Olivia, David, and Ana while they went on a date commemorating the 25th anniversary of Wayne's World by driving up to Hanover and seeing the movie in a theater. We did it. When it was about time for the Deke to help Olivia and David get ready for bed, Ana and I sat together and read books and Ana demonstrated her ability to point to and identify animal pictures as I asked her, "Where's the duck?" "Where's the dog?" The cat, frog, bear and others. We had a lot of fun.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/06/17: Jump Out of the Gym, Costco Chicken, Babes with Axes Dream
1. Back when I was a teenager, friends and I admired basketball players who had great leaping ability. We said they could "jump out of the gym". At swim class, we do some jumping exercises and lately I have been giving them some extra effort, pretending that, now, at sixty-three years old, for the first time, I can finally jump out of the gym. (All I really do is make big waves.)
2. I found what looked like a really good lemon chicken recipe and determined to make it for dinner tonight. The Deke had requested a chicken dinner. I was more than happy to comply. I went to Costco with the idea of buying one of those packs of chicken thighs, baking some and freezing the rest. On my way into the store, though, someone came out with an already cooked whole chicken in his cart. I decided right then and there that the Deke and I would enjoy such a chicken and it would provide plenty of leftover meat for the Deke's daily lunch salads. So I bought one. When I got home, I roasted some baby yukons and yellow onion chunks and cooked a pan of frozen corn -- a comforting dinner.
3. I don't know much about music and performing and arranging, but today I repeatedly imagined The Babes with Axes having another reunion show and surprising everyone by opening the night with a riveting cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain". I found myself wanting to hear their voices harmonizing "Listen to the wind blow" and the rest of the song, moving through it link by link and to anticipate that moment when T. R. would play her take on John McVie's solo bass riff and whole band would come back in. It's a silly dream. But, its silliness didn't keep me from hearing this phantom performance in my head much of the day today.
2. I found what looked like a really good lemon chicken recipe and determined to make it for dinner tonight. The Deke had requested a chicken dinner. I was more than happy to comply. I went to Costco with the idea of buying one of those packs of chicken thighs, baking some and freezing the rest. On my way into the store, though, someone came out with an already cooked whole chicken in his cart. I decided right then and there that the Deke and I would enjoy such a chicken and it would provide plenty of leftover meat for the Deke's daily lunch salads. So I bought one. When I got home, I roasted some baby yukons and yellow onion chunks and cooked a pan of frozen corn -- a comforting dinner.
3. I don't know much about music and performing and arranging, but today I repeatedly imagined The Babes with Axes having another reunion show and surprising everyone by opening the night with a riveting cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain". I found myself wanting to hear their voices harmonizing "Listen to the wind blow" and the rest of the song, moving through it link by link and to anticipate that moment when T. R. would play her take on John McVie's solo bass riff and whole band would come back in. It's a silly dream. But, its silliness didn't keep me from hearing this phantom performance in my head much of the day today.
Monday, February 6, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/05/17: Oatmeal Pancake Memories, The Essay, Pink Floyd and Beer
1. Back in the old days in Eugene, starting like over thirty years ago, I used to cook out of Laurel's Kitchen frequently. I lost my self-annotated copy of the cookbook when we moved to Maryland, but I find postings of recipes online. This morning, fixing Laurel's oatmeal pancake recipe, I decided to relive times when I lived in the basement of a brick apartment house in Eugene on West Broadway between Lawrence and Lincoln. I cooked all the time in that little kitchen and, indeed, fun memories returned as I poured real maple syrup over my pancakes and enjoyed eating them.
2. Back in these same old days, when I tried to help students read, write, and think better, I also used to participate in discussions with fellow teachers about the essay as a form of writing. Today, I read a review/article in the Jan./Feb issue of The Atlantic about this very question, "In Defense of Facts" by William Deresiewicz. Much of the article savaged the work of essay anthologist John D'Gata. In order to support his attack, though, Deresiewicz laid out his own understanding of the history and purpose of the essay and this got me remembering essays I enjoyed reading in the old days and even reminded me that, in those old days, I churned out an essay or two and used to write rough essays more often in this blog.
3. Saturday, I so enjoyed the "Softly Spoken Magic Spells" Double IPA that, today, I approached beer historian, Mike, at DC Brau, about whether he knew Singlecut Brewery and this beer. He lit up. He didn't know this specific beer, but he's a native of NYC and has visited the Singlecut Brewery in Astoria, Queens and told me about his visit and the way the name of the brewery is related to Les Paul and how the brewery often names their beers after pieces of lyrics from songs. Well, being the not that cool and with it guy that I am, it took a search of the WWWeb for me to discover that Pink Floyd's famous song "Time" ends this way:
Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell.
And so with that last line, a beer's name was inspired.
2. Back in these same old days, when I tried to help students read, write, and think better, I also used to participate in discussions with fellow teachers about the essay as a form of writing. Today, I read a review/article in the Jan./Feb issue of The Atlantic about this very question, "In Defense of Facts" by William Deresiewicz. Much of the article savaged the work of essay anthologist John D'Gata. In order to support his attack, though, Deresiewicz laid out his own understanding of the history and purpose of the essay and this got me remembering essays I enjoyed reading in the old days and even reminded me that, in those old days, I churned out an essay or two and used to write rough essays more often in this blog.
3. Saturday, I so enjoyed the "Softly Spoken Magic Spells" Double IPA that, today, I approached beer historian, Mike, at DC Brau, about whether he knew Singlecut Brewery and this beer. He lit up. He didn't know this specific beer, but he's a native of NYC and has visited the Singlecut Brewery in Astoria, Queens and told me about his visit and the way the name of the brewery is related to Les Paul and how the brewery often names their beers after pieces of lyrics from songs. Well, being the not that cool and with it guy that I am, it took a search of the WWWeb for me to discover that Pink Floyd's famous song "Time" ends this way:
Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell.
And so with that last line, a beer's name was inspired.
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/04/17: Strolling Eastern Market, Capitol Hill Books, Pork Hot Pot at EatBar
1. The skies emptied of clouds. The temperature stayed just above freezing, a perfect day for walking. So, I shoehorned myself into the Sube and descended into the capital of America. I glided into my favorite parking garage at Union Station and headed east into Capitol Hill. The strolled down quiet back streets lined with row houses and made my way to Eastern Market. Outside the market building, vendors lined 7th Street SE with tables and stalls, selling jewelry, purses, T-shirts, hats, caps, candles, paintings, shawls, pottery, soap, antiques, ceramics, and other marketable merchandise. None of it interests me. Ha! But, I enjoyed walking in the crowd and listening to all the rhythms and sounds of voices and watching people enjoy looking at all these items. I enjoyed the inside of the market much more because I like looking at refrigerated cases of chicken wings, cuts of beef beef, whole rock fish, raw oysters and scores of other meat and fish products and I enjoy looking at baked goods and produce and cheese displays. I gawked at the blackboard menu at Market Lunch and made a mental note to bring cash next time and dreamed of crab cake or of one day coming early on another Saturday or Sunday for a stack of Market Lunch's famous weekend only Bluebuck pancakes -- that is, blueberry buckwheat.
2. I think I'd heard of Capitol Hill Books before. It's a stone's throw from Eastern Market and as a part of today's over 9000 step walking tour, I dropped in. Bookshelves bow. Piles of used books and first editions extend from floor to ceiling. It's a very tight squeeze trying to move from one section of this tiny store to another and I didn't even go upstairs to look at fiction or poetry or plunge into the basement to look at other books. Chet Baker played over the sound system. I was one of about a dozen or so people slow dancing around the shop. "Excuse me." "Thank you." "Oh..excuse me, please." "Thanks." Ha! I wasn't really interested in buying any books, although if I'd seen an irresistible cookbook, I might have picked one up. I'll go back, but if I do, I think I'll try to have specific books in mind to look for. I found browsing this bookstore to be overwhelming.
3. I crossed Pennsylvania Ave. and made my way past the Eastern Market Metro Station and headed south on 8th St. SE, thinking I'd like to grab a bite to eat and a beer at Ted's Bulletin along Barrack's Row. No way. For people who wanted to eat, they were handing out those cell phone looking devices they use at Olive Garden that light up when your table is ready. So, I slipped into a quiet joint called EatBar. I ordered a snifter of an Imperial IPA I'd never heard of, a beer brewed in Astoria, Queens at Singlecut Brewing. It's called Softly Spoken Magic Spells and, I must admit, it enchanted me. I softly gasped with pleasure when I drew my first drink and slowly relished this hoppy delight. I ordered something I've never eaten before for lunch. It was called a pork hot pot and featured two tigelle (my server later brought me a third), which I cut in half and opened up, like a pita. Inside I stuffed one of the silver dollar-sized medallions of medium rare pork tenderloin and a spoonful of giardiniera and dipped it into a bowl of Italian jus. It was a chewy, briney, soupy delight. I love ordering food that either I've never heard of or that I cannot imagine making at home and this lunch fit both criteria.
I humped it back to the Sube and since DC Brau was on my route to the Diazes, I stopped in, savored a couple of pours of On the Wings of Armageddon, put in my earbuds, and listened to tunes by Warren Zevon and Harry Nilsson, followed by a great selection of Spirit, The Allman Brothers, Vanilla Fudge, Cream, Santana and others that popped up on my Spirit station on Pandora.
What a great day.
2. I think I'd heard of Capitol Hill Books before. It's a stone's throw from Eastern Market and as a part of today's over 9000 step walking tour, I dropped in. Bookshelves bow. Piles of used books and first editions extend from floor to ceiling. It's a very tight squeeze trying to move from one section of this tiny store to another and I didn't even go upstairs to look at fiction or poetry or plunge into the basement to look at other books. Chet Baker played over the sound system. I was one of about a dozen or so people slow dancing around the shop. "Excuse me." "Thank you." "Oh..excuse me, please." "Thanks." Ha! I wasn't really interested in buying any books, although if I'd seen an irresistible cookbook, I might have picked one up. I'll go back, but if I do, I think I'll try to have specific books in mind to look for. I found browsing this bookstore to be overwhelming.
3. I crossed Pennsylvania Ave. and made my way past the Eastern Market Metro Station and headed south on 8th St. SE, thinking I'd like to grab a bite to eat and a beer at Ted's Bulletin along Barrack's Row. No way. For people who wanted to eat, they were handing out those cell phone looking devices they use at Olive Garden that light up when your table is ready. So, I slipped into a quiet joint called EatBar. I ordered a snifter of an Imperial IPA I'd never heard of, a beer brewed in Astoria, Queens at Singlecut Brewing. It's called Softly Spoken Magic Spells and, I must admit, it enchanted me. I softly gasped with pleasure when I drew my first drink and slowly relished this hoppy delight. I ordered something I've never eaten before for lunch. It was called a pork hot pot and featured two tigelle (my server later brought me a third), which I cut in half and opened up, like a pita. Inside I stuffed one of the silver dollar-sized medallions of medium rare pork tenderloin and a spoonful of giardiniera and dipped it into a bowl of Italian jus. It was a chewy, briney, soupy delight. I love ordering food that either I've never heard of or that I cannot imagine making at home and this lunch fit both criteria.
I humped it back to the Sube and since DC Brau was on my route to the Diazes, I stopped in, savored a couple of pours of On the Wings of Armageddon, put in my earbuds, and listened to tunes by Warren Zevon and Harry Nilsson, followed by a great selection of Spirit, The Allman Brothers, Vanilla Fudge, Cream, Santana and others that popped up on my Spirit station on Pandora.
What a great day.
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/03/17: Strolling at Union Market, Strolling the Market District, Sweet and Quiet Beer
1. Early this afternoon, I bounded out to the Sube, blasted down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to Route 50 (New York Avenue NE), buzzed up South Dakota NE to drop off a box at Goodwill, and crept from there to Union Market. All I wanted to do at Union Market was walk around, admire the thick steaks and pork belly at Harvey's Market and the Red Apron Butcher, check out the menus at the District Fish Wife and at Rappahannock Oyster, gawk at the goods at Righteous Cheese, and breathe in the aromas of the food stalls featuring cuisine ranging from Korean tacos to dosas from India to empanadas from Guatemala and much more. I enjoyed a cup of coffee at Peregrine. The beans were roasted in Papua New Guinea.
2. Union Market sits in an area bordered by New York and Florida Avenues and 4th and 6th Streets NE. Crammed into this district are a host of wholesalers in old buildings with delivery trucks parked up and down the streets. The wholesalers are in the business of distributing everything from meat to seafood to produce to cheap accessories like purses and cell phone protectors and, dotted in the midst of these wholesale businesses are contemporary ventures, like a distillery, a pop up movie theater, a retail center for local handcrafted goods, a gelatto and coffee shop, and an upscale Italian restaurant, Masseria. I wanted to see what Masseria looked like from the outside -- I can't imagine I'll ever go inside -- and get a sense of how it blended into this neighborhood of rundown looking, graffiti marked wholesalers and vacant lots -- with, by the way, the gentrified Union Market plopped in the middle of it all. The first time I strolled up 4th Street, I missed Masseria, and then, after consulting a map on my smartphone, I found it.
Why did I want to see Masseria? I had read that Michelle Obama ate at Masseria three different times during her tenure as First Lady. Often I read in publications and hear on the radio that Barack and Michelle Obama are popular in the city of Washington, D. C., in part, because they enjoyed going out to neighborhoods. It's common to read and hear that they "embraced D. C." Many presidents haven't. They never strayed far from the area and restaurants around the White House and the area's other governmental centers. But the Obamas liked to get out -- and I suppose they will continue to do so as they settle in as residents of Washington, D. C. for a while. So I just enjoyed seeing this modest looking upscale restaurant sitting on this worn out street with its graffiti and delivery trucks and liked that Michelle Obama was no stranger to this bustling, work a day, entrepreneurial neighborhood.
3. Ah! Friday! DC Brau's tasting room opens at 3 p.m. on Friday and full pours are half price. So after my tour of the Union Market district, I drove up to DC Brau. I got there early enough that it was not very busy yet and I thoroughly enjoyed two glasses of their winter seasonal, the scotch ale, Stone of Arbroath. It's a malty beer, warming, more sweet than bitter. I enjoyed my short visit, the beer, the quiet, the bits of conversation I could hear going on around the room. As I left, I purchased a sixer of The Wings of Armageddon, knowing that the Deke would be very happy to relax after a tiring week with the help of one of our favorite Imperial IPAs.
2. Union Market sits in an area bordered by New York and Florida Avenues and 4th and 6th Streets NE. Crammed into this district are a host of wholesalers in old buildings with delivery trucks parked up and down the streets. The wholesalers are in the business of distributing everything from meat to seafood to produce to cheap accessories like purses and cell phone protectors and, dotted in the midst of these wholesale businesses are contemporary ventures, like a distillery, a pop up movie theater, a retail center for local handcrafted goods, a gelatto and coffee shop, and an upscale Italian restaurant, Masseria. I wanted to see what Masseria looked like from the outside -- I can't imagine I'll ever go inside -- and get a sense of how it blended into this neighborhood of rundown looking, graffiti marked wholesalers and vacant lots -- with, by the way, the gentrified Union Market plopped in the middle of it all. The first time I strolled up 4th Street, I missed Masseria, and then, after consulting a map on my smartphone, I found it.
Why did I want to see Masseria? I had read that Michelle Obama ate at Masseria three different times during her tenure as First Lady. Often I read in publications and hear on the radio that Barack and Michelle Obama are popular in the city of Washington, D. C., in part, because they enjoyed going out to neighborhoods. It's common to read and hear that they "embraced D. C." Many presidents haven't. They never strayed far from the area and restaurants around the White House and the area's other governmental centers. But the Obamas liked to get out -- and I suppose they will continue to do so as they settle in as residents of Washington, D. C. for a while. So I just enjoyed seeing this modest looking upscale restaurant sitting on this worn out street with its graffiti and delivery trucks and liked that Michelle Obama was no stranger to this bustling, work a day, entrepreneurial neighborhood.
3. Ah! Friday! DC Brau's tasting room opens at 3 p.m. on Friday and full pours are half price. So after my tour of the Union Market district, I drove up to DC Brau. I got there early enough that it was not very busy yet and I thoroughly enjoyed two glasses of their winter seasonal, the scotch ale, Stone of Arbroath. It's a malty beer, warming, more sweet than bitter. I enjoyed my short visit, the beer, the quiet, the bits of conversation I could hear going on around the room. As I left, I purchased a sixer of The Wings of Armageddon, knowing that the Deke would be very happy to relax after a tiring week with the help of one of our favorite Imperial IPAs.
Friday, February 3, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/02/17: Aquatic Restoration, Arrogant Ale and Calamari, Mac and Mike Campbell
1. During the early part of the day, I was out of sorts for a variety of reasons, mostly having to do with uncertainty and a little sleep deprivation. I took measures to shake the anxiety and blues. I took a nap. More important, I dragged my sort of sorry self to the aquatic center and flopped around for an hour in the pool and then slid into the hot tub for about ten to fifteen minutes. The sleep restored my better nature and the exercise delivered me from obsession. Now, I've just got to get out and about with my camera . . . and break that drought.
2. Work has been draining for the Deke and, without question, we do a smart thing when we head straight from the school to Old Line and find a couple of spots at the bar and have a couple of beers and a snack and shoot the breeze with Cameron or Liz or Kristin or James, all superb servers and bartenders. This evening I enjoyed a couple glasses of Arrogant Bastard Ale -- a favorite of mine for over fifteen years now -- while the Deke dove into a couple glasses of Flying Dog's finest Imperial IPA, The Truth. We split an order of calamari. The Deke relaxed. The demands of her day disintegrated.
3. I've been preoccupied over the last week or so with Fleetwood Mac, especially Rumours. God only knows why I would want to be transported back to the many confusions about marriage and divorce and being single I felt over thirty-five years ago, but the songs of that album keep playing in my mind and help me get reacquainted with those old confusions and to be kinder to that guy I was back in 1979, '80, '81 and forward. Usually, when the specter of me comes haunting, I berate him. But, Rumours has helped me be more understanding of him. Then I remembered that Stevie Nix joined Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from time to time and I found some videos on YouTube of them and I loved their voices together. Soon my attention shifted to how much I love Mike Campbell's guitar playing with the Heartbreakers and I made sure, before I went to bed, to listen to his virtuosity on "Runnin' Down a Dream". Good Lord. That solo.
2. Work has been draining for the Deke and, without question, we do a smart thing when we head straight from the school to Old Line and find a couple of spots at the bar and have a couple of beers and a snack and shoot the breeze with Cameron or Liz or Kristin or James, all superb servers and bartenders. This evening I enjoyed a couple glasses of Arrogant Bastard Ale -- a favorite of mine for over fifteen years now -- while the Deke dove into a couple glasses of Flying Dog's finest Imperial IPA, The Truth. We split an order of calamari. The Deke relaxed. The demands of her day disintegrated.
3. I've been preoccupied over the last week or so with Fleetwood Mac, especially Rumours. God only knows why I would want to be transported back to the many confusions about marriage and divorce and being single I felt over thirty-five years ago, but the songs of that album keep playing in my mind and help me get reacquainted with those old confusions and to be kinder to that guy I was back in 1979, '80, '81 and forward. Usually, when the specter of me comes haunting, I berate him. But, Rumours has helped me be more understanding of him. Then I remembered that Stevie Nix joined Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from time to time and I found some videos on YouTube of them and I loved their voices together. Soon my attention shifted to how much I love Mike Campbell's guitar playing with the Heartbreakers and I made sure, before I went to bed, to listen to his virtuosity on "Runnin' Down a Dream". Good Lord. That solo.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 02/01/17: Canisters, Kitchen Light, Harira for Dinner
1. Four new canisters arrived at the front door and now they are filled with oatmeal, flour, sugar, and brown sugar. The kitchen reorganization continues apace.
2. The Deke bought a small LED lamp she keeps at her side when she's sitting on the couch, mostly to give her better light when she knits and reads. I took this lamp out to the kitchen and illuminated my cutting board while doing some soup prep chopping. I loved having the extra light and I think I'll be bringing that lamp out to the kitchen more often when the Deke's not using it.
3. Lentils. Chickpeas. Onion. Ginger. Cumin. Tumeric. Cloves. Tomatoes. Vegetable stock I made a couple weeks ago. Kale. Parsley. Cilantro. Lemon. A couple of beaten eggs. Let this combination of ingredients simmer in a pot and soon you can fill bowls with steaming Harira from Morocco. I ate mine with a spoonful of yogurt and put more cilantro on top. The recipe is here.
2. The Deke bought a small LED lamp she keeps at her side when she's sitting on the couch, mostly to give her better light when she knits and reads. I took this lamp out to the kitchen and illuminated my cutting board while doing some soup prep chopping. I loved having the extra light and I think I'll be bringing that lamp out to the kitchen more often when the Deke's not using it.
3. Lentils. Chickpeas. Onion. Ginger. Cumin. Tumeric. Cloves. Tomatoes. Vegetable stock I made a couple weeks ago. Kale. Parsley. Cilantro. Lemon. A couple of beaten eggs. Let this combination of ingredients simmer in a pot and soon you can fill bowls with steaming Harira from Morocco. I ate mine with a spoonful of yogurt and put more cilantro on top. The recipe is here.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Three Beautiful Things 01/31/17: The Ana Hour, Squeeze Bottles, Fish Stew
1. Hiram had a job to go to in Alexandria and Molly was taking David and Olivia to the dentist and Molly asked me if I could watch Ana for an hour or so. What delightful hour! Ana, like her sister and brother, is an independently happy child -- she entertained herself for almost the whole hour playing with a doll, spending an especially long time putting two cheap plastic necklaces on and off the doll, on and off, on and off, about 850 times, each time with full concentration, delighting in each putting on and taking off as if she'd never done it before. Sometimes she took a break from the doll and put the necklace on me. I loved how locked in she was and I loved listening to her constant string of nonsense sounds. She was speaking in the rhythms and intonations of sentences, but in her own language -- and, sometimes, she switched from speaking to singing. A few times, I thought she was putting the nonsense sounds to "Rock a Bye Baby".
2. I'm reorganizing the kitchen and as I was putting groceries from Costco and MOM's Organic away, a box came from Amazon with the seven plastic squeeze bottles I ordered. So I took the olive oil, canola oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, red wine vinegar, and apple cider vinegar out of the cupboard and filled squeeze bottles. I freed up cupboard space and I'm hoping I enjoy shooting oil and vinegar and soy sauce out of these bottles when cooking instead of pouring stuff out of bottles. We'll see . . . .
3. Later in the evening, the Deke and I arrived home after a couple of beers. I'd been to Staples and bought masking tape and Sharpies to create labels and I marked my new squeeze bottles.I also fixed a superb Brazilian Fish Stew. I had earlier marinated bite-sized chunks of tilapia in lime juice, paprika, cumin, garlic, salt, and pepper and then I sauteed chopped onion, added in chopped red, yellow, and orange peppers, the marinated talapia, and a can of diced tomatoes. Over this mixture, I poured a can of coconut milk and let it all simmer for 20-30 minutes and topped it off with cilantro -- I added more cilantro and lime juice to my bowl. I hadn't fixed this stew for nearly two years and the Deke and I both forgot how good it is. Next time, I might add potatoes to it and I've also thought that sweet potato bits would taste good in this stew. If you'd like the recipe, it's one click away, right here.
2. I'm reorganizing the kitchen and as I was putting groceries from Costco and MOM's Organic away, a box came from Amazon with the seven plastic squeeze bottles I ordered. So I took the olive oil, canola oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, red wine vinegar, and apple cider vinegar out of the cupboard and filled squeeze bottles. I freed up cupboard space and I'm hoping I enjoy shooting oil and vinegar and soy sauce out of these bottles when cooking instead of pouring stuff out of bottles. We'll see . . . .
3. Later in the evening, the Deke and I arrived home after a couple of beers. I'd been to Staples and bought masking tape and Sharpies to create labels and I marked my new squeeze bottles.I also fixed a superb Brazilian Fish Stew. I had earlier marinated bite-sized chunks of tilapia in lime juice, paprika, cumin, garlic, salt, and pepper and then I sauteed chopped onion, added in chopped red, yellow, and orange peppers, the marinated talapia, and a can of diced tomatoes. Over this mixture, I poured a can of coconut milk and let it all simmer for 20-30 minutes and topped it off with cilantro -- I added more cilantro and lime juice to my bowl. I hadn't fixed this stew for nearly two years and the Deke and I both forgot how good it is. Next time, I might add potatoes to it and I've also thought that sweet potato bits would taste good in this stew. If you'd like the recipe, it's one click away, right here.
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