We want you to meet the latest addition to our family, O.P. a lovely blue pig. We first spotted a blue pig at Sugar Magnolia in Cleveland Park and mentioned it in an earlier posting. Fortunately, the owner of Ripple/Sugar Magnolia, Roger Marmet, was willing to track down and share the info on the company that supplied their pig. That information from Mr. Marmet’s wife enabled us to contact Stray Dog Designs and a pig was ordered. We then became acquainted, via e-mail, with Billy Pritchard at Stray Dog who was willing to keep us posted on the painting and shipping of our pig. The pig arrived yesterday in a huge box nestled inside a mountain of “peanuts”. As you can see from the photos, his curly pig tail was our first glimpse and we carefully pulled him from the packing material. Next question, where to place the pig in our very small space? Currently he is happily resting on a media center (where he gets to select the music), but we know he will be relocated frequently. We hope you will also stay tuned for photos of O.P. out and about in DC; we understand he has some plans to play tourist; after all, he is new in town. Next up, finding the appropriate pig traveling case.
We hope you will visit the web sites mentioned above. Ripple serves amazingly interesting food and the menu changes frequently. Sugar Magnolia, their recently opened market has a lovely selection of sandwiches and delectable desserts – including homemade ice cream sandwiched between various types of delicious cookies. At Stray Dog Designs, you will have an opportunity to read about the company, and also the charitable endeavors they support. Oh, and do some shopping.
On to food, but probably nothing in the pork family in deference to our new arrival’s sensitivity to that particular food group. On second thought, we wanted to share a vinaigrette which is our current favorite. And as you can see in this photo, we recently enjoyed it in a frisée salad topped with poached eggs and lardons. Once we realized that O.P. does not appear to speak French (but then, neither do we), it was safe to use it in a recipe simply because he had no idea we were talking about … bacon. We have used this vinaigrette in numerous salads over the past several months, and for us it is perfectly balanced. The lovely frisée was just one of our recent purchases at the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market (every Sunday, year round).
Don’t we all love it when we cook something that lends itself to a different reincarnation the second time around? We haven’t made the Shrimp with Garlic and Tomato Glaze in a very long time but a recent trip to the Maine Avenue Fish Market (by car*, no less) rewarded us with a lot of salmon for the freezer and a pound and a half of beautiful Carolina shrimp. The shrimp was made and served according to the recipe along with some roasted asparagus and a bulgur salad concocted on the spur of the moment. We had ingredients for a Greek salad, so we made it with bulgur as the base and added on the kalamata olives, some sugar snap peas and radishes, feta, etc. The bulgur added a lot of depth and texture so it will probably become a new favorite, at least for a short time. One thing we’ve noticed repeatedly is that we either make up a recipe, or discover a new recipe which we have several times and then promptly forget. In some cases, years later we happen to think of a recipe or someone mentions making one of the recipes we’ve shared, and it is almost like finding something brand new. But, back to the shrimp…
Since we had more shrimp left over than we managed to eat and too much asparagus to roast for one meal, the question was what to make with those ingredients. We decided to saute some garlic along with the asparagus cut into two inch lengths and then add some cooked angel hair pasta along with the shrimp just to warm it through and top with grated Asiago. It was, if we do say so, outstanding!
*Unexpected car trip: For those who may not remember, we no longer have a car. Living in DC with access to Metro, Zipcar, cabs, and buses (which Merry uses reluctantly), there is really no reason to have a car unless you enjoy paying $200/month to park something you take out every few weeks at most. Zipcar has recently parked four of their hourly rental vehicles in the garage of our building so the convenience of using that service just got more attractive. On occasion, however, they manage to change a reservation and make it a bit less workable and that is what happened last weekend. Our Zipcar was not in the garage, but at another apartment building up the street which prompted us to negotiate extra rental time at no additional charge. Once we realized we had a car for over two hours, we decided to visit the fish market prior to running some other errands. We have been there many times via Metro/foot, but never by car. It was a little more convoluted than planned, but we only looped around a couple of times getting there and again when departing. Perhaps we really are more acclimated to walking than driving these days.
Our extended Easter weekend continued with an incredible dim sum lunch at Wolfgang Puck’s DC restaurant, The Source. This menu is only available on Saturday for lunch, and after several attempts, we finally managed to score a reservation. As you can see from the photo, one of our selections, tiny dumplings filled with asparagus and fava beans was beautiful and tasted even better than it looked. Just a few of our other choices from a menu that seems to change frequently were the duck bao buns, chinois-style chicken salad and turnip cakes (yes, turnips but we would never have guessed the primary ingredient). The presentation of each dish was perfection and we look forward to sharing selections from their dim sum menu again very soon.
Easter Sunday included the 11 am service at The National Cathedral. We had pre-ordered our passes (or tickets as we prefer to call them since “tickets for church” has such a nice ring to it) and arrived to see a line snaking all the way across the front of the church. Fortunately there was room for everyone waiting in line and we enjoyed a beautiful service. We especially like the bishop, Rev. Mariann Budde, who on this occasion started her sermon with comments from David Sedaris, a favorite of ours.
The remainder of our touring time included several hours in the National Gallery. We took advantage of smaller crowds since we were able to visit on a week day and once again enjoyed the recently reopened Impressionism/Postimpressionism gallery; a beautiful exhibit entitled “A Colorful Realm: Japanese Bird and Flower Paintings” that sadly departs on April 29, and we toured a few exhibits in the East Building.
While we haven’t completely abandoned our kitchen, we did enjoy numerous restaurant meals during our “staycation”. Once we pick up the cooking pace, we will have some new recipes to share.
It is a rare and wonderful pleasure to take a week day off to tour the city. Our first activity was a stroll to the National Zoo – something we do frequently. However, today our zoo trip was to check out an annual event – the arrival of the Black-Crowned Night Herons. Every spring, hundreds of these birds arrive from South America and choose the zoo as their place to nest and relax for the summer. They can be a rather vocal group of visitors, but they are quite entertaining to watch from a safe distance.
As we walked back to our place, we stopped in the new ‘marketplace’ that Ripple has opened, Sugar Magnolia. They offer freshly made sandwiches and several handmade ice cream cookies. We ordered the veggie sandwich and the market sandwich; we were also tempted by the ginger cookie with beet ice cream, but we figured it would be a puddle by the time we arrived home. And of course, we were wow’ed by the blue pig that appears to be the store mascot.
By early evening we were out the door again, heading to Rosa Mexicano for a quick bite for dinner. When we arrived, the place was packed, except for the outdoor space. We asked for a table and were told it would be 30 minutes. When we pointed out that there were five empty tables outside, the hostess, who seemed a bit surprised about the open tables, grabbed some menus and seated us. Since a Caps game was scheduled to start at 7, we watched as hundreds of red jerseys streamed into the Verizon Center. Out waiter arrived, took our order and was in the process of pouring our wine when people streamed out of Verizon Center and stood around watching the game on the jumbotron. When we asked our waiter what was going on, he explained that this happened all the time. People at the game have the need for a smoke, so although they have paid for seats, they come outside, smoke and watch the game on TV … we had to wonder why they bothered. As our dinners arrived, a group of street musicians gathered at the Gallery Place Metro entrance and began to ‘serenade’ us. The band was a tuba, drums, and two trumpets. The music was a cross between dixieland and drum and bugle marching music.
After dinner, we walked down to the mall area to “Movie Night”. The Hirshhorn is presenting their After Hours program which is a mixture of images projected on the surface of the museum and a sound track of “I Only Have Eyes for You” being sung by various artists. The ‘show’ runs from dark to 12AM through the summer and is well worth the walk over to watch it.
The cherry blossoms have started to fade but the tourists have started to flock into the city … it must be the official start of the “Go, See, Do” season. Go, see, do is a term we heard from our favorite daughter … who heard it from one of the patrons at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Mary Ann Lee. In short, it urges all of us to go out and see and do as many things as possible which is the best way to enjoy and embrace the arts. We started our season at Blues Alley, a smoke-free venue where we had the good fortune to see Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.
Blues Alley is located in Georgetown just off Wisconsin Avenue. The club which has been around for just over 30 years seats somewhere around 125, so you are sure to have a great view of the stage no matter where you sit. In addition to the cover charge for the show there is a $12 minimum, but a bottle of wine and an appetizer took care of this without a problem. We arrived at 7PM for the 8PM show and sat next to the stage, which gave us a chance to talk with Chris Siebert, the pianist and band leader of the Skillet Lickers. After a brief chat, he continued to set up for the show and got the rest of the band on stage. The 7 piece band (two sax players, a trumpet, trombone, bass and drummer) played a couple of jazz favorites and then Lavay joined to cover everything from New Orleans jazz to some of the band’s signature tunes to some of the group’s new material – Patsy Cline done in the style of Ray Charles. It sounds strange, but trust me, it was well done, and this comes from people who don’t care for Patsy Cline tunes! After an hour and a half of high energy, the band ended the first show. We were ready to leave, but “management” announced that anyone who wanted to stay for the second show could do so without paying the cover charge. How could we resist? So, for another hour and a half, we were treated to even more energy and a completely different set – we had a great time, but it was a shame the audience didn’t show more enthusiasm for these excellent musicians.
We were happy to see that the club does a great job of taking care of their audience – even running out to close the door when the cigarette smoke from the alley was blowing into the room. We will be returning next week to hear Hiromi – another high energy jazz pianist. As just the start of a long Easter weekend, there is much more ahead – up next is the annual influx of black-crowned night herons at the Smithsonian National Zoo.
The much anticipated cherry blossom event is occurring earlier than usual in DC. The original reports were for a peak around March 24, but that has changed a couple of times, and when we were at the Tidal Basin on the 18th, it was obvious that “full bloom” was almost imminent. The sheer number of the trees is breathtaking, and something not to be missed if you are in the area at this time of year. We were very fortunate to get an early start on a Sunday morning and miss a lot of the crowds, but as the week progresses tips abound on getting into the area, parking (hardly an option), Metro stations to avoid due to the crowds and more. The newly installed Capital Bike Share locations all around The Mall will be getting a lot of use in coming days.
Seeing this profusion of trees in bloom along with forsythia, bulbs of all kinds, weeping cherry trees and more does bear some similarity to spring in Charleston. To be in that area when the azaleas and dogwoods are in bloom is memorable. Just one of the charming garden tour tidbits in Charleston is that if the gate to the garden is open, strangers are welcome to come in and take a look. While many of the gardens are quite small, you quickly realize that the people who plant and tend them put significant effort into their lovely spaces. Few can top Mrs. Emily Whaley who passed (as we Southerners say) in 1998 at the age of 87. Although the collaborative effort, “Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden” with William Baldwin was incredibly well received, we love “Mrs. Whaley Entertains” even more. The book is still available through Amazon, and it has served us well as the perfect hostess gift on more than one occasion. Mrs. Whaley’s commentary on everything from her cooking disasters as a new bride to cooking for family and friends over many years to the important topic of manners along with some of her recipes is charming. We can’t say that the recipes were what prompted our purchase, but the stories are ones to read again and again. We have enjoyed “The Marinated Chicken Breasts I Like” which is known in our kitchen simply as “Mrs. Whaley’s Chicken“.
It is probably apparent that we have embraced our “new” (just starting our third year) home city. It would be difficult not to enjoy a city that has a long list of wonderful museums, access to concerts of all types, a lovely zoo, botanic garden open every day of the year, green spaces, and numerous terrific restaurants. Oh, and sporting events that we know are more important to some people than they are to us.
A few things we particularly enjoy observing must include attire, tattoos, communication (both cell phone and texting), and all things Metro. Like most people who live here, we have a love/hate affair with Metro. On the days that it is fully functional, you can’t ask for an easier way to get around a city where driving is painful at best. But on numerous days there are delays, both scheduled and unscheduled, and other problems such as the frequently “dead” escalators. While a non-working escalator doesn’t sound like a huge problem, the length of some within the Metro system are pretty astounding. When we have visitors, we try to warn them about things such as the escalators, the garbled station announcements (much safer to depend on reading the signs as you come into the station) and other vagaries.
One thing that struck us shortly after moving here in the dead of winter is that everyone wears boots, and they wear them from the moment the temperature dips below 65 degrees F until there is suddenly one warm day and out come the flip-flops (foot wear, not politicians because they appear regardless of the weather). We don’t know about other cities, but in DC, there seems to be little in between these two types of “shoes”. Although Metro and local podiatrists strongly recommend against wearing flip-flops on Metro, you see them daily. Oh yes, and to be ‘properly’ dressed, you must be wearing a scarf. Even after removing your coat in a restaurant, the scarf remains firmly in place (attention men, this applies to you as well). Much like scarves, tattoos have no gender bias. After surreptitiously looking at some of the more impressive, i.e., possibly full body tattoos, we have finally started asking for the stories when we see some truly outstanding “tats”. As you might imagine, anyone who has gone to that much effort is more than happy to share the reason behind their body art, and more…
Cell phones and texting – what is there to say that you haven’t already observed? A couple of recent favorites are the woman on her phone on a Metro platform saying quite earnestly, “I am trying to stay in the moment”. What? Do people really say that? Followed by another woman standing on the sidewalk in front of a rundown CVS loudly proclaiming, “I have a wonderful life”. You do? Standing on the sidewalk trying to convince the person on the other end of the call that your life is “wonderful”? We hate to think what degrees of wonderful there are here. But nothing can top the guy we saw in Philadelphia walking down the street in ‘the pose’ having a very animated conversation – only to be seen when he turned around to be holding a banana to his ear and talking nonstop. Perhaps we don’t really need to know his story. We have found that unless we are vigilant, texting is hazardous on DC sidewalks since they are usually crowded, and the people texting rarely look up, they just walk and type. The best are couples in restaurants who take “text breaks” where both of them immediately start checking their messages, sending messages and eventually resume their conversations. This is particularly interesting when it is obvious that this is the first ‘date’ for them.
All of this aside, a recent visit to the DC Botanic Garden just off The Mall rewarded us with a chance to see some magnificent orchids. The orchid show had just opened, and will remain in place until the end of April. We have taken picnics to the Botanic on some occasions and even though we were visiting in February this time, it was almost warm enough for a picnic (the crocus were in bloom). On this particular day, we decided to follow the Botanic Garden with a visit to the American Indian Museum and then walk back to Gallery Place for pizza. A St. Louis company, Pi, recently opened ‘District of Pi’ and they serve some great pizza and excellent salads.
After seeing a recipe for Thai chicken soup on a Cook’s Illustrated video and jotting down the ingredients, we decided to give it a try. While everyone knows that recipes provided by Cook’s/America’s Test Kitchen have been perfected to within an inch of their kitchen lives, we still made a few changes (however, we will not change almost all of the ingredients then make the comment that we hated the recipe as we have seen on Epicurious)… We liked the idea of a soup with lots of complex flavors and we agree with their choice of red curry paste to provide the needed depth. We differ from their original recipe because we reduced the quantity of chicken and increased both curry paste and lime juice. After tasting this version, we also think we need to add a little fresh ginger to a future batch. However, we just made this for a second time and think it is an excellent start. When we started preparing dinner last night, the forecast for an inch or two of snow really called for soup! Although the snow never appeared, the soup made a lovely meal.
While we do not have any comments about the recipe, we cannot resist a brief rant about the Cook’s Illustrated paid member web site. We subscribed to their magazine for several years in the past and for a couple of years also paid to access their site. Our annoyance is that after buying the magazines, we are unable to view those same recipes on the site unless we are willing to pay once again for the same content; even though we have copies of the magazines in a different location. It is frustrating to pay for content that we can no longer access.
A number of years ago we tried making biscotti when the only ones we found in the stores and bakeries weren’t particularly interesting. For reasons now forgotten, we never found the “right” recipe, and thus were never particularly happy with the results. More recently, we sampled biscotti from Whole Foods and while good, the texture is so porous that if you dunk them into espresso (our preferred way of eating them), they immediately fall apart, sometimes with rather dramatic consequences. After tiring of all the other breakfast options we have enjoyed recently, it was time to try another recipe. Fortunately, one available on the Williams-Sonoma web site turned out perfectly with just a minor change. Their recipe calls for pistachios and orange zest but we also love dried cranberries in biscotti so we cut back on the amount of pistachios and added some cranberries. On the next try, we need a few more pistachios but otherwise, the taste is fabulous. Rather than prep the jelly roll pan as directed, we substituted a Silpat which worked perfectly.
Now that sweet biscotti have been made successfully, it may be time to revisit the idea of savory biscotti. A woman we knew in Charleston made fabulous savory biscotti and sold them at the Farmer’s Market. Sadly, we never convinced her to share her recipes, but it seems there are numerous possibilities on various web sites and blogs. We may be tackling that project soon.
Even though winter in DC has been very mild (we spotted jonquils blooming yesterday on our way to The Phillips), we have still been trying out several new soup recipes. One we hope to share soon is for a Thai soup made with coconut milk, a small amount of chicken, mushrooms and lime juice. It is lovely!
While we were enjoying one of our favorite recipes last night (leeks and chard over rounds of polenta topped with Gruyere), something occurred to us. With over 300,000 million people in the United States, how many of them were having exactly the same meal we were eating? Granted, our eating habits aren’t particularly traditional or mainstream (we have never fixed turkey on Thanksgiving for instance), but while we are not vegetarians and would never be able to become vegans which would mean giving up our love affair with cheese (oh, and bacon), we don’t eat meat often. We seem to fit into a category currently known as “flexitarians”, or people who still eat meat, fish and shellfish, but more frequently prepare vegetarian menus. Those of you who have followed the blog since we started it several years ago may have noticed fewer and fewer meat options appearing in our recipes. This has occurred gradually and was not done to make a statement or conform to any dietary requirements. Rather, we noticed that we really didn’t enjoy the texture of beef and the amount of time it took to make it interesting, so that fell off the list. While it has since been joined by other red meats, fish and chicken still make appearances on our table.
Since we love all types of grains, beans and lentils, it has been fun to experiment with completely different menu options featuring those ingredients along with the wide range of the fresh vegetables we love. Having access to farmer’s markets year round in DC and living within walking distance of Whole Foods makes this possible; it would have been difficult if not impossible while living in the wilds of western North Carolina. We also have the ability to enjoy numerous restaurants in our new home city, many of which offer amazing vegetarian menu items.
Finding innovative ways to use quinoa, wheatberries, bulgar, farro and other grains we only became acquainted with in recent years is a cooking challenge that we enjoy. Putting vegetables in a starring role is something we have done for a long time, but creating recipes that combine those veggies with grains has provided us with some wonderful meals. This photo of a red quinoa, roasted butternut squash and kale salad we mentioned in an earlier post (recipe will follow soon) is a perfect example of putting veggies together with complementary grains. As we continue to experiment, you will find the recipes we are creating in our kitchen making an appearance in these pages. And we will continue to assume that on some nights, no one else is eating quite what we may be having. If you would like to share the meals you think are unique, please register for the blog and tell us about them. Perhaps this simple recipe for steamed clams (sorry, we couldn’t wait to eat) will be perfect for a winter night at your house.
P.S. The photo in the upper right corner is one portion of Julia Child’s kitchen that was until recently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. An expanded exhibit of Ms. Child’s kitchen will re-open at a later date.
On to food, but probably nothing in the pork family in deference to our new arrival’s sensitivity to that particular food group. On second thought, we wanted to share a vinaigrette which is our current favorite. And as you can see in this photo, we recently enjoyed it in a frisée salad topped with poached eggs and lardons. Once we realized that O.P. does not appear to speak French (but then, neither do we), it was safe to use it in a recipe simply because he had no idea we were talking about … bacon. We have used this vinaigrette in numerous salads over the past several months, and for us it is perfectly balanced. The lovely frisée was just one of our recent purchases at the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market (every Sunday, year round).
