We are fortunate to live within walking distance (or a short Metro trip, if you prefer) of the National Zoo. The Zoo grounds open much earlier than the exhibits, so it provides a wonderful place to walk early in the morning, and that was where we headed today. While we don’t expect to see a lot of animals at this time of day, we had an opportunity to enjoy our favorite orangutan (she appeared on the blog at Easter in her self-made bonnet); the apes ‘interacting’ with each other; the giant panda who was enjoying her frozen snack that includes an apple in the middle, and a red panda who was hanging out in a tree waiting for breakfast. Mix this with the prairie dogs, zebras, small cats and turtles which were also out this morning, and it makes for a very enjoyable walk. On the way back through Cleveland Park, we stopped at Cacao, a European pastry shop that opened recently. The pastries are beautiful, and the quality is on par with pastry found in bakeries in Europe.  The lunch and dinner menus sound good enough to insure a repeat visit soon. We splurged, calorie-wise, and enjoyed a Danish with our latte. Generally we order the “skinny” latte, but it seemed ridiculous to insist on skim milk in a latte that was to accompany a cheese Danish…

After a stop at the neighborhood Giant grocery store, we headed home, and noticed our local ‘street person’ sitting outside. We admit to being puzzled about her since moving here for a number of reasons. She is incredibly well organized, i.e., all of her “stuff” is neatly packed onto two shopping carts which she parks at various spots around the area each day. Her nighttime location is in front of a local restaurant, but she is up and repacking at the same time every morning. In addition to being well organized, she always looks very pulled together. Her hair is always combed, earrings are in, and today when we saw her outside the Giant store, she was filing her nails. As much as we would love to know her story, that probably will never be an option.

We mentioned in our last post that we planned to grill some of our nectarines and top them with feta cheese – here is the result, and they were delicious!

In addition to all the beautiful fruit, we are planning to use some of the tomatoes we purchased in the crustless tomato pie we’ve enjoyed in previous summers, as well as a batch of tomato and bread salad using tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, and Kalamata olives.

The Market Movers are (from left to right)
Gordon White, Dr. Calvin Lewis, and Percy Williams

A bonus this week was having time to talk with the “Market Movers-and-Shakers” (to be known in the future as MMS), who are pictured here.  These dedicated men, in addition to being instrumental in starting the UDC Market are on site early each Saturday setting up tents and tables; welcoming both vendors and shoppers, and continuing to source new vendors.  We are pleased to live in such a progressive neighborhood, and encourage all of you to stop by on Saturday between 7:30am and 1:30 pm to shop and visit.

At Ardeo , one of a family of fine restaurants that includes Rasika, Bombay Club, and Bibiana, we both chose seafood from a very creative menu.  After sharing a delightful salad of dandelion greens, watermelon slices and whipped goat cheese, Allen enjoyed the Alaskan halibut with haricots verts, fingerling potatoes and oyster mushrooms while I decided to try the pan roasted skate wing.  The skate, which was perfectly cooked, was topped with a lemon-caper butter, and accompanied by sweet potato fries and watercress.  A fabulous meal, and it convinced us to make reservations for a repeat visit.

On the home cooking front, after a walk in 90+ degree weather on the weekend, we enjoyed one of our purchases from Maine Avenue Fish Market – some beautiful Maryland lump crab meat.  Our favorite crab cake recipe is still the one copied from an ancient magazine during a visit to a psychic outside Miami.  The psychic, Rosella, was pretty amazing, and since we had never visited a psychic before, it was a very interesting experience.  We talked with her separately and while Allen took his turn, I spotted the crab recipe, and copied it down on the back of a deposit slip (well before the NCR era).  We have made this recipe many times over the years, and we are never disappointed.

Extreme weather aside, we have managed to see a lot during a relatively short amount of time.  Our list of museums and historic sites (many of which have been visited more than once) includes the Freer Art Gallery and Sackler Gallery, Hillwood Museum, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Kreeger, National Building Museum, National Gallery of Art, National Museum of African Art, National Museum of the American Indian, National Portrait Gallery, National Zoological Park, Newseum, the Phillips, the Corcoran, the Renwick, Mount Vernon, and the National Geographic Museum.  Some of the more obvious museums, especially within the Smithsonian “family” we will visit once school is in session, and the crowds begin to abate.

And then there are the restaurants …  For people who enjoy food as much as we do, the restaurant scene is a constant source of entertainment.  At the moment, we are working our way through the Cleveland Park area which is a short walk, or quick Metro trip from our building.  We recently talked about a meal we enjoyed at Dino’s, and since then we have visited two more restaurants in the neighborhood, Lavandou and Ardeo.  Both places were excellent, and we will be talking more about them in future posts.

Meanwhile, we continue to enjoy living in a place where public transportation rules.  We use the Metro daily, and recently became members of Zipcar for those times when errands require a car; a major change from living on a hilltop in western NC.

This was not just another fantastic meal, it was the perfect combination of great food and ambiance plus the feel of a neighborhood restaurant that we know will quickly become a favorite.  Dean and his wife Kay have created something very special in Cleveland Park, and we enjoyed visiting as they were celebrating the restaurant’s fifth birthday.

And since we never miss an opportunity to try and recreate something we’ve enjoyed eating, we decided to work with the fruit we had available, some lovely peaches from one of the many DC farmers markets.  Ran next door to the wine store/deli for the pancetta and mascarpone, and scored one out of two.  No problem finding the pancetta, but creme fraiche was the product closest to mascarpone that was available.  A quick look on-line provided the information that by draining the creme fraiche in cheesecloth for three hours at room temperature and then refrigerating it, you have created masacarpone, or at least a first cousin.  The peaches were a bit of a challenge to pit since cling-free fruit isn’t available yet, but we pulled it together, and came up with a reasonable facsimile of the wonderful dish we enjoyed at Dino’s.  We did find some local apricots yesterday, so we will be trying this again with the correct fruit!  You have to love a city with so many fabulous restaurants, and many of them within walking distance of our building.

This is the second year for the UDC Market, and it is already providing beautiful, readily accessible produce for the people in our neighborhood.  During a visit yesterday, we purchased the largest blackberries we have ever seen, blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, heirloom tomatoes, corn, green peppers, jalapenos, cucumbers, eggplant, and zucchini.  The only reason we stopped there was our inability to carry more than that back to our apartment.  Allen has become quite adept at carrying two or three bags while juggling a large watermelon.

It’s very obvious that the University of the District of Columbia has put a lot of thought into their market, and they have formulated plans to add more vendors as appropriate.  For people who love fresh fruit and veggies, this Saturday morning market (7:30 am – 1:30 pm) is the perfect way to start a weekend.

And what did we do with some of that produce?  We will readily admit that upon returning home, we immediately enjoyed the blackberries dipped in some slightly sweetened Greek yogurt, and returned to the market to pick up another container to enjoy later.  Part of Saturday night’s dinner was a recipe that appeared recently in the New York Times for Spicy Quinoa, Cucumber and Tomato Salad* featuring some of the tomatoes, cucumbers, and jalapeno peppers we purchased.  Today we will enjoy a Southern favorite, Kentucky scramble, a combination of bacon, sauteed corn, green pepper and scrambled eggs accompanied by slices of heirloom tomatoes.  The blueberries will most likely appear in our favorite blueberry tart with walnut crust.  The remainder of the produce that has taken over our kitchen counters and refrigerator will be enjoyed in time to return to the market next week for more.

*We added a can of drained and rinsed black beans to the leftover quinoa salad and thought it was an excellent contrast to the other ingredients.

On the museum scene, here are a few favorites – National Gallery of Art (we have already been there numerous times); the Hirshhorn; the Freer; the Phillips; the Corcoran; the Kreeger; National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Geographic Museum. If you are in DC before mid-September, the da Vinci exhibit at the National Geographic is spectacular!

Food… So much to eat and enjoy, so little time… We love the extensive appetizer selection at Neyla in Georgetown, as well as the appetizers at Masala Art in Tenleytown. Another current favorite is the “breakfast pizza” at Potenza near the White House. A beautiful combination of pizza dough topped with plenty of prosciutto, arugula, and poached eggs. Paired with a salad and a bottle of white wine, it is the perfect summer brunch/lunch sitting outside under an umbrella. We will be highlighting more of our favorites later.

Things to observe… Body art, or tats if you wish, rule! The most recent of note was a young woman at the Metro station who has found the perfect way to wear long sleeves in 100 degree weather. She appeared to be wearing a pastel halter top with long sleeves, all of which turned out to be tattoos. We’ve seen a lot of body art here, but we think she is the winner for most decorated, at least for the moment!

Entertainment… The Smithsonian Resident Associates program was an early discovery, and we have enjoyed several of the interviews on their schedule. The most recent was an interview with Bill Yosses, the pastry chef at the White House. He was charming, articulate, and entertaining – we thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Of course for music, the James Taylor/Carole King concert at Verizon Center was even more terrific than we anticipated. They played for a full house, and for anyone who enjoys their music, it was definitely a must-have ticket! We were amazed at how gracious the two of them were; as they exited the arena, one of the fans on the aisle asked ‘JT’ if he would pose for a photo. James put his arm around the guy and smile while his wife took the photo. What an amazing thing to see at this point in time!

Things to dislike… Fortunately, that is a very short list, and we can sum it up in one word – cigarettes! The number of people in this city who smoke is amazing, but in a bad way. The moment we can find a non-smoking apartment building, we will give it serious consideration, especially if it’s near a Metro stop…

With all of that, and since we are in a much smaller kitchen now, cooking is no longer our primary form of entertainment. After five months, I will go on record to state my dislike of gas cooktops and ovens. If I could transplant my wonderful Thermador cooktop, it would be here in a moment. I may be in the minority, but what is there to like about something that heats up the entire kitchen, especially when the thermal induction cooktops are so responsive?

Obviously, it’s quite warm here in the summer, but for those of us who have lived through summers in St. Louis, Charleston SC, and western NC, it feels like home. And in honor of the weather, we have been enjoying this recipe for watermelon salad.