Shopping & The Parade

I braved the whipping wind on Saturday morning to head two metro stops to King Street for the Alexandria boutique sale being held at the George Washington Masonic Memorial -- yeah, sort of weird, but it was like a sidewalk sale inside the temple! After waiting in line for 40 minutes (some of it outside), I finally got my hands and eyes on all of the goodies -- jewelry, shoes, bags, clothes -- all with clearance prices. I bought a few pairs of slacks and a blouse. I had a little fashion show when I got home and was glad to see that everything actually fit! Jason was not one of the unlucky 2% of male attendees drug along to this event. He was home nursing the flu with a heavy dose of Advil and video games.

By the time I was done at the boutique sale, the traffic around Old Town was being diverted for a St. Patrick's Day parade down King Street. After I finally made it the 3 blocks from the memorial to the used book store I like, I had encountered these two interesting sights:

I don't know what the Storm Troopers have to do with St. Patrick's Day, but it was interesting. Maybe they were there to keep the Bagpipers moving. Directly behind the Stormtroopers was the local Irish Wolfhound dog group and further behind them were the Bassett Hounds. When the bands started playing, all the dogs went berserk!

Philadelphia Roadtrip

Saturday afternoon was cold and overcast, but after a quick lunch at Rick's Cheese Steaks at the Reading Terminal Market, we walked through the historic section of town - taking in the sites of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. On our tour of Independence Hall, we saw the room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written. The original chair that George Washington presided from was still in the room.


I can't say I loved the steak part of the cheese steak, but it's a cultural phenomenon that everyone must try at least once! What I did love was browsing through the unique stalls/booths at the market. We dropped back in on the walk back to our hotel for coffee and treats. These were our afternoon snacks to tide us over until a late dinner. That one on the left is a chocolate covered chocolate chip cookie. The pastry is a St. Joseph's cake, which is supposedly only made this time of year.

Sunday was warmer and the sun was shining! This is the Philadelphia skyline taken from the "Rocky Steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We went through the general galleries at the museum but did not go to the special Frida Kahlo exhibit. We were a little late getting started that day, so we didn't have as much time to walk around outside along the river as we would have liked. But, we saw Logan Square and a lot of great architecture in the areas that we did walk through.

Laughing on the Inside

Several ordinary events made me smile Friday. I might even say they made me laugh; but only on the inside so I wouldn't cause a scene!

I went to Cosi to pick up a late lunch and the place was pretty empty. One young woman who was in line was apparently so hungry already that she was noshing on a bag of Funyans while she ordered a cheese flatbread pizza. I heard her tell the sandwich/pizza maker that she was getting cheese because she was fasting until 6 p.m. I do realize it's Lent and am very familiar with Fish Stick Friday, but I've never heard it referred to as fasting. Having observed more traditional forms of fasting, I got quite the chuckle out of the idea that Funyans and cheese pizza were a sacrifice.

As I was riding the elevator down to the lobby to leave for Cosi, there was one other person in the elevator. And she was wearing glossy cordovan penny loafers with pennies in the slit. I was thrilled to have noticed them! I desperately wanted that EXACT pair of shoes for years! I'm a bit fuzzy on exactly which years considering it was something that I coveted for so long, but I feel like it's been quite awhile now. . . But, being the practical lawyer or accountant that she was, those shoes were in tip-top shape for casual Friday!

A Night Out on the Town

As my reward for not wearing jeans to work this Friday, Jason agreed to come meet me for a nice dinner after work. We dined on Indian cuisine at The Bombay Club which has a beautiful dining room complete with a piano player. The food was absolutely delicious -- I got my favorite, Dal Makhni (black bean lentils). I also got a side of spinach with cottage cheese (for those of you not familiar with Indian food - what they call cottage cheese or paneer really looks and tastes a lot like tofu). Jason got green chili chicken which according to the menu was "not for the faint hearted." We sopped it all up with rice and naan.

After dinner, we realized we were only a few blocks from The Improv where a guy from The Chappelle Show was doing stand-up. We walked over and were disappointed that it was sold out. The ticket lady explained to us that it was Valentine's weekend and this was a pretty good date idea!

Foiled at our attempt to get into the show, we were committed nonetheless to staying out past 8 p.m. We landed at Restaurant K by Alison Swope for their "infused cocktails." They make their own flavored liquors - and they're quite tasty. I loved their Vanilla Julep with vanilla-infused bourbon!

Potomac Primary

Early results are in and Barack Obama is heading to a resounding win in Virginia. The McCain-Huckabee vote is nearly tied. (Update: McCain wins)

The Obama lead -- even without our votes -- isn't particularly surprising considering all the enthusiastic sign wavers that I've seen out the past few weeks. He's certainly the popular pick right now. I think he's intriguing but he's not my favorite choice for this year. (I should qualify that I am just assuming Jason did not pick Obama; I didn't actually ask him how he voted.)

I was surprised to find that there weren't any other voters in line when we checked in even though we didn't arrive until 8:15. As I chatted with a poll worker for a few minutes afterwards (we were lingering to enjoy the warmth before walking back home), she said there had been a steady turnout but not the rush she was expecting.

One interesting part of Virginia voting: you don't pick a party affiliation when you register. In a primary, you just tell the poll worker at check-in which ballot you want and that's the one they pull up on the touch-screen at the voting machine. The voting machines are identical to JoCo.

Rachel the Actress

I love watching video of everyone's kids, so thought I would post one of my "kid." This is Rachel doing her best, "I'm bored of all my toys and can't bear to do anything but lie here and look pitiful" routine. However, if you have the volume on, you'll hear that she's a sucker for the doggy biscuits. Or maybe I'm the sucker, because I fall for this routine every time! (The other background noise is Jason watching The History Channel or something.)

Howard University neighborhood

We went to the Shaw-Howard University neighborhood today. After a late lunch at local icon Ben’s Chili Bowl (said to be Bill Cosby's favorite), we walked through the Howard University campus.

We toured the campus history display at the Founder’s Library. In addition to the regular display, there was a special 100th anniversary display on the history of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. AKA’s Alpha chapter was founded at the university in 1908 when there were only 8 women in Howard’s senior class. There were 2 women in the class of 1909.

As we left Howard and walked to a different Metro station than we arrived at (a longer walk than I envisioned, but the weather was really nice today), we came across an energetic group of youths holding an Obama ‘08 rally in the street – complete with music playing, sign waving and cars honking.

Saturday in the City

Saturday we trekked downtown to the Portrait Gallery to see the photo below, which is from one of my favorite TV shows, "The Colbert Report." I'm not sure if it's a product of the writer's strike or just someone's clever idea, but the show did a series about coming to Washington and meeting with museum officials to get the picture in the Smithsonian American History Museum (declined). The National Portrait Gallery went along with the joke and hung the photo just outside the Hall of Presidents -- in a hallway to the restrooms. The real joke was that there was a line of people on Saturday waiting to photograph the portrait! I didn't stand in line to take a close up photo; I just stuck my camera over the line as I walked through. Though I did see it up close when I went to the ladies room later. . . .

We also visited the National Building Museum which has a very dramatic grand hall that gets used for inaugural balls. They had displays about the building of Washington D.C. the city and the also monuments/mall area which were both neat to see.

And finally, no trip into the city would be complete without dining out. We enjoyed a visit to Rosa Mexicana for fresh guacamole, a margarita, and some tasty Mexican fare. Another successful Saturday!

Pizza Hut Crunchy Cheesy Yuck

Last night we ordered pizza carryout for the first time since we've lived here, and since we didn't know of any reliable local chains (we miss you Pizza Shoppe!), we called on an old Kansas standby -- Pizza Hut. Luckily we had just received that packet of glossy pizza/mattress/tire ads in the mail (yes, they're the same here) earlier in the week -- and knowing we were going to want to order pizza on Friday since we were dining with our 3 1/2 year old friend, I had some coupons to sort through in making my decision. I was conned by the Pizza Hut PR machine and their new product: The Crunchy Cheesy Crust Pizza.

"The Pizza Hut Crunchy Cheesy Crust Pizza delivers a burst of flavor that is both exciting and unexpected, making it the perfect pizza to enjoy on game day. It starts with a large version of the Pizza Hut Hand Tossed-Style Pizza, with original sauce, plenty of cheese and abundant helpings of your favorite toppings. The delicious crunch comes from a blend of cheese and seasonings baked on top of the crust."

They mostly advertise this correctly except for the words "exciting," "enjoy," and "delicious." Really it's a dried out crunchy hand-tossed crust with funky artificial cheese and garlicky flavors. And the large pizza is only cut into 8 slices. Take your $11.99 to Papa Murphy's for two take-and-bakes or over to Pizza Shoppe for two Queen size single toppings. Or, if you live out here, tell me where there's some decent take out. I've only spotted Papa John's, and I've never been a fan of theirs.