We left Madison on Friday for a combined family weekend in DC, and trip to Charlotteville VA for a conference for me. Now I’m back at DC’s National Airport for the trip home. I rented a car and drove from Washington down to Charlotteville, and it was a pretty drive through rolling Virginia countryside, with the blue mountains beyond … but there were an awful lot of Trump/Pence signs, and I realized too late I could’ve taken the train. DC Metro to Amtrak, and back again – the station was a 5 minute walk from my Charlottesville hotel, and I would’ve come out off the yellow line Metro a little closer to the terminal than where I had to walk from after returning the rental car. And I wouldn’t have been shaking after a fruitless (or I guess that would be gas-less) search for a place to fill up the car before returning it. I tried getting off an exit about 10 miles from the airport, and ended up on shopping mall frontage roads with Ms. Google yelling at me to make a U-turn. Next, I tried to find gas on the airport grounds & ended up dead ending in an employee parking lot.
Anyways, we did a bunch of stuff that I haven’t even managed to write about, and my calendar now that I’m back looks excruciating. Back to work tomorrow, Pie Palooza on the weekend, Halloween & advising week (18 30-minute student appointments) next week, then more pie baking for Goodman Community Center Thanksgiving baskets, and to top it all off, election day ….
So instead of looking forward, how about back.
Friday in DC we went to Restaurant Nora. Even though there were (of course) a few snarky Yelp reviews, we thought it was just as good as the last time we ate there, 8 years ago. We think we even got the same table. We had a similar salad, tomatoes and burrata, but it was truffled burrata, whch was amazingly good, and we also split a Caesar salad that had pickled red onions in it for sweetness. Belana had chicken, Mark had a porkchop, and I had veal osso bucco. That came with a little puddle of polenta, and green beans. We split a tiramisu for dessert, then walked back by way of the White House and took some night pictures.
I was desperately trying to finish grading an assignment in one of my classes. I worked a little when we first got to the hotel Friday night, and then, on Saturday, got up and went to a coffee place – Compass Coffee, I think we were at what they call the Chinatown store, across from the Verizon Center, where they make all the drinks with whole milk. The website makes it sound like they only have one, but I think there’re three, or even more – we went to another one on Sunday, while waiting for our Founding Farmers brunch. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I finished grading. Mark got Belana to meet us at a Pain Quotidian, and while we were there I got us tickets to see a band called Green River Ordinance. I was having trouble getting my credit card to go through, and didn’t find out until we got to the show, but I inadvertently got six tickets instead of three. I must’ve not emptied the shopping cart in between a charge that didn’t go through, and one that did … so the tickets cost almost $120 instead of $60. Sigh.
Then we headed off to the National Gallery where we were meeting Mark’s brother. We looked at some art, photographs – a lot by Thomas Struth, his museum photos, and Matisse cutouts, and the permanent collection. Since I was still lugging my computer, it had to get x-rayed.
Cakes
1963
Thiebaud, Wayne. American, born 1920
We ate salads in the cafeteria, and then went off for real touristing, the Mall, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Wall, Lincoln, past the new African American Museum which is sold out until 2017, and ended up at American Art.
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At some point we figured out that there were three bands, and Green River Ordinance didn’t start until 8:30, so we had more time to get dinner than we thought – and recover from all the walking in the wind. I voted for Momofuku, since there was one something like three minutes walk from the hotel, Momofuku CCDC (and a Milk Bar too). It was way too crowded when we got there, but Mark had the good idea of getting the food to go, and that worked just fine – the suites hotel had a dining table. We split 4 pork belly buns, and spicey pork noodles, and some other noodles with pickled vegetables on top that we decided liked better, even though we expected to like the pork ones the best.
The show was in a basement club, with a surprisingly good sound system. Mostly a good experience, but one I would’ve been a lot happier paying $60 for instead of $120.
Sunday morning, like I said, we had brunch at Founding Farmers – with coffee at another Compass, during our hour wait for a table. Then we went to Air & Space – not my favorite kind of museum, but I found some food exhibits, and even a menu.
I took Metro out to the airport to pick up my car – should’ve taken the train – but I think I’ll have to save the Charlottesville experience for another post. I’m home now, and back to the usual chores – sopping up a puddle in the basement, scooping cat litter, cleaning up cat puke, and today was trash and recycle.