Monday, September 3, 2012

Doings Around DC

It occurs to me that I generally write when feeling emotional or wishing I could do something other than what I’m already doing. So today my goal is to show you some of the fun things I’ve been doing and enjoying!

As you know, I enjoy cooking and putting together interesting little meals for myself. Having two farmer’s markets within walking distance on Saturday mornings has been very helpful to this particular hobby and I’ve learned or created some delicious things. One of the farmers told me about a new way to use pea shoots. Normally, they’re tossed into a DSCN1838salad to complement the other greens and add a nice extra flavor. It’s quite good this way, but if you don’t eat salads all the time, a good portion of the pea shoots can go bad before you get around to using them. Anyway, this farmer recommended I try sauté-ing the greens in just a little bit of oil. I did this, and tossed in some shitake mushrooms, and voila! A lovely, tasty dish that goes well with the cheese-and-salt plates I sometimes put together for an after-work snack.

Just two weekends ago I bought a box of tiny eggplants, and have since had fun trying DSCN1863them out in different ways. Although I’ve been primarily eating vegetarian, now and then I’ll toss in some animal protein, which I do my best to purchase from reliable, ecologically- and healthful-minded vendors. In the picture to the left, I’ve baked some wild-caught Alaskan salmon, sprinkled with a bit of lemon and dill; sautéd the coin-sized slices of baby eggplants; and sliced some zebra-striped green tomatoes, packing a lovely flavor. Yummy meal!

DSCN1829Besides cooking, I’ve been trying my best to get out and see some more of DC, whether it be restaurants or sights. In July, I attended my first ever Washington Nationals game at the Nationals Stadium here in DC. It was really spectacular, sitting in the cheap seats and seeing the Washington Monument in the background! The game itself was exciting for the first inning, but then dragged out into no-hits, no-runs for quite some time. Luckily, I was there with a couchsurfer friend and we kept ourselves amused and involved.

Last weekend, I went on a date with a guy I met online, and after lunch we decided to DSCN1852head downtown and check out the postal museum. Well, it turned out that what we visited was the Old Poste Office Tower, not a museum (that’s near Union Station, apparently). However, it still offered some great city views and I learned a few neat factoids: like, the Bells of Congress are kept there, not at the Congress building, and there is a society of bell-ringers who practice every week! I have to say, as dates went this one was pretty good!

More recently, I went on a full moon bicycle ride with BicycleSPACE, a DC-based bike organization. My friend James – who I also met through couchsurfing here in DC a couple years back, then met randomly during a twelve-hour layover in Brussels at a pride parade – DSCN1867has recently become an avid cyclist and he invited me to go with him on this city-street ride. He even loaned me his “beater bike,” which was much fun for me to ride. We whizzed through the downtown DC streets along with over a hundred other cyclists. There was even a unicyclist with us! We howled at the moon and shouted for others to join us. When asked what we were riding for, we shouted, “Happy Friday!” or “Why not?!” or “For fun!” The ride ended at a local bar, which simulated the beach with a courtyard full of sand and beach themed drinks. I’m now pondering getting myself a decent bike and joining BicycleSPACE for more events – they hold bike maintenance classes for beginners and several weekly rides with groups. I will need to invest in some padded shorts, though…

DSCN1873This weekend was supposed to include camping in Shenandoah National Park with my friend Sarah, but she wasn’t feeling well and so I almost didn’t go. At her encouragement, though, and the feeling of grumpiness that accompanied the thought of not going, I packed up and headed out early Saturday afternoon. As always it was a beautiful drive, though the skies were gray. I set up camp in our reserved spot and wandered around. At the camp store I bought myself two nature books to help with identifying wildflowers and trees. Food included pita, hummus, leftovers from meals made during the week and lots of fruit. I went to the 8:30pm ranger’s lecture and learned about nocturnal critters. Did you know that if you count the number of times a cricket chirps in a thirteen-second interval, and add that number to forty, it will tell you the ambient air temperature?! Craziness.

I slept well in my little tent, though it was too damp to get a fire started that night. DSCN1886Sunday dawned with a thin but constant drizzle; I ate some breakfast and meandered around the campground before deciding to hide in my tent and read. That was a pleasant time, listening to the rain and alternately reading and nappy, staying dry and cozy in my tent. Around noon I decided that it was a bit too wet and damp, and packed up the car to head home. Before leaving the park I went on a one-hour hike down to a waterfall, and pulled over to many outlooks to try to pierce the foggy haze to the views beyond. Once out of the park, I stopped and bought apples and honey from a roadside farmer’s stand.

So, although my feet continue to bother me and I can always seem to think of a dozen things I would like to do or should have done… I am keeping myself busy!