Yeah, yeah, yeah I know, that was probably the worst pun you've heard in months and is borderline racially insensitive. What I can say? I can’t
say no to a pun.
Inappropriate jokes asides, this really was a great weekend.
I had been a little concerned that since becoming single again I was turning into
a bit of a shut in. After this last weekend I am no long concerned J
Things kicked off Thursday night when my roommate and I met
up with some friends for our weekly pizza night. Since we are all foodies to
one degree or another we tend to try and mix things up between old favorites
and new adventures. This weeks was a new adventure for me (though not for the
rest of the group) when we went to the Lost Dog Café in East Falls Church.
First off let talk about selection: The sheer number of pizza’s they had on the
menu was almost overwhelming (something like 30 different named pizzas). This
is often not a good thing as it means the restaurant tries to do too many
things at one and does them all poorly instead of just focusing on a few things
that they do extremely well. In this case they seemed to be able to do it all
well.
After some pizza horse trading each of us got to try a piece of everyone
else pizza. My roomy got the pit-bull which has Pastrami, ham, pepperoni,
salami, red onions, jalapenos, basil, and oregano. I will be ordering it next time we go as I
love a good meat pizza and this was one of the better ones I have had. I got the crab meat pizza (I was feeling adventurous)
which consisted of Backfin crab-meat, onions, green peppers, and garlic butter
with brie and mozzarella cheese. Paring the brie with the crab-meat was an excellent
idea and the combo gave the pizza a unique east coast twist that I really
enjoyed. Next time I’m going to ask if they can put a little old bay spice on
the top. Unfortunately I can’t remember what our friend got, but it was good.
What I liked the most about this place is the crust wasn't overly doughy (see my earlier post about how I loath thick crust pizza), though neither was it paper thin. Since I'm the only one in our little pizza group that likes paper thin crust this was a good compromise.
Friday night rolled around and I had the opportunity to take
a very nice girl I had recently met to the National Geographic Museum’s new
pirate exhibit.
While I was waiting to meet her I saw this homeless guy going
to town on homemade drums. Pretty cool way of earning a buck, props to him for
being so creative (and yes, I did put some cash in his jar).
Having grown up on the stories about the fighting age of
sail from Patrick O’Brian I have a deep love for ships, sailing, and pretty
much anything quasi related to that period of history. The exhibit didn't let
me down as it was filled will artifacts from the golden age of Privateering. There was even a part where you could practice knot tying!!!! Who knew being an eagle scout would come in handy on a date? I’m
not so sure that my date is the museum going type but she humored my childlike enthusiasm
(no small feet) so bonus points for her.
Afterwards the plan was to go to Hanks Oyster Bar up by
Dupont Circle to continue with the “ocean” theme of the date. Unfortunately
when we got there the wait was an hour and a half long! (I should have known better).
As both of us were starving and the thought of waiting another hour and a half
for food was unpalatable (I tried to warn you guys), we opted to go next door
to Trio. We ordered pretty much everything on the appetizer menu and while it
was good, nothing was outstanding.
Saturday now: Up bright and early at 6:45 to go with my ward
(local congregation) to the DC temple. While the trip was ridiculously early I
was very glad I went and had a very good experience while serving there.
Changing (in my car) from my church clothes to a white shirt
(bought that day) and shorts, I joined up with three friends to attend the DC
Holi festival out in Potomac Maryland. I
had heard about Holi before but had never attended. Actually, I probably wouldn't have gone to this one except it was presented to me as a 5k run and seemed like
a fun alternative to my normal Saturday 10 miler. There was no run but.....
IT WAS A BLAST!
I was covered head to toe in colored powder, it was in my
ears (thanks Cat), in my hair, everywhere.
I learned quickly that the preferred
method to applying color to someone else (you don’t do it to yourself) is rub
it onto the other persons face or body (within reason) instead of throwing.
This meant getting comfortable fast with having stranger touching you, but
since I’ve spent a lot of time in China my personal space bubble is pretty non-existent
anyways.
I got to bust out my DSLR for the first time in ages and even managed
to get a couple of good shots! I think my personal favorite is when the whole
mass tossed the colored powder up in the air all at once, so cool to see!
People
were running around laughing and tossing color, at one point I took a shot of
blue right to the mouth, turning my teeth instantly blue.
After about two hours all of us needed to get back to real
life and go be productive. So after ambushing another group of friends who had
come late (we discovered the hugging is also an effective way to spread color)
we went our separate ways.
After a long shower, there was so much color in my hair that
my whole body was stained blue when I started to wash it out, I headed into
work to grab my laptop and finishing a couple things. Afterwards I took a
stroll through the capital mall to see the kite festival on my way over to Rita’s
Italian Ice to get some frozen custard. I ended up getting their ice/custard
mixed thingy, and while it was good I think in the future I will just stick
with straight frozen custard.
Returning home I changed into my suit and tie and headed
over to the Washington Masonic Memorial for a Copland concert that a friend was
playing in. Having never been inside the memorial I found the venue fascinating
and it is now on my list of place I need to go back to and explore in more
depth. I am no mason and so a lot of the symbols were lost on me, but I am an analytic fellow and it I love a good puzzle.
The concert itself was…..er…well the string
and woodwinds did a fantastic job. I think the brass section may have gotten
into the wine….. still, there was free dessert , my favorite of which was a
small mini-pie shell filled with caramel and what I believe was marshmallow
covered in chocolate. If only I had been able to find the person that made them
and gotten the recipe!!! Ah well, probably better for my waist line anyways.
Sunday was pretty laid back as it was Easter and with my
family being in Ohio I chose to just hang out with friends. I did make Pizza
dumpling, which consist of filling a Pillsbury biscuit with cheese and
pepperoni and then covering it with an egg wash, Italian seasoning, and Parmesan and baking it. SOOO good!
Unfortunately I’m also pretty sure that it’s absolutely
horrible for you. Also, a friend of a friend made Brazilian limeade. I’m not
really sure how to describe it other than to imagine normal limeade but made
with milk. It was VERY good and something I want to get the recipe for.
So yeah, this weekend was amazing in pretty much every way
it could be. Looking forward to having more such weekends in the near future!
