Living in a Bacterial World

Out of the Snow and a trip to North Carolina

2010-02-17T17:25:00.004-05:00

Today is Wednesday, Feb 17. There is still snow on the ground. There is still snow in the parking lot. Not much snow removal happening. Here are my Project 365 photos for the last week or so:

Thursday, Feb 11, 2010: The car is free!! Our next door neighbors helped us dig out one last time, and gave the car big pushes as I backed it out of the space. I couldn't believe we were finally unstuck! I wanted to drive around the block in victory but settled instead for re-parking in a spot with less snow. The photo is taken from inside the space my car had occupied.
Friday, February 12, 2010: With my newfound freedom, I drove to North Carolina to visit my aunt Kim's family. On Friday I drove with Kim all over Durham, and watched the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Alexa was home from college, and generally had a great time laying next to Kim and poking her. Because that's why you come home from college--to bug your mom.
Saturday, February 13: Snow followed me to North Carolina. I kid you not. When I woke up, there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground. Luckily, it hadn't stuck to the roads, so I was able to drive towards Raleigh to meet my friend Sarah R. Sarah and I met in the 7th grade orchestra cello section, where she called me "Albert" and we drove the conductor to distraction. We had a few classes together in high school, notably one our senior year called "Minority Issues," where we fended off a large group of ignorant boys who seemed to have a problem with minorities. That teacher was nearly driven to retirement. We reconnected through blogging, I think, and it was great to see eachother in person.
Saturday afternoon, my family and I went to see Valentine's Day, which is a movie, for those of you who do not follow these things (like myself). It's a lot like Love Actually, but takes place in America on Valentine's Day. It was quite cute. We all liked it, and followed the movie with a great Greek dinner. Here Alaina is waiting for Al and Alexa to come back with the car.
Sunday, February 14, 2010: Happy Valentine's Day! Even the cats were feeling the love. I lie. This is Gizmo playing with Puppy, the kitten. This kitten is so cute! It's like having a toddler in the house--he wants to play all the time. I spent much of the weekend petting 2 of the 4 cats and playing with Puppy.
Kim gave my hair a deep conditioning treatment, and then Alaina straightened it. She is really good at hair, and it was fun to step into her space for a bit. We had some good chats while she straightened, and it ended up looking great.

I came back to Bethesda on Sunday in anticipation of bad weather on Monday. Instead of bad weather came bad health: Kim and I had different versions of Norovirus. It was unpleasant. So I spent Monday and Tuesday in bed instead of taking pictures. Still not feeling 100%, and trying to figure out what is the next step in terms of bland food after egg noodles with olive oil and parm cheese with a little tofu. Pho? Pizza? Curry? (Just kidding about the last 2, Jill and Miriam!)

2010-02-11T16:04:00.002-05:00

A passage from a book I just read, by Mimi Sheraton, a life-long food writer and former NYTimes restaurant critic:

"My ability to identify what i was eating reached its peak one evening when I was reviewing the Japanese noodle soup reataurant Omen in New York's SoHo. We were six altogether, Dick and I with Marc and another couple with their daughter. We shared a number of small dishes before trying the soups and because the two teenagers were ravenous, offerings on the tiny plates disappeared faster than you could say sayonara. Still hungry, I spotted what looked like shaved white diakon radish in soy sauces. Reaching over with chopsticks, I snared the mound and began to eat it when I noticed something strange. 'This tastes like paper soaked in soy sauce,' I announced. Looking up, Dick said, 'You are eating my napkin!'"

In other news, my car is finally unstuck.

Snowpocalypse!

2010-02-10T14:17:00.001-05:00

So as you all know, we have been experiencing a weather phenomenon here in DC known as Snowpocalypse. It is now Wednesday, February 10. It is my second snow day this week. This weather event has been going on since mid-morning on Friday, February 5. During this time I have taken up permanent residence on my couch, and have fully explored the wardrobe possibilities of pajamas. Here is a re-cap of the last 6 days.

Friday, February 5: I only had an hour left to work, so I stayed home and waited for the storm. I decided to go the library as a last foray into society to stock up on a few DVDs and books. Me and everyone else in Bethesda. Never have I seen a line more than 4 people in the library. There were about 20 people ahead of me. The only DVDs to be had were obscure foreign films about death and apocalypse. Although the latter topic seemed appropriate, I opted instead for a nice stack of books. As I left the library at 11am the flurries started.

The snow didn't start sticking until 3pm. I cooked a nice dinner, and Daniella and I cozied up on the couch for a movie. About every 20 minutes one of us got up from the couch, looked out the window and remarked, "wow! It's really coming down!" After the movie we stood by the window for about 30 minutes watching a couple dig out their car. It had already accumulated about a foot and showed no signs of slowing. We were glued to the window as they used a broom and an ice scraper to clear off their car, then trudged back to the apartment. Definitely a futile exercise.

Saturday, February 6: We woke up to this:
It looks like rain, but I think it was drops of ice on the window. It was still snowing. We had a relaxing day. At about 3pm, the snow stopped. At 4, we decided to go out and play. This is our street:
Daniella in front of our building
As we walked down the street, we saw a group of 3 people with sleds. "Where are you sledding?" we called. "By NIH," they answered, "want to come with us?" So we followed the 3 strangers halfway around NIH, tramping through the snow in tracks made by other prospective sledders.
It was really pretty, and the snow was pristine in between the tracks. And very deep.
We walked for what felt like several miles and found a gentle slope. We slid down on sleds, slowly, and got tips from a 10 year old. The strangers were really friendly--2 international post-docs at NIH and another woman from Europe (Germany, perhaps). There was much laughter. As it got dark, Daniella and I tramped back. This table outside the nursing home on our street shows the amount of snowfall.
Despite being sort of wet following sledding in jeans, we wanted hot chocolate, and so ventured into Bethesda proper.
In the park, this snowman had an evergreen shock of hair. In Bethesda, lots of people were out, walking in the street, which was empty of cars. Everyone was friendly and smiling, happy to be out of their house. The Tastee Diner was "the only game in town," as the owner reminded everyone who walked in. "We're understaffed and running really slow," was the rest of the greeting. Our waitress was relieved that we only ordered hot chocolate. Although the diner was hopping, it was almost silent inside. I think everyone had run out of things to say to eachother over the day trapped inside.

Sunday, February 7: The day dawned clear and sunny, so Rowan and I headed into DC to play on the Mall. On the walk, Rowan felt inspired to make a snow angel:

Lots of people were out and about, cross-country skiing, walking, and playing. An active game of tackle football was underway against the background of the Natural History Museum.
For the most part, we walked along paths tromped down by previous walkers, but we decided to cross at a less-defined path. Look how high the snow comes up on my leg!
Every once in a while, we would look up from our careful stepping, and realize, "wow! We're on the MALL!"

We came upon some people building an adult snowman...er...snowwoman. It reminds me of a mug I have that says "Equal Rights for Snowwomen!" and features a snowperson with boobs.
Walking back to town for chai and salty oat cookies at Teaism. Perfect way to end a snowy outing.
Monday, February 8: Snow Day! This fact definitely called for use of one of the names of this storm: Snowgasm. This quickly turned to SnOMG (either Snow My G-d or Snow-M-G) when I decided to shovel out my car. Check this out!!!
I had parked in this spot because the sun often hits it, and I thought it might help melt out my car. Indeed, it did clear off the car somewhat. But what I failed to take into consideration was the snow that fell off the roof, pinning my car to the parking lot. And look at how much snow was in front of the car, before we could even start properly digging. Luckily, a worker from the apartment helped us shovel to the car, which we thought would be half the battle. We were wrong.
In this picture I am standing on the snow next to my car. The car was so stuck, I cannot even tell you. After 2 hours of digging with borrowed shovels, we called it quits and went to Rock Bottom for soft pretzels. It was almost funny. It would have been funnier if we had gotten the car out.

Tuesday, February 9: Car still stuck. Office open. I worked from home, which was quite productive, though seriously boring. I missed the fun dynamic of the office. I don't think I would want to work from home long term. After work, I shoveled some more with the help of my neighbor LL. The car was almost out, but then it started snowing again. I walked down to the post office. Look how bad the roads still are.
This city has such poor snow removal.

Now it is snowing again. Blustering, big flakes. I can barely see out my window. Snoverkill? I think so.

Project 365: Jan 29-Feb 4 2010

2010-02-04T20:47:00.004-05:00

Friday, Jan 29: I don't know if I actually took a photo this day. We went to a very cool after school program to vaccinate at-risk middle schoolers and teens. I really admire their program and am thinking about volunteering there. Here is a card I made with my V-Day set and some patterned paper from AC Moore.
Saturday, Jan 30: Snowed all day. I had to get out of the house after spending most of the week in bed or on the couch. Walking to Caribou Coffee to write some letters, I came across a couple who had a unique answer to the snow. They're garbage bags, in case you couldn't tell. People here don't quite know how to handle snow. You can also see that the streets are not plowed at all.
Sunday, Jan 31: Miriam came over. We made chocolate-chip cookies and hung out on the couch. We don't hang out at eachother's houses as much now that we're grown-up (?). We decided we miss it.
Monday, February 1: We got some accumulation of snow that Saturday! It looked pretty out my office window.
Tuesday, February 2: My roommate Daniella. We had just finished watching Something's Gotta Give, which I liked quite a bit. It was about the 5th time Daniella had seen the second half of it. She has yet to see the beginning. Her hair is usually curly, but was straightened by one of the "Miss"es at her school.
Wednesday, February 3: We got a lot of snow on Tuesday night, but the roads were merely wet the next morning, so it was no trouble to get to work. Both the Montgomery and PW County schools were closed, but the Federal and State governments were not. The ride to work was beautiful with the snow just sitting on the branches.
Thursday, February 4: Asher's eyes were dry today, so Bobbi attempted to put eyedrops in his eyes. This was about as successful as it looks in this photo. I love how much we laugh in my office.

Today we also had a vaccination clinic at the Senior Center, which is like a JCC for seniors. They have all sorts of classes, crafts, computers, fitness equipment, and an area to hang out. Most of the seniors who got vaccinated knew eachother and were kibbitzing while filling out their forms. It is so encouraging to see seniors who are active and social. I really do interact with a limited age range usually. I was helping one of the men fill out his form and he was flirting with me to beat the band! We had a good time at the Senior Center.

They are predicting a big storm starting tomorrow late morning. I braved Trader Joe's to pick up a few things. They were out of most everything--basically all carbohydrates and milk. People are so funny about snow here. I was getting non-emergency food like feta cheese, salsa and soy cheese (for Daniella), so I was ok. I am stocked with at-home activities for tomorrow and Saturday--movies, a book and cards to make!

Stay warm!

On loss, in a different way

2010-01-29T23:22:00.003-05:00

I recently received a Facebook message from an old friend. At one point, she had been very dear to me, one of the most important people in my life. Some happenings in her current life made her think of me, and she actually reached out and contacted me. How often does this happen, that something reminds us of someone who was once in our lives and has drifted out? And yet, how often do we take any action to reconnect? Speaking for myself, hardly ever. This friend's message makes me think of all of the other people I have let drift away--people with whom I shared history, experience, connection. People who at one time, were central in my life. In a few cases, we've grown apart, but in most cases it is a negligence, on my part, on their part; a feeling that maybe too much time has passed to sew our separated lives back together. Perhaps that is the truth, but in how many of these friendships is that not true, how often would it take just an email, how often would it be a seamless reworking? How many friends have I lost to the fear that it is too late to try? Who do I still stand to lose in this way?

What I've been up to in the last week or so

2010-01-28T17:31:00.003-05:00

As you can see, I have taken an unplanned and unexcused blogging hiatus. I will, at some point, update with the last few months, but I wanted to update with the last week or so. Basically, I have been sick. I have something that started as a sore throat and is now a wicked sinus infection. It feels like small men under my cheeks are making snow angels wearing cleats. I'm not so sick that I have to sleep all the time, but not quite well enough to be up and about. I have watched an entire season of The L Word and made a lot of cards.

Winter Sims, a card blogger (I think her name is the coolest) is holding a card drive for Texas Children's Hospital. Valentine's Day cards only, no get-well sorts of messages. With my awesome new Papertrey Ink stamp set, I made a bunch of cards to send her.
One of my favorites of the bunch. It says in red "some bunny loves u" and the bunny's tail is a heart. I am having a blast with these stamps. Thanks Poppa!
I have also organized my craft desk. Look how much desk space I have! And now I don't have to put my paper cutter on the floor--it can always be just where I need it.
I made a birthday card for my friend Amanda. I am excited about using those polka dots! They are actually flower centers.
I have only been at work 2 days this week. A flock of geese has taken up residence at the pond across the way. Yesterday they suddenly and menacingly started to advance towards my window. Turns out there is a strip of very green grass under it.
So that's about all there is to report. I am going to see a doctor tomorrow. I hope this goes away soon. I feel like such a wussy staying home from work and being in my pj's all day.

Totally Hectic

2009-12-04T13:50:00.006-05:00

It's been a hectic week. I have worked some very long days, and the work has been mentally and emotionally tiring. I'm so far over my hours for this week that I came home today after only 3 hours and am now in bed. I am debating forcing myself to take a nap. I don't nap very readily, so it is a struggle to just lay down and close my eyes and still my mind. Even more of a struggle to actually fall asleep.

The main thing notable/sharable since Sarah left has been Daniella's and my discovery of Veggie Tales. Her piano student's mom recommended the song "oh where is my hairbrush" to her, and we proceeded to watch it on YouTube two or three times in a row. And then sing it non-stop for the next day and a half. "The Pirates who don't do anything" was also a hit, especially once we figured out through google that Mr. Lunt is a decorative gourd. If you don't know what I'm talking about, google "cucumber hairbrush," and you are in for a very silly treat.

I thought I'd also post some non-Thanksgiving related pictures from Sarah's visit. In addition to cooking, Sarah and I:

Went out for coffee (twice)

Laughed and giggled

Made cards

Stayed out late in Adams Morgan over falafel and dessert (the cookie sandwich at The Diner)

And saw more of those green balls, both in living sculpture

and store window plastic

I will now start a label for those green balls, as they seem to come up with inordinate frequency.

Thanksgiving Dinner

2009-11-29T18:11:00.002-05:00

We had 2 guests for Thanksgiving dinner: Rowan, and Anne, who was my Head Resident (like an RA) at Smith for 2 years. We all chatted in the kitchen while Rowan was sauteing chard, and then in the living room over goat cheese and white bean hummus. We read poems, as is the tradition in my family. I botched mine up, but everyone else did great. Anne read us a poem in German and in English--she translated it herself! Then we sat down to dinner, saying what we are thankful for.
Rowan, Anne, me.

All of the food turned out excellently! I was very happy. Before pecan pie, to let our food digest, we played a great game of Pictionary Telephone. There was much laughter over difficult-to-decipher pictures (mine) and hard-to-draw sentences (Rowan's).

A few were especially funny.
First Sentence: The grass is always greener on the other side
Last Sentence: One stick figure is scratching my cornea which makes me really sad so I have to go break something and drink a cup of hot tea.
The middle of that sheet involved lice and Jack and Jill.

Another one:
First Sentence: Is this the true face of genius?
Last Sentence: A man with a tugboat on his head hums while imagining his home with a replenishing fruit bowl outside--only there never seems to be any grapes.

The pecan pie was delicious with vanilla ice cream.

Thanksgiving! Food Prep

2009-11-29T17:08:00.007-05:00

Sarah and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving week! We very much enjoyed cooking and hosting our first Thanksgiving. The menu:
Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger
Green Bean Casserole (a la Campbell's Soup)
Roasted Beets and Brussel Sprouts
Stuffing
Pecan Pie

As we are vegetarian, we skipped the turkey. Rowan brought homegrown swiss chard and Anne brought appetizers.

Sarah and I started cooking on Wednesday with the squash soup and pie. When I make squash soup (which happens quite frequently), I roast the squash. This necessitates cutting the raw squash in half, an often formidable feat. I started gently:
After banging the squash with the knife stuck in it repeatedly on the counter in an attempt to break through, I resorted to brute force.
This resulted in some seriously raggedy-looking squash.

I thought that brandishing the remaining squash like a triumphant squash conqueror would help bolster my oomph.
Let's just say it's a good thing all the squash gets pureed in the end.

Sarah was a bit more sedate making her pecan pie crust.
The filling:
The finished pie! Isn't it pretty? Sarah managed the lovely top decoration even though I kept eating the pecans from her "decoration" pile. I thought she had made a pile of the rejects.
Thursday morning we started with the stuffing. Every year when I am home for Thanksgiving, I wake up to the smell of onions sauteing in butter: my dad starting the stuffing. He cooks the stuffing and turkey, and likes to be out of the kitchen before anyone else starts cooking. So when I started sauteing my own celery, carrots and onions in a whole stick of butter, it really smelled and felt like Thanksgiving.
Right before it was time to put the stuffing in the oven, I remembered the most important flavor of the stuffing: white wine. By some miracle, we actually had a corkscrew (2!). I didn't have to borrow one from Ken and Kenny, or the scary neighbors. I had not, until that moment, successfully uncorked a bottle of wine. As you can see, it was quite the effort. But I had success!
The stuffing about halfway through cooking. This was my favorite part of the meal.
We also roasted beets and brussel sprouts. The color contrast when raw was excellent, and they tasted so sweet cooked.
One thing about having several different roommates over the last year and a half is the rotating kitchen supplies. I am now without a sufficiently large mixing bowl, and my soup pot was in use. While all of the green beans fit in the bowl, it was difficult to stir them into the sauce. About halfway through I realized that it was customary to defrost the green beans before mixing them in the sauce. This might have aided the mixing process.

It was a fun day and a half cooking--not stressful.

Alaina's Bat Mitzvah: The Day After

2009-11-25T17:51:00.005-05:00

Sunday, November 22: After sleeping like rocks, we headed down to the hotel breakfast area for brunch. Up in our private area, the hotel staff had put together a lovely display. The nests are lox, the martini glass holds capers, and I like the look of the paprika.
Although those white disks look like baked goods, don't try to grab them! They're cream cheese, molded into shapes that resemble biscuits. I had to stand there and make sure people didn't try to hold them.
I like how they used Saturday's kids' table decorations to display (just a few of the many) leftover cupcakes.
In addition, we had free range of the hot breakfast buffet, a fruit bar, and meats and cheeses. The beef tenderloin made a reappearance, this time under the auspices of "corned beef hash." There was lots of giggling over this. Personally, I wouldn't blame the hotel staff, as we had pretty much harassed them the entire weekend, and they still managed to smile at us.

We rolled out of our rooms and piled into Kim's living room to recap the evening and enjoy being in a real house (we had pretty much spent 36 hours in the hotel). Sheryl and my mom looked through my sign-in book.
Kim has 3 cats. Two keep to themselves, but Gizmo is such a cuddler! Except when he decides to bite.
He had a snuggle with me--I realized how much I miss cuddling with animals in this job. (There are sometimes animals in the office, but only the heads of potentially rabid backyard critters, and they are not good to snuggle with). Gizmo settled down in my lap and rested his face in my leg. After a long time relaxing on me with much purring, he bit me. Kim says it's a love bite. I say he's spending too much time with Kim's friend M.
Eventually, my parents and Claire's family left for the airport, and Alexa went back to South Carolina. I had a mellow evening with the D's and S-H's. Alaina and Molly recorded Alaina's gifts and did some math.
Kim taught me how to style my hair and use a diffuser on a blowdryer. I am indeed impaired when it comes to blow-drying. It was a fun and relaxing evening. Around 7pm we figured we'd all be asleep by 9, but somehow Jill, Molly, Kim and I stayed up late talking. I was so glad to have the extra day to spend quiet time with my extended family.

Overall it was a most excellent weekend! Thanks to the D's for hosting and making it all happen!

Bat Mitzvah Party

2009-11-25T17:45:00.005-05:00

Alaina led the service extremely well. Her Torah portion was smooth and her speech heartfelt and meaningful. And was the service ever speedy! One hour exactly, which is quite short for a Torah service. Before the party opened, adults and kids wrote notes to Alaina on my pages.

The adults shmoozed over drinks while the kids played games with the DJ inside. I thought this was a great idea--we didn't have to hear them play "Coke and Pepsi" and other loud bat mitzvah games. My older cousins, Alexa's best friend, and I ordered Shirley Temples from the bar and chatted. When we went inside the ballroom, the desserts were all spread out like this:
Isn't it pretty? There were skewers of chocolate-dipped marshmallows, chocolate caramel apples, chocolate-dipped pretzels and more.

I was seated at the big kids table--my older cousins, 2 of Alexa's friends, and a couple about my age. Molly and I experimented with my camera.
Molly is a camp counselor, and also likes to dance, so she, my mom and I danced quite a bit. Having gone to many a bar/bat mitzvah in my day, I know many line dances, and so does my mom. We rocked out to The Electric Slide, the Cha-Cha Slide, and Cotton Eye Joe. We started grooving our heads off to YMCA, then looked over at the 13 year olds to find them standing in a tight pack and boucing slightly. Apparently they only dance during the letter part of that song, omitting the pointing during the "young man" portion. We sat down, a bit embarassed but laughing at ourselves. The DJ played some 80's music and got all of the adults up and dancing. One of Kim's friend and her boyfriend were especially, uh, enthusiastic on the dance floor. All of the 13-year-olds and many of the adults stopped dancing to watch. "It's like the sun," I remarked. "You can't look away, but it hurts to look." "Someone's gonna get pregnant out there," added Lisa.

Elisa or Sheryl wanted some group shots of the Stangers. She took the first few herself.

Then she called on the male half of the dancing couple (who were catching their breath) for assistance with a full group shot. He lined us up, asked if we were ready, and did away with the more typical "Say cheese!" in favor of a graphic and utterly complete crotch-grab. You can tell who saw from this next photo.
As the music shifted back to today's hip-hop, the adults in my family drifted out to "our" couch in the lobby. Most likely Elisa has said something obscene, provoking the reactions from my mom and her sisters. That's my dad on the end.

Temple Photo Shoot

2009-11-25T10:02:00.004-05:00

Before the Bat Mitzvah was the obligatory photo shoot, lining up each family grouping with Alaina. I took photos on the sidelines.
Molly (17), Alexa (18) and Kim:

Lindsey (20) joined the 3 of them for a photo. After I got a nice picture, I said, "now make a gross face!" Alaina was the only one who heard me.
The formal photo shoot was a little stiff, and the photographer did little to lighten it up. So my mother took matters into her own hands.
Once you get my mom going with showing off her muscles, it's hard to stop her. Also, Kerri, this photo is for you to see her wearing her beautiful dress.
But eventually she cracked herself up. Love those knees.
Every time I looked at Alexa, her shoes were off.
I like these two.

Poppa and me.
Kim looking over the Bat Mitzvah manual one last time.

Alaina's Bat Mitzvah: Getting Ready

2009-11-23T21:55:00.005-05:00

Alaina, Alexa, and I went to Sheer Bliss, where Kim used to work, to have our hair done for the Bat Mitzvah. Alaina went with a classic look for her hair, while Alexa and I had a chance to catch up. Alexa has become such an interesting person. I wish we lived closer so I knew her a bit better. Alaina after her appointment:
I went with a curly look and I loved how it turned out! The stylist lifted some of it up on top of my head with bobby pins to give it some height and it looked really cool (although it hurt when I lay down for bed later).
Meanwhile, back at the ranch that was the Durham Hilton, party set-up was in full swing. Kim's friend Marti was heading up the decorations committee, with help from Elisa, Casey, Sheryl and Molly.
Marti made the centerpieces, which were made of layered pink and green sand topped with flower arrangements she did herself. It was a good look.
Molly and I rocked our way through the hotel to her ipod (sharing headphones, of course), and set up for the candle-lighting ceremony.
A cupcake tower was part of the dessert extravaganza. Here the baker sets it up.
The finished product. The cupcakes were tasty, but the cake on top was AMAZING. We cut into it on Sunday evening--really chocolatey layer cake.
I made the a sign-in book for guests. I basically designed scrapbook pages without any pictures where guests could write messages to Alaina. I tried to incorperate her interests and favorite colors. It was a challenge for me, because I rarely scrapbook, but I am very happy with the outcome. I layed out the pages on tables to make them accessible.

Alaina really loved the book, which made me extremely happy and proud as well.

With everything in place, we were set to leave the hotel and proceed to the Temple for photos and the main event.

Waffle House

2009-11-23T21:50:00.001-05:00

Saturday, November 21:
Somewhere amidst the revelry of Friday night it was decided that we would all breakfast at the Waffle House down the street from our hotel. My dad's students had spoken enthusiastically about its merits, and I think we all pictured a cross between Cracker Barrel, and IHOP, with a focus on fluffy Belgian waffles. That wasn't quite what we walked in to. It was kind of like a fish-fry joint, except breakfast food. We were seated in the "non-smoking" section, which was kind of funny because the whole restaurant was about the size of my apartment minus the bedrooms. The smoking and non-smoking sections were separated only by the griddle. It was highly sanitary (especially when they put Jill's undercooked eggs back on the grill for a little more cooking). The eleven of us squeezed into two booths probably meant for 2-4 people each. Molly was in fact calling my mother on her cell phone at the next booth in this photo.

The best part was that there was a booth in between our two booths, with a family in it. Elisa, Brian and my dad arrived a bit later and it was not immediately apparent if there would be enough space for all of us. So Brian squeezed in with the family in the middle booth. They looked seriously alarmed, probably because they had not been following our conversation, not being English-speakers.

Anyways, we all ordered some combinations of eggs, hash browns, biscuits, etc. Mike was especially excited about his breakfast:
I figured I should get the eponymous dish: a waffle. It was very thin, but quite tasty. The biscuits Jill and Mike had were excellent--I finally found a biscuit I like! I think the key ingredient is a lot of grease. Dad had grits with his chili-cheese omlet. Elisa decided to be adventurous and sample grits for the first time.
Gearing up for her first bite:
Love the look on her face!
Quickly seeking out coffee.
"Interesting," she proclaimed. Sheryl said the same thing about the biscuit with gray sausage gravy on Sunday morning...

Alexa (18) picked me up for a hair do and remarked, "I can't believe you guys went to Waffle House. Waffle House is where you go if it's 3 O'clock in the morning and you've been partying and there's nowhere else to go."

Alaina's Bat Mitzvah: Friday at Kim's

2009-11-23T21:00:00.002-05:00

I have just returned from a long weekend in Durham, North Carolina, where my youngest cousin Alaina was Bat Mitzvah'ed. My mom has 2 younger sisters, and between the 3 of them, they have 5 daughters. We are a heavily female-centric family, and we love it! All of the aunts and cousins were present, along with their husbands (my uncles) and my grandfather Poppa. A special treat was the presence of our other "family," headed by Claire, my grandma Annie's good friend. Claire and her daughters Elisa and Sheryl flew down with Elisa's husband Brian and Sheryl's 15-year-old son Casey. My mom and aunts grew up with Elisa and Sheryl, so there is much talk of the old Albany days, as well as teasing about old boyfriends and behaviors. Claire's family is just as loud and inclined to tease as my family is, so there is an exponential increase in teasing, laughing, shouting and slightly crude humor when all of us are combined. It was a most excellent weekend.

Friday, I drove the 5 easy hours down to Durham--it seriously was the 5 easiest hours I've ever driven. Everyone had lunch in Kim's spacious living room. We had several lengthy discussions about H1N1 flu vaccination.

Molly (17) and Aunt Kim (Alaina's mom)
Poppa catching up with Claire.
Casey and Sheryl in Kim's chair that is just perfect for snuggling.

Friday evening saw us at the hotel, giving the waitstaff a difficult time over dinner. This also was the first appearance of the beef tenderloin, which has apparently been cooked several days earlier and left to dry in the sun. In the end, everyone had plenty to eat and there was much laughter.

Friday night services brought a welcome pause to breathe. The rabbi spoke about Women of the Wall--great d'var. She also spoke about Alaina's Hebrew name: Chana Esther. Alaina is named after my great grandmother Grandma Stanger (whose first name was Ann) and a dear friend of my grandma, Elaine. The rabbi talked about the biblical Chana and Esther (she focused on the strength and courage of each, not on the less savory parts of those stories). A nice connect.

When we returned to the hotel, we found that Kim's Durham friends had been parked at the hotel bar since we left. We joined them and listened to some crazy stories full of double entendres. We learned about "sweet spots" on the head (in terms of hair styling), and saw a reenactment of a story using a chicken finger as a cell phone. Good times, good times.

2009-11-18T07:52:00.002-05:00

I have been taking pictures and doing interesting things, but haven't gotten a chance to blog lately. About to start my third day in a row of working late--Monday: clinic, Tuesday: presentation for the members of the Heavy Construction Contractors Association, Wednesday: clinic.

Great weekend, with a small dinner party on Saturday and a relaxing day with Miriam at Tryst on Sunday. Also singing with Daniella and cooking with Rowan.

In short, life is good, busy, and I will try to blog soon.

We are breathing, we are seething

2009-11-12T20:33:00.004-05:00

Feeling grumpy right now and not in the mood to wait for photos to load. No particular reason for the grumpy, but the prospect of gathering lunch and dinner for tomorrow is not helping. I'm working late tomorrow at the vaccine clinic, which I like doing very much. But planning to be out all day is daunting. And I just realized that I sort of messed up on some of the public messaging I was responsible for today. I don't think any of it actually got out to the public messed up, but I don't feel good about not catching several errors (or maybe making them--I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I didn't catch it). Grump, grump, grump. I don't like feeling grumpy and that makes me grumpy. Harumph.

I suppose I should move on from my hissy fit. Let's see, good things:

Very much enjoying my new roommate Daniella. We sang Dar Williams and Indigo Girls while she played guitar.
I am making great progress in my craft project (it's a secret right now, but not for long). It's a new variation on my usual type of crafting, and takes more concentration, but I am getting into it.
Great vibe in my office--much laughter and ribbing, plus collaboration. I generally feel able to communicate my ideas and views. Plus, I have some good public health discussions with my boss J on a regular basis.
Spent a very relaxing day off yesterday sleeping, crafting and reading juvenile fiction. I also had lunch with Jason. It was great to catch up with him and reminded me of how much fun we had in high school.
People at work will not be upset with me that I messed up. Plus, tomorrow I get to try a new position at the clinic. Perhaps it will lead to me botching up fewer names.

Okay, here is a picture of some colorful cauliflower at the Dupont Circle Farmer's Market.

Cakewrecks

2009-11-08T16:45:00.005-05:00

On Thursday, November 5, Miriam and I met up to attend an author presentation at Barnes and Noble. The speaker was none other than Jen Yates, the creator of the hilarious blog Cakewrecks! Jen recently authored a book by the same name, depicting many of the wrecks, with anecdotes and bits of humor. She and her husband John are in the process of a book tour around the country. Miriam and I were wicked early, which meant we got actual seats.
We also had ample time to look at the "wreckplicas" of cake wrecks--mini cakes or cupcakes intentionally decorated to look like ugly cakes featured on the website. Here is one example:

For each stop on the tour, local professional bakers bake and decorate cakes for the audience to eat after the talk. Often, these cakes pay homage to wrecks on the website, either specific wrecks, or the genre.
The other cake baked by Fancy Cakes had a back-story. Jen and John had called the bakery to ask them to do a cake for the signing. Leslie at Fancy Cakes said, "oh, Cake Wrecks! One of our cakes was on that site." Whoops... It was a rather well-made cake, featuring Obama. The only objection came from his "awkward hand placement."

Leslie, who was there at the event, joked that they "dusted off the cake" to bring it to the signing. I assumed she was kidding, and had baked a copy of the cake for the occasion. When we got close to the cake after the talk, I saw that it was, indeed, dusty. Ew.

Anyways, Jen and John were quite funny--they had us laughing really hard. What I liked about them was that they seemed like regular people--a little geeky, a little awkward in an endearing way, and not afraid to laugh at themselves. Jen's mic kept making terrible noises, so there was much laughing about that.

They showed a slide show of some of their favorite wrecks, and told us how the blog started. After a few odd questions from the audience, we ate some delicious almond cake and waited for a long time for Miriam to get her book signed. Meeting them was comfortable and fun, and I got the sense that they were genuinely pleased that we were there.

Project 365 Day 66 (approx)

2009-11-06T18:04:00.004-05:00

Scroll down to the next posts to read about my weekend in Northampton in 4 lengthy (but hopefully pithy) installments.

I've been doing fairly well with Project 365. Not 100%. Many days I just work and come home. Stuff happens at work, but much of it would not be appropriate to blog about. Not that we are inappropriate at work, just, separation, you know? Do people have suggestions of things I could take pictures of in everyday life? In general, though, I am really enjoying the picture-taking.

Wednesday, 4 November: I saw this rainbow as I was in traffic on my way home from work.
Thursday, November 5: Happy Birthday Alexa! Stay tuned for a post about the cool thing I did on Thursday.

Friday, November 6: I walked over to NIH today to do some banking and to visit the old haunts. I got to catch up with Lily and Lisa and some of the post-docs in the lab, as well as hear about the (now dead) rats from my replacements. It felt good to show people there how much I am enjoying my public health work, and how happy I am. I got many comments on my haircut, and people noted that I look happy. I am. It was nice to see people, but I know that I am in the right place now. NIH has very successful rose bushes in several locations. They bloom longer than I've ever seen roses bloom. These are by Building 1.

The day has generally been low-key. Lots of catching up on blogging from my comfy arm chair. Talked on the phone to Aunt Jill and read Allison Bechdel's autobiography. I also cleaned out the freezer, and generally neatened up, because tonight is my last night living alone. Tomorrow my new roommate D will move in. Her parents will help her move. She's Jewish, a vegetarian, and a preschool music teacher. I am excited about this move. But nervous, of course, for the unknown.

In unrelated news, I now love goat cheese. I strongly disliked it up until about 2 months ago, when it suddenly stopped tasting vile. Now I have gone beyond and am craving it. On everything. I guess it's what you call an acquired taste...

It's Shabbat and I am going to Bet Mishpacha for the first time. I am hoping for friendliness and ease. Shabbat Shalom!

Weekend in Northampton: Sunday

2009-11-06T16:22:00.003-05:00

Sunday morning we took a walk in the woods, something I have missed while living in Bethesda. The leaves in New England are so much more vivid than they are down here. Before my weekend with Sarah, I thought it looked like fall here. Now the colors on the trees in Virginia seem muddy in comparison. If you don't like photographs that are mostly foliage, scroll down for a while.

Hungry from our walk (ok, I will face it. When are we ever not hungry? This blog is mostly about what I eat), we went to Woodstar for their fabulous bagel sandwiches. Our favorite sandwich is East Meets Woodstar, usually served on their homemade bagels (I had mine on sourdough toast this time). It contains cream cheese, lox, undyed pickled ginger, cukes and wasabi. We also enjoyed an iced latte (me) and an iced chai (Sarah). It was lovely and warm outside, as evidenced by our cold beverages. Ok, by Sarah's cold beverage. I will drink something iced at any time. Also note that empty tic-tac container that had until recently contained my supply of lactaid pills for the weekend. Evidence of a delicious weekend!
After poking around Noho shops some more (yes, the themes of the weekend were eating and poking around), we spotted Rosie and Yael across the street. We joined them in listening to Mount Holyoke's M&Cs (Milk and Cookies). They were excellent musically and had lots of fun singing. Some of the Smith groups take themselves a little seriously, so it was nice to see some levity.
Rosie was wearing her new Old Navy sweater that she claimed to have been wearing ever since she bought it. Yael clarified that she had not slept in it.
Somehow hungry again, we cajoled Rosie and Yael into joining us at the new burger place in town, Local Burger, to try their fried pickles. I think they had counted on each having 1 or 2, but the pickles came like a giant basket of french fries, and their consumption help was necessary, appreciated and enjoyed by all. These pickles were thin dill slices coated in a corn meal-salt-pepper mixture and fried until crispy. The perfect mix of juicy and crunchy. I was instantly addicted.
Overall, it was a wonderful weekend. Basically, we spent most of the weekend eating. Or shopping, or walking around. I love Northampton, and my friends there. I returned feeling loved and satisfied. And very full.

Weekend in Northampton: Saturday: Halloween!

2009-11-05T20:47:00.000-05:00

Saturday at Smith started with breakfast in the dining hall--my day starts off best if I eat oatmeal for breakfast. Not because I am some oatmeal aficionado, but because I am a slave to routine.

Saturday was our shopping day. We poked around lots of our favorite shops in Northampton. I bought gorgeous boots at Synergy, tights and mittens at the accessory shot, and many cards at Faces. When I visited Smith as a prospie, older Smithies told me that Faces was the inspiration for Urban Outfitters, combining funky clothes with funky random stuff you convince yourself you need. This was back when Urban Outfitters was funky as opposed to just odd and ripped-looking. I think it is a testament to the playful and alternative element in Northampton that Faces has thrived for about 10 years. This time, they had added some toys near and dear to my heart: Giant Microbes! Normally, the plush pathogens are between 5 and 7 inches, but Faces had an example of one of the new GiganticMicrobes! And in my old friend, E. coli:
They also had something near and dear to my life: H1N1 flu! See, it's supposed to look like a pig...swine flu.
After buying some cards that are so obscenely funny that I can only send them to about 3 people (that would be you, Dane and Nora), we headed to La Veracruzana for lunch. I know that Mexican food does not photograph well, but trust me that it was delicious. I had spinach and cheese enchiladas with tomatillo sauce and my weight in beans. Sarah had enfrijoladas, which she introduced me to.

As usual over a meal, we had a serious (in a good way) discussion. We talked about our future plans, the new possibilities opening up to us as we discovered things we love about our current endeavors. When should I go to public health school? What kind of school should she go to? When? What kind of public health should I do? Before we knew it, our lunch was gone and we were very full. But all of that serious conversation did not prevent a silly photo:
After lunch we took to the streets again, revisiting the site of our first date on October 27, 2007. On that date, after our friends agreed to look after the very demanding Hillel guest...presenter?teacher?songstress?wackjob?... and shooed us out the door, Sarah and I headed downtown. For whatever reason, we eschewed the more typical Haymarket and Woodstar and went to The Yellow Sofa, new at the time. There, we sat on the yellow sofa, drank extremely peppery chai, and listened to a very bad guitar player. It was a good date.
Returning to 2009, we had someone take our picture on that same yellow sofa, which is extremely uncomfortable. The experience was made more awkward by the fact that the sofa is now positioned on the stage where bad musicians perform.
This is my favorite intersection in Northampton. Each light cycle, there is only one opportunity for pedestrians to cross the street. It occurs all at once, so people can cross the street in all directions, including diagonally. It makes a noise when it's time to do that, which results in the name of the intersection: The Beep-boop Light.

Halloween in Northampton is a funny thing. At first we just thought that people were dressed, not atypically for Noho, slightly strange. Funny hats, wigs, striped stockings, lots of black, or even like superheroes. After we saw signs on shop doors advertising downtown trick or treating, it occurred to us that these people were probably in costume. We smiled over the fact that this wasn't our immediate thought, as it would have been in Bethesda or DC. From 3-6 on Halloween, most of the stores downtown offerred trick-or-treating to costumed children. It was adorable to watch. So many children of color with 2 white mommies! (nothing wrong with that, just an observation about Northampton). Lots of superheroes, princesses and literary characters. I was quite pleased to see Pippi and Laura Engalls Wilder. We also saw the following sign at essentials, a store that sells nothing that could be vaguely deemed essential. Sarah liked its position over the ribbon.

We had a mid-afternoon coffee at Haymarket. A mocha milkshake for me, which emcompassed everything a blended coffee drink should be and nothing more: espresso, chocolate, and ice cream. No powders, no mixes, no ice. Sarah had a latte in a tall glass and a cookie.

Back at the H-Dub ranch, we read some more on the couch before dressing up for our anniversary dinner at Osaka. This Japanese restaurant has the best sushi on the east coast that I have experienced. It is just really damn good. You should eat there if you are ever in Northampton. We had 3 rolls: one with eel, one with salmon, and one with shrimp and crab and asparagus. Avocado featured heavily, an essential sushi ingredient in my book. They should sell it at that store. We sat in the quieter, more intimate sun-porch area. Such an improvement over our Valentine's Day meal there! (I have learned my lesson about Feb 14: NO going out for dinner!). Our sushi:
After dinner, we weren't so full as to pass up a second round of Herrell's. This time I had a cone of mud pie (coffee ice cream with fudge and oreo pieces) and Sarah had something with hot fudge. Was it mint, Sarah?

As it started to pour, we met up with Rosie and Yael and walked down Prospect Street to see this cool Halloween display. I would like to note that this activity took place under duress for pretty much everyone but Rosie, until it stopped raining and we were all much happier. Apparently every year, this guy makes a lizard?dragon?aligator? out of pumpkins. It was so cool! And worth getting wet for. The first picture shows the lights, and the second shows the pumpkins. We think the scales were drilled with a drill.

The 4 of us followed our Halloween jaunt with a game of Boggle and some Where in the USA is Carmen SanDiego trivia. Rosie also modelled her new, very hip suit with Sarah's heels. I can't believe "my first years" are seniors now!

A very happy Halloween!

Weekend in Northampton: Friday

2009-11-04T19:23:00.015-05:00

On Friday morning it was sunny and fairly warm. We woke up on the early side and headed to The Green Bean, a local, mostly vegetarian place that opened up my senior year. They serve awesome breakfast and lunch in a sunny spot.
I had Green Eggs and... which I had with this sort of smoked tempeh that I just love. Don't get me wrong, I usually find tempeh about as appealing as, well, fermented soybeans, but there is something about the Green Bean's that is so tasty! They also use it on their V-BLAT (vegan bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato sandwich with homemade vegannaise). Anyways, my breakfast was a scramble of chopped up kale, eggs, cheddar cheese and spices. With the tempeh on the side. Sarah got the monumental and delicious huevos green beanos.
It has kale, black beans, homemade salsa, scrambled eggs, tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, and sour cream in a delectable heap. We watched an adorable 2 1/2 year old flirt with the table next to her. We smiled incessantly at eachother, so joyful to be at the same table in the sun.

We spent some time poking around a few shops in Northampton. I replaced my rainbow bumper sticker at Pride Connection. The warm colors had faded away on the old, and I was left with green, blue and purple. Pride Connection had done some re-decorating. I like it.
We stopped in CVS for some drugs, and saw this on the pharmacy counter.
Click on the photo to read the list. Apparently this basic surgical mask protects against HIV, Hepatitis (all 3 kinds!), and Ebola, in addition to H1N1 flu. This is nothing short of miraculous, as HIV, Hep and Ebola are NOT spread by droplet or air transmission. Bottom line: don't pay 3 bucks for a surgical mask that makes outrageous anti-infection promises. And go the CDC flu website if you have questions about H1N1 flu.

We had lunch with Rabbi Bruce at KCZ (Kosher Cutter Ziskind. I helped coin this acronym, I might add). Nothing like Michelle's matzah ball soup. Headed to the chapel afterwords and visited with Maureen and Kim, the chapel's wonderful admin staff. Unfortunately, Jennifer was home sick, but I did get to take this photo as we walked back to Wesley.

Also this one, which resulted when I tried one too many times to get a nice photo of Sarah. This is known as the hairy eyeball.

At Chris W-Z's suggestion, we checked out Ford Hall, Smith's brand new (Gorgeous!) science and engineering building.

The biochemistry and molecular biosciences departments/labs moved over there along with the engineering program and computer science. The labs are so nice! Chris has a wonderful new space, with a huge area for RNA work. And the SAW lab (where I did STRIDE for 2 years) has offices for all of its adult staff, as well as a great lab facility. I am so happy for everyone that they now have this updated and spacious facility.

One of the things we did on Friday was admire the fall foliage around Smith campus. We took pictures of eachother, and then Celeste appeared and offered to play photographer.

In lieu of tea in Wesley, Sarah and I sat in Haymarket with lattes and a dark-chocolate chunk cookie. We have our best conversations at a table over food. Sarah told me all about her thesis. I am continually amazed by how good she is at Torah study and critical analysis. It is wonderful to hear how excited she is by this research and writing process.

On our way back to Wesley, Celeste again materialized to photograph us before we changed for Shabbat.I led Shabbat services, from our new and spectacular siddur (Sbolts you rock my socks!) We started making this siddur in the spring of 2006, gathering poems and readings from other siddurim and books of poetry. And now it is real. Leading services in Dewey common room, in the small circle of friends felt like home. I missed the tunes, the willingness to do an alternative reading instead of a mumble-version of a prayer, the laughing and ease. And we even got to sing "Shabbat Feeling." It felt like Shabbat.

It was my first time at the Kosher K (for more than 10 minutes) since I graduated. I felt removed, but not freaked out. It felt really strange to be there without Nora and Sbolts, my constants every Friday for 4 years (Dane, I missed you too).

After dinner, we headed home just as the Haven-Wesley haunted house was wrapping up. We forced Rosie to wash the make-up off her face and ate chocolate mints from Trader Joe's while sitting on the couch by the door. I missed the Haven couches dearly. After Rosie left, Sarah read me Harriet the Spy for ages while I curled up in her lap. It was wonderful.

Weekend in Northampton: Thursday

2009-11-03T19:01:00.002-05:00

I spent the past weekend in Northampton, celebrating my 24th birthday and 2 year anniversary. It was a lovely fall weekend.

Thursday, October 29: My birthday! I flew into Northampton in the evening and was picked up at the airport by Sarah, Maggie and Amanda. I hadn't seen Amanda in almost a year, and I was so glad to!! Sarah is in Wesley this year, and it felt strange to drop Amanda at Haven and proceed on to Wesley. Sarah has a great room--a single the size of a double, with views of the pond.

Almost immediately, we met up with Rosalie, Yael, and Jamie for a birthday trip to Herrell's. On your birthday (upon presentation of ID) you receive a free sundae at Northampton's favorite ice cream shop. There is a serious lack of ice cream in DC, so I was psyched. Everyone got what they loved most, from Amanda's sweet cream with gummy bears to Sarah's cookie dough with mint hot fudge. I had Emerald City (green mint ice cream with andies candies and green sprinkles) with hot fudge, non-pareils, and chocolate whipped cream. (Does everyone pronounce it 'whip cream' like I do?).

Rosie and Yael made me cards for my birthday. They said they were inspired by the birthday cards I had sent them. They also bought me a package of digestive biscuits!! I ate these nonstop in London. I promised that I would actually eat them instead of save them until they were rock-hard stale.

It was Northampton High's homecoming weekend, so we got to see the floats and throngs of high schoolers in different costumes. The parade used to go right by Haven, and we would stand on the porch roof and wave. At the parade on Thursday, I ran into Chris White-Ziegler, my adviser! I met her husband and told her a bit about my job. It was really nice to see her.

Back at the house, Sarah gave me my birthday present: a Jewish Vegetarian around-the-world cookbook. It has Jewish recipes from everywhere--Turkey, India, Romania, etc. I am really excited about it. A great birthday.

The Week in Review: Mall, Bethesda and Sqashy Disasters

2009-10-28T20:54:00.005-04:00

Last weekend, Rowan asked me to go work clothes shopping. Since Miriam had helped me so much, I figured I would pay it forward. Plus, we had a lot of fun.
Not everything fit. Rowan had the opposite problem with pants--or at least she did until she discovered that "ankle" meant they were short.
She came away with a lovely pair of pants, and then we started searching for something to eat. I couldn't resist taking a picture with this smoothie and yogurt stand. (Sorry, pregnant woman. The other 2 shots had someone with their hand down their pants, so this was the best bet)

Tyson's Corners is a huge mall, with all sorts of odd specialty shops. They even had a Lego store, which sold Legos by the scoop as well as in sets.
After dinner at a diner across the street (and a very attentive waiter) we drove into DC, following the instructions of my GPS. This was a poor choice, as we ended up with a full tour of the district, even managing to drive through Dupont Circle. I am still figuring out how to be smarter than my GPS.

Rowan's house was having a cocktail party, and we were only a little late for it. Emily (far right) was in town, and we spent lots of time laughing over Smith things and catching up. She was a regular at the Kosher K, and we have several mutual friends. I was so glad to get a chance to chat with her. From the left is me, Rowan, Kelsey and Emily.
Sunday, October 25: This was my first unscheduled healthy day in ages. I started it with a tzatziki-feta cheese omelet, which came out quite prettily.
Then I had a slow, lovely walk into Bethesda. The trees are changing here, and many have a mixture of all 3 colors on the same tree. This tree is right next to my apartment building.
There are also these short trees with smooth-edged leaves that are very red right now. It was pleasant out as I walked. It felt good to be quiet inside (although I was queasy from the eggs).
I wanted to capture a common sight in Bethesda: this pizza shop closed. It is still in business, but I rarely see it open.
As I walked past the Burger Joint square, I was struck by all the different sources of red in this scene: the umbrella, the 2 trees, the woman's hair. Surprisingly, she did not even notice when I took about 10 pictures of her.
I passed The Blue House, which has awesome home furnishings. I love these pillows. If I had a white couch (which I should never buy), I would decorate it with brightly colored pillows.
After a lap around downtown Bethesda, and some time sitting in the sun by the empty fountain, I settled in at Quartermaine for a latte and some letter-writing. They serve coffee in real mugs if you ask for it, and that made me feel extremely cozy. I sat at the counter and rocked out to '90s hits like "Don't go chasin' waterfalls," and reminisced about these songs with the male barista who was probably about 5 years older than me. It was a wonderful afternoon.
Once home, I decided to cook up some dinner: spaghetti squash with putanesca sauce (from Trader Joe's), mushrooms, zucchini and veggie crumbles. As I cut into the squash, it did not feel as impenetrably hard as usual. Then, without warning, it crumbled under my knife and oozed all over the counter.
Turned out to be fermented on the inside. And do you know how gross it is to sponge fermented squash juice off of the counter, floor, and cabinets? I just had sauce, veggie crumbles, and vegetables for dinner. In only a day, the fermented smell was gone from my kitchen.

Monday, October 26. I know the date of Monday very well because I told it to about 400 people. I spent the afternoon and evening involved in a public health event. It went quite smoothly, and everyone was quite polite. My gaff of the evening was asking a man to answer an uncompleted question on the Spanish language health screening sheet. After he started laughing and making belly-growing gestures, I realized that the question read, "are you pregnant or nursing?"

Tuesday, October 27. At work I spent some time at one of our clinics, answering phone calls about flu. It was overall a positive experience and gave me the chance to get to know some of the ladies at that clinic a bit better. After work I went grocery shopping. Finally, there are brussel sprouts at Giant. And they look so cheery!
Wednesday, October 28: Today when I arrived at work, J had decorated my desk for my birthday! There was a "Happy Birthday" sign, confetti, a card, and a candy jar with m&m's. Made me smile. I thought everyone was mistaken as to the date of my birthday (it's tomorrow), but turns out they all know it's tomorrow, but decided to celebrate early. Fine by me! The whole group took me out to lunch at a Thai restaurant. There were 8 of us total, and there was much joking and laughing, especially on the walk to and from the restaurant. Much of the morning was spent moving office furniture around and rearranging the space in the offices to get ready for our grand total of 7 people, the last of which will arrive on Monday. I work with some really great people.

Tomorrow is my actual birthday and I am headed to Northampton for the weekend. My plans include Herrells, Osaka, naps on Haven couch, shopping in NoHo, time with Smith friends, and surprise anniversary celebration (2 years!). Basically, I am going to eat and hug people. Very much looking forward to the weekend.

Sick Day Amusements and Back to Work

2009-10-22T21:33:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday, I started to get a little bored at home. I spent some time wrapping the canned wombat up in a sheet, trying to achieve different fashion styles. Mostly, he looked like a nun.
I had 2 squash on my counter: a delicata and a spaghetti squash. Squash and Squash-on-South-Beach.
On Wednesday I finally returned to work, glad to be back after what felt like a long time (despite the fact that I had worked on Saturday and had only been out Monday and Tuesday). The day mostly consisted of responding to the 14 voicemails that accumulated during my absence.

Today, I was out and about in the community a bit. I got to see the PW County schools admin building, which is new and gorgeous. I love the open architecture. The downside, I suppose, is the fishbowl effect of the glass internal windows. It reminds me of the campus center.
The admin building is right near the landfill, where I spoke a few weeks ago. The hills pictured here are the landfill; hardly the garbage heap of our imaginations. It's actually quite a complex structure with a great view.
The leaves are turning here a bit. I do not see the same colors as in New England, but there are splashes of a red orange here and there.

I also saw a rainbow as I pulled into the office parking lot this morning. The drive in the mornings has been pretty since it stopped raining.

Super Q Mart

2009-10-22T21:19:00.004-04:00

Today in Virginia, I needed to pick up a few cans of chickpeas. I pulled into what I thought was another Walmart spin-off. It turned out to be Super Q Mart, which is an international foods extravaganza.
They had all manner of root vegetable--round, oblong and lumpy, hairy, knobby, purple, etc.
And 3 kinds of coconuts!
This store does not specialize in one ethnicity of food; but rather, has a bit from everywhere--ranging from falafel mix to 30 different soy sauces; from an assortment of queso fresco to pure cow ghee. I was in pure heaven and resolved to return when I had more time.

Im, this photo is for you. My parents probably still have some of these cans in their pantry. I remember you unloading them from your suitcase in our bedroom, plucking from among the dental supplies and spilled bottle of fish sauce.
I'm not exactly sure what this is, but it reminded me of Telephone Agar Agar, or those lychee gel desserts. However, if you look closely, it appears to be a product of a Spanish-speaking place.

This place was really awesome, although I don't think I'd buy anything from the meat or fish section. At least they didn't have those half-alive eels like at Super 88 in Boston.

2009-10-20T14:47:00.002-04:00

I'm home sick again. I went to the doctor, and it's some sort of sinus headache. The people in the apartment upstairs sound like they are coming through the ceiling onto my head, with their boxspring, at any minute. It literally sounds like they are throwing the box spring against the wall. Not in a sex way, just in a javelin-substitution way. So much for my relaxing bed-rest.

In other news, the card-swiper-face has become a cyclops. And I officially have watched too many movies. I feel like the Berenstein Bears and Too Much TV. Really ready to go back to work tomorrow, even if things are busy there. I also am ready to wear real clothes again. I am getting tired of pajamas and tomorrow promises good weather.

Las Placitas, Sick Days, and a Canned Wombat

2009-10-19T12:19:00.001-04:00

Friday, October 16: I met my friend Martha at the Eastern Market metro for a trip down memory lane. Las Placitas, a Salvadorean restaurant on 8th St, was a staple in my family when we lived on the Hill in 1999-2000. At the time, it was a hole-in-the-wall on a sketchy street, where we made sure to walk on the side of the street near the fire station, just for security. Now 8th street is quite happening, with a few clubs, some shops, and some trendy restaurants. Las Placitas is still there, slightly nicer, but still serving the same solid food. I had plantanos, which were just as I remembered them.
The sauce on Martha's fajitas was just as I remembered it, and my seafood chimichanga was just what I wanted. Martha and I went to high school and temple together, but became friends at Camp Sisol. Martha was one of the most enthusiastic participants in all of my Jewish kids' music. I was happy to find out last year that we were both in DC.
Saturday, October 17: I know this date very well, I wrote it about 300 times on various forms. I spent Saturday working a big public health effort. It was quite successful, and ran very smoothly. A great combination of human factors and public health, 2 things that really fire me up. Much positive interaction with the public and excellent teamwork among our staff.

Sunday, October 18: Saturday night I started not feeling well--headachy and very tired. So I stayed in on Sunday, napping, watching movies and reading. I did make a brief foray to the library and Chinese restaurant, for movies and dumplings (respectively). On my way back into the parking lot of my apartment, I noticed an addition to the security card swipe:
I swear, it didn't have eyeballs on Saturday. I laughed out loud. With the card in the slot, it looks like a tongue.

Monday, October 19: I was still not feeing hot this morning, so I stayed home from work and went back to sleep until almost 11. Then, over breakfast, I opened a present my dad brought back from Australia.
How does one open a canned wombat, one many ask? With a can opener, of course.
The difference between canned wombat and canned tomatoes: tomatoes don't look back at you.
The wombat was a little can-shaped as he emerged.
Surveying his new surroundings and stretching. Being canned takes its toll on your muscles.
Free at last!
And right where he belongs, in a canned-wombat snuggle.

Thanks, Dad!

Photos from Im's Visit

2009-10-16T16:12:00.003-04:00

Im emailed me pictures from the weekend, so here they are. I have just turned the heat on in my apartment. It's cold and rainy. The pond by w--oh no! That was my fire alarm going off (just in my apartment), apparently set off by the heat. I fanned it into submission and turned off the heat. And put on a sweatshirt. Don't worry, Mom, I also called Chea.

Onto the photos:
On the metro on the way to see Cleve Jones.

Pho with Joey, Thomas, and Jake (Kim's' guy friends). Jake was eating the remainder of everyone's pho.

At Rock Bottom, Im and Su pour over the menu.

The evening was highly pleasant, and also highly funny. Su and Helene.

Su and Julia thought this was just a nice photo. Im thought otherwise.

Someone ordered an ice cream sundae, and 5 girls devoured it promptly.

Back at my apartment, hunkered down for the night.

Brunch the next day at Nest. We got to eat outside. Most of the Smithies we ran into were also wearing Celebration shirts. Again, I thought this was a nice photo, and Im had other ideas. :)

My fritatta.

The march went past the white house. I was surprised how close they let us. The sign on the right of the White House says, "Hetero is not Beter-O"

The interracial marriage sign I mentioned.

Julia was very enthusiastic about keeping the chanting and cheering going.
Su, Helene, Kim and Julia marching. You can tell that we had plenty of space to move around once the march got going.

Kim and Im at the rally. We found a nice spot in the shade and collapsed in a heap.

Still waiting for the picture with Girlyman. I have really been enjoying listening to their new CD. A thing I like about them is that not all of their songs have the same musical style. There is bluegrass (Girlygrass), straight up folk, a song that sounds like the Andrews sisters, and a pop-y boy band ode to Obama. These guys really rock.

Girlyman

2009-10-12T20:49:00.003-04:00

This post describes the Girlyman concert in great detail. If you have no interest in this group, I would recommend skipping it and just reading about the March in the post below.

As if the march was not enough, Sunday also brought a Girlyman concert. I cannot even describe how much I love Girlyman. From the moment they came on stage to the moment they left, I was grinning a big stupid grin. The concert was extremely high-energy. They played many of my Joyful Sign favorites: Hold it all at Bay, Through to Sunrise, and Joyful Sign, and I started bouncing at each intro. I love Doris more each time I see her. Her voice is so strong and she really gets the sentiment of the song out there. Got to hear her do "Storms were Mine" and "Say Goodbye," as well as several tracks from the new album. I liked the new songs more the second time I heard them (this concert), and bought the new CD.

As always, Girlyman gave a great all-around show, in between as well as during songs. There was a tuning song about Nate "believing in inequality," and a dead-pan sarcastic riff about the pains they take to avoid recycling, including saving those 6-pack holders to toss at seagulls. Swine flu came up as well, with me wildly cheering. They suggested that each type of flu should have an animal associated with it--they gave the examples of goat flu and the exotic koala flu (if you had traveled to a far-off country). This was joke. There are no such flus.

The funniest part of the evening came when an audience member thrust a note at Nate. After he read us dinner specials off the back side of the note, he started fiddling with his pants as he read us the front: "Nate, your fly is down." "You a**-holes!" he admonished Doris and Ty, "My fly's been down for half the show and you didn't tell me!" Doris admitted that they usually check flies before their shows, but had forgotten. Nate asserted that it was all her and Ty's fault. "No," corrected Doris, "we check our own flies, not yours." There was much hilarity all around, and a tuning song about the fly with some back-up singing. Nate then proceeded to check his pants between each song.

The opening band was excellent as well: Po' Girl, a zydeco-ish group from Canada with such varied instruments as a clarinet, several guitars built by their own guitarist, an accordian, a washtub, a glockenspiel, and an enthusiastic drummer with headmotions like Animal in the muppet band. They were much fun to watch. The women were very physical with their instruments (they played all of the funky instruments).

We had quite a merry crowd there: Rowan, Kelsey, myself, my concert buddy Allie, G (a friend of sbolts), and 2 other Smith alums. I got there early and saved us awesome seats, which really enhanced the experience. We made friends with our neighbor and her mom, who were basically sitting among us, and ate dinner while chatting excitedly and waiting. Despite our exhaustion from the march, the evening left us all deeply content. A picture should follow in several days of a bunch of us with Girlyman. We got our CD's signed, which was kind of embarrassing. I don't really like meeting people I admire, because I never know what to say. But they were quite gracious, and just as cute up close.

Equality March: The Weekend Continued

2009-10-12T19:37:00.005-04:00

I wasn't sure what to expect at the Equality March. I've never marched politically before. These pictures were taken by Celeste Lavin and Alex Guyton. From the metro, people streamed towards the meeting place in every imaginable t-shirt and rainbow bits of clothing. As we waited for members of our party to pee in Starbucks, I got more and more excited, as Kim cooly surveyed the surroundings. She does not tend towards bouncing up and down the same way I do.

There were so many people marching! It took a while to get moving, and for a while we were a giant pack. But after a bit the streets widened, and there was plenty of room to move about while marching. This space also allowed us to vary our pace, which brought us into contact with many different groups of people. We saw a group from West Virginia, one from Kentucky, a bunch of drag queens, and Dan Choi, an army Lt. who was just discharged from the military for publicly coming out. He was there with his partner and people cheered every time they saw him.
There were many, many homemade signs that made us clap or laugh. A sampling is pictured below.

This one says, "Jesus had 2 dads and he turned out fine," and was one of my favorites.
A sign that made everyone cheer and tear up was held by an interracial couple: "Our marriage was illegal too."

The cheering was one of the best parts. Different groups led cheers at different times, and Julia of our group led several as well. Cheering and chanting made the 2.3 mile walk move quickly, and boosted the energy. It gave me goosebumps to think of all of us, there together, with similar goals.
Some cheers:
"What do we want?" "Equality!" "When do we want it?" "Now!"

I said, Hey, ho
That homophobia's got to go (this had a great rhythm)

"Show me what democracy looks like!"
"This is what democracy looks like!"

Gay, straight, black, white
We deserve equal rights

Out of the closet and into the streets!

Obama, Obama,
Let Mama Marry Mama (I didn't hear this, but others did)

I'm really glad I went. We had good weather, and even got a little sunburned. I was happy to see many women, people of color, and people of diverse ages. Many allies as well as gay people. I think it was a successful turn out.

What a Weekend!

2009-10-12T12:58:00.000-04:00

This was a weekend I will not soon forget. My camera went on the fritz on Saturday afternoon, so I will have to rely on others' photos, but I wanted to write about it now anyways.

Friday, October 9: After a very long commute home, I raced out the door to 6th and I Historic Synagogue. There was a Rick Recht service and a Jewish Transgendered speaker that I did not want to miss. It was part of a monthly event called "Sixth and the City," which has dinner and drinks, and tends to involve much awkward mingling. My plan was to just attend the service and talk and bolt out of there. But when I walked in, I saw people I knew! I met T and K at one party, enjoyed talking to both of them, and did not get their contact info. About 4 months later, I walked into another, unconnected party at Rowan's house, and there they were! Again, I had a great conversation with T, and left without contact info. And there they were at 6th and I!!! This time, I got their information. Being there with people I knew made a huge difference. Joy Ladin, the speaker, is a very skilled writer, and the piece she read to us was moving and well-written. She spoke about her experiences at the Wall in Jerusalem, first as a man with his children and wife, and then as a woman alone. It was less about the differences in the two sections of the Wall, and more about her journey as a person. We were all riveted. And then we had dinner at Joy Ladin's table. We stayed until 10:30 talking (with eachother). New friends?

Saturday, September 10: Im et al arrived around 3pm. Im, Kim, Kim's best friend Helene, and their other friend Su all drove down from NJ to sleep on my floor and attend the Equality March on Sunday. We departed my house after a short tour to hear Cleve Jones speak at Busboys and Poets. Cleve Jones is the founder of the AIDS Quilt, and has been a gay rights activist for about 35 years. I heard him speak at Smith, and we were all excited to hear what he had to say. As we walked toward the venue, it was clear that everyone else near us was going the same place we were. We all started smiling, realizing that people were actually here for the march!! Busboys and Poets was seriously crowded.
We could not even get inside, but instead joined dozens of other people in watching through the open walls. We actually had a great view, if tired legs and hungry bellies. The first speaker was Sherry Wolf, a socialist GLBT activist. She was fairly radical, but said many things I agreed with. The main idea I liked was the one that gay people go to work and come home like everyone else--we've got the same things on our plates as everyone else, and should have the same rights. Etc.
The best part was probably the energy of the crowd. When Sherry finished speaking, people inside the restaurant started chanting, "L-G-B-T! We demand equality!" Cleve Jones spoke only for a short time, and didn't say anything too profound. The funniest thing he said was, "How many of you have seen Milk? All I have to say about that film is, I was that hot!" In case you don't remember, he was the curly-haired young guy in the film with the big hipster glasses. Actually, he looks in that film remarkably like many hipster Smithies, despite the time-period and gender differences.

We met up with Kim and Helene's CDO friend Julia and headed back to Bethesda for dinner. Su was craving Asian food, and everyone else was freezing, hungry and had sore feet, so we headed to Rice Paddies Grill for inexpensive and filling pho. We spent the rest of the evening at Rock Bottom having drinks and snacks 7 Smithies, 1 boyfriend, and 3 of Kim's high school friends. It was good times all around and we were out waaaay past my bedtime. For once I felt like I was actually in my 20s, out with friends at a bar. Everyone bedded down for the night on the floor of the second bedroom in my apartment. It reminded me of when all of my cousins and I used to have a sleepover around Hanukkah.
I will write about the march later, with photos from other people's facebooks. Now I am off for coffee with Rowan.

Taste of Bethesda and Crafty Bastards

2009-10-10T08:43:00.001-04:00

This post is woefully overdue.

Last Saturday, my mother's visit coincided with both the Taste of Bethesda and the Crafty Bastards, two events I have waited all year for. We started off at the Taste of Bethesda, where many of Bethesda's 200 restaurants set up booths and offer small bits of their menu in exchange for tickets. We skipped breakfast in favor of an early arrival, walking about 5 minutes from my house to the festival. I love large event set-up, so being out on this fine day, watching cooks and vendors arrange their tables and grill meats made me joyful.
We watched a 16-piece swing band do a sound check, admiring the cafe-like tables.
Jaleo, which, as you may recall, I have previously enjoyed, cooked a paella to feed 450 people. Mom and I checked back on its progress through the festival.
We found out that the heat is mostly in the center of the pan, so after something is cooked it is pushed to the side so it does not cook to death. Here they are making room for several gallons of mushrooms.
The rice is cooked directly in the pan, with the addition of much broth (mushroom broth, and I think chicken broth too. This was a chicken paella).
We sampled many different foods: shrimp shumai, a philadelphia roll, crab mac and cheese, chana masala, and a samosa.

When we were full, we headed to Crafty Bastards, an alternative arts and crafts fair in Adams Morgan. They have all sorts of funky crafts, many which are repurposed from other things:
These purses are old book covers. There was also jewelry made of nuts and bolts and clothing made of other clothing. Many of the booths had hand-made banner like this one:
Lots of screen printing (tshirts and posters), jewelry, items that look cool but have no use, and baby cloths. I ran into literally half a dozen people I know--5 Smithies, 1 Nice Jewish Girl, and Jason! We took a picture to prove to our mothers that we had actually seen eachother in Washington!
This donut was actually a floor cushion. I love Crafty Bastards.
Despite our large lunch at 11am, Mom and I found ourselves hungry, so I introduced her to the joy that is frozen-yogurt-that-tastes-like-yogurt. I'm sure this has another name, but my title is highly descriptive: it is frozen yogurt that does not try to taste like ice cream. It is cultured like yogurt. I tried the raspberry flavored with strawberries and little rice dough balls. Mom had plain with m&ms and strawberries. Totally hit the spot.

Sukkot, Yogurt, and More of those green plant balls

2009-10-07T18:25:00.005-04:00

I'm at my kitchen table right now, after a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond that left me feeling less than enthusiastic about my home improvement plans (namely, buying an iron and some bowls). But, I am now happily eating whole-milk yogurt from the Blue Ridge Dairy, purchased at the Dupont Farmer's Market with honey from the Shenandoah Valley, purchased at the Manassas Farmer's Market. Local bliss. This has done much to improve my mood.

Monday, October 5: Miriam and I made plans to meet up after work. She had had a hellish day, so I gathered a small present for her, which I stashed in my purse so it would be a surprise.
Miriam was appropriately grateful.

The lovely vegetation gift did not accompany us to dinner at Nest, a cozy new restaurant off the beaten path in Bethesda. Relaxed atmosphere and a menu with many tempting choices. Afterwords, Miriam and I strolled in the fall night air, savoring the comfortable quiet that comes with knowing someone for about 13 years.

Tuesday, October 6: Work Monday and Tuesday was extremely busy. My phone never stopped ringing, and every time I got off the phone, I had a new message waiting. It's a different kind of productive on these types of days, measured more by the number of people who have gotten off the phone with their questions answered and feeling better about something than by letters written or emails sent. On Tuesday I also gave 2 presentations to the employees of the county landfill. I was pleased with the presentations, and got good questions. These questions brought up points I had missed, or things I forgot that most people don't know. I talk about flu so much that I sometimes forget what most people think of when they think of H1N1. I also got to take a tour of the landfill, which was really cool. The views from the top of the carefully-constructed mountain were quite scenic--trees and hills as far as the eye could see.

In the evening on Tuesday, I went to Sushi in the Sukkah, put on by the local Chabad women's group. The sukkah was decked out!
In addition to the artistically arranged food here (including kosher sushi from New York), we rolled our own sushi and discussed the connections between sushi and the holiday of Sukkot. Both involve wrapping. On Sukkot you wrap yourself in the sukkah, one of two mitzvot involving wrapping (our host N. cited the other one as being immersion in the mikvah, but I wonder about laying T'fillin or wrapping oneself in a tallis. Since it was a women's group and Chabad women do neither of these things, I kept my questions to myself). Also, the lulav and etrog bring together the "4 species" in one group, which you then shake in all directions (east, south, west, north, up, down--in that order) to show that G-d is everywhere. When rolling sushi, different foods--rice, avocado, fish, etc--are brought together. Soooo, not a super-intellectual comparison, but it works.
It was a fun evening, but I missed the "outside" feeling that most sukkahs have. This one, while spacious and well-lit, had canvas sides and tightly spaced bamboo skak (the roof, which must be made of natural materials and leave space to see the stars). The sukkahs in Rochester have corn-stalk roofs, and most have wooden sides. A very different feel. Even though I technically fulfilled the mitzvah of eating in the sukkah, I don't feel like I did.

Wednesday, October 7: I drove behind this truck on my way to work this morning and it made me smile back.
Work was fairly low key today, a welcome break. It certainly feels like fall in the office, as we have candy corn in our candy dish (everyone digs for the candy pumpkins), hand-picked apples at the ready, and gourd decorations.

Through Friday

2009-10-04T21:13:00.007-04:00

I guess it's been a whole week since I last posted. There have been some changes in my life in the last week. Monday was Yom Kippur, which I did not feel as ready for as in years past. I managed to take from the day what I could, and finished it with a break fast with the Nice Jewish Girls. I got to chat with my friend Becca about life and curly hair. I was happy to see her before she left for Israel for a short trip. In taking pictures, we also re-created a certain pose taken while we were acting in a certain play named after a certain part of the female anatomy. I will not post that here, but suffice it to say that it is not the sign for "pizza."

The week at work was quite busy. There have been daily changes in dates for something important we are waiting for, and it has involved a lot of time on the phone. I spent several days calling school nurses and principals (not all private schools have nurses) and asking them how flu season was treating them. Saying the same thing to everyone who answered the phone (hi, this is Abby calling from the PW Health District. I wanted to speak to someone about H1N1 flu. Who would be a good person to talk to?) for a total of 54 schools got old after a while. And our office is finally clean again! I think we are all happier for it.

My living situation has changed, and I am living solo for the month of November in the same apartment. I am slowly redecorating and rearranging a bit to accomodate the reduction in furniture. In some ways, I feel like I am starting over.

This weekend, my mom came to visit! My dad was in Australia, so it was just us girls. We had a wonderful and very full weekend!! On Friday we went downtown in Bethesda to Mon Ami Gabi. Going out for dinner in that part of Bethesda on a weekend night feels glamorous to me, somehow. Maybe because I so often walk past other people dining there. The food was certainly something to talk about! Mom and I both had mussels in a white wine and cream sauce with onions. I love moules, and there is nothing better than sopping up that flavorful sauce with crusty baguette (or eating it with a spoon, for that matter). As a side, I had whipped cauliflower, which was fluffy, and probably made so delicious by some combination of cream, butter, cheese (maybe) and definitely some sort of animal fat (chicken stock? bacon fat?). I did not ask, just spooned it up with happy moans. I was too busy eating to photograph, but here is someone else's delectable photo of moules marinieres.

Anna and Abby

2009-09-27T20:55:00.002-04:00

Today I had the chance to spend the day with my old friend Anna. Anna and I met in 1999 when I was living in DC on my dad's sabbatical. We went to the same school and were in the same advisory group. I don't remember exactly how we became friends, but I know that much of our early bonding came over introducing one another to our favorite musicals. She taught me about Sondheim; I introduced her to RENT. We realized that it had been almost exactly 10 years since we met, and the day's activities were fitting to that.

We started at the Dupont Circle Farmer's Market, where we both bought some gorgeous purple kale and extremely fresh ginger (with the shoots still attached!) My kale:
We had lunch in the sort-of-park that is Dupont Circle proper. Anna and I have looked very much alike at different points. At one point her hair was very curly and mine was really short. Now we are reversed. People always thought we were sisters.

In honor of our tenth anniversary of friendship, we paid homage to some important spots in our teenage years. After I moved back to Rochester, every time I visited Anna we would trek out to Dupont Circle for the afternoon. We would have lunch at WrapWorks, which no longer exists, and spend a long time scouring every inch of Lamda Rising. Back then it felt important, a time we could be ourselves and talk about the things we didn't want our parents to overhear. Today the store didn't hold as much appeal, the buttons not as funny, the books and cards more overtly sexual. Had the store changed or had we? Maybe we just don't need it like we once did.

We also paid a visit to Kramerbooks, a great bookstore, and resolved to send eachother book recommendations. We finished the day with a long sit in Cosi. We always stopped there as teenagers, when it was called XandO (did you say it zando? X and O? Who knew?), and had an Arctic Mocha, a sweet blended coffee drink. For Anna, drinking something with coffee in it was pure teenage rebellion. It was a long time (months? years?) before she would buy her own instead of sharing mine. Our drinks today (coffee for her, iced cappucino for me) struck me as somehow grown-up. Our conversation also was no longer about teachers and furtive crushes, but about our healthy relationships and jobs. I look at us and like who we have become.

National Book Festival

2009-09-26T20:20:00.000-04:00

Today was the National Book Festival, put on by the Library of Congress and a bunch of sponsors. Held on the Mall, the festival draws many famous authors and huge crowds. They had a great line-up this year of both children's and adult authors, and so I carefully planned my day to see these men and women speak and read from their books.

My first author was Lois Lowry. She wrote Number the Stars, The Giver, and Anastasia Krupnik. Using a trick I learned last year, I squeezed into the side of the tent, and sat on the ground to the side of the stage. After a minute, I realized that I was sitting behind Mrs. Lowry as she waited to go onstage.

She spoke about her first picture book, which is based on a true story. She told us about the time when she learned that sometimes bending the truth made a better story. This account involved her six-year-old self pouring glue on her baby brother's hand, and a stranger asking her if he had been burned. "The helpful girl pushed the badly burned baby down the street" had a better ring to it, so she did not correct the stranger. She also answered questions, claiming before she called on anyone, "In case you were going to ask, Jonas is alive! I never thought that people would read him as dying at the end when I wrote it. That's why I wrote The Messenger." Many people clapped at that.
After that I made my way to the History and Biography tent to hear Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter, Anne Kidd Taylor, speak about their new memoir. Sue Monk Kidd wrote The Secret Life of Bees, a favorite of the Mother Daughter Bookclub. Today the two discussed the travel that inspired the memoir, and much about their relationship. Sue Monk Kidd read a quote by Lillian Carter (mother of Jimmy Carter) that made us all laugh: “Sometimes when I look at all my children, I say to myself, 'Lillian, you should have stayed a virgin.'” Although you can see Sue Monk Kidd in short black hair and her daughter in the red sweater, I wanted to show the size of the crowd in the tent. Every seat was filled, and this was the case for every author in every tent. Great turn-out this year.

I had a bit of time before the next author I wanted to see, so I strolled through some other tents. Some of the sponsors had tents set up just for kids. Here they could meet the Very Hungry Catepillar.
I headed for one of my favorite parts of the Festival: The Pavillion of the States. Each state choses a kids' or YA book to feature, and has a booth providing info about that book and their state. Some states have maps of the state and tourist info; others have bookmarks featuring the winners of their state book awards. You can obtain a special map of the US, and take it to each state for a stamp or a sticker. I did this both years and I was not the only adult to do so! The tent is organized by region of the US, so you have some idea of where you are. Among other things, I picked up a pin from Idaho in the shape of a potato, a poster of Emmylou Harris reading, and many great book ideas.
Mo Willems came next. He writes interactive and slightly irreverant pictures books like Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed. He used to be a stand-up comedian, and his performance attested to that. He had adults and kids alike laughing heartily. One the books he read to us is called Pigs Make Me Sneeze. He commented that it was a controversial title in light of recent news. Any reference to H1N1 flu automatically wins my favor! He also did a great reading of "Naked Mole Rat."
Here is a view of the festival from the steps of the Freer. You can see the tents, the Natural History Museum, and many, many umbrellas. It rained on and off (but increasingly on) throughout the afternoon.
The day ended with two authors dear to me. The first was Tim O'Brian. A Vietnam vet, he writes about the war in a style that blends truth and fiction, fantasy and fact, poetry and prose. Every time I hear his name, I think about Mr. Fox, my ninth grade English teacher, who taught us how to write. He too was a Vietnam vet, and he read us many passages from Tim O'Brian outloud. Every time he read, we got the feeling that Mr. Fox was sharing a little bit of his own experience with us. I have no idea if Mr. Fox and Tim O'Brian knew eachother, but it felt like they did. At the festival Tim O'Brian (on the right; the ASL interpreter is on the left) read a newly written letter to his first son, who is now six. The author is 62, and the letter was about not being around for all of his son's life. It was an emotional reading, both for us and him.
And to end the day, I went to see Judy Blume. She spent a few minutes talking about her childhood, but mostly wanted to answer our questions. Many, many of the questions were from children, and they didn't just reference her newer books, but all of the old favorites that so many people my age have read! It made me so happy that these dear books are still being discovered by young readers. There were many questions about Fudge, who it turns out was based off of her son Larry, who used to eat under the table like a dog and threw a lot of fits. When asked if she would ever write books about Fudge or Margaret (as in, Are You There G-d It's Me) as adults, she recoiled in horror, insisting that each will forever be 5 and 12, respectively.

Judy Blume is 72, but you would never know it to look at her. I've attached this press photo, taken in April or May, to show how amazing she looks.
I cannot even begin to describe the warmth and energy in the very full room, as it poured outside and the sky began to darken. This generation of women who had grown up with Judy Blume books and the younger generation currently loving her work sat glued to her every word, laughing and clapping when she encouraged us all to read banned books. We all left smiling.

Getting out into the Community with Flu

2009-09-25T22:00:00.007-04:00

Tuesday, September 22: I arrived back to my office to find that I had two new co-workers and office-mates. And one of them had been very busy.
This co-worker, B, is in charge of the Medical Reserve Corps, which are medical volunteers. She inherited an enormous amount of stuff with this job. Why it all has to be stored in our office escapes me. Apparently on Monday it had been worse, my other office-mate assured me--B. had at least made a path for me to get to my desk.

I spent the rest of Tuesday frantically cutting and pasting, in the analog sense. My project was to create 2 display cases for a large county building. It was actually sort of fun, if rushed, and I was pleased with the results. I also got to eavesdrop on some conversation about H1N1 vaccine while I was setting up the cases. I drew the virus pictured below.
The flu bug attached to the display below actually belongs to my boss J--she has her own little collection of microbial mates.

Wednesday, September 23: I had my first public flu presentation. I spoke to one of the Rotary Clubs in our area. The presentation went fairly well, and people asked many earnest questions. Then they all came up and shook my hand, which I found rather ironic.

I didn't know much about Rotary Club before I presented there. It turns out to be a community-oriented service organization comprised of business, professional, and community leaders. There were more women than I had anticipated, and everyone was quite friendly. We started with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. I was initially uncomfortable with the prayer, just waiting for the moment when Jesus would come up. But he didn't. The prayer leader just addressed "Lord" and led a very nice prayer. Once I stopped feeling weird praying at work, with my head bowed (Jews don't do this really), next to my boss, I relaxed into it and tried to use it.
After the presentation, J was called to the front with me and we were both presented with Rotary Club pens, and the following photo opportunity. Here we are with the chapter president. We were also featured in some sort of Northern Virginia news.

Friday, September 25: Today I presented at an assisted living facility. The presentation did not go as expected, due in part to the fact that my audience's mean age was 85. I had been promised staff and family members as well, but they were conspicuously absent, as was the woman who arranged my visit. I did come away with quite a bit of advice about how to speak, such as louder, slower, and closer to the mic. On my way home, I manged to go the wrong way on the Beltway, which is a large circle. By the time I realized this, I was pretty much directly across the circle from Bethesda. Since going through the city at 4pm was out of the question, I just continued around the Beltway. It took a damn long time. But I did get to see this cool view of the Mormon Temple in Maryland.
Tonight I also made some awesome butternut squash soup. It only had 4 ingredients: butternut squash, onions, fresh ginger, and vegetable broth. It was succulent and cozy. It is now 10pm, which has been my bedtime lately, to go with my 6am wake-up call. But tomorrow is Saturday, and the National Book Festival!

Rosh Hashanah and a New Hair Cut

2009-09-24T20:23:00.001-04:00

Even though it's been a few days, I'm going to pick up where I left off with my weekend. Still on Friday the 18th. Although I have lived in Bethesda for over a year (15 months!) and have several doctors, a bank and a shoppers club card locally, I still prefer to get my hair cut in Rochester. As I drove to the salon, Rochester weather graced me with some blue skies and puffy clouds.
As always, I had a grand time at the hair salon. My stylist Toni and I talk about everything from European travel to relationships to G-d to singing and back to G-d. Toni is active in her own faith, and has some really close Jewish friends. In fact, the first time I walked into the shop one March, she asked me what I did to celebrate Purim. She's so much fun to talk to. And I always come out with a great haircut.
It's a lot shorter than it was, and Toni blow-dried it. I took this picture while stuck in Pittsford traffic, which held its own quite nicely, even after driving around DC for a while.

I met my parents at our family friends' house for Erev Rosh Hashana dinner. I arrived at the same time as one of my rabbis. As I got out of my car in my jeans, dress in hand, he said, "nice Rosh Hashana outfit," with a smile. I changed into my new dress (thank you Miriam for helping me pick it out) and emerged down the stairs, feeling like a real grown-up. I was even wearing heels. Although the rabbi said he liked the other outfit better (he was joking), more than one person did not recognize me with my new haircut and outfit. My mom looked great in her new dress--we were sort of matching. Here is a picture of my little fur family.
Dad likes to take the picture before he counts all the way to 3, but sometimes it works out.
Erev Rosh Hashana services were excellent. The choir sang, and for a few prayers a bassist played along, bowing his bass like a cello. So beautiful. Rabbi A. (the other one) gave a great d'var about awe and dread. She really makes us think and is so smart. I talked to so many people I know! And now that I have this job I love, I have something to say to the same questions I get over and over. My family was in a Chavurah (group of Jewish families) that met for years every month or so when we were all kids. The Chavurah formed when I was in first or second grade and continued until I graduated high school. The adults still get together sometimes. Over Rosh Hashana I got to see some other kids from the Chavurah I hadn't seen in about 3 or 4 years. One of them used to seem so much older than me, but now we are in the same age bracket.

Saturday, September 19: On Rosh Hashana (the day of) my parents and Jill's family and I went to the family service, led by Rabbi A. Great music again, and a d'var that started by having kids list all of the things they would want a visitor from another planet to see on Earth. The time went quickly in this service, although I definitely missed the full Unetaneh Tokef and surrounding prayers. On the upside, we blew shofar even though it was Shabbat.

After services, we went over to Gloria and Irv's for lunch. They are friends of my parents who are a good deal older than my parents. They met through the homeless project my mother leads. Irv, my dad, and my uncle Mike (my mom's brother-in-law) have a great rapport that involves much teasing and shouting. At this moment, I believe someone was being razzed about the movie selection the last time they had all seen a "manly movie."
Sunday, September 20: We had a Rosh Hashanah second day brunch at Jill and Mike's. Lox, kugel, cauliflower pie (Jill's famous), and some delicious apple crisp (and I don't usually use those words together, but this was excellent). You can see that I am wearing my new haircut curly--I am excited that it does that.

My cousin Molly and me. She's 17 and a senior in high school. After we took a few bad pictures, I ambush-hugged her and we got this good one.
The Rochester cousins: Molly, me and Lindsey, who's 20 and a junior at Hobart and William Smith College. The nice short photos I wanted of us quickly turned into a photo-session that finally ended when we all started yelling at Uncle Mike and walking away. It was mostly good natured.
Poppa, my grandfather, usually eats at 6:00 sharp. But on this day, we didn't sit down until nearly 8:00. He figured no one would believe that he ate dinner at that hour without photographic evidence.
Monday, September 21: Had a relaxing morning at home, a quick lunch at a restaurant, and then was dropped off at the airport.

I was so glad to be home, but I was also happy when I returned to my apartment here in Bethesda. Being away reminds me that I like it here too. That's my Rochester weekend in a big nutshell. L'shana tova to everyone!

Apple Picking and Rosh Hashana Prep

2009-09-21T19:48:00.009-04:00

I am back from Rochester, where I've been since Thursday evening. I had a wonderful weekend at home, and was glad I was able to be with my family for Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are the most important Jewish holidays, known as the High Holidays, or even the High Holy Holidays (I don't know if anyone other than me calls them that--Jewish readers?). This is going to be a wicked long post, so I suggest a hot beverage while you read.

Thursday, September 17: Dulles Airport is located really close to my office, so getting to the airport was a snap. Getting from the Economy parking lot to the gate was not. I made my flight, thankfully, and was picked up at the other end by Dad. My parents and I went out for Thai food at our favorite restaurant. When I got in the backseat of Mom's car, this was sitting beside me:
In case you can't tell, it's the Torah blessings--the prayers recited before and after the reading of the Torah. My temple keeps a copy of them on the podium so anyone with an Aliyah (being called to the Torah to say these blessings) won't choke and forget the words. And they were in my mother's car, along with the Shabbat and Yom Tov candles. Temple Sinai holds its high holiday services at the JCC, and my mother is in charge of the move. That means she directs a team who counts chairs, stacks prayer books, and makes sure the Torahs are in the arks. You see now that I come by my propensity for being in charge honestly.

Friday, September 18: Mom and I started the day with a trip to the JCC to ensure that everything was in place. I got to carry a Torah in from someone's car. I chaneled Sbolts, leaning my cheek on the cover, savoring its history and trying to radiate my respect. After I handed it to a volunteer to place it in the ark, we discovered that I had been carrying it upsidedown. So much for that.

I spent a little bit poking around the JCC, where I spent much of my early youth. I took every manner of class at the J, from ballet to pottery, and went to nursery school and camp there. This staircase struck me as an emblem of my childhood there. I think that groups of children did not go down these stairs; there was another set that they led us down. But when my mom came to pick me up we used these stairs. I remember eating lunch at some chairs at the bottom of these stairs; tuna fish sandwiches out a rigid lunchbox shaped like Mickey Mouse's head. And playing on the stairs while mothers chatted. Like many things from youth, they don't look like much now.
We then headed to one of my dearest places in Rochester: The Apple Farm. My family has been going apple picking there for almost 20 years. We have taken visitors from all of the world to The Apple Farm for picking, fresh cider, and homemade cinnamon cider donuts.
On weekends this lawn is full of families. I used to roll down that slope, parents yelling when we got too close to the road. This place symbolizes fall to me. Mom and I headed into the orchard to pick some Macintoshes. They aren't nearly as red as the apples pictured, but these not-yet-ripe Red Delicious made a better photo.
The view from the orchard always takes our breath away. It is just an elevated view of the surrounding farmland, but there is just something about it that feels vast and free. I have always felt this way, and just learned that my mom does too (and so does the son of the owner of the farm). Mom was a little chilly here.
The family rule of apple picking is as follows: one must eat an apple upon arrival in the orchard. I am about to bite into my first apple. New York apples taste the best, in my opinion, and there is nothing like a piece of fruit that was attached to a plant a moment before.

The cider donut was as good as ever, and we left with a bag of Cortlands as well as Macs. Cortlands are crisper than Macs and really white on the inside. They are my favorite kinds, in addition to Empires, which come out later in the season. A mutual love of apples was something that connected Sarah and me early my senior year. I enjoy living further south sometimes, but fall makes me remember that I am an upstate New York girl at heart.

Forum on Microbial Threats

2009-09-16T15:27:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a conference in DC on "The Domestic and International Impacts of the 2009 Influenza A H1N1 Pandemic." I metroed into the city with everyone else, dressed in my little-worn suit. I felt pretty snazzy, I must say. Amazingly, I was not overdressed. I've never actually been in an environment where a suit is commonplace. The conference was held at the Institute of Medicine at the National Academies of Sciences, located across from the National Building Museum (pictured above).

The sessions were really great! I learned so much about the actual virus, in scientific terms that made me glad of my bio background, but not bored. I thought for the first time about the impact of flu on Third World countries (I know, I should have considered this previously). We heard from people at CDC, WHO, and various prestigious universities. One of the coolest things was a talk by the man who had directed the CDC during the 1976 Swine Flu predicted pandemic. That outbreak is the reason people now fear Guillian Barré Syndrome with vaccine (don't fear it! Get vaccinated--ask me if you have more questions). This man was in his 80s, and recalled the whole scenario from memory, as if he were telling a story. I'm not doing a great job describing all of this, but it was a great day and I came away with lots of new information.

At lunch the vegetarian option was just lettuce, so I wandered upstairs to the NAS cafeteria. This photo is taken from the eating area, which stretches all the way up like that. The view was much better than the egg salad.
Today I was supposed to go the second day of the conference for surveillance, epidemiology and ethics, but I woke up really dizzy. It has subsided for periods of time, but I have been dizzy most of the day. So I've read (I can focus on one thing, but when I move my eyes or head too much things spin) a book and a half, watched a movie, and napped. Tomorrow I'm going home for Rosh Hashannah! I can't wait!

Project 365 Day 30

2009-09-14T17:46:00.005-04:00

Today was a really productive day at work. No one was around, which was a bummer because I was wearing one of my cool new outfits, but on the upside I got a bunch of tasks done that required lots of concentration. With my cute outfit, which involves brown pants, I decided to wear some brown suede heels I had bought in my pre-arthritis days. You should know that I never wear heels. I don't stand or walk much in this job, so I figured it was worth a try. I pretty much walk like a bad drag queen in these heels. At one point I tottered to the kitchen in the office, and one of the older ladies from the front said, "you're not walking so well. You're walking like me--and I'm old!" Always a boost in a comment like that!

I walked to get my pants hemmed, and saw the following:
While this does appear to be a squirrel eating a tennis ball, it was actually eating this giant fruit/seed/thing that is in abundance this time of year. They have hard green outsides, with shiny brain-like ripples. I have seen kids using them as soccer balls, baseballs, and the kind of balls you roll down the slide to your parents. They're cool-looking, but I hope none of them drops on my head. I proceeded to the tailor. While I was standing on a fitting block, the small Asian seamstress started rapping on my left ankle. Assuming she was commenting on my stance (I sometimes put my feet in funny positions), I shifted my weight. She continued rapping. It wasn't until she started tugging at my pants that I realized I was standing on the hem she was trying to pin up.

I had an important realization today. I do not detest all tea. The other day I had some Earl Gray, which was palatable but not delicious. Today I tried some Lady Gray, and I actually liked it! The funny thing is that everyone has been trying to get me to drink herbal tea, which I really don't like. But it seems like black tea is far less offensive. Tomorrow I try Irish Breakfast. And since I didn't take a photo of my tea, I post a photo of this:
It's Stick Tea for real! Two years ago a doctor had told Sarah to drink a certain medicinal tea. It was muddy brown, and, in accordance with its taste, Sarah named it "stick tea." I guess twig tea has smaller pieces.

Dupont Circle Farmer's Market

2009-09-13T16:31:00.005-04:00

So, you know how I mentioned that I was feeling in a fog, and quiet inside? I think I realized why. For the first time in a really long time, I neither stressed nor anxious. I've started my job, things are great with Sarah (not that they ever weren't), and I am, at least for the next little bit, not worried about the future. Even the things that are in transition, like my living situation are not stressing me out. I know they will happen and will be ok. This is an unusal feeling for me, and I don't quite know what to do with it. But it's good. Things in my life are good now.

Today I was feeling kind of solitary. It seemed like the time to take the plunge: going downtown alone for the first time since May. It was strange to wait for the metro by myself. Sarah and I had taken to doing crossword puzzles or playing guessing games while we waited. Luckily I had brought a letter to write. I made my way to the Dupont Circle Farmer's Market. I got there around later than I ever had, so many of the vendors were dropping prices, and calling out remaining quantities of their produce. It was still bustling--many more people my age in Dupont than at the Bethesda one. Part of the street is blocked off, and there are just throngs of young professionals with cloth bags, and families buying in bulk. It was the last week for peaches. We have had such a sweet peach season here.
This stand has a wide selection of organic veggies. I don't often buy organic; at a farmer's market I don't think it matters so much. But these people have the best looking produce often, from this mound of green beans to the leafy chard that came with verbal cooking instructions.
Loved this rainbow of peppers.
And here is the bounty I packed into my backpack, using the lettuce to cushion the peaches. There will be bits of lettuce in that bag for a long time.
I love this market--it always makes me feel like I'm part of something. But what follows might be my favorite thing about Dupont Circle:

Grown-Up Clothes

2009-09-12T16:07:00.001-04:00

After 2 weeks at work and realizing that I have about 6 days of work outfits, I decided it was time to take the plunge and buy some nice clothes. Miriam had the goodness of heart to serve as my biz cas fashion consultant, qualified by her general good taste and job as a paralegal. We drove out to the Leesburg Outlets, which are about 1/3 the size of the ones near Syracuse. But they did have Ann Taylor and Banana Republic. I tried on just about everything I even vaguely liked. Not everything fit.
But I did very well: I bought 3 pairs of pants (tan, brown, and houndstooth), a gorgeous black dress, and 4 tops (1 sweater and 3 short-sleeved).

We had lots of giggles in the dressing room, as it's hard to tell on the hanger if something is going to be cute or simply hideous. Now I am fully suited up to work in different outfits each day. It's always nice to spend time with Miriam. We've known eachother since sixth grade, and sometimes you just can't beat history.

We drove from Virginia to Columbia Heights where Rowan's coop was having a potluck in her honor. I met some great people, and had some interesting conversations. I spoke to a guy from Panama doing research on Maryland blue crabs. "Cranky old bastards," was his description, with an affectionate grin. I also ran into two women I had met at someone else's party. I had connected with one of them there, and was so happy to have another great conversation. It's nice to socialize in groups. Rowan knows lots of people, and she always has a way of bringing people together. I look forward to more of this. Also to more of this:
She thought we were taking a nice photo, then at the last minute I did this.

Getting Acquainted with Prince William

2009-09-11T22:16:00.007-04:00

The last few days I've felt like I was in a fog. The weather has been cooler and rainy, and I come home every evening unsure of what to do with myself. Yesterday I made curried lentils and cauliflower. They came out really well; I could taste all of the tumeric. But I should have just eaten them for dinner and taken a break. Instead I ate them for dinner, then lunch today, and then dinner tonight. This was a poor choice.

Yesterday (9/10) driving to work I missed my exit and ended up in rural historic Virginia. I knew it was so because I passed the historic site of the Battle of Bull Run, and the historic brick building standing next to it.

Also, because the fences looked like this.

I thought it was pretty cool, but was soon extremely lost, so I called my boss and said, "I'm lost. I'm not sure where I am but there are these funky fences..." Luckily, she knew where that meant I was, so she gave me directions and I got to work only about 10 minutes later than usual.

Because gas prices are about 30 cents cheaper in Manassas than Bethesda, I figured I would see if the same was true with groceries. It was interesting to compare the Giant there with the Giant I shop at usually. I think the products in a grocery store can really reflect the demographics of the area--flavors of snacks, types of produce, and relative amount of devoted space in the "international" or "ethnic" aisle. In Manassas, the kosher section had about 2 boxes of matzah and some Kedem Tea Biscuits, while further down the same aisle was this extensive collection of Goya sodas. And this doesn't include the cans of fruit nectar. In Bethesda, there are 4 kinds of Bisli, but only coconut soda and Malto.

As a public health person interested in the demographics of the region, this reflected what I had been told about Prince William County. Few Jews, many Spanish speakers. It's my time out of the office that is helping me to get to know where I am working. It's really different from Bethesda, and I like it.

Friday, September 11: Today was a very busy day at work, but good. I got a lot done. After work I was feeling, as we put it in my family, "sad and lonely," so I went to downtown Bethesda for some coffee and people watching. It had been raining, so the number of people out and about was reduced, but the teenagers were out in droves. Not older, oh-so-cool teenagers, but 14 year olds in tight packs, lighting candles in a piece of cake and singing happy birthday in front of the gelato shop. And vaguely pubescent boys, skateboarding through pedestrians while warning, "on your left." This all reminds me of growing up in Pittsford and having nothing to do on weekend nights. At least these kids have somewhere walkable.

I popped by the grocery store tonight for some beans (not for me, for a potluck!), and found this gem of a cake. It's made of cupcakes and I think is a lion that ran into a wall.

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge 77 and Quickie Quiche

2009-09-09T18:36:00.004-04:00

This card is for TESC77, and is another one of my Rosh Hashannah cards. Can you believe there are such cool Jewish stamps? The lighting is poor because I took it at 4:30am this morning, when I was up and filling out Rosh Hashana cards. I had a really restless night with little sleep, and finally decided I'd had enough a little after 4. Pretty much the only thing keeping me awake now is the large cup of Earl Grey tea I had at 1. I know, I don't like tea, but I was desperate. And heck, it wasn't too bad. Anyways, I thought you might be interested in what these layouts look like when I find them on the internet. Here is the sketch for this card: And here is my interpretation of the sketch:
I also made a fritatta/crustless quiche with spinach, sauteed onions, and feta cheese. It turned out delicious, and was surprisingly easy. Now I have breakfast for the rest of the week. Want to hear a joke? Two women were at a restaurant. The waiter came over to take their order. The first woman said, "I'd like a quickie." The second woman said, "I think it's pronounced quiche."Today at work I talked to a whole bunch of doctors' offices, and also to a school nurse at a parochial school. I was calling to see if she had all the info she needed about flu and she excitedly told me about the handwashing classes she had just completed for every class in the school. That's my kind of woman! So far the school nurses have been really enthusiastic. I just emailed them all a big list of hand washing resources and songs. They include the following, to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle little star"
Twinkle Twinkle little star
see how clean my two hands are
soap and water
wash and scrub
get those germs out rub-a-dub
Twinkle Twinkle little star
see how clean my two hands are

The best part? It's about 20 seconds long--the exact time recommended for hand washing.

Multinational Cuisine and Office Space

2009-09-08T17:35:00.003-04:00

Tuesday, September 8: While my Smithie friends started classes, I had my first day at the office without any meetings. I got a lot done, including calling many doctors' offices to sign them up to give people the vaccine. It was not nearly as scary to talk to these strangers on the phone as I had anticipated. People were generally friendly and well-informed. Also today I picked up 2 speaking gigs in the community. I like giving people information and talking in my phone voice. The above photo shows the magnitude of my office. The photo is taken from the opposite corner as my desk. Soon there will be other people in the space too, but I am enjoying the quiet for now. And that, on the coat rack, is the top half of the duck suit.
Every day as I drive down Route 28 to the highway (in Virginia), I pass this sign. Who would think that one restaurant would serve such a plethora of international cuisine? Latin American! Middle Easten! Italian! Philadelphian! and of course, that famous dish, breakfast. I stopped to get gas the other day, looked up, and was surprised to find that I was under the sign. Yes, folks, this sign advertises the culinary offerings of the gas station.

It's starting to feel like fall, and it's sinking in that I'm alone here now, with Sarah and Im gone. Right now I feel fairly peaceful, but last night I was missing Convocation dearly. I was remembering how it felt to be a first year, when everything was so exciting and every person I met was a potential friend. But the grown-up (?) life has its perks: no homework and good food.

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge 79

2009-09-08T17:29:00.005-04:00

Here is a card for another sketch challenge. I am having fun making Rosh Hashannah cards this year.

Materials:
Paper: Cosmo Cricket "Fish in the Sea," Nichole cardstock
Stamps: Mazel Tov by Papertrey Ink
Ink: Fresh Snow by Papertrey

Weekend with Im! (A London-Sized Post)

2009-09-07T12:08:00.012-04:00

I had an absolutely wonderful weekend with Im, my roommate from Smith (for 2 years and a summer). We hadn't seen eachother since we graduated, and we had some fun adventures over the few days.

Saturday, September 5: Im and I spent the evening at a get-together hosted by 2 Smithies from Morris House: Rowan, my friend, and Kelsey, who I know from lunches on Tyler lawn. We found Kelsey's apartment in Shaw, and it was just lovely. Shaped like an isosceloes trapezoid, the apartment had basically 3 corner windows that allowed a great breeze, as well as a modern open kitchen. The above photo shows Rowan sauteing veggie burgers (although there was a good amount of smoke, she did not burn the hell out of them) in the evening light.
It was so wonderful to be around Smithies all night. Even though not everyone knew eachother, and many of us were mere acquaintances, there was a base level of comfort from the beginning, just from being Smithies. The vibe in the room was so happy and comfortable all night, with many simulataneous conversations that switched participants frequently. There was laughter, talk of self-depricating women, and discussion of Julie and Julia and Commencement. There was even a read-aloud of a picture book about following dreams (a graduation gift with awesome pictures). It was called The Awesome Book, and was, indeed, awesome. Im and I left feeling really happy.

Sunday, September 6: For breakfast, I decided to try to make omlets for the first time. This resulted in Im having to recall a rule she learned at my house in Rochester: When the smoke alarm goes off, grab the nearest magazine and fan it vigorously.
Amazingly, the omlets also turned out beautifully. Actually, just one. The other one looked lovely in the pan, but had an unfortunate accident in the half-inch between the pan and the plate. Nothing quite as pretty as eggs shining in morning light.

Thus satiated, we walked down to the Central Bethesda Farmer's Market. There are 2 seemingly unaffiliated farmers' markets in Bethesda. The one we went to has lots of cheese, meat, veggies, and some prepared foods. And some beautiful tomatoes. I don't even like tomotoes, but they looked so cheery. Im doesn't have a farmer's market in Jersey, so she was really smiley about ours, and it rubbed off, increasing my already good mood.
We headed downtown to the National Gallery of Art. We visited our favorite impressionist paintings, and admired the architecture of both buildings. This one here is the East Building, which houses contemporary art.
We were feeling peckish, so we decided to go to Jaleo. Im had been there once 3 years ago, and couldn't wait to return, and I was not deterred by having eaten there 4 days earlier. We went to the branch in DC. Now you can see pictures of the foods I ordered the other night! These are the onions. At this branch, they also had sage on top, which nicely complimented the cheese.
These are the shrimp I described in great detail. These ones were spicier. Once again, we cleaned up every drop of garlickly olive oil with their crusty bread.
This dish was new: scallops with raspberries and pistachios, with a beet sauce. This was gorgeous and well-made, but just paled in comparison to the other dishes. The scallops were, however, perfectly seared, and the raspberries were a surprisingly tasty pairing with the mollusks.
And this is a very happy Im after lunch.
We waddled over to the Botanical Gardens, and poked around the cacti, orchids, and primordial plants. These fiddleheads really caught my eye. They were all over the primordial room, in different states of unfurling (the process is called circinate vernation), and some were quite large. Each leaf of the fern unfurls too, after the stem.
After we had spent about 15 minutes sitting in the jungle room on a bench, looking at basically nothing, we decided we were tired and it was time to be horizontal. So were called it a day and spent the evening reading, cooking the farmer's market kale we had toted to the museums, and watching Pirates of the Carribean 2.

Monday, September 7: Labor Day. Kim spent the night last night (she had spent the rest of the time with her friends), and we all went to the Tastee Diner for breakfast. Here Im is pouring Kim's milkshake into a glass, chemist-style. Notice how the liquid pours down the spoon and doesn't splash or spill. We spent the rest of breakfast singing "My Milkshake Brings All the Girls to the Yard." I have frequently been informed that it is, in fact, the boys who are brought, but whatever.
We returned to the apartment for some caffeinated tea before Kim and Im hit the road. Look at the hip white couch my roommate bought. Im and Kim decided to drink their tea on the floor, and the couch is still white. Sidenote: I do have other furniture that can be eaten upon, but there is no accounting for preference ;)
And a nice roommate picture.

Special Dinner

2009-09-05T12:05:00.002-04:00

Wednesday, September 2: Jaleo. To celebrate a wonderful summer and the start of my new job (and to keep our minds off Sarah's impending departure), we decided to have a nice dinner out. We don't eat out very often, and when we do it's often falafel, or with other friends. So going out just the two of us felt special. We headed to Jaleo, a tapas restaurant that my parents and I discovered when we lived in DC. It's one of those places where you eat slowly and deliberately, savoring each surprising flavor. We had grilled onions with picon cheese and pinenuts, pickled mussels, the traditional shrimp and garlic tapa (is one a tapa or a tapas?), and a small salad with beets, grapefruit, pistachios and picon cheese. The onions came as thick slices, glistening with a sweet vinegar and olive oil marinade, and paired with the really strong blue cheese and toasted pine nuts, made Sarah smile with every bite. The mussels were presented pre-shelled in a sardine tin, and were wooey and refreshing. While the shrimp in the Gambas al ajillo were quite tasty, the draw for me of that dish is the cruet full of garlic-and-shrimp-infused olive oil that sits under them. I gleefully ate most of that, using the accompanying bread as a sponge of deliciousness. And the salad was the perfect dessert, drizzled properly with a sherry dressing that contrasted perfectly with the nuts and fruit, and had enough salt. By now you're probably either drooling or nauseous. I myself am mopping the saliva off my keyboard to type this. Luckily Im is on her way to visit me, so hopefully we can eat some delicious things to take my mind off of meals past.

Since there is no photographic record of this lovely meal, I have provided you with something even lovlier.

Bethesda Row

2009-09-05T09:22:00.002-04:00

Wednesday, Sept 2: On Sarah's last night here we went out to a delicious dinner (more about that in another post). Afterwords, we walked in one of our favorite areas in Bethesda: Bethesda Row. It's a small walking street that's only been around for a year or so, and is full of posh shops that don't interest me. But oh the people-watching! There is a gelato shop to the right of these neon lights that had interesting flavors like basil-lemon, and peach processo. So there are many cute kids to watch eating gelato (the tamer flavors), and many people strolling.
These lights remind me of the Neilson public safety arch. Back when public safety was easy to find.
Also on this street is a large upscale restaurant with patio seating. I like to walk by and see what people are eating. My parents and I had drinks and appetizers there once--sitting there is just as fun as it looks! But my favorite thing is looking in this window:
It's the front of the restaurant, and there are table right against the windows. I like to walk really close to them and peer at the diners' plates. Everyone really appreciates it.

Many nights this summer when Sarah or I was feeling squirrely after dinner we would walk down to Bethesda. There is something soothing about this area to me. I always leave feeling better.

Official Employee!

2009-09-04T21:53:00.002-04:00

Thursday, September 3: I am now an official Virginia Department of Health employee! I have a badge and a giant cell phone that doubles as a walkie-talkie. And a Prince William lanyard. My job is great so far. I am right in the thick of things. On Thursday I went to a school nurse training for H1N1 and even got to jump in a few times with ideas--the nurses were jazzed about hand washing songs! I think this is the right job for me.

Another benefit of this job is the office, even if I spend lots of the time in other people's spaces, listening to conference calls. At NIH I shared the basement lab below with my direct supervisor. In this photo you are looking at pretty much the whole lab, plus a little counter space towards the camera. It's as narrow as it looks. My desk was pretty much the computer, and the space taken up by my purse in this picture.
And look at my desk now!! So much space! And look--there's a window!
And this is the view out the window. I'm told that brown strip is a pond when there is more rain. Apparently there are frogs, turtles and snakes who live there. I'm excited for some safari action.

A Card for a Sketch Challenge

2009-09-01T20:30:00.005-04:00

So, as you probably know, I like to make cards. On the internet, there are bunches of people who do this and blog about it. Some of them post layouts of cards: where each piece should go, what shape it should be, and people post cards they've made following that sketch. I've been getting ideas from Taylored Expressions for a while now, but am just posting my own card for the first time. It's customary when posting a card to list what you used to make it. These cards are for Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #75. They're for Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish New Year. To my Jewish friends reading this blog: don't get your hopes up; they don't all look as good as this. :)

Materials:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Mazel Tov
Ink: The $1 kind from AC Moore in black
Cardstock: Papertrey Kraft, Nicole Arts white, red, orange
Patterned Paper: KI Fun Colorful Pack (I think it's actually called that)
Other: corrugated cardboard (in lieu of pop-dots, Fiskers circle cutter, Fiskers boarder punch that is scallops with holes)

First Day of Work

2009-09-01T20:16:00.002-04:00

September 1, 2009: In Which Abby Becomes a Grown-Up. I have a real grown-up job. It comes with a real desk (an L-shape!) and a window!!! But the exciting part is that I get to be TOTALLY involved with flu vaccination and outbreak. This is gonna rock! It's going to be hard, and will probably require me to do some scary things (like cold-calling dozens of OB/GYN offices), but I will learn soooo much! I already got to use some things I learned from online emergency preparedness courses I took to get a head start. Now, at the end of the day, I am exhausted, but excited for what tomorrow holds. The darkness of the picture (in addition to the fact that I had the flash turned off) is a good reflection of how dark it was when I left the house this morning at 6:30. I had budgeted an hour and a half to drive to work. It took me 45 minutes. This was great. Tomorrow I don't have to be in until 9. At that time, it may take me an hour and a half to get in. Clearly, I have not yet figured out DC traffic.

The Last Few Days

2009-08-31T15:01:00.004-04:00

Friday August 28: A fairly low-key day with a trip to the grocery store. There we happened upon this gem of a cake. It's always appropriate to present your 3-year-old with Elmo's Road Rage. The only reason I even look at the grocery store cakes is this website. This woman collects images of professionally-decorated cakes gone horribly wrong, and shares the love with the internet. Good for some serious laughs.
Saturday, August 29: We started the morning off with a trip downtown (in Bethesda) to our favorite bagel place. They make real bagels--chewy, crusty, absolutely delicious. We picked up some toasted everythings with homemade chive cream cheese and headed next door to get some locally roasted coffee. Quartermaine doesn't mind if you eat your bagel with your coffee. Bethesda is hopping on a Saturday morning--families, joggers, dogs. Also on Saturday we went downtown to Natural History to the Ocean Hall, which was kind of disappointing. Although, I really do like marine life. Reading about them on giant placards, not so much. And going to the Mall on weekends makes me want to tear my hair out--lots of whiny touristy families. So we went to the Old Post Office and rode the elevator up for a view of the whole city. It was cool to see how much I could recognize just from my knowledge of where things are and what they look like. Sometimes I feel like I belong to this city.

Sunday, August 30: Nora was in town for a bit, so Sarah and I met up with her for Dim Sum. Nora and I managed to dress the same, so we thought we'd get some nice photos. But I couldn't resist tickling her, so we also got one of these:
Apparently, the National Hillel chose Chinatown for its home, which resulted in this awesome sign:

In other news, I am starting my new job tomorrow. AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! I will be the H1N1 Specialist in Prince William County, in Virginia. Basically I'll be their swine flu go-to girl. I think it will be really cool, and what an opportunity!!! I will have a long commute in my car, so I am taking any and all suggestions for books on CD, including but not limited to juvenile and young adult titles.

Fish Wharf and National Cathedral

2009-08-29T10:50:00.003-04:00

Thursday, August 27: Fish Wharf: Down by the Potomac River, in an area picturesquely framed by interstate 395, lies a hidden fish market. These permanent stalls stand on floating barges, and have every imaginable shellfish (at least on this coast), and dozens of male fishmongers who want to know "if you ladies need anything." I got a great deal on crab legs from a man I didn't even know I was bargaining with! For lunch, we followed the crowds to Jimmy's, where you order from what literally looks like a hole at ground level. I had to squat down to yell out my order. We followed what other people were ordering and ended up with giant shrimp stuffed with crab meat and baked with lots of butter (yum!), a crab cake, yeast rolls, and an Arnold Palmer (mix of iced tea and lemonade). This last item was essential, as the heat coming up from the parking lot we were standing in was doing us in. We ate standing at a railing over looking the boats, fending off very assertive pigeons and unknown seabirds.
Wednesday, August 26: National Cathedral. Sarah and I drove to the National Cathedral, where we took a tour. It looks a lot like an English cathedral. I am not really moved by the gothic style, but it was cool to finally see up close what I have viewed many times from Miriam's rooftop.

Bethesda and the Zoo

2009-08-29T09:24:00.002-04:00

In a shop window while walking to the zoo. At least it wasn't "Kosher."

Monday, August 24: National Zoo. As the weather promised to be below 90F for a day, Sarah and I headed to the zoo. We were there at lunch time for the pandas, so we got to see them consume mass quantities of bamboo leaves. They are much bigger than I would expect. We also saw a baby gorilla who started patting on the glass in response to the human children doing the same. But my favorite, of course, were the capybaras. They were hanging out in the water with their well-positioned noses, eyes and ears above it. I know some people think they are just giant rats, but really capybaras are very friendly.

Sunday, August 23: In downtown Bethesda, by the Barnes and Noble, there is a fountain and some benches. When the weather is nice, lots of people hang out there, listening to teenage street musicians and eating shaved ice from this cart. For $2, this man will freshly shave you an overflowing cup of ice and cover it with any of his syrups. I love watching people eat this--it's impossible to be sad when eating shaved ice. On days when I don't want to get on the metro or do anything big, I walk or take the trolley here and people watch.

My version of Project 365

2009-08-28T22:31:00.002-04:00

So there is this thing in blogland called Project 365, where you take a picture every day for a year and post it on your blog. I thought I'd do something similar, but probably won't do it every day. I want to document my few weeks of vacation with Sarah before I start my job and all memory of free time vanishes.

Wed August 19: Montgomery County Fair. We enjoyed lots of goats, bunnies, ducklings, and pet a bison. He wanted us to. We also ate funnel cake (Sarah's first!) and very soft serve twists dipped in peanut butter or chocolate shell. I will spare you these photos, as they basically show me covered from wrist to elbow in ice cream.

Tuesday August 18: Ben's Chili Bowl with Rosalie. We feasted on vegetarian chili, cheese fries, and Rosie had chili-cheese fries and a milkshake. We were fortunate enough to be in a back room with about 25 Japanese tourists who were on a large group plan. We were treated to a history of Ben's, which was really cool! A great snapshot of DC history around the time of the race riots. Ben's was the only business on U Street that stayed open the whole time. Then Rosalie was recruited to take a photo of the group.

Monday August 17: A tour of the Capitol was short, but allowed us a great view of the inside of the dome. One of the murals on the dome features Posiden and assorted underwater people in togas laying the transatlantic cable. We also got to see the tomb where George Washington was supposed to be buried (he isn't). I mean, he is buried, but not there.

Library of Congress 8/15

2009-08-27T21:28:00.001-04:00

Sarah and I took a trip to the Library of Congress. We saw a Gutenberg bible, and an exhibit about Bob Hope and Vaudeville. We enjoyed admiring the lovely architecture of the LOC. Then we shared a picnic on the lawn of the Capitol, which is across the street. We started under a tree, where we were relentlessly pursued by a squirrel that may or may not have been rabid. When he started edging closer and closer to our carrots and would not be dissuaded by Sarah's shoe, we moved to another tree. There, we met another picnicking family who agreed to take our photo in front of the Capitol. Unfortunately, they didn't manage to include the Capitol in the photo, so I bring you this picture we took ourselves.