Weekend with Im! (A London-Sized Post)

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.