Speed Recommending

Some other joint recommendations from the last few weeks:

DC Events:

Asian Heritage Festival on the Mall - it's nothing special (despite awesomely being officially titled "Fiesta Asia!")... pretty much your typical outdoor fair with stands featuring various forms of protein on skewers and fried everything, "experts" leading workshops (sushi chef! small Indian women teaching children how to weave baskets!), and trinkets/jewelry/obligatory bob Marley beach towels/Nepalese flags. That said - Go purely to (1) watch the DC Public Schools do their Karate demonstration which is pretty much the cutest/funniest thing I've ever seen and (2) see how places like Kurdistan and Azerbaijan sell themselves as tourist destinations.

Jazz in the Park at National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden - Ok everyone living in DC/VA+MD burbs has heard of this by now and this is really a plug for our friend MK's impressive photography on her blog and flickr account. Quelle artiste! First stop - Dcist.com ... next stop - world pictorial domination!

Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams in 3D at Georgetown Cinema -- we could write an entire blog entry about what a fantastic cinematic experience this is. It's a flawed movie... clearly needed some editing to cut the superfluous, a bit all over the place, and no doubt bizarre. But the superfluous is what makes it endlessly entertaining and the visuals of the chauvet cave itself - including mind blowingly beautiful art preserved for 30,000+ years make the movie entirely unforgettable.

[the kind of friend Werner would love]

Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River - The hike itself is pretty mediocre (it is after all the potomac and you do see trash bags floating down the river) but the monument area is kinda cool and it's always nice to get out of the city a bit.

Gen on the bridge to the Island

Current Woodrow Wilson House exhibit on American women rebuilding efforts in France 1917-1924. Our nations used to get along so well! Well, at the very least, rich American socialites just wanted to get out of the damn house and save peasant children in Picardy.

Taking the Bolt Bus - I'm not really sure if this fits into this category and I realize I'm late to the Bolt Bus party but it was a recent discovery for us to take the Bolt Bus up the east coast rather than Amtrak (and save 100+ bucks). It only took 4 hours, has internet, was quiet/clean/civil, very well-run, and we were able to buy ticket super last minute. Previously, I associated east coast bus rides with the trauma of the china town bus (which deserves an entire entry in itself), so this was a welcome find.

GASTRONOMY:

We are on an epic Trader Joe's Vegetable Masala Burgers kick - it's like an Indian buffet experience in the form of a small patty and tastes good with everything.

Two awesome new coffee discoveries - the newly opened Peregrine Espresso on 14th street (bomb espresso) and Filter (bomb coffee and looks like a good place to study) in Dupont.

The collared greens and the biscuits at Eatonville in the U st. area (we did brunch there so can't speak to dinner and lunch but beyond these items, I didn't think much else was that good and it was all entirely too salty.)

Newly opened Tsunami Lounge on 14th st in Logan area - clearly the timing on their name is unfortunate but the sushi was yummy and affordable and better than a lot of local spots I've been too. Plus you have a nice view of the 14th street corridor and the friendly waiter gave me shitake miso soup on the da house. hollaaa.

Bistrot Lepic in Georgetown - we went with my Dad for dinner when he was in town recently. The food was solid, not great, but definitely solid French bistrot fair which is rarer in Georgetown's ooo la la we think we're so Francais scene than you'd think (for the love of dieu, having table cloths from Provence doesn't really make sense and having creme brulee on the menu does not justify your lack of a croque madame!) and the atmosphere was lovely. The upstairs wine bar looked great for a date and had live music.

Teaism's ginger scones .... holy sacre bleu. so good. Can't stop coming up with an excuse to walk by and get one.


I'M A TECH GODDESS:

NASA app for iphones. Ok I don't really know how to use an i-phone but Gen keeps sending me pictures and factoids from this and they are pretty freaking sweet. Plus anything that can keep him entertained for a whole 4 hour busride when I'm hogging the one Economist we have between us gets my blessing.


Jon Stewart ripping Donald Trump and Sarah Palin for their NYC pizza faux pas - Really wish I knew how to post videos

Amazon's cloud stream service which has allowed us to easily share recent finds including the new My Morning Jacket album Circuital, Eddie Vedder on the Ukulele, and, obviously, soundtrack to Sons of Anarchy Seasons 1-4.