Take Two

Yeah, so, I wrote up this whole post this morning about everything I did in the past week and it vanished. Maybe that's a sign that the world doesn't really want to read about my great veggie kibbeh at Zaytinya or the lovely sturgeon I had at Sonoma.

So be it.

Both were lovely evenings, good company, good food. Sonoma still needs to step up to the plate a bit when it comes to service, but I am not complaining as it is a great treat to finally have a decent restaurant on the hill.

Other good news from yesterday:

Judge John E. Jones III rocks my world. He may be a Republican, but as my father would say, "he knows good science".

Restaurant week reservations went up for grabs. I always have very ambitious plans for Restaurant Week (I'll check out a new restaurant every day!! Every lunch! Evry dinner!) and then end up lucky to make one reservation at whatever has a 10pm table left on the final evening of the week. Maybe this year I'll get my act together and book ahead of time. Chances are slim. Since when have I been good at planning ahead?

Highlights of the week (besides Sonoma and Zaytinya):

Sunday was my friend, the Marathon Runner's Nog party. No worries - marathon runners can partake in food and drink like the best of them, and the spread and company were both top notch. I brought my one signature dish, baked brie, which is so friggin' easy I feel kind of guilty when people rave over it. So, here's my little secret - which is now your little secret: Baked Brie for dummies. I use jam, none of the other sweet stuff. It's really good, trust me.

I also brought my friend AP who is in town to direct Measure for Measure. I love that play, mostly because it is so incredibly hard to pull off. I also have a sentimental attachment to it because when I was seventeen I worked on the jail scene (where Isabella's brother asks her to give up her virginity for his life when she's about to become a nun, so it's a really, really big deal) with my own brother at theater camp in Long Island. I am sure that the scene was awful, emoting all over the place and no sense of rhythm, but for me it was revelatory. It was the first time I *got* what all the hub bub about Shakespeare was for.

So we'll see. I have no idea quite what he's doing with the play, but I hear talk of "puppets". "Puppets??" "Yes, puppets".

This is something too that I like about DC. Frequently out of town friends are here to work at one of the theaters in town. So long distance friends, for a spell at least, become neighbors.

Another friend of mine, LH, who I met when I was seventeen at my orientation for the University of Michigan, will be in town for three months working at the other Shakespeare venue. This makes me very happy. We have known each other for a very, very long time. More on that to come, I am sure.

Also, Monday I went to see the Gaithersburg Light Show. Y'all think I am kidding, but I am not.

I may scoff at the baby jesus and drink the blood of christian babies and totally go off on anyone who resists my "Happy Holidays", but I do love me a good light show. It was a trip.

I roped super-mover-man into reserving a zip car for the occasion, so afterwards we went to Chevy's to complete our suburban Maryland experience. I ordered veggie fajitas and Julia, our very vietnamese, very much not Mexican waitress, brought me a trough of food. Seriously, a veritable trough. No wonder we have so many problems with obesity in this country.

The lights were fun and tacky enough to complete my holiday experience.

Nog and blinking lights. What more could I ask for?