Batlles of the Road...

When last we chatted I mentioned that MFO and I were going to travel up to Providence Rhode Island so she could attend an Archivist workshop.  Easy, right? just gas the MOMSTER

And set out.  The first part of the journey went fine, up through Annapolis over the Bay Bridge, up 301 into Delaware, easy drive with interesting sights to see.

And then, shortly after joining dear old I95 there were more things to see, a little closer up

 

 

 

Which turned out to be

Resulting in:

Which then permitted us to see the lovely surroundings of Philly inch by inch, including one of my old employers

 

The "joys" of travel

 Then, to make matters more complicated, there was some confusion under pressure by the right seater (the engineer on the team, or, um, me) as to the difference between I95 and the New Jersey Turnpike.   They are NOT the same road, and in fact are in two different states.  And if you take the road more traveled (I95) it leads you where you might not wish to go (stated mildly).  Just because on the map, a road crosses the turnpike, that does NOT necessarily mean that there is access to said Turnpike at that point.  So eventually we determined that we had to get on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to get to the New Jersey Turnpike.  Kind of a Turnpike to Turnpike deal.

That little maneuver turned out to cost us 33!! (unplanned) bucks.  Picture this:  let’s assume that you are going to have to be on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (like it or not) in order to get to the New Jersey Turnpike.  And as you approach the entrance plaza, you are confronted with a mass of toll booths, with various signs over each gate like “EZ Pass Only”, and others that said “EZ Pass – Ticket” and “EZ Pass – No Ticket”.   Since there are approximately 150 cars and trucks in a hurry behind you, you have to make a split second decision:  “Well, we don’t have a ticket, so I guess we’re “No Ticket””. And so we guided the MOMSTER to that lane with the whole back window filled by a grill that said “Kenilworth”.  When we got to the booth, there was no human, and further more, apparently no mechanism to obtain a ticket.  As she searched in vain for a way to receive a ticket, the nice over the road trucker behind us helped by blowing his 200dB air horns, and started yelling something like “No TICKET!!  NO TICKET!!”.  We folded and MFO floored it.  So we entered the pike ticketless and proceeded to the border with New Jersey (our entrance on the Penn Turnpike was the last in Pennsylvania),. We crossed over the state line and eventually got to the gates closing out Pennsylvania before starting the New Jersey version.  When the man held out his hand and said “Ticket Please” MFO informed him that we had no ticket.  "What?"  And we gave him the reader’s digest story of the previous toll gate.  He apologized profusely, but said he had no option but to charge us as if we had been on the turnpike from the beginning (and the Keystone State is pretty long as you might remember) which amounted to the Thirty Three Dollars.  He did say that the signs were confusing, and gave us a little form to fill out with the hope of getting a refund.  That's a relief

So in a great frame of mind we continued on the New Jersey Turnpike, veered off on the Garden State Parkway, went up north and crossed the Hudson on the Tappan Zee Bridge (at the suggestion of a veteran NY traveler).  Aside from NASCAR like conditions it was (in our minds) still better than fighting our way through NYC, avoiding signs like

So as the miles and hours went by we marked our progress with yet more signs

 

Until at last we saw the skyline of Providence

So ended a long nerve wracking day on the Northeast Corridor

There were also some other interesting signs along the way (I got lots!),

And for all you nostalgia nuts

After we got to the hotel (a Marriott) we were pretty bushed and following a restorative beverage in the room we ate in the restaurant in the hotel.  Another story, and despite all we did take the time to be

DFD

More to come at some point..and on the bright side today was a good day and a great dinner tonight!!

A Great Day

Last weekend, MFO and I enjoyed what turned out to be a nearly perfect Saturday.  It involved the three things we really enjoy:  friends, food, and fine art (in this case crafts). 

We try to attend the Smithsonian Craft Show each year, but for various reasons have not been able to make it for a couple of years.  This year, the crafter who made our clock was selected for the first time so we decided to get there this year, and Saturday was the only day our schedule permitted travel.   And when we asked our friend who lives up there if he would like to join us or at least do lunch, he said that he had relatives visiting from Phoenix, and would love to all get together for a brunch before MFO and I did the show. With a little bit of research, we settled on Estadio who does brunch starting at eleven (Saturday and Sundays only, normally only open for dinner).  So on a lovely spring day, we drove up to DC in my lovely Flutter Mobile Two, whizzed by the National’s Ball Park before the game crowd assembled and joined up with our friend and his niece and nephew.  He was gracious enough to drive us all to the restaurant, which believe me is a relief because he knows where he is going and is used to the driving “tactics” employed in our Nation’s Capital.   With minimal gasps and deep breaths, we navigated to the restaurant. 

Estadio (Stadium in English) is a Spanish themed place, which is reflected in the décor, with heavy wooden tables and massive (for a restaurant) chairs, tiled flooring, open beamed ceiling and so forth.  There is an “open kitchen” which might give the “stadium” moniker credibility at one end, a bar in the middle, and seating kind of around the perimeter, many against the windows as it is on a corner.  The only table available for five was a high top, which isn’t bad since it gives one a nice view of what’s going on. The restaurant is (not surprisingly) a “Small Plates” format and specializes in Basque and Northern Spanish cuisines.  The brunch menus were left on the table after we were seated, a one page paper affair with food on one side and wine on the other.  Brunch was broken down into four categories:  Starters; breads and sandwiches; Breakfast and Eggs, and Entrees.    Most prices were ten or under with only a few of the entrees in the thirteen dollar range.  By the time we got there, it was very close to noon, so a small chilled glass of Albariño from the ample wine list hit the spot.  It was served in a tumbler rather than a conventional wine glass, which matched a rusty memory of my time in Spain.  The server was a young lady, and although my antennae were probably down a little, I don’t recall a name or the use of the word “guys”.  She was quite pleasant and answered a couple of questions about the menu so we could make up our minds.  Before we each made our choices, we did order a cheese plate for the table.  Meanwhile we considered our food with many (almost too many) good choices to tempt us.  I settled rather quickly on an Egg Tortilla with Jamon, Green Beans, Alioli & Mahon Cheese,  MFO took Creamy Polenta with Breakfast Sausage and Fried Eggs; other selections were the Soft Scrambled Eggs, Goat’s Cheese, Mushrooms & Scallions; Torrijas, (Warm Spanish Toast) Almond Butter & Vermont Maple Syrup; and Grilled Hanger Steak & Eggs with Patatas Bravas.  I was glad to see that nothing on the menu seemed to be too spicy. (reflective of Spanish as opposed to Mexican cuisine).  Pretty quickly the cheese plate arrived with three cheeses, some dates, quince jelly, and nicely toasted baguette (probably a Spanish version) slices.  The cheeses were a cow’s milk San Simeon, a goat Cana de Cabra, and a blue semi soft Cabrales.  Although the portions were probably a bit scant for five people, we each had a taste (except our DC friend who doesn’t like blue cheese…. yet).  They were very fresh and had great flavor.

The food began arriving, brought by runners.  Now, since I fancy myself a “critic”, I have to find something to be critical of, it's my job.  They easily obliged me with one of my pet peeves.  As you probably know, each table in a restaurant has a number which goes on the ticket that is spit out (bad choice of words) in the kitchen.  I cannot imagine that it takes very complicated software, or just a hand written note that the person in seat X at table Y ordered the Egg Tortilla.  Or maybe even a good memory by the server.  But alas, no.  Runner arrives at the table with two plates in hand.  “Who had the Egg Tortilla?... who had the Polenta?”.  Auctioning off the dishes is not what you should expect at a well regarded restaurant.  On top of that, there was an awkward time span between delivery of the first four plates and the steak and eggs.  I’m not sure there was the “oh, go ahead and eat” stage, but close.  The only other thing I could be critical of was that there were two flat screens over the bar which faced us, and they were both on, showing Saturday morning Kiddy Kartoons.. a bit incongruous I thought.

Most importantly I cannot criticize the food.  It was all served (eventually at the correct spot) hot, nicely presented and everybody liked what they had.  my Tortilla

(about seven inches in diameter)

 

The encased jamon/ham was salty (sorry diet) and tasty.. those Spanish have a way with ham.  The green beans were pencil thin, retained a bit of crunch, and the Alioli added just a nice bit of snap to the dish..  we all declined Postres.  We really all enjoyed the experience (with only those couple annoyances to the Bottom Feeder) and had a great lunch.  The visitors from Phoenix enjoyed hearing about Historic St. Mary’s City and “my” Chapel, and vowed to visit the next time they came..  Excellent lunch. (oh the regular wine list is something to behold, and the “cellar” is just inside the door)

After that, we walked to the car, passing a few outdoor cafes which were full of people enjoying themselves on a nice day.  There is just something vibrant and energetic about that kind of thing.  Something you can enjoy in the “big city”.  Then we went back and changed cars to the Mobile II and all rode to the Building Museum where the Craft Show is always held.  We parted company there as they wanted to tour some of the museums.  It was great to make new friends, maybe we’ll see them in Phoenix someday.

The Smithsonian Craft Show is always an enjoyable experience.  There are so many beautiful things, and the Smithsonian folks would have you believe that it is just the crème de la crème.  Pretty much go along with that, although there are some crafters that seem to be perennial participants.  Like the “basket lady” from North Carolina.  They do seem to respond however, because there were a fair number of “new exhibitors”, including Jim Borden who made our clock.  In fact if you take the time to click on the link to TimeShapes the little video that pops up is exactly like our clock, although I’m not sure it is as large as ours and we don’t have the little weight off to the side, ours is high enough on the wall that it is under the clock.  We still love the thing, I sit and watch it, sometimes with a DMOTRWAT!  Anyway, we talked to Jim for a while.  He is such a nice guy.  The only purchases we allowed ourselves were a couple of glasses from Dan Mirer, who does very nice work with glassware.

We have other pieces of his work, they are quite pleasurable to look at and use.  A good thing about the Smithsonian Show is that you don’t get “craft fatigue” like at the Baltimore show.  There are far fewer booths which keeps you energy and appreciation skills from becoming dull.   So eventually we returned to the car, and with only minimal aid from the GPS were able to navigate to Suitland Parkway (past a full National’s Stadium, or Estadio) to the route home.  We stopped at Nick’s of Calvert in Prince Frederick, picked up a couple of steaks, came home and grilled them.
So ended a great day with food for body and soul, shared with friends.  Doesn’t get much better.

On the Road Note..

Tomorrow MFO and I will get in the MOMSTER and head for Providence Rhode (Road??) Island, where MFO is attending a preservation workshop for Archivists.  I am going along as baggage so will have time on my hands for photos and finding food.  Reports to follow.. and yes, we are taking duds to be
DFD

More Oyster thoughts...

Back to our little bivalve, for another wonderment I came up with.  And I don’t have any answers, that will take some research.

Now that we know we may encounter edible oysters in summer months, here’s something else to ponder.  I have a friend who has relocated to to Virginia Beach, and I had a note from him the other day in response to the diploid/triploid discussion.  He has a friend who “farms” oysters, and is now in the business sort of.  Somehow his little oysters have found traction in some DC bars and so on, and he markets them under a name something like (not his) “VaBeach Beauties”.  Apparently they are very popular, and he gets compliments on “the best oysters around” and such.  That got me to thinking (which doesn’t usually take much).

A little background and digression:  Worldwide, there are several verities of oysters, but here are the most common ones found in North American Oyster bars:

Crassostrea Gigas:  oyster farm raised in the pacific northwest and some in France with common names such as Pacific Oyster (US); Creuse (France); Cupped Oyster (Great Britain and Ireland).

Crassostrea Sikamea: the “Kumamoto”; oyster from Japan, also grown in the Northwest

Ostrea Conchaphila:  Olympia Oyster, “Oly”; Indiginous oyster of the Pacific Northwest

Ostrea Edulus:  European/British, called Bellons, Plates in France, or “Natives” in Great Britain and Ireland

And the one we are most familiar with (whether you know it or not), our East/Gulf Coast native Crassostrea Virginica, known by local names such as Blue Points in Long Island, Wellfleets in Massachusetts, and so on..   each of the oyster species vary in size, shell cup depth, and so on.

So anyway, to return to the subject, what got me wondering was the story about the “VaBeach Beauties”.   They are Crassostrea Virginica which most likely would be the same variety encountered up and down the Chesapeake Bay and into the Gulf, and Texas.  So whether they are called “VaBeach Beauties” or some other cute name up to the famous Blue Points they are all the same creature.  Assuming they are all fresh in good shape and stored and served properly, why would one taste any better than another?   Is it mental?  “Ahhh these Beauties taste a lot better than Clyde’s Clunkers”.  Doesn’t a golden delicious apple from Washington tastes pretty much like one from New York? Striped Bass from Maryland are a lot like ones from Georgia.  So why should an oyster from Virginia be different than one from Long Island?

I don’t know the answer to that question, but I got to thinking about wine.  The Pinot Noir Grape (or Cabernet Sauvignon, etc.,) is a single grape variety.  It is grown all over the world (well, mostly) but there is a wide variation in the wine they make.  To be sure, that is heavily influenced by the skill and tastes of the vintner, but more and more these days there is a trend toward “natural” wine, where there is minimal interference with the basic fermentation process.   Allegedly this lets the true character of the fruit come through.  I think most wine aficionados are familiar with the term: “Terroir” which roughly means the characteristics of the location are reflected in (this case) the grape and hence the wine.  Is the vine grown in gravel?  Limestone?  Clay?  A Cool or Warm climate?  Elevation? on a slope or flat ground for drainage? and so on.  The debate is (and I think there is a debate) how much these factors impact the grape and wine.  Here’s a quote I found about terroir and Pinot Noir: “because this grape is hypersensitive to its environment, reflecting the slightest nuances of soil and climate in its aromas, tastes, textures, structure and aging curve”

Without solving that issue, is it possible that the same theory applies to an oyster?  It seems reasonable that the little organism filters those large amounts of water each day and hence would reflect the character of that water.  The salinity, clarity, type of bottom/reef they are attached to and “stuff” in the water might have an effect on the character of the oyster we eat.  I think this might be an excellent chance for some research!!  Maybe an Oyster Tasting in our future..  Something to ponder as you

DFD (or O)

Off to the Smithsonian Craft Show today…check book in chains..  have a good weekend!!

 

 

 

Burrito Bites....

We’ll let the oysters by themselves another day or so and go over some goings on...somehow mostly related to Mexican Food...

The third of the holy trinity of restaurant signs has finally appeared on Plaza Tolteca

And guess what?  The very first day (a week ago, Tuesday or Wednesday) the sign was hung, the parking lot was full.  Certainly the novelty and curiosity of a new place will bring people, but it sure seems like there are a whole LOT of people who eat out a LOT.  And as I have mentioned before it’s not like there is a paucity of Mexican restaurants to choose from around here.  In fact, this place is pretty much right across the road from Chipotle (okay, not quite the same) but only maybe a half mile from Monterey in San Souci.  Pizza, Chinese, and Mexican... can't have too many (apparently).

And as fate would have it, we were coming home from one of those lectures I have been lecturing you about lately, and we were kind of hungry as we had not had dinner prior to the program.  It was also kind of late, and we came to the realization that there probably wasn’t much to choose from at the digs.  So kind of on a whim, MFO wheeled MOMSTER II into Plaza Tolteca and I went inside to see if they did do carry out.  As in the previous incarnations of the building the "stand" is right inside the main doors (with bar right, dining space left).  As I approached the stand, there was a heated discussion going on amongst four of the employees and what I assumed to be a straw manager.  It was not being conducted in English so I had no idea of the content, but none of the participants were smiling.  Finally I was acknowledged, and yes, they did do take out.  They handed me a four paneled, two sided menu, one side of which looks like:

(Demonstration purposes only, do not attempt to read)

containing an astonishing number of choices (in astonishingly tiny print).  I am not sure what it is about Mexican, Chinese, and maybe Thai restaurants that they feel the need to provide hundreds of items.  Might be an interesting culinary/cultural research project. To save you the trouble of squinting, the menu had all the usual (Tex) Mexican dishes we have come to expect: Appetizers (Guacamole, Nachos, and 17 others); Fajitas (6); Burritos (8); Quesadillas (4); Seafood, beef and steak, Chicken, Pork Dinners (27 all told);  Especialidades de la casa (15); you get the idea.  A little nuance is that there is a section called “Healthy dining (9)” which seems to be all vegetarian.. Desserts, sides, a bewildering amount of things..  Everything has a number, but they are not consecutive.  The ten entries in the Seafood section are numbers 99, 135, 146, 7, and 8, and some in the 160’s. There is a luncheon menu, and something called “Street Food” which are all Tacos so they are up on their current food trends.

I went back out to the MOMSTER, we perused the menu (held close up), MFO decided on steak fajitas (#139), and not knowing what to expect I did my sort of chicken Mexican dish, Enchilada’s Suizas (#184). I have found this dish to be relatively safe, being composed of chicken, a tomatillo sauce (which is usually mild) and melted cheese which oddly enough is NOT swiss, but cheddar, Monterey Jack, or a traditional Cotija..  don’t ask me why.   We didn’t notice anything special about the food, pretty much standard stuff, but again, newly opened and carryout.  Keep seeing a full parking lot there..

Hopeful?

Was driving into San Souci yesterday and saw what I took to be an encouraging sight at another purveyor of Mexican food:

Busily Working

 

A chain being demolished and eliminated?  Upon further consideration, I suspect it is probably just a makeover.  We’ll see.

The Cycle Begins Again

Further into San Souci I discovered yet another first in the holy trinity of restaurant signs

This one is affixed to the window of the space that the Subway vacated to move across the street.   So, instead of a Subway the front now looks like:

announcing that "coming soon" will be:

So yet again, somebody thinks “we can make it!”  It occured to me that the motif and the cuisine are kind of reminiscent of the shuttered CoCo Cantina.  One of the reasons I heard they left the Lone Star site in the park was that rent was too high.  This is much less square feet, so maybe it would be attractive to them.  Just a speculation, I’ll talk to some sources.  At least it appears to be independant...

Surprise

Since we seem to be mostly devoted to Mexican/Latin food subjects today, a little factoid for you:  You know that little Mexican Market on Great Mills near the dry cleaners and the Dollar General?  Apparently they have a few tables and serve food.  A loyal reader told me about it and said that he has a co-worker who hails from Mexico and swears by it.  Says a rudimentary knowledge of Mexican language is a big help.  Sounds encouraging..  maybe a “just right” place??  not sure how you would

DFD

 

EXTRA TO DO:  not mexican food, but yet another lecture.. tonight at the Historic St. Mary's City Visitor Center will be a free program centering on the Calvert house, the dig there, and what they are learning...

A Tale of Two.... Tales

My mind is a sponge! (as opposed to spongy)..  After the Thursday night lecture on Oyster Restoration we kept going with two more..

The First Lecture (or second depending…)

Friday night was the first in this year’s series of free lectures (sponsored by my old employer) at Sotterley Plantation.  Turns out it is the 8^th year!  In my community relations position, I was able to fund the first one, and they have grown in popularity over the years.  I am gratified that the company continues to support them.   If you haven’t had the chance to go, you should.  Sotterley has managed to find an amazing array of speakers, mostly historically related but not always.

So, back to the subject at hand.  This presentation was by two members of the Archival Recovery Team from the National Archives, and it was entitled: “A Conspiracy to Steal History.. The Theft of America’s National Treasures”.  Of course MFO was extremely interested.  Turns out there were two people; Barry Landau and Jason Savedoff who managed to steal over 10,000 (!) original historical items, including hand written documents by FDR, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and many more.  They sold them for personal gain over many years, but neither became fabulously rich, and in fact Landau is now residing in jail for seven years as of last year.  I am not sure of their motive, actually. They were finally discovered to be actually stealing documents by an employee from the Maryland Historical Society.  Both of the speakers were involved in the investigation and gave a fascinating account of the eventual apprehension.  The thieves had special clothing with pockets for the documents, Landau’s apartment was found to contain thousands of documents, which contained a pretty elaborate cataloging system. 

Their technique was to go to various institutions (like Yale, and the Library of Congress) and ingratiate themselves over a period of time, passing themselves off as legitimate researchers and “presidential historians”.  Not quite. They established sort of personal relationships with clerks and so on  to the point where they were often left alone with the documents they checked out.  Then they stuffed their pockets.  Mr. Yockelson also threw a couple of brickbats at the institutional employees for not being more careful and letting their (perceived) association with the thieves play a part.

Anyway, my point here is that it was a great program presented by intelligent, dedicated people, and a very informative evening.  Okay, that’s one lecture.

 

The Second  “And now for something completely different” (the readership may know where this quote originated).  

 Saturday night we went down to “the College” to hear the 7^th Annual Twain Lecture.  The speaker was “John Hodgman: Author, Actor, Humorist, and Correspondent on the “Daily Show”.  Now if you are too young to recognize the Monty Python phrase above, I am apparently too old to know who the speaker was.  Never heard of him, even in his many roles.   Author? Nope, Actor?, nope, nope, nope, and what is the “Daily Show”.  I guess it is bviously different than the Today Show which I am familiar with (but don’t watch anymore).

The program was held in the Athletic Building on the campus, and we had decided to arrive early enough to get a parking spot and maybe a good seat.  Pretty much yes on the parking spot, but definitely not on the seat.  We ended up in the “bleachers” in order to see the stage. You may remember that MFO is an extremely harsh critic of seats, not only in restaurants, but in other venues as well.  These were dubbed “possibly the worst I’ve ever sat on”. They were plastic with some flexibility enabling them to poke you in bad places, and were too narrow for our anatomy and liking.  I think the “too old” comment applies here as well; as most of the students around us didn’t seem to mind (and after all, they were bleachers).  We arrived early enough (shortly after seven for a half past program) that we were treated to a full half hour (plus more) of the music from “The Rusty Spurs”.  You would be correct if you guessed they were a country music band.  They were a group of three: a female vocalist who also strummed a mandolin continuously, a male guitarist, and the third a male who was only a dedicated harmonica player (at least while we watched).  I guess you could say they were a cover band (“I heeer thuhh traaaain a’cummmmin”) for many of the classic country songs.  Given the seats, I guess I was kind of in a of negative frame of mind at that point, but the singer seemed to have a range of about half an octave..

Anyway, about ten minutes late (and forty grueling minutes in those seats) Prof. Ben Click finally appeared, joined in with the band as did the speaker before the Spurs retired.  Mr. Click then introduced Mr. Hodgman who started off by reading the various Osprey signs on the walls of the gym, and how the Maryland flag might induce epileptic fits or something to that effect.

He seemed to be quite popular with the “college kids” who appeared to know full well who he was and were quite enthusiastic over his appearance.  Mr. Hodgman talked about a lot of things, not many of which had anything to do with Mark Twain, but covered what jobs he has had, did a shtick about impersonating himself, and stuff like that.  A lot of his things were kind of inside jokes between him and the college audience who got them.  For instance he kept talking about “420” the meaning of which escaped me and only after getting home did I learn it had something to do with a legal decision and marijuana.   Toward the end he did talk about Mark Twain some, showed a clip of a Twain impersonator in a “planet of the apes” head piece, and often disparaged Hal Holbrook.  He did say that Samuel Clemens probably started standup comedy which I think might be fair.

And while all this may sound negative (which, in rereading it, is a fair assessment) I will say that it was an “interesting” evening.  It was not what I had expected (or hoped for), but then Mark Twain was all about shaking up the status quo, an iconoclast, and not afraid to speak about unpopular subjects.  So in that respect I suppose the Twain Lecture lived up to that heritage.  It is good to be exposed to unfamiliar topics, so maybe I’ll go find out when the Daily Show is broadcast.  The younger generation seemed to enjoy his performance.  And they were in no way at all

DFD

 

ps thanks to all who thought the oyster piece was informative.  I thought so too..  working on a second edition (a tease....)