winding down

Just about one week left of my internship. I am done with my summer class requirements, so time at home will be a true vacation. That is, if I can manage to leave the stress and anxiety about school-bar-job-Denver on the other side of the Sagamore Bridge.

I saw El Secreto de Sus Ojos, the Argentinean movie that won an Oscar for best foreign film. Very good! I recommend it. Seriously, the second movie I've seen all year. No joke. Two. No time. No money. No attention span. No nada.

I was lucky enough to meet my sister for lunch the other day when she was in town. That was fun!

I went to Baltimore tonight for dinner with some family (my mom's first cousins). Sigh, probably my last time for a long while. I like it there. It's cheesy, but I saw a City Sports and really wanted to stop in to buy a City Sport Baltimore shirt to work out in. They were so sweet and we had a really nice time at dinner. Asian fusion - yummy.

Tomorrow morning (gulp, must get to sleep) I am going to a networking breakfast hosted at the American Society for International Law. It's for women who are interested in international law. I wanted to go less about the networking, but really just to meet some cool, inspiring women. Should be good.

food, my real love

Friday:

After work I skipped on over to Baltimore for dinner with my friend to grab dinner after checking out her work's impressive farmer's market and farm, Real Food Farm. They try to bring healthy food options to Baltimore, where there are basically no grocery stores, and cheap food options are essentially limited to fast food and your pick of fried-Chinese-Pizza-Liquor "carry out."

Oh my goodness. I seriously cannot remember the last time I ate such a fine meal! We went to Brewer's Art. I ate the Peppadew Pepper Polenta. It was: Miss Cathy's Mozzarella (cheese made-in-house), Local Farm Ratatouille (fresh zukes, squashes and greens), Cherry Tomato Coulis, Parmesan Cream, sprinkled with some endive lettuce and fresh baguette on the side. To drink I got the made-in-house, Brewer's Art "Wit Trash" Belgian Ale. It was light wheat beer with hints of coriander and lemon peel. Really, on the train ride home I tried my hardest to remember my last comparable meal and couldn't think of one!

All this fine dining made me search around for new places to try back in Denver. I came up with two. Both are pricey, but I truly would rather give up all crappy $10 sandwiches and $2 coffees that I could make myself to save up for a delicious, real meal. One is Fruition and the other is Root Down. I have been by Fruition a million times, but the Root Down place looks amazing and I can't believe I've never heard of it before. Here's what their website says:

We want the food at Root Down to be sensational—that is, igniting all the senses to create a full dining experience. Following a “field to fork” mentality, we prefer to stay as organic, natural and local as possible. Root Down serves “globally influenced seasonal cuisine,” which basically means we go where inspiration leads us. We’re not tied to one style or genre—we’re hoping to create one of our own.

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Saturday:
101 degrees and 71% humidity today

I went to visit Grandma and was dripping wet for hours. I'm pretty sure I smelled, too. Fortunately for all involved, one can't smell oneself and Grandmas can't smell anything.

When I got home, I immediately stripped to my underwear and have not been able to force myself either to put more clothes on or to leave the A.C. I set it at about 79 or 80, which feels heavenly, these days.

An aside: I am feeling guilty for not carrying around my camera and posting snazzy photos for my bloggie. I know everyone loves looking at photos. The guilt is manifesting itself in this post with lots of links to other sites. You know, to make up for the lack of photos on my website, you can see photos on other people's websites. Pretty ingenious of me, no?

Library of Congress

Nerd Alert:

Yesterday I went to the Library of Congress for a tour organized by work. We also got the special tour, the tour of the law library of congress. It was so cool! We saw a whole bunch of rare books from the law library including one of Ben Franklin's printings of the Constitution. A copy of the Constitution in Dutch. A copy of the Constitution in Cherokee. The language of Cherokee Indians was actually made up and written specifically for being able to write the Constitution. The sounds have no relation to the written words. The words stand for syllables. And, the words are a mix of Cyrillic and Germanic written forms. The rare collections part of the law library also has a whole section of international texts on rule of law. How cool! I am going to make an appointment to go back and see it. I touched books from the 1400s, 1500s, 1600s. Oooo. Aaaah.

From there, we went to the regular Library of Congress tour. Pretty cool, too (almost as cool as the law library). The building itself is beautiful with stained glass, sculpture and meaningful art. The statue figurines are all studying various things. One of the ceilings had the three most prized professions written in various stones -- Medicine, Theology, and - you guessed it -- law. I thought that was pretty cool. Body, Mind, and how those two (body + mind = person) relate to others. We also saw the first map that ever had the label 'America' on our big ol' mass of land. Apparently, the 'brary bought it for $10 million. That's right. 12 pieces of paper for $10 million. They also have Thomas Jefferson's personal library collection. Actually, it's most of the collection but not all because some of it got burned back during the civil revolution. He had a huge philosophy and law section. Hurrah!

The guide said there were over a hundred names of famous academics, intellectuals, important people, etc. written in the walls/ceilings, but that only 1 of them was a woman. What made me ever angrier was that the tour guide (an old man) didn't even bother to tell us the woman's name or what she did! The irony! Telling us how in the olden days people didn't respect women as intellectuals or leaders, but then not telling us about the rare one that they did revere! I was going to ask, but another girl on our tour interrupted him and asked first.

I wish I could spend many, many days in there.

I like books. Books are my friends. :)

Speaking of, right now I'm reading Armageddon by Leon Uris. He's one of my favorite authors. I just love his stories, I love learning (his books are mainly creative non-fiction/historical fiction). I love that he writes about Jews. I love that his books are epic. What are you reading, besides my bloggie ;) ?

Things to gnaw on

A few thoughts I've had and been meaning to post lately.

1. Why do I automatically think taller people are older than I am?

2. As D.C. actually has tall buildings, I ride elevators more than I do in Denver. Call me old fashioned, but I just think it's the nicest thing when gentlemen let me on and off the elevator first. I know, not so rah-rah feminist of me, but, plain and simple, it makes me feel like a lady.

3. Israeli Couscous is so yummy. Great texture. Quick to cook. Good hot or cold. I love it.

4. I really do hate summer. I try to like it every year, but I just don't. I hate being hot. I hate humidity. I hate when my clothes feel tight and stick to me. I sweat a lot. I don't feel like going outside. I don't feel like moving (let alone working out). I just don't like summer. The only thing summer has going for it is long days of sunlight. Fortunately for me, fall is my favorite season, with winter a close second, and that's what's coming up next!

Thought I'd share

I was walking down the street today and saw a white gay couple holding hands with a little black girl. When I walked by them she was bopping along full of energy, saying excitedly, "Poppa, poppa..."

How cool that two white men can raise and love a little black girl as the center of their universe, defining their own meaning of family.

Who wouldn't want to let that little girl be loved?

On a related note, for those who don't keep tabs on Latin American news as I do, Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage. Congratulations!

My Sunday of nothing

The weather has really been slowing me down lately. It has been humid, hot and sunny. The sky is always hazy with humidity. I feel like the world around me is fine, while I disgustingly sweat away. I get cranky. I get tired. I get sleepy. I'm starting to feel like summer days are dragging on...

I had dinner tonight at a friend of a friend's just down the street. I didn't realize it would be a formal, long, sit-down meal at the outdoor table in a back alley way with ivy crawling up the brick wall I was truly given a treat (albeit, unexpected and with no paper-writing :( ). The deliciousness:

5 different cheeses with baguette for apps
potato salad
tabbouleh
salad (avocado, sugar peas, tomato, baby spinach) + dressing
marinated swordfish steak cooked on the grill
green and white asparagus cooked on the grill
wasabi mashed potatoes
homemade strawberry pie and vanilla hagen daz's ice cream
sparkling water, red wine, white wine

Oh my goodness, I am stuffed! I thought it was a big, casual BBQ where I would show up late and leave early...wow.

My Saturday of nothing

Okay, the bread recipe was just okay. I mean, it tasted good and all, but it wasn't what I expected. A little dry. Not too much texture. I'm going to try a few things differently next time (probably when I'm back in Denver because now I have so much bread to eat!). Changes include:

Dates instead of raisins.
Whole wheat flour and 7-grain mix instead of white flour.

...

Just got back into D.C. from Baltimore. Baltimore is cool! Why didn't anyone ever tell me that before? It's weird to think how my grandparents grew up there, my mom grew up there for awhile and went to college there. Even with such a strong family connection, I've only been there twice in my life, and both times were this summer.

There's something real about Baltimore. Everyone's got their own style thing going on. People wear what they want to wear, not the style that's shown in the window. I talked for an hour with a Baltimore native on the train from D.C. after I commented on his beautiful flowers. He was bringing them to his fiance. He was a huge black guy, probably about my age, who worked as a policeman and was beyond excited to tell me about how he had proposed to his girlfriend of four years last weekend. I was touched by how much it seemed like he loved her.

In Baltimore, people set up tables and with handmade signs on the steps outside their homes to make a quick buck: "Mini Chicken Box $1.99" or "Ice cold water $2." There are flashing blue lights to indicate bad drug corners and broken bottles on the sidewalks. There are stunning old buildings that have been renovated. There are stunning old buildings that have been left to their demise. I saw a bumper sticker in the window that said, "B-more against war." I loved that. It's a pun-y, bold statement and shows people care. There are farmers markets abound. Some streets sparkle from the broken blue and green glass that has been melted into the pavement and smoothed down over the years. Baltimore's gritty and lots of work needs to be done. But people seem to love the city even more for it. I'm pretty impressed.

I was visiting a friend who, incidentally, was house sitting a beautiful house with a pool and ridiculous kitchen. We hit up Artscape. Artscape is America's largest free arts festival. Lots of crafts, graphic tee-shirts, art, music, bad-for-you-but-tastes-good food. It was really nice vibe there (buena onda, como se dice) but so, so very hot. I bought a pretty mug. It's big, has a nice handle, lots of blues and greens in the glaze and a nice non-smooth texture to the touch. It looks just like the one in the middle of the first picture on the artists' website. I've been looking for a new perfect-coffee-mug for months now, so I hope this one lives up to the potential I saw in it.

I'm pooped. It's not dark yet and it's only 8:00 p.m., but I'm in bed. I plan to do some work on my paper and then crash. Hard.

Cardamom Raisin Bread

I used to buy this Honey Date Walnut bread at Whole Foods in Denver that was just delicious. Really, it was the reason I got out of bed in the morning all winter long. But, apparently it was just a seasonal bread and they stopped making it. Since then, I've been on the quest for the perfect bread for my morning toast --

WANTED: Bread. A little sweet, but not too sweet. A little spice, but not enough that you can tell what's in there. Lots of texture and grains. Must go well with butter, honey, nut butters, and jam. Inquire within.

I've given up trying to find a loaf like this, especially for cheap, and now I've moved on to finding recipes to bake my own bread. Or, perhaps better said, I've taken to manipulating recipes I've found. My newest stab at the perfect morning bread. It's baking now. Review will be posted soon.

Cardamom Raisin Bread

1 Tablespoon dry activated yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 cup + 1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 cup skim milk

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 t salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
pinch of ground cloves
smidge of ginger powder

4 1/2 cup flour (or whole wheat flour)

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup raisins

Mix yeast, warm water, and 1/2 teaspoon sugar until yeast dissolves. Set aside. Heat milk in a saucepan over low heat until small bubbles appear along the edges. Cool slightly. Add beaten eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, cardamom, and 3 cups flour. Beat well. Add butter, beat well. Add yeast mixture. Add remaining flour in three additions. Add raisins. Mix well. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic (~10 min). Place dough in an oiled bowl. Cover and let double (~1 hour). Punch down and let rise again until doubled (~45 min). Divide the dough in half. From each half, roll three ropes 12-18 inches. Braid the ropes into two loaves. Place on a greased baking sheet. Let rise until doubled (~1 hour). Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 25 minutes, or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Summer wears on

It's 6:00 a.m. I'm heading to the gym in a minute.

The skies are grey, and it would be a perfect day for crawling back into bed and calling in sick. I've got my proposal, my baby, due today. There are phone calls to Peru to make. My iShuffle playlist awaits me, as I slowly wake up on the stationary bike. These are the summer days we would come out of Mr. Tyler's pool shivering and pretty much blue all over with purple lips. Mom would be waiting with arms open to wrap us in a towel. She'd feel so guilty throwing us into swimming lessons when we're that tiny and had so little body fat to keep us warm, we knew she'd make us hot chocolate on return. With marshmallows. We had it pretty good those days. Mid July is when you start to feel that summer, in fact, is not endless. But you rest assured that there are plenty of sunny days left ahead. More ice cream on Fridays at Smugglers or Captain Frosty's. More s'mores over the cooling barbecue coals. More sunsets at the bridge and shooting stars at midnight walks.

Summer wears on.

At this time of morning just a few weeks ago the sun would be up already. At night, it has started to get dark earlier. Hard to believe I've only three weeks left here in D.C. and just about four weeks until I'm back in Denver. I have this feeling that I'm leaving my real life here. The life that I love. The life that I went to Denver to be able to have. It's a nice affirmation that what I'm doing in graduate school will get me where I wanted (and want) to go. I just have to remember I'm not here yet. One more year. If I do land a job and get myself this real life for more than a summer, it'll all seem worthwhile. It's hard to imagine being in Denver, in school, taking exams, studying things like criminal procedure and evidence, for a whole other year. But, for now, I'll get myself to the gym, pump up my music, and move on with my grey summer day.

Summer wears on.

Small World story

So, there I was this morning on my way to my grandmother's for lunch and an afternoon visit. It was actually raining out this morning, a welcome change from the oppressively hot, humid D.C. weather. I made a quick stop off at the Firehook Bakery because I like to bring little cookie and scone treats for Grandma (she needs fattening up!). Of course I was running a little late, as usual, when I ran down the stopped escalator down to red line at Dupont. I get into the train, which is surprisingly packed for a weekend. I figure I'll try to get a seat somewhere in the middle because I'm going all the way to the last stop and won't need to push through to get off mid-way. I excuse myself to get by the crowd. Well! I see one empty seat - lucky me - and beeline toward it. Next to the empty seat is an attractive, my-age-ish guy who is smiling at me and patting the seat. He looks at me and says, "There's a seat for you right here" ... it was my friend, Max! Max is the high school friend of my dearest college friend. They went to high school together in Israel. He was born in Egypt, lived everywhere, does International Development theater work and last was living in Sudan. I last saw him about a month ago at our mutual dear friend's wedding in Philadelphia. Turns out, he was just here in town for the weekend or something and was going to some theater plays his friends were in. How crazy is that! We happened to be in the same city, going in the same direction, on the same train, in the same car at the same time. Small world. He said he lives "nowhere" now, was just working on a farm in PA for awhile and is possibly heading back to Sudan soon.

On one hand, I felt like, See! I have so many friends here in the city that I "run into" people randomly. Of course, it was especially nice to run into Max. I always have a particular soft spot for Max because he is such a good friend of my dear friend. I also partly have a soft spot for Max because he and I seem to have similar careers and lifestyles. But, on the other hand, somehow there was something about running into Max that made me pensive and feel a bit sad. As if, out of the whole city, the only person I know is a chance encounter with a friend of a friend. Both of us just passing each other by. We have just 3 stops together before one of us is off in another direction again. And, neither of us actually has a permanent life here, or really anywhere. It was all so quick. Pretty much like all of the times I've been around Max, there was not (will there ever be?) enough time to get to talk about the real things in life.

Isn't that weird, though? Running into someone I know made me feel independent in a small world, and yet immensely alone in a large world. Who knows, maybe it was just the dreary Saturday morning rain...

Presunto Culpable

Gente,

I saw this great documentary movie yesterday and met the filmmakers. It's about the disaster that is Mexico's criminal justice sector. It's shocking. Please, please visit their website. See the movie. Inform yourself. Tell others. Do what you can.

http://www.presumedguiltythemovie.com/

Two young Mexican attorneys attempt to exonerate a wrongly convicted man by making a documentary. In the process, they expose the contradictions of a judicial system that presumes suspects guilty until proven innocent.

Back at it

Oops, I didn't update for quite awhile. I'm back, though! There's almost too much to say, it's overwhelming. I suppose this is why I left it for so long.

Yesterday I saw a bunch of Orthodox Jews walking by the White house. They were wearing tall black hats, full-length black coats and suits underneath. It was 101 degrees. They weren't walking on the sidewalk, but in the street. I wondered if that was because women were walking on the sidewalk. Then, they were stopped at the crosswalk because cars in the other direction had a green light. One way was clear, so the Jews started walking across the street in a huge pack. But, then a massive truck came rumbling down the street. The Jews hesitated. Some took a step forward, others a step back. Most froze right there in the middle of a four lane street with oncoming traffic. It was like sheep, or a pack of freshmen girls going to a college frat party. Then a car came from the other direction. More confusion. One Jew reached the other side but the rest spread out in a line clear across the street. I thought for sure I was going to witness a Jewish Abby road album cover gone-wrong version.

I can tell the days are getting shorter, although perhaps it's the ridiculous humidity in the morning that diffuses the light differently. I'm not sad that summer is ending because I love fall. I am a tad bit sad to think that my life here in D.C. is ending. I love what I'm doing, have friends here, like having my weekends and evenings (mostly) free. I like being able to hop on a bus up to NYC to visit my brother. I love Trader Joe's and how curly my hair is on the east coast. I love walking to work and catching up with college friends. I like visiting my grandma every weekend.

(The Cuteness. Grandma, not me.)

I had lunch with my boss today. Just the two of us. He wouldn't let me pay, even though I invited him. The internship business is a whole other post, but I am really enjoying my internship and feel so lucky to be having this opportunity.

I've been reading various magazines at the gym. Harper's. The Atlantic. The New Yorker. I really like Harper's. What do other people think? Do you read magazines? Post a comment and tell me which ones you read and like!