Thursday, March 12, 2009

10 March

I had a bit of a grocery buying spree Tuesday. Craving some lime pickle and having searched for it in my neighborhood grocery stories, I looked up the address for an Indian grocery store online and walked up to Adams Morgan, only to find it doesn't exist.

So I went to the Harris Teeter, where they had only garlic pickle and mango chutney. I bought both, along with some fresh cauliflower, and made myself some potato/cauliflower curry and basmati rice for dinner. It's not the same with garlic pickle. I hope my homemade lime pickle pickles nicely; even if it does, though, it still has several weeks to go.

I can't believe DC doesn't have good ethnic grocery stores. Apparently there are some in Virginia and Maryland, but given the number of people from different ethnic groups that work in the District, I'd think there would be a better variety of ethnic foods at the grocery stores. Maybe I was just spoiled for choice in Doha, because there are so many Indians there, and one could get great Indian produce, spices, and condiments.

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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

09 March

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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

08 March, after the farmer's market


Still haven't eaten that grapefruit. Went to the farmer's market and bought a bag full of spinach, just because it looked so good, a few of the season's last honeycrisp apples (actually, the season for those is in the fall, but I'll take an old honeycrisp over just about every other apple), and some parsnips.

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Sunday, March 08, 2009

07 March


Today was a very busy day. Woke up early and went to a volunteer orientation at Walter Reed. I took the bus up there, which was quite nice because I got a little tour of the city that lies north of my neighbourhood. I tend to stay in a 10-block radius of my home most of the time since work, groceries, and restaurants are all in that area, so it's nice when I get out of the comfort zone and explore more of DC. I spied some nice-looking restaurants on the way up to the medical centre, so I'll have to go back and check them out.

The bus back took ages. And I got a good dose of crazy man on the trip. A black man with a lovely, booming voice got on and said about three things in a loop:

'I'm a German Jew! My grandfather was white!'
'I'm glad my cousin Barack Obama is in the White House. Yes, he's my cousin.'
'My OTHER cousin Fenty is running the district. My cousin Barack runs the country, my cousin Fenty runs the District.'

He pointed out a sale at a furniture store called Wilson's, or something like that, and a smart-aleck kid on the bus said, 'Yeah, that's my uncle.' Crazy man responded, 'Boy, you don't say someone's your uncle unless you're BLOOD related. Let me tell you about what I told my cousin Barack before he decided to run for the White House.'

It was good entertainment.

I ended up near Chinatown later in the afternoon, and on my walk home started craving a Coke. Not just any Coke, but an ice-cold soda fountain Coke with ice. Of course, every place I passed sold Pepsi, so I ended up getting a bottle of Coke, and now half of it is sitting in my fridge.

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Saturday, March 07, 2009

March 06

The grapefruit is still there, and I think these photos should be a reminder why I usually never buy grapefruit: because I don't usually eat grapefruit.

Tonight a friend and I went to see a spoken word/classical Arabic music concert at the Kennedy Center, part of the Arabesque series of arts events. The woman who did the spoken word bit played the roles of several Iraqi women: an artist, a child, a Bedouin, and an Iraqi-American. It was an interesting blend of spoken word and classical music, and the story of the Bedouin woman was really fascinating, but it's probably not something I would go see again.

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March 05, end of leftovers...sort of


I managed to eat some of my leftovers. The pasta, anyway. I still have a bit of potato and chick pea curry, and I think I've already eaten it for about seven meals.

I am also sick of seeing that grapefruit.

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Thursday, March 05, 2009

March 04, or squash day

I had the day off today, so I walked over to Trader Joe's to do some grocery shopping. It's further from my house than my usual grocery store, but it's good for things like tea, whole wheat pasta, cookies, and, as I discovered today, peeled and cut up butternut squash. I have pretty minimal prep space in my kitchen, so cutting attacking a slippery butternut squash with a 7 inch knife out of my prep work seems like a good idea.

I made myself some pasta and veggies, and as per usual, have leftovers stashed in the fridge. That will be my dinner at work tomorrow, I think.

On the way over, I listened to music via Pandora Radio on my iPhone. Pandora's a nifty little app into which you enter a song or artist you like and it creates a radio station for you based on that information. It's brought me nice tunes like Lights Camera Distraction by The Hey Day.

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Wednesday, March 04, 2009

March 03


That bowl on the bottom shelf is the remnants of my breakfast. That's right, I couldn't finish my yogurt and blackberries. Some mornings are weird like that.

I ate the rest of my stew, and I have to say, it was exceptionally delicious. I think it was due to the red wine and two types of mushrooms.

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Monday, March 02, 2009

My fridge, part 1


So I moved back to the U.S. a few months ago, and now live around the corner from an excellent grocery store. It's great news because I have access to good produce, as opposed to the often wilted fruits and vegetables I found find in Doha in the summer.

Because I'm so close to the supermarket now, my fridge is a little emptier than it was when I lived in Qatar. My Doha friends know that my fridge there was packed. It was often the subject of wonderment and ridicule at my dinner parties.

In that spirit, I thought I'd post pictures of my fridge to keep track of what's in it. At the moment, that would be some yogurt, green grapes, apples, tomatoes, a grapefruit, chocolate, leftover chickpea and potato curry, some lime pickle, ginger marmalade, white wine, butter, cream of coconut, chili sauce, lemon juice, milk, water, two Michelob Lights (courtesy a friend, I have to note), avocado, lettuce, spinach, cilantro, a hot pepper, and some leftover stew from last night.

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