Weekend To-Do’s
Today’s list is short and sweet, mainly because the most exciting thing going on this weekend is the Capital Fringe Festival. You could keep yourself busy all weekend with that alone, but I’ve offered two other things to do for those of you crazy people that aren’t in love with theater.
* Friday
9:30 p.m. Kick off your weekend with a play or two at the Capital Fringe Festival. The fest started yesterday and runs through July 26. I’ll be attending several, including Riding the Bull, which premiers tonight at 9:30. See you there!
* Saturday
6 p.m.-10 p.m.: Help Alexandria celebrate is 260th birthday with its annual music and firework show in Old Town. I went a few years ago and had a great time. Note: I happened to love the fact that there were hundreds of kids running around (yay, children do exist in this city!), but it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Beer and food stands abound. [tip: Examiner]
* Sunday
2 p.m.: Sunday’s nice weather calls for a first drink at the brand new W Hotel POV Roof Terrace. The pictures on their site have me so excited I can hardly stand it.
Unreserved Seating
Bet you can’t guess when this photo was taken….
Title: Unreserved Seating
Photographer: Patten Wood
SIT-uation: July 4, 2009. It’s nothing like the inauguration crowds, but at least there’s a lot of quality lounging.
Monologue that Sticks
I never thought I was much interested in watching just one person on stage for an entire play, but this play has me rethinking that notion, as well as everything else. Fact is, I saw this two weeks ago and still can’t get its plot, themes, and clean/clever dialogue out of my head. Have you ever had that happen? Something seemingly unrelated happens in your personal life, and it somehow becomes intimately connected to the play/movie you just saw? Well, these unrelated, yet pertinent things keep happening and I keep getting drawn back to the Year of Magical Thinking. I suppose that’s one thing that makes its author and protagonist, Joan Didion, so special.
In short, the play is about Didion’s loss of her husband—and how she balances (not always so well) her grieving with caring for her sick daughter. The play is more like a great storytelling experience vs. a production—i.e. you’re paying for beautiful words spelled out by a talented actress, not the dancing, singing, and staging you’re used to with many of the Studio’s performances. Bring a tissue, but be open to laughs—Didion gets quite cynical while mourning. The play’s run ends on Sunday, July 12, so try to squeeze in the show sometime this week, before the onslaught of the Capitol Fringe Festival.
The Year of Magical Thinking; Studio Theatre, 1501 14th Street, NW; Buy tickets here, or call 202-332-3300.
Patten’s parents are in town this weekend. And as much as I love writing this weekend to do list, it takes time away from, ya know, eating breakfast at Kramerbooks, wandering through Arlington Cemetery, gawking at the walls in the Phillips Collection…. You get it. I’m taking my mulligan, in honor of spending quality time with my guests.
But that doesn’t mean the other excellent blogs in this city haven’t been sifting themselves. Here are a few to check out:
In honor of Canada Day (and P’s birthday—love ya, Mister), I’m re-posting a blog entry I wrote last September. Oh, Vancouver makes me happy, especially that salmon at Rain City Grill. Enjoy the re-run!
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Our Sunny Three Days in Rain City
Crossing the Canadian border is far less exciting than expected. “What are you doing here?” is the only question the border officer asks. The words “we’re here for vacation” hardly pass Dad’s lips and the guy shoes us along. (It’s no surprise that it’s a more laborious process on the return.)
Vancouver isn’t anything like I expected. It’s huge, for one thing. And really green here—much less industrial-looking than Seattle. There are lots of international people and 20-somethings. Our hotel, Sunset Inn and Suites, is in the west part of downtown and a good value: the large studio apartment, with a small kitchen, is only $160 CAD per night. We’re a six-block walk away from a great meal at Rain City Grill, what we’ve read is one of the best restaurants in the city. And it doesn’t disappoint. We all order off the $30 prix-fixe menu, available before 6 p.m.: the favorites are the grilled Caesar salad and the seared Wild Alaskan salmon. (pictured above) Two hours and bottles of wine later, we leave the place $250 poorer, but pleased. Money can buy happiness.
We are professional tourists. Seriously. What we packed in during our 2.5-day stay was amazing. The JPG of our itinerary, followed rather closely, shows you just how much we accomplished. (And how organized—some may say anal—my father is when traveling.) But I’ll sum up the highlights:
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Biking around Stanley Park: Ten percent larger than New York’s Central Park, the 1000-acre Stanley Park is one of the most impressive urban parks I’ve seen. We rented bikes at Spokes (a “slick operation” Dad would later observe—the four of us were fitted to bikes and helmets in a matter of minutes), then made our way around the 5.5-mile biking path that encompasses the park. The two-level path gives walkers and bikers their own lanes, with the pedestrians designated to the path that’s a foot lower and on the edge of the seawall. This is a good thing, we immediately note, as we won’t have to worry (too much) about Mom pedaling into the ocean. Harbor and mountain views, a cool bay breeze, West Coast foliage—This is the life.
Vancouver’s Public Tranportation: A tight parking spot in the hotel lot and miserable traffic coming into the city encouraged Dad to ditch the car and buy us all-day transportation tickets, which TransLink calls DayPasses. In a chock-full day of sightseeing, we spent the better part of two hours on some form of public transport—and under ten minutes waiting, combined, for said transportation. At $9 per ticket, the pass gives you access to the Sky Train, all the city’s buses, and the Sea Bus—the massive enclosed speedboat that carries commuters across the bay to North Vancouver. We tried all forms and were pleased with all.
Granville Island Public Market: We are among a handful of shoppers that arrive before the place opens at 9 a.m., which is my favorite time to visit a city market. I love watching workers prepare for a day of commercial chaos—that calm-before-the storm appeal. That said, a few stalls are open: We buy two donuts from Lee’s (Patten spends the rest of the trip talking about these—pictured right), apple walnut oatmeal from Stock Market (best name ever for a soup seller!), and Italian, Gyspy, and Parmesan-crusted salami—which we snack on later at the Spanish Banks.
Nitobi Memorial Garden: Don’t hesitate with the $6 admission fee at the University of British Columbia’s Nitobi Memorial Garden (pictured above)—the experience is well worth it, especially if you visit in the morning to catch the sun’s splashes of light creating every thinkable shade of green. This manicured garden is the embodiment of tranquility. Yet, it’s not quite as neurotically “groomed” as most of the other Japanese gardens I’ve seen—apropos for a city that blends a modicum of formality with that West Coast, laid-back attitude.
Sitting Scholar
It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to swap the “f” for a “t” and post a photo of someone sitting in the city. Today’s photo was born on an iPhone. Yeah—I’m impressed too! Got a City Sitting shot for me? Please send to emily@citysifting.com.
Title: Sitting Scholar
Photographer: Christina Stockamore
SIT-uation: Coming home from work, I jumped off the bus at my regular stop along Mass Ave and was about to start heading up 24th street, when I was struck by the way the late afternoon light reflected off the statue of the sitting scholar. I usually only take a quick glimpse of the statue in front of the Croatian Embassy, but for some reason, I paused to analyze the statue in greater detail and began to take a few shots from different angles. Turns out, the sitting scholar is St. Jerome the Priest and one of his greatest contributions is translating the Bible from Hebrew to Latin.
Hey, readers! Who’s in the mood for some free theater? First one to send me a City Sitting photo gets two free tickets to Washington Improv Theater this weekend. Start sifting through Picasa and Flickr—I’m sure you have a good sitting shot in there. (Send to emily@citysifting.com)
Birthday Bust
Total with tip = $150. Ouch! And we even skipped dessert…
Patten and I tend to be quite frugal when it comes to anything, including food. But we do splurge on birthday meals. Saturday night, I took Patten to Vidalia, knowing full well that I’d pay the above amount. I just expected to leave happy with life. Such was not the case.
It started out well. I made reservations just two hours before—”Wow, they can get us in tonight!” I say, and we start sprucing for our evening. We were seated at a two-top, with two empty tables to our sides—each with about 18 inches between them. This is a great seat, I’m thinking, so long as they don’t fill these two tables. Seven minutes later, we had two couples on both sides. Ordering was slow, but we didn’t care much as we waited with two glasses of $9 Cava. Soon after we put in our order, we were served their homemade hot rolls (my favorite part of the night), followed soon after by an amuse-bouche, a shot glass of yellow gazpacho, a gumball-sized puff pastry, and a quarter-shaped fish patty with a fancy French name. We were hardly wowed, but still had high hopes.
About 15 minutes later, our appetizers arrived: Patten wasn’t a fan of his squid-wrapped chorizo, though I quite liked it. My raw yellowtail was delicious, served as it was like confetti—squares of melon, avocado, and fish scattered about the plate (pictured above). This was Patten’s favorite taste of the evening. And then it all got worse. We waited 35 minutes for our entrees to arrive; my stomach in turmoil. I sat with an empty water glass for 15 minutes—something that should never happen at such a nice place. When the water and our entrees finally did arrive, we were both disappointed. Something didn’t taste right about my dish: trout atop fried green tomatoes. Patten took a bite: “The cornmeal is freezer-burned.” I tried it again—that was it. Yuck! We told the waiter, and he kindly brought me the crabcakes, which were outstanding…though I could have done without the bits of sausage that came mixed in the corn maque. Patten’s shrimp and grits were forgettable, though I’d heard raves about this dish. Patten’s from the South so he is picky when it comes to grit dishes, but even as the non-afficionado, I was hardly impressed. Was it just tonight? We did walk in with about 10 others—was the kitchen slammed? We were too full to order dessert—and frankly, we were just ready to get the hell out of there.
I’d been to Vidalia twice before and loved it both times. I hadn’t been in two years, but Vidalia still ranks #7 on Washingtonian’s list of Best Restaurants. Why was it all so bad tonight? Has it lost its mojo? I left not wanting to go back, and maybe I never will…unless some of you loyalists out there can convince me otherwise.
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Weekend To-Do’s
My, my! What a weekend we have in store! There are way too many things in my what’s-worth-it sieve. The only solution, as I see it, is to leave your desk right now and start your weekend early. So….
* Friday
11 a.m.-5:30 p.m.: Head down to the mall for a little culture at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. This year’s festival welcomes Wales, which means you can expect a Glamorgan sausage or two. The festival runs through Sunday. In addition to Cymru, this year’s festival also celebrates African-American storytelling traditions and the music of Latin America. !Ay Caramba!
8 p.m. and 11 p.m.: Those who heeded my advice last weekend, purchased tickets for this week’s Source Festival. How was it? Do you love me now? For those who’ve procrastinated, there are still tickets available ($18 each) for tonight’s two performances of the 10-minute plays.
* Saturday
10 a.m.-6 p.m.: Eastern Market Re-Opens with an all-day street party (!!!), as if the market lunch wasn’t enough to get you there in the first place…
11 a.m.-8 p.m.: The annual Extravaganza Parade (pictured above), as part of the DC Caribbean Carnival, starts at Georgia and Missouri avenues at 11:00 a.m. and terminates at the international marketplace in Banneker Recreation Park, where you can stuff yourself with jerk chicken and dance away your worries till sunset. I’ve yet to go to this annual event, but I will be there this year!
* Sunday
11 a.m.-7:30 p.m.: I’ll be helping a friend move, but for those of you that need evermore outdoor festivities, try the National Capital BBQ. The $10 tickets include lots of free pig.
Photo by IntangibleArts via Flickr.
Sitting for Justice
Title: Sitting for Justice
Photographer: Patten Wood
SIT-uation: We were walking home from Sakana last Thursday night and saw this candlelight vigil for Iran. The Dupont fountain was covered with people, many of whom were dressed in black. Demonstrators were passing out plastic cups with candles inside. Tea lights and newspapers (their fronts pages covered with violent photos from the Iranian protests) encircled the fountain. There was a somber air about; we stood quitely on the periphery and watched.
