What the Blog?

I've recently learned about (and been on the receiving end of tickets for) city parking rules that I deem to be excessively, for lack of a better word, dumb. Mostly because they are counter-intuitive, but generally because the sole purpose of most seem to be to extract (more) money from the visiting or short-term-resident District of Columbia population. I also learned recently that when contesting such tickets, physical evidence is required. (I add this because in many cities - ahem, San Francisco - you can just bring in a camera, show the photos and zoom in on the relevant portions, and have the ticket dismissed then and there). //insert sigh of annoyance// . Contesting a ticket in DC via the walk-in hearing also means at least a 4-hour time commitment and tour through three separate waiting lines. Efficiency, thy name is not synonymous with DC government.  Anyway, some rules I haven't seen anywhere else, and was not made aware of until recently. DC websites aren't te

All you really need is a pumpkin beer to accompany this perfect fall (or winter? or spring?) dish. It was largely an experiment, and although I cringe at Sandra Lee's semi-homemade/mostly store-bought recipes (and that she spends half her time on each episode creating the "perfect tablescape" when, who really has the time, Sandra.), I really liked this one. What I learned while making this dish, is that no matter what you do to flavor tofu, even when you're deep-frying it in lots of tasty spices, the only thing that really flavors it is the curry / external sauce. And a lot of salt. Anyway. The recipe! It involves two of my favorite things - (1 can) coconut milk and (1/3 cup, creamy/salted) peanut butter. You can use any veggies for this dish, as long as they are cut to about the same size so they cook evenly, although I added the heartier ones first, to give them some time in the pan. I stir-fried the following vegetables in about 2 tsp olive oil on medium heat

At a bar the other night, the topic of taxicab scams around the world came up - how there are a number of region-specific taxi or transport-related scams that guidebooks often warn travelers about but still catch some victims off guard. I thought it was interesting how these scams have evolved, and thought it was worth cataloguing the ones we'd heard of.  How timely then, that only a day later we encountered a DC-specific taxi scam after a late train ride home from New York. I always doubt the honesty of DC cabbies (and happily for New York, have found almost every single one to abide by their regulations - DC, what are you doing wrong here?) and this experience absolutely confirmed why that doubt should continue. Indeed, despite the perception that taxi scams only exist in developing countries, or target foreigners who don't speak the language in the country they're traveling in, cabbies often try their "luck" within the heavily regulated taxi commissions acros

I recently returned from a whirlwind trip to Delhi and Amritsar, mostly to see family but also to do some shopping and touristing. A summary of 2 days / 1 night in Amritsar: Low-cost flights are available on Jetlite and IndiGo - we flew in and went straight to our hotel, the Golden Tulip . The location is excellent - about 15 minutes to the Golden Temple. I'm told that they'll offer shuttle service to the temple by 2012, but until then it's easy to hire a taxi (the hotel can arrange one) or hop in a three-wheeler. For the price, you can't beat the location - and included breakfast - but we found the walls a bit thin, the shoeshine machine down the hall a bit loud, and the staff - although friendly - a bit forgetful. For a higher end experience, the Ista is pure luxury but if you're on a budget, the Tulip is a good option. Before heading to the temple though, we hit the shops. Amritsar is a great place for juttis and beautiful hand-embroidered fabrics, and we st

Every once in a while, you have a meal that you just have to blog about. I'm a week late on my delicious dinner at Estadio (must-try: corn, chicken. slushitos. end happy.) but I am still basking in the glow of a new recipe for yellow squash. Raise your hand if you're bored with grilling squash in salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. It's simple, reliable, and works, but quite boring, Enter the squash pancake. I'll credit my cousin for sharing the recipe - slightly tweaked: Extra garlic (2-3 more cloves) Dubliner cheddar cheese instead of parm Threw in an eggplant for good measure (I had a lot of them lying around, plus 2 giant / overgrown yellow squash) Chopped white onions Pinch of cayenne pepper and double the salt This is my new favorite way to eat squash, and it didn't take too long to prepare once the squash were cooked & pureed (you could easily do this in advance). To top it, I sliced up mushrooms, red bell pepper, and yellow onions and sti

Without an excuse, the blog was once again neglected. As we veer into fall, and likely the last fall I will spend in DC, I'm starting to get excited about cooler weather, crunchy leaves, and pumpkin flavored tasty treats. Having free time is a whole new world of fun. Although we start Hindi classes this weekend, there is absolutely no comparison to the joy of not having to read hundreds of pages of cases per week, look for writing inspiration, edit papers, and deal with those other pesky parts of graduate school. On the other hand, it's really easy to fill those spare hours with projects. Whether it's catching up on my very long to-do list, my DC bucket list, or just going to the gym after work, the newly found spare time has a weird way of going really quickly. Another project is catching up on books and movies. I recently read Miral, followed quickly by the recently released movie version. The movie, directed by one of my favorites based on his work on the Diving Bell a

I have returned! I do exist! And school is over, hooray! To celebrate, we took a little tour of Germany and France. The France post will follow shortly, but we enjoyed 4 days in and around Mainz and Frankfurt. After 2 full days of exploring Mainz and one in Frankfurt, we wound up in a gorgeous historical town just up the Rhine, called Bingen. Although I wished I had signed up for an international data service plan, we were able to find some Wi-Fi...but having a map in these towns and a basic German phrasebook is key. What we loved: Day 1:  From Mainz Hbf (main) train station, catch a bus to Reingoldhalle / Rauthaus (almost all buses stop here but just check the signs before you hop on. When you exit, cross the street and follow signs to the Tourist Office. This is a great place to start - you can get city maps, postcards, and the Mainz card . For 9.90 Euros, you get two days of inter-Mainz bus and tram travel, as well as free entry to all of the local museums. Mainz card acquir

Although I did a lot of baking during the winter holidays, I failed to blog about it. Bummer. I was inspired to write the first post of 2011 after taking a fantastic cooking class about five blocks away from my house, in the home of a woman who has been teaching for over 15 years. And learning in a home (seems obvious, I know) is so much better than learning in an industrial kitchen for cooking classes. Three hours later, I emerged with the knowledge of how to butterfly and roast a chicken, make refrigerator soup, chicken stock, easy potato and gruyere pizza, almond paste cake, and cornbread pudding. Woah. It was awesome, as were the little tips and tricks for using every last bit of what you buy. I've officially adopted the 'real food, only' philosophy, as evidenced by my trip to the grocery store yesterday. Sapun's list: frozen boxed meals. Mine: bagged vegetables, and lots of them. Although his meals aren't really that bad - they're from Trader Joe's, a