What the Blog?

Ok folks, here it is. Your guide to a perfect weekend in the nation's capital. With all of the free fun that DC has to offer, along with burgeoning neighborhoods, two days is enough to get a good feel for the city. Day 1: Check into your hotel. I recommend the Palomar in trendy Dupont Circle but if you're feeling spendy, go for something fancy and historic like the Hay-Adams (where many a President have stayed) or even the Mayflower . Whichever you choose, start the day with a breakfast waffle at Tynan . But you're going to have to earn that waffle via a morning neighborhood walk! Follow the map below for a tour that will probably take you 2 hours if you're walking fast, but 4-5 if you're wandering through and taking in each of the points of interest. By the time you get to Adams Morgan, you may feel like a more complete meal. In that case, try traditional Oaxacan food at Casa Oaxaca . Don't forget to get a margarita. View DC Wandering in a larger map ...

The number one thing I learned from this bar exam experience is that there is not enough information available about the "exam experience". Why law schools don't offer pertinent information on what to expect is beyond me... but I thought I'd document the few lessons I learned over the past couple of days. I took the NY Bar in Manhattan, at the Jacob Javits Center. It's a good 20-minute walk from Penn Station, so plan travel accordingly. The two days can be exhausting, even though it's broken up into 4, 3-hour segments of exams. Some random notes to know: There is a coat check. It costs $3 per item. It is horrendously inefficient, so if you can avoid using it, your life will be greatly improved. Note, you can access your bags at no cost (how generous!) during the lunch break, but if you take your bag out, you will have to pay again. Ah, nickel and diming. There is a Starbucks in the Javits Center. One. The line gets long, the prices are jacked up, but it'...

Before my next travel-specific posts go up, a few lessons learned. May they help you, and remind me what (not) to do... 1. If you're going to show up at your destination and have a place to stay, knowing exactly how you'll get there is worth the effort. Pay attention to the transit schedules, if you're relying on a bus or a train, or you could be in for a very expensive taxi ride. 2. Learn key phrases, or be confident with your nonverbal gestures for the following: "delay"; "on-time"; "excuse me, you are in my seat!"; "is this seat taken?"; and the favorite, "do you speak English / I don't speak (insert language here)" 3. Though a website may claim the staff speaks fluent English, be prepared for them not to! Just in case. 4. Cash is king. 5. Build in time to wander. 6. Always carry a map, extra snacks, a bit of water, and some patience. 7. There is almost too much information out there on the "best...

Short post today... I wanted to make a note of 2 wonderful discoveries made while traveling recently, and desperate for both wifi and maps. 1. Starbucks has free wifi everywhere! Based on googling, I'd thought this was US-only. Not the case, and thank goodness, they are easy to find. 2. CityMaps2go offers fantastic downloadable maps! For $1.99, you can download very detailed maps, including points of interest, for over 7,000 places (and growing). On an iPhone (note: not iPad), it can even detect where you are, whether you are 'online' or not. Amazing. ...That is all.

If I ever leave this town, I'll really miss some of my favorite things. Here, a list: Driving (or running, or biking) up Reno Rd in Northwest on a crisp, sunny fall morning. The piles of leaves on the ground and colorful leaves swirling in the wind can't really be captured in a photo but it's stunning.  People-watching during a thunderstorm at Tryst or Big Bear, hot chocolate in hand. On ice if it's a summer storm.  Wandering up 14th Street and browsing the home furnishings and decorations for inspiration & bargains.  Going for a run through the National Zoo. Or on the National Mall. Touring the monuments via run = the best way to see them.  Speaking of the zoo: Zoolights in the winter. It's so festive! Jazz in the Garden. It gets way too crowded, but early in the summer - before it gets terribly humid and hot - there really is nothing like a picnic, with live jazz, in "America's backyard".  Happy hour at Poste. I really love their giant ou...

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 ...

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 ac...

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...

...And all I want to do is hibernate. No more school? No reason to leave the house, that's what I say. As high temps barely skim 30 degrees (although with the wind chill, we're closer to 15 F), it's a good time to bake, simmer, and generally make hearty meals. Winter cooking is definitely a thing I buy into - as I type, a big pot of vegetarian chili is almost ready, with a little mini-pizza to take the spicy edge off as a side. It's also a reflective time of year, to think back through the years, even if it's just via the Year in Facebook application (I was surprised by my own amount of snow-related posts from the early part of this year). And, as I get closer to finishing law school (July, but who's counting?), a time to think about my career and what I want to accomplish with my education. Lucky for me, I actually have some time to ponder these things for another few weeks. And before I forget this recipe, because it's pretty darned tasty: the veggie chi...