Have an Egg Roll, Mr. Goldstone!

Or in this case, Pho, cheesecake, baked eggs, mac and cheese, and waffles!

So some of my friends here in DC like to tease me that I spend more time out of DC than in DC. This is not entirellly true, but I do enjoy traveling, especially to New York, home of many of my favorite people in the world and much of my favorite theater in the world. This past weekend, Arielle G. and I ventured northward for a jam-packed 48 hours of friend-and-theater visiting. It also featured a lot of ridiculously good eating, which I describe here for your reading pleasure.

Despite a slightly difficult start (our bus was 45 minutes late, and we took a long stop AND there was traffic – boo!), we got to New York mid-afternoon on Friday ready for food and friends and good times. We had originally planned a 2nd Avenue Deli lunch with Sarah K, but that had to be delayed, so instead we met Mat S., best friend and New York Tour Guide extraordinaire, for Pho at Saigon Shack. I had never had Pho before, so was excited to try (especially since the Courthouse crowd talks about it all the time), and it did not disappoint. I went for the classic Pho with beef, and piled on the fun food-accessories– thai basil, sprouts, and lime!

We went back to Mat’s apartment for a brief relax, and then went down the block for Arielle’s first Wafels and Dinges truck experience. I first enjoyed the fabulousness that is the waffletruck back in December, and have been vigorously talking it up ever since. It turns out we were a little early for the truck, so we ducked into a liquor store to pick up some wine for Shabbat, and while we were there we tried cucumber vodka (surprisingly refreshing). Anyway, we eventually got our waffles, which were just as delicious as I remembered (the trick, I have learned, is to get NO toppings, that way you can maximize delicious-sugar-crystallization-flavor). This time, I also got a side of spekuloos, this spread made from cookies (how they make a spread from a cookie I don’t know, but when something is this delish, you go with it).

Saturday night was a fabulous Shabbat dinner at Casa Jonathan/Ruthie/Naomi, which was wonderful and full of friends and yummy food. Mat and I hopped to an Outlaw event at Bartini, which was mostly unremarkable, except when we got back later that evening and I realized there was still glitter in my clothing. Oof.

The next morning, we met the lovely Sarah K. and Katherine C. for brunch at Centro Vinoteca, right in Mat's neighborhood! Mat, new fan of Web 2.0 tools and eater extraordinaire, wrote a fabulous blog post on his blog Waffles, Fries, and Beer (which you should read). He covered most of the wonderfulness, but I'll add that a. complimentary things (especially warm pancake with a lemon curd) are the WAY to my heart, and b. my food, the Three Baked Eggs Amatricianna, with crispy guanciale (a kind of Italian bacon), sourdough, and parmesan, was out-of-this-world yummy.

The wonderfulness of the trip continued with some Broadway (to be discussed in my next post), and in between we went southern, J.T.-style, at Southern Hospitality in Hell's Kitchen. Apparently, in addition to being excellent at making my heart throb in the late 90's, Justin Timberlake is also good at picking a menu for his restaurant. Our choices of creamed spinach, mac and cheese, honey cornbread and pulled chicken were a WIN for the evening.

After the last show, we ended the weekend with a little Junior's cheesecake (and a chance to see Missy M.!). A seriously perfect weekend full of eating. I'm full just thinking about it again!

Pica Taco: One of the Culinary Wonders of DC

I tend to believe that all things are better with a little avocado (or a lot of avocado -- I really overdid it with guacamole at this year's Super Bowl party). I also think that tongue is one of the more delicious things in the world, and that a well-made taco is better than a fancy meal. So when my friends Suzy G. and Jason H. introduced me to Pica Taco this summer, I knew immediately that I had found one of my favorite places in DC. It is a wonderful place that features well-made tacos, tongue, AND a little avocado. Score.

Jason and Suzy often go for breakfast tacos, a lovely Thursday morning pre-work tradition. I’ve joined them a few times, but it’s a little difficult for me to be functional before work. There are also lovely tacos at non-breakfast times, and I’ve tried most of the kinds they have – barbacoa and chicken are pretty good, but lengua (tongue) and the fish taco are fantastic.

Pica has two locations – one at 16th and Columbia and one at 14th and Florida. I tend to frequent the 14th and Florida location more often because it’s close to home, but the 16th and Columbia one is conveniently on the way back from the Zoo. I’ve been proselytizing (I know, Jews aren’t supposed to, but tacos are different, right?) about this for months, and this morning, I got Catherine H. and Emily P.G. of Wild and Crazy Pearl fame to join me (thanks ladies!).

The meal began with Coca-Cola from a bottle. Restaurateurs of Washington, the way to my heart is through a glass Coke bottle. Just so you know. Pica Taco also has other fun fruity drinks and sodas, but I always get the bottle of Coke.

All of the Pica Tacos come with two tortillas, because the yummy stuff inside is hot and because you make a mess when you eat at Pica Taco. This restaurant is not for the dainty-at-heart. As I said to Catherine and Emily as we left, “I’m a little bit of a slob.” Pica accounts for this by providing a second tortilla for each taco.

The lengua taco involves an onion-y cilantro-y salsa on top, and really tender tongue inside. I learned from a young age to love good deli tongue (thanks, Bub!), and I really like it in this form as well.

The breakfast taco (the one on the right below) is a wonder. It’s just eggs and beans and cheese on a tortilla, but it some how manages to make me ridiculously happy every time I consume it. Something about the combination of those flavors really works.

The fish taco is my personal favorite. It involved delicious white fish (tilapia?), seasoned with a peppery rub, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, some radishes, and most importantly, some avocado on top. A lot of the people I’ve gone to Pica with put hot sauce on top, but I’m a wimp when it comes to spicy, so I just squeeze a lemon slice on top. Suzy G. has mentioned multiple times that Californians, who are known for being a little picky about their fish tacos, think this is one of the best fish tacos they’ve ever had.

Tacos are wonderful most of the time, but Pica Tacos hit the spot morning, noon, and night. So get some tacos and a Coca Cola, and make sure to say hi to the lovely Sylvia. And you're welcome. You're seriously going to love this place.

RKG’s Recommendations: bus to NY, hot cocoa, and bookstores!

I’ve decided to try a new type of blog post -- RKG’s Recommendations. These are some of my favorite things to eat and do in and around Washington, D.C.! Here are three to start off with – my favorite bus to NY, favorite hot cocoa location, and favorite independent bookstore. Enjoy!

Best bus to D.C. from New York: DC2 NY. Yes, it’s a few dollars more than Bolt or Megabus, but you get:
1. A less crowded bus. 2 of the 5 times I’ve taken DC to NY, I’ve had the whole seat to myself!
2. A bottle of water (which I never remember to bring for myself and am always grateful for, even if I’m a touch anti-bottled water in theory)
3. GOOD movies. Last time, I watched Toy Story 3. Which of course revealed the disadvantage of this particular DC2NY feature: if it’s that wonderful of a movie, sobbing may occur.
4. Drop-off in Dupont Circle. This one is key. It’s actually only 5 minutes closers to my apt as the 10th and H Bolt Bus drop-off, but it feels so much closer.
5. a bus that is not as awful as Megabus. After a very cold, poorly managed 2-hour wait in the cold in NY last month, I will not be taking Megabus again. Even if I do like the double decker thing.

Best hot cocoa: Okay so this is tough, because I love Coco Sala. But it’s expensive and fabulous and you feel like you need to be wearing heels there. The winner is ACKC, or Artfully Chocolate Kingsbury Confections (But that is too long a name, so ACKC it is.), a perfectly comfortable, decidedly lovely cocoa shop just one block from my apartment. This perfectly cute shop is home to gorgeous art (I think one of the owners is a stained glass artist?), delicious looking – I have yet to sample – truffles, and best of all The Divas. The Divas are hot cocoa/ice cream dessert/milkshakes, each of which are inspired by a famous diva. My favorite is the “Lucy”, which features chipotle, cinnamon, and semi-sweet chocolate. This is the Brigitte Bardot and the Marilyn Monroe (with Oreos and Crème de Menthe!), which we sampled during his visit last week.

Also, they have free wireless. Amazing.

Best independent bookstore: Politics and Prose
As the granddaughter of independent bookstore owners Hilda and John Gold, I am a bit of an exacting connoisseur of bookstores. Okay, that’s a lie. I really like bookstores, and if you put me in one, I’ll likely be happy no matter what. DC has an abundance of lovely book shops, but my favorite is far and away Politics and Prose. I like Kramerbooks (delicious food, and they curate their book offerings thoughtufully) and I like Capitol Hill Books in Eastern Market for the ramshackle, piles-o-books-and-therefore-happiness feel and the slightly crazy owner. But Kramerbooks is consistently expensive, and Capitol Hill Books is decidedly claustrophobic in the summer months. Politics and Prose, is practically perfect in every way (Name That not-as-good-as-the-original Musical!).

So why Politics and Prose? Oh, SO many reasons, my friends. I’ll list them for you.
1. It’s a Chevy Chase mainstay, and was a mere 5 blocks from my first apartment here in D.C., so it has nostalgic value. It has a well-curated upstairs, just like Kramerbooks,
2. Any night of the week and sometimes twice on the weekends, they have wonderful author talks – and they get great folks, too. Walter Isaacson and Taylor Branch were particular favorites (and I still haven’t forgiven myself for missing Tim Flannery, an Australian mammologist and author of one of my favorite books of all time, The Eternal Frontier. It’s a geological-time-scale history of North America’s evolutionary patterns. It’s a good thing I love my family, or I am not sure my cousin’s wedding would have been a good enough excuse to miss Tim Flannery. But I digress).

2a. sometimes they co-host events with Sixth and I. These are inevitably wonderful, but Sixth and I is another favorite place (we'll talk about that another time). The last one I went to involved Mark Bittman, and the one I went to before that was Barney Frank. Love.
3. The downstairs sale section is heaven on earth. And fundamentally Dangerous To My Wallet. So many well-priced books. So little time. Also, there is a cute café down there and they make a lovely latte.
4. The best birthday gift of all time. For my Dad’s birthday last August, Alli and I got him a P&P shirt with this quote:

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

Groucho Marx

Seriously, we are the best daughters of all time. And Politics and Prose is a glorious bookstore.

Assessing the Wreckage: my 2010, month by month!

Happy New Year, everyone! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of travel and friends and work and wonderful things, so I didn’t get a chance to sit and do a yearly wrap-up. But I think it’s still a useful exercise even on the second day of the new year, so here goes! What follows is the best stuff that happened in each month of the rather tumultuous 2011.

January began sunburnt and happy after an amazing vacation in Costa Rica with Mat S. and Jonathan H. I started my Economics class at GW, which was fun and challenging and just-what-I-needed. Mat S. visited for an MLK weekend adventure, during which we celebrated Alli’s belated birthday, and had a memorably fabulous Cathedral galumph with Will.

In February, Snowpacalypse part #2 happened. It was ridiculous and crazy, and I ended up getting lots of time with my Van Ness folks. It also involved a fabulous President’s day weekend visit from Stern, and a great NY weekend (in which I saw Our Town, celebrated Purim for the first time this year, and experienced my first Barney Greengrass lox!).

March began with my second Purim celebration of the year, this time at the Israeli embassy, and with the lovely group of people who would become my neighbors a few months later. Ridiculousness ensued. March also contained an absolutely perfect New Haven Shabbat with Ronis and Mat, and a weekend at home with the Mom and the Bub.

April began with Pesach at Bubbie Rose and Pop-pop Sol’s, Cherry blossom fireworks in SW Waterfront and an epic Cherry blossom fail with Jason (they were all in the water by the time we got there. Also, I turned 24, finished my econ class, and went to Baltimore for Seth’s birthday!

May was one of the busiest months I can ever remember experiencing – work was crazy, Alli graduated from college and kicked ass at it, and I had my first White House experience (the Mexican State Arrival, thanks to Emily P.G.!). I also went to NY for a crazy weekend of helping Mat and Katherine-bear move, seeing Sondheim on Sondheim, and introducing Katherine to the finest things in life (pastrami sandwiches at Katz’s, obv). And most importantly, I moved into the new apartment with Rooms!

In June, Jason F., David K, and I headed to Chicago for B-deis friends Ilana and Jeremy’s beautiful wedding! The next week, I went to the James Taylor/Carole King concert and reveled in the happy folk-ness. June also featured a visit from Miriam to DC in between Israel years and a gaggle of amazing people moving into town. In the middle of the month, I had one heck of an inspiring and fun day – I saw [title of show] at Signature Theater and participated in Relay for Life with RAC friends.

July was fun and hot – highlights included the 4^th of July at Ben and Rachel’s, my favorite date of the year -- Signature Theater’s Open House, and rooms' triumphant return to D.C. after weeks of being away!

August featured my first trip west of the Mississippi – I vacationed in California with Momma Mona for a week, spending time in San Francisco, in Santa Rosa wineries, and most importantly, with the redwoods! The next week was my first ACEEE Summer Study, an intense week of energy efficiency and good times with my colleagues. After all that travel, I was still up for more, so the last weekend, I visited NY for Schutz’s triumphant return to the United States and to visit my Dad on Long Island.

September was a mashup of Labor Day BBQs, a glorious Shaked/Missy visit, and the addition of Sarah K. to DC! Mat visited for a much-anticipated Sukkot with Jonathan’s family, a weekend that also included Kate B’s going away party and Emily P.G.’s housewarming.

October began with a Katherine-bear visit to D.C., a lovely weekend of Capitol visiting and Beirgarten adventures. The next weekend, I picked apples and successfully navigated a corn maze in Virginia and went on an awesome White House Garden tour. At the end of the month, I got to see Idina Menzel and Marvin Hamlisch rocking the NSO Pops, and had a ridiculous weekend at the Rally to Restore Sanity and Halloween!

On the night of the election at the beginning of November, I distracted myself with the very-fun Hair at the Kennedy Center, and then promptly saw the defeat of most (but not all!) of the candidates I cared about. Oof. The next weekend, I had a lovely gallump in NYC with Sara R. for Jonathan’s birthday. This was followed by an amazing G3 Thanksgiving, and then by the actual Thanksgiving at home. Also, my great-aunt and godmother, Aunt Li, passed away this month – she was a CHARACTER, who really lived life loudly and vigorously, and she will be missed.

December began with Hanukkah parties galore, followed by my first Holiday Cookie Bakefest Spectacular experience. Yum. The second half of the month featured the first half of the Mat/Rachel month of glory (in which we see each other 4/5 weekends), with a trip to NY for family stuff, and then my NY/Boston adventure. Details to follow, but needless to say, last week involved a Stern/Skrevsky/RKG reunion, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, a snowstorm, and reunion-izing with TBE folks and Leah!

Whew! 2010 was intense! I’m beat! (also, thanks to Seth K. and WildNCrazyPearl for the fabulous pictures)

Giving My Regards to Broadway!

I'm headed off to see Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown this Saturday (on Christmas!) with Matt S. and Sarah K. Needless to say, I am very excited for the Patti LuPone/Laura Benanti/Sheri Renee Scott/Brian Stokes Mitchell loving that is about to ensue. I've seen Brian Stokes Mitchell in person before, at the wonderful Kennedy Center event last January, but none of the rest of them. And I'm particularly excited about one of the best divas on the stage, Patti LuPone. I've heard mixed things about the show, but am nonetheless very excited for the panoply of stars AND to get to see a musical with two of my favorite fellow-theater-goers. You'll remember that the last time we had a theater adventure together, wonderfulness in Sondheim/Lansbury form resulted.

Sometimes I just get so excited about musical theater, and read Playbill.com and Broadway.com more than an energy efficiency researcher should during her lunch breaks. As a result, I've been hearing about lots of things that make me happy. And so, I present:

Rachel's List of Broadway Shows I'm Ridiculously Excited About:

1. Sutton Foster and Joel Grey in Anything Goes. Anything Goes, being a former Ethel Merman vehicle, and being full of deliciously clever Cole Porter lyrics, is one of my favorite shows. And Sutton Foster tap dancing in anything makes me happy (she made me like Shrek the Musical. that's just impressive!). Plus, Joel Grey is wonderful in every way. For evidence of the wonderfulness of this show, see this clip of Patti in all of her glory (now you see why I'm excited to see her in person for the first time?!)



2. rumors re: Patti LuPone in Hello, Dolly, another one of my favorite shows. In fact, when Arielle G. told me about this rumor, my response was "ahhhhh that rumor just slayed me. I am now a remnant of my former self, cowering in the ashes from when I just burned up in a blaze of Dolly-loving glory. " Overdramatic? Absolutely. Warranted? Most assuredly. Dolly, being another Ethel/Mary Martin/Pearl Bailey show (we pretend like that Carol Channing thing didn't happen), is one of my all-time favorites. Plus, I made a darned cute Minnie Fay in the 2004 PVHS production of said musical. No guarantees on this one though -- according to this article, "She [Patti Lupone] has talked on the phone with Jerry Herman, but that's as far as it's gone." Here's hoping!



3. Sister Act: the Musical. This has the potential to be absolutely, fundamentally god-awful. On the other hand, it has the potential to make me vigorously happy in every possible way. In general, I like the musicals written before 1980, and in general, I don't like movies that are turned into musicals. But there are exceptions (42nd street was originally a movie, In the Heights was made long after the 1980s), so I'm willing to go into it with an open mind. ESPECIALLY given the fact that Sister Act and Sister Act II: Back in the Habit are two of my favorite movies of all time. After all, who doesn't love Whoopi and Maggie Smith and lot of nuns singing MoTown? And even better -- Lauryn Hill rocking out in all of her early 90's glory?



4. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: the Harry Potter edition. One of my favorite Frank Loesser shows, featuring the actor best known for being Harry Potter and getting naked with a horse (in Equus, duh). I think it has the potential to be wonderful or godawful, and I've decided to be hopeful.

There are many more, but I've already given you a few clips of happy, so let's leave it there for the day. But seriously - what shows am I missing? What else MUST I be vigorously excited about?

Happy Thanksgiving: The Gold Family Edition

Reasons Why This Thanksgiving Was Amazing. In List Form, because that's how I roll:

1. the addition of the lovely Fischlowitz-Roberts clan -- Max's Mom, Dad, and brother all came into town (from St. Louis and Maine!) to hang out with us Gold ladies and enjoy the holiday Mona-style. They added a lovely dose of football (we normally don't watch), humor, and balance to the normal Gold-women-being-totally-crazy scene.

2. the addition of not 1, not 2, but 4 pieces of argyle clothing to my wardrobe, thanks to Momma Mona. Not only are my three pairs of socks and one sweater stylish and fabulous, they are warm and cozy as well. Major win.
3. the arrival of the FIRST SNOW OF THE YEAR! Oops, sorry for the caps just then. It's just that snow triggers my inner 8-year-old happy-to-be-getting-out-of-something genes, and usually involves a happy snow dance of some sort. It was less than an inch, and didn't stick anywhere besides the bench in the backyard, but it made me pretty ecstatic.

4. Momma Mona's glorious feast of deliciousness. I thought that this year might be a challenge, given the addition of three vegan guests, but the food was as yummy, if not more, than ever. We did have some turkey, and a few non-vegan items, but for the most part, we kept it dairy/meat free. Particular hits were the sweet potatoes with pecans (almost as good as Paula Deen's, and not guaranteed to clog your arteries), mushrooms stuffed with mushroom stuffing (seriously, my mother is a genius), and Mom’s Cranberry sauce with oranges and walnuts.

5. the Peanut Butter Mousse Bomb from the amazing Vegan Treats bakery in Bethlehem, PA. I visited this glorious confection shop for the first time the day after Yom Kippur with Max/Alli, and was SO grateful that Max and his dad made the trip up to Bethlehem for Pumpkin Cheesecake, Apple Pie, Chocolate Hazelnut Cake, and Peanut Butter Mousse Bomb, my personal favorite. Seriously, though

6. and most important, the craft-of-the-year: Foam Turkeys! It's very rare that a year goes by without some fun craft made by my Mom to decorate the table. This year, it was glittery, cute foam turkeys. Gold family win!

All in all, a fabulous Thanksgiving and a much-needed break from DC for some family time! Oh, and getting to see one of the best friends (Matt S. ) for the first time since February was pretty rockin' as well. There are few things that aren't improved by best-friend-time in the form of Harry Potter viewing and Starbucks schnuggling.

G3 Thanksgiving: The DC Edition!

Back in my Brandeis days, Thanksgiving meant a chance to go home to PA and get some Mona-and-Alli-time. But before we left for home each year, the G3 (Gordon 3, the hall I lived on freshman year) crew got together to make a delicious makeshift dinner on hotplates and in microwaves. This tradition has continued on even after college, but I haven't been able to attend, since the majority of that group lived in New York. But THIS year, the DC outpost of Gordon 3 grew enough (it was just Whitney and I last year) to merit our own G3 Thanksgiving, thanks to the lovely additions of Becky P. and Sarah K., both of whom recently moved down to the district.

The lovely Sarah K. and her brand new kitten (!!) hosted this year's celebration, and honorary G3 member Aaron B. was in town, so he joined in on the fun, too! I originally planned to make two of my favorite dishes, Momma Mona's spinach casserole, and Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Bake, but both of those failed. I forgot to drain the water in the spinach casserole, and forgot to add the cream to the sweet potato bake. I swear, if my head were not attached . . . Needless to say, I went to Whole Foods to pick up mashed maple sweet potatoes,garlicky broccoli rabe, and a cranberry apple sauce, all of which were delicious.

There was a delicious salad (with avocados and what I think were walnuts), corn, stuffing, and two kinds of cranberry sauces. The garlicky mashed potatoes were a particular hit with me -- Sarah K. made them with help from Becky P. We finished the meal with butterscotch pudding and my favorite thanksgiving food, pumpkin pie (thanks, Becky/Trader Joe's!). I don't know if it quite compared to the G3 Thanksgiving in New York (see Elizabeth's excellent blog post on that adventure for more details), but it was definitely wonderful.

v

We were entertained by Sarah's new kitten (yet to be named -- right now she's calling him "Little Man") and her roommate's very cool Turkish cat, Baykus. At one point Little Man jumped on the computer and turned off our background music, then curled up contentedly in front of the computer, as if to dare us to turn the music back on.

Our excellent meal WAS lacking one thing . . . turkey! (most of the group was vegetarian, or not-so-frequent-carnivores). And because a post about Thanksgiving just wouldn't be the same without some turkey, here are two of my favorite West Wing turkey-related scenes for your viewing enjoyment.

Aren't I going to get a reputation for being soft on turkeys?

I'm . . . Joe Bethersonton. That's one t and with an h in there.