Washington DC, May 2016

May took me to Washington DC and some nearby Virginia suburbs for a quick visit to see Sister Virginia and other friends and family.

No visit to DC is complete without going to some of the Smithsonian Museums.  The Smithsonian, founded in 1846, is the world's largest museum, education and research complex.  Admission to its museums is free. Most of its 19 museums are in Washington DC. 

The Renwick Gallery, a branch of the larger Smithsonian American Art Museum, exhibits American contemporary craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st centuries. The Renwick has the distinction of being the first building in the United States to be built as an art gallery. It is directly across from the White House.

I've not been to the Renwick before and wanted to see the current exhibit, WONDER, which celebrates the reopening of the Renwick after a two-year renovation. Several leading American contemporary artists were invited to create works specifically for this exhibit. 

Virginia, Kathy, and I stand among artist Janet Echelon's looming spires that she created by stacking index cards.

Virginia was intrigued to be able to walk into the monumental structures by Patrick Dougherty that the artist created on site from tree samplings.

One of my favorite works is by Janet Echelman who created volumetric forms of hand-woven net that hang across the entire 100-foot Grand Salon.  She used colored lighting that constantly changes the mood and colors of this piece.  Many visitors lie down on the floor to take in the light show that this work becomes. 

Of course, no American crafts museum is complete without at least one piece by glass artist Dale Chihuly.  This Seafoam and Amber-Tipped Chandelier is part of the Renwick's permanent collection. 

For lunch with friends John and Kathy, we went to the nearby Exchange Saloon which boasts being DC's Oldest Sports Saloon. It's proximity to the White House, as well as many museums, makes it a popular spot with locals, visitors, and sports fans.

The only other Smithsonian museum we had time for was the Freer/Sackler, the Smithsonian's Asian Art Museum. 

We went specifically for the Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan, a small exhibit that chronicles how a British organization, Turquoise Mountain, has transformed the destroyed Murad Khani district of Old Kabul from slums to a vibrant cultural and economic center. Turquoise Mountain enabled Afghan artists and artisans to restore old Kabul. 

The Turquoise Mountain exhibit will be at the Sackler Gallery through the end of January 2017.

For lunch after the Turquoise Mountain exhibit, we went to the USDA Cafeteria, which is open to the public on weekdays. This is the place for in-the-know tourists wanting an inexpensive healthy breakfast or lunch. The menu choices change weekly and on each day of the week. There is a Hot Bar, an Asian Bar, a Barbecue Bar, and a Soup Bar, as well plenty of sandwich, salad, and dessert options.  

You do have to go through a quick security check to get in, but, it is worth it for a tasty meal for well under $10 a person.  I think the 6 of us in our group ate very well for closer to $5 a person.

As might be expected at the USDA, the cafeteria is decorated with vintage nutrition posters that seem to be as true today as this one was in 1918.  

Each year, on the first two Saturdays in May, the European Union hosts a free open house at all the Embassies in the Union.  

Despite long lines to get into the Embassies, we braved it.  At each Embassy there are cultural exhibits as well as food and drink tastings. It was fun and interesting. Here is the line outside the Portugal Embassy. 

Of course, given the current uncertainty about what countries will remain in the European Union, it is possible that we may have attended the last such open house.

I'm a fan of the Le Pain Quotidian restaurants that are all over the world.  There are several in Washington DC and we had lunch at the one  around the corner from the Portugal embassy.  My meal was the daily Baker's Lunch.  This day it was Avocado Toast, Gazpacho, and a Chickpea Salad. Virginia had Quiche and Salad. 

Some of our other memorable meals were 

a Lobster Roll lunch at Ford's Fish Shack.

and,

celebrating Virginia's birthday at  Coastal Flats.

On Saturday morning, we went to her local Farmer's Market where I was intrigued that most vendors were featuring Wild Ramps, a sort of onion that, to my knowledge, only grows on the East Coast.

And, the final highlight of my visit was meeting her almost-one-year-old grand daughter, Italia.

Winter Fancy Food Show: What's New? What are the trends for 2016?

I spent yesterday at the Winter Fancy Foods show in San Francisco. Every year, I attend at least one day of this 3-day exposition.

I attend mainly to see what trends there are for the coming year. To determine what's trending, I spend the entire day tasting cheeses, sweets, crackers, sauces, teas, and more.

From what I observed, kale is on its way out and beets are the new super-vegetable. I tasted packaged cooked beets in all shapes and cuts, beet crackers, beet chips, and beet juice.

I even picked up recipes for beet smoothies and beet cocktails.

The main cheese trend that I saw was flavored cheeses, particularly flavored cheddars. My favorite was Rogue Creamery's La-Di-Da Lavender cheddar.  Jarlsberg is even making a line of crackers with its cheese.  They are quite tasty.

Packaged Tuna that is low in mercury showed up at the booths of several vendors. As one who would eat a tuna salad sandwich every day of the week, given the choice, I sampled several tuna salads at the show.  I am very impressed with Safe Catch in Marin County who tests every one of its fishes to assure that its Skipjack and Albacore tuna is even more mercury free than the levels required by the FDA.

The newest of the ancient grains, Freekeh is competing with Quinoa as the go-to supergrain. Could this be because many people don't know how to pronounce Quinoa?

One Quinoa vendor has named its product with the grain's phonetic pronunciation. While Freekeh has its intrigue and undisputed nutritional benefits, I still prefer quinoa or farro as my supergrains of choice.

Hemp turned up in drinks and as a grain to add to salads, soups and other dishes.

Coconut Sugar and Oil turned up in numerous foods as a more healthful alternative to cane sugar.  Several popcorn and snack vendors are using coconut oil in their products.

As for tea, each year brings more and more new flavors as well as the old standards like Earl Grey and English Breakfast.  The Japanese powdered tea, Matcha is one of my favorites (If you've ever eaten Green Tea Ice Cream, its color and flavor is that of Matcha).  This year, several vendors were offering Matchas in single-serving packets.

Teas that claim to "cleanse" or "reduce weight" have been around for awhile.  This year at Fancy Foods, it seems that the big companies are now offering supplemented teas.

And, to go with tea, cheese, dips, or just to eat by themselves the variety of crackers, biscuits, and cookies continues to be infinite.

I particularly enjoyed tasting Effie's Homemade Oatcakes and Ryecakes and would have either of them with a cup of tea or a cocktail.

Ice cream and gelato remains ever-popular.  For Fancy Foods, Choctál had tastings of 4 single-origin Vanilla ice creams and 4 single-origin Chocolate ice creams.  For each of the two tastings, they had a special plate and tasting notes.  My favorite Vanilla was the Indonesian Vanilla and my favorite Chocolate the mocha-y Dominican Chocolate.

I didn't see as many barbecue sauce vendors at the show as I have in past years, but did see more spice vendors.  Perhaps spice rubs will be replacing the sweet sauces as a flavoring for meats, poultry, and fish as well as adding salt-free seasonings to vegetables and grain dishes.

Organic and gluten-free products are still numerous.

Even Jelly Belly has introduced jelly beans and other confections made with organic fruits.

Attending the Winter Fancy Food Show is always an interesting and fun day.  The Winter show is usually in San Francisco and the summer version is in New York City.

Birthday Dinner at Prospect

For my birthday earlier this year, I chose Prospect in San Francisco for my birthday dinner.

Never having been to Prospect, but knowing that it was voted by the SF Chronicle as one of the top 100 Bay Area restaurants for 2015, I wanted to try it.

Chef Nancy Oakes of famed Boulevard in San Francisco has partnered with chef Pamela Mazzola and director of operations Kathy King to create and operate Prospect, a more casual and modern restaurant a few blocks away from Boulevard. I've been a fan of Nancy Oakes since her first restaurant of her own, L'Avenue (1988) in San Francisco's Richmond District.

From the moment we walked into Prospect, I felt welcomed and comfortable. The food is as elegant as it is at Boulevard, but I prefer Prospect's more casual, but sophisticated, vibe.

We splurged on the Hudson Valley Foie Gras Terrine, which we shared as a starter. It was garnished with Black Mission Fig Preserves and Candied Wild Pecans. The Toasted Brioche that accompanied it was so tasty, I could have eaten it just by itself.

I drank a wonderful Matthias et Emile Roblin Loire Valley Sancerre with my meal...perfect with the foie gras and perfect with the meal.

 

Our main courses were King Salmon for Jim and Alaskan Halibut for me

We shared the season fresh Peach Buckle for dessert. It was festively decorated for my birthday celebration.

Prospect's menu regularly features many of the same main ingredients. But, for each season, the preparations and garnish changes to incorporate what is fresh at the time.  I can't wait to return.

Cruising down the California Coast

Jim and I, on something of a whim, took a Princess Cruise down the California Coast, round trip from/to San Francisco.  It was just a week long and the combination of a reasonable price and being able to get there by just taking Bart, the Bay Area's public transit system, and then walking a a short distance to the cruise ship terminal, made it irresistible.

We like going on cruises but usually take cruises to places that we can't easily visit on our own. We made an exception to this "rule" with the California Coastal cruise; we already were familiar with all but one of the ports.

 

One of our traditions upon embarking on the ship, before we set sail, is to go up to the poolside deck and have a hot dog and french fries...not very fancy, for sure, but certainly tasty. Many people immediately head to the buffet dining room and have a large "feast," but, for us, that hot dog and fries is our perfect way to start a cruise vacation and still leave plenty of appetite for a nice dinner that evening.

Before we could set sail, we had our safety drill.  Fortunately, this was the only time we needed the life vests.

It was after sunset by the time we were underway. Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge was a special thrill.

SANTA BARBARA

In Santa Barbara, I took a half day excursion to Montecito to see where the rich and famous live.

And then, I spent the rest of the day walking in the downtown area, mainly on State Street in downtown.  Before heading up to the historic and high-end shopping part of downtown State Street, I stopped for lunch at Metropulos, a gourmet market and sandwich shop, in the Funk Zone, a section of town near Sterns Wharf and the Visitors Center that the L.A. Times recently described as the "happening" part of Santa Barbara.  The Funk Zone has industrial origins, but is currently populated by breweries, wine-tasting rooms, art galleries, shops, musical venues, and more. Metropulos has been in its location for over 11 years, long before the Funk Zone's name existed.  Most of the customers having lunch were young local business people; the vibe was much like that in San Francisco's SOMA district during San Francisco's first dot-com boom...very energized. And, my Pastrami Reuben sandwich was yummy.

LOS ANGELES

For our Los Angeles stop, we docked in Long Beach.  We were across from the Queen Mary, which is now permanently docked here and open to the public as a hotel, restaurant and shopping area, and museum.

We had no time for the Queen Mary because we spent most of the day at the Getty Museum.

 

Our bus to the Getty made a short stop in Beverly Hills, just enough time for a quick walk on and around Rodeo Drive.

 

The Getty is high up on a hill, overlooking the 405 Freeway in one direction and out as far as Santa Catalina in another.  It has very scenic setting.

 

            

My main activity at the Getty was to take a guided tour of its impressive gardens.  Jim spent his time in the galleries looking at the diverse art collection which is housed in multiple buildings and galleries.

SAN DIEGO

 

In San Diego, we woke up to a view of the Midway docked next to us.  And we bid it farewell at dusk, as we sailed away

We spent this entire day at Balboa Park, in its museums and park areas.

   

We both visited the Air and Space Museum.

 

 I also went to the Mingei International Museum, a museum dedicated to crafts. Its current "Art in the Americas" exhibit has examples of crafts from each of our 50 states. I was delighted to find a beautiful pottery plate by Maria Martinez, of the San Ildefonso Pueblo until her 1980 death,  as the representative work from the state of New Mexico.

 

It was the Niki de Saint Phalle large ceramic sculptures that initially lured me to the Mingei over Balboa Park's many other museums. I'm a longtime fan of her work but did not know until seeing her works here that she lived her last years (1992 - 2002) in nearby La Jolla.

ENSENADA

 

Our final stop was in Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico.  Ensenada is a "typical" border town in Mexico.  I went into town and wandered around its six blocks of shops to get a feel for the town and to buy a few pieces of jewelry at a shop recommended by our ship's Shopping Host.

LIFE ON THE SHIP

Life on a cruise ship is always fun. To me, it's kind of a combination of being at summer camp and being in a luxury hotel.  One can fill one's days with classes, live shows, bingo, art auctions, working out in the gym, or just sitting in a quiet spot reading a good book.

I always find a few fun classes to attend. This time it was Origami and Napkin Folding. I pretty much failed Origami (fortunately there are no grades given) but did well with my Napkin Folding.

One of our favorite shows on the Princess ships is the one in which the executive chef and maitre d' do a cooking demonstration. This show usually takes place on the last day at sea.  It is a totally lighthearted event where the two of them face off in making a few dishes.

The above picture of the two of them making Tiramisu.

We met nice people, especially Sue and Jack who don't live too far from us when we are home. One night we dined with them in the ship's specialty steak restaurant and, on another night, we joined them in the pizza restaurant.

As always, we ate well and enjoyed the variety of food and dining venues. Jim especially enjoyed the chocolate-themed desserts that were featured in the dining room. As you can see, they are as pretty as they are tasty.

  

 Life is easy and as relaxing or busy as your want to make it on a cruise ship.