Monday, November 9, 2009

The Weekend Report: DC with the Mama


“I don’t think anyone else does tourism quite the way we do…You better not blog about me." - My Mama

If this seems like a recurring theme in my Weekend Reports, 1) Thank you for reading, and 2) you’re right. The whirlwind see-it-all weekend is something I do semi-often (DC, NY, Boston). What can I say? I like doing stuff!

All the aforementioned weekends involved a lot of walking, and a lot of activity. This weekend was no exception. Actually, this weekend surpassed the others because it was with my mama, who taught me everything I know about intense tourism. We will get up early, walk all day, and see it all. No excuses, play like a champion.

When I’m touring with friends, I try to tone it down a bit. I try to balance my desire to see things with my desire to still have friends when the weekend is over. But when I’m with my mom, we both know that we can handle the extreme mileage. And we’re family, so even if we come out of the weekend dead on our feet, we know that will still love each other…

So what the heck have we been doing, you may wonder?


(And while I’m at work, she’s been hitting up the museums.)

We also both enjoy a good meal (touring is hungrifying!). After hearing Barbara Kingsolver talk about her new book, The Lacuna, we went to Mama Ayesha's, a Middle Eastern restaurant between Adam’s Morgan and Woodley Park. We were starving, so out taste buds may have been a bit off…but ohmygod, the side of fried eggplant (we got it as an appetizer) was amazing!

We also went to Current on Connecticut Ave. for sushi one night.  Mmm, love me some Dragon Roll! (Haha, ironic that I spend my days researching fish and various conservation projects, and then get off work and go out to sushi…judge me accordingly.)

We did Ethiopian at Meskerem in Adam’s Morgan. I really like Ethiopian food. If you’ve never had it before, I recommend getting whatever sampler platter is on the menu – then you get a variety of meats and veggies without having to commit to ordering something that you don’t understand.

We also hit up my breakfast fave – Founding Farmers. The food was good (though I think the traditional benedict is better than the crab cakes benedict), but the service this time was terrible. (To all the servers out there, I know you hate me. I will be the girl who gets up and refills her own coffee. I don’t mind doing it, I just want coffee. It’s not my fault if no one’s around!!!)

And just last night - crab cakes in Alexandria. Mmmmmmmmm.

There you have it - intense tourism from the masters. I'm tired...And we're not even done yet! (Mama leaves on Wednesday.) So if you ever want to know anything about how to see it all in DC - just let me know!