Autumn in DC
Ivy and Red leaves
20th St NW in a rainy day
Rock Creek Park from the Taft Bridge
Dumbarton Oaks Park
Posted in All
Leave a comment
DC Area September Music Events
I’m working on a new Google calendar which will feature a variety of classical and new music events in the DC area. It’s partially just for me, but also for my students to reference, and I thought I’d include a link here in case anyone in the area is interested.
Concerts include events at the Strathmore Music Center, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, the Library of Congress, various DC art galleries, and various DC embassies. I will be adding events at the Kennedy Center and also military band concerts soon. For the most part, I’m trying to include free or inexpensive concerts, but when tickets are over $20, I note it in the event description.
The calendar will be updated frequently as I get more information. I started including events in September and later, so you’ll have to click beyond August to start seeing events.
Posted in All
Leave a comment
Pescatarian Dinners, Ctd.
So once again I am very behind on posting my food updates… or any updates. It’s been a busy few weeks getting the new apartment ready.
Here are a few of the meals I’ve had since July 17th:
This was my first time cooking with seaweed. It didn’t look so good when we mixed it in at first (similar to the algae I used to scrape off the walls of my fish tank), but after enough mixing you couldn’t really see it anymore. And it actually tasted great.
Black-bean burger with berry smoothie
Stuffed eggplant Provençal (from Sundays at Moosewood)
This was time consuming but tasted great.
We don’t have a grill so we put the mushrooms directly on a wire rack in the oven with a baking sheet underneath to catch the juices. Not ideal, but it worked pretty well.
This was very easy, though perhaps not very healthy (it uses two pie crusts). There’s not much cooking involved, just mixing everything together and putting it in the oven.
Greek Salad with Orzo and Black-Eyed Peas
Spaghetti and Swiss Chard with Garlic Chips
Shrimp and Cotija Enchiladas with Salsa Verde
Salmon Sandwiches with Cress and Juniper from How to Cook Everything
Pea and fava bean fritters with salsa, from the Jamie Oliver app
Stuffed Bell Peppers with Roasted Veggies, also from the Jamie Oliver app
Scrambled Eggs with Strawberry Smoothie
View of DC from Kalorama
Our new apartment is located in what I think is one of the most beautiful areas of the District, Kalorama. Kalorama means ‘beautiful view’ in Greek, and the neighborhood lives up to its name.
Kalorama borders the valley which is the southern end of Rock Creek Park, so from the roof of our apartment you can see out very far over the valley. We have a great view of the National Cathedral, which is about two miles away.
Here’s a video showing the view from the building’s roof deck:
Posted in All
Leave a comment
Move to DC
I moved to Washington, DC on Friday, and I’ve been busy getting things settled at the new apartment. We picked the worst day to move — the heat index in DC got up to 120°F while we were unloading the truck.
There’s still a lot to do (there are several piles of things which have no place to go yet), but the apartment is livable now. I’ll post more about the move soon!
Posted in All
Leave a comment
My Sister’s Website
I just found out that my sister, Jenny Leszczynski, is making a website to showcase her art. I expect there are more updates to come in the near future, but she already has a few small galleries online. There’s some really good stuff — check it out!
Posted in All
Leave a comment
Pescatarian Dinners, Ctd.
This salad had anchovy in the dressing, which sounded weird but turned out to be pretty good. To make it a whole meal and not just a side, we added some random leftover ingredients from other meals: olives, tomatoes, pine nuts, and almonds.
Breakfast Omelet
Our breakfasts normally alternate between omelets, scrambled eggs, and granola. We filled this omelet with leftover toppings from the Lavash Pizza and with a little goat cheese.
Mole de Olla (Mickey Mouse Soup)
This recipe is from the Mexican section of Sundays at Moosewood, a great pescatarian cookbook with recipes inspired by a variety of international cuisines. I’m not sure how Mexican this soup actually is. Nevertheless, it is still very good. I especially like the taste of cloves and cinnamon in vegetable soup.
Strawberry salad
The recipe for this salad was from Simply Delicious Vegetarian by Carla Bardi. It’s the best salad I’ve ever made, and it even tasted great the next day for lunch.
Tofu Penne
This is another recipe from the same book. It’s pasta with a pesto sauce made out of the usual pesto ingredients, with the addition of tofu. We also added some leftover Parmesan cheese to the pesto even though it didn’t call for that.
Bell Pepper, Red Onion, and Goat Cheese Pizza
This pizza was great! We’ll definitely make it again.
Posted in food
Leave a comment