QOTD: "Sexual obsessions are the basis of artistic creation." - Salvador Dali
Reading: just finished Christopher Moore's The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Listening to: the original cast recording of Crazy For You
Decluttering accomplishments: straightened up the whole living room
I screwed up the date on last week's entry, which was probably due to sheer fatigue. I was better rested this week, though I still seem to stay up later than I intend to more than half the time. (Like right now, for instance, but I did take an afternoon nap.)
And, no, I didn't scurry off to the store to buy plastic sheeting and duct tape. At the office, Alex and I were speculating about how many of the people who did would then asphyxiate themselves by lighting cans of sterno to heat up food. Actually, I marvel at people who don't have duct tape on hand already. The supermarkets were also denuded of bottled water, making me speculate about whether people don't know you can actually fill bottles with tap water yourself. If you don't normally drink tap water, fine, but I'd think you'd already have three days supply on hand in that case. And are there really people who don't keep three days worth of food around? I did pick up extra frozen juice concentrate, but that had more to do with the impending snow storm.
And the snow storm did more than impend. I can't seem to find anywhere that says how much we've gotten so far, but it was coming down very heavily most of the day today. On the plus side, that meant it was fine for my drive to Chantilly (work-related meeting) on Friday. And there was little enough yesterday that it didn't slow down my weekend plans by much. But it's a total mess out now. And, supposedly, more is on the way, including the risk of what the forecast called "thunder snow." I can't think of ever having experienced a thunderstorm with snow before and I can't say that I relish the thought, much as I normally like thunderstorms. Oh, well, at least I have no real need to go out tomorrow.
The complication is that I had a brief visit from Robert. He was on his way back to London and stopped over for a couple of nights. He got in late enough Friday night that we just had our Valentine's Day dinner at a local Indian restaurant. Good enough food, but mediocre service. We had a long wait and then they never brought us our appetizers. They didn't hassle us about taking it off the bill, at least. Robert didn't have a warm jacket with him and I worried about him freezing to death on the walk back, particularly as it was drizzly. Fortunately, warming up at home was easy enough to do.
There were just flurries on Saturday morning, so we went out for breakfast at a local little family restaurant. I'd never had breakfast there before and was somewhat disappointed - too much cheese in my omelet and rather bland hash browns. The weather was decent enough that I took Robert on a drive around the local area - up to Tyson's Corner and around through Vienna and Fairfax. He agreed that Old Town Fairfax is cute. In some better weather, I'll have to take him to Alexandria, which is even cuter.
Because it was so cold out, we didn't do anything much in the afternoon. But we had evening plans that were worth braving the cold. First was dinner at Ten Penh, a fairly well known restaurant that someone at work had recommended. The meal was wonderful. Everything we tried was delicious. We shared duck rolls to start. Then I had five-spice pecan crusted halibut with Japanese eggplant and a creme brulee trio (served in cute tiny pots - kona coffee, lemongrass, and lime) for dessert. Robert was quite happy with his salmon (with shiitake mushrooms and some sort of rice dish) and banana fritters. The atmosphere was pleasant, too - quiet enough for comfortable conversation. And the service was efficient, enabling us to get to Ford's Theatre in good time to see George Gershwin Alone.
The show is Hershey Felder's one man interpretation of the life and music of Gershwin. It started out a bit slow, but quickly picked up. It was very enjoyable and well suited to such an intimate venue. Although I suppose that if you didn't like Gershwin, there wouldn't be much reason to go. But if you don't like Gershwin, there's not much reason to live, either. There was a sing-along at the end and I was amused at how well Robert knows his Gershwin lyrics. I always tend to know just bits and pieces.
We took the metro home and managed to walk the icy blocks back to my places without either killing ourselves or having him freeze to death. The weather deteriorated rapidly after that and there were already a few inches of snow by the time I got up, with more accumulating alarmingly rapidly. So we decided it was best for him to get to Dulles as soon as possible. Which still took a long time, particularly as there was an hour wait for a taxi. He called me later with the news that his flight had been cancelled. I'm hoping he managed to find something on another airline (Dulles did still have a runway open all along) as he didn't call back, which I think he would have had he gone to a hotel (as I suggested). Much as I'd have liked him to stay here, it was realistically too dangerous to travel back and forth.
For future reference, if we are going to spend Valentine's Day together, it's probably better if I meet Robert somewhere with better weather. The North Pole might suffice.
Copyright 2003 Miriam H. Nadel