The experiences and exploits of a college grad trying to make it in the "real world:" leaving school and friends in New England, moving south, and living with her boyfriend. Watch as I pretend to be an adult.
This weekend was certainly an exercise in the above. On Friday, Elija and I sat down with his Indian cookbook and carefully copied down a list of ingredients we needed to purchase. Scrap paper in hand, we headed out to a favorite Sushi place and had a nice diner before heading across the street to the local Asian supermarket (which really is a supermarket- at least as big as your usualy Giant/Stop n' Shop, possibly larger). This place is huge- and incredibly cheap. There are miles of exotic fuits and vegetables, a seafood counter where you can pick your own fish and have it cleaned in a manner of your choosing, and more spices, unsual snacks, and frozen dumplings and buns than I have ever seen in one place. It always seems busy, and the mix of people is hardly what you find at your typical grocery store. Faces in ever hue of cream, tan, and brown peer with delicately slanted eyes at items I don't even know the name for- let alone what to do with. I love it there. We walked through the aisles, picking out the perfect chili peppers, the freshest fish, the most interesting looking candy, and payed the surprisingly small bill at the checkout, comfortably stocked for our endeavor on Saturday. We began cooking around 4:30, with plans to have everything on the table around 6:30 or 7. This wasn't a ten minute stirfry, after all! We made samosas from scratch, boiling the potatos, sauteeing the onions and other spices, mixing them together to make the filling to put in the dough we kneeded together. After poping them in the oven to bake, we began on the fish. Chilli peppers, spices, mustard, cilantro, and onion went into the food processor, resulting in an aromatic paste that we spread over the fish, potatos, and carrots. A quarter cup of milk went over that, and they sat for a bit while the herbs and spices blended together with the fish and vegetables- then it all went in the skillet. It took forever, but the result was definately worth it. Sunday we headed into town with my father for Din Sum and gallery viewing. We stuffed ourselves with delicious dumplings and headed over to the National Gallery of Art to see the Toulouse-Lactrec and Monmartre exhibit there, and then went over to the Freer Gallery to see a collection of Black and White pottery from the Song dynasty. The weather was absolutely beautiful out, sunny and clear, and the walk down the mall between the two galleries was lovely. All in all, I have to say it was a wonderful weekend- the kind that makes me realize I'll miss being so close from the Nation's capital when I leave in a few months. In other news: did you know DC has a kickball league? 'Cause I sure didn't. Who forms a kickball league??
After 22 posted at 10:40 PM
