Prince Edward County

Friday, Liz and I loaded up the car with our weekend wear and one happy baby and set off in the pouring rain to Prince Edward County to see Ellen and Diane. How ironic to be visiting American friends in Canada!

We spent two busy nights and days at their rented house in Milford where they hosted us with the most delicious dinners (wild salmon Nicoise salad, soft multigrain bread, lemon tarragon risotto and homemade strawberry pie), chilled local Waupoos wine and tours around the county. We discovered an old-fashioned bakery in Picton (plus an old school Stedman's department store), visited an artist's co-op, and had coffee at the Bean Counter Cafe, picked up a stack of second-hand books for Ella, shopped at the Milford Market, walked along Sandbanks, climbed massive dunes, popped into the Mad Dog Gallery, played with Devi, my dog-niece, and gazed out at the still water from their tidy dock.

I'm back in Ottawa now, for two more slower-paced days before heading back home to DC.

Whalesboner

This morning, I babysat Elspeth while Jeremiah had a sleep-in. He came to about noon and the nanny had arrived, so he and I drove to Whalesbone for one of their famous fish sandwiches. We split a large haddock with really delicate fish and caramelized onions and grainy mustard on soft ciabatta. Pretty delicious, but what isn't when you eat it in the car while a rainstorm beats a drum on the roof?

Guess Who I Miss?

Arriving in Ottawa

How did this happen in only 4 months? Ottawa no longer feels like home. The streets and places to which I used to feel so connected seem sort of parochial now. Food prices are higher. I'm not up on gossip at my old workplace.

Uh, but spending time with my friends, especially today with Sarah Shaughnessy, makes me feel really comfortable and loved. I visited one of my 120 Holland neighbours today, too. Jeremiah (Bartram, not to be confused with my brother, Jeremiah Soucie) is a dear, sweet friend of mine, born only three years after my father. It was so wonderful to see him.

But. Things are different now and so am I and so Ottawa feels different too. My condo is not mine anymore, my brother has a baby, everyone I know is pregnant or a new mother, my friend Robin is moving away.

Adam said that this trip, more than just being a lot of fun, would oddly make me feel more at home in Washington. I think he's probably right.

Last Weekend

Last weekend, Adam and I had a happy hour dinner at Oyamel, one of José Andrés' many amazing Penn Quarter restaurants. Oyamel is his small plates take on Mexican food: a scallop ceviche served on the half shell (the 'shell' being a halved key lime) and spritzed with a tequila atomizer; concentrated slow-roasted salsa and salty house chips; aquas frescas; Chihuahua cheese quesidillas; papas el mole (essentially, amazing salty twice-fried French fries smothered in queso fresco, Mexican creme and dark, spicy chocolate mole sauce -- a Mexican take on poutine!); and rum-soaked pineapple cake

Our whole intention in meeting for dinner was to actually hear José Andrés speak at the National Archives that evening, but we lingered too long at dinner, so by the time we got to the archives, they were full and turning people away by the dozens.

But that was a good thing because Adam's cousin, Sadie, showed up in DC that night from Chigaco, via Vegas, Santa Barbara, Hollywood, San Francisco and, before that, England. The two of them went out for a late bite and then we met her at the National Gallery of Art the next afternoon and toured her around the modern art wing before taking her to pick up some dinner for her bus ride to NYC.

Adam hasn't spent much time with Sadie, as she's quite a bit younger than us and wasn't even born when his family left England to immigrate to Canada. They recounted all their memories of each other, however. But none could top Sadie's story of visiting Adam's family in New Brunswick when Adam was just turning sixteen. He was apparently so obsessed (focused!) on learning to drive that Sadie and her mum made Adam a personalized driver's license birthday cake from gingerbread and frosting!

It was fun to get to know Sadie as an adult. She's just the loveliest girl with a soft voice and easy laugh. Having a British accent just makes her even cuter. She and I had loads of fun comparing notes on US dollars (all the cash is one colour!) and American-sized restaurant portions, and Adam was quite sad to see her off when we parted ways at the Metro.

Last Days

The last couple days with Chris and Sarah seemed over as quickly as the visit began. We had more time in the little swimming pool on our rooftop and visited the National Museum of American History (the boys were totally excited to see C-3PO and Ric Flaire's famous feathered cape), the Lincoln Memorial, Dupont Circle (where Adam got to ride some random dude's really cool fold-up bike), Cafe Atlantico (an incredible, fifteen-year DC institution that's closing down in a week!), BGR The Burger Joint, Dean & Deluca and Georgetown.

And now, we've had our fill of museums, I have to start hitting the books again and Adam is a bit sad, missing Chris. I'll still post periodic updates though and stay tuned for our big road trip in August.

More, more, more!

Another awesome day in DC with Chris and Sarah. This morning began with Adam's famous (okay, only to me) buttermilk kamut pancakes with thick Greek yogurt and dark maple syrup. Plus, Chris put on a piping pot of spicy, dark coffee from Bourbon (a small direct-to-customer chain with a location in our neighborhood).

We all put on our walking shoes again and Adam guided us up Embassy Row to The Textile Museum to see a show on green design (including a knitted leopard 'pelt', a delicate paper sculpture made to look like the undulating rhythm of moving water, a turquoise-coloured men's kimono and fourth-century tapestries). There were also lots of workshops going on in the museum's beautiful backyard gardens. Adam and Chris tried making paper from invasive plants with Patterson Clark (The Washington Post's natural history columnist whose company is called Alien Weeds). They were working with mulberry bark to make the paper and we all got to try a mulberry! Sarah and I went to another station to stencil repurposed muslin cloth. And it was a 'make and take,' so we brought our work home! The highlight was watching a black ewe get her summer shearing. There were a lot of kids crowding around and scaring her silly, but the shearer (a woman!) kept her cool and got all that hot wool off the poor thing. She was feeling pretty fine afterward!

The four of us then tromped down to 14th and U where we had lunch at Eatonville, a modern soul food restaurant with large, American-sized servings. We were starving, I think, because we inhaled everything on our table: Gruyere-rosemary grits, buttermilk biscuits, scrambled eggs, extra-sharp mac and cheese, steamed and salted collard greens, frittata, lavender lemonade and cold ginger beer spiked with capsicum.

We trundled down to the mall to check out the Air and Space Museum, but we started to flag after about an hour and decided to come home for naps, video games, iced tea, Haagan Dazs and long dip in the pool. We all strolled down to Chipolte for dinner (and everyone went back for seconds!), but Sarah and I threw in the towel afterward, walking home together for an early bedtime while Adam and Chris went out on the town to The Big Hunt, a multi-level beer bar that was taken over by an area microbrewery for tonight only.

More to do tomorrow. More, more, more!

What Else Is There?

Adam's best man, Chris, and his partner Sarah (plus, their little but in the oven), are visiting for five days. Since they arrived on Thursday, we have happily toured them aound the city, visiting the National Art Gallery, Teaism (delicious vegetarian food), Takorean (my favorite food truck!), Truckaroo (a monthly event where about two dozen food trucks set up in an empty parking lot and serve hundreds of hungry people), Pentagon City Shopping Centre, our little swimming pool, the White House and Cork (where the ceiling is impossibly high, the wine is good and cheap and the food is always epic).

With all this, plus gorgeous weather and Adam laughing like he only does with Chris, what else is there?