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.