March 7, 2016 · 3:43 am

le coupe, Columbia heights Laotian food, wonder at the renwick gallery — DC

Columbia heights mural

Columbia heights mural

Great to be visiting Noah a newcomer in DC — plus my sister and husband who sare old hands here. first stop the charming red brick row house Noah shares with three people in Columbia heights, including my dear old pal/ college roommate Myra’s son Dan! the house reminded me so much of my grandparents red brick row house in Easton Pennsylvania, but Noah’s neighborhood has a lot more going on.

imageWe had a really good breakfast at a cheerful restaurant, Le Coupe, packed with people. Excellent lamb hash, eggs Benedict, hash browns, sautéed Brussels sprouts. Next stop: The Renwick Gallery which is part of the smithsonian and located kitty corner from the White House, for a fantastic show called Wonder (or Wonders) — site specific enormous installations by 9 different artists including Maya Lin and Tara Donovan. The show could also have been entitled “Mindblowing” — really astonishing work and great to see the place packed with all kinds of people and signs in each room that said “photography encouraged.”

imageNoah and I shared some good cheesecake at a bakery on 14th street in his neighborhood and later were joined by my sister, brother law and Noah’s roommate dan for Laotian food, also ion 14th street. Really fun day!

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March 4, 2016 · 8:40 pm

RA sushi, Scordattos pizza, Zinnburger, bike trail – Tucson

imageNow in vegas, awaiting my connecting flight home after a short flight from Tucson marred only by a raucous crowd of fellow fliers who were in very high spirits and laughing and shouting so loudly that I finally remembered I had my iPod and could effectively block out the noise.

Yesterday in Tucson, dad and I ate poke Arizona style, which was listed at RA sushi, in a ritzy outdoor shopping mall, as a “sashimi bowl salad with poke sauce.”  iT was a delicious mix of raw tuna and salmon, cooked shrimp, greens, sliced avocado and a tangy soy sauce-based poke sauce. gOod strawberry lemonade too and it felt healthy enough to almost justify eating for dinner a “convertible” burger (served on half a bun, as if…) with carmelized onions at Zinnburger. a  few days earlier, we also had good pizza at skordatos in the shopping center at Campbell and river (I think) that is moving soon, nearby we are told.

Dad and I also took a really pleasant bike ride on a trail along the wash (the dirt gully in the desert that catches water during heavy rain) from near Frys in Oro Valley north and east (I think) to another outdoor shopping area across from Catalina State Park.

i feel really lucky to have had such great weather during what may be my last trip to Tucson for sometime (my father’s house is for sale) and lucky too to have been able to visit this refuge from Midwestern winters for some 20 years. Thanks mom and dad! Xox

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March 3, 2016 · 3:44 am

Catalina state park, Arizona Inn, 4th Avenue- Tucson

 Almost 30 years ago, I visited Tucson for the first time to attend the wedding of my friend Mary at the lovely old world Arizona Inn. Today, Mary and I met again at the Arizona Inn, this time for lunch on the patio, overlooking a wide green lawn bordered by pink Adobe casitas and an impeccably landscaped desert garden. It may be the last time we meet there or anywhere else in Tucson, since my dad has put his house up for sale but we enjoyed our meal and the peaceful ladies-who-lunch setting (although neither of us fit that description…we are working gals out for lunch.)

I wandered around 4th Avenue south of Speedway, which had more strung out homeless people hanging around than I remembered but the head shops, vintage stores and Goodwill shop were Balanced by some more upmarket but still affordable youthful indie boutiques including Creations, where I bought some Airy made-in-India attire.Leaving that store I was approached by an attractive Israeli woman in her own airy India attire who convinced me to visit her “very nice” jewelry store, Evon Perez, which was very nice and I eventually succumbed to her relentless but not obnoxious sales pitch and bought some silver earrings from Mexico.

My visit began yesterday, as it always does, with a hike on the canyon loop trail at Catalina State Park, an easy and scenic loop with classic desert landscape – rugged mountains with a blue sky backdrop, gumby-esque saguaro cacti, all kinds of other cacti (barrel, paddle, purple paddle, agave) and spindly ocotillo and purple wildflowers. It always reminds me of my mother and how much she loved Tucson where she and my dad bought a house here 20 years ago. I didn’t make it to Catalina this morning for the 7:30 am Wednesday bird walk but dad and I spotted a dazzling red vermillion flycatcher off in the desert preserve beyond his patio (with help from binoculars.)

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March 1, 2016 · 6:24 am

My second uber ride (in LA..and A OK)

  My second uber ride – the first was about a year ago in DC – went well and seemed well worth the money. iT cost $44 to go from Burbank to the airport and took about an hour and 10 minutes, as we took alternative routes to avoid traffic on the 405. (I left at 3 pm and arrived at about 4:10 pm, an hour and 10 minutes before my flight.

tHe car was spotless and pleasant. my driver was a nice middle aged Filipino man whose other job is working as a caregiver for four disabled people who live in a group home. he had a hardworking immigrant striver’s tale that would put the leading republican presidential candidate to shame. pAst jobs included working as a baker in Saudi Arabia and then as a baker on a cruise ship operating out of Puerto Rico. He has three grown kids and his daughter has been turned down twice recently for a tourist visa to visit him, so he tries to go Back when he can but it’s expensive and it doesn’t sound like he has much vacation time or disposable income. He managed to buy a house somewhere on the outskirts of LA for $85,ooo that he thinks may fetch $110,000 some day. And all this on a $13 an hour salary plus his uber job. And these are the people we want to keep out of our country? Really? 

noW on a plane flying to Tucson to see my dad after a great visit with my brother and his family.

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February 29, 2016 · 7:25 am

Daisy Mint Thai, cherry froyo, south Pasadena

image imageAnother day, another place to explore. This time Pasadena, which I last visited in sabout 1986. lUcy, mike, Dirck and I met scott tuft for Sunday lunch at Daisy Mint, a very good Thai restaurant and then went to Cherry, for frozen yoghurt.

 

We walked around the expensive shops in the pretty downtown, drove past some gorgeous Spanish style mansions and around the pretty little bungalows and interesting indie shops of south Pasadena (a place I could almost seeing us living in) and then thru the grentrifiying highland park back to Burbank (where we started the day with a steep hike up the hills for a,spectacular view from on high of the city.

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February 28, 2016 · 7:43 am

gRand central market, the last bookstore, cliftons cafeteria — downtown LA

 I am still not convinced that in a place as sunny, green and vibrantly landscaped as LA, with mountains and the ocean and beaches, it would be wise to live in the faded grandeur of downtown LA.

 bUt it does have its hipster outposts and it was fun to visit them today. First stop the jam packed Grand central Mrket where we had excellent falafel and corned beef sandwiches and of course overpriced espresso in a cavernous old warehouse.

 fRom there we walked past old facades and way too many homeless people along sidewalks with a faint smell of pee to another old cavernous building that houses “the last bookstore” another new hipster hotspot, packed with used and new books and people (mostly used, not new). The craziest place of all was Clifton’s cafeteria, a revived cafeteria style restaurant and bar and handout with three or four meandering floors and crazy western decor, a mock 3 story sequoia, a huge stuffed buffalo encased in glass, and old fashioned selection of cafeteria fare from Tuna salad in a plastic cup to  German sweet chocolate cake. It was a good place to drop,for a bit and sit in stand oversized chairs made of overly shellacked tree bark.

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February 27, 2016 · 7:02 am

Lucky llama, Carpenteria beach, Lilly’s tacos/the mission/Mcconnells ice cream: Santa Barbara 

     The last time I passed through Santa Barbara was in 1983 in a torrential downpour and it was all a blur. I vaguely remember Spanish arcades and palm trees. This time I got a much better look and it was lovely.

 We started about 15 miles south in the laid back beach town of Carpenteria, where as per my brothers recommendation, we stopped for coffee and an Acai bowl at a mellow coffee place called the lucky llama. Then onto the beach where we walked in the fog along what looked and felt like soft pristine sand until we returned to the car and realized our feet were coated with sticky tar that we first thought was from pine needles but later realized must be from the oil spill last year. I made the mistake of trying to scrape it off with my fingers which then got coated. pIty the poor wildlife that had to deal with this sticky stuff.

 bUt on we went to lovely Santa Barbara where the Spanish style architecture , the giant palm trees, the bourganvilla was enchanting. Reminded me at times of Santa Fe, Naples (Florida) and even the plaza in Kansas City. We had good humble tacos at Lilly’s taqueria and explore the shops nearby, then we toured the pretty old stone mission (shades of Peru and Tucson), walked to the end of the wharf for a dazzling view back across the water past the Spanish white buildings and the mountains beyond., drove around some of the neighborhoods with pretty old craftsman and mission style houses, ate some ice cream at McConnell’s (since 1949) and drove back to la via orange and lemon gloves and strawberry stands to Burbank.

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February 26, 2016 · 7:41 am

cOmmisary, Toro sushi and poke house, larchmont Blvd., salt and straw –an LA day!

  wHat a great day in LA. perfect weather, blue sky, sunshine, greenery, pink cherry blossoms, red and purple bourganvilla, makes my Midwestern winter weary soul explode with joy. Best of all is my adorable niece Lucy, who we got lots of quality time with at the start and end of the day.

iN between, we had coffee at the Commissary which really does make Burbank feel like an industry town. Outside on the patio, everyone except us was talking show is. Some guys were discussing the script for a horror film, a woman was talking about her commercials. Later we met mike for excellent poke, my favorite Hawaiian food which is now in LA as well as NYC. We ate outside at Toro sushi and poke house on Burbank’s main drag.

  nExt stop, larchmont Blvd where we went to a great walk through an elegant neighborhood full of Spanish and Tudor mansions, all beautifully landscapes, many now with drought resistant plantings. We stopped at salt and straw for some artisanal ice cream (skipping the too weird flavored with ingredients like salt, avocado and figs, for some delicious “chocolate gooey brownie” and bought some sanders at the village shoe store near by.

love being here and being with my family here!

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February 22, 2016 · 4:41 pm

Balmy February day, Van Gogh bedrooms: chicago

We got lucky during a quick trip to Chicago to celebrate my sister’s 50th birthday last weekend (feb. 20). The temperature was near 60 degrees.  Runners along the lakefront wore sleeveless tops and t-shirts. Bicylicists were out in force. Along Michigan Avenue, many strollers, including me, had their puffy down coats tied around their waists.  A year ago when we drove to Chicago, our car temperature gauge kept sinking lower and lower below zero.

This trip we met family at Cafecito on E. Congress for some good and fast Cuban food (Cuban sandwich, roasted pork platter) and then on to the Art Institute where we had advance tickets to the Van Gogh “Bedrooms” show, the highlight of which were the artist’s three yellow bedroom paintings, usually found in three different museums, far apart. It was really interesting to compare the three side by side. Reminded me of a few things: a painting we have at home that is two different versions of the same scene (different light and perspective); how my mother’s paintings changed as her dementia advanced; and the People mag. feature where you pick out the differences in two versions of the same photo. I spent a lot of time starring over the shoulders of fellow museum-goers starring at the three paintings before moving onto to find a very cool film that made this exercise much easier – with a screen split into three segments so you could do a close comparison of different aspects of the paintings, for example the three different versions of the bednight table. They also had a fun option where we could put ourselves inside a Van Gogh painting. (see below)…add it to our collection (which includes posing as Grant Wood’s American Gothic couple outside the Iowa house where he set the painting.chicagopix2

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February 6, 2016 · 6:00 pm

A little Hawaii in NYC – Poke!

hawaii-2012-0891I first fell for Poke in – where else – Hawaii and haven’t had it since our trip there several years ago. So I was pleased to see a story this week in the NYTimes about the new Poke places popping up in Manhattan. Some of the Poke is a little too orange and creamy for my taste – k raw salmon slathered with orange midwestern salad dressing (but is actually chile aoili and quite good. spicy too.)

The kind I really fell for in Hawaii is red chunks of raw ahi tuna in a sesame oil/ salty soy sauce (the japanese version, Shoyu) with maybe some shredded carrots or seaweed or avocado.)

I first spotted it in the Big Island (see photo above!) when a hipster surfer guy staying at our bed & breakfast was eating some from a plastic takeaway carton. Had to try it – and it was delicious. Then I found it in odd places, including a little hole-in-the-wall natural foods place (Ruffage) restaurant off Waikiki Beach in Honululu; a very upscale version at the elegant Alan Wong’s (Obama’s favorite Honolulu restaurant)  and then on the side of a two-lane highway, being sold out of the back of a parked white pickup by a guy with two Styrofoam coolers full of the stuff. I lived to tell the tale (I was a little concerned about food poisoning but it was delicious.) Short of another trip to Hawaii (some day, I hope!), I’ll now look for it in NYC. – best spot according to the NYTimes is Sons of Thunder in Murray Hill.

Sons of Thunder

  • American
  • $$
  • 204 East 38th Street, Murray Hill
  • 646-863-2212

Pokéworks

  • American
  • $$
  • 63 West 37th Street, Midtown South
  • 212-575-8881

Wisefish Poké

  • American
  • $$
  • 263 West 19th Street, Chelsea
  • 212-367-7653

East Coast Poké

  • American
  • $$
  • 186 West 4th Street, West Village
  • 718-887-6902

Hungry City

By LIGAYA MISHAN FEB. 4, 2016

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