Day in DC

The Lebanese food was excellent at the Bacchus Restaurant last night. We started with appetizers: homemade cheese rolled in sumac, zataar (spice mix), tomato, and onion, and eggplant in pomegranate sauce. Stacy's entree was an eggplant dish and mine was lamb. Enjoyed it with Lebanese wine.

On the way, we stopped in an upscale Italian restaurant for a cocktail and were entertained by a gentleman at the end of the bar trading recipes with the chef, who would bring him bowls of sauce to smell with ooh's and aah's.

This morning we had brunch in Georgetown with Caryn and Bob (see photo, excuse the sun spots). We toured their lovely home that they were forced out of for the last five months while much of the walls and ceilings were rebuilt. They've been back in it for only a few days. Met their dog Jefferson. It was great to meet Bob and reconnect with Caryn (always one of my favorite cousins).

They dropped us off at the Spy Museum, a surprisingly good private museum that had a ton of documented spy apparatus in a theatrical setting, but really just the right mix (a satellite listening post disguised as a tree trunk that was actually used by the CIA as well as James Bond's Austin Martin from the movies).

We also spent a couple of hours in the National Gallery looking at Islamic and contemporary art.

We just returned from dinner at Famous Luigi's Italian restaurant where we had pizza with homemade mozzarella.

Tomorrow, we leave DC to arrive in Crisfield, MD by 12:30 to catch the mail boat to Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay. The island has a small population, almost all of which are descendants of one family (the Crocketts). It's a Methodist community (read: "dry") and the only transportation is golf carts and bicycles (we are scheduled to be picked up by the proprieter of the inn in a golf cart). Fishing is the mainstay, so we expect to eat well (Stacy, a vegetarian, my even try some fish). We're only staying on the island for one night (I mean, there isn't going to be much to do but eat and walk around) and then head for Rehoboth Beach. I don't expect an internet connection, so I'll be out of touch until we return to the mainland.



Caryn and Bob