Welcome to the Neighborhood

I just came home from a truly delightful shopping trip at the brand-spankin'-new Harris Teeter store in Adams Morgan. It just opened on Wednesday, after what feels like an eon of anticipation.

Now, I know there's all kinds of controversy and fear about how this will affect the neighborhood. The locally-owned markets are scared it will hurt their businesses, the neighbors are worried about increased traffic and crime (though we've got plenty of that already). And those are all valid concerns, I can't argue with them... but I can ask for folks to give it a little time to see just how the new Harris Teeter might fit in.

Because I gotta tell ya, after 4 1/2 years of really only having the Columbia Road Safeway, with all its problems, shopping at Harris Teeter today felt like a dream. They want to make a good impression, for sure, but it's hard to resist a clean, bright, fully-stocked store with super-friendly employees all wishing you a happy Friday. There's a melon bar! And a sushi bar! And a full bakery! It's still fairly small, but there's a wide selection and especially a good produce department.

Frankly, I think the biggest threat Harris Teeter presents is to Safeway itself. Cuz now that HT's open, there's no reason for me to ever go back to that Safeway. I'll still go to the small markets for little things and for their convenience, but my regular shopping will now be at Harris Teeter. That store is so nice, and so close to where I live, that it's *almost* enough to make me wish I wasn't moving. Almost.

Hooray for Culture Sunday!

Today, a bunch of ladies and I explored a variety of cultural opportunities here in our fair city:

First up, Onyah and I joined 3 of my coworkers to hit the Crafty Bastards festival at the Marie Reed Learning Center in Adams Morgan. This festival showcasing really diverse arts and crafts attracted a huge crowd, and I was really glad that the weather decided to shine down on such a great community event. The wares on display ranged from hand-screened children's tees to furry hand bags to funky buttons and coasters to some pretty impressive (and pricey) jewelry, photography, and sculpture. One thing I learned from our exploring is that apparently the octopus is a much popular animal than I thought, cuz I swear every third booth had some cutesy octopus items! This event was a great example of how DC really is a small town, cuz I ran into several people I know and my friends did, too. Six degrees of separation, indeed. Shoofly was there with her great stuff, so I hope people said hello!

Next, a new iteration of the gal-gang sampled the brunch tapas at Jaleo downtown. This was a recommendation from GPLiving (gracias), and we really enjoyed it. We'd all been to Jaleo many times before, but this was our first opportunity to sample their brunch items. It's a small list, but that actually helps you narrow down the choices. I had a poached egg with potatoes and chorizo, a plate of pork sausage with mushrooms, and a DEELISH piece of fried brioche with strawberries and apple compote. Plus a surprisingly strong mimosa made with orange liquer. Yummy all around.

Finally, one of the gal-pals and I made our way to the National Gallery to see two of their current exhibits. In the East building, we headed for "Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris." I've heard mixed reviews of this one, but I actually really liked it. I'd seen a few of Rousseau's jungle pieces in other museums over the years, but I didn't know much about him or his work at all. This exhibit is somewhat unusual in that it offers both original works by the artist and a signficant amount of information and artifacts that help put that artist in context. Rousseau never left France in his life, and his work was inspired by and/or copied from things that he saw in the Jardins de Paris botanical gardens and zoo, as well as in the tabloid news of his time. This is why his jungle paintings often seem so surreal, with animals and plants that would never actually be together in the wild. I found it really interesting to learn the context of the Victorian art world as it fell in love with the "exotic."

Our last stop was a small gallery in the West Building for "Streets of New York", a photography exhibit I read about in last week's Express. This was a collection of gritty urban photos from the likes of Weegee and Lisette Modell, among others. I enjoyed studying the rich black & white portraits of Coney Island gang members, subway riders, children at play, and socialites on their way to the opera, as well as some great portraits of the Big Apple itself. If you go see the exhibit, look for the kinda surreal photo of the Empire State Building at night. I think that was my favorite.

This was a great day, as I finally feel like I'm starting to take advantage of so many of the great things our city has to offer. The museums in our nation's capital aren't just for tourists! :-) And, of course, now I'm exhausted!

Adams Morgan Day

Since summer has decided to stick around for a while, today was the perfect day for another festival! Onyah, AS and I gladly spent the day right here in the hood.

We started with brunch at Meze, watching folks fire up the grills and set up tents all up and down 18th St. Then we made our way up and down both sides of the festival, checking out some of the fabulous and talented artists set up on Belmont, running into some people we knew, drinking some lemonade and smoothies, and even having a face-to-face conversation with the non-entrenched mayoral candidate, Marie Johns. (Verdict: We liked her, a lot.)After 2 hours, we were tired, sweaty, and ready to say goodbye to the crowds, but overall we had a great time celebrating the neighborhood!