Moonrise Kingdom

I just got back from seeing Moonrise Kingdom at the Osio Cinemas and it was awesome. Just charming and innocent. It made me feel like a kid again which is a delightful feeling. 

It takes place on an island off the coast of New England in 1966 and is about two kids who are "troubled" or misunderstood and plot to run away together.  Sam (Jared Gilman) is a "khaki scout" and orphan who has been going from one unsuccessful foster home to the next and Suzy (Kara Hayward) is the daughter of these two work obsessed lawyers who are having a tough time with their blossoming, outrageous nerd of a daughter.  The interaction between the kids is genuine, so honest.  Dramatic, as kids are, you can really remember the days when you were just so passionate about something that it just consumed your everything.  (Some of us are still that way but it is considered a juvenile trait.)  It was also nice to see Bill Murray, who played Suzy's father and Bruce Willis, the island cop, in these awkward, sepia-tone roles.  

A really cool thing about the movie is that it opened with clips from the 1946 movie Instruments of the Orchestra which features The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, a musical composition by the British composer, Benjamin Britten.  In my research after seeing Moonrise Kingdom, I actually learned that Benjamin Britten wrote quite a bit of music for children and young performers.  Very fitting for the movie. I appreciated the musical selection for the film, it fit very well.  

The filming was done very appropriately for the plot.  The way the camera moved was like a child's attention span and focus, I found that to really accentuate the young theme and atmosphere of the movie. The way the camera person moves through the house or follows the characters is how a child would, focusing on random, interesting things and skimming over the boring adult stuff. 

And the guy narrating (Bob Balaban) is awesome with his glasses, red coat and monotone voice. 

The little kitten in the basket was also the cutest thing.

Overall, I recommend you see this movie, it's fun.  

Parker-Lusseau Pastries

One of my favorite bakeries of all times is Parker-Lusseau Pastries.  One of their locations is on Harnell St. (see map), in an old, non-reinforced building.  There is a little sign by the door that basically says, should there be an earthquake, the building may or may not hold up.  I'll take that risk for good pastries. 

Now that we have that out of the way, you must understand the amazingness of the pastries.

The almond croissant is my favorite pastry there.  It's filled with marzipan, covered with slivered almonds and dusted with powdered sugar.  The dough is also just perfect and on parts of it you can taste that when it was baking, the marzipan and sugar caramelized a little bit with the dough so it's kind of chewy and delightful. 

The canele is not to be missed.  A canele is a small French pastry the inside is soft and custardy and the outside is dark brown and a sugary shell.  Great as an afternoon snack with a cup of coffee or tea.

The moka is the best, made with wonderful chocolate and great espresso.  If you want a real treat, get it with whipped cream on top.  Whether with the whipped cream or not, they'll sprinkle some chocolate powder on top which is just like an angel's kiss on top of an already great thing.

Extra perks to note: all the girls that work there are fabulously fashionable, they use all sustainable and compostable products, they serve water out of a blue ceramic pitcher with sliced lemons in it, they sell organic apples on a cute little platter, the ciabatta bread is delicious and coated with semolina and they have drink stamp cards - your 11th drink is free!

Go grab a pastry!

yes, bakery is open...wonderful

Gelato for breakfast

Yes, I'm having gelato at 9:43 am. I'm in DC and it's hot and the gelato is delicious.  I stopped at Pitango on 7th St, downtown.  I ordered rhubarb sorbet. Quite lovely. Tangy, soft, cold, delicious. A nice break in my day off that I'm spending walking around the nation's capital.

Friends in DC

So, I am attending a conference in Washington DC at the US Institute for Peace.  

It's quite amazing the number of people who are willing to get together in the name of peace.  You don't hear so much about this on the news - violence sells.  Sensationalism rules in media, unfortunately. 

I have met people from all over the world at this conference who care about the well being of the world. How refreshing! We have active duty military officers (from both the U.S. and Canada), a member from an NGO in Pakistan, a Diplomat from the Democratic Republic of Congo, people from the State Department and the National Democratic Institute, a Spanish UN Program Officer currently stationed in Ethiopia, among other people in other arenas who simply care about peace and the importance of proactive and sustainable relationships between nations. 

Beyond what I am learning, I am humbled by the ability of human beings to forge relationships despite cultural, language, any barriers!  I have made a friend.  She is a gorgeous woman from Congo.  She is about 6 feet tall, without her heels that she wears daily.  Furthermore, she wears these gorgeous dresses of bright colors, exquisite patterns, shoulder ruffles and textile belts of matching color and pattern, around her waist.  When she walks in the room she commands attention.  And then you say “Bonjour, you look beautiful today!” and she erupts “Baaa!” Throwing her head back in embarrassed laughter as she softly touches your arm.

English is her third language as the official language of Congo is French, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends!  It doesn’t mean I can’t tell her she is beautiful every day and smile at her embarrassed laugh.  I hope somebody similarly embarrasses you today.  

Washington Monument, view from the US Institute for Peace building

Swim

After a long day, cold and pent up in a conference room I trudged up 23rd St. to the Foggy Bottom metro stop.  It was hot, about 92˚F with 82% humidity.  I pushed my way down into the metro's abyss along with the thousands of other brain-dead commuters.  I try not to think about the reality of where I am or how I am traveling because otherwise it would scare me too much.

I squatted down, leaning against the wall that divides the seat from the train's door.  I read my book:
Comfort by Brett C. Hoover, more on that in a subsequent post.  I got off at my stop and exited the metro station.  It was still hot as Hebes, except now it was raining.  People walked home like zombies.  Everybody knew where they were going but they seemed to lack emotion or purpose.  I got to my friend's apartment and quickly grabbed my things to go to the pool.  After 8 hours of sitting, I needed to move.  We walked to the pool, chatting, as friends do.

The pool was extremely crowded.  Not what I am used to, but then again, I normally attend the pool back home and at 6 in the morning.  It was really nice to see so many people swimming.  I shared a lane with 2 other men.  When we would coincide at the end of the lane, I would offer them to swim ahead of me, explaining that I was a slow swimmer.  One young guy said "Slow and steady wins the race, right?"  A huge smile came across my face, "that's right."

Thank you, cute swimmer man.  You and your 4 leaf clover tattoo on your left shoulder made my day.  

Down the coast with the ladies

This post is a little outdated but I still really wanted to share.

A couple of weeks ago, I went down Hwy 1 to the New Camoldoli Hermitage with my mama and her lady friends.  We packed a picnic and drove the hour+ to the Hermitage, a Benedictine hermitage in the Santa Lucia Mountains, just a bit south of Big Sur.  We had planned on going to watch a mass and then have a picnic overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  On the way down we talked about all sorts of things.  A friend of my mom's talked about how there was a purse she really wanted but that it was too expensive.  Another woman expressed her frustration with a class she was taking.  It was really nice, a change of pace to spend time with these ladies and really learn from them.  It's amazing how much you can learn by listening but it's also astounding how much you can learn by having others listening to you and listening to yourself.  I think that is rarely addressed in society.  We are pushed to be good listeners.  I agree, listening, when appropriate is a very important quality to have as a person.  But being able to speak and express and listen to yourself and allow others to really hear what you are saying is also invaluable.

Nepenthe was mentioned, a restaurant with a killer view that neither my mom or I had ever been to.  My mom gracefully leaned over to me and said that we should not have packed picnics and just had lunch at Nepenthe.  Oh well, next time, I thought.

When we arrived at the hermitage, we stood quietly outside of the church and someone suggested we take our picnic home and eat at Nepenthe anyways.  Oh! Daring!

We got to the hermitage and watched the mass.  Silence was to be respected, it was quite a different experience.  I made a very conscious effort to not speak.  My mom's friend leaned over to me and said "do you like my shoes?"  She was wearing turquoise sandals that I had noticed before but not yet had the chance to compliment.  A huge smile came across my face and I nodded.  She forcefully squeezed her eyes and nodded her head forward "shoot, we're supposed to be quiet, it's so hard for me."  It was really surprising that it wasn't me who couldn't keep quiet.

After mass, we went to the bookstore and bought delicious fruitcake made by the monks.  And I bought chocolate :)

We loaded up in the car and headed to Nepenthe.  The drive along the coast is just beautiful as you can see in the photos below.  We quickly found parking and a table and sat to enjoy lunch on the sunny terrace overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  I had a bloody Mary, which was very well made!  Be sure to order it when you go, especially if it's a hot day.  The most popular dish is the Ambrosia Burger, but I had a turkey sandwich that had cranberry sauce in it, which was very good.  The Beet Salad also looked very appetizing.

We sauntered down to the Phoenix gift shop and marveled at artisan jewelry, books about the Monterey Bay area, sampled lotions made locally and enjoyed the various art that was displayed.  This gift shop is a great place to buy unique gifts from the area!

view from the car going down Hwy 1 

baby blue 

from the Hermitage, you can hardly see the ocean from the fog! 

Lunch place :)

ciao bella 

d

Crab cakes in Baltimore

I am on the East Coast for a conference in DC this upcoming week and came a bit early to see some family and friends.

Today my brother and I went to Baltimore to get crab cakes.  From where he lives, that is about 45 minute to an hour drive.  We got a late start, went to the gym, had a swim, showered, got on the road, forgot we needed gas, went back for gas, got back on the road, listened to the GPS which gave us bad directions, re-routed, stopped to use the restroom, and eventually made it to Baltimore.  If you don't know me, this is typical of my road trip style.  The journey is all the adventure, the destination is just an added bonus.  

We found parking in Baltimore rather easily considering that there is a sports event today.  We saw a lot of people dressed in orange jerseys, which even for a non-sports fan is indicative of some event.  We walked to Lexington Market, if when you're in the Baltimore Area, check it out! It's an indoor market speckled with fruit stands and fish vendors, bakeries and florists.  There was a live band jamming and people were gathered dancing, there's so much life and soul in this city! I bounced my head to the beat of the music as we walked along in search of these legendary crab cakes.

We finally made our way to Faidleys Seafood, and the line wrapped around the perimeter of the inside of the building! We planted ourselves in line which surprisingly moved quite fast.  The smell of the fried crab cakes did not help our hunger but it did help in the pre-meal anticipation.  We got to the front of the line and ordered: 2 lump crab cakes, an order of mussels and an order of calamari.  The cashier wrote our order on the paper place mat that fit in the red tray and our food was almost immediately placed on the tray.  We chatted with Bill Devine, the co-owner of Faidley's Seafood.  He asked where we were from and I answered California.  "Are you a movie star?" he said with a smirk on his face, I giggled, "no - I mean yes yes, I am!"

We took our trays and went over to the high tables where we ate standing up.  It was delicious.  The crab cakes are lightly fried on the outside and soft and moist on the inside.  They kind of crumble and fall apart when you push your fork into them.  Each bite melts perfectly in your mouth with such simple flavors that just work together.  We slowly ate our meal, soaking the calamari in hot sauce, dipping the mussels in garlic butter and savoring each bite of crab cake just as is.  We finished our meal, very full and wobbled back to the car...it was wonderful. 

There is a definite distinction between male and female crabs.  From what I've researched, male crabs are meatier and therefore more desireable

The super crowded oyster bar

FISHY! 

Oysters are said to be aphrodisiacs...hence the red sign.  Also, this young man was shucking oysters so fast it was incredible!  

Nancy Devine Faidley, co-owner of Faidley Seafood and the "crab cake queen," she is the creator of the famous Faidley Lump Crab Cake. 

Lump crab cake from Faidley's

Calamari

Mussels with garlic butter 

"Baltimores Best" - Faidleys crab cakes + me :)