the white house -- reVISITed

after my first attempt to visit the white house was mooted, the tenaciousness of a friend worked out a second chance for me.

interestingly, on the day of the state of the union address, i got an appointment at 9:30am.

of course, no cameras allowed, other prohibited items included (but are not limited to):

"handbags, book-bags, backpacks, purses, food and beverages of any kind, strollers, video recorders or any type of recording device, tobacco products, personal grooming items (make up, hair brush or comb, lip or hand lotions, etc.), any pointed objects (pens, knitting needles, etc.), aerosol containers, guns, ammunition, fireworks, electric stun guns, mace, martial arts weapons/devices, or knives of any size. *Umbrellas, wallets, cell phones and car keys are permitted. [...] All necessary medications must be identified and remain in the custody of an adult chaperone or contact for the entire tour."

the biggest surprise was first, that it turned out to be less hassle for security than thought and second, that it was a self-guided tour. first enjoying a walk through a gallery of photos depicting different presidents, first ladies, wedding pictures, meetings with heads of states and artists and famous first pets (did you you know there even was a first raccoon, the owner was Grace Coolidge).

the tour includes peaks into the library, the china room (because china plates and cups are displayed in cupboards), and the vermeil room on a lower level, a state dining room, green, blue, and red rooms, and another state dining room on the level that is entered via the big stairs underneath the pillars you can see from the north side facing south.

every room was guarded by a friendly big man who was also knowledgeable about contents. one guard told the story of the inscription of one mantel piece that became the white house prayer. he said it is one of the last paragraphs of a letter president john adams wrote in a letter to his wife after he spent the first night in the white house. adams was the first president in the white house and, according to the guard's story, moved in before his family followed. so he got all emotional and wrote about it. but the letter somehow never reached his wife. years later president roosevelt leaved from a collection of correspondence between john and abigail adams, lo and behold, the unopened and sealed letter fell out. roosevelt read it and liked it enough to make it part of white house culture.

what i did i learn? the white house as six floors, the two top most for private use, the level connected to the big frontal steps are the representative rooms, underneath is the kitchen and such.

it was nice to move around at my own pace. it felt a bit like in a museum, all old and beautiful and as if never touched. another guard said all rooms we saw are used at least two to three times a week. so the carpets are constantly rolled up and out again. the ropes and black rubber mats for visitors are removed every night.

the tour ended by walking down the frontal steps underneath the pillared middle front section facing pennsylvania avenue.

it was quite undramatic for a visit so long in the making.

eating german in dc - cafe mozart

he's not german but this austrian repeatedly serves somehow as a symbol of germanness in the united states. suspicious of this confusion -- mozart advertising german food -- nevertheless i was curious enough to find out what the musician would have to offer in his Kleine Konditorei.

so i stumpled upon this reservoir of milka and kinder country chocolate and fa, nivea, and penaten toileries. the latter are obviously so precious that they needed to be locked into glass cabinet. and there were other german products of all supermarket categories in a this combination of Tante Emma Laden [mom-and-pop-store] and Gaststätte [eatery].


















then i stumpled upon my new house mate who defying all stereotypes of american monolingualism surprised me with her fluent german that she had honed during four years of living in berlin. she spoke of spaetzle and sauerbraten served at mozart's and at least the first made my mouth water in addition to my curioustiy regarding everyting labled german outside germany.

then i deliberately went to mozart's.

bearing in mind the two not to great experiences of eating german in ohio. to recapitulate (see more fore blog post) there was schmidt's sausage house a buzzing bavarian style Bierhaus which served decent hearty german cuisine and deserts with just some u.s. elements thrown in.

then i tried Jürgens Bäckerei which sells lots of german (albeit overprized) products. but it turned out to be one of the worst places i've ever eaten on both sides of the atlantic. so much so that i contemplated writing a leatter to the chamber of commerce or germans busines organization or the like because of this horrible experience: the food tasted out of a can, was only luke warm, and the Brötchen served were stale, which was especially annoying being in what claims to be a Bäckerei. the atmosphere was poisened by overly loud Schlagermusik, a sort of folk music that only old people listen to. the unfriendliness of the waitress reached beyond normal german reserve.

so now it was another leap of faith that someone here would get it right. off to the austrians.

the food was good, the atmosphere a bit awkward. we were a bit early for a dinner but that wasn't it. contrary to service-desert like germany, three(1) individuals waited our table of two guests. the most senior apparently tried to teach an apprentice or new hire how to properly wait on us. the result was a bit like three sharks circling their prey, almost a bangladeshi experience.

interestingly a variety of bread including a very dark kind was put on the table as part of the dinner ceremony. to our pleasant surprise, a piano player created live background music that was not too folksy or intrusive.


















testing the vegetarian menu i could find a few items. deciding against the potato mushroom gulash, i went with the Kartoffelpuffer (latke or potato pancakes) that came with chunky apple sauce and a vegetable burger, fresh vegetables at the side. it was plenty for one plate and all well-tasting, warm, and nicely arranged. a little red radish served as holder for a fragrant rosemary twig.

















on the meat side, my second tester (even more so experience in austrian cuisine than i with ancillary gustatory knowledge in german foods) went for a Schnitzel with Spaetzle and austrian potato salad. again fresh vegetable at the side added color for the eye. the meat i can't judge but it was deemed tasty and fully consumed. the Spaetzle, which is a specialty from Southern Germany made by boiling small lumps of dough made from flour and eggs, was well spiced and a good pick. only the potato salad didn't tickle my taste buds too much. i have eaten better home-made ones that also looked more enticing.

unfortunately there was no room for the Quarkkuchen, a typical cheese cake, advertised on the menu. plus, prices were created to make you feel in europe as well, trying to match the (then) high valued euro.

overall, i can the austrian-german fusion if you have some euros extra and a lust for mainly meat with potato sides in a real restaurant.

Cafe Mozart

www.cafemozartgermandeli.com
1331 H Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20005-4729
(202) 347-5732

lalibela, amma, & el rinconcito -- three restaurants recommendations

dc makes a great lab to try foods from all over the world. so follow me on a selective three-course-meal through africa, asia, and latin america.














lalibela
-- p & 14 streets, northwest

i was promised red flavorful lentils, warned of spongy bread, and had seen it advertised all over north west and east washington dc -- ethiopean food. finally i got a chance to try. the menu offered many beef and lamb dishes and comparatively fewer vegetarian options.












but the "vegetable combinación" turned out to be a good choice. it offered color- and flavorful portions: starting counterclockwise with the big circle of yellow lentils in front, creamy spinach, spiced potatoes, ground peas, cabbage with carrots, and tomato and onion salad. in the middle were brown lentils, which were the hottest of all samples but not too hot. in terms of taste most spice mixtures reminded me of indian food except for the cabbage and fresh tomato cubes.

see in the upper right hand corner the pieces of bread? it turned out to be just as spongy as promised. it also served as the bed for the vegetables and pulses and is a very thin, flexible layer of dough similar to a crepe but slightly sour in taste, of rubbery substance, and cold. it was perfect to mob up the boiled veggies and filling to the stomach.

one of us ordered a salad and it was a pretty basic mixture of lettuce, onion, tomatoes, and cucumbers but looked fresh. everything was served promptly and our water glasses were barely empty. just having been there once i would definitely go back and maybe try one of the other vegetables dishes. although with the sample platter i feel like i already tasted every vegetarian option there is.














amma
-- 3191 m street, northwest

with simple blue tape in a nondescript building along one of georgetown's shopping axis, this establishment on the second floor was recommended by my personal restaurant guide in the city.
it's hard to forgo south indian food as it often stands for vegetarian only dishes. you don't have to worry about sorting out the meat dishes from the menu, you can order everything!! (just beware of the cilantro...)


















for starters we picked two cutely pyramid-shaped samosas -- these are deep-fried dough pockets filled with spiced potatoes and peas. they came with two dips: a bright green mildly hot mint-cilantro chutney and an extremely tasty shiny brown tamarind sauce. despite my disinclination toward the herb, i enjoyed the sauce.

because the samosas were so delicious and rather small, we gulped them down greedily before i could take a photo. after satisfying our worst hunger, we were more patient to consider the dosai menu. the dosai came in different flavors, that is made with a dough from different flours and lentils. the waiter was happy to explain some of them to us. our orders came promptly.












i chose the rolled dosai, a paneer dosai that contained shredded indian cheese and peas. the cheese is indeed fried and spiced milk solid. my dosai was so crispy that i had a hard time folding pieces to dip them in the sambar (the soup at the side) or to grab some of the juicy coconut chutney at the side. jerone picked a mysore masala dosai. it came with a layer of chutney worked inside the dough of the dosai, which was softer and more flexible to use it between thumb and fingers to take some of the mashed potatoes and onions from the filling from inside his triangular dish. there was no room for dessert. but we shall return. it was a nice restaurant experience for food, service, price, and location.




















el rinconcito
--1326 park road, northwest

this el salvadorean place offers tasty pupusas, dough pockets filled with cheese and with or without meat. the choices without meat are hard to distinguish from each other. one variety comes with a green herb that between my spanish and the waitress's english we never could identify. likewise, when the order came after a while it was hard to find the much talked about flower either.

generously, one order of these heavy pockets comes in threes. but just one or two of them will do the job for a regular meal according to my stomach. they are served with a deliciously marinated salad of shredded white cabbage and carrots at the side. this reminded me a lot of the Rohkostsalat [raw slightly sour marinated cabbage] germans eat for snacks. a spicy red sauce completes the dish.

it's a nice fairly inexpensive snack you can enjoy sitting down or as a take away when you happen to be in columbia heights. look for the "little corner" just across from the giant supermarket.