One night out, then non stop cleaning

Friday Jill picked me up at work, then we headed into DC. Our first stop was dinner at Equinox. Jill had taken me there once before for my birthday, and we’d much enjoyed it, so since we had to be in the area for the show, I decided we should go back. The amuse-bouche was a ball of fried risotto and a shot of cream of cauliflower soup with some curry flavorings. Not a fan of the soup due to my distaste for curry, but the risotto was tasty. Next, Jill had the cream of red pepper soup with shrimp and crab salad, while I had the foie gras with a pear-rhubarb compote – the compote alone was worth the price of admission.

For entrées, I had the strip steak with asparagus, creamed spinach and gorgonzola while Jill got the farm chicken with “dirty rice”. Unbeknownst to us, “dirty rice” was not slang for wild rice, but rice cooked with chicken livers. Jill nearly gagged, then sent her plate back for some innocuous steamed spinach. That was the only blemish on the night, both meats were excellent. We’d thought about trying the cheese course, but abstained. A good idea, because as dessert arrived we were both getting full. Jill had a dish with three sorbets (grape, coconut and raspberry) while I had the cheesecake, which came with some glazed strawberries and a scoop of strawberry sorbet. The only bad thing (for me) is I felt the strawberry sorbet was seasoned too stongly with basil – otherwise it was exceptional. With the bill came a macaroon, jelly and whit chocolate truffle, and if we were feeling full, that put us over the top. Another great meal there, and worth the $$$.

We got to walk off some of the meal by walking about 5 blocks to DAR Constitution Hall. Damien Rice had no opener, so he came on late, so we actualy had almost an hour to kill, so we just read in our seats. I’d discovered Damien when he guested on the Tori Amos song “The Power Of Orange Knickers”, and had wanted to check him out when he came last fall to the Lincoln Theatre, but Jill had a conflict. A shame, as I think we would have enjoyed that concert more. We still had a good time, but in the meantime Lisa Hannigan stopped touring with him, and she’s a big part of his albums. Also cellist Vyvienne Long was absent, and with only testosterone on stage, it turned into more of a rock show. Not that that was bad, just that we’d expected the chamber-pop from his albums. We headed out early and went to bed, as I’d been pretty short on sleep during the week.

The weekend was filled with cleaning – good thing we had an extra day. We’d been saying for a year we were going to clean the office. It was dreaded because when we’d clean the house, we’d clean the rest and just shut the office door, and things had been literally been piling up in there for years. But we agreed to do it before Jill started her summer classes, and that’s tomorrow. So for three straight days we pulled stuff out, then sorted, threw away and recycled things, sometimes while watching TV. We got the new bookcase in and we’re almost done, and it looks totally different – Jill thought it was like being on a home improvement show.

Movies I watched while sorting: The Rock (I liked Sean Connery, although Nicolas Cage was just a bit too whiney as the nerd turned agent), Sidewalks Of New York (I loved Edward Burns’ first two films, The Brothers McMullen and She’s the One, but the third, No Looking Back, was so depressing I gave up. I think that was a mistake, as Sidewalks was a return to form.) and V For Vendetta (the best Alan Moore adaption yet, liked it more than I thought I would). Jill and I also finished off the season of 24 (it bogged down in the middle, but finished off nicely).

Saturday I grilled some kielbasa, Sunday Jill wanted the big burgers n’ dogz cookout, and tonight I heated some frozen chicken dishes. I also grilled a leg of lamb and ate of some it by itself and as a lamb omelette (Jill is squicked as she’s reading this because she doesn’t like lamb or egg dishes).

So we didn’t do much besides the big clean. We’d thought about heading over to ViVa! Vienna! and checking out Mary Ann Redmond or the Brindley Brothers, but we just didn’t have the time. Luckily we get a redo on Mary Ann as she’ll be at the Herndon Festival Thursday, kicking off the festival and one of the weekends I look forward to the most (nothing beats concerts we can walk to). And we won’t be doing any cleaning next weekend.

2 thoughts on “One night out, then non stop cleaning”

  1. It’s too bad you didn’t see the look I just gave the computer screen when I read “lamb omelette” EEWWW!! I can barely stand to write it! *shudder*. Yep, hate to admit it, but you’ve got me pegged on that one. -Jilly

  2. I really get a kick out of this because I also typically do not like lamb, yet Missy made a leg of lamb on Sunday & it was actually pretty good…lamb omelette, though?…I think not 🙂

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