veggin' out in D.C.

This weekend I took the Chinatown bus down to Washington DC for an overnight trip. Taking the bus sure beats that Washington traffic, solves those vicious, costly parking problems and also shaves off over 30 bucks for two round-trip tickets from the standard bus fare. I travelled to DC a lot with my family as a kid, but never since, and I had always meant to while living so close by.
I was meeting up with my oldest friend, whom I've known since I was a toddler. She, an open-minded meat-eater and myself, of course, a raw-ist. Coming up with an appropriate place to eat for two radically different people didn't prove to be much of a challenge, however. Despite the many misconceptions of DC, it proved to be a pretty progressive city. She directed me to vegdc.com, a vegetarian-based dining guide that breaks the city's many neighborhoods into manageable dining destinations. Mulling over where to eat the night before, we decided to keep it open-ended and found a little Mediterranean cafe, Pasha Bistro, close by my luxe hotel where we could nosh on a couple of really fresh, delicious salads, and some rather nice, but inexpensive white wine.
I say luxe hotel, but it was really just a Doubletree. After so many risky choices in the past, this standard proved superb. Complete with Temporpedic mattresses and a mini-suite, we milked our check-out until the very last minute. Highly recommended, very central and affordable.
For dinner on the first night, we stopped in a bustling Japanese restaurant on N st and 21st, which doesn't deserve a mention by name, but does deserve a nod for the incredibly interesting health salad on the menu chock-full of over 5 kinds of seaweeds!
I can't forget to mention, Second Story Books, located close by Dupont Circle, that is not to be missed. I ran in there to pick up a specific book and ended up spending $40 on things I couldn't possibly live without. Aside from having books on everything under the sun, and lots of them, they also have a nice selection of first editions and sell leather-bound sets of all the classic writers, like my favorites, E.M. Forster and Thomas Hardy. I'm secretly plotting my next visit back, only it would have been helpful to have the car trunk to pop our heavy load in, instead of lugging them around all next day in that hot DC sun. what fun!
Nightlife in DC made me feel like an old hag, not because I wasn't decked out in the heels and short skirts that the future lobbyists of America were wearing but because it was a definite college scene. All the while I'm thinking, "was I ever that annoying?" My partner certainly didn't fit the usual frat-boy uniform of the many young men in the street, so we called it an early night and stayed in the comfort of our room.
The following day we stopped in Java Green, a place I was originally excited to try, but wary, based on my boyfriends' previous adventure there the day before. He pointed out the lazy, oblivious owner when we entered the cafe, which is set up for seriously high-volume. I think for a vegan, this place would prove to be a jewel, but for a raw-ist, it proved to be a conundrum. According to their menu, they had a lot of raw food offerings, but none of them were that tasty. The kale salad was too sweet, and the seaweed-cucumber soup was OK, but I wouldn't order it again. We ordered two very expensive raw smoothies and I swear I watched her pour soy milk into mine in place of nut milk and scoop huge scoops of soy ice-cream into my boyfriends' pina colada. That said, I watched as many errors were made, all the while the owner sat obliviously enjoying food with friends. Two smoothies cost over 18 bucks and I'm not even sure they were made correctly. erg.
The best part of the day came when we were wandering the Mall and a park ranger gave us free tickets to tour the White House Gardens! It only happens seven days a year, what the hell. We were probably the two most unlikely people to ever step foot on the White House lawn, but here we were, laughing every step of the way. Pretty tight security, all in all. One guard took my tea ball that I travel with, held it up, shrugged and put it back in my bag. As an archivist, I found it really fun to compare the photos posted on the lawn of past presidents planting trees with the lush grounds that exist today.
Word to the wise: avoid, at all costs, going to the Smithsonian on weekends. Unless you love crying babies, dodging humongous baby carriages and dealing with about a billion people in your face at all times.
The highlight of our trip was dinner at Zaytinya, another Mediterranean restaurant. Although there were many meat-based options on the menu, they had a vegetarian mezze menu (small plates) and we were able to indulge in a chilled yellow tomato soup, amazing olives, lightly grilled asparagus and delicious salads. 6pm time to go, chug that wine, get on that bus and hold it til you get to your destination. It went something like that.