Washington, DC

Last two nights in DC! We decided to live it up by going first for Ethiopian Food. Unfortunately,
I forgot to take a picture of that meal, but believe me when I say it was delicioso. We found a little
hole in the wall place in a not so safe part of the city, but the walk through empty parking lots and
dilapidated buildings (and believe it feels like there aren't many of these in DC) was worth it. We
had the vegetarian platter.

Afterwards, we drove a bit for some Gelato. The lovely thing about DC is that there are monuments everywhere. Yes, I've said it. I LIKE monuments. They're cute to look at, and keep some artists employed.

The next day at work, I had the pleasure to run into an award given to the Public Charter School I was at. They teach English as a Second Language to adults. This is a snippet of their award.

Yes, you read that right. It does say AMERICANIZATION SCHOOL. Good grief, people.... I no longer remember what year this award was given. But since the school was founded in 1996... Well.

Regardless we finished DC with a bang, by going out to eat some El Salvadorean food. DC has one of the biggest El Salvadorean communities in the States! We went to El Rinconcito II, near Columbia Heights. I had the pupusas and rice platter. And a Corona. The refried/pureed beans were perfect.

Arlington, Arlington

So the day couldn't have been longer. After putting up with some very rude people, giving in to the requests of some cute people, and forty-five minutes in traffic, we decided on Thai food for dinner. Enter Gi Ne Raan Restaurant in Arlington, VA. A little hole in the wall hidden in a street mall kinda place, we were assaulted by the stench of recent vomit after we parked outside. We braved the smell, though and it was worth it; the waitress was quick and pleasant, the portions were huge and super delicious.

After VERY briefly thinking of ordering something new, I had some Vegetarian Pad Thai, because I am a creature of comfort. It was perfect: the noodles were done to perfection, chock full of peanuts with sweet but firm tofu drenched in paprika. As I said, the portions were huge, so we ate half of our meals and are now looking forward to having leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

For dessert: a scoop of Baskin Robbins chocolate chip cookie dough. Yes. Now to collapse.