Spies Like Us

Yesterday I was just telling my roommate that I wanted to go on a spy tour of Washington, D.C. I am generally obsessed with stories about spaying, but after watching Breach, a movie about FBI agent Robert Hanssen who spied for Russia, I really wanted to know about all the espionage history in the city. This morning I wake up to find out that there were spies in the neighborhood.

Instead of studying, I read and became enthralled by the story of Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn, the couple who was just arrested and indicted for spying for Cuba for thirty years. The story itself was very interesting. They became "true believers" after visiting Cuba and learning about the Revolution during an academic trip. Someone from Cuba came out to where they were living in South Dakota to ask them to spy. She says be joined the State Department instead of the CIA because he was not a good liar. Yet, they lived their whole lives with this secret from apparently everyone. Never bringing up Cuba at all, especially not their personal meeting with Fidel.

What I found equally fascinating, however, was how close it hit home (no pun intended). The Myers live about two miles away from my apartment, and I would pass their building frequently on my way home from work. They used to deliver messages by exchanging grocery carts at the store, my money is on the historic Giant on Wisconsin. And then I found out that Kendall Myers was one of my friend's favorite professors at John Hopkins. Suddenly this couple went from being movie-like characters to real people.

Who knows, there could be spies in my huge apartment building.

Star Trek

Tonight my friends and I went out to the Imax theater by Dulles to go see Star Trek the movie. Having grown up watching the tv show Star Trek the Next Generation (I embrace my nerdiness, see left), and hearing so many good things about this movie, I was very excited. The movie definitely lived up to all of its hype. So good.

I really enjoy movies that explain characters. This Star Trek reminded me of Batman Begins; taking characters that people are familiar with and providing the backstory. Add in humor, a good story line, and attractive actors and it makes for an overall great movie. After seeing this movie and Up last week, I am afraid that the rest of the summer just will not live up.

What made the night even better was that I got to see my friends that I do not get to see as often since bar classes started. They and Alex even surprised me with icecream cake and party decorations at Alex's apartment afterwards. A happy ending.

Ready . . . Break

"Is it August yet?" is the new "Are we there yet?"

It was just one of those days where I was in such a daze, I got discombobulated in my own apartment building. After I got home from class, I got off the elevator on my floor and was not sure which way to go. I seriously thought for a moment that they moved the elevators.

This is what happens when I have class five (or even six) times a week for the first time since my second or third year of college. I also blame the property practice tests that kicked my butt today, four straight hours of afternoon class (I am only conditioned for two hours at a time), and the bizarre apocalyptic weather we have had--not your usual type of DC summer storms.

I am taking it easy tomorrow (sleep in, go out to lunch with Alex and roommie, see Star Trek imax with friends after class) before I get lost going to my room or something.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

June in DC means thunderstorms, humidity, and a flood of interns and tourists. It also means that DCers will be complaining about all of the above.

Recently, a blog about DC Interns has surfaced, whereby people submit stories about interns being annoying. While I am sure the blog is just meant to be good-humored, and some of it is funny, I am moreso amused at those who actually have animosity against DC interns.

Now, I may be biased because I was a Capitol Hill intern in 2004, but interns are not all as bad as people make them out to be. Are there interns who think they are self-important? Sure. But c'mon, we are in DC. Half the people working here, government or not, take themselves too seriously. Even outside DC, there are always those people we work or went to school with, who are annoying and/or think they are God's gift to earth. There always the few in any population that give the rest of the group a bad name.

Most interns that I worked with or met were nice people, often away from home for the first time, and willing to do the grunt-work no one else wanted to do. Get your coffee, check. Open letters from crazy constituents, check. Walk 5 blocks through the thick layer of humidity in your suit to deliver a twenty pound UPS package, check. If thinking that you are saving the world gets them through their day, so be it. Interns are young, immature, and allowed to be idealistic. What is everyone else's excuse?

As for tourists, aren't most of us pretty much long-term tourists in DC? Very few of us, especially in Northwest DC, are actually native, so why are we so territorial? I really think that if we labeled escalators so that everyone knew that you stand on the right, walk on the left, we could really cut down on 97% of the hostility. Until then, maybe people should take a breath and not roll their eyes at families blocking the metro because they are looking at a map and are excited about their first visit to DC . . . because by doing that, DCers just look like the bigheaded interns they just complained about.

[Picture of me at my lowly intern desk 5 years ago, man was my hair long]

Pizza Party

One of the good things about my bar review schedule is that I can cook and eat all my meals at home. No more packing things up in the Gladware. In fact, planning meals and cooking food has been one of my outlets to keep me sane.

While out stocking up on groceries this weekend, I found something amazing at Trader Joe's: 99 cent pizza dough. I have had random pizza cravings the past few weeks, but have resisted the urge because of how bad for it usually is for you. Making it though meant healthier (yeah, still not the healthiest thing), cheaper, and more delicious pizza.

The dough was very easy to work with, and I covered it with Fire Roasted Tomato and Garlic pasta sauce, tons of chopped pineapples, chopped turkey kilebasa, chopped garlic (can you tell I love garlic?), and lightly sprinkled it with parmesean cheese and oregeno. It turned out really well. The crust was especially good: light, airy, crispy but chewy on the inside, and the perfect thickness. A pizza for probably less than five bucks and enough to last me at least four meals if I add a salad on the side. I feel like I am ready for my own Food Network show.

Over the past few years, my roommate and I have made BBQ chicken pizza and a roasted butternut squash pizza with rosemary, both of which were great. So many other possibilities to try. So many other recipes to try generally. Lucky for me I have 2 more months of studying to go cooking crazy.

Picture courtesy of Devour This.

Street Food from Homelands

It's funny what you find when you play tourist in your own city. When my aunt and I were exploring an off-street of Adam's Morgan during graduation weekend, we stumbled across a corner with Argentinean, El Salvadorean, and Mexican food and craft tents. Since we had just had lunch, the vendors kindly told us to come back and that they were out every Friday-Sunday.

Yesterday, when Alex and I were looking for a cheap lunch spot, I remembered the street vendors. Boy did that make Alex happy. For just around $10, we shared a carniatas taco, roasted pepper tacos (never seen them before, but they were delicious), a chicken tamale, and fresh mango juice. Everything was homemade and fresh, including the very hot salsa. I really enjoyed sitting outside, eating our food on a bench, while little kids were running around and parents were getting food.

Though it still cannot compete with the hole-in-the wall tacquerias in California, it was vastly superior to all of the mexican/tex-mex restaurants that are strangely popular in the DC area.

When I went home, I did a little research on this place I discovered was called Mi Tierra, translate: My Homeland. I highly recommend reading the linked WaPo article because it describes how Mi Tierra was a collaboration between the city and vendors who may have difficulty setting up full-fledged restaurants. In exchange for allowing these places a place to legally sell their food, the vendors take classes on accounting, food safety, and small business management. Seriously, such a cool idea.

While some people may argue that these street vendors hurt local businesses who actually do have to pay for all the licensing fees, I actually feel like these vendors bring in many people who would not normally come to the area. Moreover, the market also serves another purpose as there were tents set-up Spanish speakers to talk to people about health and legal issues.

The United States is definitely behind the rest of the world in terms of street food. This is especially a shame because we have the opportunity to showcase the many cultures represented in our melting pot, salad bowl, or whatever we are calling ourselves these days. So I am fully in support of any initiative to increase that, while providing the added bonus of helping immigrants and teaching them about business practices. Everyone wins.

Pictures and article info courtesy of "Home is Where the Tacos Are"

Up

I know it summer when I actually go see movies. Aside from my Oscar-nominated-movie-binge I went on in January, I hardly see movies during the year in the theaters.

This year, I kicked off the summer by seeing Up in 3-D with Alex, David-the pixar enthusiast, and two other friends. It was the perfect treat after my all-day BarBri class. The movie is excellent and I highly recommend it.

Any review I will try to do will not do the movie justice. I will just say that it is one of the funniest and most moving movies I have seen in a very long time. I even cried- and I hardly ever cry watching movies. Pixar has certainly shattered perceptions of what animated movies are supposed to be like.

The movie-watching marathon continues next week when I go see Star Trek on Imax with some of my other friends. I have a feeling that I will really appreciate the escapsim and air-conditioning that movies will provide this summer. I definitely welcome movie suggestions throughout the summer-mainstream, indie, whatever.