April in January

 

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 – April in January

I’d better check the calendar.  Last week felt like winter, with temperatures barely rising out of the twenties and a couple of dustings of snow.  Yesterday, however, felt like spring.  Afternoon temperatures were in the upper 60s, and similar weather is forecast for today.  How bizarre for January!  When I was at George Mason for my Tuesday afternoon class, I sat out on a bench to enjoy the beautiful weather and noticed the green shoots of tulips pushing up a few inches above the soil.  I should have spent all of Tuesday outside, but instead, I spent the morning in the house doing laundry, drinking more tea (this cold/sinus infection refuses to surrender), baking Mexican wedding cookies (no, I’m not going south of the border to elope), heating up leftover fish tacos (is tilapia really a fish, or was it invented in a lab?), and finishing another book.  In The Forgetting River, American journalist Doreen Carvajal tells how she researched her converso roots in Spain.  I wanted to read it before I travel to New Mexico in May for my next Road Scholar trip, Conversos and Crypto-Jews in the Southwest.  

And now, on to food.  I love to eat out, but lately, I’ve been paying more attention to cutting back on animal products – both for my health and to protect the environment – and this presents certain challenges.  I’m always on the lookout for places where you can eat well and help the planet at the same time.  My most recent discovery is Loving Hut, a somewhat Vietnamese vegan restaurant in nearby Falls Church.  More than a dozen members of my Hadassah group met there for a dining-out adventure Monday night.  With so many intriguing sounding options on the menu, it was hard to make a decision, but I eventually chose lemongrass tofu and mixed vegetables with brown rice.  A dining companion shared some of her delicious the soba noodles with me, and I also tasted a gingery kale dish.  If/when the weather gets cold again, I’ll return to try Loving Hut’s vegan version of pho, the Vietnamese noodle soup.  

The next dining adventure was Tuesday night at Georgi’s house.  A lively group of AHS teachers plus two exchange teachers, one from Korea and another from Scotland, crowded around the dining room table for New Mexican style enchiladas with fried eggs on top along with tasty beans and rice.  Add some chips, salsa, and homemade guacamole, a few bottles of wine, a couple of Mexican inspired desserts (the above-mentioned cookies plus a chocolate cake with a touch cinnamon), non-stop dance music (in Spanish, of course), and we had a truly festive evening.  Too bad the others had to get up early and go to work the next morning.