Photography Class – Franciscan Monastery

A lovely friend of mine gave me as a birthday gift a photography class put on by a company called the School of Creative Photography (www.schoolofcreativephotography.com). We spent several hours at a Franciscan monastery in northeast Washington, DC taking photos of the monastery and the surrounding grounds (who knew there was a Franciscan monastery in DC, let alone in northeast DC?).

I learned more in those few hours than I could have possibly imagined. And I had forgotten how fun this hobby is when you have the time to really think about light and composition and the settings on your camera (as opposed to yelling at people to stay still while you take their photograph and doing it in as much of a hurry as you can because they won’t stand still). Not that my family has any idea of whom I might be talking about.

I’ve put in a few of my favorite photos that I took during this class. I am also including a couple of “before Photoshop” and “after Photoshop” photos. Elliot and Brian, our two instructors, insist that using software is not cheating, but after looking at what our daughter could do with Photoshop, I am not convinced.

Franciscan monastery garden

Franciscan monastery garden

DSC_2979

DSC_2985

before shot:

a "before shot"

a “before ” shot

after Photoshop:

the "after" shot

the “after” shot

another “before” shot:

the "before" shot

the “before” shot

the “after” shot:

the "after" shot

the “after” shot

Anyway, I highly recommend taking a class from these guys—they are super nice and super knowledgeable. They’re really great also because if you want to be left alone, they leave you alone. But if you want help or advice from them, they are full of really helpful hints and instruction.

And thank you, Joanne, for the lovely birthday gift!

Inn at Little Washington birthday dinner

We had my birthday dinner at the Inn at Little Washington a couple of weeks ago. The Inn was kind enough to do a somewhat individualized menu for us, and I feel inclined to gloat about the meal, which was fabulous, even by the Inn’s usual impeccable standards.

We started off, of course, with truffle popcorn. Really, dinner at the Inn would be complete with just a giant vat of this. Who needs a real meal?

truffle popcorn

truffle popcorn

But, no, we had to continue on with a shot of chilled English minted pea soup (which wasn’t exactly not delicious, mind you).

English mint pea soup with Parmesan tulle

English mint pea soup with Parmesan tulle

Served along with these was a Legret champagne, Blanc de Blancs.

Next up was the spicy sesame crusted ahi tuna tartare with cucumber sorbet. The wine was a Pinon Vouvay from Trios Argiles. It was surprisingly good for a white wine. (I know—did I mention I was high maintenance?)

ahi tuna tartare

ahi tuna tartare

The fourth course was a Fricassee of Potato Gnocchi with Wild Morel Mushrooms, Asparagus, and Slivers of Virginia Country Ham. This dish was divine. The wine paired with this dish was a Cadre The Architects Pinot Noir.

gnocchi with morel mushrooms and Virginia country ham

gnocchi with morel mushrooms and Virginia country ham

The entrée was a Jamison Farms Lamb Loin with Potato Puree, Spring Vegetables and an Onion Jam. We served a 1998 and 2001 Rudd Oakville Estate Cabernet side-by-side with this dish.

lamb loin with spring vegetables

lamb loin with spring vegetables

And for dessert, there was A Spring Fling: A Miniature Rhubarb Cobbler, Limoncello Pudding Cake and Strawberry Ice Cream. I prefer fruit desserts over chocolate desserts (which the family members whose names start with J consider heresy), so this was perfect, both seasonally and for me. The wine was a Steindorfer Cuvee Klaus Eisewein.

trio of spring desserts

trio of spring desserts

It was an extraordinarily memorable dinner!

Casa Luca (Washington, DC)

Casa Luca is a relatively new restaurant by Fabio Trabocchi, who also started the more well-known Fiola’s and the newly opened Fiola Mare. Casa Luca is the more informal and relaxed sibling of those two restaurants.

We dined at Casa Luca as part of a bet over whether the Obamacare website would be fixed by November 30 as promised by Jeff Zients. Jim knows Jeff well and thought that if Jeff committed to the website being fixed by November 30, it would be fixed by November 30. I pointed out that the problem was not Jeff’s intelligence and skill but the fact that the number of bugs in the website was unknown because you have no idea what additional bugs might be behind the one you fix until you fix the existing one. So the bet was as follows: if the Obamacare website was fixed by November 30, we would eat at a Mexican restaurant. If the website was not fixed by November 30, we would eat at an Italian restaurant. This bet was devised by our oh-so-clever 15 year old daughter who clearly likes both Mexican and Italian food. She came out a winner either way.

(It might amuse those who are reading this that the day after we made our bet, Jeff announced that the website would not be fixed by November 30 because they discovered additional bugs every time one bug was fixed.)

Onto more important matters: the food. We started with appetizers, of course. We selected the beef tartar & horseradish crema; the Maine lobster, artichoke & smoked faro; and the Prosciutto di Parma. All three were excellent. The beef tartar was well seasoned with capers and olive oil, with the horseradish cream adding just the right amount of tang. The lobster was perfectly cooked, and the artichoke added a crunch to give the dish a nice texture. And we have rarely had as good quality prosciutto as was served that evening.

For the main dishes (and we include pasta in that category even if the Italians don’t), our 12 year old son had the Fusilli Cacio e Pepe (fusilli served in a rich butter sauce topped with burrata cheese); our daughter had the Smoked Potato Gnocchi served with Bolognese sauce; Jim had the Monkfish Milanese served with lemon breadcrumbs, artichokes, dill and lemon; and I had the Bucatini alla Puttanesca, served with Mayan prawns, capers and olives.

All the entrees were excellent, beautifully prepared and delicious. Our son didn’t finish his fusilli, but that was more because he had gorged himself on the prosciutto than any deficiency in the dish.

For dessert, we shared the Piccola Pasticceria, a dish of house made Italian cookies and sweets. The almond cookies with powdered sugar were my personal favorite, although the chocolate lovers in the group spoke glowingly about the chocolate caramels.

It was a sign of how delicious the food was that Jim expressed his willingness to come back. Which we certainly will!

Casa Luca is located at 1099 New York Ave, NW in Washington, DC (the entrance to the restaurant is on 11th St, and there is valet parking for dinner).

Book review: A Night Like This by Julia Quinn

A Night Like This (Smythe-Smith Quartet #2)A Night Like This by Julia Quinn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love Julia Quinn books as immensely satisfying “mind candy,” whenever I need a break from more serious reading. Her characters are generally well developed, the plots are interesting, and the dialogue is always witty.
“A Night Like This” continues the saga of the Smythe-Smith family, mostly known for the tone deaf musical performances the family put on every year.
I had mixed feelings about this book. As always, the dialogue was clever and witty. The heroine was unusual for this genre, in that she was of the gentry, sullied her name and became a governess. I like that. And the plot was more complex than is typical for this genre. I like that as well. But I had some difficulties about the hero. He was nice enough but surprisingly two dimensional for a Julia Quinn hero. There was nothing to dislike about him, but he wasn’t well fleshed out enough to really like him either. He was, well, boring.
For Julia Quinn fans, the book is satisfying enough, but it is certainly not the strongest of her works. For those who are looking for an introduction to her work, I would start with her Bridgerton series, which really is lots of fun (especially the earlier books).

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