Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

The full set of wedding photos

I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. The last week has been remarkably full. We had houseguests for the wedding, though neither they nor we actually spent much time in the house. It started with a great grilling groom's dinner, to kind of ease us into the festivities.

( What we've been running around like crazy people and doing. )

Reservations for Chino Latino might be useful, even on a Monday night, though we were able to get seating. The mix of Asian and South American food is very appealing, and most of what we tried was delicious. This would not be as good a restaurant to go to alone, but with about four people so you can share a big plate and two little ones, it's a great choice. The big plate was as much larger than we expected as the small plate was smaller. The carne asada a la moreliana, a platter of slow-cooked beef barbacoa and chipotle spiked chicken tinga served with black beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, chile de arbol salsa and fresh corn tortillas, was delicious. I find that the "here's some platters of deliciousness, and here's some small tortillas" dishes usually are. The dumplings were a bit cold and nothing special, though Phil liked them. The jerk chicken skewers with spicy mango relish were very good, but there were only two large skewers in an order. The black bean soup tasted a lot like the regular black beans. I'd definitely go back with a group that's willing to share food.

My mom requested an Indian restaurant, and I'd recently read interesting reviews of Dancing Ganesha, so we went there for the lunch buffet. The food was very good and flavorful and a deal at $10 for the buffet, but the restaurant did have a few shortfalls. The service was--what service? The food was not labeled, so there was no way to tell what was what or even what was vegetarian. The gulab jamun tasted a bit odd, as if the buffet used ones that were canned instead of fresh. They don't offer plain sweet lassi, only mango lassi. And you'd have to go up to the bar to order it, because--see above comment about the service. The good still outweighed the bad, however! The food was very well flavored--the chicken Tandoori was some of the best I've eaten in America, tender and flavorful instead of dried out and bland. There were many dishes on offer, complete with a full array of sauces and chutneys, although they were short on deserts. Complimentary dosas arrived at our table. There was a wide-screen television above the bar playing Bollywood movies. Last but not least, it's far enough from the heart of downtown (Harmon and 11th) that although it was full, it wasn't packed.

We saw We Live Like This, a Fringe Fest dance show which alternates and finally mixes tap dance with modern dance. Great fun and it showcased some impressive skills. In some of the larger ensemble pieces, we could tell the dancers weren't as skilled, but the smaller groups were fantastic. The different dance styles are a bit jarring at first, and then they become a nice alternating break, and then they work together (with a wink at the audience) in an entertaining way, better than I would have thought they could.

Oh! And in there I wrote a short story for a contest, got people to critique it (sorry for the hard sell--I get a little dissociated from correct social protocol when I'm in story thrall), edited it, and submitted it. I think it's pretty good, even if I did commit literature again.

Edited to add some details, because I had to stop my post partway through to allow the sysadmin to update the software I would use if I were actually working right now.