Eastern Market

Carlos and I love living in Washington DC for many reasons, one of them being that there are about a million farmer's markets around here -- practically one on every day of the week! It is really easy to eat delicious, fresh, local food here. We live very near Eastern Market (actually about 1 block away) so we have visited every weekend since we've moved into our new, temporary place. This market is big and has people selling art, crafts, fresh fruits and vegetables, and tons of other good food -- including seafood and baked goods in the permanent market. Here are a few excerpts from our last couple of trips.

Here is a picture of Eastern Market inside the building -- as you can see, on the weekend this place is packed!

Here is our haul from 2 weeks ago: 3 white peaches and 2 heirloom tomatoes: brandywine (the pinkish red one) and grandma josie's white (the yellow one):

We chopped up the tomatoes and used them in a fresh pasta for dinner:


Last weekend we made out like bandits. We brought back pickles, a red velvet cupcake, a cannoli, 2 Asian pears (these were very tasty), garlic, and 2 rainbow trouts (not pictured):

I think visiting Eastern Market will be a weekend tradition -- even after we move into our apartment in Capitol Hill!

Working in the herbarium

For the past couple of weeks, I have been working as a behind-the-scenes botany volunteer in the National Museum of Natural History. My volunteer work has involved working in the herbarium (one of the largest collections of plants in the world!) and even going to the zoo to take pictures of leaves to use for a plant identification iPhone app. It has been pretty fun working with botany and I am learning a lot about working with dry botanical herbarium specimens. This work hearkens back to what I used to do as an undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, working with botanical specimens in the Museum of Systematics.

Here at the NMNH herbarium, I have been pulling specimens for Carlos to use in his research (to sample for genetic analysis). This involves finding each species he needs (that is found on the altitudinal transect from La Selva to Volcan Barva) and then finding plants that have been collected from one of the localities he will also be collecting beetles and plants from. Once I find specimens that will work for his research, I pack them up (by species) in little bundles with cardboard and cotton string that Carlos can save in his own cabinet.

I am also planning to start my own research soon in the mammalogy department here -- it is really exciting! I looked at some agouti specimens yesterday and my mind is busy whirring with ideas about phylogenetics, pelage (fur) color comparisons, and other things~

DC stuff

Well, another busy week is underway, but I thought I would (finally!) post some pictures showing a sampling of what I have been up to since arriving in DC.

Carlos and I visited the Smithsonian African Art Museum (this was the first time that either of us had been there) and they had a great exhibit about animals in African art:


It has been really hot and humid here recently (some days in the high 90's and even one day when it was 101 degrees F!). We watched these birdies enjoy cooling off in the fountains behind the Smithsonian Castle:

We ate some cupcakes (blueberry on the left and red velvet on the right):

We have been using the metro a bunch:

We tried some gelato at Dolcezza (plum and lemon/ricotta):

We visited the Museum Support Center (MSC) where 98% of the Smithsonian's collections are housed. I especially liked looking at the elephant skeleton that was shot be Teddy Roosevelt (well, he shot the elephant, not just its skeleton!):

We also saw some of the amazing living plant collections in one of the greenhouses out at MSC:

During a visit to the Zoo last week, Carlos and I were lucky to see the clouded leopards taking naps:

After the Zoo, we found some lunch at a little Vietnamese place:

I have also been working in the herbarium a lot, but I will talk about that in another post!

This week was buuusy!

Sheesh, it is already Friday? This week was absurdly full of stuff to do. Here are some of the things I have been up to recently:

• Sent in the paper I was reviewing for Biotropica.
• Had multiple meetings with people in the Mammalogy division here at the Natural History Museum (I have another meeting this afternoon too!).
• Awesome Wednesday lunch at Jaleo (Spanish tapas place) for Restaurant Week. Carlos and I shared gazpacho, ensalada campera, patatas bravas, gambas al ajillo, salmon with raspberries and cauliflower puree, pork tenderloin in roasted onion and cheese sauce (this was the best!), flan, and almond ice cream!
• My background check came through and now I am an official behind-the-scenes volunteer at the Smithsonian -- I've been working in the herbarium.
• Went to the zoo yesterday with the botany lab, working on a plant ID iPhone app
• Visited museums during breaks
• Visited a new exhibit here at the Natural History Museum -- Losing Paradise: Endangered Plants Here and Around the World. Beautiful scientific illustrations!
• Getting ready to move out of the place we've been staying to a more local house in Eastern Market -- the 1.5 hour commute each way was killing us and we need to be closer to the Museum until we move into our real apartment in September.

Whew, that is a lot (plus a bunch of little stuff that wasn't interesting enough to list). This afternoon I plan to also visit a nearby Farmer's Market!

Driving from Miami to DC

Well, finally I have downloaded my pictures from my camera and I have organized them a little. Here is a picture summary of Carlos' and my trip up to Washington DC from Miami with two stops: Gainesville, Florida and Durham, North Carolina. We were lucky to stay with friends at each stop and these places were very convenient distances to break up our trip. With each stop, we stayed for two nights and got to hang out with our friends and see some cool sights!

On the Florida Turnpike, we stopped for lunch at the Earl of Sandwich. Here is Carlos with his beloved full Montagu!

We stopped in Gainesville and stayed with Carlos' good friend Gustavo. While we were there, our friend Danielle also took us out to see a cool HUGE sinkhole called the Devil's Millhopper.

We also had a fantastic lunch at Panache: The Wine and Cheese Gallery. We shared a tasty reisling-like Austrian wine and I had a melty brie, cinnamon, and apple sandwich -- it sounds weird, but it was good!

We also wandered the University of Florida campus and saw the pretty UF meditation center/chapel -- I think it looks rather elvish!

Our next stop was Durham to visit our good friend from La Selva, Arietta! Arietta has a great kitty named Mango and apparently she really liked us because she only bit us a little bit -- not a lot like most people! Mango likes to squeak at birds on the window sill and to taunt, molest, and kill shrews in the backyard.

Arietta showed us the highlights of Durham, including taking us to a tasty German bakery where we had brunch (I drank a chai latte and ate an almond croissant).

We also visited the Duke campus including the botanical garden (so cool!), the art museum (I liked the Greek art), and the home of the Organization for Tropical Studies!

Our trip was nice and leisurely and we got to see some of our good friends -- now we are busy with everything here in DC. I will make a post soon about some of our adventures.

DC business

Sorry little bloggie for being so neglectful recently...things have been quite hectic here in DC! I need to upload my pictures from the road trip up from Miami and retro-blog about our adventures. Meanwhile, things here in DC are going well, but the days are packed and go by waaay too fast. I am applying/looking for jobs and post-docs, applying to become a behind-the-scenes volunteer at the National Museum of Natural History (includes background check with fingerprints and everything!), wandering around museums (so fun), visiting the Norman Rockwell painting exhibition in the American Museum of Art (no pics allowed), eating tasty potato and pancetta pizza and drinking home-made sarsaparilla at We, the Pizza (yuuum), working on papers at the Library of Congress, and zooming all over the place (daily commute = 1 hour) via the metro! It has been busy and I will try to upload pictures tonight so I can start documenting my adventures~

Paris chocolates

While in Paris, I visited a Pierre Hermé pastry and chocolate shop where I purchased 2 fancy, delicious pastries. I also bought a little box sampler of chocolates, thinking they would be the perfect gift for Shannon. However, while bringing them home across the Atlantic, I realized how difficult it was to keep them from melting or breaking or getting smooshed. Sooo... I decided against sending them to Shannon in the mail (because I knew they would get ruined) and instead... I ate them myself... I am a bad big sister!

So, as a slight consolation for Shannon, here is a picture of the chocolates and their descriptions from the Pierre Hermé website:
Top row, from left to right:
1. Chloé = chocolate and raspberry ganache enrobed in dark chocolate
2. Lou = milk chocolate and ginger ganache with candied ginger enrobed in dark chocolate
3. (eaten prior to picture) Intense = bitter chocolate ganache enrobed in dark chocolate
4. Ouvre-Toi = sesame praline and nougat enrobed in milk chocolate
5. Sensations = praline and almond crisp enrobed in dark chocolate

Middle row, from left to right:
1. Infiniment Vanille = chocolate and vanilla (form Mexico, Madagascar, and Tahiti) ganache enrobed in dark chocolate
2. Mogador = passion fruit ganache enrobed in milk chocolate
3. Ispahan = chocolate and raspberry ganache with rose and lychee enrobed in dark chocolate

Bottom row, from left to right:
1. Azur = yuzu and lime ganache enrobed in dark chocolate
2. Almera = almond paste with crystallized orange and Grand Marnier enrobed in dark chocolate
3. Balthazar = milk chocolate and cinnamon ganache enrobed in milk chocolate
4. Pietra = praline fondant encrusted with hazelnuts and enrobed in dark chocolate
5. Makassar = salted caramel ganache enrobed in dark chocolate

They were all good, but my favorites were Lou, Infiniment Vanille, Almera, Balthazar, and Makassar. Sorry Shannon (but don't feel too bad for her because she still got some hand-made caramels and lollipops!).

France -- Souvenirs and stuff

The trip to France was great fun -- it was excellent to be able to attend the Frugivory and Seed Dispersal Symposium and then to travel all over the country with my mom and Judy! We had a lot of adventures during the course of our trip!

Overall, I think my favorite places in France were Carcassonne (maybe my most favorite) and Amboise. Paris was fun too, but really crowded with tourists (which is to be expected in the summer). I seem to prefer the smaller towns that I have found throughout Europe as opposed to the big behemoth cities. I think it would be more fun to visit Paris during the fall or even the winter when tourists are less overwhelming and the city probably has a completely different feel.

As for souvenirs -- I managed to find a lot of really good ones: a Carcassonne cloth wall hanging that my mom gave me, plush blue Egyptian hippo (for Shannon), salt from the Camargue, little foldable tote bag (also from my mama), antique agouti print (from Judy), beetle prints (for Carlos), stamps (for Carlos), Bixa tree print (also for Carlos!), caramels and lollipops (for Shannon), cinnamon Carcassonne soap (for Shannon), and a yellow Tour de France t-shirt for dad. That's a lot of goodies!

Now that I have finished that trip, maybe I can finally start posting about Carlos' and my moving trip from Miami to Washington DC!