Nea's Grand Day Out

I took off yesterday and had a hella time running all over downtown DC.

First up: Where do you go when you absolutely, positively, can't find a book anywhere else? ( Library of Congress )

At the end of the visit, starting a day-long trend, I bought a book: The History of Sandwiches.

The LoC is close to the Folger, so next it was off to the Shakespeare Theater to look at their exhibit on First Folios and buy a copy of Foliomania, a book about same.

Then I grabbed a cab and raced across town, because I'd promised myself that I could go back to Mourayo, an amazing Greek place just north of Dupont Circle that I discovered with suricattus when I stayed that night with her at the Nebulas. She had the best dinner of an excellent lot, IMO, the house specialty of pork with fig, honey, and a touch of soft sweet cheese.

Then I headed back across town for the last museum stop of the day - the What's Cooking, Uncle Sam? exhibit of the Government and American food. Although loosely collected into "farm," "factory," "kitchen," etc., I think a more accurate description would be "History of the passage of the Pure Foods Act," "Rationing," "History of Nutritional Education and PSAs," and "Presidential Dinners." (The last part included a letter from Queen Elizabeth II to Lyndon Johnson, enclosing a recipe for scones she had promised him during a visit to Balmoral. (Yes, I wrote it down!) (Flickr page of many of the posters and artifacts on display.)

I still had time before dinner with M, so I went to the Rotunda and took a look at The Big Three - the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.

Then I went shopping, natch, and picked up Our Mother's War: American Women at Home and at the Front During WWII by Yellin and Fruits of victory: The Woman's Land Army of America in the Great War. I also took down the details for American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900, but I didn't buy it - books that thick, I'm trying to get electronically.

And while I did resist the kitch factor of buying the poster of this for my kitchen, I couldn't resist getting the Vitamin Donut mug.

Dinner was at Legal Seafood and was excellent food with excellent service as always there.

And then we saw the simulcast of the Brian Bedford as Lady Bracknell Importance of Being Ernest. To tell the truth, I found it a bit overmannered; I'm glad in the long run that I didn't pay NYC prices to see it.

An excellent, if exhausting day out!