Christmas Lights, Christmas Nights

NB: One last post from the road - I wrote this Friday morning before check-out. I've made some edits since.

Just caught CBS's Early Show - yes, I am one of the 753 people around the country that watches it instead of Today or GMA (it's a Don-and-Marty lead in; Richmond's Don-and-Marty (Virginia This Morning)? A bit more "sedate" - like WJZ on weekend mornings). They interviewed this fella Bruce Littlefield (absolutely adorable man*) who put out this book Merry Christmas, America! about THE most over-the-top Christmas lights. Here's the link to the full 6-and-a-quarter minute video (on CBS News' website).

He specifically mentioned Baltimore's lights (not by street, but they showed 34th Street) and Richmond's (which I got a gander at last night). He said they do "Tacky Light Tours" in Richmond. I wish I had known that, because I would've been all over that. I am sure there are some lovely lights in this city. Unfortunately, I mostly just saw some eye-poppingly SloPpY ones. At least three literally looked like they just took whole strings of Christmas lights, closed their eyes and just threw them on to the front of the building. Again, I wish I had hooked up with one of these tours and seen some good ones - unless, of course, the tacky lights in question ARE the bad ones I saw last night!

On a different tangent: OMG I am watching this white woman perform the most HIDEOUS interpretive hip-hop-esque dance to various songs, including Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas", on Richmond's Virginia This Morning right this second. It's about 8:55, and it's part-embarrassing, part-MST3K-worthy, and part-godawful. I hope and pray someone puts this on YouTube. In lieu of that, here's a clip of Bruce showing you how to quickly and tastefully decorate your home for the holidays, this time on Today:



* I doubt you'll ever read this, Bruce, but yes - I am flirting just a wee bit

Virginia Road Trip Part IV: New York Deli

I went back to Carytown for some lunch and a little bit of shopping. And again I was going on Kurt's recommendations. His one big suggestion for lunch would not have been an obvious one to me in the former Capital of the Confederacy. But in the end, I went to the New York Deli and had a lovely lunch.

The place has character - lots of art deco and bar-style decorations with a counter directly facing a large mirror and well-stocked bar. There were also tables, but after some confusion I just sat at the counter. The woman behind it immediately came to my aid with a menu (talk about service). For a drink I settled on unsweetened iced tea (about $1.50) - this way I could sweeten it with as much sugar-free stuff as possible (sugary drinks do not like my system, sadly). The refills were free (an uncommon thing these days). I had two of these while I waited for my main course, for about, oh, twenty minutes.

For that main course, I ordered one of their oft-requested Reubens (about $8.00) with some fries (again, the waitress' recommendation). I could see why it took so long to make - OMG, it was huge! I doubted that I could finish it! This Reuben had sauerkraut, Swiss cheese on top, cheddar cheese sandwiched in between two kinds of meat, corned beef and pastrami, all on rye bread with crispy, crusty fries and a large pickle wedge. And except for a stray strand of dried-out pastrami, it was delicious. If you find yourself in Richmond for whatever reason, get thee to Carytown and head straight for the New York Deli.

Afterwards I headed back to Baltimore, getting stuck in hhhoooorrrrrrible rush hour traffic about half an hour south of Alexandria. Once in Maryland, though, it was pretty smooth sailing. At least I had these purchases to reflect upon:

• A lemon zester from the Compleat Gourmet for $3. It was certainly a steal because: 1) this place jacks up most of its other prices; and 2) Bed, Bath and Beyond AND Williams-Sonoma have the EXACT SAME THING for $8 and $20 respectively. I also got a vanilla bean for $1.50 and another item that is a Christmas present for my sister, who is probably reading this right now so I can't tell her what it is;
• exploding "bath bombs" from Soak (3 small ones for $12);
• Two old CDs of Crowded House and the Mavericks for $3 each, as well as a DVD of one of my favorite MST3K'd movies, Parts: the CLONUS Horror, ($10, but it's the original movie so no bitchy commentary), at Plan 9 Music;
• And some ice cream to finish my trip at Bev's Ice Cream - Bev's Brownie sundae, with two large scoops of any particular ice cream, whipped cream and two other toppings (one of your choice) all on top of a brownie, goes for $5.50 before tax, just over $6 after (it's the cheapest thing you can buy in order to use a debit or credit card).

And that's it! This whole Jamestown-Richmond trip was a very long time in coming, but it's finally happened, and it was quite nifty. Pictures of Jamestown will follow, but I'll throw in some of Carytown, night and day, here:

This is the delicious and HOT lamb vindaloo from my dinner at Farouk's House of India the night before. The hottest stuff, according to the menu, "will bring you tears". Is it that bad?

Perhaps the most appropriately-named business on the street.

The interior of the New York Deli. That clock advertises A&P.

So... ya got a public restroom?

And there's this last one, with these cute doggies just lounging around, waiting for their owner (No, I refuse to call them "pet parents" - I loves me kitty, and I'd put him on the rescue boat before I got in. But I am his owner! Get over it!)

Virginia Road Trip Part III: Museum-a-Go-Go

Yet another reason to avoid the Comfort Inn Executive Center: their absolutely free continental breakfast ends at 9 AM - 15 minutes after I was packed and out of my room >:( On the plus side: at least there was a Waffle House next door. On the minus side: it was either that or the Taco Bell.

So I was out of Der Waffle Housen by 9:45 and on my way into Richmond. I stopped by a few museums before I hit Carytown again for lunch. First stop: the Museum of the Confederacy. This building is seemingly being engulfed on all sides by the VCU Medical Center, which offers parking so it wasn't so bad. Richmond was the Confederate capital, and the Confederate White House is right next door. The MOC is the source for all your Confederate memorabilia and history. Well okay, not all of it, but every Civil War battle, shot and bit of bloodshed (including the Baltimore Riots in April 1861) is documented in maps, and all the major battles have artifacts behind glass. Some interesting things I found out:

• There's a big statue of a rockfish (Mmmm. Rockfish.) painted in Confederate designs on the porch of the MOC. Rockfish are big in Virginia, too;
  
• The two-story entrance room has every Confederate flag you can imagine, plus the flags of all the states that either seceded or considered doing so. Wouldn't ya' know, Maryland's flag is nestled in with the rest (NB: we considered secession until Abraham Lincoln prevented it - not a good idea to have Washington engulfed in Confederate territory);
  
• The regent at the desk, a pleasant woman, told me that the legend about Jefferson Davis being captured in a dress is simply not true, contra the misconceptions of some of their Northern visitors. I myself have never heard that; neither has my father, who is a big Civil War buff;
• They made a reconstruction of Gen. Lee's tent, but you can't go inside it - it's behind glass;
• There were quite a few African-Americans, free and enslaved, who served on the sidelines in the Confederate army (some by choice, others not) - not allowed to fully join as soldiers until the last few weeks. Some blacks joined the army if they could "pass" as white;
• Because this is Virginia, there is an entire floor chronicling the Dominion's role in the Civil War;
• There is more about Maryland in the MOC than I expected, including not just our flag and relevant artifacts from Antietam, but also artwork by artist Allen Christian Redwood, a Virginia soldier who got injured, recovered, and joined Maryland's 1st Confederate Cavalry (he later became a celebrated writer and illustrator for the New York-based Harper's Magazine). There are also a few CD's of Civil War songs, several of which feature renditions of our own state song, "Maryland, My Maryland" - about those same Bawlmer Riots. Plus, the women who sewed the prototype for the Confederate flag? They were from Baltimore (Everything seems to stem from Baltimore);
  
• Admission to the WHOC is just as expensive as the MOC ($8), and it's tour-guide-guided only, so I opted out. Who needs a tour guide?
  

After buying a commemorative Stonewall Jackson pin (Christmas present) I headed to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which my friend Kurt highly recommended to me. It's not on par with, say, the Philadelphia Museum of Art or the National Gallery of Art in DC - this is more of a Walters Art Museum or BMA-quality place. One problem: half of it was closed. And it wasn't just one whole wing, but a room here, a room there - everywhere I turned there was a shuttered gate blocking my easy passage into "Chinese and Japanese Art", for example. And the half that was closed was all the stuff I would've found interesting! But at least it was free (more than I can say for the MOC). I still managed to see some interesting things:

• Of what I did see, it was a standard fine art museum: about 3/5 of it is devoted to European art of the last 500 years, another 1/10 to American art done in the same style, and the rest dedicated to European art of the Renaissance and before (not counting the sprinkling of objects here and there from Burma and Gabon);
• The one exception was a special exhibit on "Mystery" which featured art, furniture and costume from around the world all dedicated to the idea of hiding behind masks;
  
• The largest collection of Fabergé eggs outside of Russia is in the VMFA, including some gaudy fakes;
• A large collection of English silver is also featured, though I found this a bit less interesting than the eggs;
• A small collection of Medieval sculptures and such, including a macabre sculpture of St. Denis carrying his head (Oh, those wacky medieval artists!);

I was done with museums after that. I headed back to Carytown for some lunch.

Other photos:

Flags (and Woulda-Been Flags) of the Confederacy - Find Maryland's

Because sometimes, ya just gotta use flash...

On Jefferson Davis' front lawn

The purtiest of all those Fabergé boxes, in my opinion

Excuse me, can I check this?

An Egungun costume from the Yoruba culture, no mask - but do you need one?

Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) painted this. It's called "Tropical Landscape - An American Indian Struggling with a Gorilla" (1910). Um, does anybody know what's wrong with this picture?

Dude, is it cold in here?

Virginia Roadtrip Part II: Farouk's House of India

NB: I wrote this post this morning in my hotel room. Photos to follow.

Just one note for your travel planning: if internet access is a big thing for you in booking a motel, avoid the Comfort Inn Executive Center. Despite what they advertise, it doesn't work.

Tourists to Richmond usually head to the Shockoe Slip area. I don't know why, because I've never seen it. All recommendations, however, were for the Carytown section of town. This is where the locals prefer to go. It's got lots of fun shops and restaurants, kind of like Richmond's version of Federal Hill or Hampden's Avenue (perhaps a better analogy is Georgetown). It's also not too far from the Virginia Commonwealth University, making it a hip place for college students to go. I went there for dinner; it's no surprise that I intend to go back today.

There was a large handful of dining options available to me last night, and me, Mr. I-Can't-Make-a-Decision-to-Save-My-Life, had to walk up and down Cary Street to find where I wanted to eat. My friend suggested a place, but I'm holding off on it until lunch (more on that in the next post). Some of the stores I did see (also more on those in the next post) just dazzled me - a lot of window shopping opportunities. But the restaurants ranged from McDonald's (bleeaaahhh) to the super-fancy Acacia, a locally popular restaurant that offers regional cuisine. I hardly opened the door before I stopped, saw how everyone was dressed, and realized that it would probably cost me just to sniff the wine cork. I went elsewhere.

Passing various Thai places, French restaurants, sushi bars, ice cream parlors, delis and BBQ joints, I finally made a decision and went for Indian. And I made a good choice this time. Farouk's House of India has been around for over 30 years, and I'm not surprised that they're still around. It was small and sparsely settled, but many places are like that on a Thursday night. The waitress gave me some water as I perused the menu. Since I was unfamiliar with the place, I decided to just order some standbys. This time, that meant vindaloo. I got the lamb version for $14 (they have three heat levels; I got the second one, their "sweat" level). To go with that I ordered some garlic naan ($3) and veggie samosas ($4).

The samosas came out first. These were delicious - some of the better ones I have had. The crust was buttery and the filling was not all filler; the potatoes were also buttery, though the peas were an afterthought. Even better was the coriander chutney that went with it; I also used the onion salsa that came with the papadums the brought out first - these were on the house.

Then came the vindaloo. Not the hottest I've tasted, but it did make me sweat, that's for damn sure. It was hot and tangy, with okay-sized pieces of lamb. I had to order some lassi ($3) to cut the heat. The vindaloo came with a heaping plate of tender basmati rice. Just at many Indian restaurants, the rice was separate from the vindaloo, each of which I had to scoop together onto my plate. What else can I say? The vindaloo was quite tasty, though the tanginess and sourness of the tomatoes took over at the end. And the garlic naan was perhaps the best I have had in a very long time. It sounds absurd to say "Oh, the garlic naan was so garlicky!" But relative to most that I have had, it was. Intense garlic and butter flavor, and not in the least bit dried out.

All of this northwest Indian goodness was for all of $25 - for the same amount, I could've gotten an entrée and nothing else at that faincy Acacia Restaurant I passed on earlier. After tip that came to $29 - more than I wanted to pay, but less than I could have paid, and about as much as I have paid for a nice dinner out. It is, however, motivating me to not head down to Der local Waffle Housen for breakfast but to save my money and hit the complimentary buffet they have here (which is in a separate building - don't stay at this hotel if that's a problem, people; just don't).

Virginia Roadtrip Part I: Jamestown

NB: I wrote this last night in my hotel room that proved to be internet-proof. Photos to follow.

Here I am writing from my motel-with-alleged-wireless-access in Richmond, having just drove from Jamestown - the national historic site, not the nifty recreation. The drive was eventless enough, and I got some excellent gas mileage, too - 33 mpg in my little old Ford with 123K+ miles on it (instead of the usual 23 mpg). Though I did manage to get almost to Jamestown without stopping. I saw a place called the Jamestown Pie Company (you can also order online) and did a U-ee. I had to try it, and I hadn't had lunch.

There are tables outside, and you order just by going to a rustic, charming little take-out window surrounded by country wallpaper, old signs advertising sugar and flour and, well, pies. My, they have lots of stuff there. They sell three types of things: dessert pies, which you can order whole or in slices (less variety in the slices), pot pies, which come in individual and family-size, and pizzas, which come in small (12"), large (14") and slices (again, little variety in the slices). There was LOTS of variety in the whole pies, and lots of them were heavy on the crab (it IS right off the James River, branching off that same Chesapeake Bay that we call home). The young lady behind the counter, probably a student at William & Mary (the nearest college) recommended the inappropriately-named Au Gratin pot pie ($7.50), chock full of crab meat, scallops and shrimp. Along with that I ordered their locally famous pecan pie ($13) to take home, of which they had lots of little bite-size samples in sealed off condiment containers. I snuck two while they weren't looking. I mean, c'mon, it was free!

As for the pot pie: very good at first, though it wasn't as good in retrospect. Still, it was filling, crustless on the top and literally piled out of the open pie crust. The crust was a little dry but mildly buttery. Still, I wasn't ordering it for the crust. The scallops and crab were delicious and SO meaty. It was a pie that was otherwise bland (though I think it was filled with that fifth "umami" (meaty) taste the Western scientists are now talking about). I'd probably get it again.

Getting into Historic Jamestown was difficult, mostly because I ignored the street signs and paid attention instead to my usually-accurate-but-occasionally-misinformed GPS. It picks the most irritating times to misdirect me, and this was one of them. But I made it with 2 and a half hours before closing! I will follow with pictures, but it's beyond words. I saw, among other things:

• the main church inside the reconstructed James Fort, itself a reconstruction from 1907 to commemorate the tricentennial of Jamestown;
• numerous archaoelogical units all over the smallish area, including a very deep . These guys have so much left to uncover, and are getting precious little money from the feds. The happy-fun Jamestown Settlement, a family-fun reconstruction with its own little Powhatan village (named for the local chiefdom-confederacy of the same name, which also shared its name with the powerful leader Powhatan, father of Pocahontas), gets the lionshare of the funds, leaving the archaeologists out in the cold (the archaeologist I overheard seemed a little miffed over this - hell, I would be too);
• two museums, including the introductory one that gives a brief overview of what you will see in Jamestown (also including a very cool timeline of Jamestown history, from 10,000 BC's Clovis tools to the settlement in 1607 to the current 400th anniversary), and the "Archaearium" (they ought to change that idiotic name) - a modernish glass-and-copper (the latter in homage to the local Indians who prized copper) structure that houses many newly-found artifacts, two skeletons and a computer simulation that superimposes the colonial buildings in their various forms onto the current site (my friend Kurt - the same one that gave me all those recommendations - knows the guy who made that multimedia presentation - he stressed that I should go see that);
• many, many ruins, many of which were of the "still-standing foundations" variety, low enough that I could just step over them to get from "room" to grassy "room"
• the Ambler House, which was lived in in some form until the 19th century, unlike everything else which saw its sun set around 1699, when the colonial capital moved from Jamestown to nearby Williamsburg (those bastards)
• the bucolic drive around the Island upon which Jamestown's ruins rest.
• and the Glasshouse of 1608, which shows excavated kilns nestled snugly in the woods. It seems that 400 years ago, wood was what they used to heat the furnaces in the glassmakers' houses, and there was plenty of it in Virginia in 1607. I bought an "amethyst" beer mug ($20!!!) made by the glassblower on site, though not made at that specific location but about 12 miles down the road. It is still pretty cool, although it MUST be hand-washed, cannot be microwaved and can NEVER be used for hot beverages, as heat will help to release all the lead that goes into the mug. They assure me, however, that it is perfectly safe to drink cold beverages in - you can even freeze it! I'll remember that.
  

So I ended right at closing, around 5 PM, and took the scenic route (VA-5 instead of I-64) back to Richmond. It would've made more sense to do that during the daytime, when I could've seen everything better. Oh well, dinner beckons. So do photos, which will come later.

Road Trip: Jamestown and Richmond

I leave tomorrow for an overnight to Richmond with a stopover in Jamestown, currently celebrating its 400th anniversary. I will try to write when I can. I'm lucky that my friend Kurt in Redlands, CA, who was born and raised just outside of Richmond, gave me lots of good tips on what to see and where to eat, plus the most scenic route between Jamestown and Richmond. He even advised me on what to see at Jamestown: the re-creation or the "island" (he strongly suggested the "island", which is much more up my alley anyway). Right now I'm staying at my parents' house, because they are half an hour closer to Virginia than is my lowly apartment.

On the other hand, I have this nagging feeling that I left the computer on.

Damn, now I'm going to have to go and see if I did. Stupid OCD >:(

UPDATE - Yep, dummy did leave the monitor on, though not the computer. Great, 48 extra hours worth of money for damn BG&E