Adventures in..

After seating us a little late (about 35 minutes after our reservation) the owner, Ashok Bajaj (also of the Bombay Club and the Oval Room) brought us complimentary some appetizers quickly (we asked him to pick and he picked well- the spicy and flavorful Reshmi Kabob and the quirky deconstruction that is the Palak Chaat (um, yum!) to make up for the inconvience. Our waiter was a sweetheart and told us we ordered perfectly (Goa Shrimp Curry- the shrimp were delicious and enormous; Palak Paneer- creamy but not too rich, earthy tasting; Dal Markhani- the best lentils ever; and the Bread Basket). We asked him to pair a wine with the shrimp and he did. perfectly--- and it was the cheapest wine on the menu (all the wines are boutique so I was glad to have the help- this wine from South Africa was a combo of Chenin Blanc and Pinot Grigio grapes and was soft, medium bodied and a little sweet. It was refreshing, a little citrusy and went perfectly with the spicy, lemony shrimp curry.) I was shocked that he offered the least expensive wine on the list. Not that it was that cheap ($7 a glass); but by the fact that he cared enough to get us the BEST wine for the meal, not the most expensive just adds to the professionalism and the deep love of food and wine. He also recomended his favorite dessert- a fried apple with cardamom ice cream- not something I loved, but I was already full from dinner so N got to choose). We also had drinks at the bar while we were waiting for a table- N chose a yummy,yummy,yummy pomegranate margarita and I got a gin and homemade ginger syrup martini. : )

What a gentleman Mr. Bajaj was- he even insisted on helping us on with our coats (N was a little confused as he would not give her the coat, instead holding it out to put it on her. I had to say "Honey, he's helping you put on your coat" cute : ) As he was helping with the coats (nearly 2 hours after we were seated) he was still apologizing for the lateness of our seating. Dude, you made up for it. The food was great, your staff was great, you are a charmer and a half. Don't sweat it : )

Deserved all 3 stars Tom Sietsema gave it in the Fall Dining Guide.

When are we going back N?
:)

So it's Halloween and I'm not yet teaching- I sorta thought today would be the day. Pretty much I'm waiting for HR to figure process me so I can take my oath and get fingerprinted (in that order??) so I can start. ::sigh:: My principal is super supportive and I know that she wants me in ASAP so I'm just trying to be patient and doing whatever she tells me to do to further my case at HR (which is hard and of course I'm not supposed to talk about work here but let me just say, HR voicemails... always, always, always full). ::sigh::

So maybe this week? I hope so- all good and positive in-the-classroom thoughts are appreciated.

I am excited, but anxious about the whole thing. I'm a new teacher. I know I'll be spending about 50% of my time with the second grade- I've met with the teacher (Ms. K) and spent some time with the kids- I hope that the co-teaching and supportive teaching and scaffolding goes well and that Ms. K and I get along. I am planning on going in and staying humble- always important for me. :)

On the non-teaching side:

-My irises (planted about a month ago) are sprouting in the front garden. oy.
-We did not carve the pumpkins. Yet. Maybe I will tonight before N gets home.
-We did have an amazing amazing amazing dinner last night at Rasika. I'll write a little review in a separate post. N took me to celebrate my impending employment. Thanks sweetie!
-I'm making a special halloween dinner- Brazilian Black Bean Soup (the recipe I use is from the -New Edition of the Moosewood Cookbook and it has carrots in it) and Pumpkin Muffins that we have left over from the housewarming.

One last thing. We had a fabulous, boring weekend. We went to a sortaboring Halloween Party (as Ernie and Bert) and just hung around the house- just loving being here and being together and it being pretty outside. I want more fabulous boring weekends just like that. mmmmmm. : )

So I'm off to on a walk. Will post the mini-review too! : )

Anybody up for some Jersey? My natal home made me proud yesterday.

Let's see what the legislature does with this directive.

I have a job! A real, live, full time teaching job!!!! TESOL, of course, since that's what my degree will eventually be in.

The school is great, the principal is full of energy and she's "thrilled" to have me on board. I'm going to be spending the majority of my time working in the second grade classroom (push in) and the rest TBA. It's a public school in DC but it's pretty a-typical--- low percentage of students recieve free or reduced price lunch and a high percentage of test-passers (high enough that the Principal doesn't count testing as one of her priorities- shocking, really, for post-NCLB...) It's not the school I expected but I am excited and think it'll be a great place to have a start in education. It's great that she's giving me a chance- and hey, maybe I'll have a use for my teeny bit of Russian (finally!).

Hopefully I start the 29th...

Will let you know!!!!!

Here's something awful, write letters friends. Farmworkers (particularly women are really some of the most vulnerable folks in this country.
Though Threemile just produces milk and potatoes (mostly for McDonalds) seeing these alerts from United Farm Workers, and then of course being reminded of unbearable conditions during the "spinach scare" remind me to think more about where my food (and wine!) come from:

Threemile puts pregnant woman at risk

Threemile Canyon Farms in eastern Oregon is back to its shameful behavior of discrimination against women.
Threemile's latest intimidation of women is to avoid providing them with a separate changing area--a necessity as workers must wear coveralls to protect them from feces and urine. Laura Garay repeatedly spoke out on this issue and won. Now the company is making her pay for protecting her rights and the rights of other women.
A couple of weeks ago, Laura found out she was pregnant. One of Laura’s jobs was to bathe each cow’s udder with chemicals—which brings her face directly into the chemicals’ fumes. As no masks or protective gear are provided, it made her dizzy and worsened her morning sickness. Her job also required Laura to go up and down stairs. In order to protect her unborn child, Laura requested to be transferred to one of numerous other jobs at the dairy. Management said, if she could not do her job she would be fired.
A week ago, Laura slipped on cow manure and fell hard on her tail bone. She was sent to a company doctor who told her to take a day off and cleared her for reassignment for five days to a different job. On the sixth day, despite Laura telling management she was in a lot of pain because of the fall, they sent her back to her old job. When the pain became too much to bear and Laura felt she was going to faint, she demanded to be allowed to go to the hospital.
At the hospital, Laura discovered the company doctor misdiagnosed her. She likely had a fracture in her back and was told to avoid any physical activity. The doctor told Laura she couldn't understand how the company physician sent her back to work so quickly.
Laura is now at home recovering, waiting to see when the doctor at the hospital will let her return to work. She told us, "I'm really afraid that because of this fall and the hard work that they assign to me that I'll have some problem with my baby. I'm also worried that they're going to fire me because I'm pregnant or retaliate against me because I fell." Please help Laura and all the Threemile employees by writing a letter to McDonalds and ask the giant restaurant to use its influence to stop the problems at Threemile. McDonalds gets products from at least three different companies that buy milk and potatoes from Threemile. McDonalds’ code of conduct says, "We hold our suppliers responsible for ensuring adherence to our standards in their facilities and in subcontractor facilities that produce products for us...We will not do business with suppliers who fail to uphold our standards, in action as well as words." Yet McDonalds has repeatedly refused to take action. Please take action to help Laura and the Threemile workers!

Haven't updated in a while and I'm sorry about that. The job hunt continues to escalate and I'll let you know when I've recieved/accepted offers, startdates, etc. I hope. We've had visitors (including my mom this weekend), we're planning a house warming (this weekend!) and I've been doing some work in the garden. It's been fun, just busy. My class is going pretty well but it's not particularly invigorating....

but until I am more inspired to blog here's an interview by the Daily Pennsylvanian with Dan Savage. I really like the books he's written (Hey! Amazon's selling these in the Bargain Bin! 6 bucks! Get 'em while they're hot!)- you might know him better as the syndicated sex-advice columnist whose campaign leads here: http://www.spreadingsantorum.com/

Though vulgar, he's a smart cookie (really, read his books to see what I mean) on marriage. And no, I do not endorse anyone being dragged behind a pickup truck, at least Dan Savage gets the irony of the recommendation. And Santorum, if anyone, deserves a foe like Savage.