There was a cool breeze as I walked out of my apartment for work, earlier than usual because we have a lab meeting. I have the vague inkling that I was forgetting everything, but I ran through my daily checklist. Everything was with me. I hop on the metro, and as I step out of the train and into the Medical Center station, it hits me. The cookies were still at home...
The lab meeting went well. My mentor gave a presentation (right before his presentation for the lab meeting) on how to keep the hood clean in the cell culture room. It was actually pretty funny, alongside informative. He's a nice, patient person and he doesn't really point out problems if he can, because he just wants to avoid conflict, but finally, with the urging of some other lab mates, he decided to bring it back to attention and get lab technique polished up so we don't have contamination. Which is really bad.
Afterwards, I did some lab work, and then I left relatively early (at 5pm, which is a few hours before I normally leave) because my friend Leah came from Pittsburgh to visit me in DC for the weekend.
I meet her at Union Station, where we spend 5 minutes on the phone trying to direct ourselves to each other. Afterwards, we stopped at her hotel, before walking/metroing to meet Black for dinner.
Black originally wanted to take us to eat at China Chilcano, so Leah and I started heading towards there. When we were about 5 minutes from the restaurant, Black messages me saying that the wait time is 90 minutes. I was a little adamant on trying Ethiopian food, just because it's supposedly a cuisine that is common to DC. So he finds a place and gives me the new address. I input that into my phone and we start walking. Suddenly, I realize we're not going the right way, I double check the address I put in, and I realize, for some reason, the destination was still China Chilcano instead of the Ethiopian restaurant. Oops.
No worries, we eventually find our way to the restaurant, and if anything, it looks sketchy. The restaurant is located in a red brick, rectangular building, the door is barred with metal, and the windows are tinted and black and unwelcoming.
However, a group of Americans walk out and they told us the food was pretty good, so we decide to push open the metal bars and enter. There, we're seated, handed a menu, and left alone to decide. We have no clue what anything is. We get the impression that the food should be good because of all the "locals" there, but still, we were at loss for what to order. When the waitress comes over, she helps us order two entrees, and then we sit there and wait. and wait. and wait. We get so hungry, we eat some wafers that Leah brought as as thank you gift (it's a Chinese courtesy to bring gifts when you go somewhere and also a Chinese courtesy to take someone out to dinner when they come...but Black really didn't have to treat us to dinner, we would have been fine on our own, but thank you Black). People see us and a few silently laugh, but we're too hungry, the wait is too long, too bad, we're eating.
The food finally arrives. It's this huge plate with 9 different sides arranged on the edges. The other order was this lamb dish, which was unceremoniously dumped in the middle of this plate. We're each given a plate of this bread, that is spongy and rolled up so it looks like bandages. And then waitress leaves us and we have no idea how to eat.
The lab meeting went well. My mentor gave a presentation (right before his presentation for the lab meeting) on how to keep the hood clean in the cell culture room. It was actually pretty funny, alongside informative. He's a nice, patient person and he doesn't really point out problems if he can, because he just wants to avoid conflict, but finally, with the urging of some other lab mates, he decided to bring it back to attention and get lab technique polished up so we don't have contamination. Which is really bad.
Afterwards, I did some lab work, and then I left relatively early (at 5pm, which is a few hours before I normally leave) because my friend Leah came from Pittsburgh to visit me in DC for the weekend.
I meet her at Union Station, where we spend 5 minutes on the phone trying to direct ourselves to each other. Afterwards, we stopped at her hotel, before walking/metroing to meet Black for dinner.
Black originally wanted to take us to eat at China Chilcano, so Leah and I started heading towards there. When we were about 5 minutes from the restaurant, Black messages me saying that the wait time is 90 minutes. I was a little adamant on trying Ethiopian food, just because it's supposedly a cuisine that is common to DC. So he finds a place and gives me the new address. I input that into my phone and we start walking. Suddenly, I realize we're not going the right way, I double check the address I put in, and I realize, for some reason, the destination was still China Chilcano instead of the Ethiopian restaurant. Oops.
No worries, we eventually find our way to the restaurant, and if anything, it looks sketchy. The restaurant is located in a red brick, rectangular building, the door is barred with metal, and the windows are tinted and black and unwelcoming.
However, a group of Americans walk out and they told us the food was pretty good, so we decide to push open the metal bars and enter. There, we're seated, handed a menu, and left alone to decide. We have no clue what anything is. We get the impression that the food should be good because of all the "locals" there, but still, we were at loss for what to order. When the waitress comes over, she helps us order two entrees, and then we sit there and wait. and wait. and wait. We get so hungry, we eat some wafers that Leah brought as as thank you gift (it's a Chinese courtesy to bring gifts when you go somewhere and also a Chinese courtesy to take someone out to dinner when they come...but Black really didn't have to treat us to dinner, we would have been fine on our own, but thank you Black). People see us and a few silently laugh, but we're too hungry, the wait is too long, too bad, we're eating.
The food finally arrives. It's this huge plate with 9 different sides arranged on the edges. The other order was this lamb dish, which was unceremoniously dumped in the middle of this plate. We're each given a plate of this bread, that is spongy and rolled up so it looks like bandages. And then waitress leaves us and we have no idea how to eat.
We tentatively tear off pieces of the bread, use it to try to pick up some food, and then eat. And it's good. It tastes a lot like Indian food in that it's all very spiced, and the lamb was so so so yummy.
We maybe manage to finish off half of the food we're given. It was a lot of food for a relatively small amount. Less than $30 for the 3 of us. And it was a rewarding experience.
Afterwards, we roamed D.C. Everything looks so much different at night, when the lights turn on. D.C. felt more like Chicago at night than during the day, but even so, building lights are not all on and it's not the same. D.C. is more cozy, but I do miss the elegance of Chicago sometimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment