I wasn't very good with updating this yet again. Ugh. Why Jen why?
What has happened since I last posted? Thanksgiving weekend was fun. My friend Adrienne flew over from Boston so that I wouldn't spend Thanksgiving alone. We were originally supposed to meet up in New York with several other girls from our high school but that plan fell through. In the end, she was gonna stay in Boston and I was gonna stay in DC. Until her dad was like, "Why don't you just fly to DC and spend Thanksgiving with Jen there?" So instead of the two of us spending Thanksgiving alone in two separate cities, we had a very nice Thanksgiving weekend just the two of us together! Adrienne is one of the bestest friends I have, she and I are practically sisters. And because this Winter Break won't have many opportunities for us to meet up back home, and because she is looking to spend some of her summer break in Boston for an internship, having a few days together was great.
She got here on Wednesday and I got off work early to pick her up from the airport that afternoon. Then we went to eat Ethiopian food (YES!) and got to eat with out hands and it was spicy and it was good. We were both really glad that we had each other that weekend. We went to a nice Thanksgiving brunch at the LPQ in Dupont Circle (Organic bread basket with their different fruit and chocolate spreads? Yum!) before heading to the National Zoo for the day. Sadly, they don't have giraffes, but we got to see the afternoon feeding of the Giant Panda which was great. That day was the coldest day that weekend. It was mostly in the low 30s and high 20s but the wind chills dipped to the teens. For Thanksgiving dinner, we had made reservations at PJ Clarke's, a classic American cuisine restaurant. We chose not to do the traditional Thanksgiving spread. Instead we got comfort foods--french onion soups, a huge tub of baked macaroni and cheese with bacon and peas, and these short rib spring rolls that had mashed potatoes, short ribs, and green onions inside and which we dipped into a horseradish sauce. And of course, we had pumpkin pie for dessert and some tea! It was a nice dinner and we both felt sad that we were 5,000 miles away from home and family but we were definitely both very thankful that we were together.
The bad part was I woke up with a cold on Thursday, which meant I was sick for the weekend. Going out every day did not help at all.
On Black Friday, we slept in and trekked over to Rosslyn, Virginia to visit an awesome pho place called Pho 75. It was heaven. Oh my god, and I thought Pho 14 in Columbia Heights was money! This was better. After the pho warmed us up and made me feel a bit better because of my cold, we walked across the Key Bridge over the Potomac River to go to Georgetown. Now, Georgetown is a shopping destination. It is very much like Waikiki strip, only older and with a different kind of charm. So, of course, M Street was packed with people. But we weren't there for the shopping. We were there for the cupcakes!
DC is one of the first cities that started the whole cupcake craze. In fact, Sprinkles Cupcakes on M Street is one of the very first cupcake bakeries that skyrockethed the whole thing. And right down the street is Georgetown Cupcakes, known for their show on TLC. There is another cupcake place in the area called Baked and Wired, known mostly for their granola/crunola concoction which they call "Hippie Crack." Anyway, we wanted to do the ultimate taste test and finally figure out which cupcake bakery was the best. We both have heard people say that it is Georgetown Cupcakes hands down, but some have pointed out that the mere size of Baked and Wired cupcakes make them more worth your money. And of course, there are people who stick to Sprinkles because they are the ones who started it all. We wanted to find out! Our plan was to visit each cupcake bakery and to order a red velvet cupcake from each, along with one of their seasonal special flavors. The red velvet would be able to tell us which one does cupcakes best--it is a classic, and plus, we were sure that all three would have that flavor.
So we hit Georgetown Cupcakes first and as usual, the line was out the door, around the corner, and up the street. We were prepared though--we hit Starbucks in Rosslyn first to get some drinks that would warm us up as we stood in line in the cold. It was well worth the wait I think. The cupcakes were adorable. Our seasonal pick was the caramel apple, so we walked away with that and the red velvet cupcake in a cute little box.
Next stop? Sprinkles! It was not crowded at all. Like, at all. There was practically no one there. But that did not deter us. We ordered our staple red velvet and then chose the cranberry orange cupcake as our seasonal flavor. Sprinkles cupcakes are all topped with these circular decorations with colors that indicate the flavor of the cupcake. It was different from Georgetown's colorful and creative sprinkles, shapes, frosting, and more. But again, we knew it would all come down to the taste.
So we walked over down to Baked and Wired and got in line for our cupcakes. Baked and Wired didn't have a line out the door but that is because they have a bigger space than Georgetown. Past the first room where you can get your cupcakes and other goodies (they are not strictly cupcakes, they have cookies, biscottie, brownies, and their granola stuff as well), there is also a separate room for you to get coffee and another one with bookshelves, lounge chairs and an entire wall filled with written-on napkins. It was very cool. We got the red velvet of course, but their seasonal flavor was pumpkin. And because we had already gotten pumpkin pie the night before, we chose to get their german chocolate cupcake with coconut and pecan frosting instead.
By that time, it was already 5ish and we had to rush over to the metro station in Rosslyn to go to the Tree Lighting at Old Town Alexandria in Virginia. It was another cute and charming little town, and we would have liked to stroll down King Street during the day but it was all right. The Tree Lighting was at Market Square which was packed! There were so many kids with their parents. Onstage were a town choir and they led the crowd in singing carols. We watched the mayor interview Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus onstage and it was just adorable how the kids ate up all of their words. It was cute. And after, the big finale, Santa and the mayor lit up the tree! It was heartwarming and Aid and I were both thinking of the Honolulu City Lights and our own trees back home. Again, we felt that sadness that we weren't home but we also felt glad that we weren't alone.
After the tree-lighting, we made our way to the very packed Starbucks on King Street and found a table. It was time for our taste test! Now, the size of the cupcakes were a notable thing. Baked and Wired cupcakes were by far the largest, they were bigger than my fists. And the Georgetown cupcake was the littlest one, it was so cute. We tasted each one, evaluating the richness of the cake and the taste of the cream cheese frostin on each one. We both agreed that the Georgetown cupcake was the best red velvet, though it was small and it disappeared quickly. Its cake was the richest and its frosting the lightest, really airy. Both the Sprinkles and B&W cakes were pretty rich but they also had a weird texture, possibly because of their size. They were good, but pretty dense. As for the frosting, I think Aid said she liked the Sprinkles frosting better than the B&W one, but I disagreed. The Sprinkles frosting to me was just too much, it was hard, and it overpowered the cake.
As for the seasonal flavors? We didn't eat those until the day after, but hands down the German Chocolate from B&W was the best. Georgetown's caramel apple was delightful, it had bits of apple in the cake and the buttercream frosting was drizzled with caramle. As for the Sprinkles cranberry orange, the cake was also good but the frosting was nothing special at all. The German chocolate one was our favorite by far, it was probs even better than Georgetown's red velvet!
Saturday was a lazy day. We woke up late then went over to Eastern Market. We shared a plate of crabcakes and deep fried oysters at Market Lunch, and walked around the farmers market and the flea market. They were selling Christmas trees and the smell of them made me think of how much I love the holidays. We bought and split a gigantic Asian pear and munched on that as we looked at the crafts and vegetables there. We also visited my favorite coffeeshop in that area, Peregrine Expresso, to grab warm drinks. We spent quite a bit of time exploring Capitol Hill Books with its crazy unorganized-but-really-very-organized stacks and shelves of books. Three levels of just books and books in every corner, every shelf, from floor to ceiling, covered in books and these clever labels that help people find books. It was great. There were even books in the bathroom! All the language books were in there. And we found a huge copy of the seventh Harry Potter book with a label on it that said "Ron Dies." I always have a great time just browsing through Capitol Hill books. We ended the day with more Starbucks and then metroed back to school for more sweet and salty snacks and Korean Dramas.
Adrienne's flight departed early the next day so we woke up very early and metroed to the airport where we had a Dunkin Donuts breakfast after she said goodbye. It was very lonely after having her with me for several days, even lonelier than I felt before she even got to DC for the weekend. But I was sick and all I could do was sleep all day, so I did, which helped not only my cold but also the gnawing silence that filled and surrounded me, like there was an empty space that Adrienne had left that was bigger than the space she had come to fill. It was a sad Sunday for me, and an equally sad Monday as I had to call in sick at work. I was just not feeling good from the no-rest weekend, so having a day extra off was helpful. I was also really gross and I didn't want the Congresswoman to get sick.
But I went back to work on Tuesday and it slowly began hitting me that I was gonna be leaving soon. The office work was the same, except I kept thinking of everything as one of my last tasks. I was able to go on a second Dome Tour after having gone my first time in the beginning of the semester. It was a good full circle--I first got to DC in the summer with a huge and nice view of the city at nighttime at our hotel. And now as my time is ending, I was able to do a full 360 again from the very top of the center of the nation's capital. I did not linger at any point of my view except for the perfect view of Cannon on the southeast side of the Capitol. Again with the mixed feelings: I am glad to be going home, but saddened that my time here is ending. Yesterday, I gave my last Capitol tour ever and it went great--I took them on the Speaker's balcony, all the Hawaii marks in the Capitol, straying from the path that the Redcoats prescribe, and also the House floor and the "secret" prayer room on the House side.
I am coming home with so many stories, much more than I can really tell people. I am also coming home a different Jen, I think. This is a Jen that has experienced loneliness and sadness that I have never before felt. This is a Jen who has grown much in the past several months. This is a Jen who is, I hope, more mature, learned, independent, stronger. A lot has tested me throughout this semester and here I am. At the same time, there were many high moments this semester both in and out of the office. None of them would have been possible if not for the people I met along the way, the opportunities that presented themselves, and the endless support I got from back home.
I am getting ready to leave DC, and I know I want to come back, and I will. I may not know how exactly just yet. But I think I will. As I say goodbye to this city on the 14th when I fly back home, I am confident that I will be very happy with what I got out of it, perfectly content with what DC has given me over the months I spent here.
Note: This post can also be found in my other blog.
