around town | | Page 3

16 November 2005
by MALA Leave a comment

I had a secret

This tiny unassuming pizza joint made the best grilled chicken salad on Earth. That’s right – on the entire planet.

I’m addicted to Giorgio’s grilled chicken salads. Two, three times a week, I’d call in my order for pickup.

One grilled chicken salad, no olives, extra peppers.

My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

Two weeks ago Giorgio’s closed. I think. The number rings and rings. But it doesn’t look like they’re closed. There isn’t an official sign that says they’re gone forever. Cans of soda still sit in the refrigerators along the back wall.

It’s like everyone went on vacation for two weeks. And forgot to tell the neighbors a.k.a. customers.

But it doesn’t change the fact that I can’t get my salad.

Now I’ve tried others. I ordered the Shanghai chicken salad from Cosi – which was alright. I went into DC Cafe and ordered their version of the grilled chicken salad, only to be sourly disappointed. I’ve tried California Pizza Kitchen and Bertucci’s.

Then I went upscale… to Levante’s, to Daily Grill, to Spezie. But alas, none compare to Giorgio’s.

To all the Washingtonians out there…… can anyone recommend a place to get a good grilled chicken salad?

14 November 2005
by MALA Leave a comment

Passing the time

It was supposed to rain.

So instead of meeting for a run, we met for decaf lattes.

Coffee shops, or cafes, are an integral part of my life. I run in and out of them at least three times a day and freak out a little when I visit a place without one.

I remember getting stuck someplace in Tennessee for a week with no coffee shops. It was insane. There was a pizza hut and a few greasy diners but no coffee shop. At the very minimum I expected a Dunkin Donuts – but I was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by hills.

Some of my best conversations, most memorable “Aha” moments, occurred in a coffee shop. I often meet people in cafes and remember the ones I visited in Amsterdam and Paris and Lisbon and Glasgow.

Here in DC there are few independent coffee shops left and almost every city block houses one of the chains – Starbucks or Cosi or Caribou. But I prefer Soho (on the corner of 22nd and P Streets NW) or Kramerbooks in Dupont Circle.

So three coffees later, we parted company at the entrance of one of DC’s many Cosis. And although our two-hour conversation was already turning into a fond memory, I couldn’t think of a better way of passing the time.

12 November 2005
by MALA Leave a comment

Fragments of a night out

I drifted in and out of sleep from about 3:30 a.m. til the phone rang at 10:00 a.m. It was Casey, my best friend.

“You were in rare form last night.”

“Well good morning to you too.”

“You grabbed some guy on the sidewalk and dragged him to the Irish Channel.”

“WHAT?!!?!!”

“Don’t you remember?”

“Wait – we met him at DC Chophouse.”

“We weren’t at the Chopper.”

“Oh yeah… we were. We went there after Poste. And then it all gets a little hazy.”

“Well, you met that guy Daniel on the street.”

“HOW did I just meet some guy on the sidewalk?”

“Not sure… he came out of the MCI Center…. some game.”

“Did I give him my number?”

“Uhhhhhh… yeah you did – Hahaha – but you wrote it down with the spy pen.”

“Invisible ink? And he didn’t notice?”

“You folded the napkin into a tiny square and we ditched him before we got to Fado.”

“Your brother’s friends were all there.”

“Oh yeah.”

“We acted like asses.”

“We went dancing at midnight.”

<GASPS>

“I blame it all on those martinis at Zola.”

“Right. So. What’s on deck for tonight?”

3 October 2005
by MALA Leave a comment

Reinvention

Washington, DC neighborhoods are in a constant state of construction. Cranes and broken sidewalks are common. And although the noise and detours are annoying, Washingtonians understand that construction is a sign of prosperity and economic health.

Usually old buildings are demolished to make way for the shiny new glass buildings that rise from the rubble. Other times builders preserve the original facade and connect the brand new interior to the former exterior.

But this renovation is fascinating. At CSIS in downtown DC they’re using the BATH FITTER® philosophy. Brand new shiny windows are installed right over the original cement structure. So when it’s finished – if you hadn’t seen the remodel or never known what the CSIS building looked like originally – you’d think it was just another new glass building.

I’m not quite sure why this bothers me as much as it does. When they tear down some of the older buildings, I’m heartbroken by the architectural loss (like the Columbia Hospital for Women).

But hiding the original beneath a new facade… not improving the structure but covering it up… it’s symbolic for a lot of what goes on in this town.

2 September 2005
by MALA Leave a comment

How to Help

The First District police of Washington, DC, announced that 400 families will be arriving on Monday to stay in the Armory. Their needs at this time are bottled water and anything that would constitute a care package; for example, toothbrushes, toothpaste, blankets, undergarments, soap, etc. These items can be brought to the First District office located at 415 4th St SW.

Meanwhile the Washington Post published a list of online resources and ways to help the victims in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and in the ravaged Gulf coast area.

Or you can donate directly at the Red Cross.

If you live within 350 miles of the devastated area and can provide shelter, please visit HurricaneHousing.org.

Every little bit helps!

2 August 2005
by MALA Leave a comment

Delusions of extra sensory perception

Last week I watched The Emperor’s Club. I usually read the book before seeing the film. But in this case, I learned during the DVD special features that the story was based on the short story The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin.

A few days later I bought the book.

Now, you all know I can’t walk into a bookstore and purchase just one book. As I stood at the counter, credit card in hand as the cashier rang up my purchases, I thought, “This is going to come out to $107.”

A minute later the total appeared – $107.

This happens to me occasionally… a random coincidence that will startle me out of my reverie and into the present.

Surprisingly the film is very similar to the short story. Not like the travesty of casting Tom Cruise to portray Lestat in Interview with a Vampire. Or the later revision of Queen of the Damned.

I struggled to remember the name of the actor who replaced Cruise in that installment… could picture him in my mind… his name at the tip of my brain.

When suddenly, he appeared on tv in a teaser for a new series on ABC called Night Stalker. And I remembered… Stuart Townsend.

Is this a cosmic coincidence or have I discovered my sixth sense?

26 July 2005
by MALA Leave a comment

It’s the end of the world as I know it

The phone rang at 1:30 p.m.

“So what are you doing?” my best friend asked.

“Working, but I’ll meet you for lunch.”

“How about a drink instead?”

“Well I need to touch base with a few reporters in Chicago this afternoon, so why don’t I meet you at 4:00?”

“Ok”

*click*

My best friend moved back to DC a few months ago. She’s the sister I never had. We lived together as roommates for almost four years with our brothers, at one point or another, crashing on air mattresses on the floor or on the sleeper-sofa for months at a time.

This afternoon, we met at a shi-shi new bar for a martini supper. And talked about… the glory days. For hours.

I mean, we discussed the new job she’s starting next week, and that her parents’ cat died this past weekend (don’t ask), and the guys we’re each interested in.

But the night was devoted to stories. About the man on the street we begged to carry two kegs to our third story apartment because we hadn’t considered how heavy they’d be. We paid him with beer. And the time her brother’s friend crushed Advil on the gross coffee table and snorted the powder for fun. The martinis we drank poolside in Puerto Rico, and the guys we met in Montreal three years later. The time we cooked dinner for an Irishman (her date) and an Englishman (my date), and how our one request was ‘bring bread’ and their reply was ‘WonderBread.’

As I walked home in the 100 degree heat, I thought, “how odd – our conversation, almost the entire four hour conversation, was based in the past. Is this it? Am I doomed to relive the glory days because my present is too stable and boring to talk about? Have I inadvertantly turned into Al Bundy? Are all my stories now based in what has already happened?”

So now I’m feeling bummed and motivated to make new stories. Because the old stories are so… yesterday. And the thought of going over those past episodes one more time is depressing. It makes me feel really, really old.

10 July 2005
by MALA Leave a comment

A personal essay

Suzanne Chazin taught a seminar about writing personal essays at the Smithsonian Institution. It was early… too early for a weekend… but I just made it on time.

To me, she is like an old friend… an acquaintance you catch up with over coffee every few years. Since our last meeting, her baby daughter grew into a toddler of two, keeping her from publishing fiction until now.

As I stepped through a back door and searched for an empty seat, Chazin started off with the comment…

“It can be dangerous to read too much bad stuff.”

… which immediately brought to mind Lev Grossman’s Codex (to date the only book I put away after finishing a mere 90 pages).

I settled into a seat in the back and looked around the windowless room at the other 150+ people taking notes or leaning forward, waiting anxiously for that secret formula that would turn them into published writers.

Most of the attendees were white, under age 50, and female – almost five women to every man. They wrote on legal pads and spiral notebooks and slim PDA’s, using fountain pens or pencils or hi-tech wireless keyboards. The men mostly sat in the front rows, wearing pastel plaid or bold blue stripes, while the ladies favored shades of pink.

Then there was me, a smudge across all this gentle color, dressed head to toe in black.

The usual suspects were present. The graying woman in front who thought she could sell a 10,000 word essay to a publication for $10,000 (“but they pay $1 per word”); the fluffy blond who insisted on protecting all her work through the copyright office (“I heard this one editor in Boston stole this one idea…”); the college coed majoring in English who asked uberliterate questions and refered back to lingering incongruous symbolism (or was it incongruous lingering symbolism?); the retiree looking for a how-to manual on writing a memoir (“there’s got to be a right way to start”).

In a nutshell, here’s what I took away from the day-long event:

1. Write.
2. Write everyday.
3. Write some more.
4. An essay is like an onion… it’s a layer… a slice of life… like a short story, but not fiction.
5. Don’t preach.
6. Be vulnerable.
7. If you can write funny, you should immediately move to Hollywood where you can pretty much write your own ticket.
8. Adverbs and adjectives are not your friends.
9. When you read published work, you’re reading Draft #17.
10. The best writer is a rewriter.