aaronmartz.com and annamartz.com: 03/01/2006

Filipino Food

In honor of Christine's first tour as a diplomat in Manila, Aaron and I went over to Christine and Terry's house for some drinks and Filipino food purchased at the Manila Oriental Mart on Leesburg Pike. Sarap!

Siopao and Lumpiang Shanghai

For our first course, kumain kami nang siopao at lumpiang shanghai. Lumpiang shanghai are Filipino eggrolls and siopao are steamed buns with beef or pork cooked with oyster sauce. They disappeared in minutes along with our vodka gimlets. Next came the main course.

Pork Mechado, Adobong Pusit, and Beef Kaldereta

Pork Mechado, Adobong Pusit, and Beef Kaldereta

Terry lit some candles and dimmed the lights after she set the table. From the left, we have pork mechado, adobong pusit (squid), beef kaldereta, and tons of rice. I was in heaven - Filipino food and real flatware and dishes! I miss my china and crystal; sadly, everything we own is currently packed away in the State Department's storage facility. We will be reunited again this summer after we get to Bern.

Another View of the Table

I miss Filipino food. Unfortunately, I did not inherit my mother's amazing culinary skills, so I suppose it's my own fault that I can't eat it often enough.

Tai Shan Scratching an Itch

Before our trip to the National Mall, we went to the National Zoo to see the animals, among them being the famous baby Tai Shan. We reserved the tickets two months ago, and he was worth the wait. He was very excited about all the attention and wowed us with tricks up on his tree branch.

I wasn't prepared for how spread out the zoo was. The Houston Zoo is pretty confined, so one could walk through the whole zoo and not fall over from a heart attack - or maybe I just need to work out.

I got to see my favorite zoo animals, the golden lion tamarins. One of the tamarins gave birth to some babies last month, so there were two babies sitting high up on a branch grooming one another. One of them started to dance, and Aaron managed to get a hilarious video of it shuffling around awkwardly.

Young Cherry Blossoms

Today was the first day of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Although they aren't at their peak yet, we took advantage of the few trees that were in bloom.

Ladies' Night with Terry and Christine

After Vietnamese food at Four Sisters and Inside Man at the AMC, we stopped at Four Courts in Clarendon. Several drinks later, we were all smiles - and Christine even managed to set the auto-timer on my camera for this photo.