ping pong redux

We visited Ping Pong for lunch after my commencement but the food came out so fast and furious that I didn’t get many pictures – I think I have like 4 total.  We decided to go back and take advantage of the “instructions” on their menu about ordering and then if you’re still hungry, order some more.  That’s exactly what we did before we went to see Edward Sharpe.  We purposefully ordered some dishes and then set about ordering more.

you order much like you would order sushi in most typical sushi restaurants by ticking off what you want on a sheet of paper.  The menu explains the various dishes available.

 
Will pouring his fancy Reserve Sapporo and me very badly lit.

 
Extra sauces – no recollection what they are (it’s been awhile!); Vietnamese Spring Rolls (one is off the plate) – extremely tasty

 
These are the Pork Puffs and they might just be my absolute favorite – superbly tasty, oh so crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

 
Steamed bok choy.  Very good.  Somehow they stay very hot.

 
Shrimp shitake dumplings – they’re good but I think the seafood dumplings are better; now the Crispy Prawn Balls – they’re amazing and this raspberry-y sauce they come with *drool*.  We were literally dipping the random fried bits that fell off the balls in the rest of the sauce.

I wasn’t terribly impressed with the Crispy asparagus – the asparagus was kind of soggy.  The Char Sui Buns are tasty.  Basically the honey bbq filling from the Pork Puffs in my next favorite packaging, the sticky bun.

Will had the Satay Squid – he liked it.  I’m not a fan of squid.  We really enjoy the sticky rice parcels and stuck with the traditional rice – chicken, pork, and king prawns wrapped in a lotus leaf.

 
These are the Chicken and King Prawn Shu Mai.  I don’t recall being terribly impressed by them.

The aftermath of all the tastiness.

All in all it was great.  The service this time was merely a little flighty rather than a bit rude.  We sat in the bar area and got some of the dishes at happy hour prices which was nice.  It can get a bit pricey like sushi or tapas.

edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros

Last week we went to the 9:30 Club on a school night to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

We were introduced to the group at Coachella and loved the vibe (cheesy word, I know, but there’s no other way of putting it) so we’ve been fans ever since.

We weren’t wild about the concert being on a Tuesday but we’ve been denied several shows recently because we thought about them for too long and then they sold out. 

I mean, we’re 30, people. 

Late nights after early mornings followed by more early mornings are not in our bag of tricks any longer.

But we were sure glad we went.  Because it was an amazing show.

It started out a little odd because they managed to “lose” one of their lead singers, Jade.  She sings lead on a whole bunch of their songs so they were more than a little thrown off.  And they don’t even have an opening act to cover for them so they began with a couple of songs from their piano player, Tay Strathairn.

Then the rest of the band trickled out and they played a few things but they would have to pause and consider what to play next whenever they finished a song because they, obviously, couldn’t follow their prepared set list.  At one point, they even had us calling for Jade but she still hadn’t been found – she was in a cab in DC somewhere without a phone. 

There’s Nora Kirkpatrick, aka Katherine from Greek, again.  An oasis of calm amidst all the hippy dippy crazy.

When she finally did arrive, she burst through the backstage door and leapt up on the stage – absolutely ecstatic to finally be there.  Then they took a break, presumably to regroup.

They came back out with a rousing rendition of "Janglin'"  You might recognize the tune from the 2011 Ford Fiesta commercial.

I recorded most of the song but not all of it – they went kind of nuts after they finally found their groove. It was AWESOME! Jade is the girl with the short dark hair on the right by the piano.  She’s nutty and she only sings and plays random bits of percussion out of a basket of “toys” that sits on the stage.

They also had a few extra players in the wings. The first was an older guy playing a lap guitar – at least I think that’s what they were calling it.  It looked like a steel guitar to me. 

Later a sitar player joined them for "Desert Song."  They must have had a 5 minute intro to the song wherein half the band sat down on the stage to join the sitar player on the floor.  Just totally chill…

It's not the greatest video but I had to include it because I’m so proud of myself for figuring out how to flip a video.

The lead singer – Alex Ebert – jumped into the crowd about 3 times at various parts of the show.  It was pretty funny.  Once he got a girl in the audience to sing with him.  Another time, he literally got into some guy’s shirt – with the guy still in it.

I really don’t think I’ve laughed and smiled so much through a concert.  It was so much fun!  Ok, I could have done without the exceedingly enthusiastic girl next to me.  But we had a great time.  Really.

One thing that we noticed on our way out that we couldn’t see from where we were sitting/standing during the concert was that the backdrop was the Emerald City.

guster + friends = fun

Ok, we’re super excited for several reasons:

1. Guster is releasing a new CD October 5th.
2. We’ve got tickets to see them on October 23rd at DAR Constitution Hall.
3. Well, Tara has them (or will have them when she gets them in the mail) because she’s coming to visit!  Bob might come too!

We like Guster and we like it when our friends come to visit.

Well, this reminded me of the video I took of them last time they were in town.  Now, since I had to break down and join YouTube to upload videos through LiveWriter, I don’t have to worry about the file size anymore.

Acoustic “Jesus on the Radio”

Since the audio in the video kind of sucks and Will found the concert on the web, click below to listen.

reagan’s 1st birthday

I didn’t even remember I had these pictures on my camera until I finally cleaned off the card in the Canon.  They’re too cute not to share.

Susan, Tim and Reagan had been out of the country until Memorial Day weekend and decided to have a small first birthday party for Reagan on Memorial Day a few days after they returned.  It turned out that Evite was too smart for its own good and since Susan set up the invitation in Switzerland, it adjusted for the timezones and the party ended up being at lunch instead of dinner – oops!

Given the hour, the guest of honor slept until it was time for cake.  The rest of us had a great time awaiting her arrival but then it was time for cake.

  
Better keep an eye on the knife, Will!

 
Um, Mom, what do I do with this?

 
With a little help from her friends…

 
Ah, happy girl enjoying her cake.

And we don’t know how to follow directions so we brought her a present.

I think she enjoyed it.

Hey Mr. Will, you want some balloons?

 
I know what Will wants….