Silver Spring

[pecunium]

My plan is to leave here on Monday, 19 July, in the early morning bright, and hie me up the road (through the Shenandoah Valley; following the path of "Jackson's Foot Cavalry") up to Silver Spring, Maryland. I'll be staying in Takoma Park (where there is a great music shop ( The House of Musical Traditions), and planning on supper at Mandalay.

It's a Burmese place, so it's new to me.

The fly in the ointment... It's about a ten hour trip for me (about eight on the road, but I have to get gas, eat, etc.). If I don't pack the computer until the morning, I'll be later out the door. I'll look at alternate means of getting it on the bike.

In any case, I won't be on the road earlier than 0700... which means the best I can get in is probably 1630, and 1700 is more like it. I figure I can pretty much be certain of making the restaurant by 1900. I'll shoot for 1830, and try to make an announcement when I get in.

Comments

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Aaaagh argh arrrgh Mandalay is an awesome place and it's very tasty and I can finally get to meet you and there is no way I can make it on Monday.

Still, enjoy.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

(You want to get the ginger salad. Trust me on this.)

[jonsinger.livejournal.com]

Hi.

Just wanted to say that you are absolutely right about Mandalay, and that I like the speedwell you are using as your userpic. (Also that you are correct about the ginger salad. Have you tried the fermented tealeaf salad or the jasmine rice salad?)

Cheers —
jon

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Thank you. That's my favourite wildflower---it grows here, and it grows where I grew up, ~5000 miles away.

I hadn't tried any of the other salads; now they are both in The List.

[jonsinger.livejournal.com]

IIRC it's Veronica persica, one of several speedwells that you can find around. As you'd expect from the name, a European import, but not exactly objectionable. All of the speedwells seem to be rather cheerful, though I personally find the little species ones prettier than most of the cultivated fancy ones I've seen so far. (There is one tiny thing, I forget the species, that has flowers about 1.5 or 2 mm across. You blink, you've missed them. Can't imagine what pollinates it, unless the pollen carries on the wind. Maybe there's some kind of teeny tiny hover-fly or something...)

I s'pose someone could select V. persica for flower-garden use, as I see quite a bit of variation in color and flower size. There are patches down in DC with flowers almost half an inch across.

------------------------------

The jasmine rice salad is big and (no surprise) full of rice, so it's almost the equivalent of a main dish, in terms of amount of food. Just so you know.

Best —
jon

[jonsinger.livejournal.com]

Hope you noticed that he's delayed, and that dinner is tomorrow rather than tonight.

Cheers —
jon