Embassy Evening

Boo.  I am fighting a cold today.  Since when does a cold start with a mildly irritated throat and take 4 days to actually get started?  So, last night was a real Cinderella event because as soon as I got home, the symptoms started.

So here I sit, with my 1,000 mg Vitamin C booster drink from Nikki (perfect timing - I'm taking the second one tomorrow), a carafe of home blend spicy masala tea, a bowl of grapefruit, and a box of tissues, so that I can tell you about my lovely evening in very nice company.

There are many embassies around Dupont Circle, and on Massachusetts and Connecticut Avenues.  The Indonesian Embassy is on Mass Ave.

The Walsh Mansion was built in the Beaux-Arts style at the turn of the 20th century by an Irish-American gold mining tycoon and was the center of society functions during the Teddy Roosevelt administration.  Over the years, it has housed various government offices, including the Rural Electrification Commission in the 1930s and the Red Cross in WWII.  At a state dinner there in 1919, Queen Elizabeth of Belgium presented Mrs Walsh with the Order of Queen Elizabeth for opening her home to Belgian relief volunteers during the Great War.

Their daughter, Evalyn Walsh McLean, was the last private owner of the Indian blue 44.5 carat Hope Diamond which I saw last week at the Museum of Natural History.

The government of Indonesia bought the mansion in 1951 for less than half the construction price and spent a great deal of money restoring it to its former glory, which judging from the ornate detail and plasterwork, must have been painstaking.  It is now on the National Register of Historical Places.

I wish I had taken a picture of the staircase and the giant stained glass skylight above it!

After receiving our glasses of wine, we entered the grand Louis XIV ballroom, stopped for a chat with one of the diplomatic staff, and wandered around the other public areas.  The buffet was laid out beside the ballroom in the organ room where, yes, there was a pretty impressive pipe organ.  The light fixtures were fantastic - not chandeliers, but something more unique.  There were glass cases displaying the varied national costumes of Indonesia, building models, jewelry, and traditional objects.  In the hall with the staircase there was a huge ornate masked dragon made of real animal hair and a fearsome wooden gargoyle that had been presented to the embassy by the Bank of Indonesia.

We enjoyed starters of traditional potato croquettes with a spicy peanut sauce, followed by a history of the mansion from a member of staff, a speech from the Ambassador which of course mentioned Obama's Indonesian roots, and then some entertainment.  We were treated to some gamelan music, 3 pieces.  One was called the dragonfly.  



Then a man in a googly-eyed masked did a dance that left me feeling unsettled, so I think he was supposed to chase away demons.  Thankfully he did not give me nightmares.

Then there was a buffet of rice, goat (?) curry, noodles, vegetables, chicken satay, and the most spicy chicken wings EVER.  Brain buzz hot.  It was yummy.  We ate at a table with two couples who were pleasant to talk to.

Then we got to try playing the gamelan.  I couldn't get the hang of it, but my companion evinced a clear ear for music.

We left around 9.30pm and walked to the Eighteenth Street Lounge, which is a large townhouse with a selection of rooms in eclectic and ornate styles of decor and music.  Every light fixture was different.  Every landing had a console table with mirror, lamp, and plant, and there were candles everywhere.

Of course we chose the jazz room with big antique sofas and settles, baroque picture frames, and the deepest red ceiling.  I think we chose a quaint Queen Anne sofa.  The music was great, but then a live band arrived.  They took ages to set up, but it was worth it and we were treated to some random scat-style jazz with a keyboard, trumpet, flute, conga drums.

My Cosmo

Wild Child

Thursday, though he didn't get off work as early as he'd hoped, American Boy did still take me to dinner in Chinatown. He did not like sending me home past midnight in the bus, and always pays the taxi fare.

So there I was yesterday thinking we'd meet at around 7 for dinner on Friday. However, mid afternoon he called to ask if I'd be ok getting off work at 5 or 5.30. I was fine with that. At 4.30 I got a text saying to meet him now! So, at 4.35, I walked out of the office - that was clever, giving me a double fare yesterday in anticipation of today. He was already at the restaurant - Tuttons, where we had been last week at the opera. When I asked how he had managed to get out of the office so early, he said he'd "just up and left". We sat at the bar with drinks and olives until our 5.30 table reservation came up with a nice view over the square. He doesn't really like olives and fed them to me, so when I said he should have mentioned that when the barman gave me a choice of munchies, he said it was alright because if I'm happy he's happy. How cute is that?

When we got our table, he ordered wine and a plat de charcuterie; I guess his German side rules there. W & his wife O were nearly an hour late, so I was already nicely mellow by then. R said they were lovely, and they were; very sweet, slightly shy, with an air of innocence (though R says W has a raunchy sense of humour - well, don't all military boys when they are together?); a nice couple. I had ricotta and sweet potato tortellini, R had rare tuna steak, O had grilled sea bass, and W had pork loin. They enjoyed the food and O filled out a comments card. When it came to dessert, only we girls ordered, which is the wrong way round, isn't it? I had a brownie with ice cream and she had a sticky toffee pudding and licked the plate clean, whereas I, having had a head start on the eating with the charcuterie plate, halted halfway through and remained full for hours afterwards.

Covent Garden was unusually dead for a Friday night, and that was definitely not because a few thousand people had gone off to Glastonbury...and surely not because there was a bit of rain. Where were the tourists? We were at a loss as to what to do - W was sure he would fall asleep if he sat down at a show or the cinema, so we stopped in a very pretty pub with high ceilings and amazing plaster friezes along the ceilings. O and I sat on a very high, slippery banquette and the only thing keeping us on it was the fact that we were leaning on the table. At first when we sat, a group of 3 guys oohed and aahed at us until W and R came back with their beers.

As we walked up the road with the boys holding the umbrellas, I backchatted R, and we got into a scuffle in which he lifted me up and I whacked him with my jacket. O and W, walking behind, threatened to report domestic violence. :)

Then we parted ways and R took me to a casino, the wicked boy. A nice one with no tourists, and a jazz singer. It was the first time I've ever used my Texas drivers license as ID in this country. What would I have used otherwise???

Anyway, we ordered G&Ts and found a blackjack table for about an hour and won a bit. When W called to say that Glastonbury was live on TV, R actually made me answer the phone which discombobulated both W and me for a couple of seconds! I rarely answer other people's phones. I was somewhat out of it for about an hour or so also, because I really had eaten too much and was unpleasantly stuffed and slightly queasy.

After blackjack we moved to poker. I have played blackjack before in the past at a spring formal but with no money: we were given an allotted number of free chips and I won an imaginary $40,000. By the time we got to the poker table, I was coming back to myself, but have never been able to grasp the concept of poker. So R tried to teach me with utmost patience because although I began to get it after a while, sort of, I think I am a hopeless case. He was impressed that I kept us going for a couple of hours though. It's nice winning on someone else's money. He cashed in the chips and gave me a cut, and forced me to admit that I found it "vaguely interesting" because he noticed the point at which I got this look of concentration on my face...

Good lord have mercy, the boy is just a bundle of mischief and really keeps me on my rusty old toes. And he wants to know why he gets so many dark looks shot his way?!

So anyway, I have won £50. What should I do with it???

P.S. I have a headache.

Lingering Luncheon

Everything seems to be picking up, now that the days are growing longer and spring is round the corner.

I went to Sunday luncheon at Home House with a pleasant group of people. Yes, Home House, where the monied let down their hair and celebs rub elbows with royalty. (What you wouldn't guess is that it is only a few years old.)



I was invited by a pleasant young lady I met a few months ago at a political Party, um, party, and of a ruling family. It turns out she is a member of my old place, the Arts Club! So I know more than enough people now to be a guest there.

The guests were all from various mideastern countries (Ms R and Mr F from Kuwait, twins from the Emirates, a pair of French-Lebanese cousins) and one Indian, and all educated in Europe, the UK or the US, and mostly quite beautiful. So many nice teeth. All of us have been mistaken for something else. The twins look Greek. Ms R has been mistaken for Indian. I've been Indian, Lebanese, Italian, Egyptian, Greek...Well, I do have two, maybe three, of those.

The champagne flowed first in the bar, after which we moved upstairs to the dining room. Ms R had assigned our seating, which I liked because we alternated boy and girl. For starters, I chose a delicate crab spring roll on a fresh mango salsa. Following this I enjoyed grilled seabass on celeriac. Ms R had recommended the roast beef, but as I had some yesterday and it gave me grief, I passed. She did, however, give me her Yorkshire pudding because I like it and she doesn't. There is always room for dessert, so I had pear and almond tarte with berry coulis and cream, and a very delightfully mild and aromatic Earl Grey tea.

The big serious topic was racism in East versus West. The fact that one guy was a lawyer, and there were 8 people to contribute their thoughts, meant that it turned into a long discussion. We joked that next time we meet up, we will discuss ID cards.

Although everyone had impeccable table manners, for some reason they referred to me on a few protocol questions. I only dug my hole deeper by ordering Earl Grey, and then Mr F said that was just what is supposed to be drunk in the afternoon, isn't it? (I hadn't thought of it at all.)

I have also been encouraged to brush up on my Greek and Icelandic for next time. Ha.Ha.Ha...

Four and a half hours at lunch in good company. That is the best kind of Sunday.

Let's get this party started [edited]

Diva's party on Saturday was awesome. Click for Photostory. after pre-drinks and lots of food at the house, we moved on to Sahara bar. There we did lots of fun "action shots", laughed our knees off, and Amy snogged her new beau while Diva passed out for 5 minutes because her drink was actually spiked. It caused quite a ruckus over at the bar when they were informed this week.

Speaking of shots, I had one in the middle with everyone else; I couldn't choose what, so I told Amy to surprise me. I had a chili lemongrass martini, and...something else. Possibly an Oriental Garden martini...We all only had about 2 or 3 drinks each and went home after 10pm to have cake and tea, after which Diva was back to normal. ;)

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Now on to more drinkies. I went to Detroit bar in Covent Garden with my friend Neil to scout it out for my birthday. They have a wonderful array of cocktails, in fact they were serving cocktails in London before they were cool.

Before 7pm we had 2 for £7. I had a carribean (coconut rum, cinnamon liqueur, banana syrup, cream) and Neil had a sing song (vodka, mango juice, lemon juice, sugar syrup). They do really yummy little spring rolls, and the olives are nice too. Second round, he had a paquita (tequila, passion fruit, lime juice, elderflower cordial, sugar syrup) and I had a rose petal martini (gin, rose vodka, lychee juice, topped with a red petal). It was deeeeeeelish. It seems I usually get most excited by floral drinks. And we then had some scampi with lemon mayo.



As to the setting itself, it's very underground, as though in a space age cave with large alcoves and intimate nooks. The lighting was low and the music was chilled, and not once did we have to raise our voices to be heard. I know there was more to be found. Apparently there is a restaurant there as well, somewhere in the labyrinth...!

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Alright my lovelies. My head is telling me that I did indeed drink gin (although G&T doesn't do this!), so I am off to bed with a glass of water. Not all at the same time, of course.

(P.S. That is a photo of my rose martini. I held the candle to the stem to light the rim. Cool eh?)

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[EDIT]:

For those of you who can't see Flickr pics, I hope Webshots works.