Jazz in the Sculpture Garden

before best buddy of BOOF, ea, left for her venture into the peace corps, we decided to do a well-loved “DC” thing and hit up the summer series of jazz in the sculpture garden. being the only the second weekend of the summer series, we expected crowds but not to the level that we saw.

let me tell you a story. once upon a time in the summer tourist haven that is DC, there was a sculpture garden. to the locals, the sculpture garden is a nice place to go for a walk through on a nice spring day or fall day with a group of friends or a significant other and check out the cool sculptures (the Lichtenstein House is my faveee). In the winter, it becomes a source of winter fun with its ice skating rink right in the middle of all the sculptures. however, although my tourists new of this little gem tucked in our beloved city, they never knew about our secret. unfortunately, some one spilled the beans. the secret is out. throughout the summer months, various jazz acts from all around the country grace this beautiful sculpture garden on friday evenings for a wonderful jazz concert.

it used to be a much smaller showing where everyone brings out snacks, wine, blankets, and takes in the good music vibes and good company of their buddies. however, on this second week of jazz in the sculpture garden for the summer 2010 season, it was packed. packed. essentially, jazz in the sculpture garden has morphed into “DC’s Largest Outdoor Happy Hour”. although it is still a really fun scene, you can’t even hear the jazz anymore and you must arrive promptly at 5pm to even be guaranteed a tiny spot of grass to sit on. you now will bump into everyone you know, even those “friends” who you “forgot to invite” or people who you really just don’t want to see at all.

many buddies have observed that hopefully it was only this packed because it was the first couple of weeks, however, i really don’t foresee it getting much calmer with july 4th around the corner and then the prime time tourist months. despite the ridiculous crowds there are still so many great things that this event has to offer.

1) it is still SUPER fun. yes, it is packed. yes, you can barely hear the actual “jazz”. but with a good group of buddies, good snacks, good wine (or sangria and spinach dip from the classiest outdoor museum concession stand in the country), you will have a stellar time.

2) world class jazz artists for free. really? enough said.

3) the largest dc outdoor happy hour. it’s just pretty cool and fun to be apart of it. to see such a wide variety of people both young, old, awkward, hipster all come together for a very uniquely “DC” experience is really quite awesome.
all in all. definitely go. i’ll be back again. but just be prepared because it may not be quite as you remembered.
Overall Grade: B+

Maine Avenue Seafood Market

so although you have only really seen me engulf masses of vegetarian delights through this blog, i am in fact a…PESCATARIAN! shocker, i know. i could never give up seafood, it is really in my heart. i come from a family who believes in seafood of all sorts, so i knew that i could give up everything else but seafood…never. and i am so happy that i didn’t.

this brings me to last weekend’s BOOF adventure to the MAINE AVENUE SEAFOOD MARKET. i have been to the seafood market a couple of times before but buddies of BOOF, cc, tr, kh, and cc(yes, there are two) decided that we adventure down to this DC staple on a saturday afternoon for lunch.

the market is located on the SW waterfront off of Maine Avenue sitting across from Haines Point. It is a picture perfect spot on the water to watch some yachts go by (or convince someone to let you go on theirs!).

the girls and i opted to order the crab cake lunch from “The Wharf” and the crab cakes were very tasty. the lunch time special was served with two sides and a fountain drink so I opted for the macaroni and cheese and the green beans. the mac and cheese was quite good but the green beans tasted as though they were canned aka not good at all. a few of the girls had the corn on the cob and they all remarked on how good it was. I personally think that was in large part because they cooked it in the husk (try ittttt) which traps the flavors in and gives it a delicious bite.

all in all, i love the seafood market and i am sure that unless you don’t like seafood (which is so unfortunate), you will love it too. you can find me frequenting this summer. :-)

there are also restaurants on the SW waterfront but i definitely recommend to bypass the restaurants and just go to the market.

Overall Grade: A-

the biggest minus i have for the seafood market is its lack of seating. there is some standing tables but really, with that seafood, you just want to kickback, enjoy the day and watch the boats ride by. I do think they are building more seating…so we’ll see.