Cafe Asia, New Downtown, Washington DC

"Who could imagine / that they would freak out / in Washington DC..." 

Eric and I had a fabulous time at the Rally to Restore Sanity on Saturday, and although my resulting good feelings and faith that the American people don't want our governing bodies to act like partisan jackasses has been completely obliterated* by this afternoon's announcement that the GOP basically doesn't plan on actually trying to govern so much as paralyze the government, I did have a very nice time in DC, and got to eat a very nice post-rally dinner at Cafe Asia, one of the few affordable places  in the area that had managed to stay open after the rally.

Now, full disclosure, I had managed to have an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast, but the closest to food I got for about eight or nine hours after that was dining on cheesy crackers and Kudos on the National Mall.  Anything would have been manna after that, but I was impressed by the way the food at Cafe Asia managed to take Asian standards (fried tofu with sweet soy sauce, yellow tofu curry, and spicy Malaysian-style noodle), and give them a homestyle quality.  The decor was hip neon and concrete, but the fried Nippon tofu was sweet and fried-doughy enough to comfort the far from home and politics-stressed soul.  The undercurrent of soba in the soy sauce on the tofu whetted the appetite, while the two curries we ordered filled our bellies and warmed us up on a chilly October night.  Eric's curry was a standard vegetable curry, that initially tasted mild and comforting but had a nice gathering burn to the pepper fire.  Mine was done in soup-form, so the taste of the coconut milk was much more noticeable, as was the snap of the pepper fire. (I had to order two beers just to stop my mouth from burning, and I eat spicy food like it's about to be declared illegal.)

We were still a little hungry, so we ordered dessert: fried bananas and ice cream for me and a brownie a la mode for Eric.  I grew up on fried plantains served with claret sauce at Christmas, so the comparatively austere taste of bananas and honey came as a bit of a shock, however the vanilla ice cream more than made up for the comparative lack of sweetness.  I have Eric's word that his brownie was appropriately chocolately, however I didn't get a chance to sample some myself, as I was full to bursting at the time.

After dinner, we walked down the National Mall and back to Union Station, making plans for another trip to Washington DC.  Next time, we'll do the sight seeing we couldn't do last week because we were sharing the Mall with half a million people. And if we have time, we'll also come back to Cafe Asia.  

*Yes, I am a liberal, but my frustration with the election is more motivated by my growing conviction that the two party system is completely detrimental to the sane running of the country, and thus has got to go, than it is with the fact that the Democrats didn't win. 

Finally, I Got the Thai Noodles Right

Finally, after a week of trial and error, the vegetarian version of Ruth Reichl's "Not Quite Thai Noodles".

The Sauce


3 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter  (chunky is the best, because the peanuts fry up with a nice crackle)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
soysauce to taste
siracha sauce to taste

Carefully pour the 1/4th cup olive oil into a pan and heat up slowly.  Add the curry and garlic powders and sauté.  Slowly stir in the three tablespoons of peanut butter, making sure that each spoonful melts.  Warning: it might froth slightly, if it's frothing alarmingly -- and you will know what that looks like when you see it, turn the heat down.  (It's sad how long it took for that to occur to me.)

Slowly stir the chopped vegetables of your choice into this sauce.  If the mixture gets sticky or catches on the bottom of the pan, add a little water and thin out the sauce before you add more vegetables.  Do not use spinach.  Any strong vegetable with a flavor that can hold its own will be fine:  broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots, peppers.

The Noodles

1 large packet of rice noodles (I like Wai-Wai Rice Noodles.)
1 pot of water
skillet
olive oil

Boil the noodles following the directions on the packet.  Grab a bigger pan and grease it up with some olive oil.  Then stir fry the noodles, slowly adding the sauce and vegetables.  (You can also just pile up the sauce and veggies on the plain noodles, which is my favorite way to eat them.)

Pan Fried Curried Linguine

I made this up myself, because I don't feel like spending money on real Asian noodles right now.

1 pkg fresh spinach

1 tomato

1 box linguine

1 cup olive oil

3-4 cloves garlic

curry powder and hot chili flakes to taste

Boil one box of linguine according to the directions on the packet. Drain and rinse so it won't all stick together in a big soggy ball. Take a wok or skillet, pour 1 cup olive oil, turn on medium heat. Add and saute the garlic, curry powder, and chili flakes. Put the noodles in the skillet and stir, making sure they're as completely covered with oil as they can be. Add the vegetables, cooking them down as much as you'd like.