Pig Business, Pics of DC and the Food

I woke up in a tremendously good mood on Wednesday. I imagine it has something to do with Dan taking a half day off work and going to DC to see the screening of Pig Business. I must confess that I am very much looking forward to hearing Dr. Greger speak tonight after the film. With a little luck I will have an opportunity to talk to him after the event and get my picture taken with him. Hopefully he won’t think I am some crazy stalker, LOL. When I told Dan that if I get to talk to Dr. Greger he was to take pictures his response was “who are you and what have you done with my wife?” I think that was his way of telling me that I am out of control. ;-) There is never a dull moment around here.

With temperatures in the upper 30’s in the morning we opted for oatmeal for breakfast. Dan had his usual with fruit and nut (wild blueberries, wheat germ, ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia and walnuts). I keep suggesting savory oatmeal to him but he has such a sweet tooth that he always goes with the fruit option. *sigh*  Oh well, he eats more healthy than most men so I should focus on that right?

I opted for savory oatmeal this morning and had an enormous bowl. There is a little oatmeal in the bottom that I flavored with nutritional yeast, cumin, no-salt seasoning and paprika. Then I added wheat germ, ground flaxseeds, some black beans that I made on Sunday, artichoke hearts, broccoli salsa and a few raw pumpkin seeds. I was stuffed after I finished this breakfast. Knowing that we were going to be on the road at lunch time I wanted to make sure that I had enough food for breakfast to keep me fueled for a while.

We both washed our oatmeal down with a double matcha green tea. As I have said many times I have to start my day with green tea or I don’t feel healthy. I am sure it is all in my head but that is okay with me. ;-)

Next I needed to figure out what I was going to wear to DC. With the seasons being in flux it is not easy to pick an outfit this time of year. Not to mention heels are out since I have no idea how much walking I will need to do and as all women know wearing flats impacts which pants you can wear. Decisions, decisions, LOL. In the end I went with jeans, flat scrunched boots and a big bulky sweater but it took me a while to decide. Even though our weather was grey and rainy at least it was reasonably warm (50) which is only a littler cooler than usual. However it did get colder later in the day which means that I should have taken a coat and gloves. Have you noticed that I don’t like coats and normally pay the price for leaving them at home? *rolls eyes* Maybe one day I will learn from my mistakes. LOL

I drove downtown to pick up Dan since he got a ride to work with Troy in the morning so we weren’t leaving a vehicle in the garage overnight. Since Phil was heading back to Missouri this afternoon after the conference we picked up him and Jeff and dropped them at the airport (BWI) which was on our way south to DC.

I packed a few snacks to take with us. What? You didn’t think we would go somewhere without food in the car did you? I like to make sure we are prepared. There is nothing worse than a hungry and grumpy wife is there? I didn’t have time to photograph everything before leaving the house. The photograph above is from the car. I packed the following which became our lunch snack: fat free hummus (made yesterday), salsa, carrots, cucumbers, red bell pepper, walnuts, Brazil nuts and more matcha green tea.

I also brought us some raw vegetable tempura that I picked up at Whole Foods. I really wanted to like this but the texture is weird and neither of us wanted more than a bite. Needless to say I am sad that I can’t recommend it. Too bad, it seemed like a good idea.

Overall our lunch snack was not a lot of calories but this was only intended to hold us over until dinner. After all the only thing we were doing was riding in the car to DC we weren’t calorie burning machines in the afternoon, LOL.

We made a quick stop in DC at the Gallery Mall before heading to the Capitol. I thought you might find this interesting. Old buildings are something that I love. Isn’t this a beautiful adaptive use of old buildings in downtown DC?

Too bad the weather was dreary and rainy. I was hoping to get a lot of nice pictures of DC before it got dark. However I took my camera any way since I have friends that live far away from DC and wanted them to see more of the city. Here are a few of the pictures that I thought came out reasonably well. The first one at the top of the post is of the Capitol Dome as we came out of the visitor center (where the screening was shown) is by far my favorite.  I was a little wary of taking my camera to the Capitol since I didn’t know if they allowed it. However I was in luck they let me take it in. *huge sigh of relief*

Here is the lobby in the visitor center at the Capitol. The large statute is the one that was used for the bronze cast on top of the Capitol which was much larger than it appears from the ground.

I liked this picture looking up at the statute from the base.

The screening was well attended which made me very happy. There were a few empty seats but not many. It was good to see so many people that were interested in the topic. Two congressmen were also in attendance (sorry I didn’t write down their names but one from Virginia).

Here is Congressmen Dennis Kucinich.

Then there is my personal favorite Dr. Greger. Can you be a health groupie? LOL

Here is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

I need to do a little research to confirm some of the things I heard in the film and then in the panel discussion after the film before I share that with you. But what I can tell you is I can’t imagine ever allowing anyone that I love to eat conventional pork again. The health consequences are too disturbing to make that an option for us. *sigh*

After the panel discussion the crowd swarmed the panelist so that I didn’t get a chance to talk to Dr. Greger. Boo hoo! Oh well, I will just need to attend his next event I assume.

By the time we left the capitol it was 9:30pm and we were both STARVING. Thank goodness Jaleo in DC was open until 11pm on Wednesday. We headed straight there for tapas (small plates).  The pictures above are the view as we walked to the car.  Gloriousisn't it?  It was a beautiful walk to the car I think.

I liked this shot of the Jaleo sign in the window over Dan's shoulder.

Since I was a human popsicle (due to no coat or gloves) I started the meal with a pot of blood orange and hibiscus tea which is quickly becoming my new favorite tea. Dan liked it enough the last time that he got one as well.

We also got a bottle of sparkling water because tap water worries me since I never know if it has been filtered or not. I know the same can be said for many bottled waters but I feel like they are typically filtered.  Don't you love the detail of the rose on the glass and how it matches the mural on the wall?

We started with the roasted eggplant, onions and red bell peppers.

We ordered a “potato salad” which was unlike anything I had ever had before. This one was cold and without mayo. Instead it was flavored with cooked white or yellow onions, sherry vinegar and olive oil. I am not positive if the green was cilantro or parsley because it was so subtle but suspect it was cilantro.

Our next dish was my favorite of the night. It was cauliflower with smoked paprika, dates and green olives. I am fairly sure it also contained garlic. What I liked about this was that it had a different flavor depending on whether you got a date or olive with your cauliflower. The “juice” in the bottom of the bowl was so good we used the plain bread to mop it up. I will be making something like this at home it was that good.

Since we were still hungry we ordered the tomato bread which is always good.

We also got some of the mushrooms with garlic and lemon.

That was finally enough to fill us up. Of course it was late and we needed to head for home since Dan had to work the next day. It was after midnight by the time we got home and all I wanted to do was crash.  I think I was asleep 15  minutes after we walked in the front door.

Happy thoughts:

Wednesday was such a good day that I am not sure where to start but here goes:

• I loved being able to spend so much time with Dan yesterday. We talked all day yesterday about everything and nothing. There is nothing I love more than spending time with my hubby.  xoxo

• I also had a chance to chat with Phil on the way to the airport. Phil is one of those people that I immediately clicked with years ago. I always enjoy seeing him even if it was only for 30 minutes.

• It was incredibility encouraging that “Pig Business” was very well attended on Wednesday. I love it that so many people are interested in the topic. I can honestly say I will never look at pork the same way again. I knew the factory farming conditions would be bad but didn’t realize the health implications of living near the operations let alone consuming pork. I am also thankful that my husband is willing to attend events like this with me. I think his willingness to be open to information is why we are able to eat the same diet. Many of you ladies constantly remind me how fortunate I am that my husband doesn’t demand unhealthy meals full of meat.

• Dinner at Jaleo was wonderful. It is wonderful to have somewhere we can go in DC and get a great vegan meal and have lots of little dishes.

• It was great fun yesterday to go spend some time in DC being tourists. I need to spend more time doing the same thing in my own city. When you are open to seeing beauty around you suddenly it is everywhere.

• Thursday has been a rainy day and I am thankful that I didn’t have any errands to run. It was great to stay home all day and watch the rain from the comfort of my warm house. I also like knowing that all the rain we are having will result in beautiful spring flowers soon.

Signing Out:

Sorry it took me much longer to get this posted than I anticipated. I took hundreds of pictures yesterday and it was difficult to decide which ones to use and then get them edited. I hope you enjoyed the trip to DC with us. Talk to you again tomorrow after I get my errands knocked out, attend a webinar and get finished with an appointment. However it is Friday which means I will definitely be looking forward to the weekend.