cardamom and faux fur

This past weekend, Sheerin and I met in D.C. along with a few other friends. We started our weekend with a sold-out open mic night at Busboys and Poets on 14th & V st (a large lounge restaurant with an adjacent room for shows and socially conscious events). We agreed that solely a spoken word night might have been better, however, open mic was entertaining and had some talented performers. And those lacking in entertainment talent possessed remarkable courage and confidence. Compliments to the sixteen year old Indian boy with the braces who made an attempt at stand-up comedy. Your jokes about parents, homework, and girls were deeply uncomfortable, but I definitely could not do it. Their shows get so full, parts of the audience sit with and around the performer on stage. For a list of events at Busboys, click here.

We ordered a mango sorbet and feta/olive pizza (pictured below). Both nice.

The next day we stopped at Zenobia Lounge for dinner, located in the Georgetown neighborhood. We got a chicken/pita chip dish with a little too much tahini. After three identical bites, it feels like a bit of a tedious chore to continue. We also ordered a beef shwarma and mint tea, which was delicious (the tea; the shwarma was pretty basic). The cafe itself is sweet. The walls are lined with books on a variety of Arab related topics. We picked up a few on art and poetry and Sheerin, the orator she is, read a modern Syrian poem out loud. It was written by a man in letter form to his mother. The only line I can remember is:

"Is my father still adamant about cardamom?"

I would like to meet this poet's father. I am sure he has also found himself being stared at blankly by a man across a counter after being asked if he could please brew the coffee with cardamom.

 There is also a bakery, shisha, and games. Just try and beat me at checkers. We forgot to start playing, but instead listened to stories of our friend's hilarious but tragic anecdotes of life in Saudi Arabia. Afterwards, we quickly stopped at Baked and Wired, a very popular and crowded bakery/coffee shop. A photo below shows the counter of cupcakes to choose from. I ordered a red velvet and vanilla coconut to take home to my little siblings. The cupcakes are pretty gigantic and are entirely made from scratch. I was not blessed with the chance to sample the red velvet cupcake, due to waking up in the morning to the enthusiastic appetites of my siblings, but I was left with a part of the coconut one. It's actually beautiful, and I am not a soft critic with sweets.

I love maxi cardigans. I find them to be an elegant and more feminine approach to modesty. I have also purchased a multicolored floor length chiffon cardigan for when it stops feeling like hypothermia, featuring soon. My accessories included a faux fur collar scarf, knuckle rings, and a spike necklace, which you can find anywhere online, for dirt cheap. Faux fur can be intimidating, but really is easy to pull off. It looks better with a layered outfit, but can look just as nice with a simple over-sized wool sweater. Do try it. :)

Blouse-color block: Forever 21 via my friend, as a gift

Flats-black: Express for $10!

-A