Debate watch party

Thursday night I got dragged out to watch the vice presidential debate at a watch party sponsored by RightNOW, Women Impacting the Nation (founded by Sen. Elizabeth Dole) and the Republican Jewish Coalition at the Washington offices of DLA Piper (a 3,000 lawyer international law firm). Needless to say, this wasn't an impartial group!

Usually I watch these debates at my desk while I either Web surf, blog along, or otherwise multi-task in confort and privacy, but this time I had to get all dressed up in my jacket and tie (and I wore a vested suit, since it was so chilly out).

The debate hosts provided us with a full open bar and some fabulous hors d'oevres to sustain us for the lengthy debate. As I walked into the firm, I entered the sunken lobby area where the hosts had laid out our repast. In the center, a round table was laden with about a dozen large white bowls of various dips, including guacamole, salsa, and hummus, but also more interesting and highly creative things like broccoli and goat cheese, sun dried tomato tapenade, spinach hummus, white bean puree with roasted red pepper, eggplant carbonata, and others. In the center of the table were colored tortilla chips, pita bread triangles, and toast. Running the length of the side wall of the room was a long table with slices of large sandwiches, crudités, more exotic meats such as mortadella and prosciutto, oversized cookies, and a huge American flag made of cupcakes frosted together as though it were one big cake. On the opposite wall was the bar, where bartenders poured premium liquors. In another corner of the room was a double table with several displays of French and Italian cheeses plus fresh and dried fruits, including some luscious fresh figs.



By the time the debates started, there were several hundred people present. We all crowded into the firm's conference center, where we watched on the big glass wall the equivalent of a small billboard sized television screen.

Everyone seemed quite pleased with the result of the debate, though I could tell that after an hour, attention spans began to wander. Maybe in the future, they'll have shorter debates, or at least consider some kind of mid-way intermission entertainment or break (perhaps the kids in Governor Palin's brother's third grade class could sing for us?).

GU Illness Update

Over 170 students now have been sickened by the mystery illness that raced through the Georgetown University campus this week. Local District of Columbia health department officials stated today that they believe the illness was not caused by food poisoning, but by a norovirus, a highly contagious malady commonly known as the "cruise ship virus."

Leo's dining hall has been reopened as of dinner tonight after a thorough cleaning, and the university has developed a taskforce to thoroughly clean and keep clean for the next few days door knobs, surfaces, etc., which are the primary disease vector. Meanwhile, members of the university community are being encouraged to practice especially good hand-washing technique until the virus runs its course.

Mystery illness strikes Georgetown

Some 88 students have been hospitalized yesterday and today as a result of a mysterious illness at Georgetown University, and an unknown number of others may also be suffering from the malady. While officials initially reported food poisoning from the main dormitory cafeteria was the likely culprit, today, District of Columbia health department officials stated that food poisoning had not yet been confirmed, and that an enteric virus of some sort could be to blame.

Striken students suffered a sudden onset of gastro-intestinal distress and severe shaking. Some students became so dehydrated, they had to be transported to the university's hospital via ambulance, rather than walking the two or three blocks from the main dormitory complex.

Meanwhile, the popular "Leo's" dining hall has been closed by university officials and will remain closed until further information on the illness is available and the problem solved. Students are being deferred to cafeterias and fast food eateries in the Leavey Center, the main campus's student union.

Thus far, the striken students seem to be limited to underclassmen. None of my students seem to be affected.

Panache Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

Kevin, who already has one graduate degree, has been working on another, but I think he's been getting rather burned out, at least from the nasty looks I get when I ask how the PhD is going.... Nonetheless, he has a fabulous new job in D.C. that he just started earlier this month with offices near the world headquarters of the National Geographic Society (another place in D.C. with fun museums and stuff, but it doesn't always make the top of the tourist list with the embarrassment of riches we have in this town). We went out a couple of weeks ago to celebrate his first paycheck!

One of the many fine places in the immediate area is Panache Restaurant, a place I've always found quite an enigma. A lot of people think of it as a French restaurant, but they also have a strong Mediterranean feel to the menu, plus, they offer French, Spanish, and Mediterranean style tapas.

Lunch, however, is a bit simpler.

Kevin started with an hummus appetizer. I sampled a bit, and the hummus was quite good, being light and not having any strong olive oil, lemon juice, or tahini (sesame seed paste) flavors. What I found interesting about the hummus was that it was served with wedges of warm focaccia bread, instead of with triangles of pita bread, and the focaccia was very good, too.

For his main course, he had a turkey-avocado wrap, one of the daily specials. It came in a bright green, spinach, flour tortilla and was amply stuffed with both lots of avocado and turkey plus other vegetables. An order of long French fries, with mayonnaise as a dipping sauce, accompanied the wrap.


I got the "salad of rare steak," a tasty entree salad with an unusually large amount of hot, thinly-sliced pieces of flank steak served over a bed of fresh baby spinach leaves, field greens, and roasted shallot. Blue cheese crumbles topped the meat.



Desserts were glorious. Kevin selected a crème brulée, their version redolent with Tahitian vanilla and topped with artistically arranged mint, strawberry slices, and whipped cream on the warm sugar crust.


I wanted something simpler and lighter, so I got the raspberry sorbet, and it came in a huge art glass bowl with a sprig of mint and a warm biscotto.



Thus were our Mediterranean adventures at Panache. Looks like the place has a big, fun bar that's probably packed during happy hour, too.