Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC

The central grassy area on the National Mall in Washington DC, ringed by the various Smithsonian museums and monument and normally empty, is filled with tents right now as the Smithsonian sponsors its annual free Folklife Festival.

Each year the Smithsonian Institution picks some cultures from around the world to showcase, with the focus this year on three distinctly different cultures: Wales (or Cymru, pronounced "kum-ree" in Welsh); musical traditions from the Hispanic Americas; and oral traditions of African-American culture.


I made a quick stop there on Wednesday and it was a pleasant diversion, with some engaging musical performances and some interesting foods from the featured cultures. With that said it lacked the sheer ambition of the Silk Road-themed festival of 2002, the last time I attended, which spotlighted a large number of cultures from the Middle East to the Far Eastern Orient with a huge variety of elaborate exhibits and demonstrations.

Welsh Folk Dancing
After quickly scarfing down some Welsh stew and salad, we watched a performance of Celtic music where they talked volunteers from the audience through the moves of a simple Welsh line dance.

This cute little girl went through the dance with an accommodating lady while her family watched from the audience:



Afterwards we went quickly through the Welsh crafts exhibits, where it was interesting to watch Caitlin Jenkins, a ninth-generation clay potter, create a pot in a matter of minutes from a lump of clay on her potter's wheel.


Las Americas: Salon de Baile
The only thing we had time left for was to watch part of a performance by a Tejano band, Los Texmaniacs from South Texas. While I prefer country music, the music had an infectious beat and would have been fun to dance to.

I made a short video from a clip I recorded using the HD video function of my new Canon digital SLR. The song here would have been a fun polka; conjunto is an accordion-based fusion of German polkas with Northern Mexican rancheros.



The Verdict
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival this year has some fun elements and is worth an hour or two of your time, or perhaps more if the exhibits and music particularly appeal to you. Otherwise they make a nice addition to a visit to the museums and monuments on the Mall, depending on the weather, and the food is tasty if a little expensive.

The easiest way to get there is by Metro, as the Smithsonian station will land you right next to the tents.

2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
National Mall
Washington, DC
Dates: Wed. June 24 - Sun. July 5 (closed Mon-Tue/June 29-30)
Times: 11am-6pm daily, with some special evening performances after 6pm [schedule]
http://festival.si.edu/

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Marathon Deli in College Park, MD

Update (7/22/10): Marathon Deli typically closes for a couple of weeks each summer so the owners can take a vacation. This year it will be closed 7/23/10 - 8/2/10.

After buying some accessories for my new camera, I wound up at Marathon Deli in College Park, MD next to the University of Maryland campus, one of my favorite spots for gyros.


Then afterwards I took a quick walk around the campus to test out my camera and the sling-style bag I bought to carry it. I was pretty happy with the results all around.

About Marathon Deli
Marathon Deli has been in business for around 25 years, and the original owners were crusty old Greek guys who had a sign under the Gyro Value Meal that said, "Pronounced Yee-Row." A Greek friend introduced me to the place, and though it was my first exposure to gyros it's been my touchstone for this dish ever since.

The gyros at Marathon Deli are a mix of lamb and beef cooked on an auto-doner, a rotating spit from which the seasoned meat is trimmed and then placed into griddled pita bread. What's always made Marathon's version so great is the simple yet tasty combination of onions, tomatoes, feta cheese, tsatsiki sauce, and spices that they top them with.


For some reason, the thin, crisp fries -- hot out of the fryer and sprinkled liberally with Greek seasoning -- also taste better than any I've had elsewhere.

At about $8-$9 for the Gyro Value Meal, it's a typical college eatery -- good, fast, and cheap.

I've also had the Kronoburger there too, where the gyro meat on the pita is topped instead with grilled mushrooms, onions, and melted provolone cheese. But I keep coming back to the gyros every time.

Marathon Deli
4429 Lehigh Road
College Park, MD 20740
(301) 927-6717
Mon-Sat: 10am - 9pm; Closed Sunday

Pictures Around UMD
Here are some of the test shots I took around the University of Maryland campus with my new Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a high-end digital SLR, which I was carrying in a Lowepro SlingShot 200 AW.

In some cases different settings led to dramatic differences in the results, though I have a circular polarizer on order that should make it easier to get good results with outdoor shots.




What a dramatic difference selecting a different autofocus/metering point made in these pictures of the church:




As well as for the sign at the Rossborough Inn:






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The Amazing Bandage: Band-Aid Activ Flex

Every now and then a product comes along that, although it fills just a small niche in the grand scheme of things, works so much better than anything else that it has a greatness of its own.

Band-Aid Activ Flex bandages fit into that category.

Simply put, while they're a little bit pricey, they're well worth it because they don't just work better than regular bandages, they do things those bandages can't. They're waterproof and germ-proof, they speed and enhance healing, and they stay on for days.


Like A Second Skin
I keep a few Activ Flex bandages in my sports bag, and while playing outdoor volleyball over Memorial Day weekend, one of the other players, Ian, cut open the sole of his foot on top of a blister he'd gotten the day before.

We used a little water to wash it clean and then some antiseptic wash, and then he applied the Activ Flex bandage. Shortly afterwards he had re-entered the game.

These bandages are both waterproof and seal to your body like a second skin. While they can't take unlimited abuse, they stay on for days under ordinary circumstances and so are particularly good for areas like your hands which are constantly being washed.


Ian's bandage came off partly because of the blister and partly because of the wear and tear from running and jumping on it, but I gave him a couple more and he was sold on them, planning to go out and buy some himself.

Advanced Healing and Less Pain
These bandages were actually first developed for hospitals by Compeed, and Johnson & Johnson brought them out about 10 years ago under the trademark "Advanced Healing." (Competitors have since come out with similar products, but I think these work better.) I suspect their hefty price (about $5 for a pack of 10) discouraged people from trying them.

So a couple of years ago J&J rebranded them as "Activ Flex" with the implication that they would work better for active people. That's true, but they also make wounds heal much faster and with less scarring. Also, the Activ Flex bandages dramatically reduce the pain from the wound.

To me the price is justified because they both work better and stay on for days, so you don't need to replace them anywhere near as often.

Other Products: Blisters and Liquid Bandages
The same flexible, stretching colloidal material has been adapted for other purposes, too. For a while they had a similar scar treatment which I used to fade the scar where a mole had been removed, and they still sell a blister healing product. (I've also used these bandages to prevent blisters from forming, such as when I'm breaking in new boots.)


A different product, but one that also has its roots in the hospital products division, is J&J's Band-Aid Liquid Bandage.

They've revamped this product to make it a simple one-step process with a Q-tip style applicator, as opposed to the former method which required you to squeeze a liquid onto an activator. I'm not sure it works as well for larger cuts, but it seals small cuts very well, and again that's most useful on your hands which flex and get washed constantly.

The other advantage of the Band-Aid Liquid Bandage is that it doesn't sting when you apply it, unlike competing liquid and spray bandages.
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Dining in Portland, Oregon

When it comes to dining in Portland, the city seems to have a relatively large number of good places to eat, and I was most interested in finding places with local character.


I tried a couple of local brewpubs, a "haunted" pizzeria, the airport outlet of a place that claims to be a Portland institution, went to a fine-dining Andean restaurant, and finally did a drive-by of a doughnut shop.


Quick summaries of the places I went to:

Peruvian:

• Andina (1314 NW Glisan Street, Portland, OR 97209): This Peruvian establishment in the Pearl District was by far the priciest and most upscale establishment where we ate. But the food was excellent, ranging from the rack of lamb to the elegant canutos de quinoa y maracuya dessert (cannolis with passionfruit mousse, mango-lemongrass sorbet, and caramel). To my surprise, I also really enjoyed the lime-juice "cooked" ceviche (raw seafood).
  

Micro-Breweries:

• BridgePort Brewpub (1313 NW Marshall Street, Portland, OR): Portland has a number of micro-breweries and BridgePort in the Pearl District was the first that we tried. The beer was good (I had their signature India Pale Ale) and the food was decent. It was happy hour and a lot of the dishes were offered for between $4-$6, which was a pretty good deal.

• Widmer Brothers Brewing Company (929 N. Russell St. Portland, OR 97227): Another microbrewery, but with a German Gasthaus theme in a historic building on the east side of the river. I had the pork schnitzels and spaetzle as well as a weisswurst. I loved the spaetzle (small extruded German dumplings) and the schnitzel was tasty but a bit too thick of a cut. The weisswurst was all right but it was grilled instead of boiled as I expected and they also served it with spicy mustard instead of the traditional sweet mustard. The sauerkraut was surprisingly bland. I decided to try their handcrafted root beer which I liked a lot, though I did also sample an interesting (but very spicy) experimental beer.
  

Korean:

• Number 1 Bento (SW 10th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205): This Korean cart is parked in an open paved lot with about 10 other trailers, which were open for lunch on Saturday. I had some fresh and tasty bulgogi with kimchee and potstickers (though the latter were fried a bit too hard).

Haunted Pizza:

• Old Town Pizza (226 NW Davis, Portland, OR 97209): The pizza here is pretty good if you like it with a lot of cheese and I really liked the hazelnut Italian soda I got at the bar, but the real attraction here is the building, which was built as a hotel in 1880. Old Town Pizza occupies the former hotel lobby and supposedly is "haunted" by the ghost of a lady of the evening who was thrown down an elevator shaft there. Tunnels also lie underneath the building, where sailors were Shanghaied to the dock (perhaps after being dropped down a trapdoor elsewhere on the block, now another restaurant called Hobo's).
  

Doughnut Drive-By:

• Voodoo Doughnuts (22 SW Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204): I didn't actually sample the famous doughnuts at this downtown establishment because the line was too long and time was short, but I did get a picture of a Froot Loop doughnut. They're supposedly open 24 hours.
  

At PDX Airport:

• Rose's Restaurant and Bakery (Portland Airport/PDX): I ate at the airport location of this local Portland chain. I had their signature reuben sandwich, a huge triple-decker of corned beef, turkey, cheese, Thousand Island, and sauerkraut on rye bread. It was pretty good but a lot of food.
  

Places I'd Like To Try
A couple of other places were recommended to me but I didn't have time to try them.

• Portland City Grill (111 SW Fifth Avenue, 30th Floor, Portland, OR 97204): This Pearl District place supposedly has good food at a moderate price, but the real attraction here is the view from its 30th Floor location. They supposedly also have a nice happy hour.

• Jake's Famous Crawfish (401 SW 12th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205): Opened in 1892 and now owned by McCormick and Schmick's, Jake's is a downtown institution that some say has the best seafood in Portland.

Related:

• A Quick Trip To Portland, Oregon (6/5/09)
• My First Video: Multnomah Falls, Oregon (6/6/09)
  
• Country Dancing in Portland, OR (6/7/09)
• Dining in Portland, Oregon (6/9/09)
• Waterfalls: Columbia River Gorge, OR

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Country Dancing in Portland, OR

Last month I made my first trip to Portland, Oregon in years. With more time and mobility on this trip, I found the time to go country dancing at a couple of interesting clubs and along the way, I unexpectedly ran into an old friend.


The Clubs
In researching country dance clubs on the Internet prior to my trip, I found four clubs listed, all within a half hour of central Portland:

• Bushwhackers (8200 SW Tonka St, Tualatin, OR 97062, 503-692-3982)
• Duke's Country Bar & Grill (14601 SE Division St, Portland, OR, 503-760-1400)
• Ponderosa Inn & Cascade Grill (10210 N Vancouver Way, Portland, OR 97211, 503-345-0300 Ext. 4459)
• Outlaws Bar and Grill (722 E Burnside St, Portland, OR) - closed

However, Outlaws Bar and Grill has apparently closed and reopened as Bossanova and I was told that Ponderosa is really just a truck stop, so I tried Bushwhacker's and Duke's Country Bar & Grill. Bushwhacker's is just west of the city while Duke's is on Portland's east side. The atmosphere at Duke's is much more lively, but the level of dancing is a lot higher at Bushwhacker's.

Bushwhackers in Tualatin, OR
I first went to Bushwhackers on a Wednesday night, where they were teaching intermediate level two-step lessons. There was a pretty good-sized crowd there when I walked in at 7:30 pm, but virtually everyone was in their 40's or older. This may have been because it was an intermediate (not beginner) level class.


The dancers were solid but with a sedate style, and after the two-step lesson the open dancing was a mix of two-steps, waltzes, and swing (both east coast and west coast). No one came in after the lessons were done and I left about 9:30.

The floor is fairly large (I'd estimate about 50' x 70' or 3500 sq. ft.) and has a perfect surface -- silky smooth without being slippery. A railing runs around most of the edge.


The instructor, Randy Shott, was very good, and though I was originally going to sit out the lessons I jumped in when they rotated partners and a lady needed a partner. Although in a sense the moves he was teaching were simple, I had trouble with them because I'm not used to turning to my left, and I didn't have a strong sense of the lead.

At several points he discussed proper footwork; how to maintain frame; and how the lady should "spot" during a turn (look at a point down line of dance, or reverse line of dance, and only whip her head around when forced to by the turn).

He taught us how to:

• take the lady through a full outside turn (to the right) from the closed position;
• wrap the lady to the left with three half turns;
• unwrap the lady to her left;
• perform a hand change and using the man's right hand turn the lady to her left, ending facing reverse line of dance in a cape or sweetheart position;
• and finally, wheel as a couple to the left and get back to closed dance position with a free spin of the lady to her left (with a small prep move in front of the free spin).

(When I looked him up I found that Randy is a former Masters Division competitor -- the highest level in C&W competition, comprised of people who've been national champions multiple times -- who used to teach full time in California, and who helps sponsor the Portland Dance Festival.)

The big surprise was when a lady came up to me and said, "You look like..."

As soon as I heard her voice I said, "Barbara!"

I had met Barbara years ago in Germany, and she credits me with really launching her into country dancing. She's a German who had moved back to Germany for a while after living in the US, then moved back to Seattle and then Portland.

Duke's Country Bar & Grill in Portland, OR
Although Barbara had warned me that the floor is small at Duke's and there aren't too many serious dancers there, I went to Duke's on the east side of Portland after work on Friday. The floor was smaller but still reasonably large by East Coast standards, probably about 25' x 35'. There was a mechanical bull in the corner that several people rode.


As I'd been told, the level of dancing was pretty low, but it was pretty fun (though quite loud). The crowd was very young and mostly female, and they danced almost exclusively line dances. One youthful couple though stood out from the crowd, as they danced some fairly advanced west coast swing and couples dances with competition styling.

It was a lively atmosphere and I would have stayed a little longer if I hadn't been with some non-dancers. (I felt guilty about dragging them out there even though they were pretty laid back about the whole thing.)


I danced some line dances, trying to pick up a few of their dances there (including one peculiar one where they virtually walk in a semi-circle). They also danced some familiar line dances (Swamp Thang, though I'm not used to doing it in contra lines; Slappin' Leather; Tush Push; Watermelon Crawl; and Cotton-Eyed Joe).



The Bottom Line
I may try Bushwhackers again if I get the opportunity. I know pretty well that a club can change dramatically from night to night and Barbara told me that Thursdays would be ideal for me (lots of line dances and lots of good couples dancers), but I was committed to some other events that night.

Duke's has a very young, attractive crowd and is very line dance-oriented. If the Friday night that I went is typical it's probably best-suited if you're in the mood for a really loud, energetic environment and either want to line dance or else come with a good partner for two-stepping and swing. I had fun there because of the atmosphere.

Getting There
The two clubs are about half an hour apart if traffic is light. From Portland's airport (PDX):

• Bushwhackers (less than a mile west of Exit 289 of I-5 S): Take I-205 South to I-84 West, and then to I-5 South for about 12 miles to Exit 289 (Sherwood/Tualatin). Turn right at SW Nyberg St. to go west a short distance, then do a quick jog by turning left onto SW Martinazzi Ave., right onto SW Warm Springs St., and then a right onto SW Tonka St.

• Duke's (about 10 miles southeast of the airport): Take I-205 South to Exit 19 (Division Street). Turn left to go east on SW Division Street. The club is about 2.5 miles on the left, between SE 145th Ave and SE 148th Ave.

Related:

• A Quick Trip To Portland, OR (6/5/09)
• My First Video: Multnomah Falls, Oregon (6/6/09)
  
• Country Dancing in Portland, OR (6/7/09)
• Dining in Portland, Oregon (6/9/09)
• Waterfalls: Columbia River Gorge, OR

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