I just dropped Josh off at the airport. Again.
Over the course of May and June Josh will have been in the UK twice, in Cincinnati once and in Atlanta once, and I'll have been in Pennsylvania, Indianapolis and in Sudan for almost a month. In other words, Reagan/Dulles goodbyes are becoming a regular occurrence. But that doesn't make them any more fun.
Enter comfort food. Often, my comfort food is Israeli Breakfast (see below). But sometimes coming home to an empty apartment, putting a meal together (even if it's easy as Israeli Breakfast) and doing the dishes before getting back to the laptop to do more work just seems too depressing.
Instead, I go to one of my favorite places in the city - the docks at the South West waterfront. Last week I had a shrimp taco (with avocado, lettuce and tomato) and crab balls. Tonight called for something even more homey - clam chowder and steamed shrimp with a good dousing of Old Bay. Sure, if you ordered them in a restaurant you'd probably send them back, but somehow it's exactly what I want when I'm in this kind of mood.
So I go to the docks, get some shrimp (or raw oysters, or crab legs, or clams) and then take off my shoes and sit on the docks and watch the sun set. Something about the docks feels very urban and gritty, but somehow they're also one of the most peaceful places in DC.
Besides, where else can you get a shrimp taco for $3 while fending off sea gulls and secretly making fun of the absurdly pretentious (Osprey II) or overly poetic (Tomorrow's Dawn) vessels anchored in the marina? Nowhere, I bet.
