Breakfast with the Supreme Court, coffee with Congress and lunch with Health and Human Services. A pretty good week. Not exactly the dining partners I’ve been used to the last few years. I found myself running ahead of schedule all week–that alone makes for a top 10% week–so with time to spare I figured I’d better take advantage of the rarity.
I wanted to kick around the residential neighborhood of Capitol Hill before my afternoon Capitol tour so I built in plenty of time. Showing up significantly early to Congressman Barber’s office (elected to take the seat vacated by Gabrielle Giffords in 2012) I was told my guide wouldn’t be around for awhile so I headed to the cafeteria. Teeming with visitors and staffers (so noted by the cashier lane that says Member and Staff only) I managed to find an empty seat to sit for a late a.m. coffee and finish my reading. Only I didn’t get a lot of reading done–realizing that I was in the middle of lunch rush with our elected officials (actually by the numbers mostly their staffers) I was more interested in my dining mates than my newspaper. I slowly sipped to drag out my time in what may have been someone’s ‘regular seat’ until it was time for me to get my Tour For One. Coffee was average but hot and pretty well priced. I’ll be back.
After the their, but only first serious, attempt to get into a Supreme Court session I finally made it this week. It makes for a rather long day as even with my relatively low ticket number I wasn’t assured a seat.
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| Will This Be a Magic Number? |
I felt fairly confident given the docket was rather uninteresting and even more confident once I was included in the group that was told to stay in the building and meet at a certain spot by 9:00a.m. That gave a solid hour+ to wander around–although I really wanted to wait for the Docent tour so I opted to head to the dining room after only a couple minutes of gazing.
Cook to order as well as prepared breakfast—better than home! This was a cozy set-up, even small by some accounts, and well run. Good food as well as a quiet, inviting atmosphere in the sitting/dining area. From appearances it looked as if a few staffers were blowing through grabbing things to go while the rest of us were visitors to include several attorneys. I know this because my ears still function and many of them liked to have everyone around them know they were attorneys. Sort of like going to a race expo and watching those with the best I Love Me shirts, jackets and shoes on. The U.S. Supreme Court cafe could have been a sales pitch for Armani, Abboud or Cole Haan. Strangely I felt severely underdressed. Nonetheless, mission accomplished, by dawdling in the dining area (better coffee but more expensive than the House Cafe) I’m certain several staff sat for a moment before heading off to their daily duties.
Finding myself downtown another day around lunch I was drawn to relatively loud music of the type that would be played before a foot race. Noise is pervasive downtown and at it’s peak during lunchtime. Yet somehow I managed to find the source and saw a couple large speakers set up by some chairs with a couple temporary sun/rain covers to the side and in front of them. I squinted in the mid-day sun and saw that it was set up in the patio area of the Hubert H. Humphrey Building which serves as the home of the Department of Health and Human Services. Intrigued I walked across the street to get a closer look, went up to one of the grill-masters hard at work and asked what the occasion was. He said it was an employee luncheon but the public can join in. He pointed me to the various lines and wished me a good lunch. I opted for the Angus Beef burger and watermelon to go with my diet coke. I figured since it’s sponsored by HHS it’s got to be good beef, right? It was ok, not great. Lean but grilled longer than I’d prefer. The toppings were outstanding–as if they’d just come from the garden; same with the melon. Overall disappointing only because of the price—but I suppose that’s simply something I’m not fully used to yet. I sat in the sun on the steps of the HHS Department watching staffers and the public come and go. A treat fully unexpected; and since no formal tours are offered of the building it’s likely the only time I’ll spend any time around it.
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| Patio North of HHS (Looking East) |
Dining my way through DC isn’t high on my list. In fact it’s not even on my list. It happened to be a unique-to-me week and this will hopefully kick-start my notes again. Plans are already coming together for the weekend so we’ll be sure to make sure it does!