The Day After Christmas

Our grandchildren came over for Christmas dinner last night. We had a wonderful dinner (thank you Katy) of Turkey, stuffing, veggies and the like. Debbie brought along the world-famous Hooshay (which, if you've never had, is just wonderful) and we spent a warm evening in the house in front of the fire opening Xmas presents. I think the hit of the evening was Aaron's new Rock Band 3 for Wii.

The kids spend the evening in a sleepover. This morning, Paul got up early and went to the gym with grandson Kyle, whose only wish on his 1oth birthday was, oddly enough, to go with grandpa to the gym and work out. Who knew? And who could say no?

After a breakfast of eggs and pancakes we went down to the National Botanical Garden. There is nothing like going into the jungle in the midst of a coming snow storm. And the place was packed! Everyone had come to see the trains and the orchids. As you can see the family had a good time.

The King's Speech -- 31/2 Stars

We aren't big movie goers and even when we do watch movies we tend to do so from the quiet of our own home. But we had heard such buzz about "The King's Speech" that we had to go and see for ourselves.

The buzz was right. This is simply an engaging, entertaining, enjoyable movie. It is amazing what good actors can do with good material, especially when the story isn't written to pander but rather to uplift. Colin Firth does a great job as King George VI -- he stammers in a way that makes you believe in the stammer; he isn't just an actor acting the part of the speech impediment. And Geoffrey Rush as his speech therapist does a great job of conveying the quiet pride of a person who knows what his job is and can do it -- no matter who the patient is. We also thought Helena Bonham Carter was great, in a restrained portrayal of the King's wife who supports him. It's quite a different take from her Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter series. [In fact, for Potter fans this movies was quite a reunion: Dumbledore plays Firth's father, King George V; and remarkably enough Wormtail plays Winston Churchill!!]

The producers have this movie on a limited engagement release -- no doubt trying to create a buzz for the Oscars. So it might not be available everywhere. But when it does come to you, see it -- we won't be surprise if it wins several awards for acting, screenplay, direction and best picture. It really is that good.

The Pageant of Peace

We went down to the Mall last night to listen to our grandson, Josh, sing in the Pageant of Peace. His school, Mayfield, was invited to present a medley of Xmas songs. In the professional opinion of his grandparents, Josh was magnificent, naturally. Along the way, we took this photo of the National Christmas Tree.

Happy Holidays!

Kushi -- 2 1/2 Stars

Last night we went to Kushi -- a new Japanese restaurant in the new Mass. Ave corridor near the Convention Center. It's a totally different experience from the "normal" Japanese style and well worth the visit.

The decor is very spare and modern -- a hard box like structure with two open kitchen areas. One kitchen is the traditional sushi bar; the other a much more innovative charchol and wood grilling area. Both had serving counters for those who wanted to watch the food being cooked.

The architecture made the place a bit noisier than we might like. Worse yet, even on a Tuesday night it was wicked crowded. We had to wait 20+ minutes for our table. But there was a fair amount of energy in the room -- the place has a hip, New York kind of vibe to it. And the owner, Darren, who sensed that we were getting impatient with the wait, made up for it by sharing a glass of chardonnay (J Lohr) and sake with us.

And in the end, the wait was worth it. The style was one of lots of small plates served as they came out of the kitchen. Think sort of "tapas" for Japan. We had some neat and interesting tastes we had never had before -- a fried tofu dish; a pork belly skewer with some sweet sauce; wood-grilled eggplant; and even a really good kimchee. To top it off we finished with some sushi -- which was a more expected type of taste, but even here the quality of the fish was higher than we usually expect.

In short, Kushi is worth a return visit. It's relatively newly opened and still working the kinks out, but if they can solve some of the problems this one will be a keeper. We give it 2 1/2 stars.

Panino -- Manassas, VA -- 2 Stars

With this post, we inaugurate a 4-star rating system for the restaurants we visit. Today we discuss Panino, on Mathis Ave. in Manssas, VA. We visited it on a lark after dropping off two of our grandchildren at their home. We'd been there once before for a birthday and had a good memory of it, but weren't really sure what we were getting into.

Turns out that Panino has some pretty darn good food. The outside look isn't that promising -- its in a strip mall just down from a bowling alley. And the interior is pleasant enough, with good tablecloths and such, but a functional room.

The food, on the other hand, is a solid step up. There was a very fine wine list (Katy had a nice crisp Gavi and Paul had a very fine Cabernet from California) and the food was quite enchanting. We learned,early on, that the specials list is much better than the main menu -- the owner told us so. And so we took her advice and ordered only off the specials.

To start, Katy had an arugula salad with pears, nuts and a fine vinagrette. Paul had a very tasty cold antipasto consisting of grilled peppers, zucchini, squash and sun dried tomatoes, all drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. What could be bad? For the main course, Katy had the fresh rockfish, nicely grilled with a red-wine reduction. Paul, meanwhile, had the seafood pasta special -- fresh ravioli (house made, we were told) stuffed with shrimp and scallops in a lobster cream sauce. A bit heavy on the cream, but excellent overall. We skipped desert and finished with some herbal Roobis tea (hard to find in DC area) that hit the spot.

On the whole, the ambiance was quite fine. We were well taken care of; the room was quiet; and the food far outdid the setting. We give Panino 2 stars.