WHETHER YOU'RE looking for ingredients to replicate Mom's recipes or want to try your hand at a new cuisine, there are many international markets in D.C., Maryland and Virginia with ingredients beyond peanut butter and Wonder.

For Thai shopping, there are a few options in this area. Thai Market carries frozen seafood, including prawns, shrimp, squid, mackerel and other fish; pastes, including tamarind paste and curry paste; and canned goods like rambutans (the little, round, tropical fruits with red, spiky exteriors), lychee fruit and lotus root.

Nuts-and-bolts ingredients include kaffir lime leaves and coconut milk -- useful for Thai soups and curries -- as well as fish sauces, hot sauces and countless types of soy sauce necessary for pretty much every Thai dish. Also look for unique products such as frozen custard apples.

If Thai baked goods strike your fancy, head to the Bangkok 54 Oriental Foods Market in Arlington. There, you'll find freshly baked cookies, cakes and squares. They also sell freshly made sweet sticky rice with taro, wrapped in banana leaves; grilled skewered chicken; whole fried tilapia; and balls made of tapioca pearls and pork. Some items are labeled in Thai only, so if you're curious about what you might end up eating, don't be afraid to ask.

Continue Reading "Taste the World: International Food on Local Shelves" »

THE TRADITIONAL STAPLES of a stage dysfunctional family — the black sheep, the drunken brother and the dirty old goat of a patriarch — are all present and accounted for in "The Happy Time," Signature Theatre's latest installment of its celebration of the works of John Kander and Fred Ebb.

Inhabiting the Ark, Signature's smaller and cozier theater, the musical centers on the return of said black sheep, Jacques (Michael Minarik), to his French-Canadian family. Hoping to recapture a more innocent time, the globe-trotting photographer aims to rekindle an old flame, Laurie (Carrie A. Johnson).

Jacques, however, focuses more on his godson and nephew, Bibi (Jace Casey), a boy teetering on the cusp of adolescence whose changing voice has made him the target of schoolyard bullies. Jacques wants to show Bibi the world, starting by whisking him backstage at a burlesque show and getting the boy drunk and, later, aiming to take the boy to faraway photo shoots.

Continue Reading "Wasted on the Young: 'The Happy Time'" »

TAXI DRIVERS who are trying to slide past the new requirement that all cabs in D.C. use time-and-distance meters can't catch a break.

Since the May 1 deadline for meter installation has come and gone, they run the risk of getting slapped with a $1,000 fine if they're caught ferrying passengers without a meter. Now, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has set June 1 as a deadline for all taxis servicing Reagan National Airport to hop on the meter bandwagon, WJLA reports.

Why travelers at National would have used a D.C. cab to get into the city from there is a mystery, since the fare to cross the Potomac from Virginia was officially $Arm, plus a $Leg surcharge under the zone system, but whatever. Soon, that, too, will be but an entry in the area's illustrious transit scrapbook.

» "Taxis Required To Use Meters at National Airport" [WJLA]

Photo of a D.C. cab with a meter by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post

GUITARIST and King of Dieselbilly Bill Kirchen takes on the giants of music, covering songs by disparate musical legends Bob Dylan and Bob Wills. As if that weren't enough, his backup band is called the Bobcats.

All this alliteration is for a good cause: your ticket price goes to help a musician friend of theirs who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

» Jammin' Java, 227 Maple Avenue East, Vienna; Wed., 7 p.m., $20; 703-255-1566.

IN THE PAST YEAR, Ozomatli has played Indonesia, India, Jordan, Egpyt and even Nepal.

But the most unlikely place the band has appeared?

The set of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

"Its f---ing weird because I never really watched the show, but it felt like everyone around me does," saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Ulises Bella said. "You work yourself up a lot for two minutes of work and you realize how important those two minutes are because millions of people are watching you. It's a surreal experience."

Ozomatli got the gig because of a familial connection — Justin "El Nino" Poree, who plays percussion and raps, just happens to know the show's orchestra pit guitarist — his dad.

So now that Bella's performed on the show, has he started watching regularly?

Continue Reading "Goodwill Touring: Ozomatli" »

OZOMATLI is a multi-lingual, multi-racial, multi-genre band. In other words, it's way too awesome for classification. The members' musical skill and boundless energy make for high-octane, unmissable shows.

» State Theatre, 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church; 7 p.m., $22; 703-237-0300.

DOPPELGANGERS Don Was and David Was, frontmen of Was (Not Was), are not really brothers. And those aren't their real names. But their music really is great and bouncy and fun.

This eccentric band plays at the Birchmere tonight.

» Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria; 7:30 p.m., $35; 703-549-7500.

THERE'S AN OVERWHELMING ARRAY of activities planned for this Saturday's Arlington Neighborhood Day (Arlingtonva.us), from tree planting to a 10K race. For those with a simple urge to splurge (Don't forget: Mother's Day is Sunday!), there's the Ballston Arts & Crafts Market (10 a.m.-4 p.m., Ballstonarts-craftsmarket.blogspot.com).

While the market will run monthly on the second Saturday through October (N. Fairfax and Stuart Streets), this kick-off event will feature a free concert by Exit Clov at noon. Good tunes and eggs 'n' bacon cuff links by independent vendors like Inedible Jewelry? 'Nuff said!

BACK WHEN Cafe Atlantico was the hottest spot in Penn Quarter, Christy Przystawik (then Velie) served as sous and executive chef under José Andrés. At the restaurant's peak, Przystawik dropped below the radar. But last year, she resurfaced, along with her husband, Tom, and her parents, with a new restaurant, Food Matters, in Alexandria.

"It was the culmination of several things," she said of her decision to walk away from Atlantico. One was a revelation prompted by Restaurant Nora's Nora Pouillon. "Nora asked us why we were making something with corn in January. I hadn't thought about it before," said Prystawik. "Eventually, I realized if I ever opened my own restaurant, I wanted to focus on local, seasonal ingredients."

Cameron Station is not just culinarily but physically removed from Penn Quarter — it's a tucked-away section of Alexandria. "We live in D.C. and consulted for other restaurants in D.C. and saw how hard it can be to open a place in town," said Przystawik.

Continue Reading "From the Heights to the Hood: Food Matters' Christy Przystawik" »

FORGET BEING COUNTRY WHEN country wasn't cool. Juniper Lane singer-keyboardist Vivion Smith was Britpop in a town where country ruled. Growing up in rustic Fredericksburg, Va., Smith was not only steeped in country radio, but witnessed the public hanging of the town's one citizen who dared to listen to bouncy British music. OK, we're kidding about that last part. But, still, Smith says she had to really make an effort to learn about rock music when she set off for a music career in big, bad D.C.

"The band teases me repeatedly because they'll make references to pop and rock music from the early 1990s, and I'll go, 'What?'" she laughs. "Because I don't know. On the radio back then, it was mostly country. But I guess here for everybody else growing up it was R.E.M."

You wouldn't guess Smith's background from listening to Juniper Lane's just-released third CD, "Wake From Yourself," which the band is marking with a string of regional dates. Smith's steely vocals ride atop Chris Bonavia's clanging guitars, while bassist Brian Frederick and drummer Eddie Pasa define pure rock. Smith says bands like Coldplay and U2 inspire its sound.

Continue Reading "Va.'s Country Slickers: Juniper Lane" »