Saturday

A nice thing about where we live in Falls Church: we're located beside the fabulous Eden Center,* a dense Vietnamese strip on the north point of that un-navigable tangle of traffic known as Seven Corners. This is why we eat Vietnamese food so often. We're attempting to work our way around the place. The first night we were in Virginia we accidentally discovered Eden Center. Right around the corner from our unit was a giant, garishly-lit Asian gateway to restaurant after restaurant advertising hot phở in festive neon. How many restaurants? I don't know. I lose every count around eighteen. Also, I don't know whether to include the many bakeries and coffee shops, some of which serve food. Other stores include grocers, video rentals, and hair and nail salons. The last time we went, I noticed another, interior, area sort-of around back. I don't know what's in there--exploring was cold that night, the wind-chill furiously snapping the center's South Vietnamese flag.* Wednesday, Sunshine discovered two of Eden Center's restaurants made a District-area Best 100* list. That night we tried number fifty, the superb Viet Royale* about midway down the north strip. It was fabulous. Tonight we were invited to the number one favorite of our dear friends Christene and Tony. We've not seen them in the fifteen months since they left Monterrey. They used to feed The Cat during our vacations. Tony and Christene (and the handsome baby Bruno) are a year ahead of us, off to their second post in New Delhi next week. The food at the Four Sisters Restaurant* was very good, and although it was unlisted in the Best 100 restaurants above, the sentimental quality of sharing it with friends pretty much pushes it to the top of my favorites list as well. [Cavin]