Turkey a-go-go at the Indian Museum

A Thanksgiving feast at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

 You can't bear the thought of getting yourself to umpteen million stores to buy the goods for Big Turkey Day?

Don't want to prepare a menu? Cook?

Forget it, forget the lists, the shopping and driving (the traffic!),  unloading, polishing, cleaning, table setting, and deciding who likes what for Thanksgiving Day. (Oh, and then there's clean-up and floral arrangements and ironing and, and ...)

 Chef Freddie J. Bitsoie invites you to the Thanksgiving feast at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

The lad can't wait to get a plate and pile it high with delicacies from Chef Bitsoie's Thanksgiving feast at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

Call in your order to the National Museum of the American Indian which is serving a delicious feast for six to eight for only $190 (plus tax).   

Or, come to the museum on Thanksgiving Day and sit down at the restaurant which for years has enjoyed the best reputation for museum food anywhere in this town.

 A Thanksgiving feast at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Wild rice salad at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

 A Thanksgiving feast at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie


If you consider what you would spend for the Thanksgiving meal, the meal to go is a bargain, plus, it's homemade without that starchy, Styrofoam pre-made taste often found in grocery take-outs.

For every 25 meals purchased, the museum will donate a free meal to Martha's Table whose goal is to enable strong children, families, and communities through education, healthy eating, and family assists.

 The National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

 The National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

The National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

Call in your order for good eatins' or order online by Monday, Nov. 25 to 202-633-7044 or https://smithsonian.catertrax.com. Pick up at the Museum's Mitsitam Cafe on Wednesday, Nov. 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Now, for the menu created by Chef Freddie J. Bitsoie, one of few Native American chefs with a national reputation.

Since I tasted all these delicacies last week, I can speak truthfully about their deliciousness:

Maple-glazed roasted turkey (which comes with a thermometer)

Cornbread

Gravy

Cranberry sauce 

Pumpkin and chocolate bread pudding with baked pumpkin bread, custard, and chocolate chips

and your choice of four of these sides:

Apricot, fig and pear dressing of cornbread, fruits, and spices

Buttery mashed russet potatoes

Agave braised butternut squash

Wild rice salad with carrots, pine nuts, scallions, cranberries, lemon and olive oil

Three Sisters Salad with corn, black beans, squash, parsley, lemon, and olive oil. 


(If your taste buds aren't exercised after reading this, you may need a tongue treadmill which I am sure is available on the Internet. Here's an article at NIH I found.)

Ordering the meal to go will give you time to attend the Blackfeet Nation Tribal Festival this coming Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and hear the talk by Curator Cecile R. Ganteaume on Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 2 p.m. about  Pocahontas and "her early impact on European and American thought."  (She was more than just an Indian princess!  Come and learn.)

As if these weren't reasons enough to buy out, it will leave you energy to attend the Native American Heritage and Family Fun Day at the museum on Black Friday, Nov. 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

November is Native American Heritage Month and the museum honors the 6.6 million Native American and Alaska Native people living in the U.S. plus millions of other Indigenous people found in the Western Hemisphere.

What:  Thanksgiving at the National Museum of the American Indian

When: 10 a.m.. - 5:30 p.m. , open daily except Christmas Day


Where: Fourth Street and Independence, S.W. Washington, D.C 20560


Admission:  No charge

Closest Metro station: L'Enfant Plaza.  Exit at Maryland Avenue/Smithsonian Museums and, once outside, walk towards the U.S. Capitol.

For more information:  202-633-6644 or 888-618-0572

patricialesli@gmail.com




 

Rita Coolidge gave us 'Fever'

Rita Coolidge in a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

 

Never know how much I love you, never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me, I get a fever that's so hard to bear
You give me fever - when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight
Fever - in the the morning, fever all through the night.

 

In a free concert Saturday afternoon at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Rita Coolidge charmed hundreds in the Potomac Atrium for almost 90 minutes, singing her classics in her gentle, distinctive voice, instantly recognizable and unchanged over the four decades she has been a star. 

Rita Coolidge in a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

 

Among the numbers she sang were "Fever," "Your Love Has Lifted Me (Higher and Higher)," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "We're All Alone," "The Way You Do the Things You Do,"  "Only You," "Bird on a Wire," and "How Sweet It Is to be Loved by You."

 

Eric Clapton was on her mind in 1969 when she wrote "Superstar":

 

Long ago, and, oh, so far away
I fell in love with you before the second show
Your guitar, it sounds so sweet and clear
But you're not really here, it's just the radio

Don't you remember, you told me you loved me baby?
You said you'd be coming back this way again baby
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby
I love you, I really do

When she originally recorded "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love," she said she didn't understand what it was all about since she was not divorced.  But she discovered the meaning later.

The audience did not "sing along" until near the end of the show when Rita invited participation.  Do you ever attend concerts to hear the star perform instead of the audience?

Rita Coolidge and her band gave a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013, which followed a concert at the museum's New York City location.  It was a rarity and welcome sight to see a woman, Mary Ekler, as a band member.  Thanks, Rita! Other band members were Randy Landas, bass and guitar; John McDuffie, guitar; Lynn Coulter, drums/Patricia Leslie

Rita Coolidge with Randy Landas in a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

 

Ms. Coolidge, of Cherokee Indian ancestry,  saved the best for last: Amazing Grace, the Cherokee National Anthem. She briefly described the sad story of the Trail of Tears, the saga of 1838 when President Andrew Jackson forced the last 16,000 Cherokees to leave Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee and travel to what became Oklahoma, literally following in the footsteps of their brothers and sisters who had earlier moved. Thousands died on the journey, including 60,000 of the 130,000 Cherokees driven away. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 banished all Indians from east of the Mississippi River. (Click here to see their trails. And here for more information.)

 

 

Ms. Coolidge's powerful song and story brought the hall to a standstill. Babies quietened, talkative youth grew silent, and even the noisy guards on the upper floors ceased shouting at visitors standing along the stairwell to listen to the singer's message which evoked passions for peace, and emotions, including among those without known Indian heritage.

Rita Coolidge with Randy Landas on bass and Lynn Coulter on drums in a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

 

It just looks like church, but it was the audience who came to see and listen to Rita Coolidge in a free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

The crowd gave Rita Coolidge and her band a standing ovation at the end of their free concert at the National Museum of the American Indian, August 10, 2013/Patricia Leslie

 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Free Rita Coolidge concert Aug. 10 at American Indian Museum

Rita Coolidge

Grammy winner and legendary singer/songwriter Rita Coolidge will sing many of her classic hits and new songs, too, in a free concert at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall beginning at 5 p.m. August 10.

Some of her best known hits include "Your Love Has Lifted Me (Higher and Higher)," "One Fine Day," "Only You," "The Way You Do the Things You Do," and "Fever."

Ms. Coolidge, 68, a native of Lafayette, Tennessee, claims Scottish Cherokee ancestry.  She is a founding member of Walela, a Native American music trio which includes her sister and her niece.  In Cherokee, Walela means hummingbird. 

Her performance is part of the museum's Indian Summer Showcase series. 

Click here for a Cameron Crowe biographical sketch of Ms. Coolidge written in 1978 when she was married to Kris Kristofferson:  "Much more than a song stylist," Crowe wrote, "Rita Coolidge is an artist's artist."  She hasn't
changed.

The National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C./Patricia Leslie

 

Who:  Rita Coolidge

What:  Free concert

When:  5 p.m., Saturday, August 10, 2013

Where:  Potomac Atrium, First Level, the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Fourth Street at Independence Avenue, S.W. , Washington, D.C.  20560, between the Air and Space Museum and the U.S. Capitol.  The American Indian Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. - 5: 30 p.m.

How much:  No charge

Metro station:  L'Enfant Plaza, exit Maryland Avenue/Smithsonian Museums

For more information:  202-633-1000

patricialesli@gmail.com