Chasin’ Tails, Arlington

Source: chasintailscrawfish.com via Molly on Pinterest

For one of Deanna’s birthday festivities, we decided to try Chasin’ Tails Seafood and Bar. I’ve been to Hot N’ Juicy a couple of times, and I guess there’s enough interest around here for them to open up another crawfish joint.

It’s really nice inside for a down and dirty seafood joint. But I guess there are some standards for the area! New Orleans street signs and fun pictures of crawfish and sayings decorated the walls. They even have a watering hole in the back with hand washing stations. They have a good selection of beers (I say this because they carry Abita beers, my favorite being purple haze). I ordered a pound of clams in garlic butter, and a pound of crawfish in original cajun medium spicy. Oh yeah, and their whole shebang wings. No plates, no silverware, just a bag of your food.

The Breakdown:
Please remember that my family is from Louisiana, and crawfish boils are our thing, so it is very hard for me to EVER find quality crawfish boiled at restaurants. The only other place I’ve had it (other than in Louisiana) in a restaurant here is Hot N Juicy so it will be hard not to compare. Anyways the clams were good. They serve short neck clams there. The wings were also good, if you like garlic. I don’t like it THAT much so I only had like two wings and tapped out.

And now to the crawfish.

The seasoning was decent…in the bag. But in actuality, it failed. The crawfish itself, tasted like pondwater and there was nothing to save it. I understand that its not crawfish season, and when I commented on this with the waiter…he tried to play me for a fool. “We get it from a special place where they send em live all year”. No, that isn’t possible right? The mud has to be a certain temperature…crawfish season is March-June. Unless they have some indoor lab making this all happen. But the service was amazing and I like the atmosphere. I might go again for the clams and crablegs, but I wouldn’t say this is going to be my new favorite spot.

Beignets get the job done. A little too bready for my taste, but hey if we want Cafe du Monde beignets we should go there right?

Either way it was a good time with good people. Happy Birthday D!

Posted on July 30, 2012 by miemo 0

France Fever: What Am I Going to Pack!?

Don’t panic. You pack for trips all the time. You got this. Right? RIGHT? I GOT THIS? No. I don’t. What AM I GOING TO WEAR. Apparently France isn’t as hot as here. I have to accommodate for a lot of city walking, AND for beach. Blah. I need inspiration.

You don’t even have to read this post. It is just a reminder of what I need to pack for the week.

Things I need to pack for… Beach, hiking, going out, and city. Also a light rain coat. yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah. Continue reading →

Posted on July 20, 2012 by miemo 0

France Fever: Movies

Source: en.wikipedia.org via Miemonster. on Pinterest

Don’t laugh. I was totally a fan of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. I might even still be. I wanted a twin sister to get into adventures with. Maybe some of you guys remember, they had a movie that took place in NYC and Australia as well. Anyways, one of the first times that Cece came to visit me in America, I made her watch this movie, and tell me if it was real/true. We both had a hilarious time watching this and mocking the characters. I will be watching this to remind me how much fun I’ve had with Cece over the years and how much MORE fun we’ll have in Paris.

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Does anyone else remember when Carrie was in Paris with her Lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvah. And how horrible her french was? “Je vooudraais un chaaaaaaaambre”. Yeah. I will rewatch the last few episodes because I like watching how frustrated she gets. Merde!!!

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Of course no french movie night is complete without Amelie. My little sister is named after this movie. Maybe I will try to watch it without subtitles to practice…yeah right.

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I love Meryl Streep. This will have to be watched before I go as well. FRENCH FOOD!!!!

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I’ve never seen this movie, but I am looking forward to it. Who’s going to do french movie nights with me?!

Posted on July 13, 2012 by miemo 0

Sugar Creek Seafood Restaurant

When I was visiting the Outerbanks for the first time, we went to Sugar Creek Seafood restaurant. I had really high hopes for this place. We were eating dinner around sunset, outside with the cool ocean breeze, it was a pretty magical set up. The website sells it as a pretty fancy place.

I started off the meal with a pina colada. It was delicious. We are off to a good start!

Then it went down hill. I had really high hopes for the food here, which is probably why I felt it was sub par. The clams were COMPLETELY filled with dirt/sand. The flavor was there, but I could not get over how much dirt I was eating.

For the main course, I chose shrimp and scallop duo. You can either have them fried or broiled. I was leaning towards broiled, but when asking our server, she said she loved everything fried. Wrong choice for me. Deep fried scallops are disgusting. And this one was soggy on the bottom. The fries and shrimp were good though!

I guess the draw on this place isn’t really the food but the atmosphere. We had a really nice view and our server was awesome. The only part of the restaurant experience that I wasn’t fond of was the stank face I got from the blond curly haired hostess. The other hostesses were polite, but she just sat there and gave me the nastiest look and rolled her eyes. Rude. Other than her, all the staff was great. The food, not so much.

Not going back.

Nags Head on Dwellable

Posted on July 11, 2012 by miemo 0

River Riders West Virginia: Tubing

I think I have a weird fear of water that is involved with nature. I don’t jump at the chance to go into a river, lake, pond or even the ocean. I am happy with clean, animal free pools. I will get in the ocean, if I can see my feet (see: OBX adventure). But I wanted to try tubing. It took a lot of convincing from Deanna and the boo to convince me that everything was going to be fine. That snakes weren’t going to bite my butt, or that I wouldn’t get some kind of skin eating disease from the water.

Fears aside, after the storm that put out electricity in most of the DC VA MD area, we got on a river. We did flat water tubing through River Riders. Located in Harpers Ferry West Virginia, for about $30 bucks you get a tube, and a ride to the river, where you can lazily float along. The time that we went the water didn’t get too deep. We got to float down twice that day, since white water was closed due to fallen trees.

I had a lot of fun and I am glad I got to spend a day with my friends relaxing on the river. They have a store, which has bathrooms and changing stations so you’re not roughing it too hard out there. I would definitely go again, and its fairly tame if you get anxiety like me. They do have different levels of white water tubing/rafting as well..we’ll see if I’ll ever get at that level!

I survived!

Posted on July 10, 2012 by miemo 0

France Fever!

Source: google.co.uk via Miemonster. on Pinterest

Hon, hon, oui oui! I’ve decided to replace this month’s food fridays with French Fridays, in celebration of my first trip to France this year. This is also because I need to eat healthier and exercise so no more food fridays of bad food. Super excited for my first international trip as an adult. As you may know my whole blog was created on the premise of letting my best friend in the whole world Cece, know what I’m up to in good ol’ U S of A. Now I get to experience a week in the life of a Parisian. Well my Parisian.

Source: i.telegraph.co.uk via Miemonster. on Pinterest

We will spend half the time in Paris, and the other half in Nice, at the beach! I will disconnect myself so that I can fill my camera and come back with plenty to share. I will be such a tourist. At least that is what I will tell myself. I want to make the most of my trip.

Source: google.com via Miemonster. on Pinterest

Also, I am ready to try real french macarons. I’ve had a few around here, but I have yet to be amazed and won over by these delightful looking treats. If I still am not enamored by the ones in France then I guess we weren’t meant to be. I actually have the same relationship with lobster. I tried it 3 times before I realized, I don’t like lobster. Crawfish and crabs for me.

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Have you been to France? Is there absolutely anything I must do to make my trip complete?

Posted on July 6, 2012 by miemo 0

The Outerbanks, North Carolina

I have a new favorite “local” beach. I say local because I don’t have to fly there. The Outerbanks! I know I am so late, there are already a bajillion people who have been there and love it. But I really do. The water is clear, and the beaches aren’t too crowded. And its more family oriented so there’s not crazy teens drinking and causing a ruckus. (Note if that’s what you want, don’t go). If you want a nice quiet clean place to relax…OBX is it. I had so much fun, even though I was only there for the weekend.

We stayed at the Days Inn Kill Devil Hills OCEANFRONT, and the beach was just a few steps out. The hotel itself is like an old colonial house. It was very cute and the staff was very friendly. We are pretty low maintenance so we didn’t really need much. They also serve a free breakfast every morning of your stay, and there’s a pool :D. Everything was very cozy. Plus there is a bbq pit and picnic tables in the back if you wanted to have your own bbq.

We spent the day swimming, reading and lounging at the beach. It was great. The water was clear, and there were plenty of sand bars to keep me feeling like I was safe. (I love sharks, but I am terrified of them). No trash or jelly fish. Just clear water…and your occasional mole crab carcass.

After the day at the beach, we got cleaned up and enjoyed this view at dinner. Review on the place later…

Before we headed out we went to explore the dunes. Where I got my first bug bites (3!) of the summer. No fun. Also its really hard to walk up sandy hills. We did see tiny tiny frogs though. It was so crazy! They were so cute. They were about the size of his fingernail.

It was a short trip, but a much needed break. I really like it out there and plan to go back a few more times before summer is over. Also, Who’s Bad, the Michael Jackson Tribute band is playing there later this month… might have to catch them out there!

Kill Devil Hills on Dwellable

Posted on July 3, 2012 by miemo 0

Who’s Bad: Michael Jackson Tribute Band

It’s been 3 years (yesterday) since the legendary Michael Jackson died too soon. Say what you want, all the scandals and negative things about how he lived his life, but you can’t take away the fact that he was an amazing performer, and pretty much shaped pop music. Usher, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown… all their dance moves all their inspirations…Michael Jackson. I remember watching MTV (when they still played music videos) and how excited I would get when one of his videos would come on. You could probably get his videos on demand right now through your cable provider.

To this day, I am still scared of the Thriller video.

Last Friday, the boo, and my girlfriends went to see Who’s Bad, a Michael Jackson Tribute band at 930 Club on U Street. I saw them on MJ’s 1 year anniversary of his death. They are amazing, like it will bring tears to your eyes. They have not one, but 2 performing “Michael’s” one’s extremely good at dancing, and the other extremely good at singing. (That just goes to show how crazy good the real Michael is, it takes two people to make this show AMAZING.) It’s like he never left us. There show is better than ever. I can’t wait until they come back around again. Hopefully next year around the same time.

Tips if you go:

Wear dancing shoes
Fedora, and sparkly glove encouraged
They pull ladies up on stage to dance, so if you want to be up there, get there early to be in the front

I am still on a Michael Jackson kick, so I’ll be singing all week. Sorry to those around me 😀

Posted on June 26, 2012 by miemo 0

Drag Show: Golden Lantern

To continue with our streak of live performances for the weekend. The ladies were invited to a drag show Saturday by Miss Monique’s alter ego, Michael.

We got to Tubby’s Golden Lantern a little early after dinner, so we had some time to kill, especially since they moved the regularly scheduled 10pm show to 11pm due to some country line dance convention (yes they really have those). This is were we met Britnee Aluxander.

She became leader of the pack for the night, leading us to her favorite hot spot Bourbon Pub where she performs weekly. As we were walking the streets and exploring the area, we stopped in on a few ghost tour groups and listened a little (well, I ran away because I’m not having a ghost follow me home). Then we headed back to the show!

The show’s platform was pretty much as follows, 5 drag queens, performing country songs, they each get about 3 songs each, with a costume change for a 2 hour show. As they sing they walk around and interface with the crowd, and this is where you can pull out your ones and tip them. It was hard to believe that these women were actually men! Beautiful with sparkle and shine, we were all mesmerized.

The Golden Lantern was very welcoming to everyone, male, female, gay or straight. They had a community vibe and gave us the best southern hospitality I’ve ever had at a bar. Afterwards there was plenty of line dancing for everyone all around!

Posted on June 4, 2012 by miemo 0

Swamp Adventures

There are two kinds of Gator people in the bayous of Louisiana. The kind where they love the alligators, and treat them as members of their family and are conscious of their preservation. And the others are the kind you see on swamp people who make their yearly income in the short hunting season chooootin’ em.

We were the kind of gator people who sat with our cameras safely inside an air boat. I’ve been on gator tours before in different bayous, but this is my first time on an air boat. I was terrified of being that open to gators, but after reassurance from Deanna, who has dealt with boats for a good chunk of her career, I was pumped.

It was awesome. When the air boat was on the go, we were going so fast, the breeze helped relieve the heat. Our captain was hilarious and knowledgeable. You got to get up close and personal with the gators. Did you know they love their marshmallows? And if they are old enough, they’ll enjoy a nice cold brewski. I’ll let the pictures speak.