Category: Travel

Life with Bawse

After being cooped up all week due to the unpredictable rain, we decided to take Bawse out to Leesylvania Park and test his swimming instincts. They were there, but he definitely was scared. Which is to be expected, coming from a dog who is scared to walk into unknown places. He actually had to get CARRIED out into the water, and then he swam back to shore because he hated being in the water. Granted, it was the Potomac River. I wouldn’t want to swim in it either!

He’s such a character. If you pick him up and hold him over water, he starts doggie paddling…before he’s even in! I guess he just wanted a head start!

 

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Daikaya

Hmmm. I’ve been craving ramen a lot lately. Maybe because the weather got cold again. What are you doing mother nature? *shakes fist. We decided to try out Daikaya one cold Sunday.

20130422-091558.jpg Daikaya is located right next to Graffiato in chinatown, DC. Tiny place, and set up like a ramen place is known to be. Side by side seating. Fast paced and buzzing with chatter and slurping. They are very hi tech in there. Seating system is via tablet. Order system is also via handheld.

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Our server was super friendly and helpful. Explained the difference between broths and helped up make all decisions. Even though it was busy, he was very patient. It was a sunday evening, and the wait for 2 wasn’t that bad. Maybe 5-10 minutes. I would guess bigger parties would be more of a hassle. Don’t count on sitting together.

The noodles were great. Perfect texture. I think I picked the wrong broth for myself. The shoyu was great, and very traditional, but I’ve come to realize, I like a lighter broth, like the miso, or I will try the shio next time. The bowls were too big for me, and I got tired of the flavor. The egg in it was delicious! It all was really great at first…but half way through my bowl I was sleepy!

I would definitely go back. Great vibe. Delicious broth.

 

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Izakaya Blue Ocean Restaurant: Ramen

After hearing many great things, and being recommended this place often, I finally got the chance to try Blue Ocean Restaurant. I hear their sushi is GREAT and their ramen is flavorful. But that would be too much for me to judge on at once, so let’s break it down by food. Today we are talking soup. Ramen noodle soup to be exact.

I ordered the soy ramen soup. And that was it. It came out in a perfect portion, for me. Meaning it wasn’t a huge bowl that I was doomed to waste. There was bamboo, a seaweed sheet, scallions, half a boiled egg, and piece of pork. Your standard ramen bowl. No extras to add in were even offered on the menu. Just straight up ramen.

And that was all it needed to be. The noodles were a perfect texture, the soup full of flavor. WOW. I did not expect this from a non dedicated noodle joint. I am happy. Maybe all the other places had too many choices? And I made the wrong choice? Now I have to reevaluate and try ALL the soups every where else. Or maybe not. But yes. It was GOOD. and I am satisfied. Better than Tanpopo for me.

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Hot & Juicy Crawfish

How have I not written about this place before? I’ve gone here a couple times already, to quickly satiate my cravings for crawfish, when my brother can’t whip me up a pot “real quick”. Out of the two places in the area that I’ve been to for crawfish, this place is only second best to my family’s boil.

I took my little there for her birthday the other weekend. It was her first time EVER having crawfish. But being the adventurous eater she is, she opened them like a pro. She even sucked the head for the sweet brains, and loved it. I was a super proud big. They also have crab legs, clams, blue crabs, oysters, calamari…basically its a down and dirty seafood joint.

They take their spices really seriously there, so their “mild” is spicy enough for me. So tread carefully when you are ordering your spice levels. My favorite is their Juicy Cajun flavor for the crawfish. Since it’s not like Ai Toy’s crawfish, I have to dip the meat back in the sauce…but at least it doesn’t taste like pond water!

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Virtue Feed & Grain

Another year older for my ride or die chick Vitya. Due to a long day, and bad allergies, we had to opt out of friday night shenanigans. To make it up to her the OG CFFs (couple friends forever, yes its a real thing) took her to Virtue Feed & Grain. We got in right on time. The chefs were leaving the establishment, and we had one final chance to taste the amazing food before they got new chefs.

Duck LEG confit. Duck anything confit. I love. I ordered. It was perfect. OH and the steak. I had to trade plates half way through my duck, because I wanted to fill the rest of my tummy with steak. The chef brought out ALL the desserts to our table in celebration of her birthday, so we got to try a little bit of everything. Thanks to Killa DEE and her knowing the chef 😉

It was great, and I am nervous about the chef change, but I wish them the best!

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Society Fair

So you might have remembered, I was away in Hawaii for the week of my birthday. So by the time I came back, most of my friends forgot my birthday even happened. Deanna didn’t. She took me out to fill me with my heart’s desire at Society Fair in Old Town. Ever since I left Paris I’ve yearned for that perfect baguette, the best charcuteries/fromage and the beautiful pink wine to rinse it all down with. I’ve tried multiple places for charcuteries, Bistro Cacao, Lyon Hall, Birch & Barley… but nothing really did it justice…until now.

We literally sat there and ate about 4 bowls of baguettes slices with our charcuteries. And the best part? It’s a market, so I can just pick some up for a girl’s night WHEN EVER. Definitely my new favorite market. I even got to pick up a copy of “Little Paris Kitchen” and some TCHO chocolates.

Plus! One of the chefs was nice enough to give me tips on how to roll my baguettes! *sigh HAPPINESS IN FOOD!

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The Spa at Black Rock

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Warm weather is approaching, and even though it is having it’s off days, I really look forward to wearing dresses and skirts, but not before I get a full body scrub to get rid of all this winter skin. Yuck.

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That reminds me of the great service I had at the Black Rock Spa in Maui. Part of my birthday festivities was a day at the spa. I got the Maui Mikana Body Treatment which was amazing. Smelled so good and tropical and my skin felt so smooth and nourished afterwards.

But then we came back to the mainland…and my skin got EVEN drier. Gross.

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I miss Hawaii.

 

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The Royal Lahaina Resort

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Are you tired of my Hawaii posts yet? I’ve decided to just sprinkle them in, in between usual posts. We stayed at the Royal Lahaina, in one of the rooms in their “huts”. We had a view of the golf course and a back door to walk out of and sunbathe. The resort itself had a couple of shops, a pool and one of the better beaches that we had gone to that week.
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The service was amazing, and like everyone in Hawaii everyone is super nice, laid back and polite. Our first night there, we were so jetlagged and worn out we just ordered room service and passed out. One of my favorite things about this place is every time we drove back to the resort, they would say “Welcome home”. I love it there. If we go back I would probably want to stay there again, if we don’t choose another one on that strip.

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I miss the weather so much. It was perfect all day, with breezy evenings. All the fresh fruit, and of course the shaved ice! And who doesn’t love laying around at the beach?!

 

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Queen’s Ink Art Classes

In case you didn’t know, I’m a graphic designer. People automatically assume graphic designers are creative. As the industry evolved into a more computer based design…I feel like graphic designers lose their sense of pure creativity. At least I have. We take other people’s work and compose them into an aesthetically pleasing piece. That is our main job.

Doing this all day every day, plus cooking, eating, traveling and blogging I don’t really get to just PLAY with art, and be creative. So my friend Marty, who is also my mentor, and a graphic designer her whole career suggested we go to Queen’s Ink and take an Artful ABC’s class.

Yes, its a lettering class, but no it is not calligraphy. The class teaches you 26 techniques in using your OWN handwriting as a way to uniquely handletter things, whether it be a poster, a card, or just doodles!

Our instructor for this class was the fun Joanne Sharpe. She is full of energy and fun stories. It was a long 6 hours, but Joanne adapts her pace to the pace of the class. I liked that it was a small class, about 24 “old kids”, as she liked to call us (not old ladies). The personal attention was definitely helpful.

Nope. This isn’t mine. But its a good example of what we did in class.

We learned how to use different kinds of alcohol markers, dye based markers, and watercolors. This is also a store, which is very dangerous. They’ve got loads of unique stamps, and all the accoutrement to go with it. PLUS a bunch of other art supplies too.

Patti, the queen herself, was there. She is sweet and friendly and makes everyone feel like they’ve been friends and are welcome in her “queendom”. I would love to go back and take another art class!

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Sansei Seafood Maui

This glorious bowl is the Dungeness Crab Ramen with Asian Truffle Broth, served with cilantro, Thai basil and mild jalapenos, from Sansei Seafood. It was a Tuesday night and this place was PACKED and popping.Had a very hip vibe to it, and it was definitely the place to be. Did I mention they have karaoke and half off sushi on Thursdays?

We took a seat at the sushi bar, where we were helped by Frank, our super friendly sushi chef for the night. He recommended this award winning bowl and it was …amazing. I don’t even know how to describe it, and I am sorry, you will just have to figure out a way to get your hands on some crab, truffle broth ramen. I’m sad that we only had one bowl.

The sushi was good, they had a lot of island specials, but as you probably already know, food is a lot more expensive in Hawaii, and I wasn’t willing to gorge on my usual amount of sushi for 4x more money! Plus there were other unique to the island things I wanted to taste!

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