Showing posts with label Virginia Restaurants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virginia Restaurants. Show all posts

6/22/09

Honorable Mention

We love trying new restaurants, especially now that summer is in full effect and there are so many places that offer outdoor seating - Georgetown is our favorite weekend spot. And in Georgetown, we have finally found a pizza place that we both agree is comparable to our favorite pizza joint in Munich. Pizza Paradiso has perfected their pizza, which is baked in a wood -burning stone oven, with in my opinion, amazing crust. And the beer selection is extensive enough to please a table full of Germans! We also found a super economical Indian restaurant in Virginia, Angeethi, that features excellent Balti dishes. And the garlic Naan....mmmm...dangerous for your breath but so good for your tummy.

3/28/09

Gauchos Galore

With promises of swordfish and salmon, G finally persuaded me into going to a Brazilian steakhouse, Chima. And after a fun farewell dinner for our friend, who at this very moment is on a plane heading home, all I have to say is - wow - it was pretty damn good. I don't eat beef, pork, or chicken, but our five friends thought the selection was excellent - 16 rotisserie meats and the fish, which I thought was seasoned and grilled just the way I would do it myself. Yum.

I honestly savored each and every bite because I've been really really considering and much to G's dismay, obsessing (ha!) about giving myself a healthy birthday present this year ---
going green. Becoming a vegetarian. Think I can do it? Only one more week to decide....

10/24/08

The Fine Print

Well, after two hours of sitting in the dentist's chair with my lips pulled back and an intense tingling (almost slow burning) solution on my teeth, I'm happy to say that Zoom definitely worked for me. I saw instant results. My teeth look ten years younger. Really. However, in the process of telling me about all of the wonderful benefits of Zoom, my dentist forgot to mention two important things. One, the shooting pains called "zingers" that are like the feeling you get from brain freeze, except in a single tooth. These random "zingers" last for 24 hours. And two, for 48 hours following the procedure, I could only eat white foods. Anything that would stain a white t-shirt was considered off limits. My diet consisted of Cream of Wheat and Grits, which is always nice for breakfast but for dinner...not so appealing. So the with the "zingers", the bland diet, and also having two fillings replaced on the same day, I was a walking nightmare. But my teeth look fantastic! For my first day without pain and back on colored foods, G and I were invited to the soft opening of Passion Fish, which means everything is complimentary - it's part of the training process for the waitstaff and a nice way to entice customers that live in the neighborhood. The official opening is tomorrow. Man oh man. The raw bar and sushi selections were excellent and the fish - perfect. We truly enjoyed everything we tried. Our dessert was especially cool.

8/18/08

The Good, The Bad & The Maggots

On Saturday morning, we decided to spend the afternoon at the Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets. We both have heard about the great deals you can find on high quality clothes from a lot of people who live here. Not your typical outlet mall stuff. So, in anticipation of a long afternoon shopping, I decided to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast - shopping fuel for the body. And when I cracked open the first egg in the pancake mix, I saw that my egg had 2 yolks. Twins. Isn't that supposed to be good luck? We decided it was and it was a sign that we would find amazing deals that afternoon.

So after 5 hours of shopping, it's official - I am a fan. My favorite outlet stores were Juicy, BCBG (I seriously started clapping my hands and squealing when I saw the racks of summer dresses on sale), Puma, and Off 5th. These stores really have an excellent selection with huge discounts. And out of all of our purchases, G found the coolest deal. Check out the silver Pumas.

G is well aware of the fashion faux pas of wearing mismatch athletic logos. He just refuses to accept it.

We couldn't go home empty handed, without a present for Denzel, so we stopped at Petco to grab a new Kong toy. We decided to buy the Dental Stick with the Stuff'n Tots treats. When we got home and opened the Stuff'n Tots container, we saw that it was infested with tiny dead flies and maggots. There was also some kind of spider web film on the inside. WTF? G immediately went online and wrote the Kong company a nasty e-mail. And then we discovered some of the maggots weren't even dead.....when we saw them crawling out of the container onto our kitchen counter. GROSS! We sent photos along with that e-mail. We can't wait to hear their response.

On Sunday night, we joined KT and her fiance for dinner, at Konami. We had a hilarious time talking about weddings and marriage. She and her fiance are both divorced so their perspective is a little different than ours. But hey, they are ready for round two! The sushi was......interesting. You know how when you take a bite of something and once it hits your taste buds, you instantly know something is off? I got that feeling with the first bite of a spider roll. And my suspicions were confirmed by a night of tossing and turning and a full day with a queasy stomach and no appetite. G had some stomach issues too. That was our first and last dinner there.

8/11/08

Signs

We had a funny conversation with some friends, over dinner at Big Bowl recently. We were talking about when you say or do certain things and suddenly you realize that those are the telltale signs that you are getting old. For example, when we were in Virginia Beach, there was a little boy, he had to be under 5 years old, walking down the beach alone, looking around like he was lost. As soon he passed us, I called out to him, "Are you lost, Sweetie? Who are you looking for?" The little boy looked at me like I was a weirdo and said no, that he wasn't lost, he was looking for his family. He knew they were lying next to a blue umbrella. End of story, right? No. I didn't believe him. First of all, what parent in their right mind, would allow a 5 year old to walk around Virginia Beach alone? And second, there had to be a hundred blue umbrellas in that area. So I got up and followed him, a little ways behind because it was obvious he was afraid of me, just to make sure he was ok. G laughed and called me a paranoid Grandma because I didn't take the little boy's word that he was fine. And to prove G right, of course after walking down the beach for about 5 minutes, he did meet up with his parents. A little embarrassed, I turned around and walked back to our spot, thinking...Oh my gosh, I am getting old. That was something my Mom would have done! But last week, it was G's turn. For three nights in a row, we had to listen to the teenagers next door, party all night. I'm talking constant blaring music, yelling and laughing, pounding the walls, and screaming down the hallways. By the third night, G had had enough. He walks over and knocks on the door. When they finally open up, he puts his hand on his hips and uses his Terminator voice and says, "You are getting on my nerves. This is the third night of partying. If you don't be quiet I will call the police. Don't make me come here again. Goodbye." The teenagers were silent. And then they apologized. I couldn't believe it. G comes home with a big smile on his face and we get ready for bed. About 10 minutes later, as we are standing in our kitchen, we can hear all of them leaving and walking to the elevators. End of story, right? No. Someone yells, "I f***ing love you Sarah!!!!!" This pushes G over the edge. He swings open the door, boxer shorts and all, and screams at the top of his lungs. He completely cussed out the kids standing at the elevator. He instantly transformed from the Terminator to Andrew Dice Clay (here is another sign of old age, making references to celebrities who were popular 15 years ago). I wish I could have taken a picture - G in his underwear screaming and the teenagers with looks of horror on their faces. Priceless. We haven't had any problems since. No parties on this floor. Yup, Grandpa totally showed those kids who's boss.

7/29/08

Exotisches Essen

How was your weekend? Our weekend started with an oversized Mexican dinner at Uncle Julio's Rio Grande Cafe with our friend, KT. Rio is known for their homemade tortilla chips and salsa.
They're served warm and every time you get down to the last chip, a server magically appears with a new basket of chips, over and over and over again, no matter how many baskets you devour. Obviously, this is one of G's favorite restaurants. After way too many frozen Margaritas and our huge entrees (orgasmic shrimp quesadillas), we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant for a very special meeting. We wanted to introduce Denzel to KT's baby, a Chihuahua, Miss VS. He's really cute and cuddly BUT....with the attitude of a tasmanian devil. Seriously. G and I think he's just pissed off that his name is MISS VS. Needless to say, the meeting didn't go as well as we'd hoped because every time KT put Miss VS down, he growled uncontrollably and his tiny little body shook with anger!

On Saturday, we went shopping at the international grocery store, Fresh World. We have been shopping at Fresh World every week because of the wide variety of fresh produce and ethnic specialty items. The store stocks its shelves with edibles from too many countries to name, with authentic and unique ingredients. I love browsing the aisles and trying new recipes. And they offer samples on Saturdays:) But no matter how many times we shop there, I am still shocked by some of the "exotic" items they offer.

beef blood

live eel

shark

beef knee cap

7/18/08

It Hurts So Good

Last night, we had dinner with our friend, KT, at Ariake. She's been telling us for a while now that Ariake is her favorite sushi restaurant in Virginia and considering the fact that KT is from Virginia and likes to eat out as much as we do, we had high expectations. Well, it did not disappoint. The sushi was excellent and the Chef's Specials were especially creative. My favorite was the Spicy Crab. Now, I love spicy food. So much that there have been occasions when G has broken out in a sweat while eating some of concoctions. My Mom hates it when I cook Greens because she says I ruin the entire pot by adding too many Jalapeño peppers. And with sushi, even when I order something labeled spicy, I have to add a little Wasabi to give it that extra kick. But the Spicy Crab at Ariake? It's on a another level. For the first time in my life, I woke up in the middle of the night with heartburn. Me? Heartburn? I told G about it this morning. But I did not complain. The Spicy Crab was so good, it was worth the burn!

7/15/08

New Twist on an Old Favorite

I knew that if I tried the
Lobster Mac & Cheese
at American Tap Room,
I would either love it or hate it.

I love it.

7/8/08

Kidnapped

By my husband. Last week, I was instructed to pack a suitcase and surrender my cell phone because we were driving to an undisclosed location for the holiday. My duties for the weekend
were to first, "Shut up and ride." and second, "Celebrate." I was excited about the celebrating part because the 4th of July is our anniversary, the day we met. So I packed my suitcase, making sure to have an outfit for every possible situation, and I shut up and rode. Well, a couple of hours later, we were in Virginia Beach! Turns out, the only outfit I really needed was my bikini and jean cutoffs. We spent the afternoons on the beach and the evenings strolling down the boardwalk and eating fresh seafood for dinner. We even carried our seafood diet over to lunch. We found the strangest little Mexican restaurant called Baja Cantina. They serve the best fish tacos we have ever tasted. And they make their own hot sauce. Despite the super relaxed (Bob Marley) service, odd hours, and the cook who ate half of G's lunch by mistake...we ate there 4 days in a row. And G really surprised me when we drove to a doggie beach. Of course, we brought our little fraggle along:)