date night: ramen and doughnuts

Life has been crazy lately and it had been far too long since we had done a date night. We finally had a babysitter a few weeks ago. We started with really yummy ramen at Toki Underground in D.C. The wait is always super long for this place so we had avoided it for a long time. When we arrived the wait was one hour, just enough time to go and pick up donuts from GBD (Golden Brown Delicious) before slurping down giant bowls of ramen and feasting on dumplings.

ghost ship.

Ben and I happened upon an excellent activity for our date night a few weekends ago. The Navy Museum hosts a ghost ship tour just for one night in October every year. It turned out to be really fun. Surprisingly, it was free and not crowded. We got to wander around the museum a bit before our entry time. It's actually a really cool museum.

They do regular daily tours of this ship, the USS Barry, that is docked in the Navy Yard. We might have to return during daylight hours to really see what it's like inside. They sent groups in one at a time to make it scarier. It was fun to descend the steps into the ship with Ben and then start wandering through the ship, waiting for crazy people to jump out at us. Which happened around nearly every corner. And there was always some creepy figure following behind us whenever I dared to turn around. It was definitely the perfect creepy setting...dark, tight quarters. They had some good, scary make-up and costumes. There were some especially gross things happening in the kitchen area.

We'll have to remember the ghost ship for next year. They actually open earlier in the evening for less scary tours for younger children. But I'm pretty sure our kids would still be freaked out.

 

After the ghost ship tour we headed to Graffiato (one of Mike Isabella's restaurants) where we were lucky enough to be seated right away. We had the most delicious food. I love the concept of small plates because it allows you to try so many different things.

They had delicious house made sodas. I tried the cardamom cream soda and Ben tried the five spice Ginger beer.

Scrumptiously prepared brussels sprouts (with pancetta, maple, and yogurt).

We also tried the crispy lamb, hand cut spaghetti, flatbread with pepperoni sauce (so good), and the countryman pizza (with black truffle, fontina, and egg).

And dessert of course. A pear crostata with pumpkin sauce and cream.

dates.

Ben and I had a fun date night seeing Cirque du Soleil (Totem) at National Harbor.

We are trying to get in a more regular pattern of doing date nights with the kids. I had a super fun date with Amelia last week. We enjoyed soup at Panera and then went shoe shopping.

date night: green pig bistro + artisphere

Last week we decided to try the new Green Pig Bistro in Arlington based on recommendations from friends. It was a really fun restaurant with great interior design elements. The menu had some fun choices and the food was yummy.

The homemade sodas were delicious. I tried orange and vanilla cream and Ben had blackberry.

I loved this salad. Tomato (a few different kinds), watermelon, goat cheese, and basil. Such a great flavor combination and perfect summer salad.

The cornbread was so yummy and served with maple butter. I want to infuse all of my butter with maple now.

We tried the pork tacos with avocado for an appetizer. The restaurant specializes in pork and the tacos were really delicious.

I could have ended my meal there and been fine. But we had to try one of the main courses. Since it was their specialty, we ordered the pork shank, grits, and greens. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the grits and collard greens.

I was really excited to try one of their desserts and went with the doughnut, served with peanut butter ice cream and chocolate. Unfortunately the doughnut was dry and didn't really resemble a doughnut. But the ice cream and chocolate were yummy.

Just as we finished our meal, a huge storm came through. We tried to wait it out but it wasn't letting up so Ben ran to the car and then picked me up. We made our way to Artisphere but only had a few minutes to wander before they shut down for the night. It's a really cool art space in Rosslyn that has galleries, performance venues, art classes, and all kinds of special events.

moonrise kingdom with pie.

Our last date night began with dinner at Dangerously Delicious Pies. We started with savory pies and tried the SMOG (steak, mushrooms, onion, and gruyere) and the tofu curry pie. Both were awesome. I particularly loved the flavor of the curry pie which was loaded with veggies, rice, and tofu. We topped off the savory selections with some sweet pies. We tried the strawberry rhubarb (delicious) and the Baltimore Bomb (made with the famous Baltimore Berger Cookies).

We cleaned our plates in record time. Partly because the pie was awesome and partly because it was 9:00 at night and we were starving. (The pie shop is a great spot for a late night treat...it's open really late.)

Enjoyed every last bite.

After scarfing down pie, we made our way to the E Street Cinema to see Moonrise Kingdom. We loved the movie. You will too if you're a Wes Anderson fan.

We also loved that we found close, FREE parking at each stop. A rare treat in D.C. 

date night: liquid architecture

The weather was so lovely last Friday. After spending the morning at the Tidal Basin and the afternoon at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, I wanted to enjoy the evening outside too. Ben and I went into D.C. and picked up delicious sandwiches at Taylor Gourmet and then ate them at the Capitol reflecting pool.

We walked down to the Hirshhorn Museum to see the new exhibit by Doug Aitken. And wow. This exhibit is amazing. I highly recommend it. The entire facade of the Hirshhorn is illuminated with images that have been seamlessly blended. The technical aspects alone are pretty amazing. The exhibit centers around the song "I Only Have Eyes for You" and it creates this really ethereal feel as you can hear the music echo through the streets. We slowly walked around the museum to get the different effects from different vantage points. The trees cast some incredible shadows. The most interesting part is seeing the interaction between the art and the environment. It was 11:00 at night and this area would normally be completely dead. But there were so many people, all kinds of people, slowly circling the museum or just laying on the grass taking it all in.

Just go see it.

Turkey, prosciutto, pesto, and fresh mozzarella. And it was awesome.

date night and our continued quest to devour d.c.'s best burgers.

The blog seems a little food heavy lately. In addition to eliminating sweets for six weeks, we also stopped going out to eat. I guess we're just making up for it.

So bring on the burgers! We rarely eat red meat at home. But I love a good burger. We've hit most of the top-rated D.C. burger joints...Ray's Hell-Burger (here), Shake Shack (here), Good Stuff Eatery (here), Elevation Burger (here), Burger Tap and Shake (here), Burger 7 (here), Five Guys, BGR (here), and most recently, Palena. What am I missing?

Ben took me to Palena last week for an early birthday dinner (Italian and French cuisine from Chef Frank Ruta and rated one of the ten best restaurants in D.C.). While not a burger joint in the least, it does boast one of the best burgers in D.C.  It's all about the beef, served with only Italian truffle cheese and house mayonnaise on a homemade brioche bun with pickles on the side (actually an assortment of pickled items which were quite good). The burger is cooked in truffle oil and was so juicy. (And this is coming from someone who orders her burgers well done. I know this is burger blasphemy but I just can't do pink.) It was delicious.

But enough about burgers. We also ordered the gnocchi which was excellent–Yukon gold potato gnocchi with sweet potatoes, shiimeji and shiitake mushrooms, creamy and crumbled goat cheese and a drizzle of aged balsamico. On a whim I decided to try their homemade vanilla and grapefruit soda. It was tangy and sweet and awesome.

We had the lemon posset for dessert and it. was. amazing. Creamy, custardy, lemony goodness with lemon sorbet and tiny little lemon meringues. The perfect end to our meal.

We didn't go out until after the kids were in bed. Amelia informed me the next day that she read an entire 120-page chapter book in her bed while we were gone. I love her passion for reading and wish that I could read for longer than five minutes at night before falling asleep.