Rice in D.C.

Friday night I joined my friend Kelly for cocktails at Peter's house (rather raucous), then we went out to Rice for Thai food.
The cocktails were great - - - several of Kelly's friends joined us. Most people drank Martinis and I tried some home made infused vodkas made by Peter. The lemon lime concoction was good, but VERY bitter. Peter also had some honey infused vodka, and I kept insisting that I would like to try the honey and lemon lime combined. Peter refused. I insisted. Peter drank. I insisted. Peter drank more. I finally won, and it was yummy. The honey mellowed the lemon lime in a wonderful way. He then made me a Watermelon Martini, which made me feel like I was 18 years old again, getting drunk on a watermelon wine cooler. By the time I got it down, it was time to go eat.
We shimmied on over to Rice (a short walk from Peter's place) and had a GREAT meal. What was the best thing? The rice, of course. I had chicken with basil and olives, but the rice really stood out. It was sticky rice (sooooo my favorite) that came in an obelisk shape...I was in heaven. Really. My sister and I had some sticky rice in New York this summer, but this stuff was much much better. It had a good flavor, wasn't too sweet, and melded perfectly with the chicken. Check them out online: http://www.simplyhomedc.com/welcome.html

DC Eats Continued

Last night we went to Jaleo for some yummy tapas. We had quite the wait for a table (there being 8 of us), but it was worth it. We had lots 'o tapas: raw tuna with anchovy oil and pine nuts, spinach with pine nuts apples and raisins, shrimp in garlic sauce, grilled salmon, cheesy potatoes, and beet salad. Everything was delicious, but the standouts were the cheesy potatoes (blue cheese sauce), the beet salad (as always - - - love me some beets), and the tuna. We also had seafood Paella that was quite yummy, but not the BEST I've ever had.

Some of the people in the group really opened up their food repoitre, and I was duly proud of them. Tonight Kelly's having a cocktail party, should be fun!

Off the food path: I just had my picture taken with Mo Willems, a rockin' children's author. Check him out at mowillems.com.

Hello from Washington, D.C.!

I'm here in D.C. to attend the conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The conference has been great so far, but I just had to leave a session where I was going to have an attack 'o claustrophobia. Too many teachers in one room for me...and the woman was describing autism. Hmmmm. . . . I kind of already know what it is. Bonus: I got the handout and skeedaddled on out of there.

Well, I've eaten 2 great meals here.
First one: The Duplex Diner
Yummy yummy yummy mac and cheese with perfect green beans (actually haricort vert)
Kelly had the meatloaf, which was tasty. I like Barnaby's meatloaf much more.
Second good meal: Pizzaria Paradiso
The crust on this pizza was the best. Not tough, good flavor, brick oven. I had the Genovese which had pesto and potatoes on it. I just had to add the Buffalo Mozzarella - - - way tasty. Lots of olive oil and dry pepper flakes later, I was one happy camper. I actually had dessert too: Tiramisu (that the waiter claimed was "simply the best"). I've had better. The Tiramisu at Frenchy's in Clear Lake is hands down the best I've ever had. This one was tiny. Really tiny. It had too much cocoa on it, and the ladyfingers were sopping wet. In fact, they were so wet that they a) grossed me out and b) almost made the marscapone like flat whipped cream. Yuck. The waiter kept on offering to take it if I didn't like it, but I kept on giving it the old college try until it was gone (again, it was a tiny serving).
We're heading to Jaleo (Spanish tapas) tonight and I'm looking forward to it.