Eating Out - Swedish

IKEA (Swedish)

You probably didn't even realize that they have food their did you? You probably also didn't know that the food is amazing. The food is so good, I convinced Kathryn to take this cheesy picture! We both got the same thing - meatballs, mashed potatoes, and lingonberries - and split a piece of Daim cake. All for about $12.

Observations:

• We went to eat some food, to buy some new glasses, and to walk around. Instead, we bought this:

• That's right. We bought an entire bedroom set. On accident.
• They make everything so cheap that you can't refuse whenever you are all hopped up on lingonberry.

Snow Storm

We just had a major blizzard in DC. You probably heard about it. People here were calling it Snowmageddon, Snow.M.G. or Snowgasm. We spent the first Saturday of the snow storm walking around taking pictures, very excited. That excitement was followed by denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Here are the Saturday pictures:

This is a tree outside of our building pushed down like old celery.

Kathryn standing in the middle of Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington Circle.

Kathryn's hospital.

We took the metro down to the mall to check out the capital. Everyone just walked around on the streets. Very post-apocalyptic.

Snow almost burying the stair rail at the art museum.

You can normally see this thing for miles.

Finally at the base of the stairs you can see it.

After walking around the capital for a couple of hours, we went to the National Snowball Fight at DuPont Circle. There were maybe a couple thousand people there.

I talked Kathryn into throwing a couple of snowballs before she got too cold/nervous. I, on the other hand, got way too into it.

Everyone basically threw snowballs at the people at the base of the fountain. The people at the base of the fountain acted like revolutionaries (complete with retro US flag - only in DC). Kathryn took this from the back while I was up front getting pelted.

Eating Out - American Standards in U Street

I actually brought our camera. I ate that food!

Eatonville (Southern)

This place was sort of a double winner. We got to walk around a neighborhood we haven't visited too much, and we got to eat some solid southern food. Also, we got out of the house during the snow storm. U Street is a really interesting neighborhood. Historically, it was the center of the wealthy and educated African American community of DC, but like most urban neighborhoods, it's undergoing a lot of gentrification. The major difference between U Street and most other neighborhoods though is that it is being gentrified by an even wealthier and more educated generation of African Americans.

Observations

• We split the fried green tomatoes appetizer. They weren't your traditional fried green tomatoes, but every fried food is better with goat cheese (fact!).
• Kathryn had the catfish and grits. I had the shrimp po boy. Both were pretty good.
• All the drinks were served in mason jars. I think it was supposed to make it interesting and hip. It just made it cliche and lame.
• Why does every restaurant in DC have to feel like it's in a hotel lobby? That's some how supposed to make it nice?

DC likes its cupcakes too much.

Cakelove (Bakery)

On the way home from Eatonville we picked up some cupcakes at Cakelove. It's owned by that dude Warren Brown who had the show "Sugar Rush" on the Food Network. That was before the days when every person with a cake show was a complete ass. Brown seems like a nice guy, so obviously, his show failed.

Observations

• Clockwise: homemade toffee, german chocolate, salted caramel, and raspberry.
• The salted caramel one is called "The 44" because it was inspired by Obama's favorite candy. I don't know if he's tried one yet, but I think he should. It was the best of the bunch. Followed by the german chocolate.
• We walked home in the snow and ice without me falling on the cupcakes, just barely.

Eating Out - Iranian

Once again, I forgot our camera.

Kabob Bazaar (Iranian/Persian) - January 22

This is a place I've been excited to try since I found out we were moving to DC. A good friend from grad school and current coworker has been telling me about this place for a couple of years now. He vehemently claims it's the best Iranian food you can get at any restaurant (I should mention that his parents are Iranian, and they also vouch for the place). Also, he likes to talk about the former revolutionaries who hang out there and a waitress that recognized him after having moved away from DC for seven years. We've had a lot of kabobs at fairly generic Turkish, Greek, and Middle Eastern places in the past, so we thought we had a good idea of what was coming. However, we were completely blown away.

Observations

• This place was also incredibly cheap. 1 appetizer, 1 desert, 3 entrees all for about $50. Not bad for a Friday night on the town.
• I could have made a meal of just the bread and must-o moseer dip.
• We all fought over the onions on Kathryn's shish kabob.
• I really messed up by ordering us the baghlava desert. My friend quickly noted that we should have had the rice pudding. The only problem is that each of us had just eaten about a pound of rice.
• Speaking of the rice, they also bring out big chunks of rice that fries on the side of the pot while cooking. Wow!
• Finally had a chance to walk around Arlington after dinner. It seemed like a pretty nice area, and if you judge a neighborhood by the number of Irish bars that were clearly ordered from those Irish bar catalogs, then that's the neighborhood for you. Well, if you like those kind of places. (Side note: I was thinking of opening one of those bars, but it's like ironically Irish. I would name it "Patty McWhatever's" or "John O'Lame's" I don't know if people would really get the concept of an auteur bar.)

Eating Out - Caribbean

We forgot to bring our camera, but what we had looked exactly like this.

Sweet Mango Cafe (Caribbean/Jamaican) - January 16

If there is one thing that spans cultural divides, it's quality barbecued chicken. All you need is a chicken, some hot coals, and a spice rub and/or sauce. We went to Sweet Mango Cafe because of the reviews of the jerk chicken, and this is a town where roast chicken is a big deal (especially Peruvian style). Plus, it gave us an excuse to check out a part of the city we had never visited (Petworth).

Observations

• The jerk chicken is ridiculous! Kathryn claimed she didn't like jerk seasoning before going there, but Sweet Mango Cafe turned her around.
• There wasn't really anything sweet on the menu. There also wasn't any mango.
• We didn't realize that the chicken comes with a large side of rice and some sort of green bean and cabbage stew, so we didn't really need the side of plantains (just ok) or the coco bread (amazing).
• If I were a little more adventurous, I would have gotten the curry goat, but I just had goat like a week ago and I don't like curry.
• This place had a poster up that featured Obama, MLK, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and, of course, Bob Marley.

Eating Out

Checking out restaurants has become one of our favorite hobbies since moving to DC, especially moving through all of the different countries, regions, and cultures represented in DC eateries. We usually eat at home during the week and venture out to try new restaurants on the weekends, and as a result, we made a pledge to try a different ethnic food each weekend. We're a little behind in starting this blog (and making our pledge), but this should bring us all up to speed.

We will hopefully do a better job of documenting our trips with pictures and observations and what-have-yous. Most of these places warrant a trip back, so we'll fill in the missing spots next time.

In the last couple of months, here's what we've tried so far:

• Peruvian style grilled chicken (El Pollo Rico - Arlington)
• Peruvian (El Chalan - Foggy Bottom)
• Ethiopian (Zed's - Georgetown)
• Vietnamese (A few places around town, most notably Huong Viet in Eden Center - Falls Church)
• Thai (A few places around Foggy Bottom, nothing to write home about)
• Chinese (Chinatown Express, $5 for homemade noodles and roast duck!)