Abby: Tribute to Northern Virginia Restaurants

One thing that we do have a great deal of up near DC are some great restaurants.  I was lucky enough to get to try a ton of new places this summer thanks to my coworkers and friends having exploratory pallets.

 

After our NRECA team-bonding adventure to DC (scavenger hunt! so much fun), we all met up again for lunch down town DC at a place called Cuba Libre.  Cuban food...duh.

They planned it so that we didn't even have to worry about the menu. The restaurant just kept bringing out tapas style sharing-dishes. This one was black bean hummus, eggplant salsa of some sort, and a fish dish I am now having trouble remembering the name of other than how GOOD it was.  We had 3 different types of plant chips to dip with including plantain chips.

 

Chunky guacamole with pineapples.  Behind that is pomagranite ice tea made with their own fresh cane juice.

Shrimp rolls with Cesar salad. The rolls had shrimp, potato, and andouille sausage in them. Another winner!

Then I ran out of space on my memory card and decided to just eat. I can not wait to take my family back there.

Right around the corner from Cuba Libre (but on another night) I met up with some friends for a cup of gilato before we headed to the Keith Urban concert.  

I opted for 2 flavors: espresso and vanilla chocolate chip.  A combo made in heaven...plus I hadn't had coffee yet that day and was needing a pick-me-up.  The place is called Pitango (gelato). There are a few around, definitely go if you can!

Although Keith is a pretty good pick-me-up all on his own.

Oh Ballston how I will miss you and your wonderful places for lunch!  this salad was from Sweet Greens

unfortunately I didn't fine it until my last week of work, but I made sure to go back again right before I left. This is their Chic P salad with lemon hummus tahini dressing.  So big I couldn't even finish it all.  Luckily we have a fridge in the office so I could save the rest and take it home.  since I had half of the dressing left, I just added more spinach to the bowl and made the rest of the salad part of my dinner.

Now let's talk about Alexandria, VA.  Mike and I went out for dinner by the water one night and decided on seafood.  Honestly I had been craving seafood all day, but told him I was up for anything.  Lucky me!

We finally picked this little restaurant with outdoor seating called The Warf.  We split a bottle of wine, and ordered a crab cake for an appetizer.  it was amazing!  Literally the BEST crab cake I have EVER had, and I grew up eating a lot of them.

Neither of us could decide which of the 2 fish specials we wanted to order so we ordered both and split the difference.  One cedar plank salmon and one wahoo.  It was a fish I hadn't had before, but it tasted very similar to munk fish.  Not one for the favorites list, but still a night of seafood I will dream about.  

I wish I had taken pictures of more of the fabulous places we ate up there, but it all boils down to some great choices up there.  If you are ever going up there and need a suggestion or two, just ask :)

Abby: Texas Sized Salad and a Little Two-step

Last night Natalie and I decided to finally head back to Nick's Night Club for some country line dancing and Texas two-step.  It is my absolute favorite bar.  But first, I had to figure out dinner.  All I was craving was salmon and salad.  However, trying to get into a place that has that on the menu at 7pm on a Friday is Impossible to say the least.  Luckily we had exactly 1 large piece of salmon left in the freezer and a brand new bag of spinach.

 

As I put the salmon on the stove, I remembered my avocado sitting in the fridge. I had been planning on making guacamole for a while but kept coming home too tired...

Little did I know it was sooooo easy to make! Unfortunately Guac is not one of those foods that is cheaper to make your self.  It costs almost exactly the same...or you have to make a crap ton to get any savings$

Guacamole Attempt #1

1 avocado

1/6 chopped sweet onion

1 clove garlic

dash of salt and pepper to taste

splash of lemon juice (and lime juice cause I believe everything should have lime in it)

Directions: Put all ingredient in the chopper (or blender/food processor) and blend until creamy.  I should have let the garlic sit out a little longer to mellow a bit. The first bite was a kicker.  2nd day is sooo much better.

I put a big heap of it on top of the salmon salad.

It may have been an odd combination: spinach, blueberries, apple cider vinigar, cooked onions, salmon, and guac

But it was sooo good.  I definetly want to make this combo again.  Honestly I think it was the blueberries, onions, and guac that made it though.

Then I pulled on my brand new boots and danced the night away!

Gosh my feet are big   :O /  o well, they are gorgeous aren't they!!!