PTR-Cheating on Mickey w/Harry!...OMG! Only a month to go!

[franandaj]

Day 2 Part 2

As we last left the story we were on our way to the Capitol Building. There were numerous photo ops here so I will just let the pictures speak for themselves. Most of these statues are honoring the Civil War heroes. However one very poignant one is the final statue picture of America crying on History’s shoulders for the heavy casualties suffered in the Civil War.

They also had some beautiful flower gardens outside the Capitol building.

This ended up being a particularly long stop because I somehow did not save the cell phone number of the guide into my phone, so we had to call the office and have them dispatched back to pick us up. We were famished by this time and our next planned stop was back to Union Station to enjoy lunch at the Food Court.

 

[franandaj]

My next trip to WDW is less than two weeks away! Yesterday I placed my order for groceries with Garden Grocer! It should be waiting for us when we check in at BLT 2 weeks from today!

On the other trip, I make my ADRs tomorrow. I thought it was two days ago, but evidently there are too many months with 31 days inbetween now and my Fall trip. I don't see a problem as I'm not trying to get any real "hot ticket" dining reservations. Wish me luck!

 

[franandaj]

Day 2 Part 3

Upon arrival at Union Station we headed directly for the food court. There were a ton of choices, and since we had enough time to browse we decided to stroll around the whole place before making a decision on where to have lunch. From where we started here were the options heading counter-clockwise around the court:

• Sushi
• Indian cuisine
• Southern BBQ/Chinese
• Italian pizza/gelato
• Great Steak & Potato Co.
• Greek cuisine
• New York Deli
• Cajun/Chinese
• Subway
• Ben & Jerry's
• Teriyaki bowl
• Taco Bell
• Bojangles Fried Chicken
• Larry's Cookies
• Nothing but Donuts
• Smoothies
• Pretzels
• Johnny Rocketts.

I thought it was quite amusing that Chinese folks were serving their own cuisine right next to Southern Barbeque in one stand and Cajun in another. However what eventually won me over was the Teriyaki Bowl place. They had a girl standing out front giving free samples of the Teriyaki Chicken, so I went for the bowl with vegetables and fried rice.

Fran decided to go for the Fried Chicken from Bojangles with a side of Mac-and-Cheese and a Biscuit. She got the three piece meal so that we could get an extra chicken thigh for just 40¢. That was good because either the Teriyaki Bowl was small or I was extra hungry because I snarfed down my chicken thigh!

After lunch we could not resist, “Nothing but Donuts”. I was good and just got a regular sized glazed donut, and Fran got an Apple Fritter, but we resisted these other donuts.

We stopped in the Bookstore at the Station, because someone forgot to pack all the guidebooks we bought last Winter. Our bus was waiting for us out front, and our next stop was the WWII Memorial. Again our friends the police thwarted our efforts. I’m not sure what street it was that our bus wanted to go down, but No, they had it closed off, and made us go a totally different way.

We ended up wasting a whole lot of time in traffic. Our tour was supposed to end at 4PM where they were going to drop us off at our last stop (the Smithsonian Metro Station). We arrived at the Memorial at 3:50PM, but our driver and guide assured me that I could take my time gathering some pictures. Fran waited on the bus while I got these few shots.

It was around 4:15 when the tour bus dropped us off near the Metro Station and we headed back to the hotel for a nap and to freshen up. Tonight was our planned fancy dinner at Kinkead’s. This place has received top reviews on every site. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was very different than whatever my expectations were. Instead of a wide open restaurant space, it was a converted home, probably three or four of them. It was very nicely converted with one residence at least taken up with a swooping spiral style staircase, but not the narrow kind, the very large attention getting type which led into the bar. The dining tables were tucked intimately inside what would have been the bedrooms of the upper floors and we had quite a private little table and a view out of a small third story window.

They brought us a basket of bread, (not unusual) but I thought that the butter was quite artistic. Later I found that this was fairly common for the higher end restaurants to do.

I started off with the Oysters and a Belvedere Gibson (which would become a trend for me this week!)

Fran had the Chilled Asparagus Soup with Crème Fraiche

Next course I had the Lobster in a Sherry Cream Broth. This was absolutely amazing, the taste of the broth had just a hint of sherry and it was so sublime. There were big chunks of lobster in there and then that little “lobster melt” on the side was just the perfect complement to dip in the broth. The fried onions were oh-so tasty. It was like an upscale play on the whole grilled cheese and tomato soup. I believe the wine I had with it was a Sancerre.

Fran had the Clam Chowder. I don’t mean to make it sound like it was bad or anything, but that was kind of my reaction. We’ll normally split our appetizers, so we each eat half and then we swap plates. Well after that stellar lobster dish, the clam chowder was just “eh”. I’m sure it was really good comparatively, but sort of like eating fake crab after you’ve had a bite of the real stuff.

For our entrée, we split the North Atlantic Cod with Crab Imperial, Scallion Spoon Bread, Sweet Potato Puree, and Mustard Cream Sauce, and two sides, mashed potatoes and Spinach. This was soooooo tasty, but as hard as I tried I could not finish it. The crab sauce was so rich and tasty, the mashed potatoes were creamy, absolutely no sign of lumps or other texture besides melt in your mouth.

There was no way that I was getting out of this restaurant without trying one of their desserts, but I was stuffed to the gills! They brought us the dessert menu and I saw it, the saving grace

Local Apple Tart Tatin with Honey Ice Cream and Caramel
*Please allow 15 minutes for this dessert

That was just enough time to let my poor bloated stomach digest just enough food to make room for the dessert (which we split). I know I had some kind of dessert wine to accompany this fabulous dessert, but I don’t remember what it was. I’ll tell you this tart had just the right consistency of crispy shell, drizzled with the caramel it was crispy and chewy all at once and covered in the steamy hot apples. Yummo!

We made our way downstairs and hailed a cab to get us home. I think I didn’t even bother to look at the computer and just went right to bed!

Next up, a very late start and business to attend to!

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! Great pictures of Washington and of the food porn.

I could so do me a doughnut right now....and I definitely need to make a trip out to Capitol dome in springtime!

thanks for sharing.

 

[usnuzuloose]

All the great pics. The food looks so good. I love the fruit soup they serve on the ships. I loved the bing cherry soup. I would love to try some asparagus soup. Thanks for sharing. Now I need to eat.

 

[franandaj]

Day 3, Part 1

By the time we went to bed Thursday night, it was clear that there was no way we were going to keep up the schedule that we had outlined for ourselves. While we were at dinner, we decided not to visit the Spy Museum Friday night, and move up our dinner reservation from 9:30PM. I called and they were able to move it up to 9PM, they told me there were no earlier reservations. So I went online and made a reservation under Fran’s name for 6PM. Ha!

While I was passed out in my food coma the night before Fran was online and found out that we had an application that needed to be turned in (postmarked Friday) or it would cost us an additional $200. So after breakfast we spent the morning filling out the application, I made a USPS label online and printed it in the business center. On our way to our destination of the day, we purchased a money order and mailed the application and money order at the Post Office. This took up a good part of our morning, but one thing that being self employed has taught us, take care of business when you need to, not when it’s convenient. So just before noon we headed out of the post office and on our way to the Museum of the American Indian. Fran has some Native American in her heritage so she feels very strongly about the Indians and the mistreatment they have suffered throughout history.

Visits to the Museum of the Native American Indian begin on the 4th floor with a presentation that can not be described. It contains video, audio but is not confined to a video screen, there are things on the ceiling, floor and around you as well. This museum was done fabulously, it was designed by the Indian peoples. Rather than sending a “white man” out to decide what was important in each tribe, the curators worked with many different tribes. Each tribe found individuals who “told their story”, those tribal members decided what was important about their tribe, and their story and those were the things included in each tribe's exhibit.

We actually did not accomplish much since we got such a late start on this day. We missed the 12:00 showing of the opening presentation so we browsed one of the galleries until the 12:20 show. This is a fairily recent sculputer (2004 I think) and it depicts all sorts of symbolism. George Washington is shown here as a representative of the white peoples. There is an indian brave and an indian woman, plus each of the animals and the tree represented here have a specific meaning. I read everyhing, I just don't remember it all!

These were a few of the artifacts in the gallery of the people that we looked at before the 12:20 show

After the presentation, it let out into a gallery called “Our Universe”. This gallery focused on about ½ a dozen or so tribes scattered throughout North and South America. Most of the artifacts that I took pictures of were at least over 100 years old. I read every card in each exhibit, but to remember specifics for me would be very difficult. I can tell you that I was more enthralled with the stories of the North American Indians. I don’t know if I just found them more relateable, but most of the pictures are from North American tribes.

I do remember these Indians as they are the Hupa from Northern California (Hoopa Valley, California, USA). Each of the presentations had a video from one or more of the correspondents, and this one I remember vividly. This tribe has traditional rituals that they do and also involve the streams in the locale of their tribal lands. Because the rivers of Northern California have been dammed to regulate the water flow, these tribes have to petition the government of California to open the flood channels when they want to perform their rituals. Otherwise they will not have enough water flow for their crafts to ride through the water. The thing that really got me was that when they perform their dances, people of the neighboring towns come within proximity of their celebrations and bring their loudspeakers and electrically projected sound machines to drown out the Indian drums and songs. I was astonished that in this day and age, that such prejudice and discrimination could be going on in California.

Now these traditional outfits were found in the far northern regions, either in Alaska or Western Canada. I think it was this tribe. Yup'ik (Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA). These were outfits that they wore and tools that they used to chop wood, and other daily tasks. Again, I made sure that I only took pictures of items from 1910 or earlier. I was amazed at how well made these items were for the time period in which they were created and the tools used to make them.

There was one other aspect of these presentations that I really enjoyed. Throughout the entire exhibit, there were animated videos which told the mythical legends passed down by the tribes. These legends described various aspects from creation to lifestyle beliefs, how they learned skills or how the people learned to live with the land. They were entertaining and educational.

After we had visited every tribe in that particular exhibit it was almost 2PM, we were supposed to pick up our rental car at 3PM and our plan was to have lunch at the cafeteria which served food in Native American style. We went down to the first floor and found a HUGE line to get into the cafeteria. I was waiting for almost ½ an hour and at one point, I thought we probably would not be getting lunch, but all of a sudden the line started moving quickly and soon we were inside the cafeteria. They had cuisines represented from various different areas of the Americas. I’m not sure if you can actually read the menus here.

I thought it was pretty funny that they had to serve chicken tenders for the "kids" who wouldn't eat the strange food. Turns out I saw quite a few adults eating the chicken tenders!

In the end we went with what we knew we would. A Bison Burger, Fry Bread and we added the Bison Chili because it sounded good. Fran grabbed a chocolate tart for dessert at the last moment.

By the time we finished lunch it was well after 3PM, so we scooted out of there and headed off to the metro, we needed to go up town on the red line to get to the part of town where we would pick up our rental car, so toodleoo and off to the rental car company we went!

 

[usnuzuloose]

I love the pics and the fact that they are the old stuff. My DH is native american. It is sometimes so easy to go with what you know than try something your not sure of. Keep it coming.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Fry bread! I love fry bread!

DH and I had fry bread when we visited Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly.

It is rather sad to see how native/indigenous people are treated by white settlers. It's not really that much better for the Aboriginals over here.

 

[Hawleys]

I should know better than to read your TR before breakfast! Stomach growling now. The picture of the asparagus soup inspired me. We bought two bunches at the Farmers Market yesterday and I know what I'm doing with at least one of them!

It looks like a lovely trip. Thanks for sharing the menu at the American Indian museum. I had no idea...what a cool idea!

 

[franandaj]

I love the pics and the fact that they are the old stuff. My DH is native american. It is sometimes so easy to go with what you know than try something your not sure of. Keep it coming.

I got plenty more where that came from!

Fry bread! I love fry bread!

DH and I had fry bread when we visited Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly.

It is rather sad to see how native/indigenous people are treated by white settlers. It's not really that much better for the Aboriginals over here.

That was the main thing that we were looking forward to having, although I did want the Bison burger as well. The fry bread was freshly made and sooooo good!

I should know better than to read your TR before breakfast! Stomach growling now. The picture of the asparagus soup inspired me. We bought two bunches at the Farmers Market yesterday and I know what I'm doing with at least one of them!

It looks like a lovely trip. Thanks for sharing the menu at the American Indian museum. I had no idea...what a cool idea!

Yes, you should always have a full stomach when reading my TRs! Let me know how the soup comes out!

 

[franandaj]

rrrrrrRRRRip!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for some Birthday food porn!

I figured that since it was my birthday, there was no reason that I should have to cook breakfast! So I asked if we could go out. But I didn't want to to go to our favorite "el cheapo" breakfast spot (we also actually like it and don't only go there because the food is cheap....ahem, value priced). I wanted a waterfront view. So for today the Belmont Brewing Company (BBC) fit the bill.

Amazingly enough at 11:30AM there was no wait. There were no outside tables in the shade, but we got one of the best inside tables with a water view.

Usnuz, this one is for you. I know it isn't your boat, yours is in dock tomorrow, but I thought you would like a preview.

I couldn't decide, Lobster, Scallop and Shrimp Crepes or Eggs Benedict. When the waitress came, Fran and I were still discussing and she said that since it was my birthday, she would get the Eggs Benedict so that I could have some of both. Isn't she sweet? Both entrees were served with scalloped potatoes and fresh fruit.

So we're waiting for the waitress to come by so we can ask for the check, but when she does, she asks me, "Do you want coffee or vanilla?" and I'm wondering, coffee or vanilla what? "Ice Cream," she tells me, "it's your birthday!"

OK, so I'm expecting a little ramekin with a scoop of ice cream, here is what she brought me!

I'm still pretty full and we're leaving for dinner in about an hour!

OK back to your regularly scheduled programming!

 

[usnuzuloose]

What a great food entree, everything looks so good. I would have to swim to the ship to work all that off. Thanks for the pics. I think that is the one of the queens ships in the background. I would love to sail on one of those but the prices are so much. Hey but I can dream. Well cant wait to see whats for dinner.

 

[franandaj]

Day 3, Part 2

Our trip to the Rental Car agency was uneventful, other than the fact that as we were riding up the street on which the office was located we noticed yet another blocked off street with police activity. This time it was a funeral procession! We picked up the rental car with no hassles and headed back to the hotel. By this time, Fran was questioning my desire to dine at Fogo de Chao, the “All you can Meat” restaurant. Her argument was that since there was one in Beverly Hills we could go there any time we wanted. Yeah, right, next time we’re hanging out on Rodeo Drive, we’ll just pop in there! But after almost 15 years, you learn to fight your battles, so we decided not to go there for dinner.

We were going to try and go back to the place we ate Wednesday night, but they didn’t have anything until 10PM, and we didn’t want to eat that late. I spent the next ½ an hour to an hour searching various sites like Yelp and other places for restaurants. I used search parameters like cost $$$$, top rated, and all that. If I couldn’t have my Brazilian Barbeque than I wanted something good!

Finally I settled on a place that we drove by almost daily on our way to the Metro. It was called DC Coast and had received top reviews, plus they had a soufflé on the menu! I made a reservation for 7:30 through Open Table and then got down to preparing my TR. Fran took a good long nap, and I woke her up with just enough time to get out the door on our way to dinner.

Yet another one of those custom butter thingys

So I went with, surprise! Not the Oysters! Seared scallops (sorry about the blurry picture)

Fran had the Yukon Gold Potato, Spring Onion, and Fennel Soup with homemade potato chip garnish.

We split the Caesar Salad. I would hate to think if someone ate the entire salad prior to an entrée! I like the anchovy mixed in the dressing better than on top of the salad.

For the entrée I ordered the Chinese Style Smoked Lobster Stir-Fry Vegetables, Crispy Fried Spinach. This was so absolutely delicious! It was marinated in soy and other Asian flavorings. I ate almost every bit (except what I gave to Fran), the spinach was amazing and went so well with the other vegetables. I would have loved another one of these!

Fran went with the Grilled Ribeye with Spring Garlic Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Grilled Ramps, Porcini Red Wine Sauce. She gave me some and it was tasty, but I think the lobster was the clear winner tonight.

I couldn’t resist this, Macaroni and three Cheese Gratin. This was totally amazing, creamy cheesy and really rich. I think this is becoming the Mac-n-Cheese trip!

And then came the star of the show! The Chocolate Raspberry Souffle! This was so wonderfully tasty and just perfect to put me over into a complete and total food coma.

Fran ordered the Smore’s Dessert, this was pretty good, but I liked mine better.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Cof.....cof.....coffee......a...an......and.....and...and.....


What a great breakfast!

 

[PrincessInOz]

....a....an.....an d.......and....then.....then.......there is.....dinner for regular programming resumption????






(Note to self....go see the doctor...to many fainting spells around food!)



That Chocolate Souffle looks as good as you described. And that smores dessert

 

[usnuzuloose]

I am bolwed over with the food. Man oh man I am sitting here looking at this and all I had was a small pulled pork sandwich. Next time I am coming to dinner with you.

 

[ACDSNY]

It is rather sad to see how native/indigenous people are treated by white settlers. It's not really that much better for the Aboriginals over here.

In 1999 I was in Melbourne visiting one of the Aboriginal parks I remember thinking at the time how similar their treatment was to our own North American Indians. So sad. When had some wonderful guides that told their story well.

Happy Birthday Alison!!! I should know better then to come catch up on your trip report before dinner the food pics are looking soooo goooood. Awesome birthday breakfast too.

 

[franandaj]

So here is the last of my birthday food porn. My favorite all time restaurant has to be shabu shabu. For those who aren't familiar with it, that is Japanese for Swish Swish. It's essentially the Japanese version of fondue. You get a plate of raw meat, vegetables, a couple dipping sauces and a pot of boiling water with a piece of seaweed in it.

We generally put some of everything that they give us in the water. Green onions, garlic, radish and spicy oil, soy sauce and the dipping sauces they give us.

Now you see my plate here, evidently this guy ordered what is called the King Kong size of beef.

So this is how I like to cook my meat, I take a piece of the cabbage, and some of the beef. I wrap the beef inside the cabbage and swish it around inside my pot three to five times. At which point the beef is cooked to medium rare. I dip it in the sesame sauces.

and place it on top of the rice.

.

Once it's cooled enough, I pop it into my mouth!

Repeat this process until the meat is all gone. Then mix your noodles into the broth, and once they are cooked add them to the bowl with the soup base and enjoy!

So that was my birthday dinner. I need to go to bed and sleep off this food coma!

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW Alison. What a truly stupendous food coma day. Love your food porn.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I just learned something new. I would love to try it. I know you enjoyed it. Go to sleep so you will revive from your food coma.