The weather in DC varied from thunderstorms and humidity to warm and breezy, and I am pleased that Rachel and I managed to exercise every day, either hiking, yoga, or running. We went out to a wine bar called Cork on 14th Street one night with Katie, replete with wine flights for each of us and several small plates to share. Otherwise, we had all our meals in, both saving money and being a great way to enjoy her newly-purchased home in the Crestwood neighbourhood and recently remodelled kitchen. Crestwood is 3 miles north of the Washington Mall and it is surrounded by Rock Creek Park so there are green spaces and trails just outside her door.
On Saturday, Rachel, Katie, Janice (an American roommate of mine in London for a few months who relocated to DC last year) and I hiked the Billy Goat trail in Great Falls Park. There were definitely sections that required scrambling over rocks, and Janice’s dog, Alfie, did a great job! On Sunday night, we hosted a dinner party at Rachel’s where I got to spend time with Katie and Joe (who just celebrated their one year wedding anniversary on May 25, same day as Brea’s was this year), Janice, Rachel and Mark.
For our meal, we made an appetizer of puff pastry cooked in mini-muffin tins with mozzarella cheese and sun-dried tomato filling and I made mojitos, finally perfecting the recipe on mojito #7. For the main course, we served grilled pork tenderloin, sweet potato fries, brussel sprouts with caramelized shallots, and for dessert, chocolate ravioli!* Sounds bizarre, I know, but it was really interesting. The pasta is no different from regular pasta except for some cocoa for colouring, and the filling is semi-sweet chocolate with ricotta. It was rich, and yet not overly sweet. Served with vanilla ice cream and strawberries it was fantastic. After dinner, we played Catchphrase. That, along with a tile crossword game called “Pick Two” became some of my favourite activities over the weekend.
I also started studying for my Advanced Wine course I am taking at the end of June, while I was curled up on a plush chair during Friday thunderstorms, and on Saturday morning I had a productive shopping excursion in Georgetown for summer clothes from Ann Taylor and H&M and Lush products to replace my dwindling travel products.
All in all, it was a really nice visit of relaxing, exercising, and spending quality time with my DC friends who I don’t get to see often enough. I hadn’t had the time or energy to plan much about the DC trip in advance, so it was nice how everything worked out so well!
*purchased from Eastern Market, not homemade. We weren’t that ambitious!
4 comments:
Oh, I've been missing DC lately, and this doesn't help! We used to hike the Billy Goat Trail a couple of times a month.
You know I've never been in a Lush store? I could always smell the Georgetown one from half a block away, and that really scared me off. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to breathe inside.
Sounds so fun! I'm sad I missed out, though Ukraine and the Netherlands, I suppose, were also nice. Also, you'll be surprised to hear that I'd never even heard of Lush until I got to The Hague and a friend told me about it. I sampled several products in Amsterdam but refrained from purchases. Glad to hear there's one in Georgetown (shows you how often I head in that direction. Even with two years on campus, I feel I barely know that part of town.)
Brea and I first discovered Lush in Vancouver, only to realize that it is in nearly every major city! Must be the way - discover abroad, shop at home!
The smell of the store can be overwhelming, but no single product smells that strong. I have several things from there that I really enjoy using, but I don't buy all the time. My all time favourite is the sea vegetable soap. I also like the shampoo "bars" that are like soap bars for your hair, and I just started using a facial moisturizer from there that I absolutely love.
Love reading this post about your trip to DC Christie. I had so much fun catching up with you... and of course eating the delicacies that you and Rachel came up with. Agreed that Pick Two rocks! Come back to DC soon!!! Katie
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