Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all have lots of turkey and potatoes and stuffing and pie and whatever other goodies your family traditionally eats!  Superking and I are bringing some lobster this year...will let you all know how it turns out!

last years turkey fresh from the farm

Most importantly, I hope you all are surrounded by lots of family and friends. Remember to give thanks to the Lord for all He has done and for all He has given. We are a blessed and rich people here in America.

"Give thanks unto the Lord for He is good."  -Psalm 107:1

"Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving and into His courts with praise."  -Psalm 100:4

"...let us be thankful and so worship God..." -Hebrews 12:28

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Truckeroo 5

Or should I say TruckerBoo! Last month was the final Truckeroo of the year.  Since it was right before Halloween, they called it TruckerBoo this time.  And this is the one time I went withOUT Superking, which was a little strange.  But I did get to go with a bunch of my girlfriends which was totally rad!

My mom and me, along with my friends Crishana, Tierney, and Joelle, all piled into one car and drove down to the Bull Pen to check out the food trucks together for some girl time! It was so fun! For all the other girls, it was their first Truckeroo and they were all excited to try as many different foods as they could.

Between the five of us, we had so much food! And every bite was delicious!  Although it wasn't complete girl power the entire time since my dad, who works just a few minutes from the Navy Yard, came to join us for a bite of lunch too.

we even made friends with a cute little doggie

he reminded me of Seymour (for all you Futurama fans)

Here are some of the trucks we hit and foods we ate...

these guys gave Sueprking a free gyro once when he was working downtown and their credit card machine was down

yummy lamb gyro

The Yellow Truck

bulgogi

Sang on Wheels

(Sahng not sang like I sang a song)

humongous lamb meatballs on drunken noodles and a free egg roll

some weird mute hippie people selling LassiPops

"welcome to your circular existence" it says

rosewater cardamom lassipop

peanut butter chocolate mini cheesecake...yummmm

carrot cupcake

There was also BBQ and several kinds of macaroni 'n cheese and grilled cheese and even ice cream. Lots of fun and food was had by all!! Can't wait for next year's Truckeroo season!!

Vapiano

A couple weeks ago, Superking and I went out to lunch with our family on a Sunday afternoon after church.  We wanted something different, something not too expensive, and something conducive for children and large families. My brother-in-law suggested this place in the mall called Vapiano.  We had walked by it a million times but had never been in.  Its Italian cuisine and Superking and I aren't huge fans of traditional Italian.  But we went along with it because everyone else seemed to be happy with the choice.

It actually turned out to be an interesting and unique culinary experience. It has a little bit of a cafeteria format but in a much more modern fashion. Each customer gets a card and you choose your own seats.  The seats, by the way, were stools pulled up to very high, bar-style tables made of wood and adorned with some lovely fresh green plants in the middle. One table actually had a whole tree in the middle! In the middle of the restaurant is a set of shelves that house a bunch of fresh potted herbs that I believe they pick from to season the food.

This is a pizza Superking ordered. Check out all those peppers!

Then you take your card up to where they make the food.  Each item is freshly made-to-order and you stand in line behind whatever item you wish to order. If you want pasta, go to the pasta line. If you want pizza, stand in the pizza line. You can choose whatever kind of toppings or sauce you want.  With the pasta, you can even choose from like five different types of noodles.  They put your order on your card and make your food right in front of you so you can watch.  When you're done eating, you take your card to the register and thats how they know what to charge you.

bottled drinks, fresh produce

squiggly pasta with sausage, a little sauce, and red peppers

At another area of the restaurant, you can even watch them make their own pasta. And if you don't want to sit at a bar-style table, you can enjoy the lounge area and cozy up in a nice comfy arm chair.  The whole atmosphere is very cool and relaxing and modern.  Very different from most Italian restaurants I've been to where they have the fake ivy everywhere and the fat guy in a chef's hat with a large black mustache like from Super Mario Bros.

the lounge

Even the food here was refreshing. At most Italian restaurants, the portion sizes are big enough to feed an entire family of four and the food so heavy you can barely make it to your car before you fall asleep. Now don't get me wrong, the portions were not exactly small here either but the food was a lot fresher which made it seem lighter.

pasta machine

drying pasta

and they even offer you some gummy bears as you leave!

A nice welcome change if you're looking for some good fresh Italian food but don't want to gain ten pounds in one meal! And you can enjoy it with the whole family!

two of my silly nieces making faces

the kids bunny-shaped pizza! cute! I want one!

Dean and Deluca

I love this little shop! Dean and Deluca is one of my favorite stops on M Street now.  If you've never been there, you need to go! Its kind of a grocery store but oh so much more than that!  Its modern and yet has a vintage, old-school charm about it.  As I walked through the store ogling over its wares holding my cute little wire shopping basket, I felt this overwhelming combined feeling of snootiness from being in an upscale foodie place in Georgetown but also sensed this giggling little hungry girl waiting to jump out and grab all the delectable goodies and shove them in my mouth!!

There's an old-school butcher waiting to cut a variety of meats for you including game meats, smoked and cured meats. A lovely seafood counter that includes fancy things like caviar! Prepared foods such as foie gras, tapas, various side dishes, soo many cheeses, sausages, nuts, a large wine and spirits section...they even make fresh sandwiches made-to-order right there on the spot.

There are herbs, spices, sauces, coffee, produce, oils, pastas, cookware, table linens, anything you can imagine a regular grocery store might have except its all gourmet, hand-crafted, artisan foods.

Mt favorite things though were the pastries and the candies!! So beautiful, almost too pretty to eat.  I said almost! The pastries and the candies were pure edible art. Beautiful colors and techniques.

And I loved all the old apothecary jars used for the different candies! I definitely had to snarf up a few pieces of flavored licorice....strawberry and sour apple...yumm!