16 Years!

Last week, on the 21st of August, my husband and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary!! Yep, we've actually made it that long and are still in love! It hasn't always been easy but we've always stuck together…okay enough of the cheesy, mushy stuff!

 Anywho…so we took the day off from work to relax and do some fun stuff. We ended up going to see the movie Shaun the Sheep (which is very cute and funny…big fan of Wallace and Grommet and most things from Aardman Studios) at the Alamo Drafthouse in One Loudoun. If you haven't been to the Alamo, you need to go check it out. The theaters are very nice and small, which is good because you know it won't be overcrowded. You have the option to assign your own seats and they serve food like in a restaurant, with a waitress and everything. And I have to say, I was surprised how good the food was the first time we went.

Its nothing spectacular or 5 star but its like upscale bar food and everything we've had has been pretty tasty. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures because 1. its dark in there, and 2. they are very strict about no cell phone use. But we've tried their loaded fries, a couple pizzas, and fish 'n chips. Everything was delicious and not very overpriced. They also have a few different sodas for those who are more drink connoisseurs. If there is a unique drink offered, I'm probably gonna try it. They have homemade root beer, which is probably my favorite soda, and they also offer Italian sodas which are sweet and creamy!

hotel bathroom...never seen a sink like this before!

hotel lobby...love the green glass chandeliers!

Later that night we went downtown to have a nice dinner in the Penn Quarter area of DC.  There are a ton of good restaurants in that little area and there was one we've had our eye on for quite a while, called Poste. It serves French-American cuisine and it sits in the middle of the Hotel Monaco. That evening the weather was very tolerable for being August so we got to dine outside in the courtyard. It was a beautiful night and the food was delicious!

First we were served an amuse bouche…a little kiss or taste from the kitchen. A roasted mushroom crostini…savory, earthy, just melts in your mouth! A good sign of things to come!

It just so happened to be restaurant week when we were there so we got to take advantage of some specials. If you choose to order from the restaurant week menu, you get an appetizer, entree, and dessert for $35. Not bad at a place like this. Hubby is not a dessert guy so he didn't take this option. But we both ordered an appetizer. I chose the crispy duck ravioli. It was a large crispy wonton stuffed with juicy, tender duck meat that had been braised with Asian flavors, served with a caramelized onion and carrot slaw, and drizzled with a soy garlic sauce. A good combination of sweet and salty.

Hubby's appetizer was wagyu tartare, basically raw wagyu beef that was served like a terrine on a crostini. It was prepared with pine nuts, arugula, parmesan, and truffle vinaigrette, and topped with potato croutons (like fancy tater tots!). If the thought of raw beef scares you, you are missing out on a good thing! Trust me, its yumma yumma!

Then for the entrees: steak frites and halibut. The steak frites is a 12oz ribeye served with truffle fries and a couple of savory dipping sauces. What's not to like? For me, I chose halibut, a bit of a lighter dish because I was holding out for dessert!  The halibut was pan seared and served with sautéed pea leaves, wild mushrooms, ramps, and a chili oil sauce. It was light and fresh! The sauce made even the greens taste good!

Then came my favorite part: dessert! I'm a sucker for goat cheese, especially when it comes in a cheesecake! This goat cheese cheesecake was served with sour cherries, buckwheat-hazelnut sable, micro sorrel, and sangria sorbet. Ok so first, a definition lesson. I actually had to look up a few of these words while at dinner so I would know what I was eating. Let's start with the buckwheat hazelnut sable.  This is essentially a fancy thin crispy shortbread style cookie. It sort of had a nutty, slightly bitter taste. That might sound like a bad thing, however, the bitterness created the perfect balance for all the other flavors there.

Next definition: micro sorrel. Sorrel is a type of green herb and micro just means it has small leaves. Yes there was a green herb in my dessert! It was a little strange but somehow it worked! The whole dessert had every flavor combo…sweet, bitter, savory, tart, salty. As much as I love the whole over-the-top-chocolate-peanut butter things, these kind of unique desserts end up being some of my favorite. Unexpected flavors that tantalize every area of your tongue!

And since it was our anniversary, the staff also brought out a special surprise! A miniature chocolate coffee mousse cake topped with strawberry sorbet! Hubby only took one bite so it was up to me to finish my own dessert and this one before the candle burnt out…I won!

And THEN, as if that all wasn't enough, while we were waiting for our check, they brought us out another amuse bouche…some kind of little almond sponge cake topped with apricot jam, I believe. So instead of an after-dinner mint, we got after-dinner cake!

It was a great night! Was it absolutely the best restaurant ever? No, but it was deliciously satisfying food and the company wasn't too bad either! Happy 16 years, Superking! Here's to many more! <3

The Spies at Union Market

On our recent stay-cation we took a day and went to DC. Our first stop was the Spy Museum which was pretty cool and very interesting. It definitely makes you look at people differently.  I mean, how many people do you walk by every day that could be spies?! Who knows?! At any rate, all that spying made us hungry.

spy book

Bond...James Bond

 So afterwards we went to lunch at Union Market. So many vendors to choose from with lots of tastiness. As much as we like trying all different kinds of ethnic foods or unique foods, we were drawn to the smoky aromas of some good ol' Southern barbecue! We split a meal of brisket with two kinds of sauce, and a bowl of baked beans.

The brisket was sweet and tender and juicy! And the beans were unlike any other baked beans I've ever had. There was a mixture of several types of beans, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and spices. I'm generally a little picky about the kinds of beans I like to eat and when I order baked beans, I expect the traditional variety. However, these were pretty darn tasty! I would eat those over and over! Delish!

ninja at the Spy Museum

authors who were spies!

Next we decided to try some empanadas. DC Empanadas actually has a food truck as well as kiosk here at Union Market. We've eaten at their food truck before so we already knew these would be yummy. We got one cheese one and one beef one. The cheese one, also known as Speedy Gonzalez, was nice and gooey and salty with a mixture of 3 kinds of cheese: queso blanco, asadero, and mozzarella. The beef one, called El Toro, had chipotle seasoning, onion, garlic, cilantro, cheese, blakc beans, and corn. A little spicy, a little cheesy, very savory.

Can't wait to go back to Union Market in the fall to celebrate the Crafty Bastards craft show!

BarTaco

I love tacos! My favorite restaurant we went to on our last vacation to Charleston, was Taco Boy. I also love the idea of small plates so you can try a variety of things in one sitting without gorging yourself. Taco Boy serves their tacos by the piece in that "small plate" idea for that very reason. So when we saw this new restaurant going in at Reston Town Center called BarTaco, we discovered they had a similar concept on their menu and we knew we had to check it out.

BarTaco's opening couldn't have come at a better time. We opted out of a vacation this in an effort to save some money so we did a "stay-cation" instead. Having dinner at BarTaco during this stay-cation, was like a little piece of the beach here at home.

Even though we came for the tacos, we couldn't pass up the fresh-made guacamole to start the meal! It was creamy and spicy with a touch of lime. Instead of being served with traditional tortilla chips, they were large round fried tortillas that you could break off into any shape or size you wanted. A nice little different twist.

Our first line up of tacos went like this: duck, duck...goose! Haha, just kidding! At least about the goose part. Actually we both did get duck tacos, then I also got a curry shrimp and Superking got a pork belly. The duck was super tender and juicy and topped with fresh onions and cilantro. I think this one was my favorite. The curry shrimp had tomatoes and cilantro with a light curry sauce full of Indian spices. And the pork belly was topped with pickled red onions and cilantro.

For round two, we had sesame ribeye, portobello mushroom, and curry chicken. The ribeye taco had a sweet and zesty Asian flair. The portobello was light and earthy with a bit of queso fresco. And the curry chicken was similar to the shrimp and delicious! Every single taco was a bite of happiness!

And you can't have great tacos without amazing churros!! They were hot and crispy and smothered in cinnamon and sugar and served with a semi-sweet chocolate. The perfect ending for a vacation meal!

A Day of Dairy

There's a little place about an hour or so away from where I live called the Moo Thru. They make ice cream and we've been wanting to go there for years and just haven't taken the time to make it out there. Well, due to budgets and savings, we decided to do a "stay-cation" this summer and do some things close to home. Going to the Moo Thru was at the top of our list.

Pablo is ready for some ice cream!

 The thing that makes Moo Thru so special, aside from their amazing ice cream, is that they use locally sourced milk to make their ice cream! They actually sometimes even sell the milk itself. They also have other offerings besides ice cream that use locally sourced products as well, such as butternut squash soup, cowboy chili, and grilled cheese sandwiches.

We decided to try their grilled cheese...ooey gooey melted gouda cheese with fresh tomatoes and crispy bacon! Yumma!!

And of course, we couldn't leave without having any ice cream! Superking got 3 scoops of cookie's n cream on a waffle cone!! And no, he was not able to finish the whole thing! But he shared a few pieces of his cone with me...sweet and crisp!

I had one scoop of blackberry and one scoop of cookie dough...both were good but the blackberry was my favorite! You could tell they used real blackberries, slightly tart, slightly sweet, and very creamy! It was all well-worth the drive!

Pablo made some friends!

Then we figured if we're going to drive out all this way, there must be something else to do besides eat ice cream! So we drove a little further into downtown historic Culpeper. It was quaint and reminded me a bit of old town Leesburg. The streets lined with old historic buildings that have been turned into cute little shops or restaurants.

One place that caught our eye was the Culpeper Cheese Company. I love anything cheese so we had to stop in. There were beautiful cheeses of all kinds everywhere you looked! They also sold things like charcuterie, craft beers, and wines. You could do cheese tastings, wine tastings, or just order a gourmet sandwich! We met this young girl working there, who was cute as a button. We couldn't believe she was only 17 years old and had such a wide knowledge of cheese. Her father owns the shop and she has aspirations of becoming a professional cheese monger by the age of 21.

Well after hearing her story and having her help me try several unique cheeses, I couldn't leave without buying some. Its called the Black Label Cambazola. Its a combination of camembert, which is like a brie (soft and sweet), and a gorgonzola which is a type of blue (tangy and sharp). The two flavors blend nicely together in a delicious cheesy balance! This would be a good one to try for those who are a little timid around the blue cheeses. It has enough of the blue to give it a bit of tang but without being overwhelming. Can't wait to go back for more ice cream and cheese!

A Girl's Day Out

Last week was my mom's 60th birthday. Most women don't like to talk about their age but 60 is a big one and I think its worth celebrating. Especially for a lady as great as my mom. I knew we had to do something special so I planned a day out, just the two of us. I didn't even tell her what we were doing...just meet me at this place, at this time, and wear something comfy but nice.

First we both got mani/pedi's and were completely pampered. Then it was time to go to tea! There's a cute little British tea room in downtown Leesburg I knew she'd been wanting to try. Its called Aylesbury and its run by a British couple so it feels very authentic.

Its in a quaint old stone building tucked behind the iconic Mom's Apple Pie. Each little dining room is bright and cheery with dainty linens and vintage furniture and rustic hardwood floors. Our dining room even came complete with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge themselves!

We ordered the traditional Afternoon Tea and each got our own pot of deliciously brewed hot tea. My mom got peppermint and I got Earl Grey. It was served with milk (never cream, as is the British tradition) in individual tea pots and pretty little tea cups and saucers.

Then came the scones...oh I forgot to mention how the entire place smelled of these fresh baked scones from the moment you walked in the door!! And they did not disappoint...they were sweet and soft and warm, served with a thick devonshire cream and strawberry preserves. Then also four different kinds of tea sandwiches...smoked ham, cheese & tomato, cucumber, and egg salad. Some fresh fruit and then all the sweeties! A sugar cookie bar, chocolate chip cookies, and mini lemon cupcakes!

I had to find a bunny somewhere

You might think, all the food is so tiny and delicate, were you still hungry when you left?? Actually, you'd be surprised how much those tiny rich foods can fill you up quickly! All said and done, the food was delicious, the tea room itself was beautiful, and I had a great day celebrating my mom's birthday!

Nando's Fail

One Loudoun is quickly becoming a cool new hangout area for good food and maybe a movie. One restaurant there is called Nando's Peri Peri. It has African-Portugese cuisine. Sounds pretty unique so of course we had to give it a try.

Now one reason you haven't seen a lot of blog posts here recently at Yumma Yumma is because we recently put ourselves on a tight budget. That means we haven't been eating out very much and when we have, its been cheap uninteresting stuff. Hence no trying out new places. And hence part of the reason our trip to Nando's was such an epic fail.

One of the things they offer is a half chicken meal. Supposedly their chickens are marinated for 24 hours and you get a choice of a flavor...plain, lemon, mild, hot, extra hot. So since we were on a budget we decide to split the half chicken meal. It came with 2 sides and we decided to add a third. We thought, surely that should be plenty of food for us to share. Oh how wrong we were...

We took it To-Go so of course we didn't actually see the food until we got home. The half chicken was more like a quarter chicken. The side of mashed potatoes was literally one small scoop in a tiny box. Our french fries was the size you get in a McDonald's Happy meal. The one semi-redeeming side was the garlic bread...2 pieces and tasty. There was barely enough food for just Hubby to eat. And for all that it was $18. For being on a budget, I thought was pretty pricey considering I could've gotten more for my money had I actually stooped so low as to get an actual McDonald's Happy meal!!

our chicken...barely a wing and a leg. it didn't even fill the box.

our pathetic sides, again the fries don't even fill the tiny box they came in

The thing that irritated me the most...the food was actually really really delicious. I only got one bite of each thing before I ran back out to get myself dinner from Chik-Fil-A. But I wanted so badly to like this place and to keep eating their food. But we were so disappointed!! Maybe we just had an off night. I don't know. But I'm not sure if we'll ever give it a chance to redeem itself. Sorry Nando's!