Turkey Hill Ice Cream Festival!!

For ALL my Philly readers: There's a Turkey Hill Ice Cream festival!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$5 for all the Turkey Hill you can eat!
http://icecreamjournal.turkeyhill.com/index.php/2008/06/27/all-you-can-eat-ice-cream/

Too bad I don't have any Philly readers :P

Kabob Palace, Arlington

Oh....remember me? I used to actually post about food :P

Last week, there was a terrible thunderstorm and I was out for a bike ride when I got stuck in it....I got home, drenched, only to find the power was out and my phone had died in the rain :( What a great excuse to go find some delicious food!

Kabob Palace in Crystal City was recommended to me by about 4 different people, so off we went. There was a $10 buffet option, which was about the same price as the entrees, but it only had chicken. I hate chicken, so I ordered a lamb entree :D It came with a salad which was mediocre and had iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, beans (gross!), chickpeas and drizzled with mayo for dressing. It also came with delicious bread, a choice of chickpeas or spinach, and rice :D The spinach was not that good, but the chickpeas were delicious...and the waitress even offered us extra! I had enough food leftover for lunch the next day. Total cost with tip was $42 for four people.

Compared to Ravi Kabob, Kabob Palace is awesome because we had a waitress who took our order and gave us the right food. I've been to Ravi about 3 times now and never got the food I intended to order (but its still really good, so I keep going back in hope that I'll get what I tried to order :)

Strawberry Picking!!!

I finally made it strawberry picking to Homestead Farm on Sunday. It was a week later than I wanted, and I went on Sunday (as opposed to Friday!), but I think it worked out even better than last year! The berries were nicer this year, and there were fewer holes (from worms? who knows! but I don't want to eat it) and there were still tons of delicious berries as far as I could see! I was sure the field would be picked clean by Sunday...I was wrong!

Pick your own went for $1.99/pound, and considering the amount of quality berries I got, I thought this was a really good price. They had some pre-picked strawberries, and it was ~$5/quart...but those berries were pretty sad looking, so pick your own seemed to be the way to go.

After picking, we paid and they have a stand of food where I got a strawberries and cream smoothie. I asked what the cream was and she said it was ice cream!! So, really I had a delicious, fresh strawberry milkshake :D

After picking we had a cookout and strawberry shortcake!!! I use the recipe on the Bisquick box, except I increase the sugar from 3 tablespoons to half a cup :D And I used oil instead of butter. mmmm....

Alive

I'm still alive and I will post soon.....

The Diner, Adams Morgan

Yesterday I went to The Diner in Adams Morgan for brunch. I had the veggie omelet (red pepper, onion, mushrooms and Gruyere cheese) served with homefries (which weren't really homefries, but delicious fried cubes of seasoned potatoes) and toast. It was the best omelet I've ever had!! I'm not a big ketchup fan, but I usually like a little with my eggs. Not yesterday! The omelet and potatoes had such a delicious flavor that I didn't even think about it!

The service was good, but the wait was LONG. Parties of 2 were seated in 5 minutes or less, but our party of 5 waited about a half hour. I wouldn't recommend this place for large groups on the weekend. However, it is delicious and I hope to go back.

Also, I keep forgetting my camera. Sad panda.

Waffles!!

Want to make use of your strawberries?? Make waffles! I got an awesome waffle maker for Christmas. I definitely recommend it, it makes great belgian waffles :D

This past weekend, I made waffles (according to this recipe) and topped them with fresh, crushed strawberries and whipped cream! What a way to start the day!

STRAWBERRY TIME!!!

Besides Thanksgiving and Taste of Bethesda, I think that strawberry picking is my favorite time of year! And it's arrived!! The last two years, I've gone to Homestead Farms in Poolesville, MD on a Friday morning. Peak bloom is NOW, so if you wan to go...hurry!!! :D

Zatinya, DC

On Friday, I went to Zatinya in Penn Quarter! I heard it gets crowded, so we arrived around 6pm in anticipation. There was a wait for outside seating, but we were immediately seated inside.

Dress was mostly dressy casual, like the website says. Wine was expensive (the cheapest red was $8 a glass!!) but I had some anyway :) And the menu is mezze; think Middle Eastern tapas. The waitress suggested 2-4 per person, so my friend and I each chose 3 :D

I picked: fattoush (a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, green peppers, radishes and pita chips with pomegranate vinaigrette!), carrot-apricot fritters with pine nuts and a pistachio sauce, and one of the specials: a rice and beef meatball thing with tomato sauce topped with dill and some kind of cheese. Can you tell which descriptions were stolen from the menu and which were made by me?

My friend picked: zucchini-cheese patties over caper-yogurt sauce, salmon kibbeh, and grilled pita stuffed with ground lamb and tahini (which I definitely thought was the most boring thing on the menu, but it ended up being my favorite!! They made it very flavorful!).

Almost everything was served in groups of 4.

We were also served olive oil and hot, delicious pita bread. The pita bread was replenished 3 times throughout the meal! They did NOT have salt and pepper on the table. I hate places that do that...but otherwise, it was great!!

Dinner for 2, including one glass of $8 wine and tip, came to about $70. The service was great and it was pretty classy! I recommend it for hot dates, and groups of 2 or 4, but not 3 :D