Thursday, June 11, 2009

Recent trip to St. Michaels, MD

Now that we have found the house, our weekends are considerably free. Last weekend, was going to be a weekend where we would have lazed, may be gone out for a hike or made a trip to Georgetown but we ended up in St. Michaels...who knew!!


Saturday started early for Tarun, as he had a breakfast meeting and for me because I was woken up by all the noise from Tarun getting ready to leave for his meeting. After Tarun left, I made a few calls to friends and family in India and I was still on phone when he returned around 10:00 A.M.

As we were talking, Tarun asked me to shower and pack my bag for the night, he said he won't tell me where we were going...it's going to be a surprise! I sure was very EXCITED but at the same time anxious to know what was on his mind?!?!

In any case, he did reveal after some time. While I got ready, Tarun called some B&B's to see if they had a room available. Since this was all happening at the last minute, we didn't get any bookings, so we decided to take a chance.

We left around 1:00 PM, caught traffic on our way but still managed to reach Dr. Dodson House; the B&B on our list, at 3:00 P.M. The B&B, is run by Janet and she did have a room available, which we were shown and we decided to take it.


After checking in, we decided to explore the area. Our first stop was going to be the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. On our way to the museum, we saw an old boat being restored!


After spending some time at the museum, we went to see the lighthouse, which was right next to it.


The views from the lighthouse were amazing.


We later decided to check out the town and grab a bite. After strolling the streets and passing the souvenir shops and summer fairs, we made our way to the Key lime cafe, a recommendation from Janet, our host.

While we waited for the food to be served, Tarun posed for me. :-)


We shared sausages and seafood Risotto for dinner and later ordered Key lime pie for dessert. I'll have to say that dessert was the best, we liked the Key Lime Pie so much that we ordered another one!! :-)




After dinner, we took a long walk by the water. We passed The Inn at Perry Cabin; (where the movie Wedding Crashers was filmed) and caught sight of a wedding.


I later caught a shot of the granddad walking his grandson, towards the shore. :-)


After a long day of walking, we came back to our B&B that night, very tired and had a good night's sleep!

Next day, the plan was to go sailing, the tour which we had booked already. We woke up and got ready. Janet, served us a delicious breakfast (she had taken our orders when we checked-in).

We left soon after for our Sailing tour, saying our thank you and good bye!

We sailed Sail Selina, which is the largest of the surviving vintage catboats. It was our first time on a sail boat and that too a vintage one! The setting was very intimate with only 2 other guests on the boat along with Captain Iris and her assistant Jared.


As we reached near the bay and it was time to raise the Sail, Tarun volunteered to help Jared. Tarun's first time raising the sail!


Jared gave Tarun instructions.



Tarun started soon after



And our sail was up!! :-)


We all shared stories and sailed together for 2 hours, enjoying the beautiful views and the lovely weather!





What a weekend, thank you, Tarun! This was our first trip that was planned on the fly and it was great!! Look forward to more such trips in the future! :-)


Friday, February 6, 2009

Review:Sichuan Pavilion 2.9/5

A few days back when I was craving Chinese, I yelped Chinese restaurants in DC and picked "Sichuan Pavilion" based on its ratings and reviews. Myself and Tarun dined there with our friend Ashish.

We took a reservation before going, as it was a weekend, but when we reached there, the restaurant was pretty empty, so I guess, it's one of those restaurants where one could just walk-in.

I ordered "Chicken Chailang", a chef speciality. Tarun ordered Fish curry with Tofu, it was our server's recommendation and Ashish ordered a sizzler with 10 ingredients, I forget the name of the dish, but Ashish's was the only dish that was descent, the other two, Chicken Chailang and the Fish sure were spicy but had no flavor at all; an utter disappointment.

For dessert, we ordered Lychee Nuts. Surprisingly, unlike the name suggested, there were no nuts with the Lychees, but it was still nice to end the flavorless meal with a fresh and delicate taste of Lychees in the mouth.

A very disappointing experience overall. In States, I have yet to discover a better restaurant than P.F. Chang's, for Chinese food. It continues to be my favorite!

Food: 2

Service: 3

Pricing: 3.5 (Moderate)

Ambience: 3

Location/Information:
1814 K St NW
(between N 18th St & N 19th St)
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 466-7790

Parking:
Street

Would I recommend it?: No

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Review:Belga 4.3/5

We started off the new year with a brunch with Family and Friends at Belga, last Sunday. It is a belgian cafe with  a very warm atmosphere.
Being a Belgian restaurant it specializes in belgian waffles. However, whatever was ordered on our table was really really good. We all decided to order and then share, so we had quite a few things on the table and it was hard to move them around, but this is what we ordered. Poached eggs with Salmon and Asparagus, Green Eggs, Crepes, Waffles with fruits and whipped cream and Banana Waffles with ice cream. Everyone shared the dishes and they were all very good. I especially liked the poached eggs with Salmon and Asparagus and the banana waffles. The banana waffles had a nice presentation and tasted great! 
We also shared a pumpkin soup which was ordered for Samadh, (our friends son), which he didn't drink. I didn't think I would like it but it was actually nice. Later, we ordered the belgian fries, another speciality of the restaurant.... yummy, and i liked how the fries are served, rolled in a paper (which looks like a newspaper) and stacked in  a metal wire stand.

The serving size is small, so a person per dish ratio is good.

I would recommend taking reservations before hand, as it gets pretty crowded, especially on the weekend.

Food: 5

Service: 5
Super Quick

Pricing: 3.5 (Moderate)

Atmosphere: 3.5
Cozy but can get crowded with no room to walk.

Location/Information:
514 8th Street SE
(between S E, St and S G St)
Washington, DC 20003
202 544 0100

Hours:
Lunch:
Monday through Thursday from 11:30 AM until 3:00 PM
Friday from 11:30 AM until 5:30 PM
Brunch:
Saturday from 10:00 AM until 5:30 PM
Sunday from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM
Dinner:
Monday through Thursday from 5:30 OM until 10:00 PM
Friday and Saturday from 5:30 Pm until 11:00 PM
Sunday from 5:00 PM until 9:00 PM

Parking:
Street