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! :-)

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

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

Back in VA

Tarun and Myself are back in Virginia after a little more than 2 years. Well, we did make a trip here last May but now we are here to stay, at-least that's what we say.

What's surprising is that nothing seems to be calling me this time. Since we landed on Dec 17th, I haven't been excited at all. I am actually not feeling anything, I am numb. This seems like any other place to me now...the place I earlier thought could be home.

It has been good catching up with family and friends here but I haven't been super excited like I used to be back in time. 

May be I have matured or may be it will all change...we'll see.

Ananda in the Himalayas

Myself and Tarun made a trip to Ananda early October for 2 nights and 3 days. It was for his birthday and I had made the bookings before leaving for Japan. We decided to take the Shatabdi from Delhi to Haridwar and had Ananda arrange a pick up for us from the train station. The journey was comfortable. When we reached Haridwar and got out of the train station there was our cab driver waiting for us with a placard. We were so disappointed when we reached the car, we had expected a clean well kept car to come pick us up, but that one was, I guess a car used for bringing supplies to the resort from the nearby town, it had some metal bars inside to safeguard stuff. Anyway, we were disappointed and our expectation of Ananda hit its bottom right there.

We reached the resort after a 1.5 hour car ride and were greeted with an aarti by the staff. We were made comfortable in the living area of the palace where we were served a welcome drink made of lemon and ginger (quite refreshing!). Our room keys were handed to us in a short while and a golf cart was arranged to show us the property and take us to our room.

As our driver showed us the property I admired how well it was kept and how lush green it was. Upon reaching our room, we were told that the resort provides white Kurta Pajamas for the guests in their size for the them to wear during their stay. I thought, that was pretty cool and we both ordered our sizes (well they didn't have mine, so I took the smallest they had).

Our room was quite nice and had a nice view of the greens and the valley; only if the sky was clear we would have seen the valley but we still enjoyed the greens!

We relaxed in the resort all 3 days, pampered ourselves with some great massages and caught up on our reading. I highly recommend the Abhyanga massage which is done by two therapist. I believe that is the best massage i've had!

We enjoyed all our meals, the food was simple but tastefully cooked.

The property is well kept and serene and the sight of the guests walking around the property, clad in white Kurta Pajamas makes everything look so pure and simple, which I loved.

The staff is genuinely nice and helpful. On our checkout, we were asked to fill the feedback form and we gave an honest feedback, which means we told them we didn't like our pick up car and guess what, they were extra nice while dropping us to the train station in Haridwar, not only did the driver do all he could to make us reach the train station on time (we started late from the resort, some last minute ticket drama), he also waited to see we board the train. (We didn't know he was waiting till he came to us when the train arrived). We thought that was very nice and then a day or two later we received an email from the resort manager, apologizing for the car at our pickup. This surely impressed us and it showed he cared.

A short quiet trip was exactly what we needed after our vacation in Japan. I had a very relaxing time and Tarun said he quite liked it too, so I was happy he enjoyed his b'day weekend that I had planned for him!

Japan: Day 9: Tokyo

Today is our last day in Japan, we head back to India tomorrow morning and we wanted to make the most of it. So, we started off by hitting the Tsukiji fish market again but this time not for fish watching but for eating some fresh sushi at Edogin, acclaimed to be one of the best sushi bars in the area. It definitely stayed up to its reputation.

After having some great sushi, I went looking for some Japanese tea and bought some packs of Sencha and Matcha varieties. I also bought a Japanese engraved knife, which I consider my best purchase of the trip!

We later headed to Ginza where we relaxed in a tea room while drinking some hot Japanese tea and then took the train to Shibuya. O boy, was it crowded there! I had never seen so many people cross the road at the same time. Shibuya's four way crossing is said to be the busiest in the world. At one light change, there are hundreds of people trying to reach the other side. It was quite intimidating at first but later I got used to it.

Also, the area is known to be the shopping destination for teenagers and young adults, so that was one reason I wanted to go check it out, but I guess I am old now, coz I didn't like a thing...yes, not even one thing! Since, there wasn't much to do in Shibuya, we decided to spend the rest of the evening at Omotesando. Here, we strolled, talked, people watched and later dined at the Anniversaire cafe and had a nice dinner...our last one in Tokyo...at-least till we come back!

Arigato gozaimas Japan, for a wonderful stay....and here we bow to you. :)

Japan: Day 8: Tokyo

Today, we went to Roppongi Hills, the most prestigious area in the city, where the Japanese hot shots and the expats live. It has a huge shopping mall, where getting lost is easy. For all the hype it has, I didn't quite like it. I find Omotesando and Ginza way more lively and better areas to shop and stroll.
We had a nice big lunch at Azabu Kyutoku, in Roppongi Hills, which I quite liked...and that's me eating my share. :)After lunch, we headed back to Ginza, where we did some people watching, strolling and some shopping too!
For dinner, we took some food to go and ate in our room at the hotel...it was nice.