Read this entry.
It is fabulous. It is "stupid fabulous", according to th3newblack. It also contains pictures. So unless you have no particular interest in pimpin' mansions, gorgeous gardens, and the best food in the city---as well as THE FACES BEHIND THE SCREEN OMG---you should really read this.
I am sure when th3newblack comes home there will be a lot more of this (I cannot wait to show you guys Disapproval Man), but in the meantime I have some of my own pictures from yesterday, and yesterday was the most epic day so far. I'll summarize.
That fucking cake and ice cream, man; by eleven o'clock the next day we still weren't hungry. We drove up to the Hillwood Museum, a large mansion and estate tucked into the DC suburbs. Getting there was eventful, to say the least. I am just glad that we are both alive. To be fair, it's not entirely my fault---Google Maps actually made up streets for us to take. Upton Street doesn't exist, you assholes.
Anyway, Hillwood. Its motto is "Where Fabulous Lives", and who can turn that down, amirite? Photography isn't permitted inside the mansion, so you can get a look here if you're interested. The pictures don't do it justice; that place is absurd. The collections of jewels, icons, and portraits is obscene. RE fans should take note, as this is the only place on Earth where you could conceivably set the first game and have it make any goddamn sense. In the Hillwood Mansion you really do have a bunch of wacky gems and emblems and keys sitting around. There are also enough nooks and crannies for good hiding places.
Two views of the cut flower garden.
The French parterre.
A neat little part of the lawn.
The Japanese gardens. Totally beautiful.
I FUCKING LOVE FLOWERS
And trees.
Umm, yes.
The drive home was just as eventful, by which I mean traumatizing, because I am a terrible driver and DC is wretched. Somehow we got back. By this time I was getting sort of anxious. I had made dinner plans, you see---special dinner plans which th3newblack knew very little about. We put on our pretty dresses, th3newblack ironed my hair, and we went on our way.
Our parking meters always crack me up. They're just so...severe. th3newblack added the punctuation and face for extra emphasis. (Look closely.)
While walking to the Metro I glanced over at our reflections; I thought it made an interesting picture, so I stopped to take one. I like the way it looks for some reason.
So! Dinner. We went to CityZen. It appears in the top five restaurants in Washington DC, usually in the top two. There was some buzz when the Washington Post ranked it over Citronelle, which has held the highest spot for a decade or so. CityZen's chef recently won the 2008 James Beard award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic; this is the highest honor an American chef can win. Their sommelier is a drummer in a local punk band and considered to be one of the best wine guys in town.
Some photos of the restaurant and the location:
The hotel...
The lobby...
The restaurant!
Another.
I had spent Saturday afternoon on the phone with the chef (!!! I was not expecting him to call me) about making a menu especially for th3newblack, complete with wine pairings, since she has different tastes than me and I wanted her to get something she'd like. Well, we were not disappointed. We took pictures of the menus, and when the wine came out we took frantic notes. The host noticed and offered to bring us printed menus to take home.
This is my menu. Click for full size.
This is th3newblack's menu, click for full size. She was a big fan of the Riesling.
The chef signed our menus! D'awww.
Anyway. So we sit down and are immediately served with two sour cherry/sparkling wine cocktails. We made a toast to it not being Imperia Vodka (more about that later...) and got on with the show.
"Is this fabulous?"
"It's stupid fabulous."
"Yes, yes it is."
Things got started with two delicious amusés: fried asparagus and zucchini. I love both vegetables already, but these were like being kissed by tiny baby angels. I'm trying to remember the sauces---some balsamic reduction with the first, and a fun tomato-ginger relish with the second, but that's all I can recall. We happily polished them off.
Our silverware attendant, later dubbed Fork Man, was also in charge of bringing us bread. This is bar none the best focaccia I have ever had. The two butters, unsalted and salted, came to us via an Amish farm in Pennsylvania. They were so delicious! "We should ask for the phone number." "They'd probably be like, 'uh, bitches, there's no phone, they're Amish'."
Now I don't have pictures of th3newblack's entrees. You will see them when she comes back and posts 'em all. In the meantime, have mine.
Yummy salmon with hyssop jelly and bing cherries.
Duck canneloni. OM NOM NOM NOM NOM I could have eaten a bowl full of these. The wine (a 2006 A. et P. de Villaine Aligoté Doré) with this was really outstanding. The host knew everything about the wines and described each bottle in glowing, detailed terms---terms that, after a while, we could no longer follow. I blame the wine.
Maine lobster. I usually won't eat lobster, as lobsters are gross bugs that do gross things, but this shit was off the hook. The spicy tomato broth with it was orange-y and vegetable-y and chunky and delicious. It was so buttery and soft and perfect; I could've eaten a plate of this, too.
The beef and asparagus. Both Miss Koko and I got this, although mine was medium rare and hers was well-done. This was soooooo good and pretty much the apex of what beef should be.
Fork Man warned us about these "Parker House rolls", saying they were very popular among the regulars. Yes, they look like Parker House rolls. Yes, they taste somewhat like Parker House rolls, marginally, if Parker House rolls were made with eight sticks of butter and pure cocaine. These things were sweet and salty and sugary and moist and rich but also fluffy and feather-light and what I am getting at is even after all the food and wine we've had so far we ate every single one of those. Holy fucking god they were good. Some day I am going to come back and rob the place at gunpoint until they give me more.
The beer pairings to go with...
...the cheese trolley! I am trying to remember what we got. I know th3newblack had a mimolette and several kinds of goat cheese; I had some phenomenal goat cheese, a relatively mild blue cheese, a triple creme and something else. Things are fuzzy at this point what with all the wine. I do remember them all being really delicious, especially with the beer.
Our pre-dessert, a little cherry thing on top of a cookie, and ice cream. These cookies were about as perfect as a cookie can possibly be.
Our real desserts: the piña colada and the candy bar. Oh my god oh my god oh my god. Now I like a piña colada as much as the next girl (I drank a lot of them in Puerto Rico), but I generally prefer chocolate. Well, maybe not anymore, because this shit was UNBELIEVABLE. It really did melt in my mouth: coconut, cream, pineapple, rum. It was like being hugged by all of your grandparents at once. I almost cried.
So at this point---I am drunk and happy and can barely stand up; th3newblack and I have spent the entire night gorging ourselves---they shoved post-dessert petit fours at us. I don't have a picture, but th3newblack might. There were little ice cream sandwiches, truffles and more fabulous cookies. We received two copies of our menus and wine pairings, signed by the chef. A generous tip was given.
We were there for three hours. Yeah, it seemed like a long time, but it also seemed kind of short. I forgot about everything else in the world except her and I and that moment; we were giggling like lunatics the entire time. (We've been doing that this whole trip, to be honest.) Everything was just so nicely done and it was so wonderfully presented. It was a perfect place to spend time with my friend and I will get to remember it when I am like eighty years old. I imagine we'll still be IMing each other with YouTube videos and links to bad fanfiction/fanart. Fuck yes.
I am sure when th3newblack comes home there will be a lot more of this (I cannot wait to show you guys Disapproval Man), but in the meantime I have some of my own pictures from yesterday, and yesterday was the most epic day so far. I'll summarize.
That fucking cake and ice cream, man; by eleven o'clock the next day we still weren't hungry. We drove up to the Hillwood Museum, a large mansion and estate tucked into the DC suburbs. Getting there was eventful, to say the least. I am just glad that we are both alive. To be fair, it's not entirely my fault---Google Maps actually made up streets for us to take. Upton Street doesn't exist, you assholes.
Anyway, Hillwood. Its motto is "Where Fabulous Lives", and who can turn that down, amirite? Photography isn't permitted inside the mansion, so you can get a look here if you're interested. The pictures don't do it justice; that place is absurd. The collections of jewels, icons, and portraits is obscene. RE fans should take note, as this is the only place on Earth where you could conceivably set the first game and have it make any goddamn sense. In the Hillwood Mansion you really do have a bunch of wacky gems and emblems and keys sitting around. There are also enough nooks and crannies for good hiding places.
Two views of the cut flower garden.
The French parterre.
A neat little part of the lawn.
The Japanese gardens. Totally beautiful.
I FUCKING LOVE FLOWERS
And trees.
Umm, yes.
The drive home was just as eventful, by which I mean traumatizing, because I am a terrible driver and DC is wretched. Somehow we got back. By this time I was getting sort of anxious. I had made dinner plans, you see---special dinner plans which th3newblack knew very little about. We put on our pretty dresses, th3newblack ironed my hair, and we went on our way.
Our parking meters always crack me up. They're just so...severe. th3newblack added the punctuation and face for extra emphasis. (Look closely.)
While walking to the Metro I glanced over at our reflections; I thought it made an interesting picture, so I stopped to take one. I like the way it looks for some reason.
So! Dinner. We went to CityZen. It appears in the top five restaurants in Washington DC, usually in the top two. There was some buzz when the Washington Post ranked it over Citronelle, which has held the highest spot for a decade or so. CityZen's chef recently won the 2008 James Beard award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic; this is the highest honor an American chef can win. Their sommelier is a drummer in a local punk band and considered to be one of the best wine guys in town.
Some photos of the restaurant and the location:
The hotel...
The lobby...
The restaurant!
Another.
I had spent Saturday afternoon on the phone with the chef (!!! I was not expecting him to call me) about making a menu especially for th3newblack, complete with wine pairings, since she has different tastes than me and I wanted her to get something she'd like. Well, we were not disappointed. We took pictures of the menus, and when the wine came out we took frantic notes. The host noticed and offered to bring us printed menus to take home.
This is my menu. Click for full size.
This is th3newblack's menu, click for full size. She was a big fan of the Riesling.
The chef signed our menus! D'awww.
Anyway. So we sit down and are immediately served with two sour cherry/sparkling wine cocktails. We made a toast to it not being Imperia Vodka (more about that later...) and got on with the show.
"Is this fabulous?"
"It's stupid fabulous."
"Yes, yes it is."
Things got started with two delicious amusés: fried asparagus and zucchini. I love both vegetables already, but these were like being kissed by tiny baby angels. I'm trying to remember the sauces---some balsamic reduction with the first, and a fun tomato-ginger relish with the second, but that's all I can recall. We happily polished them off.
Our silverware attendant, later dubbed Fork Man, was also in charge of bringing us bread. This is bar none the best focaccia I have ever had. The two butters, unsalted and salted, came to us via an Amish farm in Pennsylvania. They were so delicious! "We should ask for the phone number." "They'd probably be like, 'uh, bitches, there's no phone, they're Amish'."
Now I don't have pictures of th3newblack's entrees. You will see them when she comes back and posts 'em all. In the meantime, have mine.
Yummy salmon with hyssop jelly and bing cherries.
Duck canneloni. OM NOM NOM NOM NOM I could have eaten a bowl full of these. The wine (a 2006 A. et P. de Villaine Aligoté Doré) with this was really outstanding. The host knew everything about the wines and described each bottle in glowing, detailed terms---terms that, after a while, we could no longer follow. I blame the wine.
Maine lobster. I usually won't eat lobster, as lobsters are gross bugs that do gross things, but this shit was off the hook. The spicy tomato broth with it was orange-y and vegetable-y and chunky and delicious. It was so buttery and soft and perfect; I could've eaten a plate of this, too.
The beef and asparagus. Both Miss Koko and I got this, although mine was medium rare and hers was well-done. This was soooooo good and pretty much the apex of what beef should be.
Fork Man warned us about these "Parker House rolls", saying they were very popular among the regulars. Yes, they look like Parker House rolls. Yes, they taste somewhat like Parker House rolls, marginally, if Parker House rolls were made with eight sticks of butter and pure cocaine. These things were sweet and salty and sugary and moist and rich but also fluffy and feather-light and what I am getting at is even after all the food and wine we've had so far we ate every single one of those. Holy fucking god they were good. Some day I am going to come back and rob the place at gunpoint until they give me more.
The beer pairings to go with...
...the cheese trolley! I am trying to remember what we got. I know th3newblack had a mimolette and several kinds of goat cheese; I had some phenomenal goat cheese, a relatively mild blue cheese, a triple creme and something else. Things are fuzzy at this point what with all the wine. I do remember them all being really delicious, especially with the beer.
Our pre-dessert, a little cherry thing on top of a cookie, and ice cream. These cookies were about as perfect as a cookie can possibly be.
Our real desserts: the piña colada and the candy bar. Oh my god oh my god oh my god. Now I like a piña colada as much as the next girl (I drank a lot of them in Puerto Rico), but I generally prefer chocolate. Well, maybe not anymore, because this shit was UNBELIEVABLE. It really did melt in my mouth: coconut, cream, pineapple, rum. It was like being hugged by all of your grandparents at once. I almost cried.
So at this point---I am drunk and happy and can barely stand up; th3newblack and I have spent the entire night gorging ourselves---they shoved post-dessert petit fours at us. I don't have a picture, but th3newblack might. There were little ice cream sandwiches, truffles and more fabulous cookies. We received two copies of our menus and wine pairings, signed by the chef. A generous tip was given.
We were there for three hours. Yeah, it seemed like a long time, but it also seemed kind of short. I forgot about everything else in the world except her and I and that moment; we were giggling like lunatics the entire time. (We've been doing that this whole trip, to be honest.) Everything was just so nicely done and it was so wonderfully presented. It was a perfect place to spend time with my friend and I will get to remember it when I am like eighty years old. I imagine we'll still be IMing each other with YouTube videos and links to bad fanfiction/fanart. Fuck yes.