Happy Birthday to Me!!

Last weekend my boyfriend took me to the Equinox Restaurant in downtown DC for my fabulous birthday dinner. I think he was inspired by my gift to him last year, but he definitely outdid me. The restaurant was elegant and intimate. He let me chose anything on the menu, so since it was a special occasion I thought it might be fun to go all out and do the Chef's Tasting Menu with the wine pairings. It was a five course dinner with a wine for each course... pretty decadent!

Their website says The Equinox has "a seasonal and regionally inspired menu, crafted in accordance with the earth's natural rhythms... A passionate promoter of mid-Atlantic ingredients, Chef Todd Gray combines local ingredients with classical Italian techniques to create the distinctive cuisine of Equinox."


Their Mission: One of the frontrunners of the sustainable and seasonal food movement, Equinox offers sophisticated, pure American cuisine. Chef Gray stays true to his mission of using community-farmed, organic ingredients grown within 100 miles of the restaurant, whenever possible. The name Equinox represents its commitment to seasonal cooking using products harvested in accordance with the environment and the earth's natural tempo.

We started the evening with a celebratory glass of champagne and our lovely waitress brought us a very tasty amuse-bouche of a wild mushroom soup and a fennel slaw on a spoon. For our first course we had Curried Beauregard Sweet Potato Bisque, with braised cabbage, Granny Smith apples, and toasted pumpkin seeds. It was paired with a Riesling, that is all I can remember about the wine. For the second course we had Pan Fried Rappahannock Oysters with Caper-Parsley Butter, with celery root puree, golden pineapple, and celery leaf salad. This was paired with a Chardonnay. Our third course was Pan Roasted Grouper Filet, with mascarpone grits, winter citrus, and avocado vinaigrette. This was paired with a red wine, I can not remember what type... I had already had three glasses people. The fourth course was Grilled Striploin of All Natural Beef, with Yukon Gold risolle, English walnut butter, and baby spinach. This was paired with a Pinot Noir. And our fifth course was Puff Pastry “Cannoli,” with passionfruit pastry cream and Moscato-scented pomegranate and kiwi. This was paired with a dessert wine.


It was one of the best dinners I have ever had. We enjoyed each others company, we ate extremely tasty food and drank wonderful wines. By the time we left to meet some friends at the Tattoo Bar, we were completely stuffed.

Cooking In

I like to try and cook things every once in a while. Mostly because I watch the Food Network shows and then get hungry, so I want to make what the chefs are making. Most of the time I realize I don't have the ingredients in my kitchen, so I make a grilled cheese sandwich. Sometimes though, I make the effort, go to the grocery store and then attempt to make something delicious. My family and my boyfriend are my guinea pigs. I don't think they mind though.

Last week, my boyfriend cooked for me! He did such a good job and the meal was very tasty. He made Arroz con Pollo with Apples, I don't know why the recipe he found didn't use the Spanish word for Apples either. He found the recipe on RealSimple. You should try it.


2 large tart unpeeled apples, such as Granny Smith
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 green pepper, coarsely chopped
1 yellow pepper, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 ½-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup long-grain converted rice
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Quarter, core, and slice the apples into ¼-inch-thick pieces; set aside. Season the chicken with the salt and black pepper. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove the chicken and set aside, leaving the oil in the pan. Add the green pepper, yellow pepper, onion, and garlic. Stir well and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and apples to the pan. Cook 8 to 10 minutes more. Add the paprika and red pepper. Stir well and add the rice. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, arrange the chicken on top of the rice mixture, and cover. Cook about 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with the parsley. Serve hot.


Yield: Makes 4 servings

Fancy Birthday Dinner

Even though I surprised my boyfriend with this special Birthday night out back in July, I felt like it was such an awesome night it needed to be revisited. Even though I'm the "foodie" in the relationship, I thought that a nice night out in Alexandria, VA would still be very much appreciated by the birthday boy. So I told him to dress up and the rest of the night was up to me. First, we went to the PX Lounge, it is a 1920’s fashioned speak-easy, which was cool enough. But knocking on the nondescript door, giving the password and going upstairs to the luxurious interior was one of the coolest events of the night. I don't remember the exact cocktails we drank, but one of mine had lemon and basil in it. It sounded weird for a drink, but I was intrigued and pleasantly surprised by its tastiness. The bartender is part of the "slow drink" movement, he makes his own emulsions, colas and whatnot and the cocktail list is seasonal. A very unique experience.

After we sampled a few drinks, we walked down King Street to Restaurant Eve. It is owned by Chef Armstrong, who also owns the PX Lounge... it was the theme for the night. The chef is from Ireland and also owns Eamonn's Dublin Chipper which has awesome fish and chips AND you can get deep fried Mars bars there!! Restaurant Eve's website says the menu "celebrates the simple elegance and flavors of each season. Inspiration stems from returning to the source and the desire to extend to you, purely, good cooking." Well I don't remember exactly what we had for dinner, since our meal was a while ago. But I do remember that it was delicious. Plus, when I had made the reservations they had asked me if our dinner was for a special occasion. So when we got there they wished my boyfriend a happy birthday and when we left they gave him a cute scone mix gift. Which isn't really a manly gift, but it made him feel special. And it definitely made me look like a pretty awesome, thoughtful girlfriend. So if you can, you should go to these places. They will definitely make your evening special.

Date Night

This weekend my special man and I went to our favorite neighborhood place, Bangkok 54 in Arlington, VA. Even though it seems like its setting is less than cool, the restaurant and lounge is more than worth it. From the atmosphere of the interior design to the music and then the food and drinks. Everything is awesome! Plus, you can have drinks, an appetizer and dinner for two and not have to pay over one hundred dollars for it!


For our most recent Bangkok 54 dinner we had the Firecrackers as an appetizer, which were Jumbo shrimp wrapped like a spring roll with a delicious sweet-chili Thai sauce. Then my man had the Stir-fried Spicy Cashews with Chicken, it was stir-fired with red chilies, onion, water chestnut, and crunchy cashews in a mushroom sauce. I had one of the specials which was Ginger & Sesame Flank Steak with brown rice. It was delicious! We decided not to have dessert, because we then headed to the movie theater and we wanted to have popcorn. The movie we saw wasn't that great, but at least our meal was awesome.

Sexy Night Out in DC

Last night I went out to eat in Penn Quarter with my BF. He was taking me out to celebrate me getting a promotion at work. So we first went to Zengo for Dinner. We had Lychee Martinis and grilled, salted edamame as our appetizers. They were both delicious. Then I ordered the special for the night, the Kobe steak and a potato, tofu, spinach Indian spice type salad. My BF had the beef short ribs with Oaxaca cheese, cheesy mashed potatoes and Zengo Dragon sauce. We were both Very happy with our dinners.... our plates were empty.

Then we headed over to the new Coco Sala for dessert. For cocktails, I had the Coco Cojito... I don't think I'll ever want to have a regular mojito again. It had mint and limes, just like a regular mojito, but then they used chocolate flavored vodka and put dark chocolate shavings in it!!!!! YUMMY! My BF had the "MMM" Mint Malted Martini, I think he was very please with his decision as well.

CoCo Sala Demo Reel from Construct Media Group on Vimeo.">
We shared the Italian Voyage, which is one of their three course desserts. It started off with a chocolate praline soup with a thin square of vanilla panna cotta floating in it. Awesome! The second course consisted of three cone shaped glasses, one filled with tiramisu, one with fraise de bois and the last with a thick chocolaty mousse.... Delicious! Then to finish it all off, the third course was two petit fours - a lemony ricotta square and a ameretti cookie dipped in chocolate. Anyone who enjoys chocolate needs to go to Coco Sala!