My Unprofessional Opinion

and my self-imposed dehydration | Ed. 12

Well, we made it to the other side of our big wedding road trip. We were so glad to make it home at long last this evening. Drew was an absolute champ 90% of the time. We are so grateful for that and glad our pals got to love on him. Seeing our friends in DC this week was a rich abundance of conversation, laughs, and generous hospitality kindly bestowed.

We always long for time with the community we built there, though when we visit we find that we don’t particularly miss the place itself. I, however, definitely could have wept when I rode the metro for the first time since July. I love public transit and walkability. I find it absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing that for the most part, America hasn’t gotten it together in these respects. I’d go as far as to say that our lack thereof contributes to our obesity and loneliness epidemics, but I digress.

We are slowly learning best practices for family travel and Drew is learning to stay (mostly) quiet during wedding ceremonies. Our friends Abby and Daniel got married on Saturday in beautiful Virginia surrounded by a cacophony of birds, thunder, and perfectly timed light rain. Magic! Drew’s wedding gift to them was blowing out his diaper 8 minutes before the ceremony instead of during it..

they’re beautiful and married!

What’s on the menu?

I spent all week in restaurants and other people’s homes. What a gift! Almost none of this was my creation, but it was all delicious.

• Bella’s Chia Jam - Bella inspires me in the kitchen and on Monday she casually whipped up some cherry berry jam with frozen berries, chia seeds, and honey to go with yogurt and Niedlovs granola. Incredible.

  

• Compliments Only - It’s a good thing I didn’t know about this place when I worked in Dupont Circle. Get the Crunchy Boi and Marisa Tomei, just trust me.

  

• Yellow - this place has a chokehold on me. Only downside is it is always packed because everyone knows it is the best. Pretty sure they are on the Michelin guide and I want to go with a reservation sometime! The chicken pita LIVES in my mind rent free, as does the halva chocolate chip cookie. Major fail - I didn’t get a cappucino because I’m a fool who can’t listen to my own advice. If you are ever in Georgetown, go here.

  

  aforementioned chicken pita

• China Chilcano - a Jose Andres restaurant we went to for Sam’s birthday! Peruvian inspired menu with Chinese and Japanese twists and a Dim Sum deal on Tuesdays! Really, really yummy. Happy Birthday, Sam!

  

• Shrimp Summer Pasta - Emily made me a delicious pasta dish with tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, and shrimp! It was SO good.

  

• Union Market - happiest place on earth? Where else can you get a shrimp pupusa and a Korean taco that are both delicious? Could spend all day here.

  

• Maman - I often ask myself at restaurants, “Is it good or just instagrammable?”. In the case of Maman, it is only the latter, I’m afraid. I went for the orange caramel cappuccino (once again, a fool) and a pistachio chocolate croissant. See, at a quality institution like Yellow, the pastry would have pistachio paste baked in or perhaps be topped with a pistachio glaze or something else that added the twist while maintaining the quality of the chocolate croissant. At Maman, they just squeezed some bright green, super sweet icing into the choc croissant and called it a day. Why is this on the menu? Same with the coffee..an okay cappuccino with a huge pile of caramel waiting to surprise you at the bottom. I should have gone to Yellow instead.

  

  A+ for aesthetic and nothing else

• GNO at Thompson Italian - Great food with even better company and a seasonal Negroni. Thompson is an oldie and a goodie.

  

• This week, someone made me a martini with a ‘vermouth rinse’ which just means that you let some vermouth sit in the glass and then you dump it, pour in some icy gin, and add your lemon twist. Enough said.

Listening, Reading, Watching

• Because of all the travel, I was essentially only listening this week!

  • Revisionist History episode on RFK. Not going to say too much here besides why couldn’t someone else have been fighting to remove chemicals from our food? Beggars can’t be choosers, but seriously?

  • Armchair Anonymous Divorce episode - this is one of the few I hadn’t heard before and it is insane.

  • Susan Morrison on AE - You know I love SNL lore.

  • Table Manners with Selena and Benny - This just randomly came up for me and it was fun!!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

• At the beginning of the week, I committed to doing all my workouts as programmed. I accomplished this 1/7 times. Woe is me.

• For some reason, I drink like one glass of water per day? I need to be saved from myself.

• Drew and I had the loveliest little picnic in Georgetown! A nice reprieve from pushing his stroller uphill all afternoon.

• It was very warm all week, so I just kept googling “is it okay for your baby to be hot??” Really helpful.

• Some days none of the things get done and your baby just needs you all day. The WHOLE day.

• Baby headphones.

  

• Drew has gotten way better at nursing in public, thankfully, and I just felt like all the places I ended up feeding him this week were hilarious.

  

  

  a bathroom stall, a wedding venue, and more..

• Randomly on our drive home, we found Draper Village and stopped for lunch. What a CUTE little spot. Like if Cracker Barrel were a whole plaza and authentic and charming? I’m not convinced it was real. Don’t sleep on Pulaski, VA!

• Hope you made it far enough to see Drew’s new bestie, Hazel, his first trip to WaHo, and his general exuberant presence! Truly such a great road babe!

  

  

Truly, I love hearing from you guys after reading! So much more I could say about this trip. It prompted a lot of reflection, thought, and fellowship. It is also SO hard to maintain any life rhythm while traveling for me and I am now very tired. See you next week!