Slideshow #3: Roman Holiday (Day 2)

Slideshow #2: Ciao, Italia! (Day 1)

Slideshow #1: In a New York Hour (Day 0)

I recently took a trip and thought I'd share it! Here's the beginning of my adventure:

Stay tuned for more!

Thanks

I'm thankful for so many things...

I'm thankful, for example, for this sweet potato pie.

And I'm thankful I got to cook all this delicious food. With help, of course.

And, lastly but certainly not least, I'm thankful for loved ones to share this bounty with.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Romance, Chicken, and the Pacific Northwest

In the summer of 1993, I saw a movie in the theater that was probably one of the first of many to give me a false sense of everything a romance should be. (Thanks a lot, Hollywood.) It tells the story of a man whose wife has just passed away and about how he finds love again with the help of his son, a radio show, and, well, fate. The film takes place partly in a famous city in the Pacific Northwest whose name appears in the title, and the man, who apparently seems to have a lot of sleepless nights, lives in a floating house that has a view just like this:

Ever since I saw above-mentioned film, I've been a little fascinated by--or shall I say obsessed with?--this city. I've always associated this place with love, dreams, happiness, romance--I'm such a sap! And maybe since it's known to rain a whole bunch here, I've also always had a thing for rain--standing in it, walking in it, smelling it.

So I finally went! And this is the view I had each morning as I awoke:

Sadly, it never rained once while I was here. The weather was actually really beautiful every single day. Go figure. Still, I would've liked to see the rain.

The first night, we went to this lovely restaurant in the quaint little town of Langley on Whidbey Island in the middle of Puget Sound. I opted for the roasted free range chicken breast with polenta, braised endive, and rosemary-gorgonzola pan jus. The chicken was fabulously succulent, and the polenta crispy on the outside and perfectly not-too-mushy on the inside. My dinner companions, two people I lovingly refer to as Mom and Dad, shared the steak frites served with sauteed local greens, which were to die for--no kidding! I could have eaten an entire dinner plate of those. The skinny frites were fried to golden perfection; I almost wish I had gotten the steak frites, too. (See website for pics.)

And as it goes, a superb evening meal must be followed by a lazy evening stroll through a tiny tranquil town...

...At sunset.

Ah (that's an ah of contentment)... Almost makes me think that maybe the stuff in the movies isn't far off. For pretty soon after this, I was, myself, Sleepless in Seattle...

Kind of.

Teaser

Guess where I've been...

Nope. Not the Big Apple.

Wrong again. Not back to DC. (Although I wouldn't have complained.)

And no, no, no. Definitely not South Texas.

Need a hint? Okay, but this is a dead giveaway:

Did you miss it? Look again closely...

...And pull up a seat. There's more to come. And yes, there will be food.

...And we're back! (or I love this town!)

Have you ever visited a brand new place and felt as if you were at home, or at least in a very familiar place--sort of like deja vu, except you know you've never been there before, even in another life, and you wonder why it took you so long to finally get to that place?

Well, having traveled to remote areas of the Far East and the tiniest villages in the Old World, I find it absolutely astonishing that it's taken me more than thirty years to get to my nation's capital.

When views like this are everywhere you turn. Views that even George and Martha enjoyed.

And where you can take pictures from way up high like this FOR FREE.

And where you can get this close to where the President lives.

And then you can literally walk down the street to a farmer's market in the middle of the week at the end of the workday (or after a long day of exploring FREE museums and monuments and beautifully clean streets where you don't feel afraid to walk) and buy this delicious and refreshing organic drinkable yogurt with honey made from the milk of grass-fed cows and with probiotic and live cultures from Clear Spring Creamery.

And nibble on these cute little mildly spicy beef and chicken empanadas from Chris' Marketplace (apparently known for their amazing jumbo lump crabcakes).

And then top it all off with this incredibly craveable pastry filled with a layer of chocolaty goodness and a dollop of luscious, velvety pistachio cream. Oh my, oh my.

Then, of course, you've got to grab a couple of these scrumptious cookies (namely, lemon drop, lemon ginger, and double chocolate) from Praline Bakery (same place where the pistachio chocolate pastry can be found) to mischievously nosh on after midnight (without feeling guilty, of course, because, hey, they're from the FRESHFARM Market, by the White House!).

What a magnificent town.

What a magnificent country.

I'm proud to call it mine.