We've had a busy start to the year, but between our jobs and other projects, we've squeezed in a few long weekends away and a lot of really great meals. We feel really lucky to have so many opportunities to do fun things and eat good food with people we love, and we want to share some of that with you.
So here's a selection of photos and stories from our lives these past few months.
Our favorite Thai restaurant in DC is owned by three friends, and they've started serving Thai brunch. There's such a thing as Thai brunch? We had no idea, either! But in March we got invited to a "test brunch" as they were working on the menu. We loved a lot of the dishes, especially the Thai donuts, a delicious rice soup with a soft, creamy egg, and sweet ginger soup with soy curd. But we were especially enamored with these kanom krok (pictured above). They're delicate little shells filled with sweet coconut milk. Delicious.
Three weeks ago we snuck down to Lexington, Ky., to visit our friends Katie and Scott and their adorable daughter. Clay went to college there, and we love going back. This visit -- as with all visits to Kentucky -- was filled with good food (and a good dose of bourbon, too). But here are three food things we especially loved:
Lexington has a great little farmers market. Back during college, this was the first farmers market Clay ever visited, and though it was a drizzly day when we were there, the spring vegetables looked great. We snapped this photo of asparagus on ice, which just made us smile.
We went with Katie and Scott to Table Three Ten, a new(ish) restaurant that really shows how the Lexington dining scene is improving. Three Ten's pastry chef, Stella Parks, is featured in the June issue of Food & Wine as one of the best new pastry chefs in the country. You can see the dessert menu above. We ordered the cookie trio (though we were wishing we had ordered more than three!).
No trip to Lexington is complete without a visit to Magees Bakery. They have amazing cinnamon rolls and donuts, but we're really obsessed with their ham biscuits. The biscuits are buttery, the ham is salty and thinly shaved. It's a heck of a way to start the day (or at least one day once a year when we're in Kentucky).
This photo is actually from the wine store that's on the corner of our street. We went in to pick up a bottle to take to a dinner party, and they had this beautiful garlic braid laid out on the table. The photo doesn't quite do it justice, but it's a thing of beauty.
That dinner, speaking of, was at our friends Will and Scott's apartment. They served a great meal that started with artichokes as a first course. The artichokes were served simply: just boiled and served with a garlicky dipping sauce. We loved them, which got us thinking why we don't eat or cook artichokes more often. In fact, we haven't cooked artichokes on their own since way back in 2008 (were we ever so young?!), but this got us excited to try it again.
The Hirshhorn Museum, on the national mall here in D.C., had the most amazing exhibit this spring, called Song One, by artist Doug Aiken. It's a film made to be projected on the ouside of the building. We went twice and we're obsessed. You can watch a sample on Vimeo. And here's another shot from the film:
While Zach's parents were here last month, we took them to Domku Cafe, a Scandanavian restaurant in D.C.'s Petworth neighborhood. We were there for lunch, but we had to order the ebelskiver, which are spherical Danish pancakes. They're phenomenal.
Pardon the sweat and the shameless bragging, but we did run a significant race this spring when we completed the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler for the third consecutive year! We had our best time ever and plan to not exercise again until 2013.
Speaking of Cherry Blossoms, here's a shot of a gorgeous cherry tree in bloom on our street back in late March. D.C.'s cherry blossoms came way earlier than usual this year, thanks to the warm winter.
Here's something new we've encountered at the market: kale florets. It makes total sense that they're on offer, we just haven't seen them before. We purchased a few bunches last week and have been playing with them. Perhaps we'll post a recipe in the next week or so about what we've done with them.
We mentioned this in an earlier post this spring, but we snuck off to Miami with our friends Drew and Ralph for a long weekend in February. We've been craving summer ever since.
We'll end the post with a few more shots from that trip.
Warmer weather is coming, and we're ready.
