Quarantined with Rocklands

Family pic at the Kennedy Center 

No, we do not get tired of Rocklands. I tried the beef ribs this time and they were huge and delicious.

This week we were a bit under the weather, fighting bronchitis, ear infections, and sinusitis. However, a visit from my mom, take-out from Rocklands, and watching the movie, White Christmas, was enough to suspend unwellness for a few hours. Special thanks to Meme for risking her health to join us!

Julia got accepted into Northeastern! Boston is her favorite city, so this is very good news for her. The plot thickens. We're still waiting on Penn State and she is considering adding a few more to the list: University of Wisconsin - Madison, Northwestern, and University of Illinois. Carnegie is a no-go and U. of Michigan is deferred. Ohio, NC State, Villanova, and Northeastern have all sent welcome packages with plenty of checklists and pressure to commit! Julia's handling it like a trooper.

Here's to more dinners (and a healthy family) in 2014!

Town Hall

This was our first visit to Town Hall. We didn't order anything interesting or out of the ordinary. Julia enjoyed half of a huge club sandwich and mashed potatoes. Steven had a good, rare burger. I loved the flat iron steak (nice and medium rare) on my bistro salad. While the bar side was hopping, the dining room side was cozy, warm and quiet. Congratulations to Julia--she was accepted into NC State University environmental engineering program and Ohio State University environmental engineering program. We are so proud of her!

Recommendations: Burger or flat iron steak--they were cooked perfectly!  

Restaurant info: 2340 Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC 20007; 202-333-5640; www.townhalldc.com.

Quiet, Sunday night in the dining room.

Filomena Restaurant

The weather outside is frightful, but… inside Filomena Restaurant the atmosphere is delightful! This wonderful Italian restaurant prides itself on celebrating the holidays to the fullest extent and providing authentic Italian food. (Steven thinks the food was way better here than in Rome.) The gorgeous Christmas tree is the centerpiece of the restaurant with over 10,000 lights and beautiful antique ornaments.

Our special guest with us today is Chris! Often mentioned and never present, we are so happy he was in town to join us this weekend.

The food was so delicious. There was an omelet station, bacon, home fries, sausage, and biscuits. Dinner choices included salad, various cold salads, vegetables, roast beef, roast pig, rock fish, pizza, and soup. There was an entire buffet of desserts, including bread pudding, rice pudding, pumpkin spice cake, chocolate cake, carrot cake, fresh fruit, peach cobbler, blueberry cobbler, and homemade whip cream.

Recommendations: We highly recommend coming for the brunch buffet on the weekend. The ambiance is always decorated for a particular holiday--the best being Christmas, but also for Easter, Halloween, etc.

Restaurant info: 1063 Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC 20007, 202-338-8800 or 1-888-FILOMENA, www.filomena.com

They often have a woman in the front window making pasta.

Julia and Chris in front of the US Capitol.

Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner in Rome, Italy

No turkey dinners for us this Thanksgiving. Instead, we spent Thursday touring the Vatican; it was amazing.

I do not know how people visit Rome without feeling closer to God--it was just that powerful. There is so much to see...the basilicas (Santa Maria Maggiore, San Pietro in Vincoli, St. Peter's, Sistine Chapel), catacombs, ruins, Pantheon, Roman Forum, Spanish steps, Colosseum, Palantine Hill, Fountain of Four Rivers, Trevi Fountain, Egyptian obelisk, aqueducts, Appian Way, and more.

I did not have a bad meal in Rome; although, I was arguably less adventurous than Steven and restricted due to food allergies. Julia was generally happy with all her meals as well.

We talked a lot about Rome, the people, the sites, and comparisons with other European city trips. The history and art are incredible and can only be fully appreciated in person. America is so new and... blah... in comparison.

It was nice to be on vacation. We walked a lot--Steven lost 4 pounds!!

Recommendations: Go to Rome! Try a new gelato place after every meal!