Dinners with My Mom in NYC

What a wonderful way to spend Martin Luther King weekend--flitting here and there around New York City with Steven and my mom! Loved it! Two more memorable meals were at Ellen's Stardust Diner (1650 Broadway/51st Street) and Babylon Soho (15 Watts Street).

We enjoyed "Kinky Boots" on Broadway and we saw "Lone Survivor." (Steven and mom enjoyed it; I  avoided looking at the screen more than I actually watched it--too gory for me.) We took the subway and probably clocked at least 10 miles walking each day. Steven led the way; mom and I had no worries, just kept following. :-)

Recommendations: Go to Ellen's Stardust Diner for the experience! The staff is talented and friendly.

Loved the Broadway show, Kinky Boots!

We were very fortunate with traffic.

Freedom Tower behind us.

Stardust Diner, this is our waitress singing (awesome voice!)

Chelsea Market

Pho Viet & Grille: Taste of Vietnam

Open since August 2013, Pho Viet & Grille is a welcome addition to Georgetown. Everything we had was delicious. The atmosphere is cozy and trendy; the service is friendly and quick! We would definitely go back and happily grabbed the take-out menu on our way out the door.  Tonight we recapped the plan for applications… just one more, University of Wisconsin. We are on pins and needles waiting for Penn State. And speaking of Penn State, CONGRATULATIONS, Chris on your acceptance!

Happy early birthday to Steven… turning 45 on Monday.  :)

Recommendations: See plates below!

Restaurant info: 1639 Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC 20007, 202-333-0009, www.PhoVietGrilleDC.com

Egg rolls with fish sauce (two rolls missing from pic)

Fried tofu with Sriracha and hoisin sauce

Salad with grilled pork

Grilled salmon with  with mixed vegetables

Lump crab meat, fried rice with eggs and onions, topped with shredded chicken

Shrimp and beef fried noodles with mixed vegetables

Mai Thai of Georgetown

Although wet, cold, and miserable, it was definitely worth venturing out to Mai Thai. The food was scrumptious and it was nice to sit in a quiet restaurant to reconnect with Julia. With her gone, we were stuck in a wonderful rut of repeated Moby Dick's meals (yummy Super Combo!). 

Back to the Thai… Steven ordered Chicken Pad Thai; huge portion! He enjoyed it and brought half of it home for tomorrow. Julia ordered the Beef Teriyaki. The meat was tender and she enjoyed the healthy portion of veggies. I ordered the Thai BBQ Chicken, which was perfectly grilled. The chef was kind enough to let me swap out the papaya salad and sticky rice for salad and broccoli. It was so good. 

We are still waiting on Penn State. Unfortunately, since the college counselor didn't submit Julia's info in a timely manner, we could be waiting until January 30. Ugh. We are tentatively planning to visit Ohio State over President's weekend. Big congratulations to Chris, who was offered a sizable scholarship to UMass at Amherst! Whoo-hoo! 

Recommendations: Beef Teriyaki, Chicken Pad Thai, Thai BBQ Chicken

Restaurant info: 3251 Prospect Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007; 202-337-2424, www.maithai.com

Chicken Pad Thai

Beef Teriyaki

Thai BBQ Chicken

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!