Cuban food in the DC area??

Usually for Cuban food, I have to go to my house! There isn't a dense population of Cubans in this tri-state area, so your chances for a good cafe con leche or a pan con lechon are slim to none, unless you are eating at Casa Carmen! But there may be light at the end of the tunnel. One of the blogs I follow just posted a review of Cuba de Ayer in Burtonsville, MD. A bit far from us Arlingtonians, but the pictures actually look pretty authentic. I feel like a field trip is in our future!

Check it out here: http://ieatdc.blogspot.com/2010/02/cuba-de-ayer.html

Let's hear it for the Black-Eyed Peas!

No, not the musical group, the kind you eat. The bi-colored beans seem to be making a come back on the fine dining scene these days. The evidence? After never having seen a black-eyed pea in a restaurant in my entire life, I spotted them twice within a weekend in two different cities, but in remarkably similar preps. The first eating occured at an established Portuguese restaurant in Miami, Old Lisbon. The beans serve as a side dish to the resto's fabulous cod fritters (more home-madey than Jaleo's but every bit as delicious). The beans were boiled to perfection, cooled and served as a salad with a bit of green pepper, red onion, vinegar and olive oil, a refreshing counterpart to the fritters. The second eating occured over Valentine's Day at our favorite Italian restaurant in DC, Tosca. This time the peas showed up unexpectedly on a silver spoon as our amuse bouche! Talk about a bite of delicious! Our waiter accidentally brought us two of these tasty little bites by accident, not that we would have sent it back. Tosca's preparation was much the same with the addition of red wine vinegar and fresh herbs (basil and oregano, we think). This same salad also showed up under Vince's excellently cooked lamb tenderloin.

I highly reccomend seeking out these black-eyed babies for their smashing taste and high fiber content. (They'll keep you full for hours, an important factor for those trying to lose weight or Catholics trying to keep their composure on fast days like today and Good Friday!)

It's snowing again...

Well not really. It just looks like its snowing because all of the frosting is raining down off the trees in front of my window. It's like a sunshower with snow. The trees are getting naked again. But here are a few more pictures of them in their winter garb.


Isn't this tree gorgeous!

This lovely stretch of street is usually quite busy, but I caught a traffic break!

This snow was perfect for packing into snow men. If Vince were home, I have visions of us making a series Calvin and Hobbes-inspired snowmen scenes!

Frosted Trees!

We had snow again last night, and today we have frosted trees!

If it gets sunnier, I'll upload some more pics.

Happy February!

Well, dear readers, we made it through January! Here in Arlington, we made it through a few snows and two epic weeks of a deep freeze. Seriously, I have never been so happy to see 40 degrees on the thermometer. It felt like spring time. Miami, I know you were frozen too, but people we made it through!

In February, we have the Super Bowl and Valentines day coming up. Two made-up, but essential holidays. I promise to make one football-shaped thing and one heart-shaped thing this month and show you via blogger, if you don't get the pleasure of eating it with me. February is also kind of awesome because it's such a short month. 4-weeks long, nothing more.

There are signs of spring coming, yesterday Emily gave me some seeds for my brother-in-law Chris. They are both avid gardeners and V and I get to reap the bounty of their harvests! So plant on!