Day Trips to Foreign Lands & Grasshopper Tacos

Sometimes you need an impromptu date night during the week . So, that's just what John and I did last Tuesday night when we made the trek to Van Ness for dinner at Comet Ping Pong. The pizza joint has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and was one of the first places that we ate at in D.C. They serve up some tasty pizza and sides and have rows of ping pong tables in the back to pass the time while you're waiting. PS They have a deal on Living Social right now!

Last Friday night, we celebrated my friend Ashley's birthday a little early on a rooftop over peanut butter pie. There's no better way to kick off the weekend than with a celebration, especially one on a D.C. rooftop.  Am I right?

Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early to attend the annual Embassy Open House Day. A large majority of the embassies open their doors to the public to share their culture, food and the interior of their embassy with the public. I'm proud to say that my friend Cristi, her roommate Becky, and I covered 19 out of 40, plus I covered two additional ones after we departed. So, quite a feat and a lot of walking! Here's the official list of the ones that I covered: Bahamas, Libya, Morocco, League of Arab States, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Kenya, Guatemala, Haiti, Brazil, Bolivia, Azerbaijan, Ghana, Nigeria, Ghana, Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Columbia, Ethiopia and Bahrain. Here are some highlights from the day:

Morocco:

Hammering Gold Inlay 

Guatemalan friendship bracelets

Beautiful handmade Guatemalan crafts

Thank you Ivory Cost for feeding me so well!

When you're in the Bahamas, dress like it!

Bolivian music and dance

That evening, John met up with me (a little late thanks to some hospital duties, but there nonetheless) at Oyamel for a date night dinner. The Jose Andres restaurant located in the heart of Chinatown boasts some of the best and most authentic Mexican fare around. We started off with some refreshing margaritas (mine featured orange infused tequila, grapefruit bitters, fresh lime & soda water), then had their famous guac  made right at the table, feasted on some delicious small plates and finished it with a Chapulines taco---aka the grasshopper taco. That's right we ate the legendary Oaxacan speciality of sauteed grasshoppers, shallots, tequila and guacamole and it was surprisingly wonderful.

We couldn't end the evening with grasshoppers, even though they were surprisingly appetizing. So, we walked next door to Pitango Gelato and shared a triple scoop of matcha green tea, cinnamon, and Sicilian almond. Perfection.

On Sunday, for the first time in a long time, John was off. So, we spent the day taking it easy. Thank you Lord for off days! Plus, after a day full of non stop eating and non stop walking- I needed a break myself. Well, we did manage to scurry on over to a newly found neighborhood gold mind- Bethesda Bagel. We literally live a hop, skip and a jump away from the booming Dupont bagel shop and could have kicked ourselves for not going sooner. Hello, everything whole wheat bagel with bacon, egg and cheese--> Totally worth all of the uber healthy eats that we eat during the week.

On Tuesday, we had the rare and wonderful opportunity to see one of our favorite musicians, Sufjan Stevens, in concert. We were absolutely over the moon when we scored tickets a few months ago and had been waiting for...well, years to see him live. The concert was held at the D.A.R. music hall which was a spectacle in itself.

Cheers to ping pong, birthdays, foreign lands, grasshoppers, gelato and good music &&& cheers to another fabulous week in the District!