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Part of the Eat, Write, Retreat experience was a walking food tour of the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC with DC Metro Food Tours. Conference attendees boarded buses on Saturday evening, and we met our fun guides for an evening FULL of food, history, and fun conversation.

dc metro food tours

I had never wandered he Capitol Hill neighborhood before, but it is gorgeous. Neat little brick houses, many painted in bright colors like pink and purple, sit side-by-side with slightly overgrown gardens full of bright greens and rainbows of flowers. It was both stunning and an allergy nightmare. But I tried to ignore my inability to breathe and soldiered on in the name of food.

capitol hill

Our first stop was the Capitol Hill Tandoor & Grill where we met the owner and had a few Anglo-Indian bites. 

Capitol Hill Tandoor and Grill

We started with Mulligatawny Soup with a squeeze of lemon which made the soup bright and flavorful.

Mulligatawny Soup

Next, plates of naan bread, Basmati rice, and spicy chicken and vegetables came out. The sauce on the chicken really had a kick; I wanted to scrape every last bit off of the plate. Both courses were delicious.

Indian Food

The tour left plenty of time for meandering and checking out some historical homes and a generally lovely neighborhood. This one’s for my Canadian friends, eh. Winking smile 

Capitol Hill

We also passed the Commandant’s house where the Commandant of the Marines has always lived. A Marine barracks sprawls behind it, taking up several blocks.

Commandants House

capitol hill gardens capitol hill gardens image

This was one of my favorite yards on the tour. I loved how the yards and gardens weren’t impeccably manicured. It gave them a Secret Garden feeling.

Our next stop was for some Southern soul food at Levi’s Port Café. This is the best soul food in DC, and we certainly filled up.

Port Cafe

Port Cafe

I sipped on sweet tea and sampled a plate of collard greens, cornbread, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese heaven, and Carolina style pulled pork.

SWEET TEA SOUTHERN BBQ

 

After this filling feast, we luckily had plenty of time to walk. We viewed this historical church.

Capitol Hill

And checked out some of the last alley dwellings in DC. These adorable little homes are literally in an alley. They don’t face a street at all.

alley dwellings, DC

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As darkness set in, we made our way to the final stop of the night, Las Placitas Restaurant, a family-run Salvadoran restaurant that was packed!

Las placitas

Just when we thought we couldn’t eat any more, we were served up chips and salsa, margaritas, and large plates of plantains, pupusas and shredded beef

Las Placitas margarita

And finally dessert, sopapillas with honey, strawberry sauce, and whipped cream. Oooof. I think we all rolled out of there!

sopapillas

During each stop of the tour, we sat with different bloggers, allowing for a little time to chat and get to know new people. It was fun but also tiring! Our guides were really fantastic; they knew everything off the tops of their heads and didn’t stumble or fumble once. You could tell they were seasoned pros, and they had lots of recommendations for eating in DC.

I am actually going on a new food tour of Boston this afternoon, so stay tuned for more food tour fun!

Have you ever been on a food tour?

Tags: DC, event, Food, food tour, Washington D.C.

Also known as white wines I could drink forever. Frederick Wildman & Sons Importers transformed the Boston Harbor Hotel’s Atlantic Room  this past week from hotel conference room to Burgundy tasting salon, making for an elegant and educational afternoon for all.

Burgundy 2009: A Barrel Tasting of the Vintage was an industry wine tasting, and as I am trying to get more into wine blogging again, including starting up my old Tasting Room Series, I was delighted to get an invitation. The 2009 Burgundy vintage, because of the weather conditions of the growing season, is considered, as Stephen Tanzer writes “a splendid and alluring vintage from the get-go.”

I didn’t get many photos; the event as quite full, and I wanted to concentrate more on tasting wine than fumbling with my overwhelming camera.

Boston Harbor Hotel

The Burgundy tasting was set up in a sort of L-shaped set of rooms, with a small foyer hosting clean wine glasses, registration, and tasting information. The middle of the larger room featured a huge array of cheeses, which, as you can see, were quite a hit with the crowd!

Burgundy tasting

Large windows made up one wall of the room, letting participants enjoy natural light and sweeping harbor views. I happened to get married just beyond that little gazebo, so I had to take a photo Smile 

Boston Harbor Hotel

Once I arrived, I wandered around the entire tasting to check out the available wines and to figure out a game plan. I always go for the least crowded tables. I first visited the Domaine Olivier Leflaive table, and it was here I wanted to stay. I actually discovered when looking to link to their website that I can indeed stay with them. Noted for the trip to Burgundy I have been planning in my head since my wine class. I spent quite a bit of time at the Leflaive table, tasting through their whites, noting how balanced they were, with a nice level of acidity, just so refreshing and, for me, often exposed to New World Chardonnay, unexpectedly enjoyable. As I was savoring each taste, I ran into Cathy from Red White Boston, and we chatted about a few things going on with RWB including the Facebook group and forum I am working on, and the Napa Valley Marathon which we are both scheduled to run next month.

white Burgundy

I said goodbye to Cathy to move on with my tasting, and headed next to the Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils table, where their 2009 Chablis Grand Cru “Valmur”, with lovely stone fruit and spice flavors, impressed and left me wanting more. My eyes and palate were opened, excited, and ready to keep tasting.

Burgundy wine

What a fine collection of Burgundy wines in one room! I also tasted a fantastic Bourgogne Aligote  (white) and a Premier Cru Cote Chalonnaise red, both by Domaine Faiveley, both standing out to me from the rest of the wines tasted.

The room was too crowded for me to handle taking too many notes, while juggling my glass, my information booklet, camera, and purse, so I do not have as many tasting notes as I would like. I did, however, come away from this tasting with a great appreciation and interest in some of the 2009 Burgundy wines I tasted and a desire to expand our mostly US and Spain-dominated wine collection to include more from this region. It is, after all, in Burgundy, where the concept of terroir is said to be most evident in the wines, made from single vineyards and therefore true to place.

With regards to the event organization and quality of the wines poured, Frederick Wildman & Sons deserves a huge thanks for pulling off such a great event. From the beautiful location to the actual growers pouring their wines, the event made everyone take away a little piece of Burgundy and for me, wanting to taste even more.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. . . will you be pouring or ordering wine? What wine says Valentine’s Day to you?

Tags: Boston Harbor Hotel, Burgundy, cheese, event, wine, wine and cheese, wine tasting

Six Hour Dinner

What did we eat? What didn’t we eat? After weeks of planning a Sunday afternoon potluck, a few Boston bloggers and I finally got together yesterday to eat, drink, and be merry, For six hours. As I wrote this post last night, I was so stuffed I may never need to eat again. It was worth every single bite. Besides, we probably burned some of if off laughing. This was one of those events that should have a video recap to capture some of the fun kitchen antics, but alas, a blog post will have to do.

The stage: the home of Megan from Delicious Dishings

The cast:

Megan,  homemade pumpkin ice cream sundaes with gingerbread croutons and spiced caramel

Alicia from The Clean Plate Club, muhammara dip, mushroom pate, shrimp and grits

Daisy from Indulge, Inspire, Imbibe, leek and parsnip soup, warm Brussels sprout salad

Michelle from Fun and Fearless in Beantown, Mama Chang’s pork dumplings, cold peanut noodle salad

I made a white truffle white bean dip and a tortilla española.

The plot: Five food bloggers who just happen to get along really, really well together for a day of food and fun, starting off with a little bit of bubbly from Mayo Family Winery, Nicholas Feuillate, and Veuve Clicquot, and a bottle of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau

wine and Champagne

There was much to celebrate on this chilly, late-November New England afternoon, two engagements, a new job, some employment liberation, and new friendships that had formed over the course of the past months.

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Megan’s beautiful kitchen was set for a feast with lovely autumn touches here and there, cozy food aromas filling the air.

autumn table setting

We were busy bees in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on scrumptious dishes.

The Clean Plate Club

Never have I seen so many people in one kitchen, working in harmony and happy to be there.

Boston food bloggers

Rows of soup bowls waited, creamy grits bubbled away on the stove as a warm Brussels sprout salad sat ready for goat cheese to be added, making this most beloved vegetable impossible to turn down.

leek parsnip soup grits

Martha Stewart soup

Mama Chang’s dumpling perfection sizzled and satisfied alongside Champagne bubbles.

image Veuve Clicquot

Myers + Chang dumplings

While cool peanut noodle salad added a crunch and a kick to our palates.

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The clicks and flashes of cameras prevailed throughout the day, being tired from cooking and eating could not keep these bloggers down.

Boston food bloggers

The evening was sealed with a sweet, the most perfect autumn dessert imaginable, homemade pumpkin ice cream, spiced caramel, with gingerbread croutons.

pumpkin ice cream image

pumpkin ice cream with gingerbread croutons and spiced caramel

One blog post can’t capture the excellence of this gathering of creative, smart, lovers of food, food writing, and wine. More to come, including links to recipes for these amazing dishes and a couple of posts on my contributions.

Happy short week! Do you ever plan potlucks with friends? Do you have a particular dish or theme you like to stick to?

Tags: bloggers, Boston, champagne, cooking, Delicious Dishings, event, Food, Fun and Fearless in Beantown, Imbibe, Indulge, Inspire, potluck, recipes, The Clean Plate Club, wine

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