Double Al fun this past weekend. Jill had been dealing with the movers most of Friday, and they weren’t done but they were exhausted. Plus we had plans, so they left and so did we – they still have about 10% of our stuff, including my formal clothes (this is important to the recap).
We headed straight to the Warner Theatre, got there with 10 minutes to spare before Weird Al took the stage. I’d seen his last tour, but Jill hadn’t seen him since the “Poodle Hat” tour at Kings Dominion. He was great, lots of costume changes as usual and some new videos. The new songs fit in nicely, and I especially enjoyed hearing “You Make Me” and “Good Old Days”. I should have guessed that the polka medley started with “Poker Face”, though.
Since we hadn’t had time for dinner first, we tried across the street at Chef Geoff’s, but the kitchen had just closed. I remembered that Co Co Sala was open late, so we walked over there and went in. They didn’t have any tables outside, which was unfortunate as the DJ inside had it cranked pretty loud (both of us wore earplugs most of the time).
Luckily the food was good – we shared everything. We had a savory, then a sweet course. First we had the arugula salad (with a nice coffee vinaigrette), bacon mac & cheese, and an artichoke tart (our favorite, you could really taste the artichoke). We finished with a “3 course dessert experience”, the middle of which was three different chocolate dishes, small but very good.
Saturday morning the movers had said they could return, but did not (I had a feeling, but was up early just in case). Jill slept in and I started unpacking the kitchen, then we left around noon. We stopped at the Men’s Wearhouse in Potomac Yards so I could buy a suit, then we headed over to Old Town Alexandria.
We stopped at Rustico for lunch and split a spinach salad and the meatball smoked mozzarella pizza, both excellent. I sampled a number of beers, the best being Bitter and Twisted, which was neither, rather sweet and smooth. We stopped by some antique consignment shops, picked up my suit (needed the legs cuffed), then back to Old Town.
We were staying the night at the Hotel Monaco (the trip was my Christmas gift from Jill), and I’d had so little sleep I took a nap right away, sleeping until Jill woke me up at 5:30. She’d gotten a little shopping done, but it was time for dinner.
She’d carefully picked the hotel location, as it was right next to Restaurant Eve. For our second visit we again did the Tasting Room, opting again for the five course meal. For the first course I had the foie gras and Jill had the tuna, paired with the Eidos de Padrinan 2007. Second was the halibut paired with Kamptaler Terrassen 2009 for her, and the ricotta tortellini for me. I’d avoided the lobster I loved last time as it had peas and carrots with it, and of course the tortellini had peas in it. I managed to avoid most of them (and ate Jill’s tomatoes while she ate my peas).
The antelope I had for the third course was my favorite, good texture and flavor. Jill often orders squab, this time paired with Bien Nacido Vineyard 2005. For the cheese course, she had the Everona Piedmont, very nice paired with the Cade Sauvignon Blanc 2008, while I had the Tête de Moine, good but very rich (I didn’t finish). My finale was a deconstructed cheesecake, while Jill had praline doughnuts paired with the Sullin Red Malvasia 2009.
A very good night but not over yet – we had made late reservations at the sister speakeasy PX. We read in the hotel room until it was time, then walked over. I’d had a couple cocktails with dinner, and we had a couple more here, relaxing in the lounge area next to the bar.
The next morning we woke with time to spare, so read on the veranda until it was time to go. We drove down to Vermilion and parked, went inside and were seated mere seconds before Dad arrived. Dad and Jill both had the Corned Beef pork hash, while I was unable to resist the strawberry pancakes with rhubarb-maple syrup, everything was delicious, and it was good to catch up with Dad.
After brunch we did a little more shopping, then stopped by the credit union as Jill was not yet a member, and started the car loan process. We stopped at the Vienna Inn on the way back, split a Reuben and each had a chili dog. Neither of us wanted to face unpacking, so we went out on the deck and read, and later took Illa into the water for the first time – he likes it just fine. I made alfredo sauce to go with some premade ravioli for dinner, then picked Mom up from Dulles, as she was getting back from her big Mediterranean cruise. We didn’t get a chance to talk much since it was late, but we’re getting together next week for a big family dinner.
