Cooking at Home

We missed our weekly grocery shopping trip, and our refrigerator was finally being cleaned out of all of the myriad odds and ends. One way to use up bits of vegetables and leftover rice is kimchi bokumbap, fried rice. 

Onion, cabbage, kimchee, salmon rice, kochujang and soy sauce.

Tomato, cucumber, artichokes and romaine lettuce with homemade croutons and roasted chicken.

Taylor's Gourmet Sandwiches

I love a good sandwich. The husband brought home two glorious sandwiches from Taylor's Gourmet.

G Street Italian
Italian sub on fantastic bread. It's got a better bread than the Italian Store's hoagie.

Pattinson with sliced roast pork, broccoli rabe and provolone cheese.
This is not quite as luscious as the DiNic's version, but it is super flavorful and a solid substitute. The sharp provolone is indeed sharp. I think the hubs would have preferred a milder cheese.

Crab and Artichoke Salad

When life gives you leftover crab, the inventive ones pick the crabs and make something with the crabmeat.

Crab mixed with cucumber, artichoke hearts and tomatoes.

Added some orzo, olive oil and red wine vinegar, the crab and vegetable mixture was very light.

Al Fresco Lunch at Tim's

Continuing on the birthday celebrations, I headed out to Vienna to meet up with a good friend. We took a nice drive down to Dumfries, which is much more countryside than I am accustomed to, and crossed over the train tracks. Driving over some gravel, we came upon Tim's, a crabshack on the side of the river, which even has boat parking. 

 Table right on the water's edge looking at the dock where a reggae band played. 

Added bonus, a cute duck family with little ducklings bobbing around in the Potomac.

 Maryland crabs

 Steamed spiced shrimp

Glorious day with great company and good food.

Recovery Breakfast

To say we overindulged in spicy crawfish the night before would be an understatement. What we needed was a restorative breakfast. Unfortunately we had not gone to the grocery store to stock our refrigerator, so I had to be inventive.

Boiled Pork Gyoza

Miso soup with daikon, carrots and tofu. Rice with salmon and seasonings.

Birthday Dinner at Chasin Tails

After our breakfast pizzas, we watched a few episodes of Fringe and took a nice afternoon nap. What a lovely, leisurely and relaxed birthday with my sweet husband... After mulling over what to do for dinner, I decided on a place we haven't been back to in awhile. We set out to Falls Church for some spicy crawfish and oysters at Chasin Tails. The restaurant was extremely busy, so we sat at the bar once we were able to secure two seats next to each other.

 Two pounds of crawfish with Whole Shebang  sauce, spice level hot.

 Dozen oysters  on the halfshell.

Fried catfish.
***

The husband loves the spicy sauce, and even had rivulets of sweat running down his face. He ended up ordering another pound of crawfish and a pound of andouille sausage slices. The sausage is delightful mixed in the hot and spicy Whole Shebang sauce. With full, almost bursting stomachs, we headed home in a crawfish-scented haze.  

Birthday Breakfast

I woke up on my birthday morning before sunrise, as my husband was preparing to leave for an early morning round of golf. Life is about continually learning, and I learned the first golf reservation was 5:47 am. After I woke up again at a more reasonable hour, I did a morning work out and then made a late brunch for us.

 Homefries with red pepper and onion.

Breakfast Pizzas

Bacon, red pepper, onion, mozzarella cheese and fried eggs on naan bread.