This Week's Eats + Another Trip to DC

Hello, friends. I am so excited for the three day weekend to celebrate the 4th of July! Stay safe out there this weekend!

This week was another busy one for me. On Monday night, Raisin Bread and I had dinner at The Artichoke Cafe. We originally were planning to eat here on Sunday night, but we wanted to keep on working on the house that night and stayed in.

We skipped the starters and went straight for the entrees. I ordered the half rack of lamb with fallafel, mashed sweet potatoes, chickpeas and tomato.

For dessert, I had the rosewater semifreddo with pistachio meringue and pomegranate pearls.

I thought the food was very inventive for Albuquerque and I was glad that we were finally able to try this restaurant out.

On Tuesday morning, I was up at 4;30 am to catch my flights to DC. I got upgraded to first class on my Dallas to DC leg! Woohoo. This was the third time in my life flying first class, and it was lovely as expected.

Warm nuts and a beverage served in an actual glass.

For lunch, I had a grilled beef salad with a pretzel roll.

But my favorite thing is by far the warm chocolate chip cookie. Yum!

I headed to the office for a few hours before checking into my hotel. I had some time to kill before dinner, so I visited the National Portrait Gallery. I think I mentioned before that this is the only Smithsonian that is open until 7 pm, so it is the only place I can visit after work. 

I saw one of the temporary exhibitions as well as some of the permanent galleries. Here is Bill by Chuck Close from the America's Presidents exhibition. 

Portrait of Elvis

 For dinner, I met up with my friend at Jose Andres's China Chilcano. This is the fifth Jose Andres restaurant I have dined at, and it was delicious as usual. China Chilcano specializes on a play on chifa (Chinese-Peruvian) cuisine. Peru has a large Chinese population and chifa restaurants can be found all over the country.

The menu is huge and since there were only two of us, we were only able to sample a few items.

I started with the ceviche classico.

We shared the tam tam: wheat noodles, spicy pork, peanuts and aji panca. I loved this dish. So spicy and flavorful.

Lastly, we had the ji song sillao: chicken, soy sauce, fried sweet potato, sweet drop pepper in a lettuce cup. This was also delicious. The sweet potatoes really made this dish.

The evening was calling for thunderstorms, but luckily, I made it back to my hotel in time. The next morning, I saw the effects of the overnight storms. Poor car

After a day at the office, I was headed back to Albuquerque. I got to catch the last part of the Women's World Cup semifinal game: Japan versus England. Wow, was the a doozy. Really tough loss for England! I am looking forward to cheering on Team USA this weekend.

Have a wonderful 4th!