well fed

what a foodie weekend! i miss mom's kitchen and satchel's and sweet tea, but the quest for the best barbecue or southern cooking that was in gainesville has morphed into a quest for as many different cultural food experiences as i can muster in this cosmopolitan county in which i reside.

yesterday, wedding number one of many in the upcoming 52 weeks or so. open bar. free gin and tonics? sign me up! surf and turf for dinner? sign me up. what surf and what turf? no, it wasn't glorified chicken and shrimp. filet mignon and crab cakes. perfectly cooked, the both of them. wedding cake was tasty, but her cakes are better.

today. taste of arlington, an annual gastronomic street fair in ballston. a bunch of good restaurants. a bunch of restaurants set up in the ballston commons mall. two bucks a ticket. a ticket buys a taste from each restaurant. at some (cough! melting pot!), that didn't buy much more than a slice of banana and a strawberry. at others, an appetizer sized bite of paella or a slider sized pulled pork sandwich. best part of it was that all of the restaurants featured are within five miles of my apartment, and none are in the district. indian, lebanese, spanish, and southern food sit in my belly right now. i now have more foodie-riffic restaurants on my hit list for the next few months.