East Coast Adventures

www.RocklandsFarmMD.com

Within a year of graduating college I had four of my closest friends wed which may sound overwhelming but it was actually quite exciting.

Now, four years later I’m still in this place of solo adventuring and figuring life out on my own; usually enjoying it unless I find myself in a rut thinking of how they all left me behind...ha!

One of the great joys of being single right now is that I am able to do my own thing completely almost whenever I want.

This translates into traveling for my job and visiting friends in far off places like Washington DC and Maryland!

I love seeing where my friends are at now that we’re not in the same college house studying and not studying, making chocolate chip banana bread and going on random adventures to Solvang, the Danish VIllage…

This last trip I saw Lindsay and David and their new hyper and perfect dog Sundance. They took wonderful care of me showing me Baltimore, our friends farm in Maryland, Eastern Farmers Market and last but not least…The Cherry Blossom Festival!
If you're going to this festival you should definitely grab bikes to bypass all the traffic and cruise around in the splendid Springtime breeze like we opted to do :)

So Excited

I have a slight obsession with cherry blossoms (known fact if you know me) and it just so happens I'll be in DC this Saturday for the kick off of the National Cherry Blossom Festival!

I honestly couldn't be more excited...and the even cooler part is that I get to go with two of my best friends to walk the mall, Linds and David.
How amazing is the poster this year? I love it...

Equinox, Washington, DC

This post is a little after the fact, but I really wanted you to see a glimpse into Equinox, one of the two restaurants that came up when I searched "farm-to-table" restaurants within Washington, DC. All I wanted was something to stand up to Denvers Rootdown, but I think that may have been asking a bit too much. I had this idea that being the Nations capital, Washington, DC would have amazing forward-thinking, farm-to-table restaurants. It must be the California in me seeping out.

Equinox wasn't bad but it didn't blow me or Matt out of the water (especially for the price). Certain things were delicious like the Sweet and Sour Eggplant and Matt's Grouper Filet but it wasn't enough for us to give our overall experience an "A."

I don't exactly want to sit and nit-pick the meal since some of the things are personal preferences but I do want to focus on one important thing, which are the scallops. They were "potato crusted" which sounded great but they didn't tell me the scallop underneath would be naked. I don't care what is adorning my scallop and how crunchy that item is, I like the actual piece of shellfish to be seared with a delicious crust. As I went to cut into the first scallop the potato crust fell off and I was shocked to see my little scallop looking like I caught him with his pants off, all white and steamed looking. The flavor wasn't bad, actually that potato crust was quite delicious, but I need that crust!

One other thing I'll say is the mignardines (little desserts that come with the check) weren't fabulous. The little shortbread cookies tasted a little like take-and-bake Pillsbury sugar cookies and the jellies didn't quite taste like Cherry as the waiter had said. I've been super into jellies lately so was a bit bummed.

BUT, the place was super cute and I hear Equinox is where all the big-wig Capitol Hill people go to eat lunch and talk everything important. If I go next time I'll have to read up on my politics and go for lunch!

They offered cornbread, Grugeres and rustic white bread, Yum!

Carolina Red Grouper Filet “en Brodetto” 29
Little Neck Clams, Maine Mussels, Chorizo, Saffron Broth

Potato Crusted Montauk Diver Scallops 31
Sweet & Sour Eggplant, Baby Spinach, Toasted Pinoli

Matt eating the shortbread at the end of the meal...he must be thinking about those Pillsbury cookies :)

How classy is this ceiling?? I loved it

Just me and D.C.

I was in Washington D.C. on Saturday, without obligation to go into work and decided to spend the day checking out the mall by myself, since my one friend had to work a 15 hour shift.

I've decided I don't like doing things like this alone; maybe sometimes, but not this day. There were crowds (thousands) of people for some One Union rally and I didn't know where to find food and I wasn't in the mood to be friendly and fun. Plus I wasn't wearing the correct shoes so my feet hurt from all that darn walking...but don't get me wrong, I'm all about walking in new places....usually.

I was, however, grateful for the beautiful sun that really only came out this one day our of the 8 I was in D.C. and that I brought my camera with me so I could take some pics. The days leading up to this perfect day were filled with tropical storms and the days following were normal rainy/cold days. The East Coast is strange.


The National Botanic Garden has a Jungle room with humidity fans and warm mist, making the room incredibly warm, as you can imagine. Within that room you can climb a couple flights of stairs to walk the canopy where it's even more humid and hard to breathe. By the time I circled the place I was dripping with sweat from head to toe all the while envisioning my make up being melted off and there being no chance I could hit up a good restaurant later looking like I had just run a marathon. To make my insecurities worse, when I came down I received weird stares as if these people didn't just see me climb down from the canopy! It was hot up there!