Duck and Cupcakes: Part One of a Fun Weekend

This past weekend was a lot of fun. My roomate's younger sister arrived on Thursday to visit her for the week. While they went to the Newseum on Saturday, I attended a conference about women's education and empowerment. It was amazing to here from such influential speakers from the D.C. area about what we can do to help women here in the U.S. and around the world.

Later that night I met with my roommate, her sister and a friend for dinner at Chinatown Express, which is a block or two away from the metro station. It looks like a hole in the wall, but had more tables than I thought it would. There was a cute little window where you could see the noodle chef making their famous noodles and some of their Peking Ducks. (Warning for a close up photo of cooked duck heads)

Once inside the crowded and hectic space, I had some tea and then ordered a bounty of food. On the table was steamed pork buns, sweet and sour chicken, hot and sour soup, wonton soup, fresh noodle soup with roast duck, Peking Duck and steamed rice with roast duck. Everything was delicious and the duck was succulent (I cannot for the life of me think of a better word). 

Afterwards we donned our coats and scarves and headed out into the chilly autumn night to find dessert. We ended up strolling to Red Velvet Cupcakery that I talked about in this post. My roommate got the Red Velvet cupcake, her sister got the B-Day cupcake and I got their special cupcake of the day. Corn and Honey. I know, but hear me out. While a bit unusual, it was amazing. It reminded me of Thanksgiving when I'm eating cornbread with honey surrounded by my family. While I don't have any pictures, I highly recommend you trying it. 

The next post will be about the next day's adventure to the American Girl Place in Virginia. And yes, we are nine years old. 

Thanks for reading and I'll see you tomorrow!

Love,

Kara 

A Day in the Life | Dim Sum and a Cupcake

Hello! This past Sunday my family met up with two of Dad’s friends from high school and their families for Dim Sum in Chinatown. Dim Sum is, according Merriam-Webster, traditional Chinese meal made up of small dishes. We went to the Empire Garden on Washington St., which used to be a theatre and is now a beautiful restaurant.

Our family has been to this restaurant for Dim Sum a number of times and it is always delicious. The wait staff pushes carts around with tons of small dishes, you pick what you want from said cart, and then your card is stamped with what dishes you picked. When your stomach is bursting at the seams and you admit defeat, then you bring your card to the front desk and pay.

I really enjoy eating Dim Sum in Chinatown because you know that the food will be authentic. When Americans usually think of Chinese food, they think of orange chicken, lo mein, and sweet and sour chicken. But at the Empire Garden, there were mostly wontons and dumplings. We also had noodles, vegetables and tea. Without further ado, here are the pictures of Dim Sum.

After eating enough food to last us until dinnertime, we headed out into Boston to walk it off. We went to the Boston Gardens to go on a swan boat. The last time I had done this, it was freezing and I couldn’t wait to get off. This time, however, it was warm and comfortable. I took lots of photos of the ducks, swans and water. I love taking photos of water because it is always different and, as Pocahontas says “You never step in the same river twice.”

We walked up and down Newbury Street, strolling in and out of cute boutiques and lamenting over the fact the all of Juicy Couture’s US stores are closed. Or at least Mom and I were. Before going back to the car, we stopped for some cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcakes. As if you couldn’t guess, I LOVE cupcakes! If I could eat them everyday, then I would. I got the Mocha Fudge cupcake and Em got the chocolate cupcake. Both were really yummy.

It was a delicious ending to an overall delicious day! Thanks for reading!