Thank you for chiming in about the wedding dress! And it was fun to hear about some of your own wedding attire experiences. I am excited and relieved to have that big project finished. Of course, there are always several more right behind it that I need to get a moving on. This holiday weekend, however, we’re taking a break and heading up the coast to Boston. Dave now has two siblings in the MA, and we are thrilled to have the chance to go visit.
Last night we kicked off the weekend right, by almost going to the Redskins game.
I say almost, because we were planning on going, had tickets and a sitter, then a few things happened. First, Milo woke up on the wrong side of the toddler bed, and we were crunched for time so my comfort measures (I think I used Smarties and Elmo:) put us behind schedule to pick Dave up from work. That, in turn, put us behind schedule to drop the kiddos at our friend’s house. Which got us on the road late. None of that would have mattered much, because the traffic as we drove through the city was stand-still. So, we detoured, which got us lost. In Anacostia. When we finally got back on track, by using both the GPS and the iPhone we missed our exit. After taking the next, turning around, and getting back on the beltway, we made it to the stadium an hour after the game had begun, and an hour and a half after our date had begun! Somehow we got stuck in a lane for parking pass holders, which is not us, and we had to figure out how to then exit the GREEN 2 lot. The exit was a line of cars at a stand-still waiting for a chance to enter the cash only pay lot where for $40.00 you can secure a spot. We neither had cash, nor wanted to pay double the price of our tickets to park, and it was now 8:30 pm and we were picking the boys up at 10:00 pm close to our home which was at least 30 minutes from the stadium (without detours and traffic!) Our moods were both slowly declining and we decided to save the date we’d have to cut our losses and choose something else to do. I was starving at this point, so I looked up the Washingtonian Cheap Eats 2011 list, searched by “Alexandria” neighborhood, and discovered Cheesetique.
Small, dim, and cozy with a gourmet cheese-centered menu.
It’s my kind of place.
We grabbed the one small empty table against the wall, browsed the cheese plate selections (menu above), and tried to unwind from the two-hours+ of nothing going quite right. Dave told me with a smirk that when we were in the car and he had asked what I was trying to do to help him stay in a good mood, and I answered “Being fine and telling you where to go.” That those two probably both weren’t things that would ever help his mood much (especially since he knows that “fine” pretty much means “horrible” in my vocabulary). And we laughed and flirted and ordered.
There is something about a cheese plate that says to me “Linger a little while. Take things slow. Savor this moment. Indulge in making a memory. Close your eyes. Breathe. Eat.” Each little bite gets to be a new, unique combination of flavors. It takes some thought and creativity and some time. I would eat like this every day.
For our plate, we chose the Raw Milk Manchengo, which we had eaten before and new we liked, and the Gjetost, which the server recommended as being “very different than most cheese” and “almost like caramel with the texture of peanut butter.” We loved it. The meat was Salumi Salami, which has now hit the top of my list of cured meat crushes. It was a tiny bit peppery and a tiny bit tangy. The glazed figs were slightly deep flavored for me, but delicious with the Manchengo. And I discovered a love of cornichons.
We spent an hour nibbling and chatting. For dinner Dave ordered the Muffaletta and I had a bowl of delicious tomato soup (tasted almost just like Porcupine’s, which is my ALL TIME favorite tomato soup, only available on Tuesdays, for the record.)
As the meal wound down, I found that I was entirely satisfied. Filled with fantastic food. Rejuvenated from some uninterrupted eye contact with my sweetheart. Happy with my little place in the world.
And then, they gave us an incredible loaf of artisan raisin bread for free, because it was close and they get it fresh daily. And it happened: Cheestique became my favorite restaurant in the whole world, just like that.
Okay, maybe I’m being slightly dramatic, but the evening had a pretty incredible turnaround from total disaster to smashing success. So, it really might be my favorite.
If you come visit DC sometime, I’ll accompany you there…and share your cornichons:)
Have a happy Labor Day weekend!
