the district: founding farmers and E street

today will be the first installment of i hope many posts about things to do in dc. it's easy to be a tourist in this city, but dc offers so much more than what meets the eye. so as i try to rekindle my relationship with this beloved city, i'll share my successes with you!

Founding Farmers.
make reservations ahead of time because this place is packed.
we ate ourselves silly at this "farm-to-table" restaurant that buys its food from sustainable and local farms. the building is beautiful. the water is served in jars. they have delicious fresh drinks (me: cranberry cucumber, th: fresh ginger ale). the service was fantastic. and the food? oh the food.
flatbread with brie, green apple slices, and sweet onion jam.
fried buttermilk chicken with waffles and mac&cheese.
grilled plank salmon and crisp beans.
and desserts were to die for, though we were too stuffed for dessert. guess we'll have to go back.

after dinner, we took a lovely walk around the neighborhood.

we started at the IMF fountains, then passed by the white house and finally made a quick stop at The Willard - the hotel where lobbying was born (quite literally). the hotel, built in 1850, was popular with politicians back in the day and today you can eat at the restaurant, or grab drinks in the mahogany bar, or sit in the lobby and pretend to be rich. tres chic.

after the walk, we ducked into a bookstore for travel books in iceland, sat in the cafe for a bit, and then headed home to bed. the previous night we were in the same area and hung out at the navy memorial for a bit. a cool place to figure out where you want to travel in the world - a giant gold map is laid out in the plaza and it's never crowded.