Family picture with the happy couple:
(That grey lace dress - a new favorite from Bunky Boutique, given that I wore it to another wedding!)
Mom-side girl cousins at the family lunch on Sunday:
The last time I was in DC was around 10 years ago, also for a weekend, when I met up with Greg when we both happened to be traveling on the East coast for work (blogged here: Weekend in DC).
This time, Greg and I considered going to the wedding with the entire family, but ultimately decided that it wouldn't be worth the effort and cost to bring the kids, so Greg (taking one for the team, heh) stayed home with the kids.
Lodging
My cousin's ceremony and reception were both in Capitol Hill, so I found this Airbnb within walking distance of both venues: Comfortable chic two bedroom in fantastic location in Washington, DC. It was only a couple/few blocks from Eastern Market, Eastern Market Metro station, restaurants, etc.The Airbnb is the basement unit of a historic rowhouse. The unit's been renovated, so I found it to be a nice place to stay. The nice thing about an Airbnb is that we had access to a full kitchen, as well as an in-unit washer and dryer. Overall, I felt like it was better value than a hotel. (Pictures from the Airbnb listing, because it already had good pictures!)
There was also a park across the street, and there's a historic manor house (Maples manor house on Capitol Hill) from the late 1700's/early 1800's that's now been divided into condos - apparently George Washington used to visit the property!
Since it was a basement unit, it can get loud depending on the guests upstairs (which is also an Airbnb - the "Pink Palace"). The first morning, there was a family with kids, so that was louder than the other mornings when the guests were likely just adults. And since it is an older home, you can hear footsteps of people upstairs just when they're walking around, but the normal walking around didn't bother me much.
Dining
TED'S BULLETIN
We got into DC Thursday night around 9:00, which means we ended up having a late dinner. My cousin had mentioned Ted's Bulletin having homemade Pop-Tarts, so we decided to go there for a late dinner to check it out. I had grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. It was good, but I'm not sure grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup are the best choice to gauge how good the restaurant is.
Kevin and I also did takeout one morning in order to try out the homemade Pop-Tarts, especially since there was a big breakfast crowd. We tried the strawberry, blueberry, and salted caramel flavors. My favorite was salted caramel, but it was rich. We split each flavor three ways so we could all try each flavor, and that was enough for me.
FOUNDING FARMERS
Founding Farmers is highly recommended and rated, and my cousin had the foresight to make a reservation for lunch on the Friday we were there. The reservation was for 1:00 pm, but we still ended up waiting 10 or 15 minutes to be seated. As an appetizer, we also split an order of the brie farm bread. I would liken it to the bruschetta at Postino Wine Cafe.
I ordered a mushroom risotto and it was tasty indeed.
BOURBON COFFEE
No picture here since we grabbed coffee on our way to do some sightseeing, but Bourbon Coffee is a pretty well-rated place on Yelp that was walking distance on the way from our Airbnb to the Eastern Market metro station. We didn't end up taking the subway though - my mom got wind of the convenience and affordability of Uber and that's what she preferred to take (I think if it'd only been me and my brother, we would've taken the metro).NOOSHI
Nooshi is an Asian fusion restaurant that was along the main drag near Eastern Market. Kevin and I went there for dinner one night since my mom didn't feel like going out for dinner, but Kevin and I wanted to experience DC a little more, even if it was within walking distance. I got the char siu ramen - I'd rate it as decent.
