Christmas, like the Jews
Disclaimer: I duly apologize for anyone I happen to offend with this post.
Merry (belated) Christmas to all those who celebrate it!
Since my momma and I were cruising around DC while my baby brother and dad were in Tampa, we decided to do Christmas the way all my Jewish friends do - movie and Chinese food!
And where better to do that than Chinatown?
Every single Jewish friend of mine celebrates Christmas the same way, which I find quite amusing.
I think it’s because movie theaters are open on Christmas Day anyway, and since a lot of Chinese don’t really follow Christian holidays/stay open regardless of what day it is, Chinese restaurants are the only ones open.
And of course we happened to find a Spanish restaurant for lunch.
La Tasca is a pretty nice restaurant that specializes in tapas. Tapas, for those who don’t know, are essentially the Spanish version of dim sum.
You order a bunch of small plates and share between the table.
Pan a la Catalana, which was this amazing grilled garlic bread soaked in high-quality olive oil with this super refreshing tomato salsa.
Queso Manchego, with aged Manchego cheese and imported fig jam. I loooove figs but this was my first time trying Manchego which is a cheese made from sheep’s milk… and it was absolutely fabulous! Kind of like a mixture between super sharp cheddar and parmesan…
My mom ordered a piquillos rellenos de Marisco, which were basically piquillo peppers stuffed with shrimp and scallops, over a tomato lobster cream sauce. According to her, muy bien!
And a salmon a la plancha, which was grilled salmon with fried mussels over a bed of spinach sauce.
And my mini veggie paella! How cute! This paella was absolutely perfectly cooked - each grain was really tender but al dente, and I couldn’t help think that the judges on Top Chef would be quite proud. They’re always whining and groaning about their risottos anyway.
Afterwards, we went to go see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which we both went into knowing close to nothing about the plot or even the storyline… and came out completely enthused.
The movie was surprisingly good, super intense, and quite exciting! Go see it.
Back home with honeydew melon…
Chinese takeout!
My huge pile of veggie fried rice…
Some Chinese nibbles that we picked up in Chinatown… those roasted peanuts are absolutely addictive. I don’t know exactly what’s in them since they’re coated in this crunchy shell of some sort, but I probably finished half that bag by myself… in two hours.
Cheap champagne, so classy!
And both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!
Cheers to the holidays!
