Dinner at Home, thanks Julia for Moules Marinière recipe

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, otherwise known as "Wow, I feel like having mussels tonight."

I was sitting at work, nearing the end of a busy day, and was craving mussels, didn't really feel like going out...so I headed to a nearby Whole Foods and headed straight for the seafood counter, so glad to find a lovely lady willing to find me 50 really good looking mussels. And then I headed home, with some herbs and other necessary items...

soaked the mussels, just like Julia said

While they soaked I put all the necessary ingredients, white wine, butter, scallions, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, and added some Roma tomatoes into my favorite pot.

Added the mussels and served it along with a crusty loaf of french bread.

OK, so it is not a top 100 but it is a great easy meal to have at home, my craving as a result of eating mussels at Brabo for our first top 100 visit!

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A Road Trip to Dine with the Siblings in Princeton, NJ

OK, you are right The Blue Point Grill on Nassau Street in Princeton, NJ is not even close to DC and therefore not on the top 100, but it was an adventure and is worth writing about it! 

This was an adventure for a bunch of reasons-first because we drove 3 1/2 hours to eat here, not because we heard the food was great (which it was) but because it was (sort of) a central location for my brother from Houston who was visiting NY and my brother from Philly  and me to meet up, along with our spouses.

Back many years ago Eric and I actually lived in Princeton, while Eric was a student at the Seminary We were newlyweds and spent 3 'kind of' carefree years there, and left as a family of 3! I can't say we discovered many fine restaurants while there but we did love PJ's Pancake House, which is still there! 

So, back to The Blue Point Grill. The food was great, more oysters, on day 3 of this weekend. I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves. 

 a variety of oysters

brussels sprouts & beets

Entrees

and then desserts

Oh, I forgot to mention, of all the weekends to arrange this 'reunion' of sorts it was not just graduation weekend at Princeton University but also Reunions for all the alumni! Quite a site, this was just a very small sampling of the attire walking the streets!

So here we are, 2 older brothers, one much younger little sister, 2 wives (sister-in-laws) and 1 husband. It was well worth the trip just to have the moments to be together! I love these people:)

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A Perfect Warm Hearted Bistro for 2 Best Friends to Share Lunch, Central Michel Richard

I have been waiting for this weekend to arrive since Sue, my child hood/matron of honor/closer than a sister friend said she was coming to visit for a few days. She picked a place on the top 100 to share a meal. But first  I picked a place in Old Town for dinner on Thursday night when she arrived. Nora joined us at Hanks Oyster Bar (sorry no pics), we shared, oysters and mussels and mac & cheese and bread and a bottle of white. Everything was quite tasty, combined with heartwarming conversation as we reminisced about days gone by at a table by the window right in the front. If you are ever in Old Town looking for a quaint place with great oysters, it is definitely worth the wait!

So on to Central Michel Richard for day 2 of Sue's visit. We opted for lunch since the weather forecast was pretty grim tonight and we are pretty busy planning our upcoming Hawaii trip! The website says joyfully appetizing, I agree! From our table we had a great view of the Old Post Office, rumor has it the post office will be come a luxury hotel now that Donald Trump has bought it. Back to our meal, we started with a dozen oysters, one can never have too many oysters, especially not from Long Island.

on to the main courses...

Loup de mer (sea bass) with mushrooms, Sue's Pick

I selected the Hanger Steak au poivre with Frites

...we both agreed the best part of the meal, drum roll, dessert,

Banana Split-the title does not do it justice,

it was 'joyfully appetizing', 3 scoops of homemade ice cream, banana, creme anglais, whipped cream, and all the other necessary parts of a banana split!

we also split half of their signature dessert, Michel's Chocolate Bar-it is similar to a Kit Kat bar with a combination of rich hazelnut covered in a smooth silky chocolate..yum!

On our way back to the Navy Archives Metro Stop-we made a quick stop at the Navy Memorial

Thanks Sue for a memorable visit to another one of the top 100!

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