Robbing the Cradle and Other Goings On

What did I expect really? I should have had sense enough to stay home this past weekend given that Friday was Friday the 13th and Saturday was the hideous fake holiday known as Valentine's Day. As some of you may know, I am a fan of the day after - February 15th - which I have previously referred to as Veteran's Day for Singles.

But the weekend started off well enough. I had planned to stock my kitchen with lots of decadent goodies on my first trip to Trader Joe's. The store has been open for some time now but given my dislike of grocery shopping, I haven't been motivated to hike or bus 16 blocks away just to do it. I now see why everyone loves the Joe! Afterwards, I decided to get some exercise and walk up M Street. The wind was really kicking up that day so when I ran into an Illy coffeeshop I absolutely had to stop in for a cappuccino. This is the best coffee ever! I have never had a better cappuccino. The shop is connected to the Renaissance M Street Hotel lounge. The lounge, with its incredibly comfortable seating and attractive decor, was just what I needed to relax and get some reading done.

I was scheduled for a trip to the hair salon the next day and figured why not get a manicure as well. Both appointments went extremely well. I left there to meet friends up the street at Palette's bar. We thought it would be fun to eat, drink, and mock the Valentine's Day dinner guests. I decided to order the burger since like Adventures in Shaw, am on a mission to find DC's best burger. As the foodie she is, her hunt is way more systematic. For me it's: I like the burger or I don't. And I did not like Palette's burger. No flavor at all. Like Palena, I would probably just like their other, more complex dishes better. Oh well. After too much champagne and shots of Grand Marnier, I headed home and crashed.

The next day was filled with brunch, shopping, watching the NBA All-Star game (why does the West always win?), and finally dinner at Sei, which I was really looking forward to. I had been hearing so many great things about the sushi at Sei since they opened last month. I love sushi but have become quite bored with the sushi restaurants in DC. Since they also own Oya, I was expecting the place to be chic, and it was. The all-white theme is the same as Oya but I love the details and lighting at Sei like the corseted chairs and menus. And the service was amazing from the moment we sat down. The sushi? Oh my! This was indeed the best sushi I've had in a very long time. What

seemed to make this experience even sweeter? An attractive, well-dressed guy comes over to us at the sushi counter and decides to chat with me. Yes, I was being hit on by a 20-something newbie to DC. He even insisted on paying my bill. Gee, how often does that happen? We exchanged cards and agreed to meet the next day for an early dinner. Ok, so I had a date for President's Day. We met at Marvin and talked so long that we ended up in the lounge listening to the sounds of DJ Jahsonic. Seemingly nice, intelligent, guy. A bartender friend joked that I was robbing the cradle. Talking turned to dancing and somewhere between Belgian beers, he told me that he was a psychic. Funny, right? Well, as I found out the next day, he was totally serious. A psychic? Just when I thought I had heard it all! So now DC is importing crazies.

Sphere: Related Content