Taste of DC 2011

So I was completely oblivious to the fact that Taste of DC was occurring over Columbus Day weekend until that Saturday, when someone off-handedly mentioned it. And I was like, say what?! At that moment, I knew what my weekend goal was; make it into DC for some delicious food.

I held off until Monday, in hopes that tourists and all those folks who had to work would be otherwise occupied. And, it actually wasn't so bad. The lines were good, we didn't have to wait more than a few minutes at any of the booths we stopped at. Granted, the one booth I really wanted to stop at (Wicked Waffle) had a line significantly longer than the others... so we skipped it.

Our first stop was at Ben's Chili Bowl. Where I got this

A chili half-smoke. Yum, the chili was perfectly spicy. My first Ben's experience was delicious, maybe I'll attempt the trek out to the actual shop sometime...

Next up was some Indian food, from Nirvana Express. I chose the samosa, which was delicious. Mostly filled with potato, the occasional other veggie mixed in as well. What really sold me on the samosa though was the sauce that they drizzled over top before handing it over. I have no idea what it was, but I do know that it was mighty tasty. 

From there we moved on to Irish. Sort-of. James Hoban's had a booth, and given the amount of food I'd already consumed, I thought well, I can probably handle a baby quiche. Is quiche Irish? Have I just missed this fact all these years? Oh well. It turned out to be more than I was expecting in a serving, but it was very tasty. Nice and eggy with little bits of ham and cheese. And on a side-note, next time someone tells you that the 'baby quiche' is made with babies... ask them if the babies are real or fake, as you only eat real babies... trust me, the reaction is awesome* 

To end the deliciousness I chose a simple bag of cinnamon almonds. These are a new favorite of mine after years of shunning any sort of nut. I wish they had been warm though, freshly made cinnamon almonds are hard to beat.

* not intended to offend anyone, sorry if it did. You're just getting a better picture of my bizarre sense of humor...

Cinnamon Chip Muffins

This is probably one of those muffins that is more dessert than actual muffin. Though it includes applesauce, so I like to think of it as healthy... ish. Soft and moist with delicious cinnamon throughout, these are so good fresh from the oven and slightly warm. To push it decidedly over into the dessert category I'll sometimes add a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Otherwise the muffins will get a drizzle of powdered sugar glaze.

The recipe comes from Hershey, originally a coffee cake recipe. 


Cinnamon Chip Muffins


1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup applesauce
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
10 oz cinnamon chips
powdered sugar glaze - optional

Preheat the oven to 350°
Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the vanilla and eggs.
Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Stir in the cinnamon chips.

Fill muffin tins about 3/4 of the way, bake for 18 minutes. Let cool and, if desired, drizzle powdered sugar glaze across the top.

Alexandria Cupcakes

Here it is, the promised review of Alexandria Cupcakes.


My sisters and I all went one weekend, each getting a different flavor. Between us we tried the Blackberry, Lemon, and Raspberry cupcakes. We did share little nibbles of the icings so we could all get at least an idea of each.

I got the blackberry cupcake. First bite was just so-so. But it grew on me. By the end I was really enjoying the flavor in the icing. I assume the icing was a buttercream, just because that's what the general cupcake is iced with. If it was, it was a good one. I tend not to like buttercreams as they can well, get a little too buttery. There was enough Blackberry flavor to it though that I didn't notice. Again, if it was a buttercream. The cake part wasn't too flavorful, or the icing just overpowered. It was also kind of a not so fabulous color, a greyish purple-y color. Ignoring that, it was a decent cupcake, maybe slightly on the dry side.

I didn't hear any complaints from my sisters, so I assume their cucpakes were good. As far as the icing flavors go I ranked them: Lemon, Raspberry, and then Blackberry.

Overall, a decent cupcakery. I have no idea if they're connected at all, but, the cupcakes have always reminded me a little bit of Georgetown Cupcakes. To which I have been but will likely never go back to, for many reasons... I won't go into it.

In the end though, if you are in Old Town and looking for a cupcake, I would recommend Lavender Moon over Alexandria Cupcakes.

Just to note: there isn't much seating; one table. So don't expect to be able to sit down and eat in. This isn't a big deal, unless you like to stage and photograph your food... but uhm, who does that...