September...Where in the World is Katie...San Diego, for one.

I have been a bad food blogger. I've been doing a lot of time eating, not a lot of time cooking, and absolutely no time blogging. A lot of this is because I've been busy traveling. A trip to the left coast here, a trip to the boonies of Maryland there...it's been easy to forget to blog regularly. Plus it didn't help that my computer decided to stop working a few weeks. But I've fixed the computer problem and by the time October rolls around, I'll be back to regular time in my own kitchen. And I'd like to get back to my roots of how this whole blog started...by cooking one new dish each week. But until then, I'm far past due on blogging about all the great food I've eaten over my last few weeks bopping around. So over the next two weeks, I'm going to do just that.

Here is my run down on places I've eaten in the greater D.C. area over the last few weeks. I'll follow this blog up with a rundown of the awesome food in San Diego and seeing as I'm heading to NYC this weekend, I'm sure I'll be writing about that as well. :)

Washington, DC

Little Serow: This awesome Dupont Circle restaurant serves a 7-course, prix-fixe, spicy Thai food menu that changes weekly (with some recurring players...like the spare ribs.) They don't take reservations, so be prepared to wait in line. This was my second place to this great spot and it continues to impress.

Ambar: It's rare to find an Eastern European restaurant in this area. Being someone whose heritage comes from that region, I grew up on occasional specialties from my grandmother's kitchen. Most of these were cookies, but she did make the occasional stuffed cabbage. I wasn't a fan of it at the time, being a picky eater as a child, but I tried it here and it was great. Also highly recommend the kebab.

Maryland

Family Meal: Top Chef is one of the few cooking shows I've watch religiously since it debuted on Bravo many years ago. Several seasons ago, the Voltaggio brothers were pitted against each other. I'm lucky enough to live in an area that boasts several Top Chef alums. For this meal, I traveled up to Frederick, MD for a great breakfast. Just look at that hash pictured above. Awesome stuff. If you can't score a reservation at Volt, give Family Meal a try.

The Helmand: This Baltimore mainstay serves great Afghan food. The family also has a restaurant in Boston and over the course of the weekend, two people commented on how its one of the better restaurants in Baltimore. So after a trip to a Red Sox/Orioles game, we popped in for a quick dinner. If you ever go, get the pumpkin with yogurt. And ask to add the ground beef. Heaven in an appetizer.