Eastern Market

The Eastern Market is one of my favorite places in DC.  If you know me, you know that I love filling my home with original artwork and fresh flowers, sorting through vintage pieces, eating unique foods and hunting for a bargain.  What better place to do all of that than at Eastern Market on Sundays?

The Eastern Market is open every day except Monday and has every meat, fish, cheese, dessert, ethnic food and prepared food you can imagine.  It also has a small eatery where you can find their famous crab cake sandwiches.  The eatery has been featured in many newspaper and magazine articles, including one in Southern Living.

View from the market

Mom and Kevin enjoying their crab cake sandwich and fish sandwich.

   

Menu

Meats

   Cupcakes

Fish

Prepared dips and olives for sale

My favorite flowers :)

Lots of flowers 

Outside of the market there are various tents with people selling jewelry, paintings, crafts, organic fruits and veggies, clothes and photography on the street.  

Street vendors

Lots of people bring their dogs-- like this cute little guy.

Jams for sale

Local veggies

View of the outside of Eastern Market and the street

On Sundays there is also something called The Flea Market at Eastern Market that is held in the schoolyard beside Eastern Market.  They have vendors selling secondhand and restored furniture, handmade jewelry, vintage magazine advertisements and signs, t-shirts, candles, plants, vintage clothing and accessories and other unique handcrafted items.  

Entrance to the Flea Market

I have a small tin tile similar to the edges of these mirrors that I bought from another vendor, but I can't wait to purchase one of these gorgeous tin mirrors.  

This is what I ended up purchasing--  a handmade shelf made from scrap wood.  It has a mirror, rustic door handle and key hooks.  Can't wait to hang it!  :)  

 

Main Avenue Fish Market

The next time you are in the mood for some seafood, instead of going to your neighborhood grocery store check out The Main Avenue Fish Market, aka "the Warf."  The Warf makes seafood shopping a truly unique experience.

It is located on the Southwest waterfront right under 395.  It has several floating barge vendors selling anything from live local Maryland blue crab to squid and octopus.

The main sign

Blue crabs 

People checking out the crabs.

Alaskan crab, stone crab, dungeness crab 

They weigh the food and bag it up for you.

You can buy uncooked seafood and prepare it at home, or you can buy crabs and have them steamed there for free.  The guys that work there are really helpful and will tell you how to prepare the different seafood.  We got snow crab, dungeness crab and cooked shrimp with Old Bay.  

This is where we picked up our cooked shrimp.

The crab we got was already cooked, but we heated it up with a little boiling water for 10 minutes.  

After a quick trip to Crate and Barrel, we had all the utensils we needed!

  Crab and melted butter-- so steamy :) 

Dessert:  red velvet cupcakes, carrot cake and a candied pecan cupcake from Buzz Bakery.

Drowning in clutter?

I've always loved organizing my closet, now I'm turning it into a small business!

I'm taking on clients in the DC and NOVA area.  Message me if you are interested!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nicole-Tidwell-Personal-Organizer/148412361902568

Some of my work:

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After

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Great Southern and Creole Restaurant in Old Town

Why do my posts always involve food?

Anyway, I'm super excited about this new (to me) restaurant that my boss took us to today for lunch!  A lot of places around here may say that they have real "Southern" or "Creole" food, but I've been disappointed every time.  Not at Southside 815 in Old Town!

This menu was so amazing that it took me FOREVER to decide what I wanted for lunch.  We started out with fried green tomatoes and fried pickles for an appetizer.  The fried pickles came with fried shoestring onions as well.  They were good, but I've actually had better around here.  As for the fried green tomatoes, they were wonderful!  Both dishes came with a remoulade sauce that was very good.  

Next time I'll get the 815 biscuits for an appetizer:

815 Biscuits
Fresh backfin crab and Virginia ham simmered in homemade country gravy and served over sweeet potato biscuits 

Uh huh, I know.  

For lunch I was trying to decide what I've missed the most back home (since the whole menu looked great) and then order that.  I went with the chicken fried steak with gravy, mashed potatoes and then substituted the green beans for cheese grits.  Who needs greens?  The taste and portions did not disappoint.  

Here are a few things from the menu that I thought seemed interesting.  Classic, but with a twist--

New Orleans BBQ Shrimp

Four large grilled shrimp marinated in Southside's Low Country Lager, chili sauce, brown sugar and garlic. Served over our unique creole noodle pancake. 

Crab and Corn Drop FrittersFresh crabmeat and sweet corn mixed in our homemade fritter batter and deep-fried. Served with peach pepper jelly.

Jambalya CheesesteakChicken, shrimp, and andouille topped with sauteed onion and peppers, and jack cheese on a toasted sub roll. Accompanied by fries and coleslaw.

Low Country Shortcake
Roasted chicken, oysters and Mason-dixon mashed potatoes layered with conrbread, succotash and smothered with our homemade country gravy. Served after 5:00pm

Here is the full menu

Also, according to Yelp, they have a really great brunch.  Anyone in for a Sunday brunch?  I'll be having the "Southern Benedict" made with cornbread.  

   

Truckeroo!!

Yes, please.

This Friday we checked out an awesome food truck festival called Truckeroo.  It's a monthly festival that runs from June to October where food trucks from all around DC set up in once place-- right outside the Navy Yard metro beside Nats Stadium.  

http://www.truckeroodc.com/www/

I ended up having the Mumbai Butter Chicken on a pita from Sauca and Kevin had Beef Shawarma.  Our roommate Casey had some Butter Chicken as well, then hit up DC Empanadas for a snack.  I really wanted to try a lobster roll from Red Hook Lobster Pound or some Korean BBQ tacos from TaKorean per our friend Brian's suggestion, but the lines were outrageous.  The Butter Chicken was amazing, but hopefully next month I'll be patient enough to stand in the Red Hook and TaKorean lines so I can taste what everyone is talking about!   

Free Concert Fridays at Yards Park

This Friday we checked out a free concert at Yards Park.  The concert series runs every Friday of the Summer (May 13-Aug 19) from 6-8pm.  All you need is a picnic blanket, a few snacks, some extra classy boxed wine and your dancing shoes.  They also provide some tables and chairs if you have a big group or need a place to eat.

Concert by the water

Utilizing the table and chairs that were provided

Bre's famous Sangria and some classy Target boxed wine  

Thanks to Bre and Nick for planning this outing!

Here's the schedule for the rest of the Summer:


2011 Summer Concert Lineup
Friday 6 pm– 8 pm
May 13 Kelly Bell  (Phat Blues)
May 20 Monster Band  (Dance)
May 27 Sin Miedo  (Salsa)
June 3 Special Occasion  (R&B)
June 10 Sam 'O  (Caribbean)
June 17 The Congress  (Pop)
June 24 Jimi Smooth  (Motown)
July 1 Framewerk  (R&B, Funk)
July 8 Jah Works  (Reggae)
July 15 Cazhmiere  (Top-40)
July 22 Dr. FU  (Variety Rock)
July 29 Signature  (R&B/Funk)
August 5 Monster Band (Dance)
August 12 Quiet Fire  (Soul)
August 19 Chris Collat  (Soul, Funk, Blues)

"Relax on the river with friends and family, enjoy live music,
and a variety of food and drinks at the new Yards Park."

Check out this website for more info:  http://www.yardspark.org/_files/docs/concertflyer1.pdf.