coco loco

on tuesday (october 28) evening, i was supposed to go to the annual high heel drag race in dupont circle. but i had gone last year, and i wasn't really sure that i wanted to be standing in the crowd and in the cold and then not see very much. so, when i found out that it was going to be rainy and possibly showering, i changed my mind about going. i decided to go meet up with my friend, amber, instead. i thought i might still be able to meet up with folks later to see the race, but i didn't. so here is a link to a video of the event instead.

ever since i had this awesome hot chocolate--tasted like pure melted chocolate--at naked chocolate cafe in philly, i'd been wanting to find a similar place. before i left for dc, we looked for some places in dc. on tuesday, meann reminded that i still need to go. so, i asked amber to meet me at co co. sala, a chocolate lounge that just opened in september.

unfortunately, amber had already eaten and i didn't exactly want her to just watch me eat. so i only ordered one appetizer (the place doesn't really serve entrees), along with my dessert. i had the crispy louisiana crabcake served with mango salsa, chipotle tomato glaze, and avocado cilantro emulsion. this was very good.


co co. sala serves 3-course chocolate desserts. i couldn't decide between the italian voyage and aztec experience and, since amber was also deciding between the two, we thought we'd get both and share.

the italian voyage consisted of: panna cotta with chocolate praline soup, 3 flavors of tiramisu: classic / fraise de bois / chocolate, and tuscan ricotta bite and chocolate dipped ameretti. they were all quite good, though i think amber and i both agree that the tiramisu was the best out of the three.




the aztec experience consisted of: churros with dulce de leche dip, hot chocolate soufflé with fiery chocolate center served with coffee ice cream, a piece of chocolate and a kahlua soother, and chocolate-infused horchata and a mexican wedding cookie. hands down, the soufflé was the most delicious part of the meal.




i really enjoyed this restaurant. i wish i could have tried more of the appetizers. and i was too sugared out to even try the hot chocolate. i will definitely have to come here again. i'm glad i opted to hang out with amber and go to co co. sala. it was a lovely ending to my trip.

leaf-peeping

i really wanted to visit dc in october so i could go leaf-peeping. last year, i was able to go to skyline drive and see some autumn leaves, but most of the trees hadn't quite reached peak colors yet. it looked like i was going to see some peak colors during my visit.

while at the university of virginia, there were some wonderfully-colored trees. even though it was a cloudy day, the colors were still vivid. here are some pictures i took on campus:






after a late lunch, we headed over to skyline drive, a prime place for leaf-peeping. it is over a hundred miles long and runs along the crest of the blue ridge mountains in shenandoah national park.


unfortunately, because it was already late on a cloudy day, we didn't have much light left with which to see the autumn splendor. we still got some pretty nice valley shots, though.








i wish i could have actually seen the trees when it's sunny and during daylight hours. but, there was a good thing about being in the park at dusk: the deer were starting to come out of the woods. i tried to get some shots, but i just got some blurry and/or dark ones. see if you can find them. we saw at least 20 of them.



after about half an hour, it was already dark and we couldn't take any more pictures. unfortunately, it took us at least another hour before we could get to the next exit out of the park. i felt bad that lan had to do all that driving. but i am glad that i got to go to skyline drive and see some color and some deer.

dining in downtown charlottesville

after touring the university of virginia campus, we headed over to downtown charlottesville for a late lunch. at the heart of downtown is the historic downtown mall, an outdoor pedestrian mall.


there are lots of restaurants in this area. many were closed, though, because it was that time in between lunch and dinner times. we ended up eating at hamiltons' at first & main. i had the smoked pork tenderloin in a red wine reduction with mascarpone sweet potatoes and mustard greens. lan had the shrimp with grits and the vegetable "blue plate special" (basically a mishmash of tofu, shiitake mushrooms, pumpkin, salad, beans). the food was just okay.




the dessert was much better. i know mine was. i had the pumpkin creme brulee. yum. lan had the passionfruit cheesecake with a macadamia crust.



on the way out of the mall, we saw these figures outside a neighboring restaurant. way to get into the halloween spirit. (or, at least, i think it's for halloween.)



charlottesville seems like an interesting place. i wish we had had time to explore more of downtown and try some more of its restaurants. i definitely would have liked to visit monticello and montpelier, but we just didn't have the time. maybe next time...

university of virginia

on monday (october 27), we woke up early so we could drive over to charlottesville, virginia. lan is thinking of graduate school, so she wanted to visit the university of virginia (uva) campus. i wanted to go leaf-peeping during this visit, so i figured we could both get what we want. and, anyway, i also didn't mind seeing the campus.

though we started out early and it was only supposed to be 2 1/2 hours away, we actually didn't get to the campus until 11. (it took us 3-3 1/2 hours.) we joined a campus tour that was already under way.

uva is a beautiful campus. founded and designed by thomas jefferson, it embodies jefferson's concept of an "academical village" of residences and classrooms around a large lawn. it, together with jefferson's home, monticello, has been designated a unesco world heritage site.

uva is built on land that was once owned by jefferson's good friend, james monroe.


the lawn and the surrounding buildings was and continue to be the locus of campus. at the head of the lawn is the rotunda, which is patterned after the pantheon in rome. the rotunda used to house the library and was meant to be the focal point. this is unlike other universities of the time where the church or chapel were the centers of campus. here are three shots of the building: taken from the front (actually i'm not sure which side is the front, but this is the side that is not on the lawn side) with a statue of jefferson in front, from the side, and the pillars overlooking the lawn.



for some reason, i don't have a picture of the rotunda taken from the lawn. but here are pics taken from the rotunda, looking out at the lawn.



other views, including the chapel and the amphitheater, taken from other spots.





here are some library-related shots: the alderman library, the clemons library, and clark hall/brown science & engineering library.




uva is a great campus. i didn't realize that it's a top university--currently ranked #2 public university (second only to my alma mater, uc berkeley), though sometimes ranked #1. if only it wasn't in such an out-of-the-way location (meaning, not near a big city), i might consider going to school there. (but what am i saying? i went to school in newfoundland of all places!)

dragon-boating

meann, my friend in the philippines, does dragon-boating. her team often gets together (though she often doesn't go) on weekends at the god-awful hours of 6 or 7am to practice on manila bay. when i've visited the philippines, she's asked if i wanted to go and paddle. i've always said no because 1) it's too early, 2) it's too hot even at those hours, 3) the bay is dirty and sometimes smelly close to the shore, 4) i don't know how to swim, and 5) they don't wear vests.

when i was there earlier this year, though, there was a dragon boat race. meann's team wasn't competing, so we just went and watched. here are some pics from that morning.





anyway, when the dates became set for my trip to dc, lan sent me an e-vite to the arboretum paddle. lan had paddled once before, and she invited lots of people to this event. sponsored by national capital area women's paddling association (ncawpa), members, family, and friends were invited to paddle up the anacostia river, dock for a potluck lunch at the national arboretum, and paddle back.

though i love the water, i'm really quite wary of anything that involves going in the middle of a body water because of the fact that i don't know how to swim. and i'm not exactly one for exercise either. but i figured this would be a safe thing, so in honor of meann, i decided to try it.

the event was supposed to start at 9am on sunday (october 26), but after getting vests and paddles, signing waiver forms, getting quick lesson on what to do, and warm-ups, we actually didn't leave the anacostia boathouse until about 10:15.


it was hard! when i first started, i was splashing the guy behind me so much. (and that's not fun, especially since the anacostia is filthy!) and i have absolutely no upper body strength, so i kept stopping. even though it was a cool morning, i quickly got hot from the vest and the exertion.

there were many newbies in the two boats, so we actually rested a lot. so, what was supposed to be a 45-minute paddle actually took us 90 minutes. it was almost noon when we got to the arboretum--that was supposed to be our estimated time of return to the boathouse.

needless to say, we were starving and immediately zoomed in to the food. thank goodness for hand sanitizer because, after getting our hands wet in that river, we certainly wouldn't want to be touching finger foods.


we were supposed to start rowing back at 1:30, so i decided to go to the restroom. this girl and i went together, but then we decided to follow two other people ahead of us. what was supposed to be a 10-minute walk turned into a 30-minute walk, since we ended up at the visitor center. it was 1:30 when we got there, and we still had to walk back. i was not a happy camper. (and i'm sure the folks who had to wait for us weren't either.)

the paddle back was even harder. i changed sides, so it was like learning all over again. and i was behind someone who was new, so i kept getting splashed (karma or what?). we raced the last 250m with the other boat. it was 3pm by the time we got back to the boathouse.

however, by the time we were done, my butt was hurting. later that afternoon, my lower back was hurting. by the next day, my shoulders and arms and legs were hurting. i was saying "ow" all day.

that was definitely an experience. i think we'd have been better off if we were paddling at a slower pace--long, slow strokes instead of their normal pace--so that we wouldn't have been so tired out and we could have gotten down the technique better. but i don't think i would mind trying it again. but it would be useless if they do their normal pace because i wouldn't be able to build endurance or learn proper techniques.

(i couldn't take pictures while we were paddling since my stuff were in the dry bag. one of lan's friends did, though, so hopefully i'll be able to get hold of a couple of the pics and post them here.)

fish pedicure

i took the red eye on friday night (october 24) and arrived in dc around 8:30 am. my friend, lan, picked me up from the airport. the two of us, along with two of lan's friends, had a 10:15 fish pedicure appointment at yvonne hair and nails in suburban alexandria. but i was hungry, so we first had to stop for breakfast. we were supposed to eat on the way to the salon, but we took the wrong exit, so we had breakfast at steam cafe in dupont circle. the food was so-so.

lan, her friend, chang-i, and i headed off to alexandria. we were running very late and lan's other friend, anh, was already waiting for us. anh is actually the one who discovered this place. she'd seen it on tv, so she tried it. this was her third time here.

this salon is supposedly the only one in the country that has this service. the salon and this particular service have gotten a lot of press. you can search online for articles and videos.

according to chang-i, this service is popular in south korea. it's also popular in other asian countries. basically, you put your feet in a tank full of small, flesh-eating carp. they nibble or suck off the dead skin off your feet.



it's a very weird feeling. you'd think it might be ticklish but it actually isn't like that. but it is very strange. there were a lot of customers, including a few girls. they screamed and giggled when they first felt it. we were sort of giggling, too, actually.


after 15 minutes of the fish nibbling, then you can have your actual pedicure. two of us had a regular pedicure, and two of us had the ocean spa pedicure. the spa pedicure basically included a bunch of treatments, leg massage, hot towel wrap, etc. so here are the final products. i have the purple sparkly nail polish.



though i think the actual pedicure left something to be desired (i still like the normal pedicures i've gotten), the fish and the spa parts were an experience. the whole thing was pricey, but it's certainly worth doing once (or more times).