La Limena

On Friday, some friends convinced PB and I to make the journey out to a strip mall in Rockville to try this Peruvian restaurant, La Limena. I even wore my little santos that I bought in Lima for the occasion. Even though I generally try to avoid Maryland, I make exceptions where delicious food is involved. We ordered this ceviche de pescado that was seriously one of the best ceviches I've ever had. We got extra sweet potatoes (that I'm fairly certain were soaked in sugar) that were amazing. After sopping up our ceviches with the sweet potatoes, we got down to business. The business being steaks in the Limena style: that is a thin delicious steak with an easy over egg, nestled on top of fried yucca, rice, and plantains. Somehow struggling with a plastic knife over plastic plates just made it all the more satisfying. As did the light dusting of snow on the car when we left.

The mother lode: mmmmmmmm

Do you know any places for amazing food in DC area stripmalls?

La Limena
765-B Rockville PikeRockville,

MD 20850

(301) 424-8066

First Query

PB and I are not overly formal people. I mean, we like shmancy food, but mostly just because it tastes good (escargot, I'm looking at you). So now that it's getting time to register we have to decide what to do about things like "china" and "glassware." At first, I was really resitant to registering for China. We already have some really nice plain white square plates that I think look plenty formal (even if they are from Target). But in the spirit of, but when are you going to have people wanting to buy you beautiful things again, and "hey, I like pretty things," I've pretty much come around to the idea of adding it to the registry. I know some people might grow up knowing what kind of plates they like, but let's pretend I haven't and look at some options:

Kate Spade's line (available at Macy's) is, of course, classically beautiful

Library Lane: who doesn't love librarians?

Greene Street: so art deco

Crescent Drive: The name makes me think of Los Angeles...

Those might be just a little too classic for us, though. Some of the wares at Michael Fina might be a bit more up my alley:

The colors on these are actually pretty close to our wedding colors

I LOVE this setting (isn't the handle on the cup ridiculously cute) but at $300 a setting, I think I probably need to keep looking.

I have a bit of an obsession with cherry blossoms....and I think the salad plate is....well, darling

Okay, so I was perfectly happy with some of these options....until I saw these from Fitzu:

They're called ittala dewdrop and they're.....gorgeous. I love how they're modern and vintage looking at the same time. And...they're suprisingly affordable. Now, I just need to convince PB.....

Which ones do you like? Have you seen any more lustworthy pieces?

Hello....

For some reason, the idea of possessing good taste has seemed like a worthwhile goal. Some might call that insecurity, or the need for others to affirm just how awesome they are. Maybe that's true, but I say life is better when surrounded by beautiful and tasty things, so what's the problem?

In middle school, my existence was defined by trying to posses the ever-elusive good music taste (i.e. Nirvana, hey it was the 90's). And while I've never stopped loving the thrill of finding a new band that just perfectly combines vocal harmony and pop beats with low-fi production, I wanted more. More awesomely tasteful things....I wanted clothes. And so my foray into fishnets, huge floppy flowers (hey, it was 2000), chuck taylors, and huge sunglasses dominated most of my college years. It wasn't till I met my fiancee (or as I like to say, my intended) that I remembered the most important of tastes...taste! So the latter part of my 20's has been spent pouring over the washingtonian and yelp, looking for bahn mi or a good pot of mussels. And then....one day in July when I was least expecting it, I began a new taste frontier....weddings.

So, after obsessing about taste for the better part of my 28 years, it seemed like an appropriate time to obsess about it to everyone else.