celebration weekend, thai rice bento

Hi bento pals! This weekend, Jamison and I celebrated our 8th anniversary with some great meals in D.C. We returned to Kushi, a wonderful Japanese izakaya-style place last visited on my birthday in July. This time we savored a long lunch with lovely food and yuzu-flavored drinks. A refreshing seaweed salad to start:

Awesome items from the grill...scallion and duck:

This tender chicken-scallion sausage was delectable!

Still life behind the sushi bar

Sushi chefs at work...

Beautifully fresh sushi! The pickled ginger here is so vibrantly flavored, best I've tried...

It was very cold indeed this weekend, so we took a super-brisk walk from Kushi to our hotel, passing through Chinatown on the way. I ducked in a favorite housewares spot and found a silk purse (whose colors inspired today's bento) and some cute chopsticks!

We stayed at the fun and elegant Hotel Monaco, across the street from the National Portrait Gallery and in a neighborhood full of vibrant restaurants. Poste is located in the lobby of the Monaco, so we were able to enjoy the following special brunch without venturing into the below-freezing weather Saturday morning.

Some meals just inspire and amaze...this was one. Jamison's beef tartare was a carefully and beautifully composed work of art. Over a delicate bed of salsify, the tartare was topped with a quail egg and bound together with an ethereal dressing:

Served alongside, a flavorful bit of carpaccio and tiny potatoes with a soulful roasted garlic sauce. You can't see it from this photo, but a fresh baked brioche was part of the presentation, adding yet another layer of luxurious texture.

When not sampling Jamison's dishes, I turned my attention to a super tasty duck pastrami Reuben on lovely warm pumpernickel bread:

Eggs Hussarde with delicately poached eggs layered over a perfect hollandaise sauce,  cozily accommodated in two crisp tender potato halves:

Vibrant roasted tomatoes and richly flavored bacon added deep flavors to this beautiful dish. A meal to remember! 

Today's bento was inspired by the vibrant colors of a hyacinth bouquet currently filling the house with sweet aromas, an orange silk pouch, and a large box of clementines...as well as leftovers from a Thai meal of spicy shrimp that I've extended with brown rice and baby peppers. Fresh salad greens, clementines and blueberries in the bento, too:

Happy Tuesday!