Back to the States

I needed to head back to DC for meetings, but wanted to do some visiting on the front end of the trip as well. I flew into Newark and headed up to my friends house in New York State to enjoy some rural peace and quiet. From there it was off to New Jersey to spend several days with my parents and to catch up with some friends from high school.

One night my parents and I went to Shogun Legends in Wall for sushi which was really nice. We also went to Graziano's in Point Pleasant one night with my cousins. I've been eating pizza in this place since I was 5 years old. There's even a waitress there that I remember from when I was a little kid. It's hardly changed, which is a good thing as it has no need to, great New Jersey Italian style food, the ultimate in comfort food. Then it was off to Annapolis to visit with my friend Jennie before heading to DC for a week of work.

Proof
On Sunday night, Janine and I went out for dinner at Proof in the city. The food was great, but the wine list is the real winner here. Plenty to choose from and most of it reasonably priced. I've been to so many restaurants in Europe where there's ten or 15 wines of reasonable prices and pages upon pages of "fine" wines starting at hundreds of dollars, so I really appreciate good choices. While they had several vegetarian options, they didn't offer a pre-determined vegetarian tasting menu, just a meat focused one. I had the impression that vegetarians were more an after thought than central to the menu's plan, however that didn't make the food any less excellent. I highly recommend it. It strikes me as a great place for lunch, I'm not sure if they are open on the weekend for lunch, but their proximity to the National Museum of American History and the National Portrait Gallery would make it a great stop for a leisurely lunch after a morning of museuming.