If you are of a similar age as me you may remember the old Sears and Roebuck Holiday Catalog. These massive phonebook sized wish books would provide hours of entertainment flipping through them to see what secrets they revealed. As a child I remember searching through it trying to glean what neat new toy or gift to ask Santa.

I had a flashback of the recently when the New York City Institute of Culinary Education’s Summer 2009 catalog arrived in my mailbox. While it is not as massive as the old Sears Catalog it is still jam packed with hours of delightful diversions.  ICE’s recreational cooking program boasts the largest hands-on cooking program in the world and looking at the dozens and dozens of courses I would have no reason to doubt the claim.

Their courses cover the basics of knife work and kitchen craft to regional tastes and cooking classes. They bring together celebrity chefs, cookbook authors and local culinary stars to teach their courses. The classes range from a couple of hours to a couple of days.

One of the more impressive offerings is a five day “Global Culinary Adventure of New York City.” The class explores China flavors, French, Italian, Latin influences and final American. The program includes hands-on cooking lessons, tours of ethnic neighborhoods visiting some well-known and off the beaten path markets, plus you will visit six restaurants that exemplify New York’s global influences. The course is offered twice during the next six months: June 22-26 and Oct 19-23rd. It is listed at a very reasonable $1250 for the classes and tastings. Hotel and transfers are extra. If you are interested in the program you can contact us at jstacy@itsyourtrip.com or ICE directly at 212-847-0700. 

Ice Summer Catalog

This past weekend my wife and I traveled to Washington DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival.  While there we visited two interesting museums - The National Crime & Punishment Museum and the International Spy Museum.  The Crime and Punishment Museum hosts the production studios of Americas Most Wanted TV show. Both were a good way to spend a rainy Saturday in DC. 

The highlight was the weekend was riding our bikes from Old Town Alexandria to the Cherry Blossom Festival on Sunday.  We rode along the Mount Vernon Trail which is a very scenic bike trail that follows the Potomac River past Reagan National Airport and into the District. Alas, I had two flat tires before we decided to return to Alexandria and take the Metro to the Cherry Blossom Festival. Still the ride was very enjoyable.

On Monday we drove to Mount Vernon to visit George Washington’s estate. I was very surprised that we spent five hours there. I was only expecting to stay a couple of hours but it was very interesting and historical site.

Here are some pictures of the blossoms along the Tidal Basin:

2009 Cherry Blossom Festival

2009 Cherry Blossom Festival - Jefferson Memorial

2009 Cherry Blossom Festival - Pagoda

 We stayed at the Hotel Monaco - Old Town Alexandria for our trip and enjoyed it very much.  Old Town Alexandria is the third-oldest historic district in the United States and is a wonderful base to visit DC, which is a 20-minute metro ride away. The city offers a complimentary trolley the goes up and down King Street from the Metro Stop to the Waterfront so you can enjoy the many shops, restaurants and boutiques along the street. 

Enjoying Old Town Alexandria

I was delighted to find an authentic fish and chip shop a few blocks from our hotel, Eamonn’s Dublin Chipper  (728 King Street, Old Town Alexandria).  The first thing you notice when you walk in is their “Thanks Be To Cod” slogan on the door. The eatery is not very large with seating for maybe a dozen or so people. I guess they must do a fair amount of take away business.

The food is very reminiscent of the fish and chip shops throughout England and Ireland. During my visit they offered both Cod and Grouper along with excellent chips (square cut french fries). Being traditional I choose the Cod and it was very good and flaky. They offer six types of seasoned tarter sauces to choose from including a curry flavor. They also have Guinness on tap which was a nice feature.  Of course they offer deep fried candy bars but I passed on it this time.

I found the food to be of good quality and tasty but a little pricey for what you got. My large cod with regular fries was $11 and the Guinness was $5.25 a glass.  Still the atmosphere and food were a nice way to finish off our visit to DC.  And if you wanted to continue the Irish theme you can head across the street to Murphy’s Grand Irish Pub (718 King Street, Old Town Alexandria) for live Irish Music and a few more Guinness’s. Slainte’

Eammon Fish & Chips