after dinner sneeze

t says: On our trip to VA (which we made primarily to visit the Inn at Little Washington), g and I stayed at the Foster Harris House Bed and Breakfast.  It was this cute little place run by a husband-wife team (and their son and dog) right down the street from the Inn.  While one could have walked from the Inn to the B&B, there was very little even sidewalk, so we actually drove between the two (all 15 seconds).  Had the weather been warmer, we would have walked it … but it ended up being a little chilly.  As a matter of fact, it snowed the last night we were there – this is what we awoke to:

Disregard the screen in our window - the landscape is pretty!

As you can see, the backyard of the B&B looks out onto nearby mountains and fields.  We actually sat and picnicked on those two chairs you see in the foreground the day before it snowed!  It was like we had two seasons – spring and winter!  It was such a beautiful area.

Aside from setting, Foster Harris House has a few other awesome benefits.  g and I jumped on a Living Social deal, so we stayed in the bomb-diggity suite at like 60-70% off (which didn’t necessarily make it “cheap”, rather, “reasonable”).  The place was spotlessly clean (g wasn’t afraid to use the bathrooms/shower/towels/sheets … and she has very high standards!), and furnished to give a warm, homely feeling throughout the room.  We also had a little sitting “nook” which we sat and sipped wine in as it looked out over the landscape (that’s where I took the picture).  As for the bathroom, it was tastefully adorned with marble and 6 shower heads (1 normal, 1 of those hand-held things, and 4 jets from the walls – 2 at shoulder height, 2 at waist height) – it made it very difficult to go back to “normal” showers when we returned home.  And we read that another room has a jacuzzi!!  The room also featured this fake electric “fireplace” that actually did spew heat, keeping us extra warm and cozy when it was snowing outside (it added a nice fire-like ambience – hoky but cute).

Finally, the owners also prided themselves on providing a dynamite breakfast in the mornings.  John would cook these beautiful three-course meals for all the guests each morning at 9:30am.  g normally feels that such forced socialization is stupid, but the food was pretty and tasty and the meal was low-key (and included in the room rate), so she survived (and then I’d get to talk about the other guests later on behind their backs … I’m mean like that – g refuses to partake in such character assassination). The meals consisted of a fruit-granola-yogurt first course with some frickin-delicious Talula’s-Table-esque scones, a protein-centric second course (e.g. eggs, meat, etc), and a small, sweeter carb-centric final course.  I of course enjoyed the final courses on both days the most:

World's tiniest pancakes! ... out of focus!

Some fancy German pancake.

Now, there were other things we did on our trip, so we’ll share with you two of the funniest things we did.  The first was a visit to a very famous winery …

Anybody watch Real Housewives of DC?

So anyone who’s watched the Real Housewives of DC (I actually haven’t, but g has a little) will know of the Oasis Vineyards, run by those people who crashed the White House parties.  As you can see, they weren’t taking visitors that day …

Another one that we had visited was set up by an Indian man/family with a very compelling story – something about how his mom had sacrificed so much for him to study in the US that he opened this winery and dedicated it to her.  He seemed like a very nice man, but unfortunately his wines were not much better than alcoholic fruit juice.  Sorry – I tell it like it is.  But what was funny is that they had tons of merchandising and also served Indian food!

Butter chicken and samosas with wine?

Unfortunately, like the wine, the food was unremarkable.  Sorry kp.  You better travel down to Narmada Winery and set them straight!

Overall, the trip to VA wine country was splendid.  It really was as relaxing as our trip to Napa.  The quality of the food and wine might not have been as high (with the exception of the Inn), but it it costs 90% less to travel there, and some of the sights are just as impressive, so it deserves some props.  I hope we can visit again with some friends.  I don’t know if we could all eat at the Inn or something, but it’d be a lot of fun to pack out an entire B&B and go vineyard-hopping!

P.S.  We also have a cookbook from the Foster Harris House … and they have the recipe for their scones in there.  It’s go-time!