Saturday Digest: Farmer's Market

One of our favorite Saturday morning activities is wandering and eating our way around the Old Town Alexandria Farmers' Market. From 7am to 12pm, year round it fills Market Square in front of City Hall. The produce, artisan woodwork, jams and honeys, kids clothes, local meats and eggs are all delicious. We love that this wonderful market is so close to home!
  

Neighborhood Gem: The Happy Tart

Last week I told you about a new neighborhood favorite, Stomping Ground in Del Ray, Alexandria. Right next door is a fantastic gluten-free patisserie - The Happy Tart. Oh boy! It's a very happy place! We try to eat gluten-free in our house the majority of the time and we have a number dear friends for whom gluten is a definite no, no. So to have a great gluten-free bakery 10 minutes from home is brilliant.

Petite cakes, macroons, cupcakes, cake pops and cookies all get The Happy Tart treatment. They also make stunning wedding and special occasion cakes that will keep all your guests happy. The thing is their baking doesn't taste gluten-free ... I mean it doesn't taste synthetic or bland! It tastes yummie! Couple this with friendly, knowledgeable staff and you're on to a winner. 

Gluten-free or not, this neighborhood gem is SO worth the visit!

New neigborhood gem: Stomping Ground

With a toddler and a limited budget for babysitters, finding family friendly places for brunch has become our eating out mission. Our latest tasting adventure was a new Southern-inspired restaurant in Del Ray, Alexandria, called Stomping Ground.

 

It's marketed as "your casual neigborhood place" which prides itself on "Seasonal first. Local and organic whenever possible. Buttermilk biscuits always". And it certainly lived up to its aims.  The vibe is relaxed with friendly staff and customers. It's industrial, parred down decor; varying seating options; mix and matched crockery; draws hipsters, young families, and retirees alike to breakfast Tuesday through Sunday, 7am to 3pm.

I ordered the Avocado Smash - a perfectly poached egg on top of yummie avocado mixture all hidden in a heavenly buttermilk biscuit. Accompanied by a sweetened ice tea it was a NOVA taste of the South. Delicious! 

Staycation

To be fair to The Beloved I've just enjoyed a 4 day vacation in Key West - so maybe he should be writing about the idea of a staycation rather than me! However, as a family, we're staycationing this week and next. We talked a lot about this holidaying decision and all the reasons to Staycation listed below lead us to our final choice to choose Home over Away.

Reasons to Staycation:

(1) SLEEP: Most nights Miss O sleeps 11 hours straight. To mess with a winning formal that gives us our evening and a good nights sleep seemed crazy. Also, we both sleep really well in our own bed with our own pillows - sleep is a gift, don't throw it away!

(2) COST: Today we went to an indoor play area in our local rec center which cost $5 for over an hour. We then enjoyed a picnic lunch, a long afternoon nap, a walk and a yummie BBQ in the yard all for minimal cost and we get to enjoy all the benefits from number (1). Happy days indeed.

(3) EASE OF THE FAMILIAR: We're both tired and to have to think about exploring and navigating a new place vs trying new places down the road ... well, with an 18 month old and the prospect of moving house next month looming over us, the less thinking the better, a staycation wins.

(4) LOCAL GEMS: We're fortunate to live in a great location with fantastic museums, parks, great towns, natural wonders, and facilities galore. We often joke that if we happened on our city of Alexandria on vacation we'd be wanting to move there! Staycation allows us to enjoy living in amazing city.

(5) HOME IS HAVEN: It's funny how sometimes rest only comes when we're somewhere different. This staycation has challenged us to find ways to rest, decompress and be refreshed at home.

I'm hopeful that this staycation will not only give us much needed rest in the short term but that it will teach us how to rest well throughout the year in the space that we call home. Happy holidays friends!

Great Day Out: Fort Ward

Last week a friend introduced me to Fort Ward Museum & Historic Site in Alexandria, VA. We liked it so much we've been twice already! It's a 10 minute drive from our house and it's perfect for a walk, play and picnic.

Alexandria City's website explains the historical importance of this Civil War site: 
"Fort Ward is the best preserved of the system of Union forts and batteries built to protect Washington, DC during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Fort Ward Museum interprets the site's history and offers exhibits on Civil War topics, education and interpretive programs, tours, lecture and video series, bus tours, and living history activities throughout the year. The Museum and Historic Site also interpret Alexandria, Virginia as an occupied city, the city's role as a vital Union Army crossroads, life within the Defenses of Washington, and the everyday life of Civil War soldiers and civilians. The historic fort provides visitors with an excellent understanding of Civil War-era military engineering. About 90% of the fort's earthwork walls are preserved and the Northwest Bastion has been restored and reconstructed to its original condition."

The City have done a great job of preserving this historical gem whilst making it accessible and user friendly for all sorts of visitors. There are civil war focused lectures and camps, reenactments and soldier led tours. The key parts of the fort are accessible and well interpreted with signage that has just the right amount of information that you can linger with a kid in a stroller, take in the info and not have cries of "Aw Done!" 

There is circular roadway that roams through the forested site - there are a few cars driving slowly, just keep it in mind for the little ones. Mostly the traffic is walkers, strollers and joggers.

 

 

Throughout the site there are picnic areas with tables and grills. They are brilliantly located in the shade of ancient tress that could tell a tale or two. As a City resident you can reserve these picnic areas which accomodate between 25-100 people. $75 gets you 4 hours of grilling and feasting in the forest - brilliant! There are lots of wide open spaces for to kids to burn off energy and plenty of large trees to use as a canopy for a rug and a flask of tea. Yes, folks even when it's 90 in the shade we love a cuppa.

With a play park, an amphitheater, two sets of public restrooms, two parking lots, stunning trees and free admission Fort Ward is definitely a wee gem! We can't wait to go back!