The White House at night during a February 2024 visit to Washington, DC.
The White House has been the official residence of every US president since John Adams in 1800. The photo shows the building lit up after dark.
It’s an easy walk from the National Mall, the Washington Monument and many of the Smithsonian museums.
Hungry? See where we ate in Washington, DC: Water Bar, Toryumon, Ala, Café Riggs and Quarterdeck.
DC traffic is serious. A view over Washington, DC, during a February 2024 visit, with the city’s roads and highways stretching off into the distance.
If you’re visiting DC, the Metro is usually the easiest way to get between the major sights and avoid the traffic.
Originally posted on Instagram.
Hungry? See where we ate in Washington, DC: Water Bar, Toryumon, Ala, Café Riggs and Quarterdeck.
In February 2024 we went to ilani Brewfest at ilani Resort in La Center, Washington, about 30 minutes north of Portland. The day combined a Grand Tasting full of food and beer with live cooking demos from two celebrity chefs, Antonia Lofaso and Gregory Gourdet.
The Grand Tasting filled one of ilani’s ballrooms. Chefs served small plates at stations around the room, alongside the beer the festival is named for.
The standout was Antonia Lofaso’s crab cake with jammy quail eggs and a frisée lardon salad. We also had a plate of thick-cut bacon, roast beef and cured salmon, and gnocchi in a cream sauce with braised beef.
The best part of the day was the kitchen stage. Antonia Lofaso, known from Top Chef and her Los Angeles restaurants, cooked live and talked the crowd through each step. Later, Portland chef Gregory Gourdet took the stage with his cookbook Everyone’s Table on the counter.
We’ve been to ilani for food events before. See our post on the ilani BBQ festival.
This post has affiliate links. If you book through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
Three days in Las Vegas in November 2023, planned around food: two of the Strip’s best-known buffets, a giant deli sandwich and a night at our favourite tiki bar off the Strip.
We landed and went straight to the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace. Glazed ribs, roast chicken, shrimp cocktail, fried rice, tacos and a shrimp soup, then a plate of desserts. It’s one of the biggest buffets in Vegas, and you can tell.
Breakfast on the Strip was smoked salmon, shrimp and grits and a bagel, followed by ham and an omelet. Then we walked through Caesars Palace, past the famous Caesar statue in the rotunda.
That afternoon there was time for one souvenir that won’t fit in a suitcase: a new tattoo of a retro flying saucer with rocket flames, done by Jason Tritten at Revolt Tattoos in the Fashion Show Mall.
In the evening we went to The Golden Tiki in Chinatown, just west of the Strip. It has glowing waterfalls, tiki lamps, a wall of shrunken heads and video poker built into the bar. We drank a daiquiri and pink and blue frozen tiki drinks, and one came in a skull mug.
Lunch was a towering pastrami Reuben from Greenberg’s Deli. It was barely enough room for dinner.
Dinner was The Buffet at Wynn, our pick for the best buffet of the trip. There were crab legs, sushi and nigiri, prime rib, and a dessert plate with a churro and strawberry cake.
We stayed at Caesars Palace, right in the middle of the Strip. The Bacchanal Buffet is downstairs, and the Wynn is a short ride north.
We went back to The Golden Tiki a year later for the holiday menu. See The Golden Tiki Las Vegas: Holiday Menu and Tiki Cocktails.
Can’t decide? Read our Bacchanal vs Wynn buffet comparison, with prices and our pick.
The Buffet at Wynn Las Vegas during a November 2023 trip.
Wynn’s buffet is one of the most highly regarded on the Strip, known for the quality of its food and its bright, garden-style dining room. The photos show a selection of plates from the visit, from savoury dishes to desserts.
Wynn sits at the north end of the Strip, close to the Fashion Show mall and the Las Vegas Convention Center.
This was part of our November 2023 Las Vegas trip. See all three days in Three Days of Eating in Las Vegas.
Originally posted on Instagram.
Can’t decide? Read our Bacchanal vs Wynn buffet comparison, with prices and our pick.
This post has affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
The Golden Tiki in Las Vegas, a tiki bar in the Chinatown area just west of the Strip.
The bar is known for its dark, kitschy interior packed with tiki carvings, shrunken heads and themed booths, along with a long menu of classic and original tropical cocktails. The photos show some of the drinks from this visit, including a bright blue one.
It’s open late, which makes it a popular stop after a show or a night on the Strip.
This was part of our November 2023 Las Vegas trip. See all three days in Three Days of Eating in Las Vegas.
If a trip to a tiki bar gets you hooked, here’s what we’d start with for a home bar. The full list is on our Tiki Bar Gear page.
Originally posted on Instagram.
The Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace during a November 2023 trip to Las Vegas.
Bacchanal is one of the largest buffets on the Strip, with stations covering everything from seafood and prime rib to dim sum, tacos and a long dessert line. The photos show some of the plates from this visit.
Reservations or a virtual queue spot are recommended at busy times, particularly for weekend brunch and dinner.
This was part of our November 2023 Las Vegas trip. See all three days in Three Days of Eating in Las Vegas.
Originally posted on Instagram.
Can’t decide? Read our Bacchanal vs Wynn buffet comparison, with prices and our pick.
Game 162: the final game of the Seattle Mariners’ 2023 regular season at T-Mobile Park.
The last game of the season is always a bit of a celebration at the ballpark, as fans say goodbye to baseball for the winter. The photos show the view across the field from the stands.
T-Mobile Park is in Seattle’s SoDo neighbourhood and is easy to reach by Link light rail, Sounder train or on foot from Pioneer Square.
Originally posted on Instagram.
Drinks and dinner at Morimoto Asia in Disney Springs at Walt Disney World, the pan-Asian restaurant from Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.
The menu covers Chinese, Japanese and Korean dishes, from sushi and dim sum to Peking duck, served in a large, dramatic two-level dining room. The photos show some of the cocktails and dishes from this visit.
Disney Springs doesn’t need park admission, so Morimoto Asia is a good option for a night off from the parks.
Originally posted on Instagram.
This dinner came the day after our nine-day trip. See Nine Days at Walt Disney World for the rest.
This post has affiliate links. If you book through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
Nine days at Walt Disney World in September 2023, planned around food and drink: EPCOT’s International Food & Wine Festival, Galaxy’s Edge, tiki drinks at Trader Sam’s, a backstage greenhouse tour and fireworks from two different angles. Here’s how each day went.
We checked in and headed to Disney Springs for a burger and fries to start the trip.
First stop at EPCOT was the queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Then we grazed around World Showcase during the Food & Wine Festival: tacos, frozen drinks, brisket, onion rings, a shepherd’s pie and baked oysters. More in EPCOT food.
Dinner was all-you-can-eat seafood at Boston Lobster Feast: lobster, snow crab legs and mussels. We ended at Amorette’s Patisserie in Disney Springs for Mickey-shaped mousse cakes.
Dinner was at California Grill on the top floor of Disney’s Contemporary Resort. We had sushi, sliders and dessert, then watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the restaurant.
We walked through Toy Story Land, then into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to see the Millennium Falcon and grab a Ronto Wrap. Drinks were at Oga’s Cantina, the galaxy’s busiest bar, with the creature tank behind the counter.
On the way back we stopped at Portillo’s for a Chicago-style hot dog, then went back to EPCOT for an evening of Food & Wine booths: an herb-butter croissant, berry cheesecake, a rice bowl with a soft egg, a bao bun and more oysters.
Afternoon drinks and small plates were on the terrace at Nomad Lounge in Animal Kingdom.
At night we went to Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto at the Polynesian Village Resort for tiki mugs, potstickers and the Uh Oa! bowl, which they light on fire at the table.
We took the Behind the Seeds tour at The Land pavilion in EPCOT. It goes through the greenhouses and labs you see from the Living with the Land boat ride: hydroponic towers, a coffee plant, giant squash hanging from vines, and fish tanks.
After a look at the Cosmic Rewind building, we had sushi, gyoza, tempura and skewers at Shiki-Sai in the Japan pavilion. The night ended at Cirque du Soleil’s Drawn to Life at Disney Springs.
At Magic Kingdom we did the Haunted Mansion and rode the PeopleMover past the Progress City model. Splash Mountain was under scaffolding while it was being turned into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Lunch was at Skipper Canteen, plus egg rolls from the Adventureland snack cart.
We had barbecue at The Polite Pig in Disney Springs: brisket, sausage and mac and cheese. In the evening we went back to Galaxy’s Edge for Rise of the Resistance and Smugglers Run.
Lunch was at 50’s Prime Time Cafe, where the dining room looks like a 1950s kitchen: deviled eggs, a crab cake, shrimp and grits and fried chicken. Then one more Galaxy’s Edge visit to see the X-wing and fly Smugglers Run.
Afternoon drinks and snacks were at Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar in Disney Springs.
We finished the night at a fireworks dessert party in Magic Kingdom, with desserts, mimosas and a view of the castle, then saw the TRON Lightcycle / Run bike on the way out.
Before flying home we went back to Boston Lobster Feast for another round, and stopped at Trader Sam’s once more to catch the show effects.
We stayed at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, a Disney Vacation Club resort across the lake from Disney Springs. You can walk or take the boat over to Disney Springs for dinner.
We ate our way around Disney again the next year. See Five Days in Orlando, and our guide to Disney bars and tiki lounges. The day after this trip we also had dinner at Morimoto Asia.
Planning a visit? See our Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto guide for the walk-up list, hours and which drinks set off the effects.