Tabard Inn Sunday Brunch

A few weekends ago  Ben Sherman Classical Guitar played for a wedding at the 'Tabard Inn' in Washington DC.  This is a unique small hotel five blocks from the White House in the Dupont Circle area. An old townhouse, built in the 1900 Classical Revival style, the Tabard Inn has all the charm you would expect from such a building.   

Being a Sunday and quite a drive from home, I accompanied Ben so we could spend the day together.  While Ben played classical guitar for the wedding event I tried to stay off to the side of the activities.  Looking around the Tabard Inn is quite interesting for an artist, as the walls are full of paintings, prints, posters, both old and new.  
The Inn has a fun quirky mix of styles that seems to work.

The rooms remain warm and cozy even with modern touches of vibrant color.  Although it was a long trek up four flights of narrow curving steps, I was fortunate enough to have the bride take me up to the honeymoon penthouse suite for a peek after the wedding. Being an old building there are no elevators. There at the top of what seemed to be a secret passage was a jewel of a room. A really cool eclectic apartment space with a huge Matisse looking painting, and a funky mix of furniture with Moroccan colors filling the large open room.  She said they loved staying at the Tabard Inn.

The bride was absolutely beautiful in a long glamorous antique styled dress from the thirties.  She had the look of a movie star from the black and white movie days. Her ecru fishtail train swished as she moved quickly and effortlessly up the steps. Not so for me. Which is why that room is the perfect hideaway for a young honeymoon couple. Being a small boutique hotel the Tabard Inn only has 40 guest rooms. The bar is small and beloved by it's patrons as it is rated one of the best in the world. The Sunday Brunch is rated one of the top three brunches in DC. The menu changes seasonally with much of the food coming from their own nearby farm....and roof. Yes... roofs.

While Ben played during the cocktail hour I went and made our reservations for the famous Tabard Inn Sunday Brunch. Actually you are supposed to make reservations weeks in advance lest you sit for hours waiting for an opening. Not kidding! We tried making reservations that morning. They suggested that we try to get on the waiting list when we get there and see what happens since they were already booked.  I could see the crowd during the last hour of brunch had thinned out. I decided to put our names on the list.

The waiting area was in a very old looking timbered ceiling room with a fireplace and multiple old sofas much like an old English Inn. After Ben finished playing we went to the waiting area and were lucky enough to be seated shortly there after. Since it was sweltering hot that Sunday we were seated inside and not out on the patio area. We could see from the window the 'green roof project' the Inn created by covering a roof with fresh herbs. Your food is growing right in front of you! That patio looked wonderful and someday we will return in nicer weather and enjoy that garden courtyard.

Okay let me just say that while I write this post Ben and I are drooling thinking about the yummy brunch we had at the Tabard Inn. The chef uses all fresh ingredients and even the simplest items were fantastic. We started off with the freshly fried and sugared light fluffy donuts served with fresh whipped cream. Melt in your mouth goodness! Ben shared his bowl of watermelon-tomato gazpacho that was refreshing and delicious. Pancakes dripping with blueberries was next on the table for Ben. These pancakes were so incredibly light, but at the same time full of texture with crisp buttery edges. Perfection! High praises to their chef!!!

My choice was the toasted almond waffles with mango compote! Oooo lala! Look at all that fruit! So so good! Of course Ben and I shared tastes of each others meal. How could you resist this mouth watering food?  The Tabard Inn had a full menu of choices for brunch that included crab cakes, oysters, steak, salads and desserts. If you know you are going to be in DC in the future, I highly recommend Sunday Brunch at the Tabard Inn, Keep in mind you should call ahead for reservations weeks in advance. Plus have your car valet parked as it may be difficult to find a parking space on this charming street. Oh yes we will be back... Ohhhhhhhhhhh Yes!

Moonlighting

It has been over a year and a month since this picture was taken of our grand daughter who was dressed just like the Queen, and in our wedding. Hard to believe she was ever that small, as she is so big now that she looks like a two year old. Right now I am a year behind on all art projects since the 'Bink' spends so much time with me during the week. Constantly working on various things that arise, I now would just like to check off some major old assignments as finished. Getting the photos of our wedding arranged to send out to the videographer for our long overdue wedding video would be a great relief. So during this heat wave I stay in the air conditioned office and attempt to whittle away at this huge project each night.

Wish I could share some of the finished images that have extra fantastic backgrounds from a 'certain movie' that also inspired our wedding theme!  Unfortunately I would be in trouble if I did post them. Instead I have posted the one photo of me where all I really needed to add was hair extensions and lighting.  Geez I have been trying all my life to grow hair that long!  Working on the real photos from that day and making everyone look great takes time. The Queen loves Photoshop! Great for removing the shine on glowing brides faces! Always follow the professional retouch rule of no more than ten percent change on people. Keeps everyone looking real!

I was excited to try using textures on photos.  I have seen some really great work out there on the internet and was inspired to learn and create something of my own. Since I am working on our wedding project I chose one of those photos to play with texture effects. I do have permission from my photographer to use my wedding photos in any way I wish.  That caveat was agreed up front when I hired 'Rob Smith Photography' because...I know how I am!  In this dream world of life, I couldn't take pictures of my own wedding and be in the now of my wedding day too.  So I choose effervescent photographer Rob Smith (seen above), because he is fun, takes great photos and lets me play with our purchase in photoshop!  Wedding days are a blur as it is, so thank goodness for photos and video to spark the memory.  I just wish I could photoshop that impending video too!

Textures helped me to create two different looks from one wedding photo.  The original photo certainly looks good as shot out of the camera but we are going to pump up the volume! For this project I used free textures from the very talented and generous Jerry at 'Shadowhouse Creations' who posts something free almost everyday. Jerry is a master at using textures to create impressive and compelling photographic images. Definitely worth checking out for all manner of great photoshop info, inspiration and of course freebies! 

I read one of Jerry's tutorials and then played around with blend modes and some brushes on my photos.  Look at the depth and difference in the look of these images.  Pretty cool.  In the second version check out how I changed the scene to night time.  You can click on the images to view them larger. Yes, we did have a full moon for our wedding! I just changed the location of the moon for this image.  I guess I can control the dream world!  Awesome!  Did I mention I just love photoshop, generous souls like Jerry, and my incredible wonderful loving husband! Life is good in the Shire!