• Saturday from 8am - 1pm and Sunday from 10am - 2pm
• The good stuff: peaches from Tyson farms, pistachio baklava from Bava Delicious, and potato/chicken empanadas from Empanadas de Mendoza

I was so happy to learn that there was a weekend farmer's market only a 20 minute walk away from GMU's campus! Along with a few other REU participants, I headed off on our first Saturday morning to see what the market had to offer. After looking around, I got a piece of pistachio baklava with a Turkish coffee from Baka Delicious to snack on while I looked for produce. The baklava was delicious, packed with nuts and completely soaked in a sugar syrup, and the almost thick coffee woke me up immediately. Coffee gulped down, I bought a few peaches and tomatoes from Tyson farms--the peaches were all soft and fragrant and the tomatoes perfect for a summer sandwich. I shared a warm chicken and potato empanada from Empanadas de Mendoza with a friend to finish up the trip and left satisfied!

I went back the next weekend :^)

• Location I visited: D.C.'s Chinatown district
• Vegetarian fare with some Beyond Meat options
• The good stuff: kombucha on tap, fresh corn tortillas (can watch them being made!), and bright taco fillings

A morning of climbing calls for a light lunch, so after taking the subway into D.C. after visiting Earth Treks I decided on Chaia 's vegetarian tacos. The inside of the restaurant hosts an open kitchen layout with plants on every surface not used for food prep, and a window near the tortilla press offers a great view of the magic behind the food. I ordered two tacos, chips with a black bean tahini dip, and elderflower kombucha. The first taco had a base of rainbow carrot and pea shoot with lemon ricotta, salsa de tomatillo crudo and mint, and the second was filled with grilled zucchini with goat cheese, chipotle yogurt and mint. The tacos were a delightful mix of textures and colors, and the cheese toppings added richness to the light vegetable bases. The tahini dip was fantastic too, nutty tahini and sharp lemon juice, but the tacos stole the show!

• Location I visited: D.C.'s Penn Quarter
• Seasonal gelato and sorbetto flavors made with locally sourced ingredients
• The good stuff: blueberry lavender and passionfruit mousse gelato flavors.

After a vegetarian lunch at Chaia Tacos my friend and I were feeling just too healthy so we decided to split a cup of Dolcezza gelato. After deciding to sample some flavors, we fell in love with the first two we tried and decided to get them. I had never tried passionfruit before, and I loved its sharp, floral flavor! It paired very well with a smooth, almost buttery blueberry lavender gelato. I can't wait to try more of their flavors in the coming weeks and find new favorites!

Amended: I have now been to Dolcezza 4 times and I highly recommend the lemon opal basil (possibly the most refreshing flavor in the world), and the Thai coconut milk!

• Location I visited: T St. location in northern D.C.
• Local cream with seasonal, rotating flavors
• The good stuff: the Thai ice tea flavor and complementary sprinkle shakers (this is a rainbow sprinkle-friendly blog!)

The most logical pairing for an outdoor showing of Oceans 8 in D.C.'s Farragut Park is ice cream, so before the sundown movie time another REU participant and we decided to take the 20 minute walk to Jubilee Ice Cream to have a sweet treat. The atmosphere of the parlor was compact and cute, and the employees kindly let us try a million flavors each before settling on our ice cream of choice. I got the Thai ice tea flavor, with the granules of tea leaves still left in the body of the ice cream. The bitterness of the black tea balanced out the sweetness of the cream, so it was a perfectly balanced treat!

• Location I visited: D.C.'s Chinatown district
• Playful ramen and Japanese friend chicken spot
• The good stuff: Shoyu Chintan Ramen, inventive ice cream desserts, and the self-serve pitchers of ice-cold water (crucial in the humid heat)

This ramen spot shares its owner with Daikaya, a lightly more upscale pork ramen restaurant around the corner. This joint is chicken-based, and leans into this by offering friend chicken along with chicken fat caramel on vanilla soft serve and even chicken fat chocolate chip cookies. I had the Shoyu Chintan Ramen with an (add-on :-/ ) nitamago, and enjoyed its rich chicken flavor thanks to some chicken fat floating on top! The flavor of the broth reminded me of chicken soup at home, and the noodles were fantastically bouncy. I will definitely return to try their fried chicken-topped soft serve from their ice cream walk-up window!

Amended: the vanilla soft serve with chicken fat caramel and peanuts is salty, sweet, and a delicious accompaniment to a humid DC day.