“Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.
Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.”
—Rosemary Uriquo
After a hectic week at work, escaping and discovering your own city is a great way to unwind. That is exactly what Aaron and I did. We spontaneously decided to explore Dupont Circle, parked the car around the corner, and almost walked past this gem—The Shophouse Kitchen. It is modeled after the Chipotle brand of restaurants—only this one is Asian cuisine.
I got a bowl of Jasmine rice, pork and chicken meatballs, eggplant and Thai basil, spicy red curry, papaya slaw, and crushed peanuts. It was to die for! The meatballs were moist and juicy, and it had just the right amount of spice. The service was quick and efficient, the food was cheap and great, but the only drawback was the seating. It is very limited and it forces you to get cozy with the other patrons of the restaurant.
We would have almost licked our bowls clean and stopped ourselves as the thought of licking paper was not very appealing. Bellies full and sufficiently nourished, we continued our stroll. This place was packed—Dupont Circle gets really busy on the weekends. But it is a great place to people watch and window shop.
We walked down the street, got myself a cup of caramel apple spice from Starbucks, and hit the famous bookstore/cafe – Kramer Books & Afterwords Cafe. We walked in and spent 30 minutes just standing and reading at the very first bookshelf! I loved this place, but, let’s be honest, any place that has stacks and stacks of books—I heart it immediately. We wandered around in different directions—Aaron checked out the travel books, while I read some biographies and business books. We walked around the entire store and the cafe, and kept literally bumping into strangers, as there was hardly any place to walk around. I had never seen a bookstore so packed, unless I was in India, where inevitably, everywhere you go, is packed.
He flipped some pages. I read some pages.
We went home—content.
