There are plenty of ways to prove you've lived in the DMV to call it home, but unless you've eaten at Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church I think you need to pass the baton. In a nondescript strip-mall off of Leesburg Pike, with its red and yellow signage, Peking Gourmet looks like any other Chinese restaurant. Except the people waiting outside., there are always people waiting outside. Forget Rose's Luxury, this is the original restaurant people waited in line for.

Peking Gourmet is a machine like operation, it's larger than it looks and its walls are adorned with photos of famous people who have eaten there, above the doorway is both Presidents Bush and family, including Jeb! The restaurant churns over tables with amazing efficiency, but not pushy were the waiters are standing over you with a check. In fact, it's the house specialty that actually takes time, fine tuned to precision - the Peking Duck.

Cherry Blossom weekend in DC means one thing, at least for many residents of the city - get as far away from the tourists as possible, this involves avoiding Downtown, Georgetown, the National Mall, and well pretty much anywhere in the city where you see pink. I'm not a hater when it comes to tourists (except for those who don't stand to the right on the Metro escalators), I just like the city a little less hectic.

Escaping the city meant a day in Virginia's countryside, an hours drive West and you're in the middle of rolling hills playing host to farms and vineyards, which is where my friends and I took ourselves. For our first stop we found a 400 acre vineyard outside of Purcellville, Breaux Vineyards is one of the few Virginia vineyards that produces a wine I actually like, it's worth a visit for the Vidal Blanc alone. We didn't visit this vineyard by chance, it's close to The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm where we had reservations for their monthly Sunday Supper, a prix fixe family style dinner which is a little less expensive than the usual menu, but I can only imagine no less satisfying.

There's no choosing at Sunday Supper, everyone gets everything on the menu, which is a meal broken down into four components: snacks, appetizers, entrees and desserts - you could say the view is a fifth course, no other restaurant in the area can touch it, savor every moment.

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