Curbside Cookoff: Trucktoberfest

*This actually happened over the weekend and I wrote it on Saturday but I was having major issues with Ecto, my blogging software. Please excuse the delay!*

It is days like this that I have to pinch myself that I am actually living up here in the DC area. Maybe I am still in the “honeymoon stage” of this move, but I absolutely love it up here. I have had some down days, but days like this make the bad ones worth it.

Last week I was on Twitter and randomly came across a link for the Curbside Cookoff: Trucktoberfest in Union Market in DC. Since moving to the area, I have been on the lookout for fun and unique things to do in the area and this fit the bill.

I immediately sent the link to Sierra, who also recently moved to the area. Sierra and I met last summer at the Space Camp Tweetup in Alabama and is a total sweetheart. I have been a bit lonely since moving here because there is no one in my area that is my age. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my family to pieces and being able to spend time around them, but sometimes I crave a little time with someone around the same age and who is also going through a similar stage in life. Needless to say, when Sierra said “yes” I was pretty pumped. So we made it official and agreed to meet up.

It actually worked out well because I had to work this morning in DC at my internship so once I was done, I ran a few errands before meeting Sierra at around 2:30. She was just as bubbly as I remembered and we immediately started catching up.

I have never been to a food truck festival before and have only ate out of a food truck once (at the Central Florida Blogger Conference last year), but apparently they are a huge thing in the DC area. In fact, there is an entire association!

We decided to take a walk around and look at all the trucks before deciding where we wanted to eat. I’ll admit, I’m pretty indecisive when it comes to food so it took me a LONG time to decide. Sierra got some delicious looking gumbo at one of the trucks and I got a vegetarian plate at a place called Tasty Kebob.

When I opened up the carton, it was not what I was expecting, but to be honest, I’m not sure what I was expecting either. However, it was delicious! I loved the combination of the chickpeas and rice. You could order it in three different “heat levels”: mild, medium, and hot. I got the medium and it had the perfect heat level.

This was ridiculously filling and I could only eat half of the box. If we weren’t going to be out standing for a long time, I definitely would have taken the remainder home with me. Oh well… I’ll just have to track down the truck another time!

We enjoyed our dishes with a nice cold beer. I’ve been trying to become more of a “beer person” so I ordered a Samuel Adams Octoberfest. I think it was the perfect way to bring in Fall!

After eating, listened to some live music…

Before making the food truck rounds again…this time in pursuit of dessert. There were a lot of tempting trucks…

But I eventually decided on a Blackberry and Cabernet sorbet from the Sinplicity truck.

It may not be the best picture but I was more concerned with eating it before it all melted! I am a sucker for a good sorbet (dare I say that I like sorbet more than ice cream?) and this was incredible. If I could eat this every day, I would be a very happy person.

After getting our fill of food and drinks, Sierra and I headed inside to talk and catch up for awhile. I will admit that I have felt pretty lonely out here and unable to truly relate to anyone. However, after talking to Sierra, I now realize that there are others who are going through the same range of emotions as I am. It is comforting in a twisted sort of way.

After talking for awhile, we hopped in Sierra’s car and went down to the National Mall for the National Book Festival. Earlier in the day, I was on the Metro when a huge crowd of people came on the train carrying red bags from the event. I had no idea the event was this weekend so we decided to check it out.

We made it to the Mall when the event was starting to wind down for the day so we only got to walk around for a little but we still had fun (and got red bags of our own). There were numerous tents that had various speakers throughout the day.

Eventually Sierra and I had to go our separate ways, but we plan to get together again really soon. (I already told her that she has no choice but to be my friend and I’m only sort of kidding…) While I live a bit away from all the fun in DC, I am going to really try and make the effort to get into the District more as my schedule/budget allows.

All in all, a fantastic day with a new friend!