out with the fella

Had such a fun day Saturday!

I saw that the Swedish Embassy was having a Christmas bazaar, and since anything Sweden related is basically my boyfriend’s favorite thing ever in the whole world (he took Swedish in college… he loves their environmental laws… he’s convinced he was switched in the hospital at birth and is actually Swedish royalty- seriously!), I went for a hot embassy date. At one point I texted my sister telling her where we were and how ecstatic Steve was and she texted me back, “Leave and see how long it takes him to notice. My guess is six hours”.

Then since it was nice out, we went for a lonnnng strollsie.

Hello White House! 1600 Pennsylvania was decked out for the season/AIDS with a red ribbon. And there was a big stand being erected even as this photo was taken- we were thinking the tree lighting ceremony was imminent.

There’s always a crowd there. Protesters, too! First amendment, yessirree.

 

As I said to Steve- it is SO FUN living somewhere you can just stroll to the White House when you feel like it. I forget about these things!

Next we went wayyy up Connecticut Avenue to end up at… Zoo Lights! Every year the Smithsonian National Zoo does a big pre-Christmas light display. We meant to go last year but got there too late (I think the crowd changes later in the day… this year when we went around 6 it was all kids but last year as we watched the last people coming out at 9 they looked older… methinks it’s a big venue for making out!)

Very difficult to get a good picture. I did have no choice but to get the poor guy in a panda costume (!) in a Santa hat (!!) dancing (!!!) in a giant snow globe (!!!!!).

 

Go figure, the children loved him.

Elephant!

Funny how real that looks in the picture! No elephants were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Not pictured was a petting zoo with some amusingly bored farm animals and a GINGERBREAD HOUSE COMPETITION! Ooodles of fun.

Originally the plan was to Metro back to Foggy Bottom, go back to our car in Georgetown, drive through Arlington to the Trader Joe’s in Clarendon, then get back to Steve’s place and cook… but it was like 8, Trader Joe’s closes at 9, and Steve was already starving. And I was wearing inappropriate footwear and needed a rest.

And then we peeked through a restaurant window and saw this charming place.

And Cafe La Ruche it was.

When I’ve spent time in Europe (yknow… twice… well and in fourth grade but that doesn’t apply to this fact), I admired that you could get wines by the carafe or half carafe.

You can economize by getting a slightly larger quantity(rather than buying two individual glasses) but don’t have to get a whole bottle, the wine’s already been sitting out which makes red wine tastier, and for two people it’s a perfect glass-and-a-half. (Though of course, if one of those people is a lightweight like me, you’d think it was like four glasses a person).

Steve and I both opted for the special.

It arrived with first a Caesar salad. The dressing was definitely fresh made and delicious. It was actually a little too decadent for me to finish (ugh, I am saying this about SALAD, how obnoxious :D) so I passed the rest off to Steve, who was busy inhaling it (Steve REALLY enjoyed this dinner).

 

Annnnd the special of the vegetarian lasagna, in adorable individual dishes (I love food served in individual tureens and things. So cute!)

So vegetarian lasagna did not actually mean the presence of a great quantity of vegetables, but rather noodles drenched in the most heavenly cream sauce, scant little hints of carrot and broccoli, super sweet marinara, and the most heavenly crispy cheese atop (Gruyere?).

I ate wayyy more than I thought- perhaps 2/3 to 3/4 of this? It was marvy. And the rest, of course, went to cute Steve, who was swearing up and down to our waiter that he was half Italian and had never tasted anything like this.

 

Gossip at the next table over revealed that the restaurant was well known for their desserts, and it was one of those this-is-so-fun-I-just-don’t-want-to-leave-yet nights, so we opted to share a dessert. I told Steve to order whatever he wanted. He opted for the mousse au chocolat. Tasty!

 

Steve took me out for yet another fun night out (kind of a two year anniversary- YAAAAAY!- celebration).  He snagged a Groupon to Rabbit, a restaurant in Clarendon. I’m always skeptical of restaurants that say we emphasize local/organic food or we obtain local/organic food whenever possible because it’s just TOTALLY MEANINGLESS. I mean, Wendy’s could say that.

However, the food was good :) And hopefully at least some of it was local/organic.

Love that the food was good but the ambiance was casual. Witness barstools and buckets of cutlery, as well as a counter where you picked food up (and got to watch the action!)

The place actually produced a Steve-sized salad! Even my fastest-metabolism-on-Earth boy was satisfied! (Well, til like an hour later when he got a slice of pizza. But only one slice!)

And because the Groupon said any entree, I got the most expensive thing on the menu :D That’d be the seared tuna. Which came with a (slightly bland) green salad and mashed potatoes.

The tuna was good! Love a good rare tuna. The plate was larrrrge so Steve got some bonus food too!

 

Annnnd then the Groupon included cupcakes! After not at all lengthy deliberation, because these were both totally obvious choices, we opted for the pumpkin with cream cheese frosting and the chocolate with peanut butter frosting.

Look at the cute puff pastry pumpkin on top!

 

We went halfsies on both. Both were pretty good, but the pumpkin definitely outshone the chocolate- the spices in there were so good! It was also very very very moist- like, they had not skimped on the butter/oil! That is of course why it was so delicious!

And because my dessert stomach struck again, and we had a gap before Skyfall began (I enjoyed. Even the stupid gila monster part). So froyo happened. I know.

 

Anyone else been on any fun holiday season outings lately? Share!

And, do you have a dessert stomach?

two uses

Want a healthy way to make ground beef and also get more use out of it?

Obvi.

So if you want to buy organic ground beef (yes! You do! Is the answer! So your ground beef doesn’t kill you!) you might find yourself more limited in your choices of fat content. I generally am only able to find 80% lean organic ground beef (which means of course 20% fat, of the icky saturated kind generally).

So here is what you do! Brown your beef like normal (I use a nonstick skillet). It’ll yield a lot of fat, which will turn to liquid in the pan. Meanwhile, set up your draining mechanism: a simple strainer over a container to catch what goes through. Now pour the whole mixture, beef, fat, and all, into the container, and quickly pour a lotta water atop.

Here’s what will happen:

The fat will get rinsed off the beef. Then you can season the beef and use it for things like this taco salad:

 

It’s good to add some moisturizing-type ingredients for the beef, because it will be less moist without its fat in it. I used a lot of fire-roasted tomatoes plus peppers and onions (more moisture!) and of course yummy taco seasoning spices like cumin and chili powder (even a touch of cinnamon), mm. Made into salad with chopped cabbage, avocado (the fat returns, in a very healthy form) and tortillas cut up and baked into strips. Quite nice.

But wait! There’s a container full of beefy water and beef fat!

Here’s what you do: chill the container. The beef fat will float to the top and, being saturated, solidify. Just break it off into little pieces and you know what you have? Beef broth.

Admittedly a little wimpy beef broth, but here’s what you do: slow cook oodles of sliced onions and mushrooms and what do you get? The basis for FRENCH ONION SOUP!

Mm. Not particularly summery, but oh-so-good. Plus bread ‘n gruyere atop, naturally. Let’s be real: french onion soup is a bread and cheese vehicle.

 

Plus my current summer obsession of salad that’s like… 3 parts dijon mustard, 1 part each olive oil and red wine vinegar. Fresh chives optional but great. OBSESSED.

You know what’s another great thing to have to put to dual uses? Injera, baby!

Steve’s wrapping up his second Americorps year (and going to grad school at the same time, nbd) and they’re doing an Olympics theme with the kiddos this summer. Equals exploring different countries of the world, including Ethiopia. Equals INJERA!

Agh injera is the best. If you have not had it and don’t have the plethora of Ethiopian establishments we have in the DC area, do yourself a favor and befriend an Ethiopian person and ask them for a recipe. Your life will improve considerably.

So I’m going to preface the pictures of this dinner by saying Steve preceded these items with seven hot dogs. Cause that’s my boyfriend, yep. I’d eaten probably my usual dinner of a bunch of veggies and fifty servings of dessert.

But then he took out the injera and got to topping it. He speedy-quick roasted a tiny eggplant (just poke it with a knife, put it in a 500-degree oven, and leave it alone. The molten stuff that comes out- ideally mixed with olive oil and lemon juice- is revelatory). Down that went. Then, in the corner there? That’s a mixture of plain yogurt and the burn-your-tongue-but-you-dont-care-it’s-so-good African-style hot sauce from the farmer’s market.

Whipped those together.

Then he made this concoction which as I recall involved a great deal of olive oil and walnuts and some Chinese spinach (?!). It was marvelous.

And it was a quality second dinner for us both :)

 

more austin, more fun

I am lacking a creative post title. So the above is a simple summary of my past few days. Austin! Fun!

The world has turned into a weird place when a cupcake trailer, at least in a city, no longer seems like a novelty. I'm too jaded. But still, Hey Cupcake is among the first, is in an actual airstream, and has a giant cupcake on top. Pretty great. We wandered around South Congress and I continued my cowboy boot envy (the real deal is crazy gorgeous, and also upwards of $300... on sale)


















Last night we were going downtown to see Casablanca on the big screen (so much fun- it was the Paramount, an old theater where they start you off with a cartoon. It was also crazy, because in our group of five Rachel and I were the only people who HAD seen Casablanca. I thought it was such a standard! Have you seen Casablanca? Do you love it? I do!).

We decided to eat downtown so we wouldn't have to worry about parking later in the evening, when the drunken revelers head to 6th Street, one part of Austin I have no further interest in exploring. We went to Chez Nous, which was French, but completely unpretentious and comfy and fun. Plus, even at Austin's so called "fancy" restaurants, everyone wears jeans. Sounds good to me.

The inside was adorable and muraly.


















And Richard decided that the light streaming in was lovely and he had to capture Rachel and Katie in it. They loved that.


















Their price fixe meal (app, entree, and dessert) is like $1 more than one of the entrees, so it's a really obvious choice for anyone with a good appetite. Buttt, I was STILL feelin' the breakfast tacos from earlier in the day, plus my favorite things to partake in in French restaurants are wine...























(No idea what this was, but it tasted yummy!)

... and bread and buttah....


















(They had real European butter, which has more fat than American and is thus infinitely more delicious. Multiply this quantity by at least four. Plus add some of Katie's pate. Mmmmmm this trip is reminding me that I don't use enough butter in my life)

So yes, I decided to just get a soup and a salad. The hot soup of the day was carrot-ginger, and it was quite lovely...

















I asked our waitress whether to get the soup or the salad first, and she gave it VERY serious thought and said the soup. Which made me think the Salade Lyonnaise which I ordered was more entree-y, which indeed it was.

Dressed in a lovely herby Dijony vinaigrette were nice fresh greens, cherry tomatoes, red peppers,


















But for suresies the most beautiful part, which I have yet to adequately create in a home settig, was the perfectly poached egg on top.
















Which I then broke open to mix the rich egg yolk with the vinaigrette. Wow wow wow wow wow it was really really really good.
















Richard and Rachel had both gotten the special (which sounded blissssful but my stomach just lacked the ambition to tackle) which was a steak in a roquefort cream sauce. Richard, backseat photographer, said I had to take a picture, and I was like "Here, you do it". His are blurry, hahahaha.






































Then their hilarious friend Bowman decided to get in on it and silliness ensued. The salmon was pretty, Bowman is a blur.























My camera was out of pictures at this point (normal memory cards don't work in my terrible Fuji and I'm too lazy to get the special one for a camera I hate) so everyone started playing with Rachel's iPhone, particularly between Richard and Bowman.


















And then more food. Rachel got a good one of the HUGE BUCKET OF BAGUETTE that the waitress was periodically slicing on the table behind us (a beautiful, beautiful thing)























And Richard's cappuccino and mousse au chocolat.

j’aime

Mm, french food.

Tonight’s destination was the adorable Bistro Francais in the adorable Georgetown. A fun reunion of my mom's college buddies and a few of their offspring.

I love going into the city on a Monday night. It makes me feel so glamorous!

And the inside of the restaurant looked like Paris, my faaaaave.

Stained glass, mirrors, banquettes, a pressed tin ceiling…

Beautiful lights, French posters…

BREAD!

I was torn between the salade nicoise and the scallops, but the waiter told me to go with the scallops:

Coquilles St.Jacques au Gingembre et Poivrons Rouges- fresh scallop with ginger and sweet red pimiento sauce julienne vegetables

“Red pepper sauce”= globs and globs of glorious butter with the merest sprinkling of red dots.

Gloooooorious.

I have had my share of dessert over the past few weeks, but I was feeding the meter when everyone ordered, so my mom basically FORCED me to eat this pear and almond tart:

Tres bien. I had about 3/5 and passed the rest off to my mom. This was another of my grandmother’s specialties (except she incorporated the almonds into the crust of the tart, *swoon*)

After dinner I gave people my Foodbuzz business cards, so hello new fans :D

So okay lunch.

I basically never go out to eat anymore, but my mom and my sister have lives and do. So along with the leftover weird turkey hash stuff (upper center), I had my sister’s leftover chicken with arugula and sun dried tomatoes from dinner with her boyf and my mom’s tagliatelle with wild boar ragu (!) from her dinner with an old friend.

Ahh, inherited food.

The pasta was from Dino, a restaurant downtown I’ve been crushing on from afar. It was ridiculously delicious as leftovers, so I can only imagine how amazing it tasted last night!

Wild boar, to be quite honest, tastes like very good beef.

Along with the leftovers, I made my old friend:

The savory cottage cheese bowl! So weird, yet so addicting once you’ve tried it.

Today’s batch: cottage cheese, yellow pepper, carrots, avocado, and of COURSE Sriracha:

I was ravenously hungry at lunch (had a marvy workout!) so I then had more leftovers, in the form of a bowl of the last of the lentil soup, which I ate cold because as usual I wanted cold food after the gym.

Unpictured is my mother’s leftover tiramisu, also from Dino. Mmm mmm mm. Someday I’ll quit eating 5 desserts a day. We’re still in the “holiday season”, right?