random day trips

Steve and I drove to Annapolis one day. For funsies. We knew that with traffic we’d have to leave either before 2:00 or after 7:00 because guys, this is the DC area, and rush hour is rush five hours.

We opted for a shorter stay and began our time in town by hydrating ourselves at this cute place:

Named:

They had an unexpectedly awesome selection of fresh juices. Not the type of place you would’ve necessarily pegged for it!

I am not really a juice person, except once a year or so I enjoy some carrot juice. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, literally once every year and three months- I vividly remember finishing the GRE in October of 2011, booking it to the nearest establishment with food which turned out to be a cute little natural foods store and deli, downing a carrot juice, and loving the flow of glucose to my brain.

This was delicious, cold, frothy, and served in an adorable stein.

  

The highlight of the trip, as is the highlight of all our trips to Annapolis, was Quiet Waters State Park. On one of our past trips we visited in sunnier weather and rented bikes (Steve also ventured into competitive eating later in the day, which I'll let you see for yourself) No bike rentals in the off season, but it was still wonderful to take in on foot.

You start on meandering paths through serene forest…

        

But the real money shot comes when you reach the water. The river opens out to the Chesapeake Bay and it is always a stunning view. Particularly on this not-particularly-lovely day, actually. Lovely clouds!

And now for something completely different.

Another random day (let the record state these jaunts occurred before Steve and I started class. The luxury of a student schedule, I know. We are now back to being responsible citizens and studying diligently. Minus the time it takes to write blog posts, of course).

Got up, Steve called, wanting to hang out. Though it was a gloomy day… it was decided we’d go to Charlottesville! Yknow, only 2 1/2 hours away. Hah.

I feel like I’ve been to Charlottesville since so many of my favorite bloggers live there.

We were SO ready to eat, and I was delighted to stumble upon the fabulous menu at Eppie’s- I realized Kath had been there!

Love them for their decor.

Like Kath, I ordered the plate of side dishes. Didn’t realize a salad counted as two sides- explains the unexpectedly high price tag and the massiveness of this meal! The thing is, every one of these dishes was UH-MAZING. And I was sharing the meal with Steve, the man who ate everything. So it worked out, in an exceedingly full belly kind of way.

Cream-licious butternut squash bisque; wondrous flavors that made me feel warm on a raw day.

 

Southwest Caesar salad, ordered dutifully for vegetables but savored for the tangy dressing and perfect cherry tomatoes. Nixed the (ridiculously abundant) croutons; not my jam.

Mac and cheese. Forget that quinoa b.s. This is what mac and cheese is supposed to taste like. Smallish portion (use that fork for reference) and didn’t make it halfway through that. Not that that still wasn’t 10,000 or so calories, I’m sure. SO AMAZING. It came recommended by the guy at the counter, and it was ALL HE SAID IT’D BE AND MORE.

And of course the famous cornbread, which is everything Kath said it would be. Oh carbs. Sweet carbs. So many carbs. I love you carbs.

Steve snarfed down the chicken and dumplings special at a speed that would indicate it would also quite tasty. (And then, of course, he had to start working on my food, as I required his assistance).

I mean really. So much. So good! So cheap!

 

We popped into a hippie tea room to warm up even more, then were finally adequately heated to walk around. We strolled around UVA’s beautiful campus, which was nice, even on a gloomy day. Neither Steve nor I had been to C’Ville since we did our respective college admissions visits (though I never bothered to apply, since my cousin’s stories about people wearing pearls to football games and nonstop frat parties made it sound like a great place for her but not so much me).

Best of all, by campus is an outpost of Arch’s, the froyo place so often extolled in the fabulous Smart Kitchen for their famous gooey brownie.

Sarah. Whoa. Gooey brownie is everything you claimed it was and more.

Oh yeah and that’s peanut butter froyo. And uh-mazing.

(Thumbs down for them having styrofoam containers. Thumbs up for the guy working there letting me reappropriate the milkshake cup. Plastic’s better than styrofoam, right?! Agh, consumerism).

Then I went to another blogger favorite, Feast! It has the exclamation point in its name, but I would have added one anyway because Wow! Feast! Is! So! Fun!

I am such a freegan. I would love an all-sample diet.

the blogs I read

I read many many blogs and I have a weird schedule about it.

Some of them I read in Google Reader- but I’m perpetually 3-6 days behind. It’s a little bit deliberate, though- it’s like I’m saving the immediately preceding few days for myself in case I have a boredom emergency and need to read blogs for a long time.

Some of them I prefer just pulling up the site and reading several posts at once, in a little bit of a narrative.

Sometimes I read blogs written by new mothers and pregnant women all at once. I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE A BABY. But I’m having this biological phase right now where I’m completely enthralled by the whole process. BUT DO NOT WANT ONE AT ALL. THIS ISN’T ONE OF THOSE JOKING SARCASTIC THINGS. No offense. It just seems sort of terrible.

And then some blogs, the ones written by my friends, I immediately read each new post as soon as that friend posts it on Facebook. Such is the case with Grace, my former coworker. You may have seen her on Chopped (!) Or read about her in the Wall Street Journal (!!!) She’s getting super famous and I’m sure eventually it’ll be “I used to know Grace…”

In the meantime I read her blog, Goose Eats DC. And make her mac and cheese.

Secret: put goat cheese over the pasta and cheese sauce but under the bread crumbs.

 

The buttery, awesome breadcrumbs. This recipe uses essentially a stick of butter. I made this and immediately froze two thirds of it. For our arteries.

 

Cheers, Grace. This’ll comfort you real fast.

Next blog.

I am a long time reader of Carrots n Cake. I think her pug is annoying but her husband is hot. When she posted pizza with a sweet potato crust, I went OH YEAH. So I used sort of an amalgamation of Tina's paleo-esque sweet potato crust and another one I found that was a more traditional crust.

Basically, an ENORMOUS roasted sweet potato, 2 eggs, an egg white, 2 cups of whole wheat flour, and my seasonings of choice.

Pre-baked it for 25 minutes.

Spread with tomato sauce..

 

Sprinkled with goat cheese…

  

And topped with mushrooms

 

The crust was SHOCKINGLY good! Pleasantly chewy, subtly sweet. Everyone agreed it’d be particularly good with caramelized onions on top. And/or bacon.

I’ve only recently begun reading Smitten Kitchen. I knew her recipes were great, and lately there’ve been a lot published, in honor of her cookbook, which is fabulous. Anyway, in the past I preferred food blogs with a touch of voyeurism- is that bad to admit? I kind of love the people who overshare about their lives?

But the food porn of Smitten Kitchen has converted me. I was particularly intrigued by ethereally smooth hummus because come on! That’s a title that sticks with you.

As she said, the peeling of the chickpeas is not a deal-breaker with the amount of time it takes. I read the paper and did it.

The ensuing texture is indeed good.

The flavor is… not ground breaking. I ate it, and enjoyed it, but might try the technique with a different recipe. Keep fiddling.

At the same time I made that hummus, I was making this:

Since it’s from Gourmet, it has scads of butter (well I 1/3’d’d the recipe, so it had a third of scads of butter). I compromised by half and halfing it with canola oil. Still buttery flavor. Less saturated fat. I had, after all, recently made Grace’s mac and cheese :)

 

It was goo-ood! I made it mainly because we had so much cabbage and wine in our house (classic situation, right? Right?)

 

I smeared hummus on a whole wheat tortilla and stuck it in the toaster oven. It is not terribly attractive. But this was good.

 

Any blogs I am in desperate need of checking out?

where the president hangs out

I ended my last post (er, several days ago) with a mention that I’d be going to a certain famous building, courtesy of a few invitations sent to the food bank where I work.

This building, it’s on Pennsylvania Avenue? Important people tend to visit it when they go to DC?

Three security checkpoints (none of which, I’d like to mention, involved removing my shoes; TSA, if it’s safe enough for the President’s house, it should be safe enough for you!), I peeked through the fence at a big… white… house! 

With the sounds of the day’s protest wafting through the breeze…

(see the yellow signs above the fence?)

We made our way in.

Welcome! There it is! Welcome to ME (and all my wonderful Food Bank coworkers who won the lottery for the invites!) to the WHITE HOUSE!

 

Were I to sort the holiday decor into motifs, they would be the following.

Bo the dog. Aww. There were lots of cute little spots like this.

(Sidebar: my mom had a meeting with some scientists who’d won a presidential award for mentoring. They’d toured the White House earlier the same day I did, and they saw the REAL BO! The PRESIDENTIAL DOG went bounding through during their tour. So cool.)

2. Classy dames alongside Christmas trees.

The room with the big portrait of Jackie O lookin’ gorgeous was my favorite.

Confession: don’t know who that was in the East Room.

Oddest tableau:

Hillary Clinton… and a gingerbread house! (The only one there… Weird.) Anyway, I like both gingerbread and Hillary Clinton, so I enjoyed, while simultaneously felt confused by, this.

  

Fancy touches!

I did not know that there were multiple oval shaped rooms in the White House, not just the eponymous Office.

And that chandelier I just thought was friggin’ gorgeous.

 

Throughout the tour were dozens of Secret Service agents, who were very helpful if you had any questions about White House decor or history (fact: if a president wants to redecorate any of the historic rooms, they have to consult the committee!). The agents could also kill you with a plastic spoon, I am sure.

 

Michelle Obama’s signature things were on display: to honor military families, there was the “official’ tree (there were seriously at least ten Christmas trees on display in various places) and it was decorated with letters written from and to soldiers overseas.

 

You also, upon entering, had the opportunity to write a postcard to a service member, which I did. Hope they all get to come home for Christmas…

Perhaps less devoted to Michelle O’s typical push for healthy food was the solid white chocolate White House and huge dessert display :D

I wish I could adequately convey how cool the chocolate building was: there were lights inside! How did it not melt?!

We got to peek out back to the Rose Garden, which looked beautiful.

Soon enough the (brief) tour was through, but we got our photo op in front of a VERRRRY famous white facade :D

Here I am with my coworker Adrienne, beaming away!

Way cool opportunity.

Thanks for the invite, Obamas!

Since I was Metro’ing back to my car and was already in DC on a relatively mild day, I took the opportunity to take a walk.

Went by the Occupy guys…

Felt bad since I knew I was walking by the guys who are currently on a hunger strike…

… But I got myself a delicious snack! (Yes, this is a food blog :D)

Firehook is a local chain of bakeries (I thought there were just a couple, but then I saw two just on my walk!).

I was EXTREMELY impressed with the fillingness and deliciousness of this bar. And impressively wholesome ingredients!

Now, the White House is where the President hangs out now, but Old Town Alexandria is where George Washington used to chill. It was where he went to church, and where the Masonic Temple now memorializes him (and if you want to hear anything else about George Washington and Masons my boyfriend will talk to you for a very long time about it :D)

Old Town is an absolute delight to visit this time of year.

Every place you look, from the boats in the harbor to the trees on King Street, there are twinkling Christmas lights. Plus on the night Steve and I went there were planes taking off, a full moon, lights reflecting on the water… so nice!

  

We didn’t have any plan to stay there, since this time of year has for both of us meant spending crazy amounts of money, but then we went by the Hotel Monaco and I said “oh, that’s a great place to get a drink” and then Steve desssssssssssperately wanted to get a table by the window looking out at the lights and eat dinner.

So we did :D

Started at the bar, where they said we could get a drink, then go sit by the Christmas tree in the hotel lobby and they’d come get us when they had a window-side table for us. Their customer service was GREAT (though I think it helped that the maitre d’ was from Chicago and Steve was wearing his Cubs hat :D)

I was sooooooooo intrigued by the cocktail menu but was kind of indulge’d out from the Ugly Sweater party the night before.

And Steve could’ve enjoyed a wonderful PBR!

   

But we ended up just waiting for our table sipping fizzy drinks.

Anyway, we ended up in a very cool space with a very cool view.

I looooooooooooove open kitchens! Watching all the ACTION!

 

So the restaurant in the hotel, Jackson 20, has a vibe that I really dig. They have kind of an old-timey, down-home, tin plates, down South aesthetic, and are also super into pig. The napkin holders being a prime example :D

 

The bread basket was BOSS.

Oh my GOD everything in it was so good.

  

Behold, mini corn muffins and biscuits with maple butter.

The butter which Steve, naturally, used in great profusion.

 

Whereas I decided the perfectly flaky biscuits didn’t need any extra accoutrements!

I loved the whole rustic style; the biscuits weren’t perfect looking and varied in size (you know I was all over the baby biscuit :D)

 

I also love that we got a free bread refill! Good service!

For dinner, I knew I was set when I saw this on the menu:

Fall Salad
Caramelized Figs, Radicchio, Tatsoi, Cherry Glen Goat Cheese, Candied Walnuts, Honey-Thyme Vinaigrette

CARAMELIZED FIGS?! Boom. Done.

I knew a salad would be sufficient based on the aforementioned double bread basket and the fact that all the portions we’d seen on our way in had been garantuan.

Sure, the salad arrived looking rather small and self contained on a big plate…

But then I smooshed it to spread it out and it was MAMMOTH!

  

Oh. my. word.

Obviously it was amazing. Like, caramelized figs. Goat cheese. Awesome bitter greens with sweet vinaigrette. Duh it was amazing.

Steve was similarly overjoyed with his order: a veritable BUCKET of macaroni and cheese with bacon and ham hocks.

He’d been planning on getting some vegetarian thing and I was like “Steve, see all the things on the menu that have pigs next to them? They have bacon. Please order one and be happy.”

First of all, there was such a large quantity (and, er, hefty fat content) that it actually left my bottomless pit boyfriend FULL.

But it was also CRAZY tasty. The top was crusted in these buttery panko crumbs that were SO crisp. Divine!