a zappos.com endorsement

the shoes might not be super cheap, but you get them fast. last night at 7pm i ordered a pair of shoes from zappos. i got an email this morning at 10:30 saying they had been delivered. and that's free shipping both ways. wow.

jackson 20

if the quality of a restaurant's bread basket is any indicator of it's overall quality then jackson 20 is great. after months of failed attempts (some their fault, some mine) to get to the new restaurant in the hotel monaco in old town i finally made it this week. let's just say it was worth the wait.

upon sitting down (next to the giant pig statue!) our overly cheery waitress explained the drink menu to us. the first thing that stood out was their extensive wine list that boasts 20 bottles for $20. and the best part is the majority of those wines are from virginia. but even if you're not in the mood for wine (we weren't), there's plenty more to choose from. just like any other kimpton spot their cocktail list is fun and inventive. and they had some solid beer choices (any place with dogfish head on tap is fine by me).

so we have the drinks covered - how about the food? well, as i said, the bread basket is delicious. the mini-cornbread is reminiscent of black eyed pea's cornbread (sweet and mealy, not that fake cake-like cornbread you find at many places). and then there were mini crescent shaped biscuits with a hint of sweet, but not overly dry. and with that was a slab of honey butter. like i said - delicious.

their menu changes seasonally in order to highlight the freshest (and local) ingredients. our chatty waitress was quick to point out the items that were just recently added to the menu. but she also told us what was just taken off the menu - maybe it's just me but i don't really want to know what i missed out on.

seeing as we were starving we went for the fried green tomatoes and a fresh greens salad to start. the tomatoes were lovely. big fat slices fried to the perfect crispness. they were topped with a flavorful, white cream sauce. the mixed greens were tossed with a grapefruit vinaigrette and served with avocado, apple and grapefruit slices.

the entrees were split pretty evenly between meat and fish (with a pasta dish thrown in to the mix as well). we're a big sharing family so we tried not to have any overlap on the ordering. we settled on the roasted chicken, pork chop, trout and flounder. can you guess which one i ordered?

the chicken was nice and juicy (dare i say crisp and juicy?). it was served with rather large shallots and with a yummy corn pudding straight in the corn husk (like a tamale!). the pork was
cooked perfectly (medium, but not too chewy). and it was a nice cut of pork - it had a bone but was not all bony like some of those pork chops are. the pork was served with swiss chard, a few giant onion rings and a grilled peach. i tried a bite of both of the fishes - they were ok if you're into that kind of thing. the flounder was served with roasted potatoes and the trout with a crawfish etouffee. side note: did anyone else know that cut up okra looks just like jalapeño peppers?

that night we were celebrating my sister's birthday (which everyone knew since my mom bought her a dora balloon). so of course we had to order dessert. except when we looked over the dessert menu nothing really jumped out at us. we were also pretty stuffed (maybe it was all that bread we ate?) so we decided to pass. i don't think our waitress was too happy about that.

overall a very good meal and with very reasonable prices (made even more reasonable when i didn't have to pay). and the bar looked fun - not sure about any happy hour specials though. the only happy hour i know of is their supposedly famous doggie happy hour (gross). if they allow you out in the courtyard at other times i will definitely give it a shot - but not if there are any dogs in sight.

quite possibly the most random food giveaway ever

tomorrow (5/28) california tortilla is giving away free pop tarts. i don't like pop tarts, but maybe you do?!

my new obsession

trader joe's dark chocolate covered mini pretzels.

also, new at tj's: white zinfindel two three buck chuck. great if you're into that kind of thing.

my weekend of firsts

1. took a metered cab in dc.
it seems like they still don't really know how to use the meter. our driver, abdul, started the meter and the initial charge went to $3.00 instead of the required $2.50. he immediately started apologizing and told us he would adjust it at the end. when we asked about what he thought about meters he told us he was getting 30-40% less in fares, but people were generally making it up in tips. our fare from chinatown to dupont-ish was $9 something - not sure how much it would have been in the zone system.

2. rumors.
this is my first and definitely last trip to rumors. can anyone explain the appeal of this bar? and why did i pay $5 to go in? there was awful music blasting and sketchy people hovering. gross.

3. rode the metro from dunn loring to vienna.
despite living around here my whole life i've never taken the metro until the end of the line. figure i might as well do it before we move and everyone else i know moves away from vienna.

4. ate fish!
even though there were some non-fish items on the menu at tackle box, i decided to bite the bullet and order some fish. i went with a non-fishy tasting tilapia and was very happy with my decision! and the pesto sauce and side of hush puppies and mac & cheese made the meal very satisfying (and it was only $14 - what a steal!).

the rest of the weekend was pretty typical of any other memorial day weekend - lots of pool time, a bbq and the fun run with the family.

happy first weekend of summer!

and so it begins...
shorts fridays at work, lazy weekends at the pool, bbqs and outdoor happy hours. oh, summer how i've missed you.

sadly i won't be making it down to the beach this weekend, but i've got plenty of fun planned for the next three days. it's only appropriate to kick off the summer with some refreshments - this year i'll do it with margaritas. and tomorrow night will be the obligatory bbq. sunday night i plan to pretend i'm up on the northern shore with dinner at the newly opened tackle box. and in true memorial day fashion monday is the falls church fun run. i can't wait to see what color the shirt is this year!

hope everyone else has a safe and happy holiday weekend!

most awkward music video ever!

but did you see perez? he makes a few cameos. i should have been in the video - i "discovered" him years ago... and now i'm bummed he's becoming so famous :(

john mccain is old

he even tried to make fun of himself on snl this weekend:



but better than listening to mccain stumble through his words is this blog. hilarious!

beta bridge

no, the paint didn't peel off. those bricks are painted on! i did a triple take when i walked by last weekend until my sister informed me an art class painted that on a few weeks ago. apparently everyone's too scared to paint over it.

oreos!

in our house we always have a steady supply of cookies & cream ice cream in our freezer. along with that we've been known to have some of my oreo cupcakes laying around from time to time (oreo cookie on the bottom, white cake with oreo pieces and white oreo frosting on top - heavenly!). it is my philosophy that anything with oreos cannot possibly be not delicious.

so it will come as no surprise that we attempted homemade oreos last night. last week sus and i came home having printed out the exact same recipe at work. if that's not a sign then i don't know what is. i remember doing a quick scan of the ingredients and noticing that we have everything in our normal baking arsenal. so last night, with nothing better to do we set out to make some oreos.

really they're quite easy to make. i made the dough in our stand mixer and baked the cookies while susie whipped up the frosting (and got a little arm workout in the process). after they were sufficiently cool we blobbed (official recipe term!) some icing between two cookies and devoured them. maybe next time we'll have to brand them with our names instead of "oreo."

free iced coffee!

for those of you who live under a rock and only read my blog (ha!)...

tomorrow dunkin donuts will be giving away free 16oz iced coffee. head to any dunkin donuts store tomorrow between 10am and 10pm for one of dunkin donuts' delicious iced coffee. lucky for me a dunkin donuts just opened up on 7th street. although how long do you think the lines will be? i'm guessing they might top chopt's lines tomorrow...

and if you're not into drinking it black like i do then you can try their new berry berry flavored iced coffee. or really maybe you should just get your iced coffee sweetened. i mean berry berry iced coffee? are you kidding me??

happy wednesday!

wednesday is clearly the best morning. you've hit the midway point of the week. this weather is just absolutely gorgeous (although it's not helping with my allergies - ugh). and my favorite part of wednesday morning is reading the food section.

and this morning it was great! the feature article was all about eating in charlottesville (obviously one of my favorite things to do). i'm so glad i'm going back down there in two weeks - maybe i'll finally get to try the raved about feast!

who would wear these?

seriously, these might be the most hideous looking shoes i've ever seen.

proposition: if you see someone wearing these shoes in public take a picture and send it to me!