walking feet

Third day of light drizzly rain and freezing cold. It's a Saturday. What to do? Take a walk? Yes. a 3 mile walk? yes. So, Saturday morning after breakfast near the market, Tyler and I walked to the National Geographic Museum as it is a place I have been wanting to go. Of course we arrive after this treacherous journey to find only one small exhibit was open. However, it was quite a lovely exhibit of arctic photographs covering animals like polar bears, seals, penguins and last but BEST, narwhal whales. Yes, the unicorn whale creature. Next stop- check out the white house, then Filene's basement, then the random cafeteria for a fast food Indian samosa. Finally we made it to the Metro. Upon returning home we relaxed for awhile before prepping for having friends over to eat dinner. We cooked and a few friends brought some side dishes. After some wine and chit chat, we eventually went out to the bars to dance! It was delightful!
Today (Sunday) was another random day of walking. Tyler and I went to this nice family run Ethiopian Coffee place near our apartment for a bit of a pick me up and breakfast. After that we decided to take a walk and we didn't stop walking until we reached Georgetown. yep. A stroll turned into a 5 mile walk. It was awesome! We got to see lots of DC and even explored a creek bed on the way. We also experienced the horrendous sight of the ONE Trader Joe's in the city. The line wrapped around the store. horrible. All we wanted to do was get pizza dough! and we couldn't! we partially walked back after walking through Georgetown and took the bus part of the way home. Then we went to the market to get Amish brussel sprouts (new obsession- for Tyler) and delicious apples. Then, we finally decided to start cleaning up many dishes from last night. We excelled in avoidance all day. I also cooked pasta with tofredo sauce (soft tofu blended with parmesan cheese- tastes like Alfredo sauce but better for you- this recipe is courteous of Tyler's sister). I have now been designated as the cook of the house. Tyler thinks it is awesome that he just lives here and I cook (and clean... let's be honest...)

ok. I know this blog is long but it is my digital record of my new life in DC. I don't know how to insert pictures and I like typing (it's easier than writing)

BYE

Cookiecakepie...the saga

It's a slow Sunday afternoon. I (we) need to break up the monotony. Naturally we venture out to the many corner markets to buy something with which to make cookies. Pumpkin? too big of a can. Chocolate chips- obviously, we need those. And so, part one of the cookiecakepie saga is complete. Next up, I get into the cabinets taking stock of what we have ( I didn't formally do this before grocery shopping...) Hmmm, not quite enough brown sugar for chocolate chip cookies. oops. Not enough oats for oatmeal chocolate chip. fail. So what do I do? IMPROVISE!! I mix a combination of brown and white sugar to equal the necessary amount, get some butter, flour, lots of cinnamon(why not?), toss in the remaining oats and whatever else a cookie recipe calls for and then I use my hands to mix it, cream it, blend it. Why? well I don't have a hand mixer (the electrical kind) So far, things are going well, despite my improvising. I am resourceful, what can I say? And now, comes the true test of resourcefulness and innovation. I realize I don't actually have a cookie sheet. I peer in the cabinets and come up with a deep dish that could be used for a cake or deep dish pie. I also have a few brownie/bread dishes but for some reason those just didn't catch my eye when I had my vision of this particular dessert. So instead of cooking tiny batches of cookies in a pie pan I decide to just pour the whole mixture into said cookie/cake pan, and thus the COOKIECAKEPIE is born. Let me tell you, it was divine. A true gem (aside from the slightly crispy edges and bottom andsome of the middle.) All in all, a success in my book.

It's Sunday and the weekend isn't over yet!

Relaxing weekend so far and I plan on continuing that trend tomorrow. I will throw in some intense cleaning (I hope) tomorrow. After a petite disco nap on Friday night, I was ready for games and dancing- in that order. Game night hosted by a friend was a pre-going out event attended primarily by girls. (sorry manfriend...he had man time later though, so he didn't suffer for too long) We played a bit of cards, apples to apples and madgab before we got antsy. Next up, dancing! Lots of pop-y music that was perfect for dancing, kept us in the same bar until 3am. It was very fun! After a failed attempt at the circulator bus and 2 cab rides (first cab got rear-ended, no harm done, just delayed things)we were finally home an asleep by 4. Ahhh to be young! Saturday we tried to go to Target, but due to track maintenance it was slightly harder to get there so we scrapped the idea. Conveniently, my friend Janae called and needed to go so we made a trip to one in VA. Tyler opted out of the girl adventure. When girls go to Target we get to stay and browse at clothes and shoes we don't need, but want. When we go with boys, we are practical and get the things we NEED. This time I managed to do a bit of both without the extra unnecessary purchases. The rest of the day was spent cleaning, renting a movie (The Watchmen) and cooking pizza. Also I napped on the couch.
Today (Sunday) I cooked a delicious breakfast including homefries for the 2nd time ever (this time was better than the first time). We also met up with some friends to see the National Equality March. Ended up seeing the beginnings of the rally but not the march itself.. I don't like crowds. Watched some panthers/redskins football with Tyler and Natalie at a bar, then popped by H&M. We parted ways with Natalie and slowly meandered home, stopping by the Natural History Museum and continuing on home by the Capitol and Eastern Market. The outdoor vendors were packing up but we managed to pick up some apples, an onion and a pepper, THEN came the exciting part....a vendor who sells hummus and other spreads stops us. here is the conversation
Vendor: "Hey!, You 2, do you like the Earth?"
Tyler and I " Yes! We love the earth of course!"
Vendor: "Great! here, take these (black bean dip,2 salsas, one quinoa salad and chips"
us:"Wow, thanks so much! do you want any money"
Vendor "don't worry about it!, here want some dry ice?"
Us: of course!

yep. true story. free food and dry ice form your friendly Eastern AMrket vendor who is rushing to pack up and go home to West VA.

Now, I am making a cookie pie since I don't have a cookie sheet I just put all the batter in the pie pan. It's still baking. I will let you know the results.
Tomorrow: Columbus day. Means a day of the following activities:
1. no work
2. CLEANING
3. ZOO?
4. relaxation
5. consuming cookie pie
6. making cuban beans and rice
7. anything I want

Movies and campfires and s'mores

Sunday is here and it's time to do a wrap-up. Though it is only noon thirty, I don't have much planned today so the wrap-up can start now. I had a great week at work. I feel lucky that I can say I love my job. I had a mini pre-evaluation meeting that was very positive and I expressed in return how glad I am to be working where I work. I was told I have good intuition working with babies which was nice to hear. I didn't have any happy hour meetups this week, trying to save my money so I can do things on the weekend. Friday night Tyler and I went out in our neighborhood (North of us) so check out a few bars in the area- some I had been to (like the one with the amazing DJ where I danced a lot to electronica music and tired myself out) and another that attracted many hipsters with it's dark lighting, gothic seeming décor and cheap beer. It is very nice to go out in an area of DC that isn't too preppy. I was afraid there wouldn't be much variety in DC before I moved on account of the many Capitol interns, government workers and business suit type people. Of course I knew there would be people not in those areas of work I just thought they would be harder to find. Saturday morning was spent at the market, walking around the neighborhood(when I don't have anything to do I just like walking around and I never get bored (so far) of seeing all of the beautiful houses and gardens and babies and dogs!) We found a yardsale half a block from the apartment where I scored a brand new le sport sac bag for $5.
This block was also having a block party later in the day and I longingly stared at the fun bounce house and street hockey going on, wishing I either lived on the block, or was a child of 7 who could go play without looking strange. We found some delicious fall appropriate apple cider at the market. Such a nice beverage on a cool day in autumn. I saw a matinée movie with a friend (FAME the remake) It made me want to be a ballerina, or piano player (too bad I didn't pursue them when I had the chance-oh well, I've found my calling) Then I went to a western themed dinner party where the hosts served up baked beans, western style BBQ (tsk tsk shame on them) and delicious cornbread (the kind with corn kernels and lots of butter), THEN we had a fire pt and made s'mores- one of my favorite treats that truly is a treat because how often do we have fires to make s'mores and of course microwaving marshmallows just doesn't cut it. THEN we went to see ZOMBIELAND with Palmer and Amanda. I wasn't planning on seeing 2 movies this weekend but alas, I am SO glad I experienced the odd zombie filled, humorous ZOMBIELAND movie. It was genius. The premise is this: post-apocalyptic world where there are mostly zombies and 4 humans who have not been bitten by zombies. They team up and try to survive the now desolate world. It is a tad violent but the humor of the situations in the movie is a good counter balance. I highly recommend. This morning included a walk around the hood to get coffee, stopping at a tiny store that now carries Marmite, thanks to Tyler's suggestion (we think), more flea market time, and now relaxation.
Happy Sunday!