Bites of My Life

Last week was a good one. It was a relaxing short week in D.C. before my roommates and I headed to New York for the weekend! We got to see some good friends, I got to see my sister for the second weekend in a row and we ate, did and accomplished a lot.  

 

-I love taking the long way home after work either roaming through the Georgetown neighborhood streets or popping in and out of stores. I browsed through Jonathan Adler the other day and I was in visual appeal heaven. My eyes were so happy because everything was so pretty. 

-Tuesday night I finally got to try Matchbox when the sweetest Oklahoma momma was in town! She took one of my roommates and I out to dinner, but most importantly dessert. The donuts were highly suggested by our waiter so we obliged. The coffee and kahlua dipping sauce was the perfect companion. 

-I have been using the same notebook for all of my internships and jobs over the past year. My sweet boss gifted it to me last summer, but I finally filled all of the pages. I picked up this Kate Spade rosebud one at Paper Source to replace it.

-I discovered the best kept secret in town last week. My favorite D.C. restaurant, Farmers Fishers Bakers not only serves up amazing brunch, lunch and dinner, they also have a simple breakfast menu M-F 7:30 to 10. I popped in after an early morning Barre3 class to get the steel cut oats with vanilla bean cream and a coffee to go! I am clearly obnoxious with my foodgrams but it was all worth it when my favorite D.C. food Instagram (@dcdining) regrammed me. 

-You guys know my love for Mediterranean food and it just so happens we have the best little spot right across from our dorm. Roti is similar in style to Chipotle where you go through the line adding various toppings to your bowl or wrap. I got half and half chicken roti and falafel salad with hummus, spicy red sauce, eggplant, couscous, tomatoes, pickled slaw and onions!

-We got to NYC a little after lunch time. Milk Bar was first on my list of things to do, so after meeting up with my Milk Bar-loving friend and her boyfriend, I indulged in some cereal milk ice cream and an ice coffee with cereal milk (my new obsession). A corn cookie and blueberry cream cookie were purchased to-go!

-I loved getting to see all of my New York working girls! Kudos to Katie, Rosemary, Nicole and Alex for an incredible weekend! 

-$1 pizza is just a must. 

-The whole New York gang after one of the more interesting meals I've ever experienced. 

-Saturday morning we had brunch at a club. Okay so not exactly, but the blaring music and dimmed lights made it seem that way. Chilaquiles, s'mores french toast and bottomless bellinis were scarfed down to the beat of Ke$ha and Adriana Grande. A strange, but amazing brunch. 

-Spent the afternoon at The Standard Hotel, sipping and catching up with one of my best friends. 

-Kept the merriment going with a dinner date just the two of us at the beautiful General Assembly. I ordered the citrus salmon after our fresh ricotta dip to start!

-Wondered around the West Village Sunday morning. I don't know D.C., New York had you rivaled this weekend.

-A belated birthday brunch at The Dutch with sista Claire and Mike! Soft scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for me! 

-Rounded out the weekend with a popsicle in Central Park. 

Cheers to incredible past week. My mind is running in circles on what and where I want to be in the next year. I feel so lucky to have been having so many amazing experiences this summer, but it makes it that much harder to decide what I really want to do in the future!

Annie

From One City to the Next: NYC Weekend

Today I'm leaving the district for a quick getaway to New York City! I have a handful of friends working in the city that I can't wait to visit! I love how I can just hop on the Mega Bus and be there in a few short hours! The East Coast is cool like that. 

image via the wonderful Evelyn Henson Art

First stop will most likely be Milk bar for some cereal milk ice cream, then lot's of other yummy food can follow. I'm sure there will be plenty of NYC weekend instas to keep y'all annoyed. 

Here's to taking a bite out of the Big Apple!

Annie

Took a bite: old posts on NYC, Milk Bar & Evelyn Henson

D.C. Diary Part II

Time for the second installment of D.C. Diary. I've seen, explored, discovered and eaten, so first let's take a look at the food. 

Co-workers who bring there leftovers go to the top of my good list! Kudos to Melissa for this awesome flour less cake she brought to work leftover from her anniversary dinner!

Brain Food Friday is now up and running in the SCOUT offices. Healthy snacks every Friday to keep us energized and working hard. Whole Foods' juices for everyone!

Due to the mass amount of tex-mex I eat at home, I have tried to steer clear of Mexican food in DC. I didn't have much of a choice when I ended up at Tortilla Coast a couple of weekends ago. I'm not much of a quesadilla person but these shrimp dillas reeeeeealllllly hit the spot. 

Luke's Lobster. Best lobster roll, hands down, ever. 

Dolcezza's pistachio and espresso gelato was the perfect cool down treat while exploring Georgetown. 

Best brunch ever. Three words-southern. gospel. buffet. Sweet Georgia Brown's might be in first place for the better meals I've had in D.C. Their brunch is buffet style consisting of homemade waffles, french toast, jambalaya, grits, an omelet bar, and an assortment of southern desserts. The experience is accompanied by a just as fabulous jazz band. 

Founding Farmers was amaze, but we finally got a reservation at Farmers Fishers Bakers (their sister restaurant) to see what they had to offer. The list of eight buck salads had my attention. I'm cheap and like salad. The fried brussels sprout blue cheese salad might not look like much but it sure did taste good. 

Here is a look at the gnocchi shrimp scampi. Another FFB staple, ordered by two of my roommates, so I obviously "took a bite." 

A black bean burger with a watermelon feta salad on the side. Such a random combo to offer at a sports bar but RFD's in Chinatown knows what's up.

Mom and dad came in town last Friday so we first met up for a drink and some apps! These pub pretzels with our waitresses "special" sauce were the perfect happy hour treat. 

After happy hour we headed to Clyde's of Georgetown for dinner. To start we dug into the crab stack.

I ordered the cippino for my main, a combo of mussels, clams and halibut in a spicy tomato sauce. I can't help but order fish when it's on the menu. 

To finish off Friday night's dinner it was strawberry shortcake and the brownie sundae (not pictured). 

I had to show off Good Stuff Eatery to my family so village fries, spikes sunnyside and a toasted marshmallow shake did the trick. 

Hello Good Stuff.

First course at Mesekerem in Adams Morgan. Beet salad, Meskerem salad and sambousa.

Our massob platter. Lamb, chicken, beef, curries, potatoes, tomatoes you name it, all pilled up on authentic Ethiopian injera bread.

Now for some none food related pictures. My collection of these are quite smaller because I tend to only take pictures of my food. I need to work on getting my priorities straight...hmm well we will see.

Jazz in the Garden. $6 sangria, live jazz and a beautiful scenery. Every Friday in the sculpture garden. Why is D.C. so good?

Exploring every in and out of Georgetown. I think I will call you home.

I mean it's just too cute.

A visit to Union Market. It might be hidden in the middle of nowhere, but it is a hidden gem of food wonderland. I went with the shawarma salad bowl after making about three laps to decide what I wanted.

I loved playing tour guide for mom and dad! 

Eastern Market in Capitol Hill.

Final stop, the view from the deck of the Library of Congress. Dear D.C. I love you, in case you didn't know.

Annie

HoMe

Home sweet H&M home goods! See what I did in the title their? The H and M are capitalized cause I'm punny and stuff. 

Anyway, have y'all seen the home department at H&M? It is goooood! I knew they had a home line, similar to Zara's, but I hadn't checked it out yet. I was happy to find out the H&M in Georgetown was fully equipped with their home goods. The thing is, although I walk by the store everyday I had yet to go inside and see it because whoever does their window displays decided to put their least beautiful (nice term for ugly) things in the window, totally causing me to turn my nose up and keep walking by. 

That was until my ultra fabulous boss was raving about the line, so I figured I'd actually step inside the store this time. Complete 180. Everything is white, cream, bronze, silver, black or some shade of pretty. 

1. silver storage basket 2. cardboard cake stand 3. bathrobe 4. gold rimmed pitcher 5. silver cake stand 6. faux marble tray 7. duvet cover set 8. metal bowls 9. turquoise throw 10. dark gray throw 11. copper wire basket 12. braided basket 13. metal basket 14. black dotted throw pillow 15. shiny throw pillow 16. light pink dotted throw pillow

I wish I was staying in D.C. for a more substantial amount time so I had a reason to decorate my dorm with all of the H&M pretties! Unfortunately that's not the case. But, I do have my cutie house in Norman waiting for my return. Not to wish away the summer or anything, but it is time to start getting some things together for my house back home. 

I think I can pretty much guarantee that the silver bin, marble tray and one of the throw pillows will be getting shipped home from D.C. to Norman!

You must go check out all of the goods they have online, and if you are near an H&M with the home stuff in store go see for your own eyes! Oh, and did I mention how insanely cheap everything is? And by cheap I don't mean the quality. Their products are still constructed perfectly, but they also have the perfect price tag!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Last week was one of my favorite weeks/weekends in D.C. During the week there was a party at work on Monday, lots of Barre 3 classes, dinner at my now, favorite restaurant and just good chill nights.

Part of the fam came to visit this weekend which made it just perfect. I had been stressing of what all to eat, do and show off to them. Everything ended up going as planned and the weather was actually perfect, so I don't think it could have been a better weekend!

This week marks week 4 in this beloved city. Nothing crazy is on tap for this week, but all four of the roommates and I are headed to NYC on Friday to visits friends working in the big city! 

-The intern life isn't so bad when it involves picking up dozens of the best cupcakes in town.

-Barre3 D.C. is my new happy place.

-Roomie dinner at one of the best restaurants. Table side guac was must and I may have asked this guy if I could have his job. I can make some mean guacamole in case you didn't know. 

-Not a very appetizing picture, but Wednesday night quickly turned into a good night when we discovered Wine Wednesday at the Whole Foods across from our dorm. $5 gets you 5 different samples of wine paired with 5 different food samplings. My favorite was the herb roasted veggies. 

-Finally pulled myself out of bed for an early morning barre class. Walked halfway there in the rain, but it was one of those happy mornings where nothing could rain on my parade. Pun intended.

-I make and take my lunch to work everyday. A version of this quinoa salad with fruit or nuts for a snack is my go to. Looks pretty good for being cooked up in the kitchenette!

-Mom, dad, Claire and her bf, all got in town on Friday! I loved getting to show them around my city for the weekend. 

-Good Stuff Eatery was high on the agenda of things to do while the fam was in town. This was the aftermath of our lunch. 

-I had been waiting to try out Meskerem, a highly rated Ethiopian spot in Adams Morgan. I knew my family's adventurous taste buds would be willing to try it out! No silverware is involved, instead you get plates of injera bread to scoop up all the yummy spiced dishes.

-Loved mom and pop being here, wish they didn't have to go so soon!

Annie