Just a little rain...

Even my socks are soaked!

And their off!

Seeing Ray's parents and aunt off at Reagan.

Five Guys

In DuPont Circle for lunch.

Woodly Park Zoo

Callie the Sloth Bear

Capital Building

From 500 ft. up the Washington Monument.

Dinner tonight

Curried Laksa at Cafe Asia!

Doing Touristy Things

Out with the fam; seeing the monuments.

Museum of Natural History

National Mall

From US Capital Building during tour.

In Bethesda

For dinner

Ford's Theatre

Waiting to get into the Ford's Theatre (Where Lincoln was shot) and
then over to the house where Lincoln died (It's across the street).

Arlington

On Virginia. Just got Peruvian Chicken at El Pollo Rico with Ray's
fam. So going back!

Been Awhile

Hi All!

I know, I know, it's been quite some time since I've made a post. But, you know, my life is boring currently. I did make a video today though while I was out and about. Honestly though, we haven't really been doing much lately and I was getting afraid people were annoyed by the food blog this was quickly becoming. Then I remembered I can post videos, and video posts are fun. So, enjoy!




On another note, we've been cooking at home a lot and honing our skills. We've made homemade bread and I made a cherry gallette. MMmmmmm! We did pick up the new 16-cup Cuisinart Food Processor. Follow the link to find out about the pretty (and a cool video)!

We Made This

Yeah, we made pizza yesterday for dinner. Here is an example of how we cook.

The photo above is the first pizza of the night that included asparagus, pancetta, and goat cheese with an olive oil and sea salt drizzle. V. good.

The second pizza was this one:

The photo above was a homemade pizza sauce (by David) that was the foundation for sopressata, crimini mushroom, and whole milk mozzarella. V. Good.


The third pizza (photo below) we made was a simple cheese pizza. Now, you might think this a very plain pizza but, I challenge you to make one. This was a nice palette cleanser for our final pizza.


Our final pizza (yeah, the dough we make puts out 4 pizzas) is this, a hybrid of the first and second pizza.

I would never have guessed asparagus on a pizza. I have to say what a natural flavor the asparagus has on the pizza, even with the goat cheese (crumbling is better than leaving clumps). That first pizza was the best one of the night (but like children, they are all loved).

Fish Market

At the fish market picking up some dinner supplies for the week. This
week's grabs, 2 Halibut steaks, a 3 lb. Salmon fillet, 1 lb. Catfish
fillets, and 1 lb. cleaned Squid (the white stuff in the foreground of
the picture).
Now off to the store for veggies, lunch supplies and maybe some chicken.

Tonight, homemade pizza night trying some new stuff so stay tuned!

In Chinatown

Waiting for the reboot to begin! Geekgasm in 3...2...1...

Fresh Fish Vol. 2

Well, tonight's dinner was excellent. The day, uneventful, so you get a dinner post. Yes, this is slowly becoming a food blog. Deal with it, I like to cook.

We got the idea from Gordon Ramsay's F Word. We didn't have everything they used for this, so I changed it up a little. So, what this was:

Fried potatoes, seared sea scallops (each cut into thirds), and shrimp. Each flavored with only salt and pepper.
I put together a sauce of white wine (Erath Dry Riesling), shrimp stock (I made earlier in the day from: Shrimp shells (from a pound of shrimp), water, garlic, green onion, salt and pepper), butter, a pinch of corn starch, and the scraping from the pan we cooked the potatoes, scallops and shrimp in. The green onions just went on for a little color. They did add a nice flavor though. The flavors melded really well. Very nice.

Dinner of the Fresh Fish Purchase

Results of tonight's dinner.

Ray and I made the Chilean Sea Bass: just some salt and pepper, seared the skin side off and then finished it off in the oven, flesh side down. Just a little butter and olive oil in the pan.

Salad: hearts of romaine, Bosch pears, green onion, flat-leaf parsley, homemade garlicky croutons and a spicy ginger soy dressing. Started the dressing as a base from a bottle and doctored it up. Good stuff!



As a note: no more Chilean Sea Bass (Patagonian Toothfish) as it is currently not sustainably fished and with current practices (mostly illegal), we won't be seeing this on any plates in a decade's time. There is one fishery that currently uses sustainable methods, but it is hard to come by.

Settling In

Wow, it's been a long time since we've made a real post! Sorry about that, there were Verizon issues with our DSL. Simple concepts are apparently very hard to grasp for them. We received word after ordering the Monday before last that it would be hooked up this past Tuesday. Tuesday came and nothing. They then said it was activated... but they would need to send someone out to connect it. Umm, really? No one thought to do that before? For fuck's sake?! So, then they placed the order for that and someone came on Friday and finally connected it. Ugh!

So, a catch-you-up:

We got here and put some stuff away for a few days. Found a Target, Container Store, two Best Buys, and a Whole Foods all within the DC limits. The Safeway by us is completely lame. Small, crappy, not worth it. We ended up getting the cart because bags of groceries get heavy. I'm just one step closer to my goal of bag lady!
We then ran over to the Pentagon City Fashion Centre mall. Decent mall, but better is the fact that there are many shops and stores over there; including a Harris Teeter grocery store.
Ray started work this past week and missed a day and a half to illness (stupid flu!!). I walked the waterfront and the National Mall area and did some more job hunting. There's a lot of other filler that isn't really worth much.
Oh, we also got really lame, really expensive for their lameness, haircuts.

We now have most everything unpacked except boxes of books and DVD's. We finally got a kit so we can hang all the pictures and such. Finally pull the apartment together and make it look like someone lives here.
We went to the Museum of American History yesterday and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe... the Hard Rock was awful! But, it's right next door to the Ford Theatre. It's kind of strange to be eating lunch and realize that Abraham Lincoln was shot next door. That's the really fun aspect of the city. Everywhere you go, there's a major event from history that has happened.
Today we hit the Maine Street Fish Market. Came home with a nice slab of Chilean Sea Bass, a pound of fresh shrimp, and six, beautiful sea scallops. I need to remember to bring my camera with me next time!

So, as the apartment comes together and we find great places such as the fish market to shop, it's feeling a lot more comfortable and a little more like home.


(I know this was a horrible post, but come on, I'm rusty!)

1949 Portland

Checking out the Smithsonian (Museum of American History) and look
what we find. The whole exhibit was on Sandy Blvd.

First week

This is nearing the end of my first week at my new job. Things are
going well. I haven't had much to do because I don't have network
access and I think they are easing me into my role. Bastards! They
know what's coming. Haha!

Not much else this week. Got sick and thankful it's not the H1N1
virus. Feeling better, although, I have been clearing out my chest.

I think David and I will attempt to see a smithsonian this weekend.
Beyond that, not much else Is planned.

Cleaning the Kitchen

It's amazing how dirty this kitchen got with two days of being sick!
We even cleaned a little over the last couple of days!
Spotless today though. Oh yes!

Also, it's HUMID! Ugh