Martin Luther King Day

In honor of MLK we attended a celebration at the Washington DC National Cathedral. Various gospel choirs from around the area coordinated and made the event a success. My favorite part was when the singers preformed the song "Seasons of Love" from the musical RENT. The congregation joined in and the soloists were top notch. It was a great experience. 

After the "King in Our Midst" celebration we chowed down on some pizza at the Pi.We opted for a classic deep dish style pizza. I found it awesome that thin crust pizza and deep dish could exist harmoniously on the same menu. Cheesy, delicious pizza always a good idea. (We both agreed though that it was no where near as good as Papa Del's...ooh Papa Del's we love you.)

Last on the agenda for this Monday holiday was some dessert. Some serious dessert. The deep fried Oreo sundae at Serendipity 3 in Georgetown. Gluttons. That's all we had to say for ourselves after we finished that dessert. It was intense. Mr. King would have been impressed, we know Mr. Lincoln was.

Over all it was a great day, and although we did make resolutions to be a bit more healthy this year, we'll just call those deep fried Oreos a hiccup. Besides, we went to the gym this morning. So that's good right? Don't answer that. 

We hope your Martin Luther King day was relaxing and great.

Love in Food Form

 

Eating at the Shake Shack is like getting a hug. I feel complete when I consume of the goodness that is "Shake Shack." Luckily my husband loves him a shack burger. It's a win win.

1 shroom burger a shack burger, some fries and a chocolate concrete cram packed with yumminess. 

How do you spend YOUR friday night?

DC: Home

So you know that part in James and The Giant Peach, when the crazy aunts show up in New York City after driving their car across the Atlantic ocean?  Their makeup is smeared everywhere and when they open their car doors fish and ocean water come spilling out. I remember watching that part as a kid and being honest to goodness disgusted. The thought of driving a car across an ocean never even crossed my mind as being impossible. I was more concerned about how nasty those aunts looked and how horrible they must have smelt. 

I hope you've seen that movie because I really need you to visualize Adam and myself as the aunts. That is most accurate way of describing what we must have looked like when we rolled up to our new apartment in Washington DC. Replace the stowaway fishes with empty water bottles and all of the water with our crap we've hauled across the country. But everything else is the exact same. The smell (ok maybe not so bad). The horrendous make up and hair. The overflowing car. All of it.  I was actually semi embarrassed (completely mortified) when I saw other interns showing up to to our building with their tidy suitcases, professionally dressed, smelling pretty. There we were with our car filled to the brim with suitcases and bags and grocery sacks heaping with who knows what. My greasy hair pulled up on top of my head dressed in sweats, sans makeup. Let me just say we were quite a sight. I guess it could have been worse though, right? I mean, come on we didn't smell like fish...just BO. So that's good.

After setting up our apartment, grocery shopping (what an adventure that was), and a restful night of sleep, oh and three showers later we were finally ready to take in this amazing city where we now reside. We took a long walk and then I took this picture:

That is my cute husband, with the Washington monument. So far we love this city and can't wait to explore more of it.

New York City Tourist

Adam asked me if NYC is my favorite place in the world, I told him that until I visit Paris, yes.
Yes, New York City is my favorite place in the world.

It has been so much fun sharing parts of my special place with my darling.
Adam has never visited the big apple so naturally we had to hit up all of the major tourist attractions. We had lots of fun hanging out with friends and revisiting old stomping grounds.

Brooklyn Bridge Walk

Crumbs Bakery

Wall Street and NY Stock Exchange

Liberty Island

Ellis Island

Central Park

The Garage (My favorite restaurant ever)

Shopping in SoHo

Empire State Building

Mostly I think Adam was overwhelmed but I hope somewhere deep down he loves this city too. Or at least loves the hot dogs.
Either way works for me.

Food Adventure: Ohio

Ok I'm going to be completely, totally honest right now, I was really not looking forward to Cincinnati style chili. Spaghetti noodles topped with chili laced with cinnamon sprinkled with cheddar cheese. Eek. Not my idea of a good time. Regardless of what I wanted, we made the stop in Columbus, Ohio at a restaurant called Skyline Chili for Ohio's state food. Upon entering the restaurant I was still not super excited about what we were about to eat so we ordered a small plate and hoped for the best. Our food arrived quickly and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The cinnamon flavor in the chili is very subtle but gives it a sort of sweetness that I really didn't hate. I actually kind of liked it. Adam really liked the chili over spaghetti, he suuuper liked it. So much that he's requested it for dinner in the near future. It's still not something that I am in love with but I could do from time to time. Overall I am not in a huge hurry to head back for another round of Cincinnati style chili but I can say that it's better than it sounds.
Thanks for the adventure Ohio!

On our "yumm scale" we rated Skyline Chili's Cincinnati Style Chili as a Yumm.

For your reference the "Yumm Scale" :
1. Yuck
2. Yu...
3. Yumm
4. Super Yumm
5. Holymolycanoliyumm!

Food Adventure: Indiana

Arriving in Indianapolis was a relief. Driving was getting really old and I was craving popcorn. Lucky for me I was in the state known for good popcorn. After a restful night we headed up to an area called Broad Ripple Village, an adorable little town full of great restaurants and shops. It's the perfect location for a gourmet popcorn shop. Just Pop In is a locally-owned shop with some seriously good popcorn. They have some of most imaginative flavors I've ever seen.

The popcorn itself is different than normal popcorn. One main difference that I noticed is that there are very few kernels in the actual corn pieces. That way there is less chance for a kernel to annoyingly get stuck in my teeth. But if one DID get stuck in my teeth I wouldn't need to search for floss or a toothpick because Just Pop In has you covered. They actually attach an individually wrapped toothpick to each of their packages. How thoughtful, right?! We picked up the "Indy Style" flavor combo of sharp cheddar cheese and caramel. Before you get all worked up and cast judgements let me just tell you how delicious it is. I'm not kidding. Do you remember getting those big tins of popcorn as a kid? Typically as a Christmas gift? Ok well it's like that. (Only waaay better) I loved it when the cardboard dividers came out and the cheese and caramel flavors mixed together. Still not doing it for you? Ok how about this one: Adam decided on a bag of Buffalo Wing and Ranch Flavor. All I can say is that popcorn tastes more like buffalo wings dipped in ranch than actual buffalo wings dipped in ranch. It's like magic. The final flavor we decided on was the caramel corn dipped in milk chocolate.
Super yum.

Thanks for the popcorn (that I'm currently munching on) Indiana!

On our "yumm scale" we rated Just Pop In gourmet popcorn as a Super Yumm.

For your reference the "Yumm Scale" :
1. Yuck
2. Yu...
3. Yumm
4. Super Yumm
5. Holymolycanoliyumm!

A Family Christmas

A photo recap of our Christmas holiday spent at home:

Dipping Christmas Cookies

Mulled Apple Cider

Christmas Table Setting

Christmas Goodies

Silly Sisters and Sneaky Spouses

Sparkly and Bright

Last Minute Preparations

Christmas Games

Homemade Gifts

Surprises on Christmas Morning

Happy Girls

Between the calzone bar for dinner and the intense minute to win it games on Christmas Eve this Christmas was a complete success.

I hope your holiday was just as fun filled and wonderful.