Foodtrippin' - DC Edition

Weekend trips! They are the best.

I just came back from visiting a friend in Washington DC -- and it was really, really difficult to drag myself back here.  Apparently, Atlanta didn't want me back either; my first flight was cancelled, and the one they put me on got delayed for nearly 3 hours.  I absolutely wouldn't have minded spending more time (aka my life) in DC, though it's probably for the best that I don't....says my wallet. 

But my stomach definitely misses the place.  I feel like I should be on some sort of cleanse right now after all the food this weekend.  

(Ha ha ha. One of my post-trip meals was at Ming's BBQ.  But in my defense, who out there can say no to Ming's BBQ??!  The beef chow fun there is my weakness.  Also, I just made some soy sauce braised eggs and chicken...pass the rice, please.) 

Anyway, here is my trip in food pictures, in the order items were consumed/enjoyed.  Sorry about some of the bad quality...there was just a lot of excitement to start eating!

1. Georgetown Cupcakes 

Yum! I went to do some shopping around Georgetown and noticed the line for this place was pretty short.  Last time I visited DC, the only cupcakes I tried were at Sweet Lobby at the Eastern Market, so I was pretty stoked to try these.  They were nice and light and not too sweet, just the way I like them.  I got the strawberry and chocolate ganache.  Not sure I would wait 45+ minutes for these, which I imagine some of these people did...

2. Kintaro 

Super yum! Anyone who has seen any of my Facebook mobile pictures will know that I am a big chirashi fan.  Mainly because I'm very indecisive and like a lot of variety.  Or/and I think it's a good deal.  This one has my stamp of approval.  I've had a couple of chirashi-dons lately that has underwhelmed me with the fish quality, so Kintaro was a nice breath of fresh air in that department.  My friend said they have really good ramen as well, but it literally felt like summer in Taiwan outside, so...that didn't happen.  Also, I really like that this place is run by the cutest old Japanese couple ever. 

3. Baked and Wired

So, naturally, we had to compare Georgetown cupcakes.  We got the dirty chai cupcake here, which was ginormous!  Very moist.  I would say they're pretty different from Georgetown Cupcakes though, so no clear winner for me here.  I did try my friends' chai latte and coffee here though, really really good.  I'm not a coffee person by all means, but if I were, this is probably the kind of place I'd want to go. 

4. Nando's Peri Peri Chicken

This is a place I've heard about since last year but wasn't able to try during my previous trip.  So glad to have made it this time!  My friends and I shared a whole chicken platter (with corn and garlic bread) as well as a serving of medium spicy chicken livers.  You order at the counter, pick your sauces/spiciness level, sides, etc. and sit and wait for your feast to come.  Y'all...I am NOT a garlic bread person.  Which makes absolutely no sense as I love bread and absolutely adore garlic.  But this bread? I loved.  Especially paired with the spicy chicken livers.  Mmm.  We also got a pitcher of sangria to share, which was a nice sweet accompaniment to the meal.  Yeah, so the lighting was not great for these pictures, but...well, I was hungry.    

5. Shake Shack

Another recommendation I had heard about; perfect that it's literally next door to Nando's.  My sister had told me about the black and white shake, which she swears by, but we decided to share a "concrete" which is even thicker.  We got the Washington Monu-mint (hee hee), which has marshmallow swirl, mint, and cookie dough.  It's like all things that I love in ice cream but never had together...but it works! Really, really works. I'll have to go back to try their food, which I hear is good, too. 

6. Ardeo

I found this place on some sort of list of places you need to eat in DC.  Ardeo does a $27 bottomless mimosa/champagne brunch...and they are not playing around with that "bottomless" business.  I never finished my drink.  I would look down and surprise! Completely full glass. I got the brunch, which comes with an appetizer, entree, and choice of mimosa or champagne; my friend got the french toast.  It was probably a smart choice, the plates were pretty generous.  I really loved my brussel sprouts - they were cooked with mango and peanut and had a sort of Asian taste to them.  Nice and roasted and crispy on the outside.  The french toast was awesome...not too sweet, and the creme anglais on top was so nice.  For my entree, I ordered the braised leg of suckling pig over grits.  It was good, but just too heavy to finish.  I think it would have been nice for the brussel sprouts to have come out with the meat dish to balance it out.  The fried pig skin on top was a nice touch though!

7.  Dolcezza Artisanal Gelato 

Perfect for the weather.  My friend got the Thai Coconut Milk gelato and I got 1/2 Lime 1/2 Pineapple Mint Sorbet. Nothing else to say except, perfect end to my trip! 

Anybody have other favorites must eats in DC? Have to start building up my "To Eat" list for next time.

KUO KITCHEN -- Easy Apple Pie

Cooking is like my happy time.  I love planning meals, going grocery shopping, chopping things up, and particularly, that nice sizzle and aroma from, say perhaps, when you throw some sliced garlic into a perfectly heated, oiled pan.  YUM. (side note - I have an obsession with cooked garlic.  And I'm pretty terrible at keeping the horror from my face when someone tells me they don't like it. What, you don't like FLAVOR?!) I'm not a huge fan of recipes -- unless you can find me one for that sauce they put on the "wet" chow fun noodles -- and I enjoy simple dishes, where you can just use whatever ingredients you have in the fridge and somehow end up with something very tasty.

And for all the reasons listed above, I pretty much avoid baking like the plague.

I should specify, baking from scratch.  I'll make those break and bake cookies all day, every day, be-caaause I know exactly how they'll turn out! So long as I have the oven turned to a specific temp and remember to take the cookies out when the oven beeps at me (always 1 min under the recommended bake time. Always.), I'll end up with the ooey-gooey deliciousness I love.  "Semi-homemade" is okay, too.  I have no problem looking up ways to make a batch of cupcakes from a box taste better -- for example, replacing the egg and oil portion with a small carton of plain greek yogurt to make a healthier, more moist cake.  Changed my life.  But from scratch?! Let me waste hours and hours of time stirring and measuring and and whipping, just to remove these muffin tops from my oven?! I wanted ooey-gooey cookies! Should have just gotten a back up of the break and bake. Argh.

But every once in a while -- and I do mean, a very long while -- some sort of combination of urgent cravings as well as an overly-confident belief in my abilities will come over me, and I'll decide that I'm going to bake something from scratch.  Which always starts with a semi-expensive visit to the store (because I don't have a single one of the ingredients needed.  Except eggs. And maybe butter -- oh. Expired.), followed by a ridiculous amount of time and mess, and inevitably ending in failure.  

EXCEPT.  This one time.  When I made apple pie.  And I don't even like apple pie that much.  But this one? Delicious.  Which is why I feel like I need to share this recipe.  Did it take a long time? Yes.  Have I made it since? Absolutely not. Was it worth it?  Very much so, particularly when eating the first slice, still hot, covered in a huge spoonful of vanilla ice cream.  Mmmm. 

So here is the recipe I used for the pie, and here is the recipe I used for the crust. There are a couple different crust options on that page, but I went with the basic one and did the lattice just as the apple pie recipe said.  I did take some pictures to document the fact that lazy Debbie was indeed baking this pie...

Slicing apples...so many apples.  I ended up not using a couple of them.

Making the dough

Pie crust

Final Product

So you can see all that sugar on top on the final product...this is where I thought my whole pie was going to end up being trashed.  This is the sugar mixture that was supposed to be a little more liquid-y so you can pour it over the lattice top into the pie.  Mine ended up globbing up, so I just mixed some cinnamon with the apples and tried as hard as I could spooning the mixture on top.  It ended up making a really nice sugary crunch on top.  See?  Magic recipe.  Perfect for the July 4th holiday!