The Capitol Offender

What's for Dinner?

Homemade za (pizza)! I am pretty much a stranger to the kitchen; however, I can cook two things, one being homemade pizza which I learned from a good friend while she was living in Charlotte, NC, the other is grilled chicken.  Za is one of my favorite foods and I surprisingly love to make it as well. Homemade za is delicious, fast, easy and cheap; sounds like a lot of my friends!

Trader Joes sells whole wheat pizza dough for $0.99.  TJ’s also sells several kinds of pizza dough, such as original and garlic & herb. Last night I cooked for two (the old ball and chain and myself).  I grabbed two pizza doughs, one can of fat free pizza sauce located in the pasta sauce aisle, fresh mozzarella, pre-cut bell peppers (usually I cut them myself, but I was feeling lazy), basil and two jalapeño peppers.  Luckily there was not a line which is rare at the Foggy Bottom Trader Joes. My total was $8.90 which is amazing for some good za for two people. The pizza dough package has cooking instructions, but basically I spread some whole wheat flour (yes I’m a psycho with the whole wheat) on the counter and roll out the dough to make a rectangle-I can never seem to make a circle so I now do rectangle pizzas. I put aluminum foil over a cookie sheet, transfer my rectangle dough to the cookie sheet, and fold over the edges to make the crust. I then take a spoon and spread the pizza sauce, cut the fresh mozzarella into whole circles and spread them throughout the pizza, throw some pieces of basil on there and then the topping if your choice. Pop both pizzas into the oven at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Keep an eye on it, you want to take it out once the cheese starts to bubble and then enjoy your meal!

I'm in Miami BITCH

So I just returned from a family trip to Miami for 5 days...Lots to cover about the trip so bear with me and the length of this entry.  First off, I should mention that my boyfriend accompanied us on this trip which was great, but a first family trip together with my parents’ mo son and his beau which went very well and totally normal.  We stayed at the Ritz Carlton South Beach (above left picture) which was amazing—excellent service and excellent food/drinks/location.  My whole family fell in love with the frozen Mojito that the Ritz serves…delicious but dangerous both physically and financially, but thank God I was traveling with my rents so I didn’t feel the financial pain of this drink.  The drink is very stiff to begin with and then of course they add a floater on top so you are feeling pretty good after one, let alone four.  One of my favorite parts of the trip (other than being on Mom and Dads tab) was the Miami Duck tour.  Yes, duck tours are cheesy, but I am cheesy and love them.  I’ve been on a couple other ones and each time I have been belly laughing.  The Duck tour takes you around all of the famous islands where celebrities live (Star Island, Palm Island, & Fisher Island) as well as hitting up Ocean Drive, which is known for its people watching.  Our guide would make fun of everyone on the street and/or try to make them dance—sometimes the people would play along and sometime they wouldn’t, which is when they got made fun of.  The driver also points out all of the local Reality Show locations such as Miami Ink, Kourtney and Khloe do Miami.  Miami is a Cheesy city (in a good way) and this tour is the best way to take it all in, it more of a show than a tour.  You will literally be laughing to the point of tears and possibly to the point of peeing your pants.  Ocean Drive is full of ¾ naked people and their weird pet snakes but that is what makes Miami so great is that everyone fits in and anything goes. 

Other highlights of the trip were the bars and restaurants we went to.  My favorite restaurant of all the nights we were there was Ola.  It is located one block off of Collins and is AMAZING Latin American food—our concierge recommended it.  The waiter recommended all of his favorites, and I ordered each of them.  My/the waiter’s favorites were:  Salmon ceviche to start and then the Sea Bass for an Entrée—I am typically not a Sea bass fan, but this was truly the best piece of fish I have EVER had.  Other great dishes we ordered were the Mystery Meatballs (Kobe beef meatballs), the shrimp empanadas and braised pork. Everyone LOVED their dishes and recommends all of them.  All of the food had great Latin American spices that gave it that little extra kick to each dish.  Other must do’s in Miami: hit up the Delano (pool bar) for drinks (top right picture), Clevelander on Ocean Drive (above left picture)—finally a cheap drink on the ocean in an open air bar with great bands playing on a stage that goes over the pool, LIV at Fontainebleau for the club scene, and drinks on the rooftop of the Gansevoort.  So much to do here so little time…Hope to get back again this winter to report more!

Chicago for a weekend

This past weekend my boyfriend and I went to go visit a friend in Chicago. It was my first time there since I was ten years old. Chicago is one of the best cities. It is a large metropolitan city, approx. 5 million residents, but is also manageable. This was a perfect destination for a weekend getaway, only an hour and 25 minute flight from DC.

While here, we did most of the touristy things--shopped on Michigan Avenue, took an architectural boat tour (highly recommend), saw Wrigley field, went to Lincoln Park, Millennium Park, Grant Park, and of course ate Chicago deep dish pizza at Gino's East. I am a true za (pizza) fan and get it in every city/country I visit. The Chicago style deep dish pizza is a must for a visit to the Windy City. Gino’s East is a Chicago institution; dozens of celebrities have visited from Oprah to Hulk Hogan. Keep in mind that true deep dish pizza takes 45 minutes to cook so plan accordingly.

My favorite highlight of the weekend was the architectural boat tour. Chicago has some of the best architecture I have seen on this side of the Atlantic. It has massive sky scrapers, not to mention two of the country’s tallest buildings are located here, the Sears Tower and the Trump Hotel and Tower.

Friday night we hit up funky Bucktown and Wicker Park which would be an equivalent to U Street in DC and then Saturday night we went to Lincoln Park (Landmark Bar).

I recommend eating at May Street Market for dinner--great American food, I got the shrimp jambalaya which I also recommend.

The only fallback of the city is that it is in the Mid-west. As an East coaster, the mid-west is not my favorite part of the country. It is very friendly, but also very plain, definitely a generalization but that's my opinion. With that being said, Chicago is definitely worth the quick trip and my pick for favorite weekend getaway destination.

  

Sunday Funday in DC

After being here in DC for my first weekend in about 5 weeks, I decided to take advantage of being in town and this great weather, so I met some friends for drinks at one of my favorite locations..Circa (www.circacafes.com) located directly across the street from the Dupont north metro stop with outdoor seating. Located across from the metro stop means its a great spot for people watching or more often freak watching which is equally as fun especially when you are hungover and want to shoot yourself and then you see a homeless man with feet five times the size of yours--things are looking up or maybe that is the booze talking. We enjoyed some white wine, pizza and wings...From here we decided to changed locations to Clydes (www.clydes.com) in Georgetown for half priced wine and more wings. Half priced wine is every Sunday and goes until 1030pm. We were able to get bottles of wine for $16 and up-great deal! From here we headed to Mr. Smiths in Georgetown (www.mrsmiths.com) which was when my night/day starting fading as was my memory.  However Mr. Smiths is typically a college bar/piano bar but never lets me down on a Sunday night...drink specials for Yeungling on Sundays.  It was about 1am and time to go to bed/pass out.

Capitol Skyline Hotel Pool

This is the place to be in the gross DC heat. You should arrive early to mark your territory (lounge chairs). Get there before noon to avoid sun bathing on concrete like a amateur. $10 will get you into the pool and another $3 will get you an obnoxiously old orange towel (bring your own to save the $3 and the risk of getting scabies).  12pm on the dot they start serving drinks, which are very nicely priced--$4.00 for all beers, all beers except Miller Lite are 12oz and the Miller Lites are 16oz..best bet for your money. All mixed drinks including margaritas are only $5.00. All food which is not a large selection but what they do have is good and $8.00 which usually comes with chips or fries...I recommended the BBQ Grilled chicken sandwich--I may enjoy it because I have a couple beers already in me but either way it got something in my stomach which was needed as I didn't want to start doing the "Elaine" dance before the sunsets. As they day went on and the drinks continued to flow people were really beginning to let loose. Depending on the theme determines how weird things get...Freddie Krugar might be giving it to an Easter Bunny look-a-like from the behind.  This place is the best place to be in the summer in DC as well as the closest thing I've seen to spring break since spring break.