Hungry Times Two

You know when you've made a meal out of a cup and a half of cottage cheese and go out for a jog that leaves you wincing and wondering if you have any knee cartilage remaining that you're on one hell of a guilt trip. Such was the case on Sunday, when I plead my case to the Weekend Food Gods, asking for amnesty despite the last two days of food gluttony. It was gonna take more than some fat-free dairy products and sweaty poundin' of pavement to undo what I'd done. Scott and I hosted his dad visiting from GA and well, those men like to eat. Put fresh cocktails in their hands and full plates of good food in front of them and they're all kinds of congenial. I can't say I'm not partial to their ways. Who can blame them? On Friday evening, after Scott's dad learned the joys of navigating the streets of D.C., we set out for a place I found on UrbanSpoon.com. {US is a handy site - considering the recent controversy over the legitimacy of Yelp.com business review...

My granola, that is. Yep, I'm just one step away from throwing on a batik sarong, renewing my subscription to Mother Jones, and getting in on the nearest drum circle I can find. Granola gets a bad rap, I think. It's a word used to describe the more liberal, earth- lovin ' folk, but I just think it's crunchy and tasty with yogurt or as cereal. I plan on breakfastin ' it up with this granola in the morning, accompanied by sliced banana and milk. The recipe I used is great, but it didn't result in big clusters of granola, which you might find in the $5 bags at Whole Foods and other places. It's still crunchy, just separated instead of chunky. I think a lot of granola recipes call for butter and this one uses oil instead. Often granola is considered a "health food" but when you examine the nutrition info on commercial granola, you'll see a fat gram count that is sooooooo far out, man. In other baking-related news, last weekend Scott and I attend...

I've got to get to 2 Amy's to try what's considered DC's best pizza. How do I know about 2 Amy's? Shout Out to Capital Spice - a very cool blog on DC's best eats. They're on Twitter @ CapitalSpice . Second Shout Out to me - I'm on Twitter too @ writeonerin . See how I master the art of 140 characters or less - or how I just sound really mundane and utterly ridiculous. Tweet, tweet - spring is almost here. Oh, how I have missed the sunshine and warmth. Bring it.

Here's a shot of Legal Seafood's downtown D.C. bar - nice old barrel-vaulted ceiling! I had a pint of Harpoon IPA (in honor/respect for Legal's Boston origins)for happy-hour prices! Next time, I'll be brazen, bold .. or perhaps just plain thirsty enough to order a can of PBR. I wonder if they're tallboys? : ) Oh, and here's a plug for Hillbilly Casino , a great Nashville rockabilly band, and their tribute to PBR! (Simply look up the song "PBR" ) Monday ~ Friday 4pm to 7pm. PBR Cans $1.95 Draft Beer $3.25

This past Sunday, Erin and I visited the Maine Avenue Fish Market today, D.C.'s old-school seafood market. It was 50 degrees and drizzly, but man, the fresh-steamed blue crabs with Old Bay smelled heavenly in that weather! We picked up one pound of wild sea scallops (Bay, farmed is supposed to be a more sustainable choice according to the guide I had with me http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_SoutheastGuide.pdf , so we chose "Good Alternative"), one pound of medium wild-caught Gulf shrimp and one pound of medium wild-caught Carolina brown shrimp. Monterey Bay Aquarium even has guides for the Central U.S., etc. Check the out - the oceans and your future dinner plans will thank you. http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx We made this trip after Erin brought home "fresh" farm-raised shrimp from Ecuador from our local Giant (the big supermarket chain here). She knew better, but wanted sh...

Here are some quick bites for ya. Rather than rhapsodize for paragraphs over the breakfast offerings of Plato's Diner , 7150 Baltimore Ave., College Park, MD, here's a visual for you: Greek omelet and French Toast - yummmmmmmmm . Plato's is what our friends in Hyattsville call "The Shiny Diner." It's like a greasy Airstream. Hot and filling food at a decent price - gotta love the Greek diner. On a similar note, a new friend who lives in Silver Spring introduced us to: Where we found: Behold, the Lebanese Feast Mezze Platter at the Lebanese Taverna , 933 Ellsworth Dr., downtown Silver Spring. With a sampling of 12 menu items, we didn't know what exactly we'd get when we ordered but as you can see, they didn't skimp on us. The platter included falafel , hummus, tabbouleh, cucumber/mint/tomato salad, grape leaves, and Kibbeh (said in the style of South Park..." Kibb -eh!" ) - A.K.A the best meat-stuffed orb I've ever encountered - fi...

I love the simplicity of this blog - Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide. Lord knows there's enough material in this Metro area to keep him busy bloggin' on good (or bad) eats. And above all, I love his tagline - All Food is Ethnic Food. So true! Have a tasty weekend!

So, this was a good week for cooking in our house. Point blank - I rocked it out. No pasta. No stir fry. No grilled cheese and soup or the "breakfast for dinner" trick. I actually sat down on Sunday morning and hashed out a week's meal plan based on a cookbook I found several years ago at my favorite cheap-ass store, I mean, my discount retailer of choice, T.J. Maxx - this Best of the Best cookbook from Food & Wine . I can't take the credit for the food - these recipes are soooooooo tasty. I just followed the directions. Sunday night - Shrimp in Garlic-Sage Butter Saute 1 lb. shrimp in: ½ cup butter 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage (I used about a teaspoon of dried sage) 2 large minced garlic cloves ¼ teaspoon salt Wednesday Night - Turkey Burgers with Avocado Mayo A Bobby Flay recipe, this one is a keeper just on the creamy Avocado Mayo alone. I didn't make the Poblano Pickle relish - couldn't find a poblano or anything comparable at Giant (no, they don...

Check out my Uncle John's creation - Jack Daniels creating light and warmth! (a LOT of warmth if you polish off a bottle) Can you believe you can get this much from a 1 liter bottle?!? He's got a few more empties in his basement in Gastonia, NC, so if you're game for a lamp, I'm sure he could start his own business making these! On another random alcohol note, Erin and I visited our neighborhood corner market and I scored this unique 6-pack of Yuengling. Some might say there's a thin line between innovation/thrift and tackiness/illegality (is there some liquor law that says you can't split 12-packs and sell them as two 6-packs? Would the beer distributor not take kindly to this? Oh well, it worked for me!!) Perhaps the real issue was space - the shop is TINY, so my guess is that they're packing things in however they'll fit into the place. Our apartment is much the same way, toaster oven and microwave carefully stacked, arranged on top of fridge since ...