OUI, OUI!

[counter clockwise, from top left: gâteau d'or from griottes; gâteau glacé au pineau des charentes et ananas from je veux être bonne; and cheesecake rose-framboise from christelle is flabbergasting ]

My foodie find for the week? Make that finds. They're French cooking blogs!

Makes me wish that I had paid more attention in French class! And that they could cook for me!

CHEERS TO THAT!

So a D.C. vs. L.A. comparison for today -- Angelenos, we don't know how to do happy hour like D.C. does.

Getting into D.C. around 9 p.m., I totally thought that we could do food and such. Nope. Shake Shack was literally the only thing open. (And it's good, but not crazy exciting... Also, I forgot to take pics.)

Well, Shake Shack and the bars... Oh my goodness, bar hopping in D.C. was so easy and fun! We hit up a number of places, including the Mad Hatter and Mighty Pint.  All of it though was within walking distance! All of it was packed! And deals! Whew, literally every place had a different "happy hour" special. 

And I guess that that's the vibe of D.C. It's not so much about who you know, but who you meet. It matters what you do to make opportunities happen, such as going out to bars and networking. 

L.A.'s a different breed - and I don't know what's better, or where I would want to be quite yet. D.C. was a great adventure though!

SWEET OR SAVORY?

And as I look at this image, I see a big fat spelling mistake. *sigh* That's what you get when you're totally running around crazy, in a rush. I'm packing my bags for a quickie weekend trip to the Bay Area (which should be fantastic). Ah, so much to do and so little time.

But I just wanted to remember this stop in D.C.

D.C. was being rather gloomy the day that we visited. We needed a quick bite to eat, as we were just wrapping up our window shopping around Georgetown, and this place popped out with its bright yellow sunshine-y decorations.

DREAMING

[original source unknown, found on pinterest]

Thinking of the future tonight. Thinking of crisp, bright colors and a quirky kitchen. Oh, if only I had the kitchen space.

 

[ get these goodies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]

HAPPY PRESIDENTS' DAY!

A day late, but here's hoping that all of you had a lovely Presidents' Day Weekend!

To celebrate, I thought that I'd share Ben's Chili Bowl. It's a D.C. staple, and President Obama gets to eat for free there. Pretty cool perk! (Although he apparently didn't take them up on it?)

LA CLASSIC

Told ya that there were some posts backed up. This one comes to you from two weeks ago.

My friends and I needed some nom-noms late at night, and after a solid win in basketball, we piled in the car and said, "Let's drive!"

We were planning on eating somewhere sketchy, but E's never been to Apple Pan, and when we drove by and saw how (unusually) empty it was, we parked and headed in.

LOTS OF LOVE

[ image originally from Mignon Kitchen Co. ]

It's here! Valentine's Day! So spread the love.

E. and I are having a rather low-key Valentine's Day. We've got a special trip coming up, so we're not doing anything too, too crazy for this one. Going to keep it simple and sweet.

Much like the goodies from Mignon Kitchen Co. Can't stop browsing through the site! (Not that I need anything from it.)

LET THEM EAT CAKE

[ clockwise from top left: peanut butter fudge, red velvet, salted caramel, strawberry lava fudge ]

Oh my goodness, every other block in D.C. there was some kind of cupcake place. I saw Crumbs, I saw Sprinkles -- but once my friend and I got to Georgetown, we knew that we had to get in line for Georgetown Cupcakes. It's like UCLA's Diddy Riese.

WEEKEND NOTES

Guess where I was? Washington, D.C.

Somehow I missed their awesome brunch specials, but that's okay. I got to try some of their cupcakes! You know, like Georgetown Cupcake, the place behind TLC's DC Cupcakes? Seriously, get excited.

But I am definitely still catching up on school and work. Yup, that's what a weekend trip does to a college student in the throes of midterms. So while I put together some posts, why don't you check out what's been on my mind?

• Looks like I'm not the only person eating about DC. Everybody Eats DC? What a cool idea to promote food security in the community.
• Totally reminded me of what Panera Bread is trying to do with its Saint Louis Bread Company Cares Cafe. What would you do if you were faced with a donation box and not a cashier?
• Oh, and so long as we're talking about food security - let's consider making healthy food more accessible too. Love that Michelle Obama supported local grocers.
• The First Lady's also been dominating comedians. First Ellen, then Jimmy Fallon.
• And as long as we're talking about moving, I got very, very close to accomplish a foodie resolution! Right before jetting off to D.C., I ran most of my campus's perimeter. This week, the goal is to run it - all of it.
• That way, E. and I can pig out at one of these foodie places for Valentine's Day.

Enjoy the links! Have a lovely weekend!

EAT YOUR WORLD

 

[ all images originally from here, but put together by me]

Have you heard of Eat Your World? It's a pretty new site, all intended towards eating locally, with user-submitted info and a blog. Looks and sounds interesting, but I'd love to see some more content, especially on its blog! There are some recipes and chef interviews right now, but it could grow a little more. (Who am I kidding, though? My blog needs to grow!)

I strive to support going local as often as possible. Sure, a chain is really convenient and brings costs down, but particularly with groceries / produce and restaurants, going local is so much more interesting and valuable.

(FOGO DE) CHAO DOWN

As E. aptly put it last Tuesday, Fogo de Chao is just something that you've got to do as an Angeleno. Well, we did it - as part of DineLA.

Now I've done DineLA a couple of times now. To me, it's not really that much of a deal. I usually feel like I could've had a cheaper meal at the place, had I gone without DineLA. (True story: I had a fun, lovely and delicious meal at Starry Kitchen that was cheaper than its $16 Dine LA prix fixe.)

Fogo de Chao really did not disappoint, though. $28 (not including tip) for lunch? Completely amazing.