Monday, August 29, 2011

weekend recap

My weekend was pretty amazing. It started off with the dance party at the Velvet Lounge. Anytime dancing is involved I am enjoying myself. Sure, I'm white and can't do it very well, but this does not stop me from trying. WHAT'S UP.

Saturday Scott and I went to Asylum in AdMo for brunch. They had waffle fries! I haven't had waffle fries in years, so it was mandatory that we get some.


I didn't really look at the menu, I just ordered the special. I actually wish I would've looked at the menu, I would've ordered my fave brunch item: eggs benedict. Oh well. I got hash browns topped with peppers and onions, shrimp, eggs, cheese, sour cream and salsa. Not too shabby.


Scott got some vegan burrito or something not worth photographing. (In real life I am not this big of a jerk about his veganism. I think.) After that we headed to Georgetown to see Our Idiot Brother. It wasn't really what I was expecting but I really liked it.

I was expecting an actual hurricane on Saturday. Nope. It really just seemed like a bad storm. Later in the day we geared up to walk to Sticky Fingers. In the rain. Scott wore swimming trunks and sandals. I wore skinny jeans and Toms. It was uncomfortable. But I actually had a lot of fun walking in the rain to go score some vegan goodies (again, totally unhealthy but their treats are so good). When we got back we ordered Thai. I can't remember from where but I got the seafood combo. Scallops, shrimps, squids, mussels and veggies in a super spicy sauce.


It was really good. A nice gluten free, but not grain free dinner.


Really decently sized seafood. Dig it.

Then we ate some vegan treats.


Vanilla and red velvet cupcakes. Vanilla was better. God it was so good.

Sunday morning we hit up brunch at Cafe Green. It's all vegan and has several organic, gluten free and raw options. I love raw food. For breakfast I generally stick to savory meals, but most of them included fake food (soy this, soy that). So I went with the raw cinnamon bun.


At first I thought this looked like chocolate, and kind of measly. But it was delicious and super dense. Scott got some fake omelet that came with these amazing mushrooms, so I also ordered a side of shrooms. They were probably the best mushrooms I've ever had. I'm emailing Cafe G today for the recipe. They better share, or else. After that we went golfing! Like, to a driving range. I sucked real bad at first, but I started to get the hang of it. I had a lot of fun doing it and want to go back. We walked around Haines Point before heading home. I probably should've taken pictures of the water, it was such a gorgeous day.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning and making my sheperds pie (I use cauli instead of potatoes).


God butter is awesome.


Dinner last night, lunch today and have another tupperware in the freezer for a future meal.


So overall I had an amazing weekend. Here's to hoping the workweek is half as tight.

Friday, August 26, 2011

easy grain-free lunch

This post is totally uninspired. It's Friday, I'm bored at work and I want to get out of here! I'm going to a dance party that my friends are DJing tonight at the Velvet Lounge and I am so ready to dance my face off. I love dancin'. I'm not so great at it (I'm white) but I definitely like to do it. I was going to go to the beach tomorrow but Irene has gotten in the way of that. Instead, I'm not really sure what I'm doing. Hoping that the storm is not too severe, that everyone remains safe and no one gets hurt, hoping the power doesn't go out, all while hoping I somehow get Monday off.  We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, I have a lil' recipe jam for all the people who say they don't have enough time to make food for themselves. I started this recipe for lunch at 7 am this morning, and I was putting it in (BPA-free!) Tupperware by 7:20.

-1 can organic diced tomaters
-half an onion
-4 carrots
-1/4 head of broccoli
-chicken
-butter
-spices (whichever you prefer, I used chipotle powder)

Seriously, this is as easy as tossing everything in a pot, turning it on medium high, covering it and letting it simmer. I prepared breakfast, tea, and water bottles in the meantime. I mean really, how easy is that? You don't have time...or you're lazy? Let's get real here.


I brought an avocado to top it with. Because avocados are tight.


Here's to hoping that the rest of the workday goes by fast for everyone. And that you're all safe this weekend. And that you all have tons of fun! DANCE PARTY!!!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

dinnerz

Last night I went to Busboys and Poets with Dale and Renee. I'd really like to go there more often. They have awesome outdoor seating! And it's a couple minutes to walk there from my house. Renee and I started off with a bottle of red wine.


I'm making more of an effort to drink red wine because of its high resveratrol (an antioxidant) content. It can reduce the signs of aging, boost your immunity and some studies show it even helps reverse pancreatic cancer.

Renee got a yellow tomato gazpacho that was a perfect summer soup. Of course I forgot to take a picture. She also got some pretty bomb quesadillas


They were chicken quesadillas and full of veggies. I dig that.


I got the burger. I just took the bun off. Gluten free for this girl. Dale also got the quesadillas. Here's a picture of him drinking my gluten free beer


Not gonna lie, I got kind of drunk. And it was kind of awesome. I really like to just sit around outside, eat, drink and talk. It's one of my favorite things to do, and I'll be sad when it's too cold to do it. Fall is coming. I am trying to get stoked on that. Mostly I am stoked for:

  • Halloween
  • the leaves changing colors
  • carving pumpkins
  • wearing scarves, and pants
  • buying cinnamon and pumpkin scented candles
  • the Renaissance Festival!!!!!!
That's all I can think of. Summer is my favorite season. Anyway, I'm hungry so I'm gonna go munch on grass-fed ground beef as a snack.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

EARFFFQUAKE

So, I have to address it. Yesterday's quake scared the shit out of me. I work in a big building in downtown DC on the 5th floor. I'm at my desk, when I start to hear a rumble. This is not uncommon, I think they are doing work on the floor above me. I start to feel something, nor is this uncommon. I think they're lugging these gigantic roller thingies down the hallway. Then the building starts to shake. Then I start to freak out. At that point I was terrified. No one knew what was going on. I ran out of my office without my shoes. Because really, who wears shoes at their desk? Someone shouts, "Dani, where are your shoes?!" So I run back to my office to grab them and my purse and get the hell out of the building. While taking the stairs, I got a text from my friend Mike asking if I felt the earthquake. Hell yeah I did. The text didn't make me feel much better. Thankfully, there were no damages or anything. I know a lot of people were joking on Twitter and Facebook. But that was seriously scary, and I'm sure terrified anyone who works in a large building. These joints ain't made to stand quakes!

So, after leaving work early, yet spending two hours on the metro to get home, I finally got there and started on dinner. It was pretty uninspired. I felt drained from the commute and other events of the day. I made roasted carrots, potaters and onions. As well as Jenna's "boyfriend approved" black bean burgers. Were they boyfriend approved? Yes, but even if he didn't like them I doubt he'd tell me.


The bun is really just for aesthetic purposes. Neither of us ate the bun.



Totally vegs. Really not bad. Obviously, I'd prefer a grass-fed burger made with some organic worchestirshire and a pastured egg (three ingredients, super simple, gluten and grain free!). But I'm always happy to cook for people. AND he brought me a cowvin bar from Sticky Fingers! They're a vegan bakery that I used to frequent when I was a vegan in high school. Even though they use completely terrible ingredients, they really do make some amazing food. The cowvin bar was awesome.


It's basically two oatmeal cookies with some frosting in the center. So bomb. I hear they make gluten free cupcakes now so I'll have to hit those up. Hope everyone has a great day!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

foodz

I cooked my face off last night. I made a whole chicken. And a quiche of sorts.


The chicken actually turned out really well. Covered it in s&p, olive oil and Mrs. Dash OG seasoning blend. You know why I like it, other than the fact that it also tastes like Thanksgiving? It's MSG free, bitches!


Eggs, milk, tomatoes and onion sauteed in butter, raw havarti cheese and basil.

Dinner.


The juice/fat from the chicken was so good. Don't be afraid of or waste that shit. Remember that your body needs the fat. 


Peas cooked in butter too. Bomb.

For breakfast I had some of that egg concoction that I made with a bit of smoked salmon.


Tonight I'm making dinner for vegan Scott. Yes, this blows my mind too. Most of what he eats offends me personally. And concerns me. I'll be making black bean burgers because they seem like the best form of non-processed vegan protein I can feed him. I mean, at least beans are still a whole food. While I do not generally eat beans, or grains (still not going to, I'll go without a bun) I figure I'll suck it up. Beans aren't too terrible, you could definitely consume worse. While this primal princess obviously don't prefer beans, vegan Scott digs black bean burgers, so I figure this is the best option. I'll keep ya posted. 

Monday, August 22, 2011

breakfast

PS- for breakfast this morning


1 piece of toasted soaked spelt bread, topped with lots of butter, smoked salmon, and two pastured eggs cooked in butter. So good.

Ate this at 7:30, it's almost 12 and I am not starving. Fat and protein keeps ya full.

weekend recap

This weekend was pretty awesome, but it started out pretty sucky. I felt bad all day at work, it literally hurt to move my eyeballs. I was dehydrated. I went home and made a veg juice (7 carrots, a head of romaine, half a tomato, half a lemon)


 and instead of going out (which was my original plan) I laid in bed all night and watched movies. I'm glad I did, because I felt a lot better come Saturday.

Saturday I was planning on having a Dani day. Dani day was going to consist of getting my tire fixed, going to the farmers market, going to Ulta, hitting up American Apparel, grocery shopping at Trader J's, maybe getting my nails done and then meeting up with my vegan friend, Scott to go to the Strike Anywhere show. Dani day got off to a slow start. I needed to get one tire changed. I arrived at the tire place at 11, thinking it would take about an hour. I left around 1:45. The farmers market is over at 1. So instead of that, I went nuts in Ulta and bought a bunch of awesome stuff, got a dress at American Apparel and grocery shopped at Trader J's. Still a pretty good day. Scott and I were going to go to Founding Farmers before the show but they couldn't get us in until 10, so we went to a Japanese/Thai place that I can't remember the name of. I got a seafood salad.


It was pretty bomb. Squid, scallops and shrimp in a spicy lime dressing.

Sunday was the Nationals game and I was helping my friend, Tasha do a promo at the game for Honest Tea. Honest Tea seriously has the best tea ever. It's actually brewed (not like other companies that use powdered mixes), their tea is organic, it's low in sugar and high in antioxidants. And it just tastes awesome. I also support them because they're a local business based out of Bethesda, MD. I just really like them all-around as a company.

So after the promo Nick, Scott and I hit up the Nats game (Tasha had a meeting to attend). I got some beers. Here's the view:



I love going to Nats games. It was really fun but we unfortunately didn't get to stay for too long due a monsoon hitting DC. It happens. I was actually stoked on this because Scott and I got to go to Founding Farmers for dinner. I got the scallops with butternut squash risotto.


Super good. The scallops were cooked perfectly. I wonder what oil they used to cook them in (I'm obviously hoping it wasn't soy or canola). The meal did taste buttery, but I thought it could've been much improved by more butter. I think this about all meals. Literally. I would've taken a picture of Scott's food, but he's vegan. So who cares. Processed soy on my blog? I don't think so.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

charities, thai, funny stuff

Last night after work I walked to Chinatown. Once there, a guy in a Children International shirt introduced himself and started talking to me. Most people walk away when this happens. I am not most people. I can't walk away. I don't know why, I just can't. This is doubled with the fact that I am a sucker. THIS however was actually a legit organization. Long story short, I am now sponsoring a young girl in the Dominican. For only $22 a month! And he said something like 85% of the children they sponsor end up going to college! I agreed with Stefan (that was the dude's name) that that was a great percentage. I can spare $22 a month. PLUS I get pictures! And letters! Sure, I don't speak Spanish, but I'll enlist the help of my vegan friend, who does speak Spanish, to translate. I am SO stoked.  

After that we hit up Thai Chili. In lieu of ordering some adventurous option, I just got pad Thai. It's just so good.


Sans meat or tofu. I could've gotten shrimp, but I figured it might be farmed. And well, we all know how I feel about soy. I HAVE been eating more grains lately, mostly in the form of rice (or rice noodles, actually). But at least it's gluten free, and I'll get back on track with the no grains soon enough.

After dinner we saw 30 Minutes or Less. I heard some bad reviews, but critics will criticize. I laughed a lot. How can you not like Jesse, Aziz, Nick and Kenny Powers?! I really liked it, and it put me in a great mood. Watching funny movies is like taking Prozac for me. Except not damaging to my internal organs and much more effective. 

And just for good measure, and because they also put me in a great mood, here are some picture of Caedus.


What a funny guy.


Such a prince.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

suck it, pecan pie

Yesterday I ate a piece of pecan pie. I have no idea why I sometimes do these things. I felt like shit. I mean really. I was fine for a bit afterward. And then...the overwhelming urge to vomit everywhere hit me. So that sucked. Prior to eating the pie (and it wasn't like I scored some gluten and sugar free pie, I'm sure it was full of HFCS and other forms of slow death) I thought to myself, alright, I never eat pie. What's it gonna hurt? It's effing pie. Once in a while is nbd. Which for the most part, one in a while isn't a big deal. This however, was not the case. I was gagging. I had to clench my jaw as hard as I could as to not puke. Hot, right?

The reason I felt the overwhelming desire to eat the pecan pie is because my normal eating routine has been thrown for a loop. I couldn't eat consistently, or eat my normal nutrient dense food when I was at the beach. And I've been eating more grains, which of course leads me to crave more grains, as well as sugar. So I decided I'd make myself a decent dinner. On my way home from work I spotted the sign for the Tuesday farmers market in Hyattsville. I rarely hit it up because I don't normally do my shopping on Tuesday. But I needed tomatoes and potatoes (don't normally eat potaters, but like I said, I've been craving things) and am always happy to give my money to local farmers. So that's what I did. I also impulse bought a watermelon. I've never bought one before. They're gigantic.

So for dinner I made steak (cooked maybe twenty seconds on each side in refined (flavorless) coconut oil with the potatoes that I mashed up with a shit ton of grass-fed butter and a huge ass salad.


Rare. Real rare. Like, not cooked. I know.


I used to really suck at salad dressings and my dear buddy Mike would constantly harass me about how disgusting my salads were. They were quite gross. But for some reason I got the hang of it. For the dressing I used olive oil, cilantro, raw honey, organic dijon, raw garlic and lemon juice.


I especially like cilantro not only because it's awesome but because it binds to mercury in your system and helps remove it. Thanks cilantroooo.

Tonight I'm going to a Thai place with my vegan friend. I love Thai food and haven't had it in forever. A Tara Thai is being built a stones throw from my house though, so I foresee myself eating a lot of Thai in the near future, and I am stoked on that. We're also seeing 30 Minutes or Less, which probably has my favorite cast out of any movie ever made. Hope whoever reads this has a great night!!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

obx

On Friday I took off work to go to a Lasik pre-exam appointment (which was terrible, I was unaware they'd prod my eyeballs with instruments just for the pre-exam) and get some stuff done before going to the beach. For some reason I just wasn't hungry that day, but knew I needed to eat. So I made


fishies (wild caught cod) that I cooked in lard. Then topped with lemon, butter and parsley.

After getting my stuff together (packing) I headed out. It was my buddy Tall Matt's birthday so we all met up at Busboys and Poets, where I had the shrimp and grits (again).


Still awesome.

After dinner we were on our way to the Outer Banks! Which was a surprise for Matt. I freaking love the Outer Banks and didn't think I'd get a chance to go this summer. We got there around 1am and headed out to the beach. WHERE I LOST MY GLASSES IN THE OCEAN. Yeah, that happened. But it was worth it, we did some night swimming and it was tons of fun. We spent Saturday on the beach where I got a massive sunburn. It hurts a lot. Saturday night was a dance party, that included a trip to the ER due to a BROKEN FOOT...that's what happens when you mosh to Poison the Well in the living room.

Sunday it was overcast and they were calling for rain. But I wasn't about to pass up spending more time at the beach so Scott and I went, spent about a minute in the freezing water and then just hung out on the beach. God I wish I lived near/on a beach. I love the ocean so much.

We made the trek back to DC, but not before stopping in Richmond to hit up Sticky Rice.


TOTS!!!


And the gluten free coconut shrimp bowl.

It was an awesome weekend and I'm really hoping to get back to the beach before the summer is over. Enjoy your workweek!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

LASAGNA NIGHT!

Lasagna night was tiiight. And much more boozy than I had anticipated. We had three big bottles of red and two six packs. I got giggly.

Ingredients:
-2 lbs ground beef (I actually use ground beef with organs and didn't tell them. I fed ya'll suckas organs)
-tomato paste
-1 jar of favorite sauce
-half an onion
-4 cloves of garlic
-2 16 oz bags mozzarella
-lasagna noodles
-2 tubs of cottage cheese
-2 eggs
-parsley
-handful of cherry tomatoes (optional)
-butter

Sautee the meat, 3 cloves garlic, cherry tomatoes and onions in a bit of butter. Add tomato paste and parsley. Set aside.


In a blender, or in a bowl, add the cottage cheese, two eggs, garlic and parsley. You can mash it in a bowl, but I mixed it all up in the beloved Vitamix. I really, really miss that baby since moving out. It is amazing.


Get your other ingredients in order.


No boil lasagna noodles. I usually use rice noods, but these are serious time savers and they're also all Trader J's had. I put sauce in the bottom of each baking dish, dipped the noodles in the cottage cheese mix, topped with meat, topped with cheese and then topped again with the sauce. Baked in the oven for about 45 minutes, covered on 350.


They came out awesome! Totally melty and delicious. Tasha also made zucchini that went unphotographed.


Sooo good.

So lasagna night was in honor of this lasagna lover:


We hung around, talked, had some drinks. Mike Green made an appearance. We're bros.


Nick killed some flies with his fly killer thing.


We ate some brownies I made for my intern who left yesterday, but ended up not bringing them to work because they completely turned into a brownie mound.


I mean really, it was just a pile of brownie.


But it got good reviews! Not that I can take credit, as it was a box mix from Trader J's. How does one eff up a box mix? I manage to, because I suck that badly at baking. But it was an awesome night. I love my friends!

Tomorrow I took off work to go to a Lasik appointment and I'll also be getting my hairs done. Stoked! And then it's a birthday dinner for a friend, and then I'm off to the Outer Banks! This will be the first time I've been to the beach all summer and I am beyond excited. I love the Outer Banks! Hope ya'll have a great weekend!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

outdoor yoga in my underwear

Yesterday on my way home from work I  got a text from Renee asking if I wanted to do dinner and drinks. My text response was "YES!" So we went to Franklin's and started out with this


I got some crab soup


and mushroom papusas


Normally I'd expect white people not to be so great at making papusas, but these are pretty tight.

Yesterday I got a brilliant idea. You see, there is a door in my room (my room is upstairs in a house) and it opens up to an addition below. So it's my own private roof. Why have I not thought to do yoga out there before?! I was so stoked when I thought of this. I got up early today so I could do some outdoor yoga in my underwear. It was awesome. It was so nice to see the sky go from this


To this


To this


And the weather was perfect. I didn't do some crazy yoga routine, just a some short routines via an app on my phone. I'm probably going to do this every morning now. I loved being outside so early. Wish I could do this year round.

Tonight is lasagna night! I'm super stoked. I love cooking for my friends.