$2 Tickets and $1 Hotdogs

Our view- Go Nats!

Yesterday a group of us went to the $2 tickets Nationals game.  If you haven’t been to a game yet, I highly suggest making the trip whether you are a baseball fan or not.  Weather was perfect and what better way to spend a Tuesday than with friends outside.  The game is an added perk. 

Another perk is the Bull Pen, an open beer gardenish area outside the park.  Live bands play before the game and you can usually find a few corn hole games going.  The Bull Pen looks out over the metro so after the game it’s a great place to hang out and watch the crowds thin.  

Since I haven’t focused on food in a while, I thought I would mention my love of hotdogs.  I am not a huge meat eater, but the nostalgia of being at the game, eating a dog, gets me every time.  While looking for a photo to exemplify this dog love (with ketchup, mustard and chopped onions) I found this article.  Sigh.  I hope that drinking DC water has upped my stomach immunity!  Props to the Nats for being name dropped as a healthy food stadium!  Do you think my hotdog is included?    

An overall great evening.  Tonight is $1 hot dogs if you’re interested.

Ps: Part 2 of the OC Guide is on it’s way sometime this week 

A Girls Guide to OC- Part 1

A girls weekend in Ocean City in April can best be described through the restaurants and bars that were visited because, let’s face it, that’s what Ocean City does best.  Having lived here for a summer, it is always fun to re-visit old favorites, which we did this time around.  Hope that you enjoy Kate’s Guide to a Girls Weekend in OC!  (Disclaimer:  This post isn’t child friendly-  Sorry… but let’s be real… I’m not sorry!)

Music and The Veranda

On your walk home you may see:

"The Cupcake"

 

As I walked into the office this morning I was pleasantly greeted with a delicious birthday breakfast.  Lindsey surprised me with homemade vanilla and chocolate cupcakes!  Today I thought I’d blog about “The Cupcake” as it has played a significant part in my 25 year old life.  

Why you may ask?  Of course they are delicious but for Alec and I, they also pay our bills.  No, unfortunately, I am not a career baker.  No secret recipes up my sleeves.  Rather, Alec works on the show DC Cupcakes.  Yes, Sophie and Katherine are just as nice as they appear on TV.  Yes, their cupcakes are delicious.  Yes, while shooting the show we’d have dozens of cupcakes at home.  And, yes, Alec doesn’t like icing so we have a full box of just cupcake bottoms in our freezer from the shop…  My favorite flavor?  Key Lime. 

Looking forward to leftover Easter cupcakes for lunch too.  Thanks Beatrix!


On a totally separate note, the photos in this post are my first ever Instagrams.  Just learned that Facebook bought the company for a billion dollars...  Wondering what that means for them...


 

Viva España

Cheers (chin chin!) to Jen and Brian as they embark on two weeks through Spain and Portugal! 

In celebration of the trip I wish I was joining them on, I thought that I’d relive a wonderful dinner that Brittany and I shared the other week at Jaleo, one of José Andrés’ Spanish tapas restaurants in the city (we actually went to the one in Bethesda… not DC).  

Endibias con queso de cabra y naranjas

José Andrés is a pretty cool guy: a world renowned chef who trained under Ferran Adria, was recently voted Best DC chef in City Paper, great happy hours, just launched the food truck Pepe, etc etc.  His food tastes deliciosa too! 

On our visit we munched on happy hour tapas and sipped on sangria.  As we ate, it struck me that his Endibias con queso de cabra y naranjas (Endive with goat cheese, oranges and almonds), would make an amazing and easy at home appetizer so here it is:

Separate out each endive leaf to make a boat for the tasty ingredients inside;

Cut an orange (or clementine?) slice and lay it in the boat (Im normally a peeler, but cutting the fruit will best juice up the app);

Add some goat cheese and almonds on top

Something else about José that I found interesting and makes me feel better as I fail at this seasonal cooking schtick?  He confides that while he tries to cook local whenever he can, there are just certain times wen cooking Spanish food (or any other cuisine for that matter) that local products won’t cut it…  He doesn’t skip the Spanish imported cheeses or French champagne when local foods can’t embody the tastes and feelings he’s recreating.  I don’t remember when or where I read about this, but I did find a comparable interview here that he gave in Miami which includes some other interesting José ideals.  

Pepe!

Happy Weekend!

Eggheads

This weekend we took a mini trip to see friends and family in Annapolis.  At 26 I am still a sucker for dyeing Easter eggs so on Sunday I managed to convince the whole family to partake in the activity.  While rummaging for supplies we found electrical tape, changing how we dye eggs perhaps forever- and resulting in the eggheads below!  The tape is waterproof so we cut out (and hole punched) our way through 36 eggs.  Fun weekend! 

Alec suggested that I take the tres banditos around to all of the "must-sees" in DC Travelocity dwarf style so they may be making an appearance again...

While on Pinterest looking for eggspiration I also ran across these cupcake eggs from Cupcake Project- very clever!

Best Coffee Ever... and Pancakes!

Alec's Dad introduced me to a great coffee ingredient.  CINNAMON!  I like to drink my coffee black so a few shakes of cinnamon added to the grounds before brewing gives it just the right taste.  Try it!  

This morning we enjoyed coffee while making apple pancakes (my first seasonal recipe...  apples and honey were locally bought!).  Yes, yes, the zucchini bread wasn't seasonal or local...  We were still getting through the pre-blog reserves and the zuc bread is one of Alec's favorites so I thought I'd post it anyways.  

ps:  I like to add cinnamon to my pancakes too sometimes!  

Now on to the photos:

La Vache was found at Svpply, a quirky site that allows you to search for items and stores around the web and see products that others "want".  Etsy, meets E-bay, meets blogs, etc., etc..

The pancakes are from SmittenKitchen, a similar recipe to the ones that we make.

Zucchini Bread

After my Peace House adventure I made this:

Healthy Zucchini Bread

You will need:

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

¾ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

2 eggs

2 ¼ cups zucchini (about 2 medium)

¼ cup oil

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

¼ cup walnuts

How to:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix dry ingredients

Mix wet ingredients

Combine

Add to greased bread pan

Bake for about 50 minutes or until knife comes out clean

While drinking:

a favorite!

And listening to:

Cheers to a wonderful weekend and Happy St. Patrick's Day!