Eating in DC

It's come to my attention that I experience DC via food. (Yes, I'm in DC tonight. Came down last night after working a five hour cashier shift at Target for a job interview today ~ second interview ~ as a communications director at an NGO here.)

We left Target a little before 5 pm, armed with flatbreads from the café and Starbucks, specifically a venti iced caramel macchiato with extra espresso and a tropical creme frappucino. We drove about 3.5 hours into DC and dined on Cava hummus and harissa at my friend's apartment.

This morning we ventured to Paul, where my husband enjoyed a gourmandise and I had a croissant. My interview was very nearby and afterwords we had lunch at Nando's Peri Peri on 18th. This particular office is close to all my favorites! Even Godiva is nearby.

For dinner tonight we went to Ercilia's for some El Salvador style street food. Papua and plantains! Those cheesy stuffed flatbreads all gooey and hot... And the plantains... Cheap, comforting and fills the belly.

Zoku pops

First attempt 

Soup, asparagus and Zoku pops

So, child is heating up some Italian wedding soup on this cold rainy day. We're roasting asparagus in the oven with coconut oil, garlic powder and fresh ground four color pepper.

For dessert, we're going to attempt Zoku quick pops, watermelon outside with a vanilla coconut milk/farm fresh vanilla yogurt core.

Scrambled egg tabouleh wraps

My husband just made scrambled egg wraps with cheese and I added tabouleh and roasted red pepper dip to mine. It worked really well. Now we have to run out to the farm for more eggs!

Conserve d'Harissa

For graduation, and to celebrate belated birthdays of my friend Kevin and I, I opened a can of harissa I bought at Forks Mediterranean Deli. The deli used to carry small cans, but now they only have standard sized cans and that's a lot of harissa.

Especially when you're the only one in the house who likes it. And I like it. A lot. 

I shared some with Kev, letting him take some home and decided to try freezing the rest. I didn't have convenient containers on hand (and it didn't seem a good idea to put spicy pepper spread in my ice cube trays although the tiny ones would have been perfect).

I scooped a heaping teaspoon into a fold top sandwich baggie and rolled the plastic around itself instead of folding it in. Then I placed the cylinders into a quart sized freezer bag.

This harissa was imported from Tunisia, which is neat because while I first had harissa at a shawarma place in Paris near the Gare de Nord, my true appreciation of it comes from my visit in January 2012 to Tunisia.

For those of you who might be curious about what harissa is, let me quote Wikipedia:

"Harissa (Arabic: هريسة) is a Tunisian hotchili sauce whose main ingredients are piri piri (type of chili pepper), serrano peppersand other hot chili peppers and spices andherbs such as garlic paste, coriander, redchili powder, caraway as well as somevegetable or olive oil. It is most closely associated with Tunisia, Libya and Algeria^[1]but recently also making inroads intoMorocco according to Moroccan foodexpert Paula Wolfert.^[2] It can also be found in countries with strong Arab presence such as France or Germany. In Israelharissa is a common topping for falafel.

Recipes for harissa vary according to the household and region. Variations can include the addition of cumin, red peppers, garlic, coriander, and lemon juice. InSaharan regions, harissa can have a smoky flavor. Prepared harissa is also sold in jars, cans, bottles, tubes, plastic bags and other containers."

Graduation Day

Sorry for the silence. 

Today is graduation day. That second bachelor's will soon be mine.

A few weeks ago, I invited my friends up for dinner after graduation. I wanted someone to celebrate with my family so I didn't come home and plop down on the couch.

I offered to grill. That totally jinxed graduation for the Lafayette College Class of 2013. Sorry. It's now really cold and very rainy.

I haven't cooked anything decent in weeks. Between working a lot of hours, volunteer commitments, wrapping up school, job hunting, and child's end of year activities... We've eaten a lot of hamburger from the farm, my mother-in-law's leftovers and processed crap. But fruits and veggies too!

So today... My friends are vegans who graciously eat vegetarian when away from home. I believe that my duty as a friend is to offer food any of my guests will enjoy whether vegan, gluten free or allergies.

I have an unexpected meeting at Wegmans and few real food options in the house so we'll be picking up fresh veggies and funky crackers and vegan dips. And hopefully asparagus. And if we can squeeze in it, a trip to Forks Mediterranean Deli for homemade dips, olives, dates and zaatar. 

Clearance Indian

I bought Chicken Tikka Masala on clearance on Target. $2.48 for 2 servings. Archer Farms. To offset the processed food, I made a nice plate of fresh spinach and spring mix, which we'll put the chicken and rice on top of it. Then we'll have non-dairy fruit smoothies-- my new recipe of coconut milk, pomegranate juice, strawberries, peaches, pineapple, mango, banana and local raw honey.

Quick burger lunch

Burgers with sweet potato fries. Mine has massive amounts of lettuce and wasabi horseradish mustard!

Cheese Frenzy

After work the other night at Target, I ran through the market section to get some salad, coffee and some fruit...

I discovered that bagged salads were on sale, my favorite cheese was on clearance and Target now stocks my favorite mustard (Inglehoffer Sweet Hot).

I bought three bags of salad (one spinach, one veggie lovers and one romaine) for $6.

I bought two Inglehoffer mustards, one sweet hot and the other Wasabi horseradish, $2.84 each.

A bottle of some kind of horseradish sauce that I don't remember, $1.97.

I had a $2 off coupon that expired the next day for Starbucks coffee, normally $7.99.

I had a coupon for a $1 off two 40+ ounce bags of frozen fruit which are usually $10 a piece. So while that's a lot of money on fruit, I've been drinking a lot of smoothies so I went for it. One bag of strawberries, on sale for $7.19 and a bag of mango, pineapple and peach or something like that for $9.99.

I bought three fresh bananas.

And then I grabbed a pack of sliced provolone for my daughter, $2.24.

And I noticed my favorite cheese (shreds of parmesan) was clearance but didn't expire until August. I bought seven 6-ounce bags at $2.37 each. And I noticed the one pound blocks of monterey jack were 1/2 off. I bought 3 for $2.47 each.

Subtotal: $62.41
Team member discount: $6.51
RedCard: $2.81

Total: $53.47