Date Detox: Free Movie Night!

This past Friday night boyfriend and I decided to save some money and go to a free outdoor movie. DC's Golden Triangle has a great outdoor movie program at the The Heurich House Museum in the garden. It was surprisingly small and intimate, and the movie, A Philidephia Story, was fantastic. Katherine Hepburn was hilarious, and Cary Grant - le sigh. 

I put together a picnic and a pitcher of Pimm's, and we headed over for a fun and free night. 

I highly recommend heading over for the next movie. They have one left because of a rain date. Some Like it Hot will play July 28th at sunset! 

Monday Mandate: Week of All of the Detox (La Boum Brunch Review)

image adapted from Hyperbole and a Half

This week I'm not only doing a spending detox - I'm doing an entire life detox. The life detox is necessary because I spent the weekend being ridiculously unresponsiblish. I won't feel guilty about it - it was my birthday - but I was really very horrible. It was so. much. fun. After having a great birthday dinner Friday night at Le Diplomate (and trying escargot for the first time - delicious!) I woke up on Saturday prepared for birthday brunch at La Boum - a brunch where they snap the blinds closed, and turn a cute French cafe into a mid-day disco. I won't even tell you about it, after all pictures are worth 1,000 words. Well - these pictures are actually grainy and sometimes blurry - but given the surreal quality of the experience in general, I hope you'll forgive me. 

Not Pictured: The naked-except-for-pasties burlesque dancer. 

On the way home I, wonderful friend that I am, offered to carry Laura. It did not go well. I have bruises on both knees. 

If you have a special occasion coming up, and you'd like to have an insane 3 hour brunch - do La Boum! I was originally worried that it would be too much for me - seeing as I generally prefer a glass of red wine and conversation to loud music and dancing. Club music is generally my cue that a place isn't for me. This was different somehow and so much fun! Only advice: wear something comfortable and eat something small beforehand. The food was great, but drinks were flowing before food was served, and you'll be dancing on your chair while eating your entree. 

A few hours after the brunch I basically forced the boyfriend take me to Five Guys. It was really difficult to convince him. 

It was an awesome decision. However, after spending the weekend acting like a hedonist, I need to treat my body and mind to some healthy living. Up this week on the blog: healthy recipes, how to make iced coffee at home, and some advice on deciding whether an expensive item is worth the investment (which I'm clearly qualified to give). 

Foodie Detox: Taco Thursday

Last night was gorgeous here in the District. It was breezy -jeans and long sleeve t-shirt weather. I had to have dinner outside. Since our apartment doesn't boast a patio, we headed over to Pizzeria Paradiso (best pizza in D.C. in IMHO) for brews, antipasto, and Paradiso pizza. It was delicious, and even though we had to wait twice as long for the patio, it was worth it. However, beautiful al fresco dining does not help to reinforce my determination to spend less on dinners out.  In order to renew that determination, I'm on a mission: discover the best summer taco recipe. One night a week for the next four weeks I'm going to cook up a taco recipe and rate it. (I really like tacos). 

Here are your contenders: 

1. These "the best you'll ever have" fish tacos from A Cup of Jo . . . I've tried recipes from this series before and they've all been delicious. This spaghetti sauce really is the best I've ever had. 

2. These delicious looking shrimp taco's from theKitchn . . . 

3. These shrimp tacos with chipotle cream . . . 

4. These shrimp tacos from the Pioneer Woman Cooks . . . 

These are all seafood because I like seafood. In the summer it just feels lighter somehow. I'm excited to cook up the first batch tonight! Possibly with margaritas. Studying for the bar necessitates margaritas. 

Shopping Detox: Library Card

My dream home must only have one room:

I would LOVE a home library. Do you remember that scene in Beauty and the Beast when Beast gave his Library to Belle? I was in a swoon over that hairy creature. If you give me a library, you can be as hirsute as you like - just make sure it's you thats taking care of vacuuming. 

The dream of my own library (complete with big comfortable chairs and blankets) is a long ways off. But I do have books all over our current place. I love reading them, and I love buying them. We live pretty close to Kramerbooks & Afterwards, a local bookstore and D.C. staple, and I contribute a large amount to their monthly revenue. 

However, I've decided that its finally time for me to get a library card. It will allow me to grab as many books as I can carry home, and it will save me lots of money. I'll still buy books by authors that I truly love, or that have a special meaning for me, but I just can't afford to keep buying every crime thriller I want to read (that's a lot of them). 

P.S. I'd also love it if my dream library could have one of those tall ladders you can slide around on. Definitely going to need one of those. 

Free!!!: Screen on The Green

I love free things! I get a kick out of even the smallest free samples; I can spend thirty minutes just trying things in Trader Joe's. Would I like to sample the free wine tasting? Um...yes. One of my favorite free things in D.C. is Screen on the Green. You bring snacks, a comfortable blanket to picnic on, perhaps a surreptitious bottle of wine....and when the sun goes down, you do the HBO dance and watch a free movie. 

I've heard these are popping up all over the place, so check and see if there are outdoor movies in your neighborhood! 

Here is the 2013 schedule for Screen on the Green: 

• July 22 – "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial"
• July 29 – "Norma Rae"
• August 5 – "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory"
• August 12 – "Tootsie"

More information here. 

Foodie Detox: Farmer's Markets

I've been traveling every weekend for the last month. It's been a great time visiting with friends and celebrating new marriages, but I'm so relieved to be able to just stay home this weekend. I'll be spending most of the time studying for the bar, but I'm also going to take some time to relax, maybe catch a Nat's game, and (the activity I'm most excited about) head to the farmer's market. 

Farmer's markets are a veritable paradise of fresh food, flowers, specialty goods, and meats. You get quality produce, and you know you're investing in local business. Added to this, you'll oftentimes spend less than at the grocery store. 

Eastern Market is one of my favorite places to spend a weekend morning/afternoon. Its also a great place to grab brunch (although economical me suggests making brunch with your farmer's market treasures). If you are planning to grill, it's a great place to pick up chicken (so good and astonishingly inexpensive). You'll also find less common fare -  if you're feeling adventurous, try cooking something new! 

Yes, that IS a pufferfish in the middle. I'm not brave enough to try and cook him - but maybe you are! 

FRESHFARM markets are all over the city, and generally run from 8:30 to 1:00. Make sure to check the schedule, because they are only open on Saturday or Sunday. 

Farmer's markets are a great way to support your local community, local farmers (and a good motivator to get out of bed before 10:00 on a Saturday morning) - find the one in your hometown!

Restaurant Detox: Granville Moore's Moules Bleu

It's pretty safe to say that eating is the center of my day. I love food. Breakfast - good. Lunch - good. Dinner- what I live for. I take dinner seriously, and trying a new restaurant is one of my very favorite activities. One activity that trumps trying a new restaurant? Having mussels and beers at Granville Moore's. That wins. Hands down. 

Granville Moore's is a staple in D.C. It's on H Street, which is one of my favorite areas to have a great time.  You can pretend to be British at the Queen Vic (order the bone marrow!), participate in a drunk spelling bee at the Rock and Roll Hotel (8 p.m. every Friday!), eat giant bowls of amazing ramen noodles at Toki Underground (don't miss the pork belly bourbon cocktail!), and hang out at the Star and Shamrock, a place that's half Jewish deli, half Irish pub. Yes, thank you, I will have some latkes with my Guinness. Okay....I digress. 

With all that awesomeness Granville Moore's is still my first choice on H Street. They serve a million kinds of Belgian beer (clearly I never engage in hyperbole), and they have the best mussels. 

If you come to D.C. for a visit, you MUST check out H Street. If you live here, like me, a trip to H Street can become an expensive habit. Because it's an up-and-coming area it doesn't have great metro access, so getting out there is generally a taxi ride. Then I can never visit just one of the bars there, so it ends up being a pretty expensive night. 

However, Grandville Moore's Chef Teddy Folkman was kind enough to do provide a video recipe with instuctions on how to make their famous Moules Bleu. SO SO good. 

My boyfriend is the mussels cook in this apartment, and they turn out almost exactly like Granville Moore's! The upside? it's MUCH MUCH less expensive than a trip to H Street. 

Yummmmmmmm

The breakdown: 

(We had spinach and cooking oils in the apartment already). 

Mussels: 3.99 a pound at Whole Foods (3.99 a pound!)

White Wine: 8.99 (plus most of the bottle left for drinking!) 

Bacon: 5.00  (plus leftovers for breakfast) 

Bleu Cheese: 5.00 (also with leftovers for other meals)

Crusty Bread: 1.99 (must have for dipping up broth) 

Total: 12.4 Dollars/ Person 

So you know I'm not a dirty liar... 

That INCLUDES 2 glasses of wine each and leftover ingredients. At a restaurant, you couldn't get two glasses of wine for 12 dollars. 

Compare with a night for 2 on H Street 

Taxi ride (both ways): 25.00

Pit stop at the Queen Vic: 15.00

Dinner at Granville Moore's: approx 50.00 for mussels/beer/service (still its not horrible for dinner out!)

My insistence that we continue to galavant on H Street: 30.00 

Total: 60.00 per person 

So clearly it saves to cook! Plus, cooking is fun! (It's also fun to blog while watching boyfriend cook). 

I will absolutely continue to support Granville Moore's by eating in the restaurant, as a treat or when friends come into town. This is a great option for saving some money and still having a great dinner in! 

P.S. I do in fact realize that my 12.40/person dinner falls pathetically short of the money-saving meals that are out there. This is a blog about being responsiblish. ISH is the key word, or ...suffix? fake suffix? 

Whatever it is, it's about the progress! (Plus, I'm pretty sure those 99 cent meals do not include wine. If you can include two glasses of wine per person for 99 cents... well that is just clearly impossible...challenge not accepted.)