Happy Birthday to Me - The List

My dear friend Abbey at Finding My Forever made a list for her 23rd birthday - 24 things to do before she turned 24. Because I think that is brilliant and I love lists so I need to make sure I'm doing more fun things to keep my sanity and live a little more, I'm making a 25 things before 25 list. Since today is my birthday, it shall start today.

1) Participate in a Color Run - most likely I will walk, not run, but I will do it.

2) Go to Chicago and visit my friend John.

3) Visit 3 of the 8 Wonders of Kansas.

4) Go to the Garden City Zoo.

5) Perform 12 Random Acts of Kindness.

6) Read a book a month = 12 books.

7) Eat at and blog about 4 of the 24 8 Wonders of Kansas Cuisine Finalists. I've eaten at 2 of the 24 previously and will review them for a total of 6 places.

8) Send "thinking of you" cards or letters to 5 people.

9) Make Margaret's bread from scratch by myself.

10) Make marshmallows from scratch.

11) Try 25 new recipes.

12) Practice Spanish and become fluent enough to have dinner with Myra, Carmina, or Giovanna and speak only Spanish.

13) Go on a spontaneous trip with my parents. To preface, my parents have a tendency to decide the day of that they're going to go somewhere or do something. Because I'm a control freak, planner, I usually don't seize the opportunity because of this reason or that.

14) Go on a spontaneous trip by myself. Whether its a day trip or an overnighter, I need to just go be by myself and explore.

15) Make a craft from Pinterest - either this:

Source: iheartnaptime.net via Simone on Pinterest

 or this:

Source: funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com via Simone on Pinterest

16) Donate to help sea turtles. This has been on my list of things to do before I get married forever, thanks to the book The View from Saturday. I think I'll adopt a turtle through the Sea Turtle Conservancy.

17) Meet up with my friend Krystal somewhere...maybe in Orlando, maybe saving sea turtles.


Krystal and Mike and I in Italy

 18) Do the Wichita County Swim Team Tri-Athlon on July 4.

19) Start up Pass the Pyrex in Wichita County. This sort of falls under the 25 RAKs but it's very specific and will hopefully encourage others to perform RAKs.

20) Throw an outrageous themed party - booze, costumes, and music!

21) Finish staining my fence.

22) Go an entire week without saying "I'm sorry" for silly things.

23) Blog twice a week for a month.

24) Ride a jetski by myself.

25) Catch a fish and remove it from the hook by myself.

For my birthday, please leave me a comment. Give me a suggestion for a random act of kindness you've done, advice for learning to love running or your favorite Wonder of Kansas!

Visiting Mrs. and Mr. F

When I say Mrs. and Mr. F...I'm not making an Arrested Development reference,

Please tell me there is atleast one Arrested Development fan out there!

 I'm talking about seeing Laura from The Luckiest in Love!

Washington, DC: Food Review, Brunch and then some...

Ahhh Sunday morning. Sundays in DC usually consisted of getting up and going to church and then hitting up somewhere for brunch. Later, as I mentioned previously I would spend the afternoons in Eastern Market and would sometimes grab a delicious pretzel and lemonade for lunch or a snack. One of my favorite brunch places was Montmartre.

Food Review: Yia Yia's Euro Bistro

I have such a love affair with food it's quite silly. No one understands this as well as my best friend, who I got to see last weekend and tonight! She lives in Oklahoma and we haven't seen each other two weekends in a row since freshman year. Last weekend I flew down to OKC for her birthday and then last minute she booked a flight to KC to spend this weekend with her mama. So tonight I joined her and her mother at Yia Yia's Euro Bistro in Overland Park. First impressions, it was very Euro, they did a good job with that one. And the bar was packed, good sign. We had reservations at 6:45 and boy were they right on time. As we sat down the table behind us was getting their food and it smelled amazing! My friend's mom sat down opened the menu and immediately closed it, already knowing what her favorite dish was and that she would be sticking with it, the grilled salmon salad. I, of course, new here took a fair amount of time evaluating my choices and my oh my, were there alot. I finally opted for the sweet corn risotto and wood grilled shrimp. My bestie ordered a pear and avocado salad. She also, in some secret Yia Yia code, ordered baba ganoush. It's actually my understanding this is included with your order so even if you don't have any Yia Yia secrets(haha), you will still be able to enjoy this amazingly delicious appetizer. I had never had or heard of baba ganoush, which I now realize is so sad because it may be my new favorite food...it's like hummus but 800 times better. And the bread that they serve it with was warm and delicious with the perfect amount of crunch in the crust. And my mouth is watering.

So as we quickly polished off the baba ganoush, and may have considered asking the table next to us if they were going to eat theirs, the chefs prepared our amazing dinners. The sweet corn risotto was absolutely divine. And the shrimp slightly spicy but such a good mate for the creamy sweet risotto. I have to figure out a way to duplicate that entire meal. My bestie, who is a vegetarian, said she now plans on ordering the risotto sans shrimp in the future. Yia Yia's has locations in KC, Denver, St. Louis, Little Rock and Wichita. If any of these are near you, go and eat there as soon as possible. It would make a fabulous date spot...Valentine's Day is Monday...hint hint. Or it could be just be fun if you're a Europe lover who doesn't have the moolah to cross the pond. Fabulous flavors abound. I really wish I would of brought my camera because I would showcase my delicious shrimp and risotto but I forgot. So feast your eyes on my beautiful bestie and I last weekend in OKC!

Isn't she a babe?

Have you ever been to a Yia Yia's? If so what did you think?
Tweet

Washington DC: Food Review, Bars

So "bars" doesn't really describe a type of food, but they deserve a review too! While I don't think I ever ate anything too terribly delectable or out of the ordinary at any bars, happy hours were frequent occurances. I have to tell you, happy hours ruined me...I've come back to college life and drinking doesn't start until 9:30 or 10, which means I don't get to sleep until 12 or 1 (though really I keep whimping out and either a) not going out or b) being done by 11). With happy hours in the real world, I got to drink at 6 and if I so chose I was in bed by 9:30 or 10. Its a rough adjustment. I'm partially kidding, only because I'm not that ahem...lame.

Without further adieu, DC's notable bars according to Simone.

Washington, DC: Food Review, Pizza, Burgers and Shakes

Pizza, burgers and shakes. Seemingly American staples that are simple but I know a few places in DC that make them oh so delicious and far from simple.

First, pizza. My favorite was the recently famous pizza shoppe that serves up scrumptious pizza by the slice: We, The Pizza, Top Chef Spike Mendelsohn's second restaurant in DC just up Pennsylvania Ave from the House Office Buildings. Just preparing to write about my favorite slice is making my mouth water. Mendelsohn's restaurant serves both by the slice and by the pie pizzas with unique combinations of toppings as well as handmade sodas and gelato. My absolute favorite slice was the white pie with ricotta, fotina, parmesean, mozzerella, garlic, olive oil and salt and parsley. The forest shroomin pie and the BBQ pork pie were close seconds.

Since I'm talking up Chef Spike's pizza, I should definitely mention his burger joint: Good Stuff Eatery. Juicy burgers some with unusual toppings and names. He has both a Michelle and Barack Obama burger. Mendelsohn also has fabulous french fries with sea salt and also french fries with thyme, rosemary and sea salt, those are my fav! While I enjoy a rather crispy french fry, I overlook that for the amazing flavors that these fries have. And the cap on a perfect meal at Good Stuff has to include a handspun milkshake. They are famous for their toasted marshmallow shake but the cookies and cream one is equally delicious and creamy!

And now that I'm on the topic of milkshakes, I will tell you go to Ted's Bulletin. My friend Ketan first introduced me to their milkshakes after a night at Matchbox pizza (I'll get to that soon!). He was in love with their s'mores milkshake (apparently the Brits have never heard of s'mores), which I must admit was a little sweet for my taste, but I soon discovered their peanut butter, chocolate and banana or pbchoconana shake and I was in heaven. Ted's also has adult milkshakes that I enjoyed with a couple of my friends from L-town that came to visit me for fall break. I had the tequila sunrise and the bailey's caramel macchiato which were both fabulous. Ted's is also famous for having breakfast all day including the delicious Walk of Shame Breakfast Burrito...you have to eat this, they also serve homemade poptarts and twinkies and play old movies and cartoons all day. Ted's was one of the places I frequented most because of their unique and yummy treats, fun atmosphere and super nice servers.

My friends A and C outside of Ted's after our adult milkshakes!

My friend Ketan also introduced me to Ray's Hell Burger in Rosslyn (don't ya just love the name?). While it's kind of out of the way, especially if you're relying strictly on the Metro system, it's delicious! You get to choose from a list of a million ingredients including sooooo many different types of cheese. This was one of the first places I went so I don't really remember what I ordered but it was yummy! Do make sure you have cash here because they do not take cards!

Rounding out my pizza, burger, shake review is going to be Matchbox. Matchbox is a snooty pizza place with a couple different locations in DC proper. They are similar to We, The Pizza with their unique pizza topping combinations, but you have to buy a whole pizza so I wouldn't recommend it if you're going solo, unless you like leftovers (I'm picky and like to eat something different everyday). I ordered the proscuitto white pizza with kalamata olives, prosciutto, ricotta, mozzerela, garlic and olive oil. It was scrumptious, just a little much for one! Clearly I like pizzas with cheese and garlic. =) I do think that my opinion of Matchbox was clouded by the company I was with that evening so perhaps I can't give the atmosphere a proper rating. The food was perfecto though a bit pricey! They do have items other than pizzas, so it might be a nice date place. If you do go, check back here and let me know what you think of the atmosphere.

I am now sooooo hungry...I could seriously go for a slice of white pie and a Ted's twinkie. Or if there weren't a blizzard happenin' here, I would drive to the store and grab all ingredients to make my own pizza. Anyone in DC want to mail me some?

Washington, DC: Food Review, Spanish and Italian

"Dad, I ate lunch with K at a tapas bar! It was great!"

"You ate at a topless bar?!"

Yes, it happened. My middle of America father misunderstood tapas for topless, which is an easy mistake to make when you're unfamiliar with different cuisines. I'd heard of tapas in my many years of Spanish language education but never had the opportunity to eat them until I was in DC. The day of the Restoring Honor rally with Glenn Beck was warm and long. My roomie KM and I were famished after standing for 3 hours or so in the warm sun, so we walked off the mall into downtown DC/Penn Quarter area. We stated we would eat at the first restaurant we found that wasn't too busy. We stumbled upon Jaleo...the tapas bar owned by chef Jose Andres. They/It was delicious! I ordered three things that were absolutely amazing! I had canteloupe wrapped in serrano ham, spicy chorizo wrapped in fried potatoes, and dates wrapped in bacon and fried. The dates were so incredibly delicious I couldn't stop eating them and was terribly disappointed when they were gone. It was the perfect treat, sweet and salty....yum! I did take a picture of the chorizo because they stacked it so nicely! See...I love how presentation is just as important as the food itself.

I returned to Jaleo a few weeks before I left with my roomie J. We hit up the lunch special with a sandwich and salad. While my sandwich was not quite what I imagined, my salad was phenomenal. It was green apples, fennel, manchego cheese, walnuts and an olive oil/sherry dressing! All of those flavors together were so amazing! I would recommend Jaleo to anyone going to DC. It's a nice place to go alone or with someone else and then you can eat way more by sharing items ordered!

Italian is my absolute favorite food! I traveled to Italy a year ago and ate some of the most memorable meals there. In DC, due to the amount of Thai food I was consuming, I surprisingly ate very few Italian dinners. But those that I did eat were delicious. The first weekend I was in DC, two of my friends that I met on my trip to Italy were also in town. We made it a point to get together for dinner one evening and of course what better reunion that eating Italian. We ate at Cafe Italia. With four meals ordered, we had mixed reviews but the portions were large, the atmosphere was lovely and the wine was delicious. The owner was quite generous and gave our table free amaretto shots!

A few weeks before I left I finally got together with two other friends from my Italy trip that go to school at George Mason. We decided what better than Italian again, though their second choice was to take me to Jaleo...see its amazing! We ended up at Dino's in Cleveland Park. We all went for their 3-course meal for $39 special. I enjoy potato croquettes as my antipasti, canneloni verde with kale and spinach, and pistachio crumb cake. I also had a delicious spicy red wine. Restaurants like that do meals the way they should be done, bringing out amazing flavors and allowing for people to enjoy their conversations over the delicious food.

This post has me wanting some bacon wrapped dates and a glass of wine. You should definitely visit these restaurants while you're in DC! If you are staying in the Crystal City area, there are quite a few little Italian restaurants as well as another Jaleo you should check out!

Washington, DC: Food Review, Thai

I love food. I love trying new things in restaurants and cooking new things at home. So in DC, I tried to eat out as much as I could afford and eat as many different things as I could. I started out enjoying things from all over: Thai, Spanish, French...but I discovered favorites and returned again and again.

First off, Thai food is fabulous. My friend TY and I would eat Thai food almost once a week. Our favorite was Thai Old Town in Old Town Alexandria. To find it, go to the King Street stop on the Metro and walk about 12 blocks toward the waterfront. It's on the south side of King Street across from the city hall. Reasons it was our favorite: huge portions, low prices and great servers. I swear we were never thirsty in that place, they were very on top of refills. Our favorite was the Pad Thai, but I also loved the Pad See Ew.

Another great Thai restuarant that isn't quite as easy to get to but was hands down the BEST meal I ate in DC...I was dreaming about it for the next week is Thai Square in Arlington. I really wish I could remember the name of my dish, but I can't. All I know is that it was delicious and pretty much anything you order there is fabulous. I do remember we ordered the fried squid and sun dried beef which were so good, I almost cried.

Mai Thai was also amazing. Though it is a chain(there is one located in DC proper), it was so yummy! We frequented the Mai Thai in Old Town because of the amazing location. It's right next to the Waterfront! We would often go to dinner there and then walk around on the pier. For a girl from landlocked Kansas, I loved being next to the water! One of the amazing dishes from there was their Cashew Chicken. I know that's more of a Chinese dish, but they did it perfectly. Also, try an apple martini and think of me if you do!

source: Local Kicks


I think that I will make this post just about Thai food otherwise it will be sooooo long. I'll post about my other favs in following posts!