It's Complicated

Just got back from a screening of It's Complicated, the new Meryl Streep-Alec Baldwin movie. I am dead tired and starving (why oh why did I think and English muffin with cream cheese and a banana was a sufficient dinner?). Before I miss today's posting deadline foraging around my kitchen trying to scrounge up something edible and slightly less weird than what I had for dinner, I thought I'd put up a quick post about the movie.

I was worried that this post wouldn't be food related, but it is, as Jane, Meryl Streep's character in the movie, owns a bakery. It's one of those gorgeous only in the movies kind of bakeries where everything is just so and all the customers look like movie stars. Jane cooks throughout the movie and it one great scene shows her making chocolate croissants with the help of a nifty machine to roll out the dough. Anyway- the movie was absolutely hilarious, the kind of entire theater laughing out loud and can't stop hilarious that too few movies I've seen recently are. I completely recommend it and now I'm going to eat. Be back with a recipe tomorrow.

Sushi Kaiten

Check out this kaiten sushi restaurant in the middle of a shopping mall- neat, huh? I first had the pleasure of eating at a sushi kaiten restaurant when I was visiting a friend in Japan a few years ago and seeing the parade of perfectly placed nigri and rolls, along with other treats, just doesn't get old. I could, and usually do, spend an inordinate amount of time watching the dishes wiz by before I choose anything. It's easy to divide up the tab with sushi kaiten too- just count your colored plates and figure out how much you ate and owe.

This restaurant is a branch Wasabi, which I have been to before. If you get a chance to stop by, I recommend the fusion dishes on the menu- a bit passe I know, but the chef if Peruvian Japanese and the chicken anticucho, tender bites of fiery chicken perched on a tower of steaming rice and lashed with bright orange sauce, is delicious.

A Surprise from the Garden

I am not good with plants. I never have been. In college, I killed a cactus. When we bought out house last fall, I saw the rosebush outside and wondered how long it would last. I decided on the less is more approach to rose care, meaning I ignored it and hoped it would ignore me and not immediately keel over. For the past few weeks, roses all around DC have been in bloom and our little rose plant (I'm not sure I would call its two spindly stalks a bush) yellowed and looked sickly in general. Then this morning, as I was wheeling my bike out on the way to work I saw this gorgeous pink and peach rose. I was so shocked I immediately pulled out the camera thought I should post the picture, even if it's not food related. Have a good Monday-

Farrah Olivia

Zach's dad and J- have been in town for the weekend and took us out to dinner at Farrah Olivia, one of the top restaurants in the DC area. Zach and I had been there for restaurant week last year and, as it was the most delicious meal I ever had, I was very excited to go back. I put on my new black dress with new emerald green heels adn we were off.

The dining room of Farrah Olivia is serene, with huge windows on two sides and a faint African feel to the decorations as a nod to Chef Morou Outtara's heritage. We sat down and the hostess handed us thick, mint green menus which I could have read all night without eating a thing and still gone home happy. Through some coordination, we finally all decided what to get an ordered and then the fun began.

First came a bread basket and small plate with four toppings: horseradish cottage cheese, curry butter, bok choy pesto and tomato paste. I went back and forth between the four but finally decided the curry butter was my favorite. It's golden yellow color and distinctive curry flavor that tasted just like my favorite curries from Denmark won me over. The bok choy pesto came in a close second though with the clean Asian flavors reminding me of summer and our CSA.

Next came a tiny amouse bouche on a straw skewer. Mushroom cornbread with a bacon creme and slice of grilled shrimp. It was a perfect bit with the earthy mushrooms setting off the sweet shrimp and the creamy sauce balancing the cornbread.

Highlights of the first course; my ying and yang hot and cold pea and carrot soup, J-'s salad served in a crisp cone with shockingly yellow dressing on the side and Zach's deconstructed escolar sushi with soy pearls and wasabi powder.

The main event, as with all the courses, came with narration as the servers explained all of the intricacies of the dish. My braised beef rib was perfection. The meat was so tender that it fell apart as the merest touch of a fork and the mushroom puree and bbq essence made the dish taste like my grandma's pot roast times 50, comforting but intense at the same time. Zach's pork tenderloin was juicy but even though the mole perfectly balanced the chocolate, cumin and spice, I was reminded that I just don't like mole. He does though, and loved it.

Farrah Olivia really does save the best for last. Dessert was fantastic. Zach and I had a bit of negotiation but settled (meaning I prevailed) on the mango soup. The dish came out in a shallow bowl. It held a layer of bright orange mango soup with a perfectly shaped quenelle of coconut sorbet with flecks of golden toasted coconut on top. Circling the soup were little jewels of mango and lychee. When I say that this dessert was a triumph of the chef's, I am not exaggerating. We were all well and truly speechless.

At the very end the kitchen sent out a little plate of sweets with a tiny truffle, pineapple jelly and pine nut cookie for each of us. I didn't really need anything more after the mango soup but of course I had to try each. The pineapple jelly sweet but covered in a sour sugar; a very grown up sour patch kid. The pine-nut cookies were crisp chewy and delicious and reminded me yet again of a cookie my grandma used to make, only better (I feel rather guilty typing that one out).

All in all it was a perfect dining experience. Not exactly for the faint of wallet but if you'll be in DC for a few days and want to splurge on one nice dinner, Farrah Olivia is the place to do it.

Farrah Olivia
Alexandria VA

Our Future Veggies

A few weeks ago our CSA farm, Bull Run Mountain Farm, had an open house. Zach and I decided to go at the very last minute and hopped in the car and drove out to The Plains, about 40 miles outside of DC. I hate to say it, but I don't often get beyond the beltway and didn't regret doing so as we got off 66 and drove past a few miles of McMansions on the way to the farm. As we turned off the main road though, things began to look up.

We wound our way along a two lane road with old farmhouses and, as we started up a hill and into the trees, turned off on the dirt track to the farm. We bumped along for a mile or two, all the while headed up through the forest as I thought, "how the heck can anyone farm here?" We never made it out to the farm last year so even though it's called Bull Run Mountain Farm, I never realized it's actually on the top of a mountain. As Leigh, the farmer, explained, it's the farmland for poor people, as the wealthy had their farms in more fertile valleys (and have long since sold out to developers).

Leigh took us on a tour and we saw the greenhouse where 70,000 seedlings are kept warm with a wood stove, the fields and the chicken coop, where we got to collect fresh eggs. The two crop fields are on a flattish part of the mountain but still have a definite downward slope and were much smaller than I thought they'd be. It's amazing how much Leigh can grow in such tight quarters.

Now that we've been out to the farm once, I hope we'll make it again so I may have some more farm updates for you as summer unfolds.

I Saw Chef Spike!

Yes, it's true. I saw Chef Spike today [an aside- just in case you are not Top Chef obsessed like I am, Spike was a contestant on season 4 and charmed us all with his quirky style and delicious looking food] Towards the end of season four of Top Chef, we started to hear some rumors here in DC that Spike would be opening up a restaurant. Pretty soon a website was up for Good Stuff Eatery. It didn't have much besides a concept- burgers, fries and shakes but made only with the best ingredients, and a prospective opening date, Spring 2008.  DC already has a lot of burger joints but this one would have a semi-celebrity at the helm and  K* and I immediately made plans to go, but, as the best laid plans are wont to do, they got delayed.

Finally, we made specific plans for our pilgrimage.  Presidents' Day, since we were both of from school and work, was it.  On the way, K* and I had debated to likelihood of Chef Spike being at Good Stuff.  She was more hopeful than I, as I imagined that Spike would be, well I don't know what else exactly he might be doing other than running his own restaurant but I figured there must be something.  We walked in to the converted row house and joined the bunch of people standing near the cashier and then I saw him. I will admit, I squealed a little. Spike was behind the counter, expediting the orders, wearing his trademark fedora. I felt a bit better for behaving like a 13 year old at a Jonas Brothers concert when a woman who walked in behind us did the exact same thing.

As I tried to concentrate on the menu instead of the pseudo-celebrity chef, I saw there were about 8 burger choices from the plain to jacked up versions with options of egg, bacon, cheese and assorted other toppings, along with fries, Chef Spike's fries (seasoned with thyme), onion petals and milkshakes. I like to keep it simple with burgers and got the Farmhouse Cheddar along with an order of Chef's fries and K* got the Colletti's Smokehouse with fried onion, bacon and BBQ sauce and the famed marshmallow milkshake. A few minutes later we got our orders, found a table and got ready to try our first taste of a Top Chef worthy meal.

As I pulled my burger out of the bag, I noticed it was on the smaller side and had been squished a bit into the wrapper which seemed rather odd- I mean, why would anyone squish a bun on purpose? I took out the fries, heavily seasoned with the thyme and managed to control my excitement and appetite just long enough to take the above photo and then dug in.

The burger was delicious. Really, really good. Juicy, cooked medium-rare and had the perfect amount of toppings, enough to taste everything but not too much to overwhelm the meat. The fries could have been crispier but had a great flavor and were cooked well on the inside. The milkshake though, was a revelation. Normally I don't love milkshakes (why not just eat ice cream?) or marshmallows (chemicalized sugar just doesn't appeal to me) so I was quite skeptical when K* wanted to get the toasted marshmallow milkshake. I expected to try a sip and then politely pass the glass back to her. I couldn't have been more wrong. The milkshake was so smooth and creamy it was like drinking liquid creme brulee. It had a subtle toasted sugar taste, not at all like a commercial marshmallow even though it had on sitting on top. I loved the burger but hands down I would go back and have a milkshake. For lunch. By itself.

Beside this litany of praise I have 2 minor complaints. 1) You don't get to pick how you like your burger done and 2) there is little consistency with how the burgers are cooked. Mine was medium rare, far less done than I usually order it and K*'s was quite well done, much to close to incineration stage for her liking. It wasn't that huge a deal and both of us still really liked our meal, but a minor point, one that I think both of us expected Chef Spike would have taken care of. Overall though I'm glad I finally got to go and I'm thinking of what other Top Chef fans I can round up to justify another trip in the near future.

Good Stuff Eatery
303 Pennsylvania Ave, SE
Capitol South Metro

Closed Sundays
Burgers $5-8
Fries $2.75-$4
Milkshakes $3.50-$4.75 but totally worth it

Presidential Inaguration

Sorry for the disappearing act in the middle of healthy desserts week. I didn't realize just how crazy things would get in the middle of DC during inauguration weekend and that, combined with still no internet at home, kept me offline for 4 days.

So- as you can see above, I had a ticket to the blue zone of the inauguration. My friends and I (no Zach, he had to work) spent the night in the District, had our recommended 3+ plans for getting to the inauguration (which we used as they kept shutting down metro stations as we were in the train) and got to our security line. After going to the concert on the Lincoln on Sunday (amazing) we were expecting more of the same- neatly organized security lines that were long but moving. What we found instead was chaos. There appeared to be a large crush of people that extended toward the Blue Gate. The people in the crowd had blue tickets and believed they were in line, but no one official could confirm that for us. After standing for an hour and a half and moved approx. 100 yards toward our goal (that was still about 2 blocks away) we made the decision to abandon ship.

All of us were really disappointed not to make it in, but we decided the next best thing would be to make a run for a bar to at least see it on tv. Luckily a friend used to live in the Capitol Hill area, so I knew where we should head and we managed to get a table, a hot drink and access to a real bathroom while watching the inauguration on tv. The atmosphere in the bar was pretty cheerful considering pretty much everyone else were blue ticket-holders like us and overall I had a great time. It was an amazing day and I'm glad I could be there for a part of it.

I've heard from and about quite a few other blue ticket holders that couldn't get in yesterday either. It seems like it was a combination of very bad planning, too few security staff and a possible power generator breakdown. It's just too bad that with all the time and money spent on the inauguration so many people who had traveled so far couldn't get in.

Bahn Mi

Before we left for the holiday's, Zach and I had to run some errands in an area of suburban hell called Seven Corners. While I hope I haven't offended anyone who lives there, I don't feel that bad as it is a literal intersection of at least 7 roads, is completely pedestrian unfriendly and always takes about 3 times as long to drive around as you expected. Generally, I end up going in the exact opposite direction as my destination and have at least two fits of road rage before I end up getting to where I am going.

That might explain why I have only been to the Eden Center a sort of little Vietnam in a strip mall in the suburbs only once... Before we left I remembered reading about Bahn Mi, a kind of Vietnamese-French fusion sandwich in the Post food section ages ago so we decided to give it a try for lunch.

We ended up at Song Que, a huge bakery/deli/market that had 6 or 7 types of Bahn Mi for under $3.25. Zach chose meatball and I picked braised pork and we looked around at the French style breads, durian fruits, unknown sweets and prepared foods while we waited for our sandwiches. As you can see from the pictures, the Bahn Mi is served in a fresh (still warm) baguette, with thin slices of meat and pickled vegetables on top. It looked so good that I couldn't wait to take a bite. The bread was crisp, the veggies had the perfect amount of tartness and the meat, well, I know a lot of people find pork fat to be delicious, but I am not one of them.

The braised pork was mostly slices of pork fat and I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I pulled them off the sandwich and left only the small pieces of meat on the bread. Even so- the Bahn Mi was delicious with just the pork flavor and the veggies and I am already thinking of heading back to try another kind... Zach's meatball Bahn Mi did look good.

Song Que Bakery
6773 Wilson Blvd., Falls Church, VA 22044
Open 9am-9pm

Some news

Some of you might have noticed a distinct lack of new posts on this blog in the last month. I can almost always make time for cooking but the past few weeks have been so hectic there have been a lot of pasta nights and straight up spoonfuls of peanut butter instead of balanced meals. I have been waiting for something to go wrong before telling you this but it finally seems like everything is really going to work out; Zach and I are buying our first house! After months of looking everything suddenly came together and then started happening so fast I was completely knocked off guard. I hope this will excuse me from the lack of posting recently and I hope to make it up once we are in the new house. We move this Saturday so there probably won't be much blog activity for another week or so-- but do check back then.

Virginia Wine Country

Every once in a while, there will be a thing (food, activity, ect.) that I don't try for the longest time thinking that I just won't like it. I like to think that most of the time I'm proven right when I finally do get around to it- like the time I tried straight up fennel (too licoricey) or mussels, which weren't bad but I just couldn't really understand why they were good, other than the butter sauce. Other times, I'm horribly and terribly wrong about my supposed aversion and end up kicking myself that I've spent so much time not eating or doing something.

I've been in the DC area for a while now and for the past few years I've known that Virginia is a wine producing state. Having lived briefly in Austria and having had the chance to go wine tasting in Sonoma, I thoroughly looked down on Virginia wine. It certainly didn't help that all the examples I had tasted were more Hawaiian Punch than something you'd serve at a dinner party; however, when A-'s mum came to town and invited us to go wine tasting with them, I thought 'why not?'

We set out on the most gorgeous fall day with sunny skies and crisp air and drove west to Loudon County. After only 40 minutes in the car we were transported to a rural town not unlike the one I grew up and and totally different from downtown DC. To get to the first winery, we turned off the main road and bumped down a single lane dirt track for two miles before turned onto Willocroft's driveway.

We parked next to an old barn with the sign 'tasting room' by the open doors and then wandered in. For $2 we tried seven wines (beat that California). Some I liked better than others but to have the person who makes the wine explaining everything and talking about winemaking in Virginia was great. He asked about what we like and what we could taste in the wine and even though we were all far from professional in our descriptions, we had fun doing it.

After a rather circuitous detour we stopped at Doukenie Winery. This one backed onto a mountain and we drove through fields of vines on the way. Besides the usual reds and whites, we tried two dessert wines, one made of blackberries (along with grapes) and the other one made just with raspberries. We even got a piece of dark chocolate to try with the raspberry wine, to see how it would work off the taste of the berries. It was amazing and something I could definitely get used to.

We hopped back into the car and headed to the poshest tasting of the day. Hillsborough Vineyards does have a million dollar view and a gorgeous tasting room in a converted stone barn, but being rushed through a tasting of tiny pours didn't exactly endear us to the place. Neither did the wines for that matter. All of them were blends with names like 'moonstone' and 'serafina' but they didn't have that much individual character.

For the last stop of the day was at Loudon Valley Vineyards and by then I was definitely feeling the effects of all of the tasting and decided to share with Zach. The staff at Loudon Valley was so friendly and you could tell the really cared about the wines. After tasting a rich, port-like wine we decided to call it quits and head back to the city but I am already planning my next trip to the Virginia wine country.

If you're interested in wine making in Virginia, check out this website.

A Peachtree in the City

A few weeks ago I was headed downtown to meet some friends when I came across the most amazing thing. At first I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me, that I didn't actually see the bright orbs hiding among the leaves on the tree. I approached the fence and flat out stared. Outside the Colombian Embassy, in the middle of Washington, D.C. stood a peach tree. Not some spindly, sick looking tree but a full, green tree, seemingly unaware of its urban surroundings. As I stood at the fence gazing at the tree I noticed all the fruits within arms reach had been picked and only those further in remained. This made me really happy- to see the tree there next to the busy street in it's own world just a few feet from the busy street.

The Cupcake Chronicles Continue

Cupcakes are the new black in the DC area. It seems that every few months another cupcake shop opens to great hype and enormously long lines. Last week it was Hello Cupcake's turn. I had seen the storefront before it opened- just off DuPont Circle, an trendy area known for restaurants but also for being an independent place not littered with chains, though this has been changing in the last few years. The Hello Cupcake shop had huge plate glass windows, bright pink chandeliers and a few tables and a compressed bamboo bar for those (like me) we can't wait to get a cupcake home before eating it. In short- it looked very DuPont and I was very interested.

Some friends and I arranged a study date at a coffee shop across the street (confession- it is a chain; justification- we needed free internet) and cupcakes were going to be our reward for our first afternoon studying of the semester (am I the only one that gives myself rewards for things like that?). We read and read some more and then it was finally time for cupcakes. We rushed across the street, skirting the cars stuck in traffic and joined the line outside the cupcake shop. Looking through the windows, we could see that the days selection of a promised 10+ flavors had dwindled to two or three and by the time we got to the counter we found out that all of the gluten-free cupcakes had been sold so my friend A- had to go without. The rest of us had a choice between peanut butter blossom, triple coconut and de coconut and de lime. I chose peanut butter blossom, which the man behind the counter insisted tasted just like a peanut butter cup and K* got the triple coconut and we planned to go halves.

We paid for our goodies ($3 even) and it was all I could do to take a few photos before digging into the cupcakes, especially as I could hear the other girls exclaiming about how delicious they were. I carefully peeled back the paper on my cupcake, trying not to take too much cake off with it, and took a bite. It was a peanut butter explosion. I have never in my life had a frosting like that. It was as peanutbuttery as eating a spoonful straight from the Skippy jar, but not heavy or sticky. It was like eating a peanut butter cloud. It was so good in fact, that I would have been happy eating a little cup of frosting (with chocolate kiss on top) and skipping the cake entirely. In this instance, the cake seemed like an afterthought to the frosting and I had trouble getting more than the merest hint of chocolate out of it. Even when I broke off a piece to eat without the frosting, it didn't taste like much but it may have been because my taste buds were going crazy with a peanut butter overload.

K* and I did switch cakes but just for a bite. I always forget that I think that coconut baked goods smell too much like sunblock for me to actually enjoy them, so after a taste, we switched back.

The overall verdict on Hello Cupcake- very promising. I'll have to go back when there is a larger selection of flavors available.

Hello Cupcake
1351 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Just south of Dupont Circle, across from the Metro

Something DC

Last weekend Zach and I went to the National Building Museum to see an exhibit on Eero Saarinen, the Finnish born American architect. The building museum has one of the most beautiful interior spaces I have ever seen and I wanted to share this picture with you.

Vapiano

I will freely admit that I am a pizza snob. I grew up in New Jersey where every local pizza place serves up a thin crust New York style pie, with just the right amount of sauce and cheese. When I moved to DC and was introduced to Papa John's and Domino's I was really appalled. How could they call that thing with a mushy, bready crust, a strange sweetish sauce and an overwhelming layer of plastic like cheese on top pizza? For a while a friend and I fantasized about opening our own pizza place but after a few years here we discovered a few places that serve real New York pies.

Whenever I try a new pizza place I get a bit nervous; pizza is so simple but so many things can go wrong. Will the dough be rolled thin enough? Will the oven be hot enough to give it a slightly singed crust? Will the ratio of sauce to cheese be just right? I've been to Vapiano a German based chain restaurant that does quick service modern Italian food. (I can just see your face cringing with skepticism now - it's actually pretty good). Overall their pizza gets high marks. It's European style, meaning 1 pizza per person, though Zach and I will sometimes split a pizza and a salad, and rolled thinly and topped lightly. They don't have a brick oven so the crust isn't quite as crisp as some other places in DC but given that it's only a 10 minute walk from the apartment, it's my bet for nights when I just don't want to cook and I need a pizza fix.

Vapiano
Locations in the DC Metro Area

Sushi Taro

Yesterday my friend S-- and I went for lunch at Sushi Taro, a Japanese restaurant on 17th Street that I had been hearing about for years but had never actually managed to get to. It's claim to fame is the $9.95 bento box lunch (which you see above). Maybe some of you are questioning the $9.95 part, but in DC where a plain turkey and cheese sandwich that has been sitting in a refrigerated case for what seems like days since can cost upwards of $7, a real sit down lunch that covers all the food groups for under $10 is sort of amazing.

I went into Sushi Taro thinking of the bento box lunches I had enjoyed with my friend I-- when I went to visit her in Japan a few years ago. There the bento boxes impressed me with their artful presentation and variety, keeping with the Japanese tradition of eating 5 colors and something sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami with each meal. I ordered the sushi bento box and it came with everything you see above, plus a salad and bowl of miso soup to start.

The tempura was the best that I have had in the States- the delicate coating wasn't greasy at all, and the warm dipping sauce enhanced the flavor of the shrimp and zucchini rather than masking it. The dumplings were crisp and perfectly seasoned (I could have eaten a whole plate). The pickles made for a good palate cleanser and the sushi was good, although the chef did put a lot of wasabi on the pieces of nigri and I did for a second think that my nose was going to explode with the spice. I only wish I worked in the neighborhood so I could go for lunch more often.

Sushi Taro
1503 17th St. NW (17th and P)
Washington DC, 20036

Wasabi(sito)

Last Friday it was about 80 degrees here in Washington.  I had planned to take the afternoon off work to start cooking for Zach's birthday party (15 people coming over for dinner) so I drove into work so I could get home quickly (I really do feel guilty admitting that- I do take metro 99% of the time- really).  I was headed home at around 2, slightly hungry after having a PB&J on a hot dog bun for lunch when I was suddenly struck by the idea that some sushi would be delicious and, as I drove down the hill on Lee Highway, Wasabi came into view. 

I have been to Wasabi downtown, home of a revolving belt sushi and $2 bottles at happy hour, but I had never been to the Wasabi (formerly called Wasabisito) in Virginia. It's a tiny little shop/restaurant with about 6 table and a large refridgerated case for take out where they have sushi rolls, bento boxes, seaweed salad, and little desserts all ready to go, or at least i'm sure they usually do but since I got there after 2, nearly everything was gone. I asked at the counter for a California roll and the (hmmm, I'm not sure that I would call her a chef, but I'm not sure what other word to use) put the roll together with rice, nori, immitation crab meat (that had been tempura fried- an interesting touch) and avocado and proceeded to put my roll on a very strange machine. 

The machine sat on the counter and was shaped like a mini upright piano, with a high back and small flat space, where a piano keyboard would be.  She set my still flat roll down on a small platform and pushed a button and all of a sudden the roll sprang into the air on the platform and two metal bars appeared on each side and shaped the contents into a square log. I had never in my life seen anything like it and my astonishment was rather clear to everyone in the shop. It's a rather cool device, but it seems o me that it takes away something from the sushi, a food that is about balance and having a delicate touch with ingredients, to have it slammed together like that.

Well, no matter how it was made, it was pretty tasty.  It ended up rolled in a very thick sheet of plastic, sort of like a transparency slide, for transportation home so assumed the traditional round shape and it was just was I was looking for for a snack on a very hot afternoon.

Wasabi

Multiple locations in the DC area.

At Last

You might remember that back in February I attempted to get cupcakes from a shop that had just opened in Georgetown.  It was sold out that day and every subsequent time I walked by their was a sign on the door that said "Sold Out: Reopening at 5" or "Closed for Private Event Today".  I had pretty much given up hope on ever getting a cupcake as their business model seemed to be "create high demand by artificially restricting supply and creating hype."  Yesterday, as I was down on M St. to drop something off for work, I decided to walk by but without much hope of success. 

As I turned onto Potomac St., I saw a line of people snaking out of the shop. I was rather amazed and, as I had no desire to get back to my desk, decided to join the queue. After a few minutes, someone from the shop came out and told us, "Well- we think we have enough cupcakes for you all, but if anyone else comes, tell them we're sold out." Making the customers do the dirty work-- not a good sign.

Finally I made it into the shop and could see the flavors listed on the board; coconut, several varieties of chocolate and lemon blossom. Sadly, when the man in front of me was ordering, a staff member came out of the back and said "We're all out of lemon blossom" so chocolate coconut, coconut and chocolate hazelnut it was for me. 

We had dinner at a friend's house and I brought the cupcakes for dessert. They were good, but not amazing. The tiny pieces of candied hazlenut that topped my chocolate cupcake and were held on by a thin layer of chocolate ganache was the best part. The crunch of the hazlenuts gave the cupcake great texture (I think I will be stealing this idea in the future) and the ganache itself had a good chocolate flavor but wasn't overwhelming in quantity. The cupcakes themselves tasted just like Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker box mix. I don't say this as a bad thing in and of itself- box mixes are generally pretty tasty, but if I'm paying $2.75 a cupcake, I want something I can't make at home for 1/10th of the price.

Georgetown Cupcake
M and Potomac, just across from Dean & Deluca's
http://www.georgetowncupcake.com/

Cherry Blossoms

I went to see the cherry blossoms today and they're just so pretty I couldn't resist posting a picture. Also- the recipe for focaccia is up- just click the link for the post below.

Pastelsito

Yesterday a new cupcake bakery opened in Georgetown. Creatively named 'Georgetown Cupcakes', my co-workers and I had been looking forward to it for a week (which was how long we knew it would be opening). We made plans for an office field trip and decided 1 o'clock would be a good time to go; after lunch, so hopefully we wouldn't be tempted to eat too many cupcakes. Then, at 12:55 my co-worker S--- got a call from one of her friends. He was at the bakery and there was a "Sold Out of Cupcakes: Reopening at 5:00" sign on the door.

We were distraught. Not in the least because we had all promised at least one person a cupcake (or in S---'s case, about 5 people...). Something had to be done so we walked down to Baked and Wired. I had never gotten cupcakes there before since I think the price ($3.50 each) is sort of extortionate but, with it being Valentine's Day and all I decided to splurge and buy Zach and I a cupcake each.

Mine was the chocolate one and I got a coconut one for Zach. The cake itself was a rather normal cupcake size and slightly on the dry side (I think that they had been refrigerated at one point) but it seemed as thought the cake was merely a vehicle for the icing. The chocolate was so rich and chocolaty that I ended up taking half of it off. Zach, on the other hand, managed to eat all of his pink buttercream with soft coconut on top.

Baked and Wired
1052 Thomas Jefferson St. NW
www.bakedandwired.com

Georgetown Cupcake (very cute website)
M and Potomac, just across from Dean & Deluca's
http://www.georgetowncupcake.com/