Saturday, August 27, 2011

My Move

It's been quite a while since my last post, but I blame that on finishing up summer classes and my trip out East to visit my mom and (by surprise) by best friend Jenny. I will post about our D.C. Cupcake Tour 2011 tomorrow, but for now I want to show off my new (much smaller) apartment. I moved across campus to a one bedroom technically on campus. I can walk everywhere I need to go within 5 minutes and I love it already. It's a little adjustment from the 3 bedroom I was splitting with roommates, but I'm trading some space for some peace of mind and my own place. I just realized that I own ALOT of stuff. But I think I've managed pretty well (after sending alot home with my dad).

Warning: These aren't the greatest pictures ever, but they'll give you an idea of the space. And I'm almost done unpacking, but there's still some stuff lying around. So give me a break, I moved in Thursday.
This is taken from the kitchen (if you can call it that). Off to the left is where my front door is, so you walk in to the "living room", which has a loveseat couch, bookshelves, tv and a light.
If you then turn left (which isn't really necessary considering it's one big room), you'll see my "kitchen" and "dining room" areas. Yes, that is my kitchen. The fridge comes up to my bust and the stove is just a little wider than I am. The counter space at least fits my spices and coffee pot. And I'll be forced to do dishes often as the sink only holds one meals worth, if that. Jess snagged a nifty rolling kitchen-island-thingy that you can kinda see hidden behind the table. I've already used it as a prep station and it hold my plates and bowls. The table fits pretty well and really only fits the two chairs. But when will I ever need three? I don't know how 3 adults would fit in here. On the other side of the table (you can see it better in the last picture), is a baking rack my Dad snagged at a garage sale. It's perfect and holds my microwave, some bigger pans, and other smaller appliances. It even has a wine rack underneath. I'm getting fancy here.
Right off the kitchen is my bathroom. I'm not a super girly-girl and I don't need a huge bathroom. It'd be nice, but it's more of a luxury. I can move around in this one even with the door closed, so it's fine. It's a stand-up shower which unfortunately comes to eye level with me (damn my height) and I have to either squat or do a half back-bend in order to wash my hair. And I haven't quite figured out how to shave my legs in it yet, but I'm getting there. I'm thankful to have the hot water turned on. And Timmy has approved of the sink.
That's how I know he's at home
I plan on spending most of my time in the main area, but I do have a separated bedroom.
It thankfully fits my queen size bed and even my bedside table. All I do is sleep in there, and possibly watch some Netflix or Hulu before bed, but space in the bedroom isn't a huge thing for me.
Now, space in a closet is a huge thing for me. All my clothes fit, but apparently I have alot of shoes. Go figure. Thankfully IKEA makes these great see-through shoe boxes that stack and fit perfectly up top. And notice the shoe rack on the front of my bedroom door (doubling as a belt holder as well). There is a partial built in, which is handy and gave me more room to put a hamper and other blankets and what-not in the closet. I would have liked to use the space above it for a jewelry area, but then were would all my bags go? I have yet to figure out where to stick all my jewelry, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. The mirror will be going up on a wall here shortly (there's one already on the back of my door, but two isn't a bad thing). The bedroom is also the room with the window AC unit (surprise - no central air here). So I have my fan near my door to blow some of the cold air into the main area. But at least the bedroom is nice for sleeping.

I'm really happy with the place and even more so now that I'm mostly unpacked. Another closet would have been fantastic, but I can work with what I have. And I get to have my boys here with me, so that's the biggest plus. Oh, and the fact that I can sleep in until 7:45am and still make it to work at 8...and that includes walking there. I'm ready for my last semester :)

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Restaurant Tallent: Round Two

Jess and I have been planning to go Restaurant Tallent for their summer menu for a while and we decided that today was a good day for it. OMG was the food amazing. Melt in your mouth awesome. And of course I took pictures of everything. For appetizers, I had:
A tartare trio of beef, tuna and eggplant. The eggplant had a frozen water piece on top and was awesome.
Jess had:
A seared sea scallop with BBQ Rib succotash, pommes anna and a bourbon sherry gastrique. I tried a bit of the succotash and it was really good and had a nice BBQ flavor.
For dinner, I had a farm pork trio with jalapeno cheddar grits, grilled cabbage slaw and a pickled cherry gastrique. The trio was a pork loin wrapped in bacon with a piece of pork belly on top.
I don't know if I can even describe how amazing it was. The loin literally melted in my mouth. As did the pork belly. The peaches and onions on the side went perfectly with it. The slaw had a nice grilled flavor. I ate my dish really slowly. How one earth does he get pork to melt in your mouth? Mine never has and now I want to know. So good.
Jess had rabbit boudin with tasso and creamed corn macque choux, mustard greens and chanterelle gravy. I had a piece of her rabbit and it was cooked perfectly. The mixture underneath was just as good as the succotash and had a similar bbq flavor.
Of course we had dessert. We would be silly not to. Jess had the poppy-seed angle food cake french toast with fresh peaches and rosewater and vanilla bean ice cream.
She was pretty excited
It was delicious and I imagine it was great with peaches and ice cream. I had the Trader's Point Creamery yogurt tart with local blackberries, pistachios, and oregano infused garlic.
I wish I could have licked my plate. The yogurt made the tart so heavenly and creamy that it just melted in my mouth. The honey and blackberries gave it an extra sweetness. Jess and I both made the "I'm so happy" face at the same time.

I'm excited for the restaurant to change it's menu to late summer or fall so I can try some more new dishes. I don't go everyday, but a nice treat like this makes everything seem right in the world. We were much happier and less stressed after having such an amazing dinner. A good Wednesday night.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Chopped II

I'm on a Chopped kick in my kitchen while I try to use up stuff in it. For lunch I made a "mexican hot dog." I don't have bread, but I had a tortilla. I melted some cheese on that, added the brat and some salsa on top instead of ketchup. Viola!
It tasted better than it looked
It didn't disappoint. It was good and just as messy as any other taco I would eat. But I'm down to one more tortilla, one more hot dog, barely any salsa left and lots of other foods to work on now. I'm working my way down!