Fish Tacos To Die For!

So, I thought that for the first post in these many months, I'd share my absolute favorite fish taco recipe.

http://www.recipegirl.com/2008/10/02/beer-battered-fish-tacos-with-baja-sauce/ 

I unfortunately do not have a picture of the ones we made, but below I've included a picture from the recipegirl's site.  They are really very good, and very easy to make.  My kids will make several tacos and then just eat the fish on it's own with the sauce.  

A couple of things:  I usually leave the Jalapeños out of the sauce, because some of my younger kids don't like the added spice, but I cut some Jalapeños up for myself and add them separately.  Also, I'm not a beer drinker so I substitute the beer with beef broth I don't know how much it changes the flavor because ... well ... I'm not a beer drinker.  I usually make my own Mexican seasoning and I like it a lot better than the store bought taco seasoning and it's so easy to make.  I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

10 Must-Eats in DC

Almost 10 months ago to the day, I moved to the DC area. To celebrate, I thought I would share my top 10 favorite places to eat in the DC/Maryland area, in no particular order. (Click on the restaurant name for more info)

1. Farmers Fishers Bakers

You guys. I've been to brunch here, and it's to DIE FOR. Farmers Fishers Bakers is a completely sustainable restaurant, and it is on K Street on the Georgetown Waterfront. My only complaint is that it's a little pricy, and it's almost impossible to get a reservation since it's so dang good and everyone wants to go here for brunch. It's $30 per person, but it's an all you can eat brunch. They have probably the best crab dip I've ever had in my life, which says a lot since I am a Marylander that is particularly picky about her crab dip.

2. Founding Farmers

Founding Farmers is the same company as Farmers Fishers Bakers, and is also a completely sustainable restaurant. I've only ever been to the one in Potomac, MD. Founding Farmers also has fantastic brunch (that seems to be a thing now, right?). I particularly love their Crab Benedict. YUM. Their Bananas Foster Milkshake is also a must-have. I kinda have a weakness for milkshakes.

3. District Taco

I've been to the District Taco on Capital Hill and loved it, but there are several other locations throughout DC. Their food tastes very similar to Chipotle to me, but their selection of salsas is INCREDIBLE. I am a sucker for spicy food, and find their habanero salsa delightful.

4. Good Stuff Eatery

Want two reasons to go to Good Stuff? Handmade fries, and Creamshakes that will knock your socks off. No joke. Their burgers are great, but their Rosemary fries??? Oof. Heaven. They also have an incredible assortment of delectable fry sauces like Sriracha, Old Bay, and Horseradish, just to name a few. I've been to the one in Crystal City, but there are several locations throughout the District.

5. Georgetown Cupcake

I know you've heard of this place. If you've never been, GO. You won't regret it. There's just something amazing about that pink box, and something even more amazing about the cupcakes inside. I've never been to the original location in Georgetown. I always go to the one in Bethesda because the lines are so much shorter. My favorite cupcakes are their Key Lime, and Peanut Butter Fudge. Go. Go. Go!

6. Max Brenner

Max Brenner is a chocolate bar. If that sentence alone isn't enough incentive to go, I'm not sure what else I could possibly say. I've been to the location in Bethesda, which differs from other locations like the one in NYC because it doesn't serve lunch or dinner entrees. It only serves chocolate desserts. I particularly love their ice cream bar, their s'mores bar, and chocolate syringes. Yep, I'll say that again. Chocolate. Syringes.

7. Shake Shack

Shake Shack is a chain restaurant, a DC staple, and there's a line out the door for a reason. It's simply delicious. They have amazing burgers and hot dogs. While I'm only "eh" about their fries, I am particularly fond of their SmokeShack Burger, and their Peanut Butter Shake. See? I told you that I'm a sucker for a good milkshake! 

8. Golden Brown Delicious

Ever heard of Chicken and Waffles? GBD serves Chicken and DOUGHNUTS. I haven't tried their chicken and doughnuts yet (need to) but I have tried their doughnuts and they almost made me cry because they were so amazing. They have super weird hours though, so check out the hours on their website before you take a potentially disappointing trip there, only to find out that they are closed. Hop on over to their location in Dupont and be sure to get their Tres Leches or Fruit Crumble Doughnut, and thank me later. Holy moly.

9. Seoul Food

As a half Korean, I'm very particular about my Korean food. That being said, I ADORE Seoul Food. It's a DC Food truck, and it has this really interesting Korean/Mexican fusion thing going on. They have Kalbi Burritos and Kimchi Quesadillas! I absolutely love their Bulgogi BiBimBap bowl. It's unique, but still holds on to the traditional Korean food taste and feel. They have a permanent location on University Blvd in Silver Spring, but you can find their truck around DC.

10. Fenton Cafe

To end my list, I thought I would include one of my favorite hole-in-the-wall places in Downtown Silver Spring. Fenton Cafe is a really delicious crepe place. They have savory and sweet crepes, and I loved the savory and the sweet crepes that I tried. My favorite was probably the Nutella, raspberry, and strawberry crepe that I had. Whoaaaa nelly. It's run by super sweet people in a super cute location. I'm a big fan.

Well there you have it! It was kinda hard to narrow down my list to 10 places, but these are some of my favorites. If you live in DC, take a peep at my list and give me positive and negative feedback. I'd love to hear about your go-to places as well! I'm constantly looking for new places to try. If you happen to try any of these places after reading my list, let me know what you think of them!

Cheesy Chipotle Chicken and Rice

I promise that I really do cook things other than chicken and meals that are a little more fancy pants, but for some reason I only remember to take pictures of quick, chicken meals. Oh, well.

Tonight, we were going to have stuffed cabbage rolls! That is until I took a marathon nap and read the recipe when I woke up and realized that they have to cook for 2 hours, which at that point meant that we would have eaten at 8:30. So, we had to turn to Plan B. Luckily, I had almost everything for this recipe from Yammie's Noshery for Cheesy Chipotle Chicken and Rice. I did have to adjust some things, because I was missing a couple of ingredients.

The original recipe calls for black beans, but shockingly I didn't have any! Luckily, the rice we cook at home has beans and barley mixed in it so I used that and it worked out great. I also didn't find chipotle seasoning, so I added some Mexican seasoning and a little cayenne pepper and I thought it worked well. I mixed the cheese and sour cream right in with the rice. I kind of love one pot recipes like this. I guess I used two: one to boil chicken and one for the rice. I also didn't have a red bell pepper, but I had a bag of small sweet peppers so I chopped up a few of those and they were delicious.

We ate ours with some tortilla chips. The kids and my husband all loved it. Our 11 month old son ate two bowls of it. If you want you can add some hot sauce on top. I think it would work well as a side dish to fajitas or tacos or even as a dip. It was definitely not the fanciest of meals, but was a really good lazy Sunday dinner.

My picture leaves a lot to be desired...again: lazy Sunday! So, I didn't plate it nicely or sprinkle cilantro on top. Go to Yammie's Noshery for pretty pictures.

Try it out! Don't be dissuaded by my less than impressive picture!

Teacher Appreciation Week

I have a lot of respect for teachers. I think their commitment and dedication to teaching our kids is so admirable. Sister #4 is a teacher and so is our Mom, so that just adds to the respect I have for teachers! This was our oldest son's first year in school, so I was excited to do something for Teacher Appreciation Week. On Monday I sent in two boxes of donuts with a note that said "Donut we'd do with out you."

I found a really great idea on Build it Sew it Love it that can be found: here. She gave teachers the book, Hooray for Diffendoofer Day. I loved the book. You can order it on Amazon: here for $10. It's a book that Dr. Seuss started before he passed away and was finished by some people who found the notes he was keeping. It's about a teacher who inspires her kids and thinks outside of the box. Build it Sew it Love it has a file you can download with the tag. Unfortunately my ink cartridge is running low so it wasn't as bright as it could have been. I bought some flower clips and raffia at Michaels and this is how mine turned out:

The PTA also asked the parents to send in some desserts for a catered lunch they had for the teachers today and I have seen some really cute cupcakes decorated to look like apples so I thought I'd try it out.  I just used a box cake mix and then frosted them with white frosting and dipped them in red sugar crystals. Then I got some colored edible dough from Michaels and made stems and leaves. I think that next time I will just use tootsie rolls for the stems, but I think they still turned out pretty cute!

Tomorrow is the last day of Teacher Appreciation Week, so make sure you thank a teacher!

Nando's

My husband likes to try new restaurants, which makes me nervous sometimes. Well last year he really wanted me to try Nando's. I was hesitant and I think a little moody that day so I was not a big fan. I kind of stuck with this.."Nando's is not good" attitude until a few months ago when I decided to try it again. I'm so glad I did! I love it! I like how you can customize how spicy you want your meat to be. I usually get the steak sandwich. Last time I got the chicken caesar wrap and it was delicious. The hummus appetizer is to die for! If you're going with kids, their meals are free on Mondays and Tuesdays. The kids get a bowl of frozen yogurt, which is also really good. If that wasn't enough they also have one of those coke machines so I can get raspberry Coke zero. Delicious. Oh! Make sure you get the chips (fries) with peri-peri mayo.

This is the hummus with the peri-peri drizzle. Amazing.

 

Go check it out! You'll love it.

 

I LOVE earrings ... unfortunately for me I have been unable to wear earrings, sometime in High School (which was a long, long time ago) I gave up!  For reasons I can't explain, within hours of putting earrings in, my ears would get red and itchy.  After a couple of days they would begin to hurt.  It was quite annoying.

About a month ago, I had a thought - with all the information in the world at my finger tips, why have I not tried Googling my earring problem?  Apparently I am not the only person in the world with this problem.  I came across a women who said she tried Neosporin and it worked.  What did I have to lose?

So, one morning, I put a small dab of Neosporin on my forefinger and rubbed it on my ears - back and front.  Then whatever was left on my fingers I rubbed onto the post of the earring, put the earrings in my ears and hoped for the best. Amazingly enough, my ears were fine, what's more ... they were fine all day.  Now a month later my ears are still fine!

I wish I had had the ability to Google in High School, just think of all the money I could have spent on earrings!

Happy May Day!

Happy spring everyone! I love spring! 

This is a super simple post, but I just wanted to share something I made this morning. 

I saw this wreath on Pinterest the other day. It didn't lead to a link so I don't know who to give credit to! 

I loved it and I don't have a good May wreath for my front door! I went to Michaels today, without kids! It was like Heaven. Anyway, I bought one bunch of tulips that was 50% off of $7 and a grapevine wreath that was on sale for $4.99. So the whole thing cost less than $10! I just pulled the tulips off of the bunch and pushed them in all around the wreath. I cut a few of the stems so that they would fit a little better and I made sure to alternate between tulips with leaves and tulips without leaves. It took me maybe 5 minutes to do. I might go back and hot glue them on, but I can never use a hot glue gun without burning myself...so probably not!

Here's how mine turned out:

If you want it to be a little more full like the one on Pinterest then you should probably buy two bunches of tulips. 

Sister #2 used more tulips and this is how hers turned out. I'm a little jealous. 

If you decide to make one hurry and go to Michaels while everything is on sale! Good luck!