Monuments

I'm sure there will be lots of times when I'll go to monuments while I'm living here.  And I'm sure I'll take other pictures, maybe even better pictures.  So I'll add them to this album as I go, which will probably get pretty big.  I'll try not to make it too repetitive.  I'd love for blogger to make a way to link directly to an album from a blog post, but either I can't figure it out, or it's not an option quite yet.

Fooding

I'm going to be constantly updating this post when I find links about food that I find interesting, or that list places that I would want to eat.  I'll try to separate it by food type.

Food Trucks
Top 10 Food Trucks (WUSA website)

Hispanic/Mexican/Tacos
Pupuserias
Tempting New Tacos to Try Now (DC Eater) - Gives a map with new taco places
Best Tacos in DC

Chinese/Japanese/Sushi
Places to Try Soup Dumplings
10 Best Sushi in DC

Seafood
Oyster Happy Hours

Brunch
5 Brunches to Try
Bottomless Brunch Guide (From 2011)

Meat
Steak Frites

BBQ/Southern Food
Ranking BBQ in DC
More BBQ Places
House of Cards Inspired BBQ
Chicken and Waffles
Best Fried Chicken Places

Desserts
Milkshakes
DC Ice Cream
New DC Bakeries
Carb-worthy Bakeries
Ice Cream Sandwiches

Drinking
Dive Bars

Random Food Posts
40 Dishes to Try in 2014
Best Doughnuts in America
Places to try Street Food
Local Chains to Try
April Hot List
Waterfront Bars in DC/MD
10 Best Happy Hours
Prix Fixe Dining Guide
Bars to Drink at Near Rose's Luxury
Best and Worst of 2014
30 Iconic DC Dishes to Try
Places to go Apple Picking

We Want Bao Bao!!!

Unfortunately, Bao Bao will have to wait a few more days until she gets to meet me.  She was just debuted on Friday (something like a Sip-n-See party, I think), and today was a holiday, so there were 9 bazillion people at the zoo, so the wait was at least two hours long.  I bailed.  I guess some would say I'm not a true panda fan, but that wouldn't be true.  I just understand that there are not very many sunny 50 degree weather days in January around here, and I didn't want to spend it waiting in line.  Bao Bao is a popular little panda, so I'm sure she won't mind waiting.

I did get to see the daddy pandas:

Ok, I totally made that up, I don't know who the daddy is. 

The zoo wasn't a total loss, though.  The orangutans (is that really how it's spelled?)  have this awesome O-line, which is just cables that are strung across this part of the zoo with towers spread out all along, and they can rope along.  I doubt they do it all day, but this little guy put on a show.  

 

This guy will never be my ruler, but he'll let me be queen bee.

I'll be back for you, Bao Bao.  Until then, I'm just gonna nerd out with the panda-cam.

Here's a link to all the pictures from the zoo.

Hallowed Ground

Arlington Cemetery is a pretty amazing place to visit.  I tried not to take too many pictures, but some things were just too pretty to not.  We took a tour bus around, which stops at three of the most "popular" things:
 - The Eternal Flame, where John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and two of their babies that died are buried.  Also next to the Eternal Flame are the graves of Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy (Teddy).
 - The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where we saw the changing of the guard
 - Lee House, which was the house of Robert E. Lee, but during the Civil War the U.S. Government took over the land to use as a cemetery for Union Soldiers.  They chose the location not only for it's proximity to Washington DC, but also for it's elevation.  They also were strategic in building around the house of the Confederate General, making it difficult and unlikely that he would move back home.

Normally, the Lee House would be open for viewing, but we had the unfortunate luck of having it be closed on the day we went.  I will have to go back and see it on a day that it will be open!  It was cold and windy while we were there.

At the Eternal Flame.  I like this picture, I think it's so beautiful how you can see the uniform headstones rolling in the background. 

The cross at the bottom left is the grave for Robert F. Kennedy.  The building in the background is a part of Lee House.  I don't know if the flag always flies at half mast, or if it was lowered for someone in particular. 

In less frigid temperatures, this is a reflecting pool.  I love this quote from RFK. 

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

After the tour, we drove over to the Iwo Jima Memorial.  That one is special to me because of my Grampa.  He was in the Marines in WWII and was wounded at Bougainville.  I would have liked to have gone there with him, or been there when he had seen the Memorial, but he's probably not going to be traveling down to DC any time soon.

Capitoling

I moved! I've been in DC for two months, I've had two sets of visitors (not including my aunt who helped me move down here...), and I haven't done nearly as much as I originally intended.  There are three new lists on the sides of the blog.  The left side is the list of things that I WANT to do while living here.  I'm going to constantly update it.  The right side list is a list of restaurants/bakeries/eateries that I want to eat at.  The list below that is a list of food places that I tried and want to go back to.

I'm now accepting visitors and reservations for visitors.  Come see my pretty apartment, right by Eastern Market and the Capitol Building, House side.  Take a look at the lists and let me know where we're going!

Moving in November is a crummy time to move.  It was too cold to do much exploring right off the bat.  I'm hoping to take one day each week to go and see a new museum.  So far I've been to two: 

 - Freer Gallery of Art/Sackler Gallery

 - Newseum

The Freer Gallery was okay.  It was small, it's one of the Smithsonians.  The Sackler Gallery is part of it, and it's below ground.  The two "Galleries" focus on Asian Art. 

This is the garden at the Sackler Gallery, which has a view of the Smithsonian Castle. 

My Bed is a Chevron

I wanted a headboard.  I needed a headboard.  The pillows kept falling in that crack behind the bed, and it was driving me nutty.  I thought "I'll have Ian help me make a headboard.  It will be easy!"  So I pinned.  And we brain stormed.  And this is what we came up with.  I don't know how I lived without a headboard for so long. 

Can you tell it's a chevron?  It was pretty easy to make.  The hardest part was figuring out what length to cut the boards so that they would fit.  Here's a quick picture tutorial of how to make it.

Supplies you'll need:
A bed (duh)
A work space (In this case, it was an orchard store house.  And it was cold, that's why I'm wearing a hat)
2 posts for the side
1 post for the middle
1 plank to go across the top
many boards to form your chevron
3 (or more) boards to run across the back to support your chevron boards
1 wide board to attach it to your bed frame (sorry there's no pictures of that part)
tools (like a saw and such - that's not my department)
screws, bolts, la la la
music

Once you have all your posts and top shelf measured out, you'll need to notch the posts so that your back support boards fit into them.

Girl's got skills with a hammer

If you don't have goggles, you can wear sunglasses.

Screw your support planks into your side and middle posts.

Here's your frame from the back!

Start measuring out your chevron boards.  We found that the best way to do this was to start in the middle with the longest board, cut it, screw it in place, and then measure from there.  If you have this fancy saw that's pictured there, you can line up a 45 degree angle, and so most of the measuring is done for you.

As you go along, screw your boards into the three boards in the back. 

We ended up adding a board across the top to hold all those little midge boards in place, and then as you can see, a few other little pieces to hold things in place. 

From the front!

Sand the whole thing down.

And then start staining!  The beauty of this design is that you can pick out any stain you want, you could paint it, or you could leave it just plain wood. 

I think Ian's proud of our handiwork.  

The slanted ceilings in my loft make it difficult to photograph, but I think it looks great!

Cowgirl Cookies - Just Hold the Nuts

I wanted to make something new.  And I wanted to do something with these chia seeds that I bought a few months ago with high self-expectations of becoming healthy.  (Before all those New Years Resolutions popped in...)  And then I also figured out this holiday season that I'm no longer allergic to coconut.  So it was pretty much a trifecta pointing me in this direction. 

Have you ever had Cowboy Cookies?  They are awesome.  Like, I saw them at this bakery yesterday, and I wanted to move in there and just eat Cowboy Cookies all day long, awesome.  JFGI.  And since I always think I can do things better, I attempted.  Here's my attempt... 

Cowgirl Cookies are like Cowboy Cookies, except healthy, and nut-less.  (Like Cowgirls)

Recipe:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

2 sticks (1 cup) butter - softened to room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggies
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats (don't waste your time with instant or stuff like that)
1/8 cup (I think that's like 2 tablespoons) chia seeds (they're good for you, JFGI)
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
3/4 cup shredded coconut

As you would with all cookie recipes,  mix together your butter and two sugars.  Once they are creamy, add in the eggs and vanilla and mix that up until they are just incorporated. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients - flour, baking soda/powder, and salt.  Slowly (in 3 parts) add this to your butter/sugar/eggs combo.  Mix them until they are just combined.  

With a wooden spoon add in, one at a time, the oats, chia, chippies, and coconut.  This part takes some elbow grease, so get your guns out.  (Not literally, just figuratively.)

Scoop them onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet with a tablespoon or cookie scoop.  (Just a side note - the rationale behind making these into huge cookies is that they have so many great parts, the oats, the chia, the chips and coconut, that if you made small ones, you might miss something.  So huge it is.  Bigger is always better.

Bake at 350°F for about 11 minutes, until the edges are browned and the tops are tan-ish.  If you want them crispy, bake them for longer.  I like my cookies soft, so I tend to under bake.  Let them cool on a wire rack then enjoy!  

Makes approx 2 dozen large cookies

(can you see those cute little chia seeds?)