My Busy Weekend

I did SO much this past weekend, too much to write separate blog posts. So I thought I'd just throw it all into one right here.

Friday

My old roommate and I met in Bethesda and tried two places I had never been to before. We visited Lotus Grill and Bar for dinner, but we were unimpressed (read my Yelp review here). This was a disappointment because we both love Indian food! To make up for it, we headed to 520 Ice Cream & Tea for dessert. It's like Cold Stone Creamery except they roll the ice cream. Like this:

Image found here

The walls were painted with fun cartoon animals, and guests were invited to leave little messages on Post-Its. This one was already waiting for me.

Then Brooke and I took our ice cream to Bethesda Row and sat outside having girl talk. I hadn't seen her for at least six months (she had been abroad), so it was great to catch up. I missed her! And nobody loves girl talk more than I do.

Imagine Brooke and me sitting here enjoying the lovely evening. Image found here.

Saturday

Image found here

After a Bar Method class, I took the metro down to Eastern Market to meet two colleagues for brunch. Note: if you think the DC metro is bad during the week, it's even worse on the weekend. So I arrived at Ambar a bit late, but still beat my colleague who lives in Navy Yard; go figure.

I had never been to Ambar before, but supposedly the restaurant is known for its all-you-can-eat menu and bottomless drinks. With a two-hour time limit, we could order as many small plates and mimosas/bloody mary-s as we wanted. But this comes with a price: $39 per person, and that doesn't include the tax or tip. So you're paying for the experience as much as you are for the food and drinks.

My main tips for handling this menu would be to drink as much as you can, remember that the omelettes are regular size (as opposed to a tiny tapa), and place several orders of the cinnamon sweet sourdough.

They don't look like much, but these sweet fried dough balls taste like funnel cake, only better. Image found here.

After that we walked to Navy Yard to meet Emily's fiance and puppy. It was fun getting to know my colleagues outside of the office. It's great being able to be friends with the people you work with.

After such a big meal, I went home and took a long nap. Then it was time to get ready for Black Cat's summer 80's dance party. I was so excited for my outfit: fishnet bodysuit from Marshalls for $5, pleather mini-skirt from Macy's for $25, along with black tights, leather boots, a bright purple push-up bra, and plaid flannel (which was wrapped around my waist most of the night). You get the idea:

I danced until midnight. I would have stayed longer, but I knew I had a busy day ahead of me.

Sunday

The picture doesn't quite capture the slope of this hill, but people were rolling down it after the yoga class.

I started my day once again on the metro, this time heading to the National Building Museum for a yoga class on their LAWN installation. The main atrium of the museum was covered by a man-made hill of fake grass, which was dotted with hammocks and Adirondack chairs. We climbed up the hill, and Beth A. Wolfe led us in a yoga practice that was very relaxing. It's always fun doing yoga in a new, unique place. How cool!

I continued my exercise with a 20-minute walk to Supra, a Georgian restaurant that is near the Washington Convention Center in a part of town I never go to. But the food was worth the walk, especially since they still had a Restaurant Week menu option. Here are some delicious photos:

This watermelon salad was very refreshing.

Supra (and perhaps Georgia as a whole?) is known for its ajaruli, a bread bowl filled with cheese and egg (and I think sherry. It has a very strong white wine flavor.). Image found here.

My friend and I had to walk off some of those calories, so we headed toward 14th Street. We took a brief rest at the rooftop pool of Mason & Rook (anyone can go, and it's free!), and then walked around, stopping in Chicken + Whiskey (the bar is a speak easy), Miss Pixie's, and Little Leaf. I think Julia was hoping we'd stop for a drink or even Jeni's ice cream, but after eating so much (and spending too much money all weekend), we just walked to the metro and headed home.

That's Gary Clarke, Jr. I promise!

But my weekend was not quite over yet! I cleaned myself up, and my friend from Shabbat picked me up to head to Merriweather Post Pavilion. I didn't know who the bands were, but I love live music and picnics, so I was down. Nicole Atkins opened for Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, and then Gary Clark, Jr. was the main act. Atkins was fine, the Night Sweats were my favorite, and Clark can play a mean guitar solo. The evening ended up being a little chilly (ok, I was freezing), but the concert was great and I was swaying along, so it was worth the shivering.

Here are some music videos, one for each performer. Feel free to check out more videos on YouTube!

Nicole Atkins

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

Gary Clark, Jr.

WHEW! And to think I had actually considered meeting up with a different friend Saturday afternoon and going to the Round House Theatre's opening reception, too. That just would have been too much!

Recipe: Chocolate Workout Brownies

Image edited from here.

I found this recipe on the Chocolate Covered Katie blog when I was looking for recipes that included ripe bananas. I didn't want to make banana bread, muffins, or cookies; been there, done that.* I liked this recipe because it included bananas, chocolate, AND peanut butter, which is an amazing combination.

Ingredients

• 1 cup overripe mashed banana or applesauce
• 2/3 cup nut butter of choice, or allergy-friendly substitute
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp chocolate protein powder, or additional cocoa
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave, OR additional banana
• optional mini chocolate chips, crushed walnuts, etc.

Instructions

Notes: If using applesauce or unsweetened protein powder, or if planning to eat the brownies unfrosted, it is recommended to include a sweetener of choice. Using peanut butter gives a peanut-butter flavor, while almond or cashew butter taste more neutral. Sunbutter or pumpkin seed butter can be used for allergy-friendly brownies. You can use regular unsweetened cocoa or a combination of regular and dutch.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper. If using natural nut butter, gently warm it until it is easily stir-able. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stir until completely smooth, and spread into the prepared pan (see video). Bake on the center rack 20-25 minutes (20 for super fudgy brownies) – they will be undercooked when you take them out. Let cool, then loosely cover with a paper towel and place in the fridge overnight, during which time they will firm up without losing their fudginess. They are also much sweeter the next day! Frosting options are listed earlier in this post, and you need about 1/2 cup total. Once cut, the brownies can either be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to a month. You can even eat them straight out of the freezer if you wish! As mentioned, they are more of a healthy snack than a decadent dessert – if you enjoy healthy desserts and snacks, hopefully you will love these!

(I thought it was funny that the original recipe says it will yield 9-12 brownies. Yeah, however many you cut!)

I really liked this recipe. It's clearly very easy: just mix everything together in one bowl and you're done! I ended up using aluminum foil (which was fine), as well as two bananas and one individual serving of apple sauce. And I did add miniature chocolate chips; I already had them on hand, so why not? As usual, I eyeballed most of the ingredients. I probably didn't use exactly three tablespoons of protein powder and cocoa powder, and I simply didn't have enough vanilla extract, so that was that. And I didn't bother making a frosting for them: why add more steps?

*If you're interested in reading some of my other banana recipe blogs posts:

Banana Peanut Butter Bread

Strawberry-Banana Bread

Banana Coconut Muffins

Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

Strawberry Banana Sour Cream Breakfast Cake

Banana Chocolate Bread Pudding

Monkey Nut Cookies

Aladdin at the Kennedy Center

Image found here

I'm not really into musicals, but those based on beloved cartoons are an exception. Last year I saw Anastasia at the Kennedy Center (which was fantastic; read that blog post here), so when I saw that Aladdin was going to be there, I knew I wanted to see the show. But I patiently waited until I could get my hands on a discounted ticket. THEN I went!

Watch the sizzle reel to get an idea of the show:

Here are my final thoughts:

Pros

The inside of the cave where Aladdin finds the Genie's lamp is truly full of gold treasure! Image found here.

Everything was so beautiful. The sets, the costumes, you just couldn't take your eyes off of anything! So many colors, so much glitter; I was mesmerized. And the dancers were incredible, too. They even did tap dancing!

The dances in the marketplace might have been my favorite part of the show. And not just because these hot dancer bodies were half-naked. Image found here.

The parade when Aladdin announces himself as Prince Ali is spectacular! Image found here.

The carpet truly looked like it was flying (no strings in sight), and the stars felt like you really were up in the galaxy, especially when the blue moon later tranformed into Earth. Image found here.

And the singing was just as impressive. Clinton Greenspan (as Aladdin) and Kaenaonalani Kekoa (as Jasmine) sound just like Disney characters. And Major Attaway as the Genie was PERFECT.

Is this not Jasmine or what? Image found here.

Major Attaway's acting, singing, and dancing were all on point. Image found here.

In the play version, Aladdin has three friend sidekicks. Image found here.

While Aladdin's sidekicks aren't really necessary for the story or plot, they were very funny. I especially liked one of the lines when, after Aladdin suggested they become street performers to make money, one of the friends said, "Why would people pay to see other people sing and dance?" Of course a silent beat followed to give the audience time to laugh, since that's what all of us were doing at that very moment.

There were other, modern jokes that I enjoyed. When we got the introduction at the very beginning of the show, the Genie accidentally pulled out a Washington Nationals cap instead of the lamp, and he joked that he had been shopping earlier. He also would say things like, "Nobody got time for that!"

Cons

Songs always seem to be added to the play or live action versions of Disney cartoons. Why? We all love the originals and know all those songs. We don't want new ones! "Proud of Your Boy" was especially bad, I thought (not the performance, the lyrics). Actually, the majority of the second act was just more of the same as the first act: singing, dancing, cool sets, etc. A lot of it felt like filler, because they're trying to turn a 90-minute movie into a nearly 3-hour play.

Man vs. parrot. I missed the bird! Image found here.

One iconic part of many Disney movies is the animals, and in the play Iago is not a parrot but a short, chubby man, and Abu is erased entirely. While Reggie De Leon is funny as Iago, his part as comic relief is somewhat redundant, since a lot of what he says is just repeating what Jafar said.

Some parts of the cartoon movie did not translate well to the stage. When Aladdin gains access to the magical cave, the effect was so bad: he simply rolled under the curtain with the cave's image on it. And once he's in the cave, he's supposedly walking through cobwebs and leaning away from flying objects, but it wasn't rendered well enough to be believable.

But clearly the pros heavily outweigh the cons. Honestly, I would recommend seeing this musical just for the beauty of it all. Even without the acting and the singing, this would still be an amazing experience. So enjoy all of it!

PS: Just for your viewing pleasure, here's a video of five actors who have played the Genie singing together in a medley:

Recipe: Zucchini Cream Cheese Muffins

I had zucchini. I had cream cheese. I had them both for days and didn't know what to do with them. Then I got a Crazy for Crust email. I've been receiving these emails for years, and I usually just file them away into a "Recipes" folder and never look at them. But I did open the last one, and it just happened to have this recipe for zucchini cream cheese muffins. Serendipity!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup + 6 tablespoons granulated sugar — divided
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 7 tablespoons sour milk — 1 teaspoon vinegar plus enough milk to make 7 tablespoons or you can use buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 4 ounces cream cheese — softened

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin cups with liners or spray with cooking spray.
2. Stir 3/4 cup sugar, oil, and applesauce in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or spatula. Stir in eggs, milk, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Slowly stir in flour, then stir in zucchini.
3. In a separate bowl, stir cream cheese and 6 tablespoons sugar until smooth.
4. Place about 2 tablespoons of batter in the bottom of each of 12 muffin cups. Top with equal portions of cream cheese (about 1 tablespoon per muffin) then equally divide remaining muffin batter over the top.
5. Bake for about 18-24 minutes until the muffins are golden brown. Cool before eating. Serve warm or cold! Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days for freeze for up to 1 month.

When I bake, I am not a chemist cook. Everyone says that baking (versus cooking) is all about chemistry. But I disagree: like cooking, it's mostly about taste. The amount of zucchini or cinnamon you put into the batter, the number of tablespoons of sugar you put into the cream cheese filling: that's all preference. Yes, you want to make sure the proportions are right and nothing is too wet or dry. But honestly I eyeball things within the measuring cup or spoon and call it a day. And it all ends up okay in the end. These muffins were quite yummy, and that's all that matters!