My trip to DC!

This summer, I was given ONE summer Friday (i.e. a Friday in the summer when you don't have to work and it's treated like a holiday). I knew I wanted to travel given the long weekend, and when my husband and I couldn't agree on a place, I decided to visit friends in DC on my own. I moved out of the DC area about a year ago, and while I didn't expect to visit so soon after moving, I was very excited to see so many of my favorite people. I made sure to pack the weekend to see as many friends as I could!

Here are the top 10 highlights of the trip (in chronological order):

Here's my mommom with our peach cobbler dessert. She's 89!

1. Dinner with my aunt and mommom

Despite my flight from SRQ being delayed by more than FOUR hours, I made it to DCA in one piece. My aunt and grandmother (whom I call "Mommom," because she thinks "Grandma" sounds old) picked me up at the airport, and we had a belated birthday dinner (two of us have April birthdays and the other is in June) at Ruthie's All Day. After all the stress of traveling, I was happy to relax with family over a drink and some real down-home cooking (think biscuits, mac-and-cheese, etc.). 

This is me and Christine, my former OTF coach!

2. Reliving my time in Bethesda

I spent my first morning in Bethesda, where I lived for more than 12 years. It's where I had my first (and only!) apartment and started my real "grown-up" life. It was fun walking along the streets where I had spent so much time, and I was happy to see how much was still the same. I met up with an old boss for breakfast at Maman, walked along the Capital Crescent Trail with a sorority sister, had more treats at Tatte with a friend from Moishe House, and ate a taco with my old Orangetheory coach at Fish Taco. After all that eating, I made sure to workout at OTF to end my day in Bethesda (a studio where I normally would exercise at 5am before work!). 

Beth and I made it to Succotash just in time for happy hour!

3. Friday night in downtown DC

I spent many Friday nights downtown meeting up with friends, and last Friday was no different! I met up with my friend Beth at the Hamilton for drinks and sushi, where we caught up about our jobs and the general state of the world ("doomsday" is what we called it). We continued the evening at Succotash, where we just made it in time for happy hour (theirs ends at 7pm) so we could have some milk punch and cornbread (more Southern food. Yum!). Beth is a friend whom I randomly met as we left the metro together and realized we were neighbors. I love that we are still friends to this day!

Kelley, Kay, and I all used to work at American University. Now we're onto new things!

4. Reconnecting with friends in Clarendon

I stayed with a Theta sister in Clarendon for this trip, and I would go there every once in a while to meet Virginia friends. So that's what I did last Saturday morning. A colleague from American University (AU) and I grabbed acai bowls at South Block and chatted mostly about traveling (he's been around the world!), and then I met other AU colleagues at Northside Social, during which we mostly lamented about previous horrible jobs/bosses. Afterward, I met up with my hostess and her husband for brunch at Smokecraft. I don't eat pork or beef, but I did try the pulled chicken eggs benedict, and it was delicious! (I did not purposely eat Southern comfort food over this weekend, but it just happened!)

Could the day get any prettier?! I don't think so!

5. Walking along the gardens near the National Mall

I metroed my way to DC after brunch (I have missed having such extensive public transportation!) and met up with a friend to visit the gardens behind the Smithsonian Castle and to go to the United States Botanic Garden. He works for the government, and I was happy to hear he still has a job, especially since he is rather new to the role. The displays at the botanical garden were not as impressive as they are at Christmastime, but we still got to see the corpse flower and other cool stuff. As we walked back toward the metro, it was neat seeing the Washington Monument in the distance and walking past all the other Smithsonian museums. 

This is a smaller version of the entrance gate at Auschwitz. It means "Work makes you free."

6. Visiting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

In all the time I lived in the DC area, I never went to the Holocaust museum. I knew it would be depressing, and who wants to purposefully go out and do something that makes them sad? But I know how important this memorial is, and as a Jewish person, I felt it was my duty to go. Luckily another friend was down for it, so we spent about two hours in the museum. While we didn't read every word on all the signs, we made it through the majority of the museum. Much like my experience at Yad Vashem (the Holocaust museum in Israel; read that blog post here), I didn't feel overwhelmed with sadness or cry while seeing the exhibit. Everything is so overarching, and it feels less personal compared to reading a biography about a Holocaust survival (Rena's Promise, for example, is extremely moving and I cried multiple times while reading it.). But there were certain parts of the exhibit that hit me harder than others. There is a smaller replica of the sign at Auschwitz that you must walk under, which made you feel like you were entering the camp in a way (same with the cattle car you had to walk through, imagining how people were squished in those cars for days at a time with no food, water, bathrooms, etc. ). There was also a recreated image that portrayed how much hair would have been removed from those in the concentration camps (literal tons), and we read how the hair was used to stuff mattresses (can you imagine?!). But some of what I learned was more hopeful. Denmark were able to save all of their Jews by sending them via boat to Sweden; Bulgaria still sent its Jews to labor camps, but never exported them outside of the country, so they were spared as well. 

The museum also contains a non-permanent exhibit about the Rohingya in Burma, a genocide I knew absolutely nothing about even though most of the information was from 2012-2017 (recent!). The Rohingya are a Muslim minority from Burma, and they have been refugees in Bangladesh to escape being killed in their home country. But they live in a state of limbo: neither Burma nor Bangladesh see them as citizens, and so they spend their days in slum-like camps, waiting for...what? I had never heard of this atrocity, and the fact that this is still an issue is terrible. No one is coming to help save these people, probably because they are poor and brown in a developing country, which makes the situation feel even more unfair and horrible. 

Miriam and I had to snap a pic in front of the Chinatown arch.

7. Laughing with my old roommate

Originally I was going to stay with my old roommate during this trip (she moved into my Bethesda apartment in March 2020, and we lived together for four years until she moved out and I left for Florida), but that fell through, so we met up for dinner one night instead. She had never been to China Chilcano before, one of José Andrés' restaurants, so we went there (I had been a few times and think it's very good, so I was happy to go again). The weather had been perfect all weekend, so we sat outside, mostly talking about her new boyfriend (I hope he's nice to her!). After dinner, we walked to Tipsy Scoop, a new ice cream shop that uses alcohol in its ice cream. Even though there were limited flavors, I thought the ones we tried were good, and I love the softer texture (since the ice cream can't freeze like it normally does). We were laughing so much that night, just making inside jokes and quoting Spongebob Squarepants. I miss her all the time, and I'm so glad she could visit me in Florida this past January. I hope she can come down next year, too!

Gregg admiring the Key Bridge from the Potomac River

8. Exploring both the nature and urban sides of Georgetown

One of the things I knew I wanted to do during this visit was kayak along the Potomac River from the Georgetown Waterfront. My friend Gregg picked me up in Clarendon bright and early in the morning, but we realized the Keybridge Boathouse does not open until 9:00am on Sundays (a fact that is NOT stated on their website). So we did waste an hour just waiting, but once we were on the water, I was much happier. The weather was still perfect, and it was fun seeing heron, osprey, and mallards as we paddled. 

The GPS told us to walk through Book Hill Park to reach Dumbarton Oaks. It's behind the library!

After an hour, we walked up Wisconsin Avenue and hung out until Gregg left and my other friend Mike met me at Compass Coffee. We chatted for a bit before continuing our walk up to the Dumbarton Oaks Museum. I had been to the park behind the museum before, but never inside the building. There are artifacts from ancient Rome and Greece, as well as a substantial collection of pieces from South America from the time of the Incas. It's not too big of a museum, so we were probably there for less than an hour (the gardens didn't open until later, so we didn't get to do that). I was planning to have lunch in Georgetown, but plans changed, and I quickly bought some ice cream to-go from Thomas Sweet and caught an Uber up to Northeast DC for my next adventure. 

Katy added a shade and rainbow/unicorn floaties to her stock pool!

9. "Pool" party with my soul sister

I had been following my friend Katy's saga of creating her own backyard oasis with a stock pool (think of an extra-large water trough for horses). She found one for sale on Facebook Marketplace, rolled it down the street, and then took the next few days prepping the yard and the pool. I had no idea how much work went into it: I thought she'd just fill it with water and that would be that. But no! She sealed and caulked the tank, bought a filter, and even created a little deck around the perimeter of the pool. This was a full project, and she finished it in time for her husband's birthday party! So as soon as I arrived, Tommy Bahama rye in hand as a gift, I poured myself some rosé and hopped in the pool. It was so pleasant! Six of us could comfortably wade (or rather dunk) while enjoying our drinks and the sunshine. This pool was actually perfect, and if I still lived in the DC area, I told Katy I would come over every weekend to hang out in it. Thank goodness for TikTok in making these stock pools a thing!

I usually get the fish tacos at Chef Geoff's, but I decided to be healthy with the Andes bowl. So good!

10. Enjoying a Women of Dartmouth dinner

For my last night in DC, I met up with some fellow Women of Dartmouth for dinner at Chef Geoff's West End. Two of them I had just seen recently at my reunion in July (and one was the friend I was staying with in Clarendon), but the other was a Dartmouth '90, so it was especially fun to catch up with her. When I lived in Bethesda, I would plan quarterly Women of Dartmouth dinners for members in the Bethesda/Silver Spring area, so it was fun to experience another one of those while I was in town. And the Andes bowl was probably some of the only vegetables I ate all weekend. Oops!

This was such a fun trip! Once I moved to Florida, I joked with my friends that they would have to come visit me because I was only going back to DC if one of them got married or died. But after this quick get-away weekend, I think I might take that back. I had a blast, and I could see going back every year to catch up with everyone!

Brad Paisley Concert

I have been to A LOT of country music concerts in my time, but I had never seen Brad Paisley live before. I was happily surprised when my husband bought us tickets to see him; the tickets were for our first anniversary, which was such a thoughtful gift!

I was just as excited to check out BayCare Sound as well. This is a venue in Clearwater that we hadn't been to yet, so it was good to see what time space is like. It's an amphitheater with a small lawn, but the whole space can hold 9,000 people. We noticed that there were several people with lawn chairs sitting just outside of the venue where they could still hear the music but didn't have to pay; they were just listening from the nearby park. What a clever idea! And there are a number of bars and restaurants leading up to the venue, so we were able to have a few (cheaper) drinks before heading inside. 

Even though the venue is smaller than Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheater in Tampa, or Merriweather Post Pavilion that we were used to in Maryland, there were plenty of concession stands for the whole crowd. There were bar stands everywhere you looked, and several different food trucks offering items like chicken sandwiches, personal pizzas, and funnel cake sundaes. There was certainly something for everyone (although I had a liquid dinner of just drinks!😆)

Alexandra Kay came on stage and handed out milkshakes to people in the front during "Fancy Like."

We missed the first opener, Alexandra Kay, although she did sing the duet "Whiskey Lullaby" with Paisley during the show (but she's no Alison Kraus!). The second opener was Walker Hayes, whom I had also never seen in concert. His song "Fancy Like" came out when Steve and I were first dating, so I joke that it's our song. It's definitely my favorite of his:

Here are a few other songs I like from Hayes:

You Broke up with Me

90's Country (I had never heard this song before, but I love songs that reference other songs! Very meta, like you're in on an inside joke.)

When Paisley came on stage, he looks the same since forever ago! He has great stage presence, and you could tell he was having so much fun. He sounds wonderful live; such a talented singer and guitar player! Here are some of my favorites that he sang:

Celebrity

Online

We Danced

I'm Gonna Miss Her (such a country song haha)

She's Everything

Water

Mud on the Tires (I thought this was going to be his encore song!)

Alcohol (THIS was the encore!)

River Bank (The music video played in the background; that squirrel was cracking us up!)

And here were a few songs he didn't get to (his set was much shorter than I expected!):

Little Moments

Waitin' on a Woman

He Didn't Have to Be

Two People Fell in Love

Letter to Me

Remind Me

We had such a fun time, and I would definitely come back to this venue again. But I'd be sure to bring one of those personal fans. It was HOT! I know Lee Brice is performing there in September. Maybe I'll try to get tickets to that!

Recipe: One-banana Banana Bread

Sometimes you only have one over-ripe banana, and luckily with Google, I was able to find this recipe from the Baking Mischief blog for a banana bread mini-loaf that calls for just one ripe banana!

Ingredients

• ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (60g) all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• ⅛ teaspoon salt (¼ if using unsalted butter)
• 1 medium overripe banana
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons (42g) butter melted

Cinnamon Sugar Crust

• 1 teaspoon (4g) granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a mini loaf pan, line with parchment paper sling (optional), and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate medium bowl, mash the banana and whisk in the egg until well-combined. Pour banana mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just-combined.
4. Add melted butter, and mix until butter is incorporated into the batter. Don’t over mix, but there should not be pools of butter remaining around the edges of the batter.
5. Transfer the batter to your prepared loaf pan, leaving ¾ inch of space from the top of the pan (discard extra batter if there is too much).

Optional Cinnamon Sugar Crust

• In a small bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter.

        6. Bake for 30 to 38 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

        7. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes before removing and slicing. Then serve! 

I was baking at my parents' home in New Hampshire, so I didn't know where everything was. I found measuring cups but not measuring spoons, and I found cinnamon very quickly, so I used that without even bothering to look for the nutmeg (I did not make the cinnamon sugar crust. Why add an extra step?). So the measurements were estimated. Also, the house has a small oven with uneven heat, so I only baked my loaf for 25 minutes and that was perfect (at 20 it was still jiggly in the middle, but at 25 it had a browned top and the toothpick came out clean). It smelled so good coming out of the oven! This cake is so moist and delicious. I will definitely be making this one again!

Recipe: ANOTHER Orzo Chicken Dish

The spinach looks quite wilted, but it still tastes good!

This was another Instagram recipe I found online, this time from Neill, the "in vs. out" nutritionist. Again, very easy to make since you just put everything together in a casserole dish and mix!

Ingredients:

▪️200g orzo - 1.5 cups

▪️500g raw chicken - I did three large chicken thighs

▪️300ml chicken stock - 10 fl. oz

▪️1 diced red pepper

▪️190g reduced fat red pesto - I used green pesto from Aldi

▪️1 handful chopped spinach

▪️1 diced onion

▪️100g sundried tomatoes

▪️200g light Philadelphia cream cheese - 7 ounces (I used a full brick; why leave over 1 ounce?)

▪️Salt - pepper - paprika - oregano

Directions

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a 13x9" casserole dish. 
2. Cover and bake for 45 mins at 350˚ F. 

Seriously, that's it! I tried to do the conversions for you to make it easier. I didn't have everything (I had two tiny peppers that I used, and I used regular cream cheese), and I probably could have used a second jar of pesto. But even then, I was really happy with how this dish came out, and even happier about how easy it was to make! You really can't beat it!

(I think this recipe is better than the previous orzo chicken dish I made, but that's probably because of all the cream cheese!)

Recipe: Zucchini Lasagna

I had one cup of cottage cheese left over after making cottage cheese ice cream (that recipe here). So I looked up recipes that only needed one cup, and I found this one on the Taste of Home website. So I went to Aldi, bought all the other ingredients I didn't already have at home, and I tried it!

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup 2% cottage cheese
• 4 medium zucchini (about 1-3/4 pounds)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (additional cheese optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In large skillet, cook and crumble beef with onion over medium-high heat until meat is no longer pink, 5-7 minutes. Stir in seasonings and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil; simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. In a bowl, mix egg and cottage cheese.
2. Trim ends of zucchini; cut lengthwise into 1/4-in.-thick slices. Toss zucchini with the flour. Layer half the slices in a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Top with cottage cheese mixture and half the meat sauce. Add remaining zucchini slices; sprinkle with any remaining flour. Spread with remaining meat sauce; sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese.
3. Bake, uncovered, until heated through, about 40 minutes. If desired, sprinkle with additional cheese. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I have two main concerns with this recipe. The first is the flour: what is it for? For the first batch of zucchini, the recipe says to "toss" the veggies in the flour, but for the second layer, it just says to sprinkle them. So I wasn't sure how covered the zucchini truly needed to be. In the end, I just sprinkled all of them. I wonder if the flour was supposed to absorb some of the wetness of the vegetables? If that is the intended purpose, I think salt would work better, like when you are making eggplant parmesan: you cover them eggplant discs in salt to dry them out. In the end, the dish was quite wet, so I did something wrong.

My second concern was that the last step says to bake the casserole uncovered the whole time. But the cheese on top got burnt! I would recommend covering with aluminum foil for the last 10-15 minutes so this doesn't happen. It just doesn't look good when there's a burnt layer of cheese on top :(

I think this recipe is okay, but I have made many other meat-and-veggie casseroles that have Italian inspiration that are better than this one. I'd recommend this eggplant casserole or this chicken alfredo casserole instead!

Recipe: Easy Breakfast Egg Muffins

 

I love these reusable silicone muffin tin liners I found on Amazon!

My husband had tried making these previously (without spraying the muffin tins or using liners, so THAT was fun to clean up...), so I tried making them myself. As soon as I googled "egg muffins," this is the first recipe that showed up. And since it had the word "easy" in the title, I knew it was meant for me.

Ingredients

• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 8 large eggs
• 2 ¾ ounces fully-cooked bacon pieces (such as Oscar Mayer®)
• ¼ cup whole milk
• 1 pinch garlic powder, or to taste
• 1 pinch onion powder, or to taste
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• ½ (8 ounce) package shredded mild cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Gather all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. Place bell peppers and green onions into a large bowl.
3. Add eggs, bacon, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
4. Sprinkle cheddar cheese into the bowl and whisk until incorporated.
5. Pour mixture equally into the prepared muffin cups.
6. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

I left a lot of this out. I only used one bell pepper (orange, for that matter), I don't eat bacon, and I didn't bother with the garlic powder/onion powder/salt. I also have 2% milk at home, so that's what I used. I did have green onion, but I also had some white onion that I added in, too. 

This really IS an easy recipe: mix everything together, pour it into muffin tins, and bake! I love the convenience both for making these but also for eating/packing to-go. Now I'll be set for a while when I need to pack breakfast for work! (yes, I get into the office before 7:30am, so I eat my first meal of the day at my desk...). 

Recipe: Chocolate Banana Applesauce Cake

 

It looks red, but that's just the lighting! These really just look like brownies.

I had two ripe bananas that were starting to go brown, so I knew I had to bake something with them. I had found this recipe a while back (I'm not sure where I saw it) from the Mom on Timeout blog. I already had the rest of the ingredients, and it sounded delicious, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Ingredients

• 2 bananas (very ripe)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup applesauce (no sugar added)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray 8x8-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Mash bananas in a medium size bowl.
4. Stir in sugars, applesauce, water, and vinegar until thoroughly combined.
5. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt just until combined.
6. Fold in 1/3 cup of chocolate chips.
7. Pour batter into prepared dish.
8. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top.
9. Bake for 33-37 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
10. Let cool, slice and serve.

I didn't think about it while I was making it, but as long as the cocoa powder and chocolate chips don't have any milk in them, this recipe is vegan! So that's good to know for future reference. I think my only complaint with this recipe is that it doesn't state whether or not the brown sugar should be packed. I'm guessing not because the recipe doesn't list it (so I didn't), but I'm not sure if that's right. But I baked mine for 33 minutes and it was DONE. 

This cake tastes like chocolate banana bread (which I've made before), just with a hint of apple flavor thrown in. It's an easy recipe, which I love, but I guess I was hoping it might taste more like cake. Maybe it's because there's no icing? I don't dislike it, but I also wasn't blown away. And it was kind of dry... Meh, there's better out there.

Recipe: Chicken Broccoli Skillet Dinner

 

I love the Crazy for Crust e-newsletter: Dorothy Kern has so many great recipes! While I mostly look at her desserts, I thought this recipe for a chicken broccoli skillet meal looked good. So I thought I'd try it!

Ingredients

• 8 ounces whole wheat egg noodles or any pasta
• 3 cups broccoli florets or more, if desired
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ medium yellow onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 10.5 ounce can cream of mushroom soup (see note)
• ½ cup nonfat milk
• ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese use fresh not from the green canister
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• Salt and more pepper to taste
• 2 cups cooked chicken see note

Instructions

• Bring water to boil in large skillet (you can also do this in a separate saucepan). Cook noodles according to package directions adding the broccoli to the pan when there is about 3 minutes of cooking time left for the noodles. Cook until both are cooked, drain and set aside.
• Using the same pan, heat the olive oil. Cook the onion and garlic until onions are translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the soup, milk, parmesan, and pepper. Whisk or stir to combine. Add the chicken to the pan to heat it through then add the noodles and broccoli to the pot. Stir to combine.
• Add more shredded parmesan for serving, if desired.

Notes

1. I used Campbell’s Healthy Request condensed soup, use what you prefer. You can also use cream of chicken or cream of potato soup in place of the cream of mushroom.
2. You can also use rotisserie chicken in this recipe in place of my instant pot shredded chicken.
3. If you are using FRESH chicken that is not already cooked: dice chicken into small bite sized pieces. After the noodles and broccoli have been removed from the pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan. Add the chicken and cook, searing on both sides, for about 5-10 minutes (depending on size of chicken pieces) then remove to a plate. You want the chicken almost cooked at that point. Continue the recipe to make the sauce then return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan and let finish cooking in the sauce.

I appreciate the details and notes Dorothy puts in her recipes. I did cook the pasta in a different pot (I used Banza, a chickpea pasta, to be healthy, but the texture leaves something to be desired.), and I cut chicken breasts into smaller pieces and cooked them in the air fryer first. I also used cream of chicken soup as she suggests for an alternative, since Steve doesn't like mushrooms. 

I eye-balled the measurements for the broccoli and chicken, and I probably had too much of both, because I could barely fit everything in my largest walled pan! Or maybe that just means I need to get a proper wok :)

While the recipe is easy to make, I didn't find it very flavorful or saucy (and again, that could have been because of the proportions of my ingredients). If I made it a second time, I might use TWO cans of the soup, and perhaps some more cheese (Can you ever have too much cheese? I think not.). Certainly worth a try!

Recipe: Orzo Chicken Dish

 

I feel like I am finding all my recipes from Instagram these days. I had this one on my list for a long time, and I finally made it!

Recipe (4 servings):

🍝 200g Orzo
🐔 320g Cooked chicken (420g raw)
🧀 150g Boursin cheese
🧀 50g Parmesan cheese
🍅 500g Cherry tomatoes
🥬 200g Spinach
🫗 400ml stock
🧂 Salt, pepper

1. Boursin in the middle, combine and mix everything except the Parmesan.

2. Cover and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) for ~35 mins.

3. Remove foil, add Parmesan and bake for a further 5-10 mins uncovered

4. Leave 5 mins to cool

Now, of course the first thing I had to do was convert grams to cups, since I don't have a kitchen scale (who has time to weigh their food before they eat it?). But after that, this is a pretty easy recipe, since you just put everything together in one casserole dish.

My only issue is that the recipe isn't totally clear on whether you should mix the Boursin cheese in or leave it in the middle. After trying it, I should have mixed the Boursin in more, because that was the yummiest part! And instead of Parmesan on top, I used shredded mozzarella, which I think made the dish a little creamier. 

This is an easy dish to make using ingredients I always have in the house. I will definitely make this again!

Day 3 in Portland

Our last day in Portland was rainy, which was too bad, but we still made the most of it! Since we couldn't exercise outside with a nature walk (I originally had planned for us to walk in , the largest urban park in the US), I took an Orangetheory class instead. Then it was back to trying new drinks!

Is this not the prettiest flight of beer you've ever seen?

Because of the morning start to our day drinking, we went to Great Notion Brewing first, which was on my list and also came recommended by our bartender during our first night in the city. They have lots of fruity beers ("tart ales"), and since I don't like beer, I thought I'd try a flight of their unique flavors. They were so cool! Some were quite sour, but I especially liked the Smoothies and the Tiger's Blood. Maybe I can find a beer out there that I like!

Then we were to Aviation Gin. We had actually stopped there the day before, but we didn't know they would be closed for Juneteenth. This time they were open, but they unfortunately have one of those weird rules that only lets them serve up to two ounces of alcohol per day per person (i.e. that is enough for one cocktail). And I didn't realize they only have one product: they have no flavors of the Aviation Gin, just the OG, so the only flights available are mini-cocktail flights.

The one on the far left, the "Uncle Gari," was the best, probably because it's made with orange soda!

They had a special one for Father's Day (including one they called "the vasectomy"), so we tried that. They were okay, but since such little gin was in each one, they almost tasted like mocktails, to be honest. Maybe if we had taken the tour we would have had a better experience, but at $35 a person for the tour, I'm kind of glad we didn't drop $70 for a tour and some "meh" cocktails. 

The vegan peanut butter brittle flavor was so good!

After all the drinking, we needed to find some lunch! We went back into the Nob Hill area where we had been previously, and we had a fish and chips special at the Nob Hill Bar & Grill. It's a very casual place, but for $15, this meal (which came with clam chowder, too!) was a deal. For dessert, we checked out Salt & Straw for more ice cream. This one was already on my radar as a good place to try in Portland, but it just so happened that one this one day they were serving double scoops for the price of singletons. Winning! But normally I order a kid's cup at ice cream shops, so needless to say, I was so full after that big lunch plus the sweet treat at the end. 

They took photos as you got on the boat, but why would we pay for that when we can take our own for free?

Then we raced toward the river for a happy hour boat tour on the Portland Spirit, which I had pre-booked before we knew what the weather was going to be like (at the recommendation of one of Steve's friends who used to live in Portland). If we hadn't already paid for it, we wouldn't have gone, but since it was a sunk cost, we figured we'd still try to have fun. There was plenty of indoor seating, so we didn't have to worry about being out in the rain; while you could barely hear the audio recording, there was an online brochure to read along, so we still learned a few things (mainly that there are so many bridges across the Willamette River that "Bridgetown" is one of Portland's nicknames!). The ride was only about 90 minutes, but with our full bellies, it was nice to get off our feet for a little bit. 

Before dinner, we took a moment to stop into Powell's Books, another place that is included in all the "must-see" lists for Portland. The place is HUGE! And because it's so big, each book section is enormous. I had no idea so many cookbooks even existed! And there were so many self-help books, a big poetry section... They have everything. I probably could have spent all night there, so it's a good thing we had dinner reservations. 

Complete with a tiny crawfish on top!

Originally we were going to have dinner at Il Terrazzo, a nice Italian restaurant. But since we had such a big lunch, and the weather was still wet, we thought we'd stay closer to the hotel and try a different Jake's restaurant (the crawfish location is much older, which was founded in the late 1800's). The hotel had given us a coupon for a free appetizer, and even though we were already pretty full, we still took advantage of that and enjoyed some calamari before splitting the étouffée (we had to have the crawfish while there!). We also split the bottle of wine we had purchased at Carlo & Julian Winery earlier in the week, and the restaurant gave us a tiny sliver of flourless chocolate cake, which was perfect after having so much food all day. 

Even with the rain, this was a great last day of our anniversary vacation. I can't wait for our second anniversary trip!

Day 2 in Portland

You can see not one but two reservoirs from Mt. Tabor.

Another beautiful day in the Pacifici Northwest! After working out at the gym and eating our free breakfast at the Hampton Inn, we took a short drive to Mount Tabor, an extinct volcano just outside of the downtown area. Now that we live in Florida, we never see any elevation changes, so it was fun to get some real hiking in!

Can you spy the Great Horned Owl?

After our walk, several of the distilleries I wanted to visit weren't open yet, so we went over to Misssissippi Avenue, which I heard was a cool part of town. There are a lot of restaurants and cute shops, and of course I had to try Kate's ice cream!

Then we drove back across the river to the Slabtown neighborhood, where we had drinks and lunch at Brujos, a local brewery that came recommended. From there were could walk to several distilleries, but two of the three were closed for Juneteenth. So we ended up at Freeland Spirits. Their gin was very good!

"Brujos" means "witches," so there was a spooky theme with cocktail "spells."

Inside the brewery is a taco place, and we were not disappointed.

Freeland was really leaning into Pride, and they have all different colored bottles/spirits!

After all that, we took a little break in the room before heading out again for the evening. We had heard that Portland has a big food cart scene, so we went to the Hawthorne Asylum food carts pod for dinner. There is one main bar, but there are lots of carts to choose from of many different cuisines. I ended up getting a chicken platter from Oh Yum; the photo made it look Mexican with half an avocado, roasted corn, and black beans, but it wasn't like that at all. It was more like a Greek shawarma platter. Still yummy, but I wouldn't have paid $17 had I known it didn't actually come with half an avocado! Steve waited in the longest line for jambalaya, but he was happy with his choice.

There was a large fire pit (not lit that day) where you could sit among all the food trucks.

Right around the corner was the Helium Comedy Club, and I had bought tickets to see Ted Alexandro there before we even left for the trip. We had seen him open for Jim Gaffigan in Savannah, so we already were familiar with his material. It was a fun show, even with some rocky jokes in the beginning, and the venue is so small that there are no bad seats in the house. It was a fun way to spend the evening before going back to the hotel for the night.