We learned long ago that brunch reservations for Mother’s Day are tough to get, so we decided to spend all day Saturday with mom instead. After pedicures at Red Door Salon (I wish I had the money to go there every week!), we went to Rock Creek for lunch. Yes, lunch, not brunch. It was 1pm and there were no “brunch” options on the menu, so I have to call it what it is.
Their menu concept, “Mindful Dining for all Seasons,” uses mostly local ingredients for nutritionally conscious dishes. They include the nutritional information for all dishes, none of which are over 500 calories. And they do not use any cream or butter. As I heard this I started to wonder a bit what my sister got us into. But the food proved to be delicious. I got the Yukon gold potato gnocchi appetizer with caramalized onions and Pennsylvania mushrooms, and the grilled bistro steak baby spinach salad. And for dessert, the chocolate peanut butter crunch. I enjoyed the fact that the portions were not huge, and you can order the dessert in several different sizes (because sometimes you just want a few bites). My one complaint is that the prices were very high for the size of the dishes. But mom enjoyed it and being able to sit and enjoy a meal without being rushed out so the next reservation could be seated made it worth it.
When a co-worker sent me a link to the Best Bites Blog’s Thursday chat about brunch, I was very excited to pick up ideas for some new places to try. But I was a bit disappointed by what the usually resourceful foodies had to offer. While their recipe-related answers were quite interesting, their suggestions about brunch locations were sadly limited and even consisted of answering one question with “I’m usually working brunch, so I don’t know of too many spots.”
But when one reader submitted the question, “Do you happen to know how brunch originated?” I suddenly stopped and realized, I didn’t even know the answer. Their answer: “I think you should Google it.” My answer: I’ll Google it and tell you right here!
Wikipedia was my first stop. The entry did not contain any information on the history, so I turned to Google. A quick search brought me to My Sunday Brunch (which, it turns out, is about brunch spots in DC!) and Food Timeline, which both gave the following answer: “According to the food historians, brunch is a turn of the 19th/20th century tradition originating in Britain. It is generally founded on the same principles of leisured priviledge. That may explain the American popular tradition of Mother’s day brunch . What better way to show mom how much she means to the family than by elevating her status to this elite level? It’s as much about the food as it is about the time it takes to enjoy the meal.”
So there you have it, as well as a small glimpse into why we all think to take our moms to brunch on Mother’s Day!
I finally tried out the Bolt Bus to New York this weekend. Vamoose has always been my first choice after a few scary experiences on a few of the competitors, but I wanted to try out Bolt Bus since they offer free wifi and fares as lows as $1. Only the first few seats are $1 so it’s unlikely to get that cheap of a fare on a weekend bus unless you book several months out. But booking 4 days out, I was able to get a round trip fare for $44, not bad at all considering current Amtrak and airfare prices (Amtrak would have cost me $215 round trip for traveling at the same times if I had booked only 4 days out as well).
As for the wifi, the connection on my way up was only okay. It was strong enough for me to get caught up on a lot of emails, but for the last half of the trip some sites were loading so slow you would have thought I was using dial-up. On the way home, the wifi wasn’t working at all…not a big deal since I wanted to nap, but I would not recommend booking this bus if you are relying on the connection working.
Overall, I would say it was a good experience and I would definitely book with them again. The bus was very clean and as comfortable as a bus can be, the drivers were very nice and professional, and they got me to my destinations in under 5 hours without any incidents. And a spotty internet connection is more than Amtrak can offer!
I’m in New York this weekend for my college roommate’s wedding, so this is an NYC review. But considering how cheap and easy it is to get from DC to NYC ($40 round trip by bus!), this is worth storing away for your next weekend trip up north. I took the Bolt Bus up (the one with free WiFi), but am waiting to give it a full review until my ride home tomorrow.
My other college roommate and I usually go to Fetch Bar and Grill for brunch when I am up here, since it’s right by her apartment. It’s dog-themed, which I of course love, and has a great menu. But this weekend we decided to try out Big Daddy’s Diner since Trish was having a craving for their tater-tots (you can substitute them for home fries!). Pretty much everything on the menu made my mouth water. I got the eggs and pancakes combo with bacon and Trish got the breakfast burrito, which looked amazing.
And the best part, a new sign on the door announcing that they are now open 24-hours. This is why I love New York! Food at any hour. At 1am we had food grilled cheese with bacon delivered in under 30 minutes…mmmm….funny how I still wake up hungry for brunch even after a late night snack…
After not going to any games since opening weekend, I managed to more than make up for it this past weekend by going to the games against the Cubs on Friday AND Sunday…and I’m headed to the game against the Braves tonight! The weather has not been great for any of the games, but we won the two I went to…and considering how many Cubs fan were in attendance, that was a pretty fun! Seriously though, I think the Cubs fans out numbered the Nats fans, and they were certainly much more vacal, chanting “Let’s Go Cubbies!” I guess it didn’t help that I went with a bunch of Cubs fans, did it? Well I promised a few of them that I would put this up for them.
Cub’s manager, Lou Piniella, aka Sweet Lou, is well known for his “animated” disagreements with umpires. Lou fans can now download their very own Lou bobblehead widget that will give you a daily affirmation. Today’s affirmation: “Until you walk a mile in someone’s shoes, don’t kick dirt on them.”
The TV spot, a commercial for Aquafina, is pretty funny too and has gotten some laughs from all of my Chicagoland friends.
President’s Race update: Teddy was disqualified for cheating on Friday and slipped on a giant banana on Sunday. On Saturday, a giant panther attacked him…I think it’s time for the team to either start letting him win (he had a huge lead on Saturday and Sunday) or come up with some better ways to make him lose. A giant cat? Really?
Yesterday was a beautiful 80 degrees and sunny; a great day for a bike ride, sitting in the park with a book, gardening…
I got up and loaded up my car with old paint cans and cleaning supplies to drop off at the city’s Household Hazardous Waste and E-Cycling event. I figured I would make a quick trip to drop off my recycling, and then go do something outside to enjoy the weather. Unfortunately, the trip was not so quick. There was construction everywhere on the route across town, terrible traffic, and then there was the gridlock mess on 16th Street at the drop off site. Part of the issue was that the site was not laid out well, they also probably had a much larger turnout than they expected, and a few of the people directing traffic had no idea what they were doing (the woman directing traffic at the entrance didn’t understand that using the same hand signal for “stop” and “go” was a bit confusing for the drivers).
I left my house around 11am thinking I would get home by 12:30 or 1pm. With traffic, it took me more than a half hour to get across town. Once in line to get into Carter Barron, I clocked my wait at almost a full 2 hours, which I think was better than most people’s wait since I came in via Kennedy Street instead of 16th. I think I finally made it home around 3pm as the cloud cover started really rolling in. I did a little gardening and decided to call it a day and go shoe shopping (love retail therapy!).
Hopefully DC will reevaluate their process in the future and hold these events more than just twice a year!
About a year ago I started making a very serious effort to use fewer plastic bags. When I did get them at the grocery store, I would take them back on my next visit for the store’s recycling program. And when I went to stores where I was buying small things, I would just toss my purchases in my [over-sized] purse. My sister then found these awesome bags that can fit in even a small purse so you can pull them out for those times when you buy more than you were expecting (which is too often for me).
Baggu Bags come in a small pouch that makes them easy and compact, but once they are out they fit more than your average grocery bag. They are incredibly strong and durable, and can be thrown in the washing machine when they need to be cleaned! And even better, they come in about 20 different colors so you can stay stylish while saying no to yet another plastic bag!
Do you ever have one of those days when you wish you could go back and change one little thing? Yeah, I’ve had two of those in a row now. Today’s awesome moment: I dropped my iPod Touch on the sidewalk…the kicker was that I was just at the Apple store on Sunday and almost bought a protective case for it, but decided I didn’t need to spend an extra $30. Now I have an iPod with a cracked screen. Awesome.
I do intend to do a few posts in honor of Earth Day this week but life is slowing me down on writing a bit (and I was too much of a wuss to go to the Earth Day concert in the pouring rain on Sunday). So, for now I am just getting out a quick shameless promotion of another blog I am working on with some co-workers.
Some fellow pet owners and I have come together to start Pet Knows, a blog for pet lovers. And in honor of Earth Day, all of our posts are about environmentally friendly pet products!
If you don’t love pets, then it’s not for you and I promise to not judge too much…but really, how could you not love a face like this?
