Bites of My Life

Summer official came and went. I could gab for hours about how fabulous it was, but I think I've already covered that. Today is the last bites post with D.C. pics. It's the most bittersweet feeling being home and knowing my summer is over, but now it's time senior year and all that this year holds! 

I have one more D.C. Diary post in store and I can promise it's not the last you'll hear of my favorite city!

-Homemade crab cakes, coleslaw and corn outside on a beautiful Monday night. 

-Trader Joe's=cookie butter, which=me finally purchasing cookie butter and becoming utterly obsessed with it. A spoonful of cookie butter, dunked in granola makes me slightly weak at the knees. I brought a whole jar home with me. 

-Fulfilled my camo craving and pulled the plug on these Wamo Camo inspire crops from Lululemon. 

-Seeing the monuments at night sounds kind of touristy but it was highly recommend as something I must do. I think it was my favorite thing I did all summer. They look so much more grand in the moonlight. View from the side of Lincoln looking at the Washington with the capitol peeking around the corner. 

-When you work about 5 steps away from Georgetown Cupcakes it's just nonsense to not take advantage of their secret free flavor. Each day they make a secret flavor cupcake then tweet about it allowing the first 100 customers a chance at one if they mention the secret flavor. We stood in a semi long line in the rain Wednesday morning for free cupcakes. Worth it, until I dropped the box right on it's head...

-Took my last B3 Georgetown class on Thursday with one of my favorite teachers! Stole this pic from Kerry's insta to share! Going to miss Kerry, KQ, Vicky, Courtney and Stevie! Until next time!

-Cooked a delicious meal from the components inside this little box! Stay tuned for a full post on what it is and how I did it! 

-After the monuments at night, the monuments by sunrise were still a must! Anna and I woke up at 5:15 on our last day in D.C. to see the city in all it's glory. It was wonderful, but my favorite thing was seeing all the runners run by, stop right in front of the Washington, snap a pic, then run off! Even the locals still find beauty in their city!

-Last day breakfast at FFB's First Bake with my intern bestie! Scrambled eggs with bacon, Bird in the nest (in their chili cheese bread) and warm chai tea! I'll miss you Farmers Fishers!

-Not legit SCOUT employees till you get your t-shirt!

-The best summer with these two crazies! The most bittersweet last day full of presents, Baked and Wired treats, silly games, and sad goodbyes:( Wish more than anything I was walking into the East Wing this a.m.!

-Home Sweet Home and you all know what that means, food. Homemade burrata for a side along side short ribs, corn on the cob, and cantaloupe proscuitto appetizers! 

Can say firmly it was the best summer thus far. Filled with unforgettable experiences and memories. I'm home now, moved into my Norman house and start recruitment work week this afternoon. Goodbye summer, you were too good. 

Annie

Departing the District

Last night I spent my evening packing. Who knew it could be more dreadful packing to go home than coming? Because let me tell you it was a pain in the rear trying to fit a summer worth of belongings in two suitcases and a carry on. 

Although I'm leaving some things behind, I'm returning with new goodies. I've come to realize I'm a collector. I came across so many menus, matchboxes, flyers and random trinkets I picked up here and there to help me remember my summer in D.C. 

Hippie Crack from Baked and Wired, menus from two of my favorite restaurants, SCOUT biz cards and flyers, a D.C. mug, my Whole Foods Wine Wednesday glass, my Smart Trip card and a cutie cookie cutter in the shape of the capitol. 

If only I could stay here forever, but I also had to buy an Oklahoma shaped cookie cutter because OklaHOMEa, I'm comin' for ya!

It's been a summer to remember--ew I hated that, but sometimes you just have to be cliche. Until next time D.C! Excuse me while I go shed a few tears.

Annie

Coordinating

Co-ordinates, two-pieces, suits, whatever you call them; I've had my eye on these coordinating outfits for a while now. They go back to that whole '90s thing where all of my clothes matched perfectly or had a coordinating top and bottom, oh and a coordinating bow the size of my head. 

Ditching the bow and getting a little more sophisticated, I just love these matching outfits. top to bottom, left to right:

green/pants/pink

aztec/roses/blue

paisley/white/lime green

So what do you guys think? Do you like the co-ord look? Glitter Guide sure does.

p.s. these are all from my favorite hidden gem of a website, Missguided. It's super cheap and perfect for those really trendy pieces you don't want to spend a lot of money on. 

Annie 

Bites of My Life

Today marks the last week in the wonderful world that is D.C. My next bites post will take place from my bed, in Norman, because the moment I get home I head straight back to school to start recruitment. It's been an amazing summer that has gone by way too quickly, but i'll leave the sappy reminiscing for another post. 

As for last week, it felt long, but quick. It was filled with little random surprises that made for a great week!

-Dinner Monday night at Teddy and The Bully Bar (highly recommend) with Anna and a sweet Virginia based Beta Theta Kappa! We had amazing appetizers, I had the duck entree, and we finished it off with the s'mores sundae!

-I fall in love with a new Georgetown house everyday. 

-My fellow SCOUTern Caroline kills it with her shoes everyday. I've started to look forward to each work day, anticipating what she will have on!

-A surprise visit from Stacia while she was around the area on a business trip with her internship! We had the best dinner catching up at Kafe Leopold (see my review here).

-Awesome Seared Tuna Salad at El Centro.. My boss took the interns here for lunch on Friday! I was happy to absorb all of her wisdom while also getting to cross one of the restaurants off my list.

-Sister Kathleen got in Friday evening! We headed straight to Churchkey for a drink before our wonderful dinner at Birch and Barley. Churchkey is a beer bar located right above B&B! I was recommended the Bacon beer, so I ordered it and loved it. You read that right, bacon. I loved it. Kathleen, Jillian and Anna, not so much.

-The cutest engagement party being set up while we grabbed a drink before dinner. It was too cute I had to sneak a pic. 

-The amaze bread board at Birch and Barley. I didn't get many pics of the food because I dug in too quickly. B&B may be my new favorite restaurant.

-So fun taking Kat to b3dc! Obnoxious in our matching tanks, but we just had too. 

-Hippie Crack and coffee at Baked and Wired after Barre. It's called crack for a reason....

-Cava Grill for Saturday lunch. This Mediterranean style Chipotle is absolutely amazing. I got the rice bowl with half falafel, half lamb sliders, topped with pickled red onion, crazy feta, harissa, banana peppers, kalamata olives,  tomatoes and thaini vinaigrette. Paired with a raspberry ginger tea. 

-Union Market is one of my favorite weekend spots.  It just so happened DC Scoops, an ice cream event happened to be going on at the market. You could sample all kinds of ice cream for free then purchase your favorite. I may have had a slight run in with some peanut butter, but all turned out okay and I washed it down with a pistachio ice cream cone. 

-Gourmet almond butter flavors at Salt and Sundry inside Union Market. 

-The biscuits and cinnamon rolls were without a doubt the best part of Farmers Fishers Bakers brunch. See the rest of my meal via instagram. 

-A super casual Sunday dinner a la Shophouse in the dorm. The night consisted of winding down from the weekend with takeout and Mary Kate and Ashley movies before Kathleen had to leave. 

Eat for a Living

In the swirly twirly world of constant "What are you going to do after you graduate?" questions, I've been doing lots of thinking. I've landed on what will probably never be my job, but what I can hope and imagine my dream job being like. This is an ever changing answer in my book, but If you were to ask me today what my dream job would be, it would be a restaurant reviewer. 

I imagine it looking something like this. Spending night after night, getting dressed up, going to nice restaurants and getting paid to eat free food and write a review on it. Today I am going to play the role of my dream job and do a little restaurant review for you.

Liptauer Crostini

Traditional Austrian cheese spread on toast points with chopped salad of peas & fava beans

Wednesday night I finally ate at Kafe Leopold. This restaurant is right around the corner from my office and down the adorable Cady's Alley. It had been on my list all summer and when we got a surprise visitor from sweet Stacia who was in town on a business trip, I knew it was the spot I wanted to take her!

Rostbraten vom Angusrind

Marinated Black Angus hangar steak, onion marmalade, parsley garlic butter, herb frites

Leopold's is known for their European flair food. They have a beautiful clean-lined interior and quaint outside patio dining. I tried going for brunch once, but it was packed. This is definite a breakfast/lunch/brunch spot but I think it still succeeded at night!

Tartine

Serrano ham, olive bread, melted mozzarella, wild mushroom and herb jus

Once arriving the three of us sat down. We were seated right next to the massive and extremely tempting case of French pastries. It was hard to not get distracted by them.

Of course I had done my research before going, but I hadn't settled on what I wanted. After looking over the menu, we started with a crostini, Anna got the steak frites, Stacia went with the tartine and I order the pizzetta!

Lachspizzetta

Smoked salmon “pizzette”, horseradish crème, herb salad

Liptauer Crostini: The crostini came out much different, but much better than expected. The chopped salad on top of the crostini was tossed with an olive oil vinaigrette, peas and fava beans. It was very light and had a surprise of flavors.

Rostbraten vom Angusrind (Steak Frites): My frenchie friend Anna ordered the traditional Steak Frites. She luckily got full fast, so Stacia and I gladly sampled her steak and finished off the herb fries. The steak was cooked to medium rare perfection and the fries were the perfect crispiness. The onion marmalade garnish was very potent, but good with a little bite of steak.

Tartine: When Stacia's tartine came out we were shocked by the pile of mushrooms we saw. Shocked but not mad about it. This open face sandwich was topped with thinly sliced ham, thick mozzarella, and covered in deliciously flavorful mushrooms. She (we) was very pleased.

Lachspizzetta: Smoked salmon is still a staple in my summer diet and my eye tends to go straight to any dish containing it on a menu. The crust reminded me of a European tostada almost. It was thin like a tortilla, but slightly crispy from the grill. It was topped with grilled squash and zucchini, salmon, pickled red onions and the most delicious horseradish cream. It was full of flavor and I was very pleased.

Our evening at Leopold's was wonderful. Despite the amazing desserts staring us in the face, we passed by so I could take Stacia to my favorite ice cream spot on the way home!

Now if only someone could pay me to write posts like this. I'll keep dreaming for now. 

Annie