If you're single, there is always one thing you should take with you on a Saturday night...

...your friends! (What, did you think the answer was condoms? Don't be silly! That's a Carrie Bradshaw quote, not a Samantha Jones quote.) When the Sex and the City movie came out, hit the town with some of my favorite girlfriends at some trendy spots in the most fabulous outfit I could pull together is exactly what it inspired me to do!

The showings at Chinatown had all sold out by the time I got around to buying tickets. So my coworker and I went to see a 5 o'clock showing in Georgetown instead. Even though the Gtown theater was considerably more arduous to travel to at 4:30 when rush hour traffic had descended upon K street, it ended up all working out. We sat down just as the previews were beginning, and when the movie was over (2 1/2 hours later), it was a perfect hour for cocktails.

We went to Mie N Yu for drinks after. I feel like every time I find myself in Georgetown, I wind up at Mei N Yu. So I was about to veto it, but since my friend from work lives pretty far outside the city, she had never even heard of it. I couldn't let her pass up a chance to go! Mie N Yu is one of a handful of places I've been to in DC that seems very posh and classy without feeling like it was ripped directly out of New York. I think it might have to do with the way they use the some of the original architecture in defining their layout. The rooms (or birdcages) all seem to be nestled in their own corners. This time around, we found a little nook by the windows with our name on it.


I haven't ever actually gotten a meal here. Their cocktails tend to be on the pricey end. This is Georgetown. So it's to be expected, but I'm still a struggling 20-something. So I try to cut back on the bill by just sampling some of their less expensive appetizers instead of ordering an entree. 2 of the apps we ordered that night were phenomenal! I'd order them again in a heart beat! My friend got the veal wraps. They were by far the best appetizer I've ever had there. I got the duck wonton tacos, which were not quite as good as the veal, but they were a close second. Sadly, the taco portion was very small. So even though they were really tasty, the veal wraps were an all around better deal if you're trying to get a bang for your buck. I also got the lemongrass mussels. They were pretty good, but not particularly memorable. My friend splurged and got the duck breast entree, which was also decent but not special. Both the mussels and the duck were done pretty well but their sides (sauce and rice, respectively) were not up to par.

What saved the whole experience from falling somewhere between the meeeh and mediocre category was the belly dancer they had working that night! She was very friendly with the crowd and great at what she did. (I've decided after my hip hop class is done, I need to take a belly dancing class immediately! Belly dancing is hot. Way hotter than the bunny hops we do in hip hop.)


However, as hard working as the belly dancer was, she couldn't make up for the fact that every successive cocktail I order was weaker than the last. So around 9:30, we decided to head out. Erin had seen a 7:30 showing of SATC in Chinatown which worked out perfectly because by the time I got back downtown, her movie had just let out. We wandered over to Zaytinya's for more cocktails and general fabulousness. Zaytinya's really deserves an in depth Search for J Street report of its own some other time, but I will say that it's uber trendiness has waned to a degree and I couldn't be happier about it. The bar crowd was a good size. The servers had time to get around to everyone. And there were open seats for feet tired of their SATC inspired heels!

au contraire.bon appetit.c'est magnifique.excusez-moi..... O those French

I know there's a divergence of opinion on the French, but I happen to be a firm believer in their awesomeness. France gave the world fashion! romance! art! Where would we be without them? Well I know where I'd be. I'd be in my own personal hell, a world in which the bubbly, deliciousness of champagne had never been invented. Damn the Freedom Fries! A world without the French and their champagne is not a world I can live in. Good thing Napoleon, the sister restaurant of Cafe Bonaparte, is around! They are entirely willing to make sure I never have to face a France-less day in my life.*


*Aka they are there to serve me tons of champagne.

Now I know I always say that Erin and I were dyyyyying to check out every restaurant I ever write about, but really we were dyyyyying to go to Napoleon! Their website was so chic! (How très French of them.) It seduced me into loving everything about it before I ever walked in the front door. Once I did finally get around to walking in the door, I realized Napoleon is not quite as glamorous as the website makes it seem, but it is still thoroughly enjoyable.

The seating inside tries to be decadent (and succeeds to a certain degree) while the seating on the patio retains that quintessential
street cafè feel. So before I ordered anything, I was excited by the 2 classic French vibes going on. Then you get around to ordering your drink. This is when
Napoleon sold me. They have a great list of champagne cocktails, and because that is their specialty, lots of the cocktails are more creative than what you would find elsewhere. They even have a cocktail that mixes champagne and Campari! (Eeee! Campari's my other favorite summer drink! It's like they read my mind and made the drink just for me!)

After recovering from the shock of discovering what has now become my most favoritest drink in the whole wide world, I was ready to take a look at the menu. There was a lot that looked good, but both Erin and I had to go with the crêpes (seeing as that is what Cafè Bonaparte is known for). They were not at all disappointing. In fact, my crêpe made me regret getting the mussels for an appetizer. The mussels were good and all, but they were just no match for the crêpes. In future trip to Napoleon, I will not waste precious tummy space with anything but the French pastry goodness.


When it came time for dessert, there was no resistance on our part. We both splurged that night and ordered coffee (or hot chocolate in Erin's case) and a sweet to finish of the meal in true Parisian style. Erin went for the crème brûlée trio while I tried the lemony crêpe. In case you were worried, fear not! The sweet crepes lived up the the expectations built from the savory crepes! However, if I had to choose between Erin's dessert and mine, I'd have taken hers in a heart beat. She wasn't 100% crazy about it because of the espresso flavored crème brûlée, but I thought the whole thing was pure heaven!

The bill came (eventually... our waitress was certainly giving us authentic European service... the kind where they often ignore you during various crucial points in the meal), and was fairly painless. For 3 drinks, 2 apps, 2 entrees, 2 coffees, and 2 desserts, the total came to around $90. Not too bad at all. If you looking for an even bigger financial incentive to try out Napoleon, Erin and I also discovered on a later trip that they have a happy hour in which all champagne cocktails are $5! This place is quite the little Adams Morgan jewel.

If you're trying to escape the typical drunk zombies that roam the AdMo strip or if you are looking for a date spot that won't break the bank (or, in my case, max out the credit card), Napoleon is a great option for the summer. The food is great, the drinks are great, the prices are great, the service is kind of meh... but the bartenders are super cute! So that makes up for it, oui?



Afterward: I hope some French kid reads this and totally appreciates how I tried to use all the correct vowels with their funny squiggle marks!

DC's Hipster Scene: Adventures at Rock and Roll Hotel

So I'm not really a Smith Point type of gal. I can't say that the thought of Ronald Reagan or reliving his presidency does anything for me, but at the same time I can't really consider myself a hipster gal. In large part because I look teeeeeeeeeeeerible in skinny jeans, but also because I lack tattoos, artistic talent, and a general distaste for consumerism. (Quite the opposite. I loooove shoes. And bags. And dresses and... well you get the idea.) So although the hipster genre fascinates me, I just never felt starved or drugged out enough to really be a part of it. For this reason (and also for sheer laziness), I never ventured out to some of the notorious hipster hubs in H Street, although I'd been dying to give them a try.

One day, however, I could no longer resist the temptation of drunk Jenga, and some friends and I decided it was high time we get our butts out to Rock & Roll Hotel to participate in that most American of pastimes (which they host every Thursday!). I was a little nervous that we would totally stand out at R&R. Back in my waitressing days, I sort of fit into that scene, but I am law firm Cara now. Would they be able to smell the stench of corporate greed on me? Would they intuitively sense I spent 40 hours + a week helping corporations escape any sort of culpability for their actions? Would they know I'd sold out on the hipster life I could have had waitressing for good benefits and a steady paycheck?

Maybe they did know all that, but they didn't care. The staff at R&R is cool as shit. No one judges you for not looking good in skinny jeans. (Sigh of relief.) They served us icy cold PBR's to accompany our Jenga as quickly and politely as they served the big biker dudes who looked like regulars. (Side note: if you play Jenga, the PBR's are only $2! Sooo cheap!) The punky bouncer type guy, who was wandering around, turned out to be super friendly and chatted with us for a bit on how he was very careful of his spiked bracelets when he was in charge of crowd control. Then when Erin lost the second round of Jenga, the penalty was to ask the bartender his interpretation of the "bases," something we had been debating all night. As embarrassed as Erin was, the bartender totally took it in stride and gave us his honest opinion. Then he decided to help us in our quest for consensus on the subject and asked his friends sitting at the bar their opinion on the matter as well.

We all ended up having an awesome time just playing Jenga and pinball together. There wasn't too many people there (kind of surprising for a Thursday). So there was plenty of room to spread out and be all giggly and silly. I'm looking forward to going back (as soon as I overcome that laziness factor again) and come up with even better dares for the Jenga losers!


Another side note: the decor at R&R is awesome. It's like abandoned warehouse + Victorian haunted house + rock band haven + kookiness. There's the vintage (aka falling apart) brocade couches, the winged guitars hanging from the exposed steel beams, and the gilded frames containing creepy ass pictures with cut out head imposed on... say... a family portrait of the Kennedy's. The scenery is nothing short of entertaining.

NoMA Bond Film Festival... The Ghetto Cousin of Screen on the Green

Last night Erin and I finally ventured out to NoMA for their James Bond film festival and picnic-ed it up. I had meant to come home and help her put our little spread together, but like usual when I have plans, I got stuck at work. Erin came through for the team despite having to prepare the picnic alone! She made guacamole and pita chips (all from scratch), picked up some champers, and re- membered the blanket and cups. I was so thankful. (Thanks again, Erin!) It was exactly what I needed to keep work from putting me into a pouty mood.

I'd been wanting to check it out for awhile, but I had been pretty skeptical of a neighborhood. Not because it is suppose to be a little ghetto, but more because it doesn't really exist yet. NoMA is the brain child of a bunch of developers, and they plan to turn it into a hip, artist-friendly place to live... by 2012. As of June 2008, though, the only things that are out there are some offices (FedEX, XM Radio), the soon-to-be-empty building that did house Artomatic, a McDonalds, a Wendy's, and some abandoned looking buildings and land plots. I thought maybe the venue would be some awesome, hidden plot of land that would give the movie goers a glimpse of what NoMA might be one day. Nope. It's totally just a random plot of land in the midst of all the nothingness and fast food. It is the exact opposite of Screen on the Green (which starts in less than a month!). Instead of well cut grass, you sit on some trimmed down weeds, instead of museums flagging both sides of you, you're squeezed between the intersection of Florida and NY Ave and the Union Station train yards. Instead of the Capitol as your back drop, you've got the glowing view of cars speeding along an overpass. As you take in the environment around you, it just seems pretty blah.

Yet somehow, the whole NoMA film screening owns its crappiness and makes it awesome. There's not too many people there (although more came than I expected) and there's not too many volunteers and you're all united in the fact that you bothered to come out to NE even if you did only venture a block from the metro. It gives the whole thing a fun little community feel. The volunteers walk around offering their own bug spray to anyone who might have forgotten to load up on their own. Then they host an Odd Job contest where anyone who wants to participate can try their luck at throwing 3 old bowler hats at a delapidated Venus statue. Both Erin and I tried, and neither of us got anywhere close to the statue. (Actually, Erin hit a speaker. She was waaaay off.) But just for trying, they give you a little NoMA hat. If you actually ever made the hat land on Venus' head, you'd get a t-shirt, but that is no easy feet. They definitely save money on their t-shirt budget because I imagine they might only give out half a dozen at the most over the whole summer. The free bug spray and the contest aren't even the best parts! When the movie finally starts, they hand out free popcorn to everyone! They don't do that at Screen on the Green. So yea, the Bond Film Festival is kind of crappy, but it's crappy in a great way. They embrace their subpar film screening venue and make it fun anyway. Plus, they keep the subtitles on during the movie so no matter what train or bus or truck comes rolling by, you'll still never miss a word of Bond. I will definitely be back in future weeks!*

*Just for the free popcorn... ok maybe to try my hand at the Odd Job contest again but mostly for the popcorn. Mmmmm buttery.

Dinner at Rice... It appealed to the Asianess in my roomie

So a few weeks back a Julia came down from Baltimore to experience life outside the ghetto. (J/k Julz, you know I just like giving Baltimore a hard time.) So Erin and I figured having Julia in town was a perfect excuse to try a new restaurant. We decided on Rice, which Erin has wanted to eat at basically since the day we moved down to DC. (Erin's a total rice fiend. I wasn't kidding about Rice appealing to her Asianess.)


Rice, like it's sister restaurant Simply Home: Eat Drink, doesn't take reservations so we showed up hoping it wouldn't be packed. Of course it was, but fortunately the staff at Rice moves fast to clear tables and seat new people. A 30 minute wait turned out to be barely 10 minutes. Erin and I had only just ordered a drink by the time we were sat (a testament to how fast the wait staff and hostess were turning tables and to how slow the bartender was in getting to us... boo! stinky bartender!).

Sitting down to the menu turned out to be much harder than getting a table. The menu wasn't huge, but everything on it looked amazing. On top of all the regular meals, there was a list of specials that seemed even more appetizing if that's possible. None of us could decide on just 1 thing! So basically we sat here staring at the menus like this for at least twice as long as it took us to get our table. Finally we decided on some appetizers and various curry entrees.

Julia went with a ginger soup to start, which she adored. Erin got some ginger, fried veggie app. She liked it a lot but was overwhelmed with the portion size. I went with the dumplings filled with crab and other stuff. They were alright, but not particularly crabby. I think next time I would go with a soup. Julia's constant lip smacking and finger licking seemed to indicate that it was waaaay more flavorful than my dumplings.

When the entrees came out, my faith in Rice was completely restored. I went for the green curry chicken. Not only was is it dirt cheap by DC standards (a mere $12), but the portion was great (if only I hadn't wasted some of my appetite on the less than crabtastic dumplings). It was a perfect level spicy, enough to make me pause after every bite and let the heat curl around my mouth before I could take another. Double plus, the rice they give you as a side is suuuuuper delicious. I mean, it makes sense. If Rice was going to do anything right, it should be their rice, and when it comes down to it, they don't disappoint. It's a little sticky and has a nice coconut flavor to it. I'm nowhere near the rice fiend that Erin is, but I'd still have spent all night there finding excuses to have another order of that rice.


Search for J Street's final verdict? Rice has its flaws, but it has a cool ambiance and does Thai food better than probably any other Thai I've had so far in this city. If you go, do not pass up some of their more classic Thai dishes and definitely don't pass up the rice... Mmmmm... riiiiiice.

A little bit of Richmond brought to DC

I spent my college years at the University of Richmond. In the beginning I was unimpressed with the city of Richmond, but as I explored more I began to realize that Richmond is actually a gem when it comes to restaurants. I could go on and on about all the places I loved, but one that was special in my heart, on of my first discoveries, was Sticky Rice, an Asian-American fusion restaurant that is known equally for their PBR and tater tots as they are for their innovative sushi rolls.


So of course when a Sticky Rice opened in Washington DC, my new home, I was on top of that shit. All us Richmond transplants had been on Sticky Rice alert for ages, ever since the first whispers that on might open up here. We went during its first week open, and (thankfully) all the old favorites were there. I'm not sure if DC Sticky Rice plans to change it up from Richmond Sticky Rice, but for now I'm just glad everything I have been missing was finally available to me. So we started things off wiiiiiiiiiith... tater tots! Duh! I told you it's a Sticky Rice tradition. Then we followed that up with some more classics like the Godzirra (which looks like the most adorable sushi caterpillar you've ever seen), the sticky balls (I know that sounds foul but it's the beeeeeeeeest. Mmmmmmmmmm.), and the south roll (it's got sweet potato!)


The food was all fantastic. Great Richmond food with some great Richmonders. However, there was definitely something lacking in the preparation time. None of our apps or entrees came out together. The first round of entrees came a good 25 minutes before the final round was delivered. I don't think this had anything to do with our server. He was great for the most part. I think the real culprit is that the kitchen is on the ground floor while the sushi bar is on the top floor, and coordination between the two hasn't been worked out yet. Hopefully that will improve, because it was by far the biggest annoyance. We were all so grateful for the food, though, that we were able to over look the delays.

On a completely different note, I did like the ambiance that was going on. It was a little more polished than Richmond Sticky Rice, so it lost a little street cred there. Although the restaurant is on H St. NE, so it picks up street cred there. But what I liked most was that the back wall was covering in pictures of tattoos. Richmond is a huge hub for tattoos, and the art work seemed to be an homage to the city.


Overall, though, I'd totally recommend dragging your butt out to H St. for Sticky Rice. It is a deliciously good time, but just don't end up like I did after too many sake's.


Sike! Totally kidding, Mom! Gotcha, didn't I? Really though, I behaved like the nice young lady you rose me to be. You can breathe easy. The night actually looked a lot more like this:


Just good wholesome fun with awesome sushi and tots!*





*Maybe a little sake was involved. Also, some of the fun may not have been 100% wholesome.

The heat will not stop Search for J Street!

We started the weekend off right with the Rilo Kiley concert on Friday at the 9:30 Club. It was obviously amazing as Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis are capable of no less. They started off with new stuff that I was not as familiar with but fell in love with immediately. (Ooo! It feel good to be free!) Then I absolutely freaked out when she played 'Does He Love You.' I think everyone around me was a little annoyed with how loudly I was shrieking along with the lyrics, but I couldn't help it. I could literally write a dissertation on that song considering how many times I listened to it on repeat. The concert was a great mix of new and old. I didn't want the show to ever end.


On top of the music being great, everyone in the band looked fabulous! The boys wore cute, formal wear inspired outfits with vest and suspenders. Boys in bands are so hot! Even the one who used to be on Salute Your Shorts! Jenny wore a fabulous gold glitter dress with a tiny black bow in the center of the square neck line. It perfectly matched her bedazzled guitar strap! While I was surfing online for set lists and pictures from the concert, I noticed this actually appears to be the exact same thing she wore to her concert at the 9:30 club in the fall except this time she wore it with jeans and a retro flapper-esque headband. I guess she really likes the dress, but it was fun and looked good. So why not rock it twice? Plus, I've got to give it up for a girl rocker who maintains her femininity and knows how to use accessories. Mary Kate could take a few lessons on the do's and don'ts of headband usage.

(Sept, 2007 show courtesy of http://fukaduk.blogspot.com/)

After the concert, it was a few beers at Solly's then off to bed in order to wake up bright and early (aka 11 am) for brunch at Vinoteca. This is Erin's and my umpteenth brunch at Vinoteca. We used to go every weekend because it was so damn cheap, but they've raised the prices since then. It's still pretty cheap, but I can no longer justify going every weekend. Although, their grits are so indescribably delicious that sometimes I try to justify going every weekend anyway. Also delicious: the co-owner. Click on picture 2 for proof. He may or may not have a little something to do with the copious amounts of women I always see there sipping on wine and trying to look classy. (Also, I may or may not be included in that group.) Here's a few shots of the inside of Vinoteca that I took from a brunch we went to months back and some shots of us already feeling the heat while having brunch outside. Sorry no shots of the grits!


The ladies are being too cool for school with their sunglasses on. After brunch Steph jetted back to the mysterious world of Virginia, while Erin and I abused a friendship for access to a rooftop pool. (J/k Lynne. We love you... but now we just love you even more.)

After roasting my Irish skin by the pool, it was off to our final stop for Saturday: the Nats game. I won the firm's seats in the raffle a few weeks ago, and although I am not huge into baseball, I love ballpark food. Erin really likes baseball, though. So we went together, and I brought a magazine for times when the game got dull. Erin mocked me, but it was a good thing I brought the magazine! The stupid teams went 7 innings without scoring a single run. My hot dog and pretzel would have entertained me through only so many of those innings. Just an FYI, I'd skip on the pretzel in the future. They were way chewy and not in a good way. Save the $4 for a bottle of water to go with some vingary boardwalk fries. Even thought the game wasn't the most exciting and the Nats lost in the end, I did really like the new Stadium. It is so inviting. Plus there are so many food stands that none of the lines are terribly long. Double plus, the food stands take credit cards!


Unfortunately immediately after the game left out, it began to thunder store, meaning that it become absolutely impossible to get back into the metro. So Erin and I gave up on trying to get on at the Navy Yard stop and instead we went on a little adventure and made some ridiculously silly videos (documented below in 2 parts).

Lethal Combination

I was so proud of myself for posting twice in 1 night (since I am a slacker blogger that is totally unheard of), and I was all motivated to come home last night and post again... Unfortunately drinks at Park at Fourteenth with some girl friends got in the way.



I feel morally obligated to recommend to all people who read this blog and enjoy drinking without breaking the bank that you go to Park during the week. I almost don't want to share this news because its a pet peeve of my when a place gets too trendy, but Park is already too trendy (I mean Lebron James has shown up there) so I figure it can't hurt. Anyways they are packed on the weekend, but much slower on the week days. So to bring in some business they run some ridiculous specials. The first time Erin and I went it was a Tuesday. The place was dead with a capital D. So our cocktail waitress spent a lot of time chatting with us, and we got the details. Apparently happy hour changes every day depending on the managers mood, but when you catch them in a good one (like we have), Park's a steal!!! The first day we went it was $5 beer (lame-o discount), $6 wine (awesome discount since the glasses normally run $10-$12), and $5 food (I mean everything on the effing menu was $5! Sweet action in a bottle!) So Erin and I, who had just come for a drink to check it out, each got dinner and drinks for $15-$20 a piece.

The second time we went was last night. Everyone was in need of drinks. So it was a good thing the managers were in a good mood again! All beer = $5 (lame-o again) All wine = $5 (score!) All mixed drinks = $5 (wtf?! these managers must be on Valium) We couldn't get food because apparently that is not allowed on the third floor. Someone needs to tell them that denying food to people who are drinking is a bad business move.

Overall the night was fabulous, though, because even though it was way more crowded and waaaaaaaay more ghetto fabulous than before, the drinks were cheap and the bartender was smoking hot. Shaved head, chiseled jaw, tattoos everywhere. Plus he forgot to charge me for my second (very full) glass of wine! That's the equation for a winner night for me. But in the end the wine and the new Netflix movie waiting for me at home was a lethal combination, and I didn't end up writing my blog post.

<-- Chihuly chandelier which is their center piece. (For those of you who appreciate art.)

Side note

I'm totally obsessed with this site Garfield Minus Garfield. You have to check it out. Garfield minus Garfield is such a statement about our isolation and insanity as a society. When you take the stupid cat away, you have this incredibly moving story about a man (and metaphorically all men) told in 3 pictures.

Just kidding! Did you believe me as Cara, the deep thinking scholar? Actually I like this cartoon because it makes me giggle in its absurdity. Plus it's kind of fun to try to make up the story of what is happening! If you are bored today at work, check it out! Here's my fav (it weirdly reminds me of Erin):

(Picture courtesy of gerfieldminusgarfield.net)

The end of law school touring

So finally the absurdly long law school trip comes to an end. The rest of my time in New York was split between gallivanting and law school visiting. I woke my ass up absurdly early on Friday to make it to the 8 a.m. criminal law class at Columbia (I was determined to see more of the school than that spinster witch librarian) in order to make it back down town for the 11 a.m. evidence class at NYU. The class at Columbia was great. A judge taught it. (And he knew a little something about criminal law. He'd had just a smidge of experience in that arena.) So it was great hearing him back up all these theoretical lessons with stories of "When I was in court last week..." Plus I sat next to this very friendly kid who told me lots about the school, but even with all of that, I still didn't like it as much as NYU. I mean the NYU facilities are beautiful, the students were also so nice I would have thought they were creepy if they weren't equally cool as shit, and... AND....


IT IS RIGHT NEXT TO THE ONLY PEANUT BUTTER & CO. STORE IN THE WORLD! Have you tried their peanut butter? No? Well your life is incomplete then. I don't care if you've found your soul mate and cured cancer and composed a tear jerking symphony. You have not lived until you've tried their awesome flavors of peanut butter!!! O the dark chocolate flavor! So obviously after attending 2 classes before noon on a Friday (which is, for the record, more than any other law school student in the country attends), I needed a little fluffernutter to keep me going. Mmmm. So yummy!


For $5 and change, I got this piece of heaven wrapped in tin foil like mom used to do with Peanut Butter & Co. brand carrot sticks and potato chips. I felt like I was right back in middle school. Needless to say, this revelation elevated NYU to a level unobtainable by any other school in my mind. (Plus it didn't hurt that I sat next to a kid in class who wore a fedora and totally pulled it off. I just thought to myself: "Self, these are the kind of people you want to be eating fluffernutter sandwiches with for the next 3 years.")

So to celebrate my last official stop on the law school tour de force, I decided to celebrate these few remaining moments of vacation by continuing my eating tour de force. So I met up with Jamie again and it was off to Magnolia's for cupcakes!



Magnolia Bakery (of Sex and the City fame) is supposed to have the best cupcakes in Manhattan, which to people living in Manhattan, this means the best cupcakes in the world. I'm not actually a huge fan of cupcakes so I went for the mini key lime cheese cake instead (which was freaking awesome), but I did appreciate how undeniably adorable all the cupcakes were. I picked one up for my friend Brittany. She was another friend I was visiting in NYC, and it just so happened to be her birthday. She and Jamie swore up and down that the icing is to die for. Best in the city they said. I took their word for it. Then I took a bunch of pictures of Jamie scooping it right off the top of the cupcakes in the middle of the street. (She's classy like that.)



After all that sugar, that is when I finally decided enough food was enough.



Sike! I still had a whole day left in vacation. I wasn't done yet, and its a good thing (aka bad thing) because my most interesting (aka absurd) meal was yet to come!

On Saturday, I did what many New Yorkers never do: I ventured out into Queens. Brittany, the birthday girl, lives in Astoria so I crashed with her that night we went out to celebrate. Before the heavy drinking ensued, though, we went out for some Greek food which is about all you can get in Astoria since Brittany is 1 of 5 non-Greeks living in the neighborhood. I was thinking that this would be the most authentic Greek food this side of the Atlantic. I was so excited I even branched out from my usually gyro and flaming cheese. Turned out trying new things on the menu was actually pretty risky at this place. Of all the interesting things that actually came out of the kitchen, the poor birthday girl got the biggest surprise. Chicken with vegetables and potatoes turned out to be grilled chicken and sauteed veggies in a salad of store bought french fries with lemon garnishes.


That face just says it all, but of course I still had to try it! The moment after trying this, dear readers, is when I actually did end my eating tour de force. I figured nothing could top a Greek French Fry Salad (aka at this point I was so disgusted with food, I thought I'd never eat again). In the morning I packed up my bags, let skipped on any traditional Greek brakfast, and headed back to DC. Now I'm back to searching for J street in my home base.