Eastern Market Hat Lady

I'm so mad at myself that I really haven't taken advantage of Eastern Market this summer like I did last summer. I used to get all my produce from there (mmmm heirloom tomatoes), and I was always trying some new gourmet sausage from one of the meaty, delicious vendors (chicken, red wine, garlic, and spinach.... mmmm so good). This summer I have been sadly neglectful of all the good stuff at Eastern Market, and when I stopped by with my friend Steph last weekend, I realized that there was a lot more than fabulous food I was missing out on...


Hats! Fabulous hats! This woman had hats in every color. I wanted one so badly, but they were handmade somewhere in the Caribbean. So she was charging $45 a pop. Not that$45 is ridiculous amount of money, but I'll pass for the moment. Because after I spend $45 on a fabulous hat, I'm going to need to shell out more money doing something fabulous that justifies playing around in a fabulous hat. Maybe after my sugar daddy comes along and wants to take me to polo matches and high teas, I'll splurge. So if there are any polo-match-attending-high-tea-drinking sugar daddies out there reading, give me a call and you could potentially have this hat topped lady on your arm for such events!


Also there was a cute little purse stand too. I'd seen it a million times, but never really stopped before. Steph wanted to pick up something. So I poked around while she was looking at the clutches and found a great one of my own for only $10! The stand looks a bit yuppy from the outset, but I swear they have some great (and not obnoxiously pink plaidy) prints. Now to get a ridiculous, matching hat...

Folger's Shakespeare Library

The other weekend my friend Steph and I got our butts up on a Saturday morning, and went to the Folger's Shakespeare Library. A few times in the summer they have a tour of their garden. I'm pretty sure the tours are over for this summer, but you should investigate them for future summers because the tour guide is amazing! She is going to remind you of that English teacher you had in high school who knew her shit but still managed to make class interesting and not just an endless lecture on how you're just not getting the finer points of Beowulf. When really who did understand the finer point of Beowulf? It was written in archaic old English. It was hard enough just to understand the overarching plot line, much less the finer points. So there was no need to roll your eyes at my comments in class because you thought they were trite. I was only 16! Ooops. Got a bit off topic there, traveling down memory lane to high school English class. Anywhozzle... this tour guide is awesome. She takes a tiny and rather plain garden which would otherwise have amused me for approximately 5 minutes and turns it into an hour long tour full of audience participation that I found completely fascinating. In my usual style, I have forgotten most of what I learned that day (I really should cut back on the drinking for the sake of my poor brain cells), but I do remember these little tid bits. In the Elizabethan era...

• they didn't use herbs to flavor foods
• they believed if you put an ivy leaf under your pillow that you would dream of your husband (I tried it and dreamed of a kid I went to grade school with who has been in a serious relationship for a good 6 years and a bunch of robots. So it didn't work out so well for me, but try it and tell me what you dream of!)
• they believed that yellow flowers kept witches away from your house because they represented the sun

How interesting, right? Plus I learned what a Shakespeare garden is (a garden which only contains the plants mentioned in Shakespeare's works) and what an Elizabethan garden is (same idea but with any plant that were found in Elizabthen England). You really owe it to yourself to check it out next summer. I think I might be back too. So I can re-learn all those interesting facts that I've already forgotten!


This was the Great Hall which had an armor exhibit. It was neat but small. (Also I got yelled at for taking this picture. Can you see the security guard starting to run out of the door all the way in the back? Everyone seems so anti-photo these days which is somewhat annoying and perhaps over-protective. It makes it hard to capture an experience without any pictures, and are those pictures really hurting the walls and the armor? If it's light exposure that's a big deal, why not just forbid flash photography? Huuuuuuuuuuuff! I guess I will either have to learn to deal with it or learn to be more sly about taking photos!)

Who's ready for the weekend?

I know Erin and I are! Rough weeks all around. I need a few days of rest and some fun stuff to get my mind off work. Fortunately there's Jazz in the Garden tonight and a Listopad sale on Saturday! That should make me feel better. Plus Erin and I've got big things planned for our next Monday Play Day! I also promise I will catch you all up on some awesome things I've come across recently that you all should check out too.

(Photo courtesy of http://www.nga.gov/)

All Tired out by the Dark Knight

So I have a couple of things I've been meaning to write about, but tonight is just no going to be the night because I've just gotten home from the movies (after midnight! on a school night! Mom, I'm going to bed immediately, promise!). Erin, my other fabulous Asian friend (Lynne), some dude Erin hangs out with for his money, and I went to go see The Dark Knight. Now I wouldn't say its the best movie I've ever seen, but it was pretty damn good. I am usually hard to amuse when a movie is running over 2 hours, but I was entirely entertained through out the whole thing. In fact there's one point where you think the movie might wrap. So I glanced at my cell to see what time it is, and I was actually relieved to realize there was still another hour of the movie left! I don't think I have ever felt that way about a movie before.*

There were some aspects of the movie that I didn't think were as amazing as everyone said (cough Maggie Gyllenhaal cough). Not that these aspects were bad, but they weren't quite what I was hoping considering the buzz. There were a few other nit picky things here and there that I saw in the movie, but Christian Bale (and his few, glorious, shirtless scenes) makes up for any shortcomings I could point out. For all of you who are not really dying to see Christian Bale's ripped pecs, maybe those scenes would at least motivate you to hit the gym some more. You should definitely take something positive away from the sight of his bare chest.

In conclusion go see it, if you haven't yet. Although according to the numbers this movie is pulling in, you probably already have. So if you have seen it, maybe you get over to the gym now. Nobody's saying you have to be the next Batman, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to bring some more ripped pecs into the world.


*Except for when I got to the end of the first Lord of the Rings, and my brother explained that there were 2 more movies coming. God that trilogy just sucks you right in! I couldn't get enough of the little Frodo and his friend Samwise!

Crepes at Cafe Bonaparte

So as I was saying, Erin and I set out on our Monday Play Day yesterday to grab some sushi at Sushi-Ko which is of course open for lunch every day except Monday. So that didn't really work out, but since we had already rode the bus a good 45 minutes up into the Glover Park area, we decided to take advantage of the circumstances and have lunch at Cafè Bonaparte. Erin and I are huge fans of their sister restaurant, Napoleon, and their uber classy website. So we'd always wanted to make it up to the original joint at some point.

Well service is pretty much just like service at Napoleon. The waitress was vaguely foreign and unfriendly but not bad. She wasn't going to go the extra mile (or inch), but if you asked for something, she was responsive. I usually like more personable servers, but at a French cafè the cold edge seems to fit. Also just like Napoleon, the food more than makes up for whatever snobby French vibe you read into your experience. The crêpes come 2 to an order and don't skimp on stuffing. So unlike some schmancy restaurant where you shell out $15 for a 3 bite appetizer, you can get a $10 crêpe at Bonaparte and not be able to move afterwards, which is definitely what happened to me. I had a few bites of Erin's French onion soup (sooooo cheesy), my Florentine crêpe (sooooo many pine nuts) and a nibble of her Verona crêpe (sooooo meaty) and had to pass on dessert. It was kind of disappointing! I had it all planned out. I was going to go with a Viennese theme and get the Viennese Waltz (honey yogurt and pistachios) with the Viennese espresso (cinnamon and vanilla). O well. I settled for a double espresso instead to help me digest my meal. Hopefully one day I will once again find myself wandering Glover Park and can make room for dessert! Or if there is a tall, dark, and handsome French man out there who'd like to wine and dine me, I wouldn't be opposed...


(Erin obviously thoroughly enjoyed her food! And look how much good stuff comes in those crêpes!)

Last Froyo Post. I swear! (At least for awhile...)

So the roomie and are are continuing our new Monday-Play Day tradition. Except for today didn't go quite as planned. First we tried to go to Sushi-Ko for lunch, but because someone in the apartment lacks attention to detail (that someone being me), we didn't realize that Sushi-Ko is open for lunch every day of the work week except for Mondays. Which was such a bummer because we took a the metro and bus to get up there! I mean this was a bit of a trek for 2 girls with no car who are too cheap to take a cab. Lunch was saved because Cafè Bonaparte (review to come shortly) was right down the street. Erin and I adore Napoleon, and have always wanted to check out Cafè Bonaparte. It being is Glover Park had deterred us up until now, but since we were already in the neighborhood, it worked out well.

Well after lunch we had planned to check out the new Jim Henson exhibit at the Smithsonian which just opened last weekend. (You should all try to go!) Unfortunately Erin's uber flakey boss, who promised to take care of submitting payroll so Erin could have the day off, went missing. Not really surprising knowing her boss, but disappointing nonetheless. So instead of going down to the mall we had to make our way over to Erin's work so she could take care of payroll.

So after this we were both a little bummed about how the day didn't turn out quite as expected, and so we decided we needed some froyo to pick us up. If you remember, last Monday I had introduced Erin to TangySweet. Naturally this Monday it was time to check out Mr. Yogato. Now I know I just posted abut how Mr. Yogato had all these different flavors, but none of them really had a ton of flavor. Weeeeeeeeeeell I think they read Search for J Street because both of the flavors today (peach and mojito) were awesome. They managed to actually taste like their namesake and still be refreshing in the tangy yogurt sort of way. The mojito yogurt I tried today tasted nothing like the one I had the other week. So keep up the good work Mr. Yogato! I am glad I came back for seconds. My opinion of your kitschy yogurt shop has been elevated from satisfactory to faaaaabulous! (Side note: that is also a picture of me with the cute froyo cup that I couldn't get a picture of before because that couple had to be all lovey dovey right in front of it. But good things come to those who wait, and this time I got to hog the smiley frozen yogurt cartoon!)

Also, on our brief shopping excursion in Georgetown (Mom I already got your Christmas gift! Aren't you so proud of me for not waiting until the last minute?) I discovered that yet another Pinkberry knock off is coming to town! There will be an Ice Berry opening on the east end of M street at some point. So keep your eyes open for that. I will of course be on top of reviewing it as soon as possible. For the reader's sake of course. I eat all this frozen yogurt so you can be informed about your best options. It's totally selfless. Really, I mean that...


(Doesn't this cartoon lemon from Mr. Yogato look just like Stewie from Family Guys? Erin thought it looked more like Arnold from Hey Arnold.)

More Reports of Frozen Yogurt, This Time from Mr. Yogato!

I got over to Mr. Yogato recently. I mean, of course I did. Have you ever met anyone more obsessed with this frozen yogurt trend? Probably not, and if you have, you should introduce us. We'd be froyo bff's! Then I would always have someone willing to go to extreme lengths for froyo with me.

So about Mr. Yogato: the decor is not nearly as swanky as TangySweet. Mr. Yogato went kitchsy route instead, and decorated their walls in cartoon versions of their yogurt and toppings. My favorite was the little cartoon mochi (their Japanese version of a marshmallow) because when else are you going to see that? There was also a super cute cartoon smiley froyo cup but some stupid, happy couple that was being all lovey dovey and enjoying each others presence was blocking it, and so I couldn't snap a picture. Outside they have these funny, colorful bird heads sprouting out of their garden boxes. Sounds weird but is actually adorable. But basically the whole gist of the place is happy, silly. Which works because its no fun if all your frozen yogurt places are the same and TangySweet has already cornered the upscale-almost-club-like-neon -explosion look.


The yogurt itself is just like TangySweet (same taste and consistency) except for they have different flavors that rotate in and out, and they have an extra tangy flavor in addition to the usual plain yogurt flavor. The flavor that I tried (mojito) was pretty mild though, probably even a little more mild than the flavors at TangySweet. Mostly it just tasted like to original flavor, maybe a little sweeter? So I'm hoping in future trips, I find some flavors that actually have a little more flavor. Or maybe the whole froyo thing is like wine, and I just need to train my palette or something. In any case, my final verdict would be that they both Mr. Yogato and TangySweet satisfy my yogurty cravings, and in the future I will likely just go to whichever one is closest.*


*Except for that 30 days when I only go to Mr. Yogato so I can win the 30 day challenge! Then I'll have them create a Search for J Street Flavor! Although, I'm not really sure what I'd want a Search for J Street flavor to taste like. Hmmm. Thoughts on flavor possibilities?