Olives and Quinoa Salad

Yesterday I had one of those perfect Saturday mornings where I was productive but didn’t feel rushed or stressed. I was able to go to core barre, do my grocery shopping, make my lunch for the week (something I haven’t done lately because I’ve been so busy), and even take a nap!

For my lunches for the week, I tried out a Pinterest recipe I’d been eyeing called “Olive Cous Cous Salad.” But I don’t like cous cous so I subbed quinoa. I also added veggies to make it a more well-rounded meal. It turned out pretty well! The flavors were definitely better the second day after they got happy together in the fridge. I’ve made similar salads before with quinoa but the brine of the olives and the addition of mustard in the dressing made this one stand out.

Adapted from Kitchen Confidante.

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
1 clove of garlic, mashed
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp white vinegar
3 tbsp good-quality olive oil
2 small zucchini (or 1 large)
1 cup pitted black/kalamata olives
1 cup pitted green olives
1/4 cup Italian flat-leaved parsley, minced
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
grated parmesan cheese, to taste

To Make:
1. Cook the quinoa according to package directions. Fluff and set aside.
2. Mash the garlic and salt together to create a paste. Combine in a bowl with the lemon, mustard, vinegar, olive oil, and black pepper.
3. Quarter and slice the zucchini. You could also dice it, whatever your preference. Add to the dressing.
4. Add the olives and parsley to the bowl.
5. Stir in the cooked quinoa.
6. Add parmesan if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Note: Make sure you buy pitted olives! I didn’t think about this and bought a mix from the olive bar at Whole Foods, and as I was putting them into the salad I had to painstakingly check each olive to ensure it didn’t have a pit.

Another note: The olives add a lot of salt to this dish, so taste before you add additional salt. I might not even salt the water for the quinoa next time.

Enjoy!

Popcorn for Dinner

Upon hearing that I am a pescetarian, people often ask me, “what do you eat?” More specifically, they often wonder what I eat for dinner. The answer is popcorn.

Yep! Popcorn.

A few months ago I wrote a post about making homemade popcorn. Surprisingly, I still make and eat it almost every day. Well, it’s not surprising because it is very, very delicious, but you think I would’ve gotten sick of it by now. I’ve gone through about 6 bags of Trader Joe’s popping corn. I will have no judgment from you all about the amount of popcorn that this is (22 servings per bag times 6 bags…eep).

So, yeah. I eat popcorn for dinner pretty frequently. Sometimes it follows dinner, sometimes it comprises the dinner. Well, it has been said that we should eat “breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord, and dinner like a pauper.” I have no clue what paupers eat but it’s probably not a lot, so one serving of popcorn ought to do it! This is my logic. But my logic doesn’t need to stand alone anymore. One of my favorite bloggers, Tracy from Shutterbean, wrote this post a few days ago about her recipe for Mexican Popcorn:

“This Mexican Popcorn is my new favorite thing. Happy Hours REJOICE! And if you’re just eating popcorn for dinner on a Monday night by yourself, that’s totally fine too.  Don’t listen to what my mom has to say about popcorn being an unacceptable dinner. If you do eat it for dinner, I would suggest putting your popcorn in a bowl. Don’t eat it out of the pot.”

Boo ya to the people who don’t think popcorn can be dinner! A respected blogger (I do not qualify yet as a respected blogger so I must turn to other sources like Shutterbean) has indicated her approval. It is law. I also approve of her plan to have it for happy hour and to spice it up with paprika, oregano, cumin, and lime. I will try that soon and let you all know how it goes.

Photo Credit: Shutterbean

Napoleon: the bar, the DJ, the man, the legend

BE FABULOUS.

The sign twinkled down at me from the wall behind the DJ booth. “Be fabulous,” it urged. Three years ago, naive and new to DC, I had no idea that this sign would one day have intense meaning for me. I was crammed into the itty-bitty dance floor of a bar, unsure of my status in the social pecking order of the city, deafened by the music, and overwhelmed by my options for beverages (college trains you into thinking that someone will just walk up to you and hand you a Natty Lite – it does not prepare you for being in a real bar).

Fast forward three years, and I’m back in front of the same sign. No longer intimidated and unsure, I’m standing jauntily at the bar, ordering my go-to drink (vodka soda with lime, in case you were curious), ready to get back onto the dance floor and join my fabulous friends – often GENK and co. Possibly earlier that evening I harangued the DJ to light up the “Be Fabulous” sign – if it’s not lit, I take personal offense. Once it’s lit and I’m also… well, I guess “lit” would apply here, too… it’s non-stop dancing to the best DJ in DC and his mix of pop and dance music from the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and right now. In other words, it’s bliss.

If you know me at all, you know the bar I’m talking about. Napoleon. Its status has gone from a dancing option, to a fun place to take out of town guests, to an almost cult-like obsession/addiction that must be satisfied at least every 4 weeks. GENK girls and coworkers will attest: I am always clamoring to go.

At the risk of sounding a little off my rocker here, I think there’s a reason that I gravitate toward this particular bar. Yes, I’m a bit of a Francophile, so the fleur-de-lis gold wallpaper and ornate chandeliers appeal to me, but it’s not just that. And the music is almost exactly to my personal taste, and that’s a big part of it. But it’s not just the music either. The real reason I love Napoleon is because it represents my coming-of-age in DC. It represents my journey from a timid, recent college grad to a confident young woman…blah, blah, blah…

Who am I kidding? I gravitate toward Napoleon because of the bartender.

I have named him… Fabio. See picture.

Okay oh god wait, that’s not the Fabio vibe I was going for. Let’s try again.

Better.

Napoleon’s bartender is hotter than Zac Efron by far, but it’s the closest image that I can source on my work computer without violating my company’s internet policy while also still conveying the smoky hot, sexy, aura that this bartender exudes. That’s why I’ve nicknamed him Fabio. Napoleon is still a fun bar whether Fabio is there or not. But it’s definitely bliss when he is there, serving up vodka sodas like any other bartender in his black v-neck, accepting the 40% tips that are thrown upon him and staring across the dance floor with his deep brown eyes. Sigh.

Can we go? Now? Is it Saturday night yet?

When I first went to Napoleon three years ago as an awkward, recent college grad, there were a lot of things I didn’t know. This time, I am serious when I say that I’ve grown and learned more about myself in the past three years than I ever have before. I’ve learned about how I am fabulous in my own little ways, and even more about how truly fabulous my friends are. And about Nelly’s “Hot in Here.” But most importantly, I’ve learned that some bartenders are just really, really, really, really hot.

See you there Saturday 🙂 Be fabulous.

Review: Brunch at Masa 14

I have put off writing a review of brunch at Masa 14 for over two months. Quite simply, I put it off because I am afraid that I can’t write a post beautiful enough, long enough, epic enough to capture how beautiful, long, and epic the Masa 14 brunch experience was. I finally have the nerve to try! Here we go.

My GENK ladies and I showed up on Memorial Day weekend, fresh and tanned from a variety of adventures and very happy to see each other. Masa 14 had been our list for a while since the Bitches Who Brunch reviewed it back in 2010. The Latin-Asian fusion restaurant, already a popular DC spot for dinner and drinks, has a $35 all-inclusive brunch deal, which includes unlimited small brunch plates and unlimited brunch cocktails (a delicious selection of bloody marys and mimosas). You can’t really beat that.

We were super excited. We settled right in by ordering a bloody mary (spicy and huge), a bacon bloody mary (which I did not sample but was apparently delicious), and a lychee and classic bellini (also delicious). Then, we looked at the menu. And we looked some more. Then we joked with our server about how we wanted to just order every single dish. Do people do that? We were a little buzzed from the drinks already and feeling silly – yet worried that we would be violating some sacred rule of unlimited brunch if we ordered everything. Fortunately our server was sweet and patient, and we ended up not ordering every single dish. But we came really close – I think the final count was that we ordered every dish except eight.

I cannot give you a play by play of every dish. It would take you as long to read as it took GENK to eat. Which was about two and half glorious hours. We had a cozy booth in the corner, an attentive and patient server, delicious plate after plate after plate of food, and excellent tunes to rock to. There may have been some sitting-dancing. You know what I’m talking about.

So here are the highlights, broken down by category from the brunch menu.

Flatbreads & Salads

• Favorite: Baby Spinach and Arugula Salad. This was unexpected – we thought it would just be a boring old salad. Nope. It had an addictive curry dressing and so much savory flavor. We wanted to order another one but we were so full by the end of the meal.
• Second Favorite (tie): Breakfast Pizza and Chorizo Empanada
• Fruit and Yogurt – don’t underestimate this one. It just couldn’t compete with the other stunners in this course.
• Wild Mushroom Flatbread
• Spiced Tuna Steak Salad

Eggs, Eggs, and More Eggs

• Favorite: Veggie Benedict. This knocked our socks off. It was served on a huge piece of bread, covered in tomato and spinach and spicy sauce, with a nice egg on top. It was nothing like a traditional benedict and it was amazing.
• Second Favorite: Chiliquiles. N, G, or E will have to provide the commentary for this dish since I didn’t partake, but I know it must have been good by the sounds they made as they ate.
• Black Bean Puree – this was a vegetarian runner up. It didn’t make the list because in the end, it was just some pureed black beans. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.
• Skirt Steak
• Chicken Hash
• Sausage

Sandwiches, Sides, and Such

• Favorite: Grits. The clear winner, of course! How could any other dish compete with buttery, cheesy, creamy grits? The most remarkable thing about these grits is that we devoured them despite being very full at the end of our meal. The second most remarkable thing is that I ordered a second dish of grits all for myself. And I ate every last bite.
• Second Favorite: Cauliflower. This one barely slides into second place. It was perfectly cooked and spiced, but we were so full by this point that we hardly gave this dish its rightful due. The other dishes in this set hardly impressed us at all, but again, we were very full.
• Potatoes
• Meatballs
• Pho Beef
• Pan Dulce
• Bacon Fried Rice

Whew! After all of that, they practically had to roll us out. It was so, so worth it. My first piece of advice to you is to go, and soon! Make sure you make a reservation as it gets packed. Try for the rooftop if you can, especially as summer winds down and it’s less scorching out. Being on the roof would have only increased the joy of our brunch experience. My second piece of advice is to order everything that interests you but only eat those dishes that make your tastebuds sing. Granted, that will be many of the dishes. I think we regretted only having a tiny bit of tummy room left for the dishes at the end. And last, take full advantage of those unlimited mimosas and bloody marys.

Happy brunching!

Can’t Stop Laughing at Beyonce + Women’s Studies

I was a sociology major in college, but I never wrote a theses. Props to the people who did, but I wanted a bit of a life. Just a bit of one. However, I am aware that in academia (particularly where I went to school), having a flowery, mysterious title for your theses is quid pro quo. In fact, sometimes it seems like students and professors and other academics across all subjects are trying to out-do each other with creative and obscure titles for their papers. I even ran into this pressure when I wrote regular papers for sociology classes.

So, being aware of all that, I had to laugh at the name and premise of this article: “Beyonce Songs Re-Imagined as Undergraduate Theses in Women and Gender Studies.”

How brilliant! Beyonce does exemplify that “female empowerment” term that people are always tossing around without really thinking about what it really means, and her songs do speak to strong women facing a variety of different situations. Someone has probably written a thesis analyzing her songs for those types of themes from a sociological or psychological perspective – but for now, I’m content to read the fake theses titles and laugh my little tush off. Or as Beyonce would say, laugh my little bootylicious tush off.

Some of my faves:

• “Check on It: The Gendered Dynamics of Male Spectatorship in Urban Public Spaces”
• “Run the World (Girls): Historical Perspectives on Global Female Leadership”
• “Bills Bills Bills: The Dual-Income Model and Reshaping of the Domestic Sphere”

Beyonce. Keepin’ it real with her sociological perspective.

As a complete aside, if you’re at all interested in sociology (the fun kind! not the boring kind! I promise),  check out my absolute favorite sociological blog: Sociological Images.