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by Liza

Liza Enters Vegetarian Land

I’ve never been totally gaga over meat (partly because I have not a clue how to cook a slab of beef) but I definitely never avoided it, nor have I ever considered being vegetarian. Chicken or some form of meat usually creeps into a lot of my meals.

Little did I know that some random early 1990s PBS documentary called “Diet for a New America” would lead me to a lifestyle change. Watching this doc completely opened my eyes to how our INSANELY high demand for meat is literally destroying our environment.

After watching it, I decided I had to do something, and came up with a plan:

Snacks CAN make you a Doctor!

Thank you to everyone for your fabulous snack ideas for Matt’s PhD proposal exam, which he PASSED!!! He is now officially on his way to being Dr. Matt! He he he!

So after I wrote the last post, I got word that the snacks needed to be more lunch-oriented, but thanks to ES this was no problem! I decided to make Gansie’s Power Snacks, which includes Roasted Poblano Pepper Dip, Rosemary and Garlic Olives, and Mustard and Horseradish Egg Salad Toasts. I also made Gansie’s Chickpea and Artichoke, and Roasted Red Pepper Crostini. Then I cut up cucumbers and made pita chips by baking mini whole wheat pitas. Now remember, I’m the microwave expert here, so these were very challenging choices for me!

Doctorate in Snacks

I need your help!

My BF Matt is working on his Doctorate in Computer Engineering and has his PhD proposal exam next Thursday. This essentially means he has to talk and defend the last 4 years of his research (aka last 4 years of his LIFE) for 2 hours and then the committee either says, yes that’s good, go ahead and you will graduate or nope sorry we think that sucks – SO VERY STRESSFUL!

As if this wasn’t stressful enough, Matt informed me that he is expected to provide snacks and beverages for his committee! Can you F-ing believe that! The last thing you want to be thinking about is what food you are going to bring to impress these people!!

So I told him don’t worry, I’ll take care of the snacks. And I thought what better way to get ideas on what to make than from the ES community!

What are your ideas? It is at 10:30am, and I also need to have beverages, and most importantly, if they expect snacks, then I want them to have the best damn snacks they’ve EVER had!

in Uncategorized 28 comments

by Liza

Liza’s Tips to Eating #3: It Tastes Like a Rainbow

After a ridiculous night out on U Street a couple of months ago when BS came to visit DC, I not only thought it was a good idea to break out the video camera, but I also decided to introduce BS and Vi to an awesomely amazing snack staple of mine that I usually keep very secret: The Oscar Myer Microwavable CHEESE FILLED HOTDOG .

Now, I know what you’re thinking – how does such an awesome thing exist, and more importantly, HOW do I eat this, Liza? Never fear, here are my simple instructions, in video form:

[youtube hPUHGqSwVaI]

Previous Tips:
Roast Beef Sandwich
String Cheese

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by Liza

Review: Pasta Mia

If you live in DC you are most likely familiar with the perpetual long line that forms outside of Pasta Mia, a not so special looking establishment at the corner of 18th and Columbia. For over a year now, the line outside Pasta Mia has baffled me, and also made me insanely curious about the restaurant. Is it that good? I mean people wait in the rain to get into this place!

So I FINALLY went, only because it was gorgeous outside so I wouldn’t mind waiting in line outside. By some chance miracle, my sweetheart Matt(y) (who will blog one of these days) and I were seated immediately.

First impression: Our table was squeezed a little too close for comfort in between two others (like to the point that we were just sharing olive oil with the table to the left of us).

Second impression: Call it an authority issue, but I hate going to places with rules. Like, I am paying you for a service, I should not have to be following rules here! The first annoying rule was that they only accept cash, so I had to leave to go to the ATM. And it’s not like this place is cheap- I mean we each had one glass of house wine and a pasta dish and it was 40 bucks without tip. The second rule I discovered was through an elderly couple sitting to the right of us (so basically at our table). They were so cute, and all they wanted was to split a salad and a pasta dish, because they knew the portions were HUGE. The waitress said she’d have to charge them for two entrees if they did that! WHAAAA! So they ended up just getting their own.

After the jump, the stunning third, fourth and final conclusions of Pasta Mia

Jackie and the Take Out Taxi

Recently I went to get my hair cut by my friend Jackie – yeah, I’m the luckiest girl alive to have a friend who is also an amazing professional hair stylist – and after leaving the glamorous Lux Studios where she works, we decided we should go have an equally glamorous dinner. But once we got back to her apartment and layed on her couch, we lost all motivation. Sometimes you just need the food to come to you! But instead of giving up really good food for generic Chinese, Jackie introduced me to Take Out Taxi – and OMG! It’s f-ing amazing!!!

Take Out Taxi will deliver you food from actual restaurants, and the variety of food is awesome! They have everything from Korean to Ethiopian food, seafood to BBQ. We decided to go with Irene’s Pupusas a Salvadorian restaurant. It was not only insanely cheap but ridiculously tasty! These were authentic pupusas, with the slaw to put on top and everything and clearly made fresh.

Take Out Taxi also gets HUGE props from Liza for offering Arby’s for delivery too! That’s just amazing in my eyes.

There is a surcharge for Take Out Taxi, so I recommend you order with at one or more other people.

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by Liza

An Open Letter to DC’s Tonic Brunch

Dear DC Tonic Brunch,

I love your neighborhood bar and restaurant at night, but for brunch, you have failed me miserably!

So Beware Tonic Brunch upstairs, you have officially pissed off Liza.

You didn’t even provide the BASIC necessities of any establishment. NO WATER! We had to ask five, YES FIVE times to get a cup of water. NO SILVERWARE! Oh, you were out of knives and spoons… well I had to work REALLY hard at cutting my food and I refuse to do any kind of work at all during brunch. NOT COOL. NO COFFEE REFILL! This is a MUST at brunch, and beyond unacceptable. WTF! Your food- if I wanted a bowl of butter I would have asked for that, but no, I ordered GRITS! And your new tortilla buenas… you might as well have given me scrambled eggs with a side of tortilla’s because that’s essentially what this was – no chile flavor at all like you claimed.

You know, I had given you a second chance, even when everyone had already claimed you were not up to par, and what did you do, you basically spit in my face. And in the MORNING! You can’t treat people like that in the morning. Brunch is the one thing I look forward to EVERY weekend, and you ruined one of my favorite experiences. I could not WAIT to get out of your restaurant.

So Tonic Brunch upstairs, you should really just stick to your tater tots, and leave the brunch to someone else, because you did NOT cure what “ails” me, you created an ailment that I was bitter about all day!

Your former loyal customer,

Liza

in Breakfast / Personal 15 comments

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