Summer in the City

You know how some people get seasonal affective disorder in the winter? I think I get it in the summer. Summer is already my least favorite season, D.C. is the sixth hottest city in the country and we're been having a heat wave all week. Today is 108 degrees with a heat index of 123 degrees, and I've got the blues.

In an attempt to look on the bright side, here are some things I do like about summer:

1. Glasses of ice cold lemonade

2. Wearing flip flops

3. Ice cream

4. Camping

5. Cherries

6. It isn't dark at 4:30 in the afternoon.

7. Rootbeer floats

8. Fireflies

9. Hammocks

10. Swimming

Just because it isn't all bad (only mostly bad) doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to fall. Please, please come soon.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

We don't have an air popcorn popper because we have a teeny little kitchen so I always made us stovetop popcorn. It was sort of a hassle, mostly because I don't like washing pots, but we dealt with it because it was healthier and cheaper than microwave popcorn.

Recently, my husband has been trying to break his addiction to potato chips. They're unhealthy and expensive, but his mom always packed chips in his lunch when he was growing up and he just carried on the habit into adulthood. He likes salty and savory snacks. (I prefer sweets myself, though I do like Doritos every once in awhile.) I suggested he eat popcorn instead of chips because it's high in fiber and low in calories, but it wasn't really practical for him to make stovetop popcorn every morning before work.

Instead, I tried a little experiment to make our own microwave popcorn rather than buying the chemical-laden kind from the grocery store. I simply put 1/2 cup of popcorn (from the bulk section of my favorite natural food store) in a paper lunch bag, folded over the top, and microwaved it. It takes something like two and a half minutes; I just use my microwave's popcorn button. It cooks up perfectly and leaves very few unpopped kernels. We pour it into a bowl before adding toppings so that we can reuse the paper bag. We've been able to reuse our bags 10-20 times, so it's still cost-effective and relatively eco-friendly.

Even with toppings, a large serving of popcorn for my husband's lunch costs just pennies; it's cheaper and healthier than either potato chips or microwave popcorn, and is just as fast as the latter. It certainly works for us.

Playing Hookie: One of Our Best Days

Yesterday, Chuk and I had an all day date. He had worked so many weekends that he was able to take a comp day and we decided to do a little tourism in our own city. We had a really fun time.

We started off by having lunch at Good Stuff Eatery. It is a burger joint owned by Spike Mendelsohn, a former Top Chef contestant. It was DELICIOUS. I had the farmhouse cheeseburger and Chuk had the Prez Obama burger and we both loved them. We shared a shake, herbed fries and a soda. I'm mango mayonnaise's newest convert and Chuk met and fell in love with sriracha chili sauce. If you're ever in DC, I would recommend eating here. I've already planned what I'm having the next time I go: the smokehouse burger and a d-lechable leche shake.

After lunch, we walked past the Capitol and headed to the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History. It was a million degrees out, but I didn't even whine. Maybe I'm maturing?

At the museum, we saw dinosaurs.

We saw the Hope diamond.

We touched a piece of Mars and did and saw a lot of other interesting things. I'm always amazed that the Smithsonians are free. They are a national treasure.

After the museum, we headed across town to Georgetown where we had dinner at a little burrito place and then went here:

Where we bought these:

I've never seen the show DC Cupcakes, but even so I couldn't help hearing the hype all over town about how good Georgetown Cupcake is. I've wanted to try it for a long time. I'm probably going to get hate mail for this, but honestly, I thought they were good, but I think Hello Cupcake in Dupont Circle is better.

Then, we went home and watched TV and ate cupcakes (I had 2 and Chuk ate 3!) and then Chuk gave me a foot massage.

I love that man. I love spending time together. I love all that our city has to offer. It felt like a mini-vacation. I feel very lucky.

Simple Blackberry Pie

We have so many blackberries, I made TWO blackberry pies this week. (Yes, I do want you to be impressed.) The first, pictured above, was a little semi-homemade version I made up on the fly. It was sort of a cross between a pie and a cobbler, and though it wasn't the prettiest thing, it was good.

For the crust, I simply pressed refrigerated sugar cookie dough from the grocery store into the pie pan. I didn't even roll it out. Then I mixed about 5-6 cups of whole blackberries with 1 cup of sugar and 4 Tablespoons of cornstarch and dumped it into the bottom crust. For the top crust, I rolled the remaining sugar cookie dough into a thin circle and laid it on top. The top and bottom crust didn't meet, but as the berries cooked down in the oven, they made more of a connection. I baked it at 450F for 15 minutes and then reduced the heat to 350F and cooked it for another 20 minutes.

I made a traditional blackberry pie with a real pie crust and a cooked center for my friend Rebecca's birthday brunch tomorrow. I hope it's tasty...and that she appreciates the monogram.

Bastille Day

Chuk and I will seize any opportunity we can for a special dinner. We made a little date night at home to celebrate France's national holiday. French bread, French cheese, French sausage, sparkling French lemonade, and some French music made it easy to set the mood.

We chatted in French and giggled at how pretentious we were being. We also imitated Kenan Thompson's French SNL character a lot. That made us giggle too.

Then, we slow danced in the living room. I have such a good time with my husband. Hopefully, someday we'll go to France together. I've been twice, but Chuk's never been. On peut rêver.

Fresh Summer Dinner

Linked to Wordless Wednesday.

Quick Dishwasher Tip

Dishes are not my favorite chore. (In fact, chores in general are not really my favorite thing, but what can you do?) I came up with a little dishwasher loading trick that saves me time when I'm unloading the dishwasher though.

I categorize the utensils by type in their little holders: salad forks in one section, entree forks in another section, knives in another section, etc. That way, when I unload the dishwasher, I can just grab all the same type utensils and drop them in the drawer organizer without thinking about it or sorting. It doesn't add any time to loading, but it saves time when unloading.

It works for me.