What's your flavor? Part II

I love good inspiration, and I'm a sucker for good quotes. But I also really appreciate bitter and sarcastic humor, and so this site is fantastic for a laugh. While I wouldn't call it overly clever, the humor is definitely outright, its still pretty funny.

I've found that the worst pitfalls come when you take yourself too seriously. There's just no need for it, and everyone else around probably thinks you're a stuck-up idiot. Which, to be honest, you probably are. I've heard sarcasm called the "tool of the weak," but I'd like to make a case for it, and instead call it the tool of the non-serious potentially intelligent being. If you're being sarcastic you're poking fun at a situation and thus are most definitely not being serious. Since you've taken the time to come up with a sarcastic comment, one that not everyone will necessarily pick up on, you've put some thought into the situation and can therefore be classified as potentially intelligent. Ergo, I would like to designate myself as a "non-serious potentially intelligent" being.

Sarcasm shouldn't be written off. You can get away with making fun of things that other people might not pick up on, I recently finished reading the classic novel "Catch-22" which highlights the craziness of the world through the frame of World War II, a pretty important event that I think most people would probably call fairly serious. But I would opine that the point Heller is making is that you can't take anything too seriously, every event, not matter how large or how small, is at least somewhat ludicrous.

Catch-22 is awesome because it teaches without being preachy. It's clever humor-my favorite type. You have to both pay attention and understand that you have no idea what's going on in order to fully appreciate the book. I read it right before snowmaggedon hit the DC area, and it kind of fit with the situation. People who took life and their jobs so seriously weren't able to work for a week. They were forced to do all sorts of terrible things like embrace week-day bar specials not because work had got them down, but because they had nothing better to do. A city usually engulfed in go-go-goers was suddenly filled with people starting huge snowball fights and sledding in the streets. Of course, I'm sure there were those dedicated workers being productive, but sometimes, you just have to embrace chaos.

So the wisdom I will impart upon you this Valentine's Day-another crazy holiday-keep your head in the game, but in reality, you've only got so much control. And when all else fails, make fun of yourself. The smart people will get it.

Holla,
Thing Two

Restaurant Week? Yes Please!

As newly anointed DC-area residents, we decided we would try and take full advantage of fun local events. We arrived just in time for restaurant week! In search of more exotic cuisine, we chose Marrakesh Place, a swank Moroccan restaurant. This was my first time eating Moroccan, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But with a three course prix-fixe menu for only $20, I figured it had to be good!

Marrakesh Palace is up in Dupont Circle, which is a fabulous neighborhood. It's a designated historic district, and you get a really happening vibe. We saw two Starbucks on our walk from the Metro, so I'm guessing there's lots of young, highly-caffeinated, hipster-types. On a side note, I'm disappointed that I haven't found more independently owned coffee shops. I'm a huge supporter of local businesses, and while DC is thriving, I'd like to find more cool and unique coffee shops.

Back to lunch. For an appetizer, I got the Chicken Bastilla, which is "filo dough stuffed with chicken, almonds and eggs, drizzled with powdered sugar and cinnamon." It was fantastic! The chicken, almonds and eggs on the inside was perfectly accentuated by the flaky filo dough and set off by the sweetness of the powdered sugar and cinnamon. Thing One got Beef Cigars, which are "wrapped filo dough over marinated ground beef in Moroccan herbs." While the beef was well-seasoned and quite tasty, we both agreed that the Chicken Bastilla was superior.

For our main dish, we had four different choices. I had the Sword Fish, which was baked in "famous Sharmola sauce with veggies." Quite honestly, I was a bit disappointed. The fish was cooked perfectly, but the "famous" Sharmola sauce seemed like a glorified and spicy version of marinara, not at all my favorite. The portion was generous, and I couldn't (and didn't necessarily) want to finish. It was served with carrots, yellow peppers and herbs. Here's the presentation:

Thing One had the Lamb Tangine, which is "braised lamb with with prunes, sesame seeds and almonds." The lamb literally melted in your mouth, and Thing One described the sauce as "savory." The combination of tender meet and savory sauce led us to agree that it was by far the superior meat. Here's the Lamb Tangine:

Looks good, eh? Our friend had the Chicken Couscous, which also came in the options of vegetarian or lamb. She wasn't crazy about the chicken, which came on the bone, but she enjoyed the rest of the meal. It was packed with veggies, including chickpeas, peppers, zucchini and carrots.

Yum! We had chocolate cake for dessert, which was more like chocolate mousse cake, and Thing One had Baklava which was drizzled in chocolate and let's be serious, how can you go wrong when you add chocolate? We also had Moroccan coffee, which was espresso with a little bit of milk added to it. Our waiter kept our water glasses filled, and was attentive. For $20, we were able to get a fantastic meal in a swank restaurant. Apparently, there's belly dancing in the evening but we unfortunately missed that in the afternoon. There were only a few other tables filled when we were there.

I guess most restaurants book up early for Restaurant Week, we made our reservations last Sunday so I don't know if anything is still open. You can check Open Table, which is an overall useful service for making online reservations. For more information on Marrakesh Palace, check out their website.

Happy Eating!

Thing Two