Yearning for a 24 hour coffee shop...

AHHH I have literally been writing all night!

Today, I decided to be serious about life and get some school work done. School? College? What's that you call it? OH SHIT that's right I haven't graduated and am supposed to be doing some coursework. Never one to study well at home I decided to bribe myself with an adventure to a new place....

...so I went to Busboys and Poets! This place was fantastic! I happened over to the 5th and K location, which honestly I loved. It seemed to be an up-and-coming area...or a falling one. Either, a little seedy, a little shady, my favorite kinds of places. Not because I'm a drug dealer, but because I like to feel like I'm living on the edge (just run with it. I'm from the suburbs and hated it there).

ANYWAY I plopped the good ol' laptop down, ordered some fair trade coffee (told you I was white) and started writing. AND I LOVED IT. I was totally groovin--wrote a couple of essays. If you couldn't tell, my writing style is pretty informal. But why should fake my tone for a scholarship board? I'm kind of to the point where I want to say this is me, this is my writing style. If you don't like, it, then I don't want your money.

Okay, maybe not quite to that point; but almost. I would have kept working but I wanted to make it home at a decent hour. I had to use the ever-reliable metro, and we all know what that can be like...Anyway--try this place out! The service rocked, I got a great sandwich, and I was in a great atmosphere.

Also--awesome feminist author/activist/great human being Eve Ensler is doing a book signing at the 14th and V location on Wednesday night! Thing One and I are really going to try and make it up there. We'll keep you posted.

I got a job and have income, don't hate me.

I got a job. A paid one, but not a legit one. Just your basic food service-whatever-it-pays-my-bar-tab-and-grocery-bill job. And so my lesson: working seven days in a row, even if 5 of them is unpaid office work, is tiring.

The weekend started out great, with increased work activity. I got to go to a couple of meetings and had some cool assignments.

After happy hour, we traipsed to a district comedy club with some college friends for a laugh. I've never been to a comedy club so here comes lesson two: its a blast!

Lesson Four: Harris Teeter rocks. But you can't go there on a Sunday night, because it will be packed. As if grocery shopping weren't obnoxious and overwhelming as it is, I had to wade through the sea of incredibly slow moving shoppers to get my $20 worth of groceries. I was overwhelmed and frustrated, until i swiped my VIC card and realized how much money I saved. I can't imagine the people who don't sign up for the bonus cards...grocery stores practically give away money!

Lesson Five: The Bachelor is fantastic. Judge me if you want.

Love from the only poster who posts,

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