Our New Crib

As soon as I found out that Meredith and I would be living in an apartment next year I started decorating it in my mind. I was a little bit disappointed when I found out that it came furnished, but I know I’ll still need to make a trip to Ikea/Target/Bed, Bath and Beyond for some essentials that don’t come with the apartment. When a few of my friends and I happened to stop into Bed, Bath, and Beyond on the way to seeing 21 Jump Street (which was HILARIOUS), I found what I think will be the first purchase for our new apartment: a Metro map shower curtain!!

I figure we can use Sharpies to fill in some personal touches: we can write “Sam’s House” at the Glenmont Stop, “Home Sweet Home” at Tenleytown, and “Environment America” for Capitol South. We can also fill it in some of the wisdom we’ve acquired over the past two years: “Rich People” at Friendship Heights, “Don’t Go There Without Dying” at Anacostia, etc. Anyway, I’m so excited! I just have to get Meredith’s approval…

-Sam

April Fools!

I actually haven't played any pranks today. I've never been huge on April Fools' Day. Not that I don't like it, I'm just too lazy to do anything about it. I'm a pretty easy target though (my brother has been preying on my gullibility since I was born).

There was a time that my brother and sister tried to pretend I fell down the stairs and got a black eye to fool my parents. We were lovely children.

Anyways, because it is the first of the month, Sam and I get to reveal our new calendar photos!

Mine is Atticus Finch-probably my favorite book/movie character of all time.



His caption is "I'd Atti-kiss you if I could." Sam is so much more creative than I am.



Her new yoga pose includes big kitty Eva and little kitty Randy.



Eva is demonstrating eagle pose while Randy does a variation of tiger pose.

On a random note (and because horsies are cute), here are some pictures of me at the horse show yesterday.

Me and Cody in a flat class.



Me and Earthquake over fences.



Happy April Fools' Day!

You Can Never Have Too Many Girl Scout Cookies

Remember how I excited I was about getting Girl Scout Cookies? Yeah. Those were good times.



But, because I fill the role of a broke college student, I only got one box of Thin Mints and one box of Samoas. Only enough cookies for me to eat and enjoy in their natural state.



Then, Sam (being the awesome person that she is) got another box of Samoas. And my brain began birthing ideas of what to do with those extra cookies dying to be combined with another sweet to create an uber-dessert.

After asking my friends' opinions, I decided on Samoa brownies.



It's a very simple concept:

Make your favorite brownie recipe (I used the one from the February issue of Food Network Magazine).



Pour a thin layer of batter across the bottom of the pan. Lay full Samoa cookies across this layer in a neat pattern. Spread the rest of the batter over the top.



Bake the brownies at the designated temperature for half the cooking time. Pull them out and sprinkle diced Samoa cookies over the top (I used eight cookies for a 9x13 pan). Press the crumbled cookies into the top slightly and then bake for the remaining time according to the recipe.





Allow to cool and them cut into squares. Drool. Enjoy.





-Meri

Mmmmmmmm bread. And other food.

I love to cook (duh).



Sometimes, my friends benefit from that love.



Tonight was one of those times.



When my mommy last came to visit, she brought yeast so that I could make focaccia. But, she gave me three packets of yeast when the focaccia recipe only called for one.

So, I obviously had to make some more bread.

And, since I was making bread anyway, I figured I'd make dinner for my super-awesome friends as well.



I had a bunch of different palettes going on and my worst nightmare is making a meal that someone doesn't like, so I naturally chose to go with Italian food-it never disappoints.

On the menu was a salad, pasta, and of course homemade bread. People seem to think that making homemade bread is simply impossible in a dorm. It's not.



Some recipes I wouldn't go near (sourdough, etc.) because I don't have the time, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. I love this recipe because it's fast, simple, and forgiving. I altered some measurements (I was probably short 2 teaspoons of yeast) and it still turned out amazing. If you're a wary bread-maker, definitely try this recipe. It's college-kid approved and practically fool-proof.



If you look really close you can see the flecks of salt on top. I got a little fancy here and put the balsamic sea salt my mommy got me on top. Yum.

The rest of the dinner was equally easy and rewarding. The salad consisted of romaine lettuce, chopped red pepper, cherry tomatoes, and chopped cucumber with champagne dressing from Whole Foods (good and not ridiculously expensive!).



The pasta was super simple: 3 garlic cloves minced and sautéed for about 45 seconds in 2 tablespoons of olive oil with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Then add a 6 oz can of tomato paste and a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes. Add a teaspoon each of dried oregano and dried rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and let simmer for 10 minutes (you can add more seasoning after it simmers if necessary). For the pasta, I cooked angel hair for 2 minutes in salted water, drained it and combined it with the tomato sauce. Easy and delicious. (And I forgot to take a picture. Just imagine a bowl of comfort and happiness and that'll be enough).

All in all, a very successful dinner.



Tomorrow, Samoa brownies. I can't wait.

-Meri

A New Member of the Family

As I was perusing the website of the Berks, the apartment complex that Meredith and I will be calling home in the fall, I noticed two wonderful words at the screen: “cats allowed.” Since seeing that phrase, I have been daydreaming about the possibilities of bringing my cat, Lily, who I love an inappropriate amount, to live with us next year. Having her around would make my life so much better (and cuter), and I can’t stop thinking about how much fun it would be to come home from class to her! I think Meredith, me, Lily, and Leo would make the cutest family—definitely Christmas-card worthy. Everyone in our group is excited about the prospects of having Lily come and live with us—well, to be honest, the cat lovers said that they would be spending all their time in our apartment, and the cat no-so-much lovers were moderately OK with it. My sister is also very excited—whose cat, Tessie, is constantly tormented by Lily.

Therefore, I’ve decided to take this opportunity to post some adorable pictures of Lily so the whole world-AKA the six people who read our blog-can fall in love with her as well.

This is Lily doing some sort of adorable yoga pose—she could totally be featured in the Yoga Cat calendar:



This is Lily doing what we call her “Lily Doughnut,” where she tries to make herself into a complete circle by catching her tail.



This is Lily being adorable in the sun. See, she’s an AU cat already!



-Sam

Girl Scout Cookies

The sun is out, the temperature is warming up (a little too fast), and flowers are beginning to peek out of the ground. It must be time for...

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES.



Girl Scout Cookies are one of the greatest creations known to man. I don't think I know anyone who dislikes them. In fact, everyone is head over heals in LOVE with these little guys. Forget World Peace Cookies, Thin Mints and Trefoils have got it covered. Seriously, has anyone ever thought to bring these to meetings with foreign ambassadors or something? Things would certainly go more smoothly.



I was a Girl Scout-and a terrible one at that. What was my greatest fault? Probably selling those cookies. Because I didn't. Boxes and boxes were piled into my house, and I ate them all. I made little to no effort to sell them. They were all in my tummy before I had the chance to bring the order sheet out of my folder.



Oops.

I discovered last year that the Girl Scouts actually venture over to American University's campus during cookie season (a genius move), and I couldn't have been happier.

When I was little, I was a dedicated Trefoil enthusiast. Today, my taste buds have opened up to just about all of the flavors. Though Trefoils will always hold a special place in my heart.

When I wandered outside yesterday to find the Scouts beginning to pack up, I rushed over to see if they could stay just another minute. I had seen Thin Mints and Samoas and knew I must have them.



They agreed to stick around while I ran to get my wallet from my dorm.

Success!

I am going to savor each and every bite of these beauties.

Update: Sam got another box of Samoas today. This room's awesomeness just improved tenfold.

-Meri

WAR HORSE. And a Food Adventure with Aunt Bethy

I first heard about War Horse while sitting in a theater, reading the playbill for The Normal Heart before the show started. I immediately knew I wanted to see it because, well, I love horses.

And so, I was ready to see the movie right when it came out. My mom and I made a trip over to the movie theater (no one else in my family wanted to see it) to see a film about ponies. Was it the best film I've ever seen? No. But, it was about a horse, so I was happy.

Plus, I knew that I wanted to see it on stage. My wonderful mother agreed to go with me and we bought tickets for over my spring break. Some unforeseen events led to my mommy being unable to attend. Thus, my lovely aunt Bethy, giver of Rossi pasta, took over and we had a fantastic day in New York.

Of course, since the event had been passed on to Beth, it would be "everything deluxe." She planned the day around two meals at two marvelous New York City restaurants. But first, we went to a museum to see a dirt exhibit. I'm not kidding. It was called "Swept Away"-or "Swept by Dirt" as we kept saying-and it consisted of some very interesting pieces of work. I admit some of it was cool. But really. A dirt exhibit (if you want to spend a day with my aunt, you must pay some price).

Now, on to more important things. For lunch we visited Bar Boloud. Everything tasted AMAZING. We started with Rosemary Lemonades and Sunchoke Soup.





Then I got a beet and roquette salad. Bethy ordered a Croque Monsieur.





However, the most important part of our main course was the side of Super Green Spinach. Seriously, we drooled over this little cast iron pot of veggies. It was like nothing we've ever eaten. We could not for the life of us figure out how they had cooked it, so we asked. The secret? Saute the spinach. Then, puree half of it with lemon juice and stir it together with the other half that was only sauteed and add just a touch of cream. Craziness.



We finished with a Banana Mousse on top of Chocolate Almond Cake, Orizaba-Macadamia Cream, and Chocolate Ice Cream.



Oh, also green tea and coffee. Yum.



And they had these really giant wine bottles on the bar. I'm still trying to figure out how you would lift them to fill someone's glass...



Next we went to the play. It is worth it to see the show just to see the horse puppets they use. Absolutely incredible.



It's hard to tell from the picture, but we had great seats (thanks mommy!). They even had the horse run up one of the aisles (not the one next to us). The whole production was awesome.



And finally, we finished the day with another fantastic meal at Telepan.



To begin, the Seasonal Salad for me and the House Smoked Brook Trout for Bethy.





Next, Beet Green and Ricotta Pierogi for me (God I ate a lot of beets yesterday) and the Roasted Chicken for Bethy. We were so excited that I forgot to take a picture until I had eaten practically my whole plate. Oops.





For dessert, "Apple Pie." They were little fried pastry pockets filled with apple pie filling. Apple butter cream, cinnamon & caramel ice cream to accompany the little pockets.



Another incredible meal.

It was a fabulous day and we're already planning our next trip (hopefully this one will involve less dirt).

Thanks Bethy!

-Meri