To Do: See the Baby Gorilla at the National Zoo

Looking for some free entertainment in a warm environment? Try the Ape House at the National Zoo.

I had friends with kids in town this weekend and after going to the zoo to (not) see the pandas, I was desperately asking every stray zoo visitor if they had seen ANY animals. I get it, it was cold, I didn't really want to be out in the snow, but we had kids to entertain and those raccoons red pandas didn't do it for us.

The gorillas though, provided a solid hour of entertainment... until they kicked us out at closing time. It was cute overload, but also had enough gross factor (think gorillas picking their noses and other such fun) for the kids that they were laughing their little booties off.

More pics and fun after the jump...

Snowy Specials

Restaurants and bars are taking to Twitter to make sure their customers know they are open. Some are even luring folks in with fun deals. Here are the best ones I've seen so far:

WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

THURSDAY:

See other deals, leave em in the comments or tweet em to me @floridagirlindc!

PS. Metromix has a great round up too!

To Do: Spontaneous Snow Photo Safari & Class

I've been wanting to do a Washington Photo Safari ever since I graduated to my beloved Canon Rebel.  They just emailed me that they are doing an impromptu photo class on how to take photos in the snow.

(photo credit: Tammy Gordon)

The class is tomorrow (January 27) at 9:45am. David Luria of Washington Photo Safari will learn how to set the exposure and white balance to perfect your snowy Washington landscape pictures. He'll also show you the best angles on the historical buildings, parks and monuments.

Sure it'll be cold, but it will also be cooool... Just register (class is $54) and meet at the base of the Andrew Jackson statue on Lafayette Park (right behind The White House on Pennsylvania at 16th Street NW).

Couple more of my favorite amateur snowy Washington photos after the jump...

To Do: Bourbon Steak Winter Wonderland Patio Party

Bundle up and bring your friends, on February 13 Bourbon Steak is cranking up the heaters and firepits on their outdoor patio for some grillin' and chillin'.

Snow or shine, new Chef Adam Sobel will debut a hearty, comforting menu of cider, hot chocolate, short ribs, mac n cheese and more. Make your RSVP, do a snow dance and come on down for a great pre-or-anti-Valentines-Day-party.

A Day in the Life of a Food Truck: El Floridano

It started out like every other work day, with me running late. I was supposed to meet Stephan Boillon of the El Floridano food truck, promptly at 10:00am to help prep and load. As I realized my transportation plan was an epic fail, I tweeted "I hope he doesn't go all Marco Pierre White on me." When I arrived, he dryly said, "I won't go all Marco Pierre White on you... he would have fired you." Touche.

That was the start of a great day. I thought the most interesting part would be the cooking and chatting with customers, but I really enjoyed talking with Stephan and his partner Tia Crawley about the challenges and business side of the food truck trend.

For instance, did you know that the Metropolitan Police Department has hired trained nine officers to dog the food trucks and enforce the regulations.  Things like, if there's no line for five minutes, you have to move. Sigh. C'mon DC, you've got bigger criminal fish to fry...

El Floridano has a steady stream of Floridians as customers. Stephan hails from Lauderdale and on the day I was with them, folks from Tampa, Miami and even a Key West native lined up for Cuban sandwiches. We all lament the lack of real Cuban bread in the DC area and Stephan tells us the secret to Cuban bread is (gasp!) lard. 

They may be known for their Cubans, but the fastest seller was the banh mi sandwich which comes in meatloaf or vegan tempeh while it lasts. Not too long after the window opened, I was sent out with a marker to let folks know it was sold out.

The soups are also made from scratch - mushroom bisque and sunchoke on the day I was there - and are vegetarian (and healthy - no cream!)

I asked about the rivalry between food trucks and brick and mortar restos. Stephan said there are many chefs that are supportive and noted Chef Jose Andres of Jaleo, Oyamel (etc, etc) and Todd Gray of Equinox. Others aren't so supportive and try to drive them out of their neighborhoods. On the competition, he notes, "I wish they would just compete with better food instead of trying to put us out of business."

Following the District Taco model, El Floridano has plans to expand to a brick and mortar location, but they won't give up the trucks. In fact, Tia, who Stephan has made a business partner, wants to expand the hours and buy additional trucks. "I love being out here, talking to people. If it was up to me, I'd reload the truck and be out all day."

One other neat note, El Floridano is solar powered, so they have to find a parking spot that is sunny to fire up the grill! The workers in L'Enfant sure were happy to see them and poured out of their buildings for the warm soups and sandwiches. I'm happy to report, we were having as much fun inside making them as people were eating them.

To find El Floridano when it comes near you, follow them on Twitter and Facebook. And remember to introduce yourself to Stephan by your Twitter handle so he can put a face with your tweets! (I told him I was embarrassed to do that, but he thought I was being ridiculous.)

UPDATE 7/30/2012: Stephan's working on opening his first brick and mortar restaurant space, Mothership! You can help by funding his Kickstarter for as little as $10: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2099558090/stephan-is-almost-set-to-launch-mothership-restaur 

What I've Been Eating: Lunch at Ris

Work's been a little crazy lately, so I plotted an escape for my team at work today to cab over to Ris to explore some new resto-territory. (We can get in a Penn Quarter rut... and there are coworkers at every turn, so this was a nice change.)


While you couldn't get the full menu, there were three courses and quite a few offerings. The full Restaurant Week menu for Ris is posted here, but I'll share with you what I enjoyed:

Ris Soup of the Day: Portugeuse Kale (photo: Tammy Gordon)

I've been trying not to gain ten pounds during Restaurant Week, so starting off with this hearty kale soup warmed me up and wasn't so filling that I couldn't enjoy what came next... which was mussels cooked in a tomato sauce with chorizo sausage and grilled bread to soak up the yumminess. 

Ris Mussels in Tomato, Chorizo Broth (photo: Tammy Gordon)

Still trying to keep it light, I finished with the sorbet and cookies option and was rewarded with one scoop of densely delicious mango and one tangy blood orange dollop. The cookies were peanut butter and oatmeal. 

Sorbet & Cookies at Ris (photo: Tammy Gordon)

Ris is on the corner of 23rd & L Streets NW and is accessible from the Foggy Bottom or Farragut West metro stations. You can scoop up a lunch or dinner reservation on Open Table or stay in touch with them on Facebook, Twitter or their website.

To Do: Discounted Food Trucks for Good ALL WEEK

Starting today with Eat Wonky and running through January 23, Deals for Deeds is featuring daily deals for some of our favorite food trucks - and 10% of your purchase will be donated to Miriam's Kitchen (which I love and volunteer at once a month!)

Monday's Deal: Eat Wonky

Miriam's Kitchen serves over 4,000 homeless men and women in Washington, DC each year. Just last Friday, we served nearly 150 for dinner (veggie chili and cornbread). Deals for Deeds goal is to raise enough to feed 250 people and your meager food truck budget can help!

The fabulous food trucks on deck for deals include TaKorean (Tuesday),  Solar Crepes (Wednesday),  Sauca (Thursday), DC Empanadas (Friday) and Sabor'a Street (Saturday). For real time tracking download Food Truck Fiesta's iPhone app or follow my DC Food Trucks Twitter list.

To Do: DC Brunch Spots Open on MLK Day 2011

Want to grab brunch following your Martin Luther King Day of Service event?  I've started a list of restaurants that will be serving brunch on the national holiday for those of us that are lucky enough to have the day off.  If I missed anyone, leave it in the comments below this post or tweet me.

- Busboys & Poets will be serving brunch from 9am - 3pm at all locations (Shirlington, VA; 14th & V NW, DC and 5th & K NW, DC)
- Commonwealth in Columbia Heights - I'm partial to the BLT and fried olives here. *
- Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe will be serving brunch starting at 7:30am, in case you're an early bird!  Specials include Filet Oscar and the very fun named Barack Obamlette plus Assawoman Bay Crab Omelette.
- Logan Tavern - a reader reports seeing a sign on the door that they'll be serving brunch from 11am-4pm.
- Matchbox, I'm told by my Twitter sources, serves brunch on every federal holiday. If you need another reason to love them, try their breakfast pizza or cast iron baked cinnamon rolls. *
- Open City in Woodley Park and Diner in Adams Morgan serve breakfast all day, every day. Great for a brunch fix at any hour.

Still looking for a place to serve? Join me in serving at Miriam's Kitchen or find a way to give back near you doing something you care about. Create The Good has a great search engine (disclosure: I helped build it so have serious pride in the site!) where you can search by topic, time or zip code.

[*: sourced via Twitter, waiting on confirmation from restaurant. Call first to confirm.]

What I've Been Eating: Brunch at Bar Pilar

Yesterday, I hit 14th Street for a marathon furniture shopping jaunt and needed sustenance to get me through the last two stores. I met Caroline for brunch at Bar Pilar where we *tried* to be moderate when faced with a menu that includes a Hangover Cure with everything in the kitchen sink topped with sausage gravy and Bacon Bloody Marys.

Bar Pilar's Bacon Bloody Mary (photo: Tammy Gordon)

Our version of moderation was each getting a bloody mary - heck, there's nutrition in there. The bacon was a good crisp texture and didn't permeate the bloody mix in an overpowering way. It might, I dare say, be the best bacon bloody mary I've ever had (and I've had my share...)

Bar Pilar's Pancake Sandwich (photo: Tammy Gordon)

We also split the Pancake Sandwich (you might recall I had one of these in Tampa at Pinky's over the holidays), which was so huge it didn't even feel like a sacrifice. To balance the heaviness, we also got a side of the grapefruit which is deliciously in season and was segmented to make it easy to eat.

Meanwhile, I narrowed down my selections in Sofa Search 2011 to about five options. I might have to go back to Bar Pilar today before going back to lay on the sofas for the comfort test. I mean, let's be realistic, the best part of a new sofa's going to be collapsing into it for a Bravo marathon after a huge brunch.

Bar Pilar is located at 1833 14th Street NW between S and T Streets NW in Washington, DC.  There are several convenient bus routes, including the Circulator, and it's also walkable from McPhereson Square or U Street metro stops. You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter for the latest menu specials and news on their second floor expansion.

What I'm Cooking: Butternut Penne Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms & Ricotta

My love for butternut squash has grown along with this blog. It was one of my first farmers market challenges and has become a winter staple. I had one hanging around for a couple of weeks on my countertop and tweeted my rockin' foodie Twitter followers asking what I should make.  I ended up taking elements from a few people and turning them into this Butternut Penne Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms & Ricotta.

This blog has taught me that I don't necessarily need a formal recipe to create something tasty, but I'll give my best shot seeing as I didn't measure anything this time around. The how-to after the jump...

Monday Lunch To Do: Food Truck-fest at Franklin Park

You guys know I love me some food trucks. And, what's better than one of them pulling up into your work neighborhood just in time for lunch? A LOT OF EM coming together for lunch. If you work within a few blocks of Franklin Park and these are just a few of the trucks you'll get to sample:

El Floridano: Try a Cuban Sandwich or Banh Mi. They also tweeted that they'll have Pan Con Leche!

Try Eat Wonky's Poutine - basically, poutine is a twist on cheese fries and can be served with gravy and more. They also have Whoopie PIes!

Red Hook Lobster Truck: In addition to lobster and shrimp rolls, they have steaming hot chowder for days like today.

Curbside Cupcake was my first food truck love and it's still one I chase down. 

New trucks that will be there that I have yet to try include DC Empanadas (serving Mexican Hot Chocolate) and Sweetbites Truck (9 cupcake flavors including Pina Colada, Pumpkin Spice PLUS brownies and more).  Plus, the boys from Fojol Bros will be serving up piping hot curry, CapMac's mac n cheese, soups and pastas,  and Sauca's launching their third truck today at Franklin Park so they will have hearty, warm sandwiches (and waffles!). To keep up with all of the trucks follow my DC Food Trucks Twitter List or download the Food Truck Fiesta iPhone app.

Franklin Park is between 13th & 14th and K & I Streets NW near McPherson Square Metro (Orange Blue line).

DECOR LOVE: Polaroid Transfers and Salt Water Dreams

Now that Christmas is over, I'm on a decorating binge at my new place. I'm looking to do a mix of things I love that capture all sides of my personality.

This Polaroid transfer print reminds me of beach trips as a kid even though it was taken in 2008:

 

This one, I just want to *be*...

Both are from one of my favorite Etsy stores called shehitpausestudios in Brooklyn (Florida boy in Brooklyn?) and I'm trying to decide which one to get!

What I've Been Eating: Sloppy Mac-n-Cheese from CapMac

I thought once winter hit, people (and by people, I mean me) wouldn't stand in line to get food from a truck, no matter how creative and cute and downright delicious it was. I was wrong. Here I am, first day back at work in 2011 and CapMac, one of the newer DC food trucks is in my work hood.

I ordered up their Mac-n-Cheese which is made with a cheddar-pimento mix and topped with crunchy Cheez-Its (which remind me of my Granddaddy). If you want insult with your injury, for $2 more you can make it sloppy -- and get it topped with CapMac's bolognese sauce. Yep, I did.

CapMac's Mac-n-Cheese, Sloppy Style

Other menu items from CapMac today were marinated chick peas, potato leek & bacon soup, chicken parm meatballs and beef bolognese. For dessert, they had a seasonal risotto rice pudding that came with Bartlett pear with brown butter, brown sugar and honey soaked raisins.

Follow CapMac on Facebook, Twitter or the web and give em a try next time they are near you.

2011 Resolutions: The Food Edition

Last year, I was about 50-50 for hitting my resolutions. I *did* buy a condo, and so that really overshadows all of the things that I hate myself for not doing (ie, learning to surf which is my resolution emeritus)...

This year, I'd like to stop talking about a few things and start eating at them. Therefore, I resolve in 2011 to eat the following:

• A croissant in Paris
• At at least three Top Chef restaurants (Lookin' at you Graffiato, 10 Arts... who'll be the third? Michy's?)
• Get takeout from Thai X-ing
• Eat with at least two of these storied DC icons that I've never been to: Citronelle, Minibar, Galileo III, Obelisk, Komi (note: bar counts since I have to pay!)
• Eat at least one farm dinner (the kind where you actually GO to the farm and the chef prepares it on site!)

I think that's enough to start the year off with, but rest assured, as I eat here locally or as I travel, I'll bring you guys the best bites, the funniest stories and all of the rants and rambles in between. Here's to an interesting 2011.

PS. Where do you want to eat in 2011?