But don’t worry, I still have time for fun!
Anyway…
When I first moved to DC, I opined about how lucky I was to be living in the top floor of my building, Hampshire House. Going from one-story stuccos in Florida to seven-story structures in the District, I felt pretty high and mighty pushing the tippy-top button in the elevator to get to where I slept every night.
Then the earthquake came, and I wondered just how strategic it was for the girl who is terrified of heights (re: my airplane post) to live in the top story of a domicile built in 1919 whose elevator dropped twice before finally landing on the requested floor. If you weren’t aware (because I wasn’t, being an East-coaster,) the higher you are in a structure when an earthquake occurs, the more you feel the movement.
Then we had the hurricane, and I praised the lord for putting me in a top floor – furthest from flooding. DC doesn’t take well to uber huge amounts of rain.
Then –*insert suspenseful noise here* my elevator was taken out of commission for replacement. For six to eight weeks. And the seventh story became a burden once again, especially with a backpack, a laptop, a lunchbox, and rainboots (yay for unbound books!)
In preparation for the sad day of September 19th (the death of the 1919 elevator), I purchased $400 worth of groceries. Why, you ask? Because one big difference from living in the suburbs to living in a city is grocery shopping. My nearest grocery store is 7 blocks away, and it’s a Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s is great for fresh items and specialty items, but if you want a can of Campbell’s soup or a box of Kellogg’s cereal, you won’t find it there. So you buy your $100 of specialty items, careful not to purchase more than one heavy item (ie. A bottle of wine or a jar of spaghetti sauce), and you lug it back 7 blocks to your building.
Did anyone really expect me to then drag bags of groceries up six flights of stairs? Because I didn’t expect myself to do that.
So, I took advantage of PeaPod, a local grocery delivery service that brings NORMAL grocery-store items (Campbell’s soup and…SPAGHETTIOS!) to your kitchen with minimal delivery fees. I’m now well-stocked:
But of course, now that I have plenty in my pantry, I’ve decided to explore more of the local cuisine. And look what I found:
Heaven!
It’s Penn Grille, located at the intersection of 20th and Penn. It looks like a hole-in-the-wall, and that’s because it is, but it’s been described as “one of the best-kept secrets of Foggy Bottom.” It’s also conveniently located a block away from the Law School campus, on 20th and H, and therefore requires minimal walking when you’re full to the max.
You get a silver tin and stock yourself up with raw veggies, noodles, and meats, then hand it to a cook, who turns around and cooks it with his back facing you and then places your cooked lunch (or dinner!) on a scale and charges you by its weight.
As the reviews say, “You have to love a place where the only sauce selections are mild, medium, and spicy.” The people who work there are mostly Asian, and smile a lot when you ask for “80% mild, 20% medium.” The first girl who took me here was also an Asian, who warned me that Penn Grill’s spicy = Asian spicy. So if you enjoy spicy foods – go for the medium. If you like to cry and sweat when you’re eating, go for the spicy!
I also had my first food truck meal this Friday with some of the girls from my internship at Break the Cycle. Food Truck Friday was the most exciting aspect of my week. Seriously. DC is divided into streets which run parallel to each other at 90 degrees (the letters and the numbers). Some streets run all cockamamie (those are the states). They’re confusing because they’re diagonal. But each area is centered around a little circle – a literal circle – that typically has a statue, benches, and some green grass (which isn’t too common in the city). I laughed a LOT when a District native informed me that these were parks.
Anyway, on Food Truck Friday, you can eat lunch outside. The food trucks bring you foods of all kinds – from AZN Eats to CapMac (a macaroni and cheese truck that even has parmesan chicken mac and cheese!) to Hula Girl (sticky rice and teriyaki chicken) to the Cheesecake Truck. And all you have to do is walk to the circle that’s closest to you! The meals typically cost between $7-$10.
Anyway, the girls and I had been planning this Food Truck Friday Funday for a full two days. Of course, when the day rolls by, it’s pouring. The DC girls made fun of me for wearing my snow boots (I’m sorry, but my rain boots hurt my feet and no way am I going to wear flip-flops and narrowly miss falling on my ass every five seconds).
There we are by the CapMac truck with our umbrellas!
Sarah and I decided to try the BBQ Bus – we’d both been missing some good barbecue from our home states (FL and GA). It was right next to the Grilled Cheese bus, which you can see in the background.
DC is way cool, guys. These people might all be skinny because you have to walk a mile to get anywhere (and, in some cases, have to traverse six flights of stairs because your elevator is down)…but they sure do know how to eat.
Even the squirrels enjoy good food.
And that’s the way the hippo heckles.
No comments:
Post a Comment