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A Look At: Ethiopic

June 30, 2011 By 8 Comments

If you read Johnna Knows Good Food regularly, then you’re in on my little secret:  I love (adore) Ethiopian food.  Seriously.  In ranking my top comfort foods, there’s soul food, Italian and Ethiopian, in no particular order.  It is something about the Injera that mesmerizes my senses while it freaks others out with its spongy texture.  Recently, I had the opportunity to venture to yet another Ethiopian treasure in the District, Ethiopic.  Ethiopic is the first of its kind in the H street corridor and has made quite a name for itself on this side of town.

Trekking over on one of the hottest days in the District, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that renovations were in full force and Ethiopic’s air conditioning system was a mere window AC high above the seating area.  It could have jolted my experience to a halt had I not been greeted by one of the widest smiles and warmest greetings I have had in a District restaurant to date.  I actually had to squint across the room to see if that was the person I was meeting or the host of the restaurant.  It was the latter and I was quickly escorted over to my “reserved” (*too cute, they actually had “reserved” place cards…) table.

I know the drill at Ethiopian restaurants now, so I immediately select the veggie combo and decide the fish should accompany my order.  My guest and I decided to share and must have been starving because I totally forgot about pictures before we started digging in, hence the after shots below. 

©JohnnaKnowsGoodFood

Spicy shimbra asa (*Spicy chickpeas dumpling seasoned with onions, garlic, red pepper, & spices), miser wot (*Pureed split red lentils simmered with red pepper sauce) and tikile gomen (*Cabbage, carrots, and potatoes simmered in mild sauce) were some of the usual suspects circling our tray. 

©JohnnaKnowsGoodFood

The fish was served crisp and fresh with a splash of fresh lemon juice making me forget about all the bones pricking my fingers.

Pleased and full I can leave saying my Ethiopic experience was a good one.  One more reason to add to make my way over to H street…
Ethiopic Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Filed Under: restaurant reviews, Washington D.C. Tagged With: , , , ,

Who Runs the World?! Girls!

June 29, 2011 By 3 Comments

©JohnnaKnowsGoodFood

Want to plan a girls night out? Here are five ways to catch up with those awesome ladies in your life:

  1. Proof’s War of the Rosés has to be my favorite deal of the summer.  The restaurant is offering several different bottles this summer for $35 and guests will have the opportunity to decide for themselves which one reigns supreme.  A bottle of champagne plus some good girl talk?? Sounds like a plan.
  2. ADC is one of the sexiest venues in the District.  Hands down.  The rooftop pool bar at the Donovan House hotel commands attention from the District’s professional crowd.  The lounge has released three new frozen cocktails (*Sake Garden, Pink Poodle and Orange Crush Margarita) to add a chill to the sizzle of summer. Happy hour with the girls?
  3. Blue Duck Tavern recently upgraded their outdoors scene and they made sure to do the same with their menu.  After the President and First Lady visit a spot in the District, it usually turns into the scene and be seen spot.  Tap the girlfriends for a night of dining at one of the most sought after reservations since the President and First Lady visited for their anniversary in 2009 (*and the First Lady recently visited for lunch).
  4. Rise and shine!  Get your fave ladies together one Saturday morning for a trip to the Farmers Market and brunch.  Visit 14th and U Farmers Market for some Whisked! seasonal fruit pies and then head over to Utopia for $.25 mimosas.
  5. Jazz in the Garden.  Just one of the many reasons I adore DC.  After a laborious week at the office, sangrias, light jazz in the background and your girlfriends chilling out on the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden’s vast green space is how one can put an end to the week.  Check out the schedule here and get there early, the lawn fills up fast with blankets…

Filed Under: Announcements, Food.Fun.Stuff., Washington D.C. Tagged With: , , , , ,

Etiquette Tuesday: Butt Out

June 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Buck's Wood-Grilled Rack of Lamb

As much as I spend time socializing, you would think the community table would be my top choice in a restaurant.  It is actually my least favorite spot in the restaurant and I will tell you why in this week’s Etiquette Tuesday: the unsolicited restaurant guest.  A few weeks ago I visited Buck’s Fishing and Camping for a late dinner with a friend.  After realizing 9 pm was entirely too late to feed my body and the fact that the staff, though extremely nice, was understaffed for the evening, my mood changed from social butterfly to the near decrepit butterfly.  Once seated, I was only in the mood for a glass of something red, to order the heaviest thing on the menu to prep me for a good nights sleep and to chat it up with my solicited guest of the evening.  Unlucky for me, the restaurant seated us at the community table right beside the Man That Wanted to Talk (Too Much).

The man seated beside me and my guest decided he would join in on our entire conversation by first introducing himself and continuing this long rant before coming up for air.  I tried, my guest tried and we both tried again to break off the conversation every chance we got without being totally rude and saying what we really felt:  “Would you leave us alone?!?”.  Needless to say, we had almost finished our meals before he left with the conversation that devoured our entire dinner.  I had never felt so glad to see someone leave a restaurant in my life.

Buck's Pan-Cooked Softshell Crab

The moral of the story here is: know when to stay out or butt in.  Some people look for this type of company at restaurants, community tables and the like.  On the other hand, there are those of us (*me) that really want to enjoy the company of the person I came with/met up with at the restaurant or if I am alone, I really want to be alone.  Know your boundaries and an easy way to feel this out is to make the first gesture and see how responsive the other party is to your invitation to be social.  If they do not reciprocate with another conversation starter or a continuation of the one that you have started, then let this be a big clue to: Butt Out!

Filed Under: Etiquette Tuesday Tagged With: ,

Whisked!

June 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I often say I want to open a boutique and it is when I hear stories like this one that the vision becomes clearer.  Jenna Huntsberger (Modern Domestic food blog) and Stephanie Willis (Adventures in Shaw blog) turned their love of baked goods into Whisked! Whisked! is the marriage of northern style and southern charm baked goods.  Jenna (*Pacific Northwest native) and Stephanie (*Southern native) first met when Jenna volunteered to bake and help out at the 2009 Food Bloggers Spooktacular Bake Sale.  The two kept in touch and realized they shared the love of baking American classics with modern tastes.  It’s no surprise that when the opportunity arose for them to share a booth at the 14th & U Street market, they came together and created Whisked!

At a recent media preview event, I had the opportunity to taste the treats that are consistently tweeted about in my Saturday morning timeline.  All the buzz is true, this is good stuff.  The fruit pies were my absolute favorite: seasonal fruit pies currently filled with strawberry rhubarb. Amazing.  The strawberry rhubarb reminds me of the fresh strawberry preserves that my aunt would make straight from farm to table.  I could have had ten of these alongside the deep mint chocolate “Grasshopper Bars”, a couple slices of the light as a feather red velvet cake and about 10 of the chocolate chip cookies.  Unusual for a person that does not fancy sweets, which if nothing else, speaks volumes on how I feel about this new baking station.

Unfortunately for me, the goodies are sold at the 14th and U street farmers market, which I can never get myself together in time for on a Saturday morning.  Lucky for me, however, the treats can be ordered online here.  Whisked! might actually get me to convert to being a sweets lover.  Who would’ve thought??…

Filed Under: baked, Food.Fun.Stuff., sweets, Washington D.C. Tagged With: , , , , ,

World Tour: Jamaica in my kitchen

June 24, 2011 By 2 Comments

I’ve rambled about my experience with Jamaican-style food in Greensboro before, today my focus is on my experience with Jamaican-style seasoning in my kitchen.

Image via Sam McGees.Com

If you’re looking for a taste of the Caribbean, the best thing to do is buy an airline ticket. Failing that, you could try Walkerswood Traditional Jamaican Jerk seasoning – unfortunately it doesn’t come with white sands and clear blue waters though.  I have used this spicy blend of scallions, scotch bonnet peppers, salt, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, sugar and thyme to kick up pork ribs, chicken and even burgers.  It especially pumps up the flavor of your food when you marinate it overnight – I usually coat my food in olive oil and then just add a little of the Walkerswood – and I do mean a LITTLE  (just a teaspoon goes a looong way).  The bold flavor that this Jerk seasoning adds to my food makes me very curious about the different combination of spices that Jamaicans actually use on the islands.  Until my United Airlines points build up and I am able to experience it first hand, I’ll just have keep finding new ways to use my Walkerswood Jerk seasoning.

Filed Under: cultural cooking, World Tour Tagged With: , ,
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