CitySearch DC

So everyone's heard of Yelp and review sites of the like. While I stay busy on Twitter these days, I have also stumbled upon CitySearch. This is a newer review site but growing! I am currently a "Dictator" for them which means, I have to write a certain amount of reviews and compile a few lists per month. I also promote the site on social media sites. Since I'm out and about quite often, this is not a hard task.  In exchange for my reviews, the dictators get free/cheap happy hour's, $100 gift cards, and also tickets to sold out events such as a bellini-making class this week.

I suggest everyone try out this website, post reviews, pictures or make your own lists! You can also check out the reviews I have already written here.

Cheers :)

Weekend with Family

So this past weekend, Bryan and I hosted his parents, brother and his wife. Along with the vistors, his sister lives here in Arlington as well. The 8 of us were out and about in Arlington/DC all weekend! Tried out a few new places, some good, some bad. Here it goes!

Thursday night dinner was at Pines of Florence in Ballston. It was his father's birthday so we wanted to celebrate. Overall, great food, poor service! I'll definitely go back but maybe I'll order out next time.

Friday, I tried Bruegger's Bagels, also in Ballston, on my way to the metro. I love the diverse menu from breakfast to lunch to salads.  I also had a bad service experience here. The server completely forgot my order and I had to wait an extra 10 minutes while the rest of my party ate.

After grabbing some grub, his mom, brother and his wife went into DC and toured around the American History museum as well as the Natural History museum. I was surprised to see 2 long lines to get into the Natural History museum.  After spending a few hours in DC, we came back to meet up with everyone else at our small apartment for burgers and dogs. We headed to a Nat's game after dinner. Taking the metro again, it took a while to get there. Finally getting into our seats by the 3rd inning, the Nat's played so well! We stayed after the game for the fireworks show which was a nice surprise. I didn't know they had a fireworks show. Upon arriving back in Arlington, we decided to show his brother around Clarendon. We had planned on going to Spider Kelly's for some shuffle board but there was a "Clarendon Ballroom" kinda line at the door! Maybe there was an event going on I didn't know about. We settled on Mister Days but only went for a drink. We walked over to Eleventh which was a lot less crowded. It was also a more clubby feel with the DJ and couches in the basement.

Saturday morning we all met up at Whitlow's on Wilson for their weekly brunch! One of my favorite spots for weekend brunch, at $16.95 for an all u can eat buffet, it can't be beat. Since it was kinda rainy, we just hung out and visited with one another the remainder of the day.  We decided on Capitol City Brewing in DC for dinner. Bad choice!! Food was subpar and service was horrible. After dinner, we went to Oya which is probably one of my new favorite spots. It's super swanky and all white decor is amazing. Can't wait to go back and try some cocktails and items on the menu. From there, on to Iron Horse we went! What a fun place! Skee ball, shuffle board, motorcycles. Definitely different from Oya but it was fun to let loose.

Wow, what a weekend! We were relieved when everyone left although it is always great to see family. Try some of the new places I tried this weekend!!

Cheers :)

Vote: MARLEY

So, I know this is an off post not concerning wine, food, or local deals BUT my furry friend is nominated for Arlington's Cutest Dog contest! He's full of life and means a lot to our family. I adopted him at the age of 8 weeks and he was only 2.06 lbs. Now he's 3 and a half years old and 5 lbs. He loves car rides, playing with his favorite toys, and swimming in his life jacket! We would greatly appreciate your vote for our baby, Marley!

Click here to VOTE!

Thanks for the support!

Bryan, Jess & Marley

BBQ in the Crockpot!

To ring in the summer season, we made our first homemade pulled pork bbq in the crockpot. Talk about juicy and succulent! Bryan went to Costco and brought home a 15 lb pork shoulder! Obviously, it's just the two of us so we cut it in half, plus 15 lbs will NOT fit in our crockpot. We injected it with apple juice and garlic cloves. We also added salt and pepper and Mrs. Dash's Extra Spicy seasoning. We set it on high for 6 hours. After the 6 hours, we drained the excess, shredded the meat and added a ton of Sweet Baby Ray's barbeque sauce. Set it to warm for another 45 minutes. I made pulled bbq sandwiches with toasted whole grain kaiser rolls.

While the pork was roasting, I made a homemade mac n cheese with whole grain rotini, cheddar, parmesan, and mozzarella cheese.
Recipe is as follows:


1 box of pasta
1/2 stick of butter, cubed
3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of sour cream
1 cup of milk
3 eggs, beaten
1 can of cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper
1/2 cup of parmesan
1/2 cup of mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil pasta according to box directions. Melt 1/2 stick of butter and cheddar cheese in a saucepan to a thick, melted cheese. Add melted cheddar cheese, sour cream, milk, eggs, cheese soup, salt and pepper to the cooked pasta and stir to coat. Place pasta in casserole dish and sprinkle with parmesan and mozzarella and/or bread crumbs. Bake on 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

To conclude our feast, we had corn on the cob and deviled eggs. Now I have plenty of leftovers for lunch all this week! We plan on cooking the other half of the shoulder sometime in July with plenty of friends to join in!

Cheers :)

Renting is SUCH a Bargain!!

My newest addiction: Rent the Runway! It's a website based out of NYC, where you can rent designer dresses and accessories for a week/weekend and when you're done with the event, just mail it back. Now how easy can that be?! I'm always tempted to buy fun, flirty, flashy dresses but never do because "when am I going to wear this again?!" Problem solved :)

So I heard about this on the radio and immediately signed up. You have to be on a wait list for a day or so but by the next day, I was all ready to go! There is NO membership fees to join. My 25th birthday was a few weeks ago and I had planned for a bunch of friends to go out in DC and wanted a super fun dress to party in. Went to Rent the Runway and rented my flashy, blue sequin dress for only $50! Another plus...you get to pick 2 sizes in case one doesn't fit right! All for the same price. It was at my apartment Friday afternoon. I wore it Saturday night. Dropped it in the mailbox on Monday morning in a postage paid envelope and was done with it! No dry cleaning or worries. I also purchased the $5 insurance coverage in case something horrible happened but believe me, I was extra careful :)

My dress was such a hit!! I had compliments not only from my friends but from complete strangers on the street. I felt gorgeous that night and all it cost me was a little over $50. Can't beat it.

I've already rented another dress for an August wedding. I'm sure there will be many more "events" that I'll need a fun dress for :)

Waterfront dinner on a dime!

I went to Farmer's and Fisher's last night for my celebratory birthday dinner with my family. We had been to Founding Farmers and loved it, so we wanted to try their sister restaurant. This is a new restaurant on the Georgetown Waterfront. It was a gorgeous, warm day to be on the water. We had reservations for 5 people and were quickly seated. I loved the decor. The tablecloths made it seem like you were on a picnic on a farm. Very bright and welcoming. I ordered the pan-roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and corn ($14). It was delish! The chicken was tender and juicy. You can tell everything is fresh, even down to the sweet tea.  The rest of my family also enjoyed their meal along with the bread that was served before the meal.

Service was great. Very prompt and got all of our orders correct. She had an accent that was sometimes hard to understand but overall, we received great service both at the table and hostess stand.

I think this is a great restaurant with great prices especially for Georgetown Waterfront! For the 5 of us, our total bill was $100 before tip and we didn't get any alcohol. Cocktails are $12 each but if they're anything like Founding Farmers concoctions, they are worth it!

This place is definitely worth checking out and we'll be back!

New Menu at Tallula EatBar

Since following Arlnow_dot_com on Twitter, I have heard about new, upcoming restaurants and also new things about existing establishments. For example, who couldn't love a wood fire pizza place with a HUGE patio for al fresco dining?! That's coming to Courthouse in June. It's called Fire Works Pizza. The company is expanding it's business into Arlington. There is already a restaurant in Leesburg. There are a few other new places in the works, Lyon Hall, Rustico, and Northside Social.

However, what caught my eye the other day was a new menu unveiling at Tallula EatBar. Now Tallula is a little pricey for a frugal person like me. EatBar is their gastropub next door with a more laid back attitude and environment. It's off the beaten path and in a neighborhood on Washington Blvd. It was a perfect spot for a Thursday evening drink. The boyfriend and I drove over there and got a parking spot right by the front door! It wasn't packed and we were able to get a small table in the window. Very intimate setting.  The clientele were older business people and a mix of younger people enjoying happy hour specials.  Since this was a Rammy voting party and also the unveiling of the new menu, we had to try out the food. The reviews on Yelp made me weary. I knew not to expect an abundance of food and the price to be a little high for what you get.  Keeping that in mind, we ordered onion rings, dirty risotto fritter and 2 sweet and sour pork sliders. Below is a picture.  Granted, it was all veryyy tasty and flavorful but like the other yelpers, I was disappointed in the amount of food. Each slider was $4, the fritter was $1.50, and the onion rings were $3.

The wine list was extensive for by the glass and there were a few microbrews to pick from which made Bryan happy!  Wines were half off each glass and draft beers were $4. Overall, it was a great Thursday happy hour. I would love to go back and try a few more items on the menu, I'll just have to dig a little deeper in my pockets this time.

Cheers :)