Apartment Hunting

My boyfriend and I spent Sunday go-go-going all day.  We had a bunch of things to do, but most important was to work on apartment hunting in the suburbs around DC.  While we both love Baltimore, his commute is way too long right now and we need to move closer to his work.  So in a few short months we'll be packing up everything to move about an hour south.  But the question is where? 

 

Before heading out I went for a quick run.  I don't like to eat heavy before a run, but I needed a little something, so I had a small glass of horchata I'd made Saturday night.  I followed this recipe, and the horchata came out really well.  But of course I tweaked it just a bit ...  Rather than 8 cups of water total, each time I was supposed to add 4 cups of water I added 2 cups of water and 2 cups of vanilla almond milk (unsweetened).  I think this gave the drink a really nice flavor and a bit more "body".  It was soooo good, but I can't drink it all up, because the reason I made the horchata is for this cupcake recipe.  I'm making these cupcakes for a work lunch on Saturday and I'm super excited about them.  They look so good, and I hope everyone else will love them too. 

 

Once I was all cleaned up, my boyfriend and I drove down to Takoma Park, which a friend told us was a nice area.  We didn't have any specific apartments to look at yet, but our plan was to drive around and get a feel for the area and what it has to offer. 

 

Part of our reconnaisance involved stopping for lunch at this little restaurant which had great reviews on Yelp, My Little Bistro.  The reviews included lots of people who mentioned their wonderful vegan offerings. 

 

And this place didn't disappoint.  While they offer plenty of meat options (they are predominately a Latin chicken place), they have an entire vegan menu.  Plus all their dessert offerings are vegan as well. 

I ordered the pesto chicken sandwich and split a side order of yuca fries with my boyfriend.  The salsa verde that came with the yuca fries was delicious!  The sandwich was very good as well, though I was thrown that the pesto wasn't the traditional basil pesto you think of, but was a sundried tomato pesto.  I actually thought they'd forgotten the pesto on my sandwich until I asked!  They even had Boylan's soda on tap, which my boyfriend was thrilled about. 

Luckily we both managed to save a little room for dessert too.  We split a double chocolate chip cookie, which was fudgey and indulgent.  The cakes looked delicious, and I wish we'd had one of those too, but we'd eaten so much by that point we very well might have exploded if we'd tried.  Next time ...

 

Unfortunately, despite the merits of My Little Bistro, one thing we decided from the trip is that Takoma Park isn't really for us.  We also took the opportunity to drive around Silver Spring, White Oak, Wheaton, and a bit of Kensington.  Apartment hunting is hard!  But either way we're going to have to move, so hopefully we will find some promising prospects soon. 

 

While in DC we also took the opportunity to do a little shopping.  I didn't get anything, but my boyfriend found some great work pants (always useful).  We also stopped by Cosi and split a Mango Pomegranate Lemonade.  A bit too sweet for my taste, but great if you're hot and thirsty from driving and shopping all day. 

 

When we got back to Baltimore we immediately headed off to a going away party for friends who are moving to Boston.  There were all sorts of snacks at the party, but I mostly munched on tortilla chips and fruit salad.  (There was an epic supply of hummus too, but I wasn't really in the mood.)  As a going away present we brought our friends a couple of Baltimore classics: a box of Berger cookies and a bag of crab chips. 

 

Berger cookies are one of those things I really miss from becoming vegan - not that I had them all that often before, but now that I know I can't have them ...  I still think sometimes that I may allow myself to cheat to have just one.  But fortunately crab chips are vegan, despite the name.  It's just regular potato chips seasoned with Old Bay! 

 

After the going away party we scooted off to my boyfriend's parents' place to watch the finale of Game of Thrones.  We've been reading the books, so we haven't been shocked by anything, but it's still fun to watch how the show decides to portray things. 

 

When we finally got home and a chance to rest, my stomach realized that tortilla chips and fruit salad don't make dinner.  So I made myself a quick piece of toast topped with white chocolate wonderful peanut butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.  Also not exactly dinner-worthy, but it was enough to keep my stomach from rumbling as I went to sleep.