Being a foodie, I am constantly trying to balance how much I eat out in relation to how much I eat in. I love cooking and experimenting on my own accord in my kitchen, but I also love having other people cook for me and having new and cool food experiences in the city. I don’t plan on being in D.C. forever so while I’m here, I’m on a mission to try all the places it has to offer that intrigue me.
This has gotten more difficult as my neighborhood has decided to be the hippest place in town and open like a bajillion new restaurants. See THIS article from the Washington City Paper to get an idea of what I’m saying here. Not to mention all the other restaurants I want to go to all over the city and new ones popping up all over the place.
It’s not just for “being healthy’s sake” that I don’t want to eat out too much- in fact, I’m a pretty firm believer that you can eat healthy pretty much anywhere and not be too concerned about that. It’s more so a money thing- eating out is expensive.
Being a master planner serves me well with meal planning and grocery shopping. I love saving money each week by making more of my own meals and buying things out less. But at the same time, I hate feeling tied to the food in my kitchen and guilty for being spontaneous or trying a new place out on a whim. When I have stuff that I can easily make at home that I already paid for, it’s really hard for me sometimes to throw caution to the wind, blow off my meal plan, and buy food out somewhere. BUT again, I love experiences out and I hate turning down these opportunities when they present themselves to me. Argh. First world problems- I know. But it’s a struggle sometimes!
What I basically try and do is pick 2-3 places a week that I want to go to and then plan on making all my other meals. Some I’ll plan out- so for example, I’ll make reservations with Will for the weekend somewhere or make note that I’m going to try a new place some time in the upcoming week. And then I’ll also choose a day where I just say I’ll get lunch out and then decide that day where I want to go. I think it’s the closest I can get to a good balance for me between planning, making my own food, eating out, making splurges, saving money, and being free in terms of my food choices.
Truth be told: I love eating out just as much as I love cooking myself. It’s all about the experience. Getting ready to go- being excited to go- getting there- perusing the menu- waiting and anticipating that perfect thing that you want- getting a beautiful plate of food- devouring the deliciousness- not having to clean up- going home happy and full. I don’t know about you- but dining is like, one of my favorite things in the world.
So this week, after a year’s worth of hard work going into the telethon at my work and having SIX consecutive days off because of it, I have decided to reward myself with a handful of dining experiences. I made sure I didn’t over buy things when I went grocery shopping so that I would be able to get out there and eat. But of course, keeping my wallet and my body happy, I also did buy plenty of yummy things to satisfy my hunger and soul throughout the week.

strawberries- my favorite fruit. I have a pasta strawberry pesto salad recipe I want to try out this week!
On Wednesday after bootcamp, to celebrate my first day off in the six day series, I took myself out to breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien (a tried and true favorite):
And for dinner I met up with my friend Jess to try a place I haven’t tried before- Farmers Fishers and Bakers located on the Georgetown waterfront. SO DELICIOUS. And the restaurant is pretty cool looking- lots to look at in the inside.
We shared their warm, soft pretzels and a pork belly sushi roll- both were awesome. I ordered the shrimp scampi which is served with just the shrimp in a lil skillet, a vegetable medley, and a rice medley on the side. And because they have a killer dessert list- I just had to try their strawberry/rhubarb crumble. Nom.
Tonight Will and I are going to try out Piola- a new pizza place that opened three blocks from our apartment. Can you say dangerous? But until May 26th their WHOLE menu is half off! How awesome is that? They make super thin crust pizza and add a lot of their toppings after they take it out of the oven- this intrigues me. After briefly checking out their menu online I think I can safely say that I’m going to have a hard time figuring out what to order- so many tasty looking options!

I have a feeling that this weekend tacos from another new joint- Taqueria Nacional- are going to happen and maybe a baked good from the new bakery right next door- Bake House DC? Maybe this will be the weekend I finally get a sandwich from Sundevich?! I hope so. That place has been on my “food to-do list” for a while now.
So many places- so little time. But I need to remind myself that there is in fact plenty of time to try all these eateries. In due time I shall. In due time.
In between all these eating out times- there will be plenty of lovely meals made with the foods I shared above, yogurt with fresh fruit, bowls of overnight oats, and massive salads.

Carrot Cake Overnight Oats: 1/3 cup oats, 1/2 cup grated carrot, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, 1 tbl. coconut, 2 tbl. raisins, 1 tsp. honey, 1 cup of almond milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, 1 wedge of laughing cow cinnamon cream cheese, and 1 tbl. flax.
I’m constantly trying to find the right balance of everything I got going on and that includes eating out and eating in- you gotta be able to be practical and be able to “carpe diem” it up.
Keep it wicked healthy xoxo
























































