"Secret Eating Society"

DOMESTICATED

Forgive me because this post may end up being a little longer than normal. I have tons I've been needing to post, but just haven't worked up the energy to do so. (Truthfully meaning, last Saturday I took a day and sat on the couch and caught up on my DVR/On Demand for the entire day. Along with catching up on a few Zzzzs.) First, cookies and happy hour. I baked snickerdoodles for the first time because I had a MEAN craving for some, but my cookies HAVE to be soft, so I wasn't going to risk some store bought cookies. I therefore, went on an internet hunt for a recipe and made my own :) They were amazing, soft, and thick. I took some to work and shared with a coworker and she said they were some of the best snickerdoodles she had ever eaten. CHA-CHING! LOL! In the process of searching for a recipe, every recipe include cream of tartar which I don't own, so I did research on what the purpose of that ingredient is in baking, then called my stepmom who's a baker and she said I would be okay without it...The results...

Next up, Justyn and I went to Cheesecake Factory for happy hour one Friday, of course I went solely for the food. I ordered the only thing I ever order from there: buffalo chicken blasts, Justyn had the southwest egg rolls, and we shared postickers. Those were the best potstickers I've ever eaten, mainly because of the sauce they were in. My word! Their happy hour consists of $5 appetizers and $5 drinks to I believe. 

So as you can tell by the title, Whit and I finally got to go to our first "Secret Eating Society" dinner a few weeks ago. It was on a Thursday at an art gallery in DC at 8:30 pm, so I hurried home from work, worked out, then drove out there for an amazing time. It felt like the elite of the elite coming together for a fine dining experience. We told our names to the guy at the door, then walked in to the 7:30 dinner crew on the left eating and drinking, appearing to have a really good time.

The menu.

My extremely detailed review. On the other side was the ratings they wanted us to. I failed to mention that it was open bar and there were drink pairings with 3 of our courses.

First course: Ahi Poke.

Second Course: Hawaii Dreams of Spam.

The Art Gallery. This pic doesn't do it any justice, but I was focused on my food.

The pseudo innocent pose. LOL! She was late and had me looking lonely.

Third Course: Kona Luau, Chicken & The Sea

Fourth Course: Kona Luau, Coffee buried pork. The pork is inside the banana leaf.

Fifth Course: Many Mahalos, Pina Colada bread pudding. I'm not a bread pudding kind of girl, but this was amazing. 

The fifth course is pictured twice, because I ate mine and what Whit couldn't finish. LOL!

Killing my second helping of bread pudding. The frozen banana cream on top reminded me of P.F. Chang's coconut ice cream and banana wontons with fruit. Go ahead on down there and try that dessert, you know you want to. You won't regret it.

I had been on a hunt since Jamie told me she got her mason jars from the dollar store; I went to 2 different dollar stores and couldn't find them, so I gave up and went to where I knew they were: Target. I bought a pack of 12 and then right above them were these cute lids and straws. Meaning, I have to have another function at my house and make tasty teas or lemonades :) I bought the jars so I could make my green smoothies before the work week. For the past few weeks I had been blending my drinks daily before work, totally annoying, so now I can make my smoothies along with my meal prep and store them in the freezer until I need them. It's kind of cool how they're all different shades of green.

Mother's day I went to my grandma's in Richmond and got some fresh herbs out of her garden. I got rosemary, sage, mint, and basil. So I baked a chicken for my work week, stuffed it with sweet yellow onion and put some on top, ripped up some rosemary and sage, then sprinkled those 2 herbs on top. Next, I added a little salt, lots of lemon pepper, and a montreal chicken seasoning I have. Baked it at 350 for about an hour....

AND WA-LAH! The chicken is organic too, I got a pack of 2 from WalMart for $14. I was pissed because I let the other one go bad, Justyn and I were going to split it in half and toss it on the grill. I just literally licked my lips thinking of how good that chicken would have been. I had it in the fridge for too long, forgetting organic foods go bad quicker. 

Last night, my line sisters and I had a sleepover. Much needed catch up/girl time. We had a masseuse come over,  each of us got a 30-40 minute massage, then we went to a Chinese food buffet. You know one of those Teppanyaki buffets. But LISTEN HELEN, LISTEN! It was only $12! I was SHOCKED. YOU HEAR ME, SHOCKED! I stuffed my face to the worse degree. 

This was my second plate, it wasn't as good as the first, but it was okay because I was truthfully still stuffed from my first plate. LOL! I had something they called "grilled chicken" and I couldn't get enough of it. They even had yeast rolls like in Golden Corral. Apparently, I need to venture out to Laurel, MD more often.

Enlightenment: I haven't spent as much time with my friends as I should have the past few years, I got caught up in my relationship, like most people do in new relationships, and began to neglect my friendships. On top of that, being in graduate school, commuting, and etc. I never felt like going anywhere honestly because I was too tired. When you get texts from your friends that say "I'm so glad we've been able to hang out more lately," you know you've been slacking in the friend department. Plus, I don't want to be that girl who's only obsessed with her boyfriend and has no life outside of him. I'm glad I was able to get to this point before it became destructive, it's always good to have a level of introspection that allows you to check yourself. 

Random: I've been wanting to share a few things that have been working for my skin that are straight out of the kitchen. Organic apple cider vinegar has been working on my skin as a toner for acne. It has to be organic because of the mother in the cider. Secondly, raw organic coconut oil has been working for eczema relief on my back. It's also good for wrinkles, so I've been using it just about all over.

Enjoy.