Bro-date at G-hut

Hey everyone it's B.  So the other day I met up with a good buddy of mine at Galaxy Hut, or as we like to call it, G-hut.  It's a little dive bar in Clarendon on Wilson Boulevard pretty much directly across from Whole Foods.  I love the place. In my opinion, for its size, they have one of the best beer selections in town.  You'll pay a little more per beer, but you're also getting some top notch liquid deliciousness.  The decor is not what you might expect for a little hole in the wall bar:  there's a lot of interesting art hanging on the walls, as well as several tables made up of old-school arcade games which you can play for a few quarters (we're talking Pac Man here!).  And I'll tell you a few more reasons I keep going back to this place...1.  The grilled cheese sandwich is awesome.  It's two thick slices of Texas toast, and an abundance of ooey gooey cheddar and American cheese.  Go ahead and try to find a better grilled cheese sandwich.  2.  These guys were selling tater tots before the Napoleon Dynamite craze, and they have perfected them.  These aren't the broken and smashed up tots you used to get at the cafeteria in middle school.  These bad boys are deep fried to a delicious crispy brown.  The epitome of what every tot should strive to be.  3.  As long as I'm willing to wait about 5-10 minutes, and keep a sharp eye, I can usually manage to find a couple seats at the bar.  And there's nothing better than going to a dive bar and being one of those guys with a bar seat.  You become one of the respected, the envied, the desired. Basically you become Chuck Norris, except you have a tasty beer, scrumptious grilled cheese sandwich, and the tots of a champion.

Thanks for reading,

B.

Family Cooking

I’m sorry I’ve been a bit MIA this month.  Things at work have been crazy busy, and I’ve been out of town every single weekend in May (and will be for the rest of the month…).  Needless to say, I haven’t been cooking much. 

This past weekend I was back in Pennsylvania visiting my dad and brothers.  When I’m home, I try to help out my dad and clean up the house - it’s a lot of work cleaning up after two boys - and I try to cook a nutritious meal, since I highly doubt they eat any kind of vegetable when I’m not there (they’re subscribers to the meat and potatoes diet).  While I’m usually on my own on the cleaning front, I usually end up with at least one brother acting as my assistant when I’m preparing dinner.  Cooking for my family has turned into one of my favorite parts of going home.  Even though it’s a lot of work, I like being helpful and get really excited when they enjoy something I’ve cooked. It’s even better when my brothers join in to help.  Cooking together has really become a bonding experience for the three of us. We’re all very different, but hanging out in the kitchen seems to be second nature to all of us (must be the Italian blood).  It gives us a chance to talk and is one of the times I feel like I can teach them something useful.  Showing them how to incorporate vegetables, make things more flavorful, or just teaching simple cooking techniques is a chance for me to really embrace the “big sister” role.  I value that time I get to spend with the boys, and we all get to enjoy the end result after! 

Cooking is such a great activity to spend time together.  The next time you are making a meal, simple or complicated, for a few people or many, I encourage you to ask for others to join in.  Use that time in the kitchen as part of the time you spend with others, rather than a task you have to complete before you get to enjoy time with your loved ones. 

The Best Thing I Ever Ate (not in DC)...

Part of what JM and I wanted to do with this blog is find all the “have to try” foods the DC area has to offer.  My current goal is to find the best hoagie spot in town, but so far I’ve had difficulty finding a place that makes amazing bread and stuffs their sandwiches with enough meats and cheeses to even leave Kristie Alley satisfied.  In my life, I’ve had lots of good sandwiches, but when my family was coming in to town over Easter, I had to use the opportunity to have my sister bring me a special delivery of the best sandwich I’ve ever tasted.  It’s the buffalo chicken cheese steak found at the one and only Nuse’s Deli in Morgantown, PA.  If you’re ever in the area, make sure you stop and give it a try.  I like mine with extra hot sauce and blue cheese.  I was thinking about this sandwich for at least a month and it made me realize that I haven’t found something around here yet that brings out the same “need to scarf” attitude in me.  So if you know of any sandwiches in the area that don’t allow you to think straight until you finally get to take a bite of it, let me know, because I’d love to give it a try.

Leave your thoughts in the Comments!

B