Put on your sunday best and head to Brunch at Red Rock Pizzeria

Afternoon fellow twentysomethings,

I have found the holy grail of brunchs. (ok, not better than Yuca Bar in NY but just as good!)

Please put on your sunday best, (not required but oh so much fun!) your cutest new spring sandal wedges (flaunt it if you got it) and head up the yellow/green line to columbia heights. While for most people, columbia heights is a place to be avoided at all costs, unless you live there and then I am sooo sorry, I have found on reason to make the trek: Red Rock Pizzeria. Located on the corner of 11th and Park sits the cutest, red brick townhouse. A sunsoaked patio is filled with young, hip twenty somethings celebrating the amazing seventy degree weather and the sun that has finally decided to grace DC with her presence. The best part about brunch was the $9 Bottomless Mimosas. Jennifer, and I arrived at prime bunching hour (1:15pm) to be pleasantly surprised that our wait amounted to about 5 minutes, much shorter than the host has thought. We found the most perfect table, totally in the sun (which we later started to regret) and started ordering. About 4 mimosa's into the day, my eggs over-easy, smoothered in marinara sauce with two perfectly toasted artisan bread arrived. Jennifer had the Pizza omelet that was cooked to perfection, if I may say so myself as resident egg master and chef. Ole Miss arrived about an (6 mimosa's later = 1 hour later) and she ordered she ordered the marguerita pizza (and by she ordered, I mostly mean Jennifer and I, in our slightly tipsy state, made her order) which we all three quickly devoured. We also ordered the bruschetta about (8 mimosa's later). All in all it was a great afternoon of chatting, gossiping, and spilling our inner-most secrets (it's funny how 8 mimosa's will find you spilling those secrets you swore you would never tell a sole). We finally left around 4:45pm. The waiter had cut us off (jokingly of course, however, after the second table that arrived after us and left before us, commented about how surprised that three such small girls could drink and eat so much, i think the waiter decided it might be time to end the day), however the bartender returned twice to refill our glasses while the waiter was looking the other direction. It was a great afternoon and I highly suggest walking the 4 blocks into columbia heights to find this amazing brunch place, and even just for the pizza which was great. Just to let you know at $25 dollars each (including tip and tax) I think it was an excellent way to spend my Sunday.

My life as a Restauranteur

Currently, it is 61 degrees inside my restaurant in the private dining room. Outside however, it is a glorious 81degrees and sunny...hmm...I dont think i bargained for this. And did I mention it is a SATURDAY. Okay, despite the occasional Saturdays that I need to come in for a couple of hours my new job has turned out to be pretty amazing. The GM of the restaurant is nice, the French Chef is hot and is a lot of fun most of the time when he isn't yelling at the staff and his kitchen help, and the servers have slowly gotten over the "Who is this 12 year old who just waltzed in here off the street and started telling me what to do" attitude. I am starting to find my niche in this place. Things I have done since I started working here have included, "Taste of the Nation," "Rammy" award nominations, The French Wine Society's meeting. All events where I have gotten to taste really good wine, eat delicious food, and oh, right, I guess you could call it work. I have traveled to New York for Passover, eaten Brunch at my favorite place in the lower east side called Yuca Bar (PLEASE PLEASE I beg you to take the 5 hour bus ride, simply to have their Huevos Rancheros, which is eggs over easy, ontop of a black bean quesadilla, delicious guacamole, sour cream, and salsa! Can I just say, the BBQ (Black Bean Quesadilla) melts in your mouth, the eggs appetizingly slurp their way across the plate covering every bite in gooey egginess, and the sour cream and guacamole make licking your plate clean an absolute must, as Cambouri proved to me when we were there...Yes, I had to pull the plate away from her before she actually stuck her tongue on the plate,( I work ina restaurant, I know where plates have been :) ) . I jet setted my way to Sacramento to visit Ten's family, where his half sister just had the most perfect baby boy who was 6 weeks old. He little sneezes, spit-ups, and gurgling made the 5 hour and 30 min (each way) plane ride worth every minute. His parents are absolutly the nicest people, always welcoming my East Coast ways and manners into their house, and actually have started allowing Ten and I to sleep in the same room. After dinner the first night, his mom, during a tipsy moment came to help me set the trundle beds up, (two twin beds in the guest room). She was telling me how happy she was that we had come to visit and as she pushed the twin beds together she looked at me and said one of the most cringe worthy things a potential mother-in-law could say, "There, now you too can be next to each other." Ugh, my face turned bright red, as I embarreslying nodded, excuse myself and ran into Ten's sister's room to hide, before I was forced to have "The Talk". Besides a few awkward moments, it was a wonderful weekend, and it was an unbearable reminder of the type of weather we were missing while living in the frozen tundra of Washington D.C.

Places I have visited recently, um, actually not too many since I have been so busy traveling ( I have just been recapping the past 2 weekends). Tomorrow I have plans for a girl's brunch tomorrow. Mostly that means bottomless mimosa's and bloodymary's at whatever place we can under $10 dollars...hmm...make the 15 since I probably don't want to know what type of champagne is used in the ten dollar one. I think it will be, Ole Miss, Me, my friend Jennifer (she currently is leaving my parents house as a renter, reminder my parents have moved out so not as wierd), and maybe my childhood friend Welsh. My other friend, ND (she has been really disappointed that everytime I write my blog I never talk about stuff i do with her, and she may make me change her name but for now, ND will work), has her parents in town so she won't be able to come :( She is actually going to be eating dinner with her parents at my new restaurant, I hope everything is delicious and I would highly recommend it if it wouldn't give away my identity, but it comes highly recommended by the Washington Post as one of the best new restaurants in the city, so I guess that is a hint.

I guess that is an update. I am finding it increasingly important to make good friends and keep them. Having moved so much between colleges and after college it is really hard to keep friends. I hate to talk on the phone which makes keeping in touch with friends all across the country very difficult and totally unsatisfying. Ole Miss and I have become really close, and as someone who knows how to have good girl friends (being the southern belle that she is) I have been taking pointers from her and trying to follow her lead when it comes to being friends with girls and how to handle all the situations that arise, like break-ups, boy troubles, and making sure to spend enough time away from Ten and with my girlfriends (even though I have to say, I am pretty good at that, not perfect, but better than most, and I probably should not take any credit for that, because it is usually Ten telling me, "I need guy time, if I have to listen to you endlessly prattle on about your job, your friends, and gossip I might kill myself. I need some beer, bbq's, and babes" (he is joking about the babes thing, but I get the hint).

So Hope everyone's has been doing well. I will let you know where I end up for brunch. Hopefully some really cool place on U St or Adam's morgan. Let me know if you have suggestions.