Lunchtime Links for June 29th, 2012

• Around the World in 80 Plates: Recap from TVGasm.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Healthy 3 ingredient fudgy chocolate cookies. 
• Serious Eats: Bandolero restaurant in DC. 
• BGSK: S'more chocolate bark. 
• Buzzfeed: The Hills at art. 

Magic Mike, Wooooooooooo

So, as you all SHOULD know, the Best Picture of the Year nominee (right? right?), MAGIC MIKE, is out in theatres starting today.

I'll be seeing it this weekend (duh), but in case some of you are on the fence about it, here's a blog post with 50 reasons why you should see it:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/stacylambe/50-reasons-to-see-magic-mike

Thanks M for the link, haha!

Also, just for kicks, here's a fantastic clip of Joe Manganiello and Andrew Zimmern (yes, from the Travel Channel) demonstrating a body roll hahahah.  Andy Cohen can't take his eyes off of Joe!

Lunchtime Links for June 28th, 2012

• Kirbie's Cravings: Healthy 3 ingredient chocolate cake.
• Eat Yourself Skinny: Spicy shrimp with cilantro and lime. 
• The Kitchn: A summer drink keg made out of a watermelon. 
• One Vanilla Bean: Fresh summer corn ravioli.
• Million Dollar Listing LA: Recap from TVGasm.

Skinny Cow - Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream Bar

I'm a huge fan of ice cream, and while I have my favorites, I'm always up for trying out some new flavors and products.

These Skinny Cow Cookies 'n Cream Truffle bars  were on sale and I had a coupon, so it was an easy choice to try these out, haha.  They are only 100 calories per bar, which isn't all that bad considering what some other ice creams can total. 

Taste-wise, they didn't particularly taste like regular cookies 'n cream ice cream, with not a ton of cookie pieces that actually made anything taste cookie-ish.  It was mostly a pretty sweet vanilla, and most of the chocolate flavor coming from the fancy drizzle pattern surrounding the bar.  However, it was satisfying and tasty enough for a fun dessert option.  Give it a try if you're a fan of the other products in the Skinny Cow line!

Lunchtime Links for June 27th, 2012

• Kirbie's Cravings: Mini donuts.
• Two Peas and Their Pod: Chocolate sheet cake with peanut butter frosting.
• Real Housewives of OC: Recap from TVGasm.  
• The Pioneer Woman: Easy calzones.
• The Kitchn: Answer to why maple syrup containers have tiny handles.

Georgetown Cupcake - Free Triple Caramel Cupcake

The more "new" flavors I try from Georgetown Cupcake's menu, the more likely I am to make comparisons to previous flavors that I've tried.  Although in this case with the free Triple Caramel cupcake, I think I have a good enough reason for it, haha.

The Triple Caramel cupcake shown here consisted of a caramel cake, caramel frosting, and caramel drizzle. 

Sound familiar? 


Salted Caramel cupcake: Caramel cupcake with a salted caramel-infused buttercream frosting topped with a caramel drizzle

So - basically this "new" cupcake is more or less the same as their regular Salted Caramel cupcake, presumably without the salt component, haha.  Don't get me wrong, it was still a tasty cupcake, but really I'd say it's new on a technicality.  Well, either way I can now check it off my list :o) 

Lunchtime Links for June 26th, 2012

• Kirbie's Cravings: Nutella funnel cake.
• The Kitchn: Summer hostess gift ideas. 
• Teen Mom: Recap from TVGasm. 
• Smitten Kitchen: Cold rice noodles with peanut lime chicken.
• I Wanna Be A Domestic Goddess: S'mores blondies.

3rd Blog Birthday - Dunkin' Donuts Giveaway!

As I previously mentioned, here's my Thank You giveaway to celebrate 3 years of having this blog last Friday!!

I thought this little infographic would show just part of what I love about Dunkin' Donuts - their quirky sense of humor in advertising:




 via Dunkin' Donuts' Facebook page

I enjoy feeling superior and trendy, don't you?  Haha!

Another thing I love about Dunkin' Donuts? Their iced coffee.  And the Tropicana orange Coolatta.  And the Boston Creme doughnut, always a classic.  Mmmmmm.

So, to share my love of Dunkin' Donuts and to say Thank You for reading my blog, here's a chance for you to win one of two prizes!

Prize 1: $25 Dunkin' Donuts gift card, Dunkin' Donuts travel mug, and a Dunkin' Donuts iced drink tumbler.  


Prize 2: $5 Dunkin' Donuts gift card, Dunkin' Donuts iced drink tumbler, and a Free medium latte coupon.

DC friends - the iced drink tumbler is great- it doesn't get all wet on the outside from condensation, and if you bring it to a Dunkin' Donuts to fill up, you can get iced coffee or iced tea in it for only $0.99!

I may throw in some other little goodies as well :o)

Here are the rules:

• Enter to win one of two prize packages by commenting on this post with your favorite menu item from Dunkin' Donuts.  If you have never been to one, my condolences, but check out their website and tell me what you feel like eating/drinking currently, haha.
• Giveaway will run from 10:00AM June 26th - 5:00PM June 29th (Eastern Standard Time).
• Winners will be chosen via random.org and notified via e-mail (so please make sure there is a valid e-mail address attached to your entry). The winners' names will be announced on my blog the following week (pending winner verification).
• One entry per person, please.
• This giveaway is open to residents of the US with a valid shipping address (no PO boxes please). 

Good luck everyone, and thanks for reading!


Side Note: This giveaway was 100% my idea and due to my true and undying love of Dunkin' Donuts.  The DC Dunkin' Donuts Twitter account is generously providing two $5 gift cards and branded items; the remaining $20 towards the Prize 1 gift card was purchased with my own ca$h money.

Lunchtime Links for June 25th, 2012

• Kirbie's Cravings: Donut mug cake.
• Serious Eats: Taste test of every Chobani yogurt.
• Eat Yourself Skinny: Peanut butter cup blondies.  
• Buzzfeed: DIY project ideas.
• Picky Palate: Mini peanut butter and chocolate buttercream cookie sandwiches.

Love, Love, Love: Laguna Beach + The Hills

So, I will preface this by saying that I own about 99% of the Laguna Beach/The Hills DVDs, but no matter...

According to OK! magazine, MTV will be starting a daily block of programming called Retro Mania, including back-to-back episodes of Laguna Beach and The Hills, starting today, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Granted these are all on weekdays from 9am-12pm... but I thought I'd pass this along to anyone that is working from home, or *cough* sick *cough* and at home.  Or better yet, record them to watch later a million times!!

Lunchtime Links for June 22nd, 2012

• Bakerella: Homemade marshmallows.
• Serious Eats: 4 meat grinder at Stachowski Market. 
• My Baking Addiction: S'mores pudding shots. 
• Two Peas and Their Pod: Red, white, and blue Funfetti sandwich cookies.
• The Kitchn: How to determine if an avocado is ripe.

My 3rd Blog Birthday!!!

I can't believe it'll already be 3 years today since my first blog post!  I think it's safe to say that I haven't run out of things to blabber on about on this blog, haha.

A special thank you to everyone that's stopped by to check out a post, commented, or participated in something that resulted in a post on here.  This blog has allowed me to meet so many great bloggers and it's been a really fantastic experience so far!

To celebrate, I wanted to get a little Thank You giveaway going, which is still in the works at the moment.  Keep an eye out for a post next week, with a giveaway of one of my favorite things!

Lunchtime Links for June 21st, 2012

• Buzzfeed: Anderson Cooper being sassy on Twitter.
• How Sweet It Is: Roasted tomato caprese panzanella. 
• Kirbie's Cravings: Peanut butter shortbread cookies. 
• Buzzfeed: 15 small victories that will improve your day.
• Million Dollar Listing: Recap from TVGasm.

Oreo Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Just when you didn't think Oreos could get any better, these cookies will make you love Oreos even more!  This delicious recipe for Oreo chocolate chip cookies comes courtesy of my friend N.  These are chewy, chocolatey, and super duper Oreo-y, yum!

I used dark chocolate chunks that I had, and the dark chocolate was a nice contrast to the sweet dough and Oreo chunks.  I've made these cookies a few times and everyone has loved them each time!  If you're a fan of Oreo cookies, I highly recommend this recipe :o)

Lunchtime Links for June 20th, 2012

• Kathy YL Chan: Sunday brunch at the Ritz in NYC.
• Serious Eats: 12 easy lemonade variations. 
• Kirbie's Cravings: Nutella donut pancakes.
• The Pioneer Woman: Potato skins.
• Picky Palate: Pancakes and bacon cake slices with maple buttercream.

Shake Shack - Fluffernutter Custard

This custard was one of the March custards at Shake Shack - Fluffernutter, woo!  For those of you that don't know what Fluffernutter is - it's a v. high-class combination of marshmallow fluff and peanut butter.  Yup, with that gigantic retro-looking jar of white marshmallow goo on the grocery store shelf.

Shake Shack did a wonderful job of creating a custard based on what is normally a sandwich, haha.  There was lots of yummy peanut butter swirled throughout.  The base of the custard did taste more like vanilla than any specific marshmallow flavor, but it was delicious nonetheless.  Let's be honest, anything with peanut butter is a winner in my book!

Lunchtime Links for June 19th, 2012

• Serious Eats: Crunchy fried chocolate wontons.
• The Budget Babe: LC Lauren Conrad for Kohl's Summer 2012. 
• Picky Palate: Seattle and Tree Top orchard.
• How Sweet It Is: Yellow birthday cake with chocolate frosting. 
• Kirbie's Cravings: Chinese cucumber salad.

Taylor Gourmet - Washington Square Salad + Chocolate Chip Cookie

Recently, Taylor Gourmet announced three new spring salads, and I was excited to try them all out!  I started off with this Washington Square: Romaine hearts, watermelon, tomato, red onion, goat cheese, basil vinaigrette.  I was wondering if this salad might be too watery with the tomato and watermelon, but all of the components went REALLY well together, especially with the addition of the basil vinaigrette.  I'm not quite sure exactly what is in this dressing, but dayyyyyyyyyyyyyym, it is GOOD.  I would definitely order this fresh and light salad again!

While I was there, I also decided to try one of their chocolate chip cookies.  First of all, the cookie was huge, haha.  There was an ample amount of chocolate chips in each bite of the buttery cookie.  While my focus at Taylor is obviously the hoagies and salads- it's always nice to have a sweet option available!

Lunchtime Links for June 18th, 2012

• Serious Eats: Homemade ricotta.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Pumpkin quick bread mug cake. 
• Picky Palate: Flourless chocolate cake. 
• Better Recipes: Layered peanut butter brittle ice cream pops.
• How Sweet It Is: Southwest chicken salad slider melts.

Sprinkles - Flourless Chocolate Cupcake

It's always a fun day when I happen to be in Georgetown when Sprinkles is offering their daily free cupcake!  They are a bit trickier than Georgetown Cupcake in that it's not posted at the beginning of the day - both Sprinkles and Sprinkles DC accounts on Facebook and Twitter post at various times in the day.

This one is the flourless chocolate cupcake - and no, I did not specifically ask for the holiday one, in case you were curious, haha.  It was a moist, dense chocolate cake with what I believe is a vanilla glaze on top, although that can't be confirmed via their website.  I'm a big fan of flourless chocolate cake, so this was delicious and I really enjoyed it - a glass of milk was necessary with this level of richness!

Lunchtime Links for June 15th, 2012

• Serious Eats: What to order at Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas.
• Smitten Kitchen: Broccoli parmesan fritters. 
• Eat Yourself Skinny: Funfetti dip.
• Two Peas and Their Pod: Cookie dough pretzel bites.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Chocolate espresso muffins.

Luke's Lobster - Bethesda is Open!

Woohoo!  As of yesterday, June 14th, Luke's Lobster is OPEN in Bethesda!  This is their 8th location, and 2nd location in the DC metro area.  Congratulations guys!

As a little refresher, here are my previous posts about their delicious menu items in NYC and in DC. 

I'm SO excited to have a Luke's Lobster located so close to home, and just in time for lots of summer lobster-ing :o)


Luke's Lobster - Bethesda
7129 Bethesda Lane
301.718.1005

Lunchtime Links for June 14th, 2012

• Serious Eats: Thai sweet chili sauce.
• Bakerella: Fourth of July cupcakes. 
• How Sweet It Is: No-bake peanut butter s'mores squares.
• Big Girls Small Kitchen: Frozen yogurt ice cream.
• Picky Palate: Perfect cinnamon rolls.

Georgetown Cupcake - Cinco de Mayo Cupcake

Georgetown Cupcake always has fun with holiday cupcakes, and this Cinco de Mayo cupcake is a great example.  This was offered as the free secret cupcake of the day, and I could smell the strong lime flavor just from opening up the bag.

I'm not exactly sure what the components of this cupcake were, but it did smell and taste different than their usual Key Lime cupcake to me.  Maybe it's the Cinco de Mayo-ness of it but it tasted more like a margarita, haha.  I hope they continue to do fun holiday cupcakes the rest of the year!  

Lunchtime Links for June 13th, 2012

• Serious Eats: Hakata-style yakitori at Hachibei in Tokyo.
• Picky Palate: Cookie crusted peanut butter pretzel pies. 
• Kirbie's Cravings: Nutella brownie bowls for ice cream. 
• Big Girls Small Kitchen: Cutting multiple cherry tomatoes at once.
• Eat Drink Pretty: Shrimp Caprese pasta.

Graffiato Brunch

I've yet to have a disappointing meal at Graffiato - and their brunch was no exception!  A group of lovely food blogger friends and I got together a few months ago to check it out soon after the brunch menu debut, and it was a delicious and fun time had by all :o)

Some coffee to start

The brunch menu

Cinnamon knots with Nutella.  These were good but not an absolute must-have dish, even as a huge fan of Nutella.

Apple Calzone - this wasn't my favorite, but that's mainly because I'm not a fan of fruit pies in general, and this was basically a giant fruit hand pie, haha.  If you like apple pies I'm sure you will love this.

Breakfast pizza with bacon, potato, broccolini, cheddar.  The addition of the barely-cooked egg on top really made this a rich and delicious pizza.

Roasted Sirloin with scrambled eggs and focaccia - the sirloin was tender and delicious, but a pretty small portion for sharing with others, just FYI.

Jersey Shore pizza - this is on the regular menu, but it's always a crowd favorite any time of the day, haha.

Spaghetti Carbonara with pancetta, parmesan, egg - I thought this was delicious, especially with the salty pancetta pieces cutting through the creamy sauce.

Not pictured is the Meatballs with creamy polenta and farmed egg - the combination of the three components made for a very soft plate altogether, but the meatballs were quite tasty.

Overall, this was a great brunch with some wonderful company, and I can't wait to go back to try their new brunch offerings!

Lunchtime Links for June 12th, 2012

• Serious Eats: Beer gardens in DC.
• Cakespy: Sweets that look like summer foods. 
• The Kitchn: Hosting a summer crepe party.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Macaroni and cheese muffins.
• How Sweet It Is: Mini maple bacon donuts.

CVS Deals - Week of June 10th, 2012

There are lots of great deals on toiletries and cards this week at CVS!

- 2 Irish Spring body washes: 2/$7 on sale, $1/2 manufacturer's coupon, $4 Extra Bucks.

- Spend $10 on Nivea products, get $5 Extra Bucks back.

• Nivea Men body wash: $4.88 on sale, $1 manufacturer's coupon.
• Nivea lotion: $6.88 on sale, $1 manufacturer's coupon.

- Spend $7 on Neosporin, Band-aid, or Benadryl products, get $3 Extra Bucks back.

• Neosporin Moisture Essentials body wash: $10.49, $2 manufacturer's coupon, $3 Extra Bucks back.

- Schick Hydro 5 razor: $8.99 on sale, $4 manufacturer's coupon, $3 Extra Bucks back.

- Aveeno sunblock: $7.49 on sale, $1.50 manufacturer's coupon.

Buy 3 Hallmark cards ($1.49+), get $3 Extra Bucks back.
- 3 cards: $2 each (the next price point after the ineligible $0.99 cards), $3 Extra Bucks back.


Happy shopping everyone!

Lunchtime Links for June 11th, 2012

• Serious Eats: 13 coffee-flavored sweets.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Nutella muffins. 
• Cakespy: Cupcake cream pie.
• Two Peas and Their Pod: Four ingredient chocolate cookies n' cream ice cream.
• How Sweet It Is: Thai crunch chicken salad.

Shake Shack - June Custard Calendar

It's always exciting to find out the new monthly Shake Shack custard calendar!

This month we have the following flavors:

Monday: Raspberry Linzer
Tuesday: Mud Pie
Wednesday: Blackberry Buttermilk
Thursday: S'mores
Friday: Strawberry Cheesecake
Saturday: Coffee and Donuts
Sunday: Buttery Caramel Cocoa Nib

Lots of fruit-based flavors, which could be great or not so great for me... haha.  But I always love Coffee and Donuts, woo!

Lunchtime Links for June 8th, 2012

• Serious Eats: Vietnamese coffee ice cream.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Mini bacon pancake muffins.
• Two Peas and Their Pod: Focaccia bread. 
• The Kitchn: Strawberry recipes.
• How Sweet It Is: Dark chocolate chunk skillet cookie.

Georgetown Cupcake - Free Cupcake Today

To my friends in DC and NYC, get thee over to Georgetown Cupcake anytime today for a free cupcake! :o)

From the Georgetown Cupcake Facebook Page:

Heads up to all DC CUPCAKES fans!! [Friday's] the big day and we're celebrating with 1 FREE CUPCAKE PER PERSON - ANY FLAVOR - ALL DAY LONG at all of our locations - Georgetown, Bethesda, and SoHo! Tune in to 'DC Cupcakes Takes New York' tomorrow night @ 10pm ET / 9pm CT on TLC to watch Georgetown Cupcake expand to the Big Apple!

Lunchtime Links for June 7th, 2012

• Two Peas and Their Pod: Chocolate chip cookie dough sandwich cookies.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Nutella shortbread cookies.
• La Fuji Mama: Japanese yakisoba. 
• Real Housewives of OC: Recap from TVGasm.
• Serious Eats: Strawberry basil lemonade.

When In DC Tumblr

This is not new by any means at this point, but this When In DC Tumblr is amazing and totally spot-on.

But more importantly, my love of Georgetown Cupcake and Jersey Shore in one post? LOVE.

http://whenindc.tumblr.com/post/20613754621/when-someone-thinks-hello-cupcake-is-better-than


Hahha!

Lunchtime Links for June 6th, 2012

• The Kitchn: Cappuccino pops.
• Good Life Eats: Sparkling watermelon limeade. 
• Serious Eats: Sakuramen ramen in DC.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Four ingredient macaroni and cheese.
• Two Peas and Their Pod: Funfetti cookies.

Birthday Cake Oreos

A huge thank you to the lovely Shop n' Chomp for sending me such a fun surprise package!  She sent me a box of the limited edition Birthday Cake Oreos and Asian face masks!

I knew that these Oreos would essentially be like Oreos + Funfetti, but I didn't expect the sweet smell to literally permeate through the packaging- haha!  In addition to the sprinkles in the filling, the Oreo cookie itself is embossed with a special design, as you can see above.  If you're a fan of Funfetti/sprinkles/frosting these are fantastic :o)  I will say that these are MUCH sweeter than Oreos (didn't think that was possible, did ya?), so it's definitely harder to eat too many of these, haha.  

Lunchtime Links for June 5th, 2012

• The Kitchn: Banana pudding ice cream pie.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Two ingredient pumpkin ice cream bread.
• Picky Palate: Fudgy brownie peanut butter.
• Bakerella: Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles.
• How Sweet It Is: Bacon peanut butter banana bread.

CVS Deals - Week of June 3rd, 2012

It's another great week of deals at CVS!  All of these are everyday items that are good to stock up on.

- Pantene shampoo and conditioner: 2/$6.90 on sale, $3/2 manufacturer's coupon.

There's also quite a few Extra Bucks deals this week, which make for a great deal when combined with coupons:

- L'Oreal EverCreme shampoo and cleansing conditioner: $6.99 each, two $1 manufacturer's coupons, $5 Extra Bucks back.

- Bic Soleil Savvy razors: $7.79 on sale, $2 manufacturer's coupon, $3 Extra Bucks back.

- Crest Pro-health rinse and Oral-B power toothbrush: $5.99 each on sale, two $1 manufacturer's coupons, $10 Extra Bucks back ($5 per item).

- Oral-B Ultra Floss and Oral-B toothbrush: $2.77 each on sale, two $1 manufacturer's coupons, $4 Extra Bucks back ($2 per item).

- Tampax Radiant: $3.99 on sale, $1 manufacturer's coupon, $1 Extra Bucks back.


Happy shopping everyone!

Lunchtime Links for June 4th, 2012

• The Kitchn: Oreo hot fudge sauce.
• The Pioneer Woman: Pasta Carbonara.
• Lauren's Latest: Chocolate covered strawberry cookies. 
• Cupcakes for Breakfast: Strawberry shortbread.
• Pass the Sushi: Peanut butter Oreo popsicles.

Denver Visit - Signs and Sights

For my final Denver visit post, I just wanted to share some photos that I thought would sum up my long weekend there nicely :o)

Coors factory tour in Golden, Colorado.  You get a good amount of free drinks here!

Sad Tofu on the menu at Cherry Cricket, haha. 

Indeed, Happy Cakes Bakeshop.

Red Rocks park and amphitheatre.  Lots of hardcore people working out!

Lunchtime Links for June 1st, 2012

• The Kitchn: Homemade vanilla ice cream.
• How Sweet It Is: Peanut butter fudge coffee ice cream cupcakes.
• Picky Palate: Milky Way ice cream.
• Closet Cooking: Spicy peanut chicken quesadillas.
• Serious Eats: Brioche con gelato at Pitango Gelato.

National Doughnut Day

Happy National Doughnut Day everyone!!

If you're near a Dunkin' Donuts, they're offering a great way to celebrate today.  Dunkin' Donuts fans get a free donut with a drink purchase today, woo!

If your area is more of a Krispy Kreme 'hood, they are also celebrating with one free doughnut of your choice, no purchase necessary!

My favorite growing up was always the Boston Creme doughnut, followed closely by the elusive (outside of NJ) cider doughnut in the fall.  Nowadays I try to not eat them that often, but I can clearly make an exception for such a special holiday, haha :o)