Fire & Rice DC Food Truck

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Today’s lunch decision was tough. It was a toss up between Korean cuisine, empanadas, and burritos. I decided to go with Korean cuisine. Fire and Rice’s food truck made an appearance near my work building today, so with the assistance of Food Truck Fiesta, I decided to pay them a little visit!

This food truck was the first that I actually had to wait in a line for. It’s only been around since June, I discovered, so I thought that must be a good sign right? Usually I’m in a rush to get back to work but today I decided to take it a little bit more slowly even though to do was one of the coldest days of the week.

The pricing of this particular option was pretty on par with all of their competition – it seems that the average amount that you can expect to spend on a lunch if you’re going to a food truck is $10.00. I’ve decided that, starting next week, I’m going to make an effort to pack my lunch also instead of eating out or not eating everyday. In the past I’ve gone for breakfast instead of lunch (I’m usually not hungry when lunch rolls around), since breakfast is a more important meal of the day. I also feel a lot better knowing that I had the entire day to burn off those calories. But whatever, this is besides the point.

I chose this truck also because of another simple reason: carbs and protein. Pretty straightforward. Identity to the dinner I had the night before as well (Garlic and wine marinated chicken breast with simple butter & herb noodles).

I’ve realized that I think I enjoy food trucks because their menu’s are relatively small and simple. Today I went with the buldak chicken bowl.

I’m not very accustomed to Asian cuisine but I was excited to try this. The Korean meat bowls seemed to be a nice, quick lunch that wouldn’t be too filling. Boy was I wrong! While it was nice and quick it was actually filling! I know chicken will do that to you but their portions, while not too too large, were still pretty adeaquate.

As you can see in the pictures, they specialize in what is called “bibimbap” which means veggies and meat on top of rice. They had a ton of options for vegetables: bean sprouts, radish, zucchini, carrot, spinach, and lettuce. A big part of this kind of cuisine is the fried egg on top. An old friend named Matt introduced me to the art of the fried egg but I believe it to be more of a southern thing. Once I saw that the eggs were fried yet the yolks were still raw for the customers that preceded me, I decided to go ahead and pass on that one. Sorry for not going all the way!

I thought that the food was exceptional. As I said it was rice on the bottom with chicken on top. In between those two layers were carrots, bean sprouts, radishes, and carrots – I was giving the mirage of being healthy.

The chicken was marinated in what your VERY average person would probably guess is curry – it had a similar flavor to that Indian spice but definitely not as flavorful or as distinct. It was sweet but just a little bit spicy at the same time.

The bean sprouts were nice and crunchy and tasted like the bean (almost like green beans) that you would expect it to. I wouldn’t get the carrots again – they were mushy and tasted bagged as opposed to maybe freshly grated (I’m big of fresh, natural, ingredients that are as inexpensive as carrots). The rice was sticky just as was expected so that if I wanted to eat it with my chop sticks I could have.

Again, one of my favorite things about meals like this is the dichotomy of temperature in your mouth. When you bite into a hot piece of chicken and then you have a nice cold piece of bean sprouts, both with very different flavors (one sweet and the other earthy), it makes my taste buds pretty happy. I learned from a Korean friend in college that they way to eat this kind of meal is to just mix it all together and go to town, so that’s what I did. While I would’ve liked to keep the flavors separate, I feel like I needed to do as the Koreans do when I eat Korean food. ☺

I can tell why Koreans don’t get fat usually! This meal didn’t drag my down at all and wasn’t very greasy at all either. The seasonings and the limitless free veggies on top were definitely what carried me through to the last bite.

Overall, I would definitely come back here. One of the highlights was the yellow soy-ginger sauce that you had the option to squirt on top. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Japanese style soy-ginger flavoring, and especially soy-ginger shrimp (Cabo Fish Taco, I’m talking to you). If this was soy ginger chicken I’d be all over it.

Another highlight was some kind of spicy Sriracha sauce. I know Sriracha is Thai (edit from my original thoughts that it was Spanish), but I didn’t catch the name of their particular red sauce. Boy was it spicy! Thankfully I thought ahead and put a little tiny squirt of it in the corner of the bowl so that it wouldn’t go crazy all over everything else.

As you can see from the picture above, overall, I enjoyed this choice. On this particular day it hit the spot for me and I’d recommend it to a friend. I’d be interested in trying the beef and maybe the Korean Sodas that they offer.

TL:DR: This place was a good choice. Average price and good food. I’d go back. If you’ve never tried Korean food, the flavors are tame enough to be a great introduction.
Food quality: Good! Everything seemed nice and fresh besides the carrots. Rice was cooked just as expected in Korean food.
Customer service: Fast and quick. The gentleman serving made an aqwkward ordering line very accessible which was a highlight for me. Props to him for warning me that the fried egg would be an extra 2 minutes – so I declined. I tipped him the extra dollar for it anyways because I wanted to get back to my desk.

**Would have had pictures. But I deleted them. :( ** Sorry!

Never thought it’d be THIS big.

This blog post was originally written, in several smaller pieces, over a month ago.  I had some free time on my hands and opted to try and piece it together to be something that is a little more presentable and followable for you, as the reader.  If it’s jumpy, then that’s why.

This blog is entirely a reflection on a hike that some close friends and I took to The Cascades about a month ago.
—
Right now, I’m laying in this bed and I’m seeing all these notifications (hundreds, today alone) about the story that Virginia Tech News posted this morning.  As I read through comments and other posts and see more and more people inspired by the story, it’s fascinating.  So many people that I don’t even know are somehow being touched by this story thank to social media and the fantastic video that University Relations put together about it.

A few moments later, after I stop checking but then eventually log back in, I get a facebook message from an old friend.  He was a student that I mentored this past summer while he was a “resident” of mine while taking part in jCamp. This kid really stood out to me.  It was probably his passion for VT that was evident the first time that I met him.  One of the first questions that he asked me wasn’t about jouranlism, but about how late Lane Stadium was open so that he could go take a picture on the field during that summer.  Being an RA to a floor of boys, I brought my PS3 in, and he gave me a run for my money while playing NCAA Football 2013 (which is one of my favorite video games, and really the only one that I play with any sort of habit).  He was as big of a Hokie fan as I was…

We said we would meet up when I came up to FedEx field for the football game against Cincy this year but unfortunately he was out of town. Never one to burn bridges, we stayed in touch…

Screen Shot 2012-12-26 at 9.18.55 AM

Isn’t that crazy? This guy who I had only met a few times is potentially making his decision on where to go to school based on some video of me and my friends practicing Ut Prosim.  I think the reason this really surprised me was because I give tours all the time.  To some people that decide to come to VT, and to some people that don’t.  But the fact that I didn’t even try to convince this guy that VT is the best place on Earth – that really made my day.

Also, the day after the video went viral I was walking around the student center on campus, and as I was waiting for the elevator to take me one floor down, I ran into a guy I had never met before – or so I thought – and he told me that he had seen the video and how awesome he thought it was.  (Sorry if I mispell your name!) He introduces himself as “Chalem,” and informs/reminds me that he was the Tech student who helped me out in a major way sophomore year.

It was a football game in Lane Stadium. Tyrod Taylor, the staring quarterback, had just completed numerous miraculous plays against Nebraska to complete an even more miraculous comeback. It was one of my first experiences inside Lane Stadium, and boy was I thankful for it.

At the conclusion of the game, everyone leaves their seats in the North End Zone (the student section), and rush the field.  All of the friends I am sitting with offer to take me down, but realizing how dangerous that may be (most of them I didn’t think would be able to carry me that far and for that long…and up and down the stairs!) I declined, and opted to just bask in the awesomeness instead.  After everyone levaes, more students are running down from behind me.  A stranger comes up to me and says:

Do you want to go down on the field?

Of course my answer is yes.  He picks me up, throws me on his back, and here I am suddenly on a stranger’s back rushing the field at Lane Stadium.  After all of the craziness, Chalem rushedly carries me back to my seat in the Stadium, and then my friends return and they all come get my wheelchair for me and we leave the game.  I never got a chance to say thank you to Chalem on that particular day.  However, thanks to this video, I got to meet him again.  And when he told me who he was, the first thing I said was thank you.

Chalem also told me about how he saw the story on Imgur, a popular photo sharing service.  Form there, it spread to Reddit, and numerous other news outlets and web forms that I’ll post at the end of the blog.  But I think the coolest thing about all of it was the people that I was able to touch, and realize that I touched, just by asking my friends to hike me up to the top of a mountain.  I just wanted to (selfishly) knock an item off of my Hokie Bucket List, but people found such inspiration from it.

I received dozens of Facebook messages and e-mails in the weeks after the hike.  There was a coworker who wrote,

Justin, When your story of the hike to the cascades was on the news the other day, my son, Drew, got excited “I know him!  He showed us around campus!”  You [must] have given a tour to the Auburn Middle School 6th grade earlier in the semester.  It looked like you all had a great day & lots of fun.  Hope to see you at the next meeting at the Grad. School next week.  Good luck with exams.

If you follow my blog at all, you’d know that he was probably referring to the Winning Choices motivational talks that I gave back in October at some local middle schools.

But out of all of them, there was one that really stood out. There was a mother who Facebook messaged me about her daughter – whose name I have changed to Riley due to my love of that name for a future kid of mine.  She wrote me a few times and we went back and forth and I learned more about her daughter who was born with a small chance of living.  The doctors believed that her developmental issues, which would sustain for the rest of her life, were due to a lack of oxygen that she experienced in the fetus.  They told Riley’s parents that their daughter would ever be able to walk, speak, or do many of the normal activities that most of us take for granted, much less find a job or anything of the sort. Below is part of Riley’s mom’s messages to me –

You are certainly welcome, Justin. I have attached Riley’s story, and thank you for asking for it. I chuckle to think that I gave you the impression we have everything figured out…far from it. However, I know without a doubt that we are much richer as a result of having Rileyas our daughter. I guess I never want to feel that we have it all under control, because then our dependence on Jesus Christ would diminish.
Regardless of the nature of a challenge or handicap, I never cease to marvel at the conversations we are able to have with others who face similar (although different) life-long challenges. I can seldom take Rileyon errands without at least one person stopping us to share their story about a relative or friend in a similar situation. It is nice that the barriers are so often removed, and that we feel free to talk with others about real life. (This is why I could so easily write to you)!
Finally, your statement about knowing that things can always be worse reminds me of a story I’d like to share with you.
One day there were scores of people in line at a buffet table, ready to fill their plates. However, this group of people was different. Prior to entering the building, they all had serious, life-long handicaps, either mental, physical, psychological, or a combination of such. Upon going through the door of the building where the buffet was offered, each person was completely relieved of their challenge, and they were healed. On the buffet table, however, was not food, but rather, all of the challenges each person had shed upon entering the building. Each person had complete freedom to choose any item from the buffet table.
Once everyone had gone through the buffet line and was seated at the tables, it was discovered that each person had chosen the handicap they had before they entered the building.
Although this story is obviously fictional, I do believe that God equips us with exactly what we need to live the life He has given us. That does not mean that it is always easy, always fun and always what we may want, but it is exactly where we are supposed to be.
From reading a bit about you, it is obvious that you choose to live your life to the fullest, and that you are a blessing to others. You inspire others to be the best they can be. In short, it is apparent that you bring out the best in others. That, Justin, in a gift. Take care,

I, myself, have been so moved, challenged, and inspired – and I challenge, even moreso than others – by so many people who saw that video. 

Here’s the collection of links that I saved where you can find more coverage of the story.  Thanks for reading.

http://www.goodworldnews.org/index.php/lifestyle/item/356-virginia-tech-students-carry-wheelchair-bound-student-on-adventure-through-the-cascades

http://dislit2012.umwblogs.org

Hokies Help Out

https://www.tumblr.com/maryanne/37236464563/virginia-tech-students-help-recent-graduate

Justin Graves the “Ultimate Hokie” carried to the Cascades by his friends.
byu/MitchellPowers inVirginiaTech

http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-virginia-tech-students-carry-paraplegic-classmate-on-fourmile-hike-in-giles-county-20121204,0,793518.story

http://wtvr.com/2012/12/04/virginia-tech-students-carry-ultimate-hokie-up-cascades/

http://topics.digtriad.com/virginia%20tech%20hokies

http://www.dailypress.com/news/wdbj7-virginia-tech-students-carry-paraplegic-classmate-on-fourmile-hike-in-giles-county-20121204,0,1752277.story

http://www2.wsls.com/news/2012/dec/04/virginia-tech-students-help-another-student-comple-ar-2398928/

http://pinterest.com/imahokie/activity/

http://www.topix.com/county/giles-va

http://www.fox59.com/videogallery/73588637/News/A-big-show-of-friendship-for-a-man-known-as-the-

http://wtkr.com/2012/12/05/virginia-tech-students-carry-paraplegic-classmate-on-hike-to-see-waterfall/

Ut Prosim

http://www.rovrocks.com/pages/joejohnson.html?article=10626391

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/21085/ultimate-hokie-relies-on-friends

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/21082/justins-story-strive-to-care-for-others-uniquely

Someone sent to Ellen on Facebook AND Twitter!

Flaw in the system.

Today, I realized that I have a book that is due back to the Virginia Tech library on January 2. I got kind of panicked because I’m not going to be back in Blacksburg until around January 22. Do I want to pay 20 days worth of overdue fees? Absolutely not. I wish they would have reminded me to return the book before I left Blacksburg, but there’s no time wasting wishes when that’s not gonna get this book to whoever requested it after me!

Luckily I made good friends with quite a few employees of the library especially within the past year. I Facebook messaged them and asked if I could send books via USPS to the library. He explains that it’s possible and people do it all the time but that it might be easier if I just send it to him and he can make sure that it gets back in time. What a pal. I had forgotten to include a wristband with the package so, Brian, I owe you one for sure!

I think this is a great example of always helping someone out whenever you get the opportunity. I practice that every day – you should too!

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PS, I wrote this post write outside of the post office on my iPhone. I hadn’t put my chair in my car yet and so this older lady takes notice. She strolls on over and asks if I need a hand. As frail as can be and a full head of gray, I respectfully decline but she is just so kind that I decided she could be the one new person I meet today. Shout out to Mary of Fredericksburg for also helping people in any way she can. (:

You are always where you are supposed to be.

Today, I decided to take on a substitute teaching gig at Brooke Point High School.  It was for a high school math class and although I didn’t think there would be a lesson plan, there was actually some work left behind for the students to work on! 1st and 2nd block had tests, and in the third block we just played ice breakers and then did some math-themed crossword puzzles.

My day had gone a lot less excited than planned, though.  In typical Justin fashion, I accidentally woke up late and ended up getting to the school a bit late also.  I had decided last night that I was going to create an activity for the students to do and could be donated to Sandy Hook Elementary School (I didn’t link to anything here because the only link I wanted was the school’s website and it was pretty tough to find. Please don’t glorify anyone but the unwilling victims in that tragedy.  Thank you.) in honor of the shooting that occurred exactly one week ago, but I didn’t bring any of the materials for the project.  Luckily everything went swimmingly though.

The fourth block of the day was a planning period.  Luckily I had brought my laptop and decided to reply to some old e-mails and network a little bit while I was waiting for the end of the day to come.  As I sit in the classroom in silence, a student enters.

The student and I end up talking for about 40 minutes and it was one of the more interesting, moving conversations I’ve ever had with a high-school student in my life.  We talked about almost everything under the sun – from my lack of ability to save money to her ability to always learn the value of a dollar. She shared a really moving quote with me, that she lives her life by, when it comes to thinking outside of the box – you don’t have to get crazy with it.

She said, “it’s like coming right up to the line, without actually crossing it.” That just means that you have to think of things in different ways in order to really be successful in life.  I asked her if she had another class that she was supposed to be in, and she said she should be in Biology – but that she had made a quick trip to see the nurse and got distracted on her way back.  She and the teacher I was subbing for had made it a habit to chat during this planning period on a daily basis.

She told me about how her class was playing four corners, and she wasn’t really interested in it.  She showed me the Christmas cards that she had been meaning to work on the entire day but just kept procrastinating.  She told me about how excited she was that today was the last day of school until Jan. 2, and about some of the eccentric qualities of her older sister.

We continued talking for more than thirty minutes before she informs me that all of the students from the first block had affectionally came up with a nickname for me – muscle head. Looks like my diet of the past month has been working??

And then she asked the question.  “Do you mind if I ask why you’re in a wheelchair??”

Of course I don’t mind. I tell her the story, along with the fact that I always admire people who have disabilities for their strength. ESPECIALLY if it is a disability that they acquired at any point where they have recollection of the incident that caused it. This is because I think the trauma and journey that you experience through an injury like that (and especially in rehabilitating from it) is a tough one, in any situation but “luckily” I don’t remember mine at all.

And then I ask her the same question.  This student was in a wheelchair also.

She was a quadriplegic, and she goes on to tell me the horrific story of the car accident on the way to church on a Sunday, three years ago, May 3 2009, that caused her injury.  She tells me about her broken neck, the blurry dizziness that she felt after the accident, the two men that helped her from the wreckage before emergency personnel arrived, the pain of passing out because she couldn’t breathe, the months in the hospital, her siblings and relatives that were also injured or otherwise in the crash, and does so the entire time with optimism in her voice.  I am so impressed.  I had just told her about my respect for people like her…

It took a forty minute conversation with this student for her to even mention the fact that I had a disability.  I’m sure she had thought about it all day, we had seen each other but hadn’t spoken earlier in the morning.  But in light of recent events, it was so refreshing to encounter someone who didn’t define me by my disability.  Moreso, I didn’t even have to put any effort into making sure that they didn’t write me off or judge me.  To talk to someone who didn’t assume something that I was, only based on something that I couldn’t control.  I don’t hate much but I hate it when people judge me by my disability – I didn’t decide it, but God did.  And I’m not questioning his decision.  I know that he wouldn’t bless me with this disability if there wasn’t a plan for it.  It was beyond refreshing to meet someone who understands this.  And to think that this would come on this random day in the form of a 16-year-old high school student, my mind was blown.

The reason I decided to write this blog is because this student was an incarnation of so much that I’ve not only battled my whole life but of something that’s been especially relevant in the past month or so with everything that’s been going on.  Her optimism, spirit, and willingness to talk about those events, only three years after her accident, was extremely moving to me.  I couldn’t believe it, and it really did make my day.  Of course, once we were all done and it was almost the end of the day, I gave her not only an Actively Caring for People wristband, but my business card too.  She had told me about how she completed an essay for an English class about the accident and her injury.  She was bummed that she couldn’t find it anymore, but told me about how she had tried recently. I asked her to e-mail me the story if she ever found it so that I could enjoy it.

I almost didn’t sign up for a substitute teaching job today.  I almost woke up too late to even make it on time.  I’m so grateful that I came.  I’ve realized that you are always where you are supposed to be.

Just when I thought I was having a bad day…

Today didn’t start out the best.  It began when I woke up at 2:00 a.m. with a weird gut feeling in my stomach.  I had fallen asleep all too early the night before, and missed my nightly Skype chat with KH, so I thought that was it and I felt pretty crummy but figure I’ll just text her and apologize, in anticipation of tonight.  I look at my phone and it’s dead. Great. I look over at Charlotte, sleeping right next to me, and she’s awake for some reason.  Weird.  Usually Char wakes up in the same position she fell asleep in.  I figure she’s probably not too sleepy since I had fallen asleep well before 7:00 p.m. the night before.  She suddenly hops down out of bed and promptly throws up on the floor – just narrowly missing my bed.  I knew something was off.

I hop out of bed and begin to pet Charlotte and try to figure out what’s wrong. She keeps heaving, but it’s more of this nervous breathing thing that she does from time to time that the vet said is completely normal, and happens almost weekly (when she’s excited is a big factor).  I bring her downstairs to go outside and use the bathroom and she promptly does both numbers, and then we come in and she gets some water.  She starts to act a little more normal, but guzzles down the whole cup so I give her another.  We go upstairs, I clean the vomit out of my carpet, and watch TV until I fall asleep.  I set my alarm for 5:00.

Of course, I oversleep my alarm. I hop out of bed, but with less urgency than the night before, and start getting ready for the day. It looks like I’m just barely going to make it to my desired train on team – the day is looking up just a little bit.  But then, as soon as I make a move to let Charlotte out of my room and go get her leash so we can go outside, she’s already peeing. Inside. On the floor. I’m not THAT mad because she drank so much water the night before and this means her bowels are still passing normally – so that’s great. But now it’s going to take me a few minutes to clean this up.

I clean it up, and toss her in her crate with a firm “bad girl.”  I quickly run out of the house, turning the lights out, grabbing my dress shoes, car keys and cell phone.  I make it to the car and am thankful that it doesn’t seem as if I have forgotten anything.  Thank the good Lord.  I pull into the train station, and the train’s already here – it’s a few moments early and I’m a few moments late.

I jump out of my truck, lock it, and begin to sprint down the steep ramp to the train platform.  As I come around the turn, I’m hopeful – I think the conductor saw me.  The train slowly pulls off as soon as I get to the ticket validating machine. Just. My. Luck. Missed it by about 10 seconds.

The VRE Station.

I consider going back up to my car but that ramp is no joke. It’s very long, very steep, and my wheels at this point were very cold.  I decided to bundle up with my pea coat, scarf, and hat, and wait patiently forty minutes for the next train to come.  As I wait, a young lady comes strolling down the steps to the platform.

“You missed it too, huh?” she says.

We spend the next forty minutes getting to know each other.  I learned all about her daughter who is in high school, she learned about me working the same job for five years and this one being one of the most enjoyable terms yet.  I didn’t get to know her that well but it was nice to have someone to pass the time with.  She told me about her job at Sentara hospital in Woodbridge and I told her about my favorite place in the world: Virginia Tech. It was interesting but helped the time go by much faster.  After such a positive new encounter, my day is looking up.

So I hop on the next train, and the commute that normally takes about 60 minutes turns into 90.  The train had to stop numerous times along its route because of signals they were getting from those that run the railroads. So. Frustrating.  Can’t you have mix ups like this, you know, outside of rush hour? I think I was most annoyed with myself and with Charlotte for being the reasons that I missed the earlier train in the first place. Officially an hour behind schedule.

I really LOVE this clock, but I’ve gotten better at being on time lately! Today was clearly an exception to the rule.

I get to work and I promptly begin to work on what I wanted to accomplish that day.  It was a task but I finally felt I was a little ahead by lunch time.  So I decided to treat myself to a nice lunch (blog post to come on Fire & Rice Food Truck). As I walk outside to head to the food truck court, as I like to call it, I run into an old coworker who no longer works with my company anymore.  He calls my name out as I go down the ramp and I promptly turn around to greet him.

We re-acclimate a little bit, he catches me up on his life and he catches me up on his, and I begin to make moves to head toward lunch but then he floors me with a fact.  He goes on to explain that he has been keeping tabs on me via Facebook, which I’m honored by, but he continues to explain that he has been going through a tough personal situation lately, and that I’ve been an inspiration to him. He talks about how he will log into Facebook and he’ll see inspiratoinal posts via Actively Caring or from a positive attitude I had on a particular day, and that that helps him keep on trucking along.

That just goes to show that you never know how one interactio nwith someone has the power to make their day.  He certainly made mine. And it didn’t stop there.

I got lunch and then I returned to the office and an EA (executive assitant) in the office comes to talk with me.

Justin, are you working tomorrow in the office?

Nope, I was planning to telework from home tomorrow. What’s up, can I help you out with anything if I’m not here?

Well that means I am going to be working in here all by myself! Everyone is either on leave or teleworking!

I’m sorry! I’ll be back in on Monday, though! Make sure you hold down the fort for us. :)

Some moments later…

You know I think we leave the office around the same time. Saw you on the platform this week and yelled out but I don’t think you heard me.  But anyways, keep in mind the VRE doesn’t run on Monday…

WOW thanks for letting me know.  Otherwise I would have been waiting for the train and very upset that it wasn’t running on Monday morning. Guess I’ll telework on Monday then, too…

No problem. When’s your last day for the term before you head back to school?

Probably the 11th or 18th.

Oh, well…I’m having surgery in a few days. I’ve already brought my monthly pass for the VRE for the month of January though and it’s mostly going to go to waste.  Your last day is just before I come back. Do you want to borrow my VRE Ticket?

I would love to! That’ll save me about $100 so I won’t have to buy a new one. I just bought a ten trip but it doesn’t expire for another year! Thanks!

And you can guess what I did next.  I shared with her an Actively Caring for People wristband and shared with the mission of the movement.  She goes on to tell me about how she does things like this all the time, she just likes to help out people.  I think we need so many more people like this in the world.

Truth be told, it would have been so much easier for her to hold onto the ticket.  You know, peace of mind that she’ll be able to get back to work when she’s all recovered. But…nope.  Out of the kindness of her heart, she’s saving me more than one hundred dollars just by tasking me with being responsible for not losing this very expensive little piece of paper.  I had also just finished telling her about how the most convenient shop that used to sell VRE Tickets doesn’t anymore.  You can only buy accessible ones from certain places.  Now, i don’t have to worry about going through that process either.

So thankful.  It just goes to show that you never know how the smallest interaction with someone has the ability to make their day.

Needless to say, after she left my office the first thing I did was put an appointment on both my work and personal calendars to NOT forget to leave the ticket on her desk before I leave on my last day. :)

Now if I get home this evening and my dog isn’t as cranky and feeling bad as she was this morning…my day will be complete. :) If she is…my dinner plans will be delayed and I’ll get to hang out with my sick puppy at the vet. We’ll see!

 

 

Shaken Iced Tazo Tea (Starbucks)

So, I’m not a super big Starbucks fan, but when it comes to free wi-fi near work, its my go to place for sure.  The Starbucks right across the street also has a nice traffic flow which I need when I’m doing work in public.

I came in for the lunch hour to work on some personal e-mails and decided to get a little mid-afternoon pick me up.  I wasn’t looking for coffee, so of course I went for tea.

As I scoured the menu, I found the Shaken Iced Tazo Tea.  At only 1.50, a size tall wasn’t all that steep.  I also got sweetener in it and a passion fruit flavoring – cause let’s be real, I don’t like things unless they are flavorful.

Time to be productive.

I don’t usually like passionfruit flavoring, but the cashier was very nice and very convincing so of course I tried it out.  He promised me that if I didn’t like it he’d let me try another – but I actually really enjoyed it! As I type this blog post, my Passbook application just popped up on my iPhone and my balance on my Starbucks card is STILL five dollars, which is the minimum amount I keep on there in case of emergency haha. So it looks like he was even nice enough to not charge me for it! I’m down with that.

Try it out though – it does taste like tea but it’s probably too sweet for your average tea drinker.  I also probably could have gone without the extra sweetness, but what eve.  I don’t regret it and it was only three bucks.

On posts like this, if I’m just talking about the food, I’ll probably post just a picture and a link to more information about it.  If I’m reviewing an entire experience, then I’ll do TL:DR, 1-10’s, and if I’d go back or not.

Cause let’s be real, of course I’m coming back to Starbucks.

 

DC Taco Truck.

Food trucks are definitely becoming more of a staple in D.C. as far as I can see.  It’s been a year since I’ve worked my internship here (at this point in time 0of December in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 I was only three 3 ½ months removed from being DC) and there are at least triple the amount of food trucks than what I remember.

When I left the offie for lunch on my first day back, I was just planning to grab something really quick at the cafeteria tht is rgiht inside my building =. it’s fast, cheap, and it’s right hrere – and the flavor is actually pretty much on par with anything you’d find at one of the chain restaurants in the city.

I changed my mind quickly. Suddenly I was craving a Chicken Caesar Flatbread salad from Quizno’s. I hadn’t had one of these in more than a year, but I knew that there was a Quizno’s within walking distance from the building.  I’m all about efficiency and I was planning on bringing this particular meal back to my desk.

As I stepped outside of my office, I see a huge line of food trucks. I originally was just planning to peruse the menus and then continue on the way to Quizno’s.  But one immediately and really caught my eye.

These tacos were pretty impressive! Their menu was considerably inexpensive for the amount of food I was getting. It was nice to see the size of the tacos prior to ordering based on the people who ordered before me.  Food truck etiquette was something I was new at, so I felt kind of last…wasn’t sure where to stand and when to order.  But this truck got an extra number of cool points because they were using a Square card reader to accept payment (but I did pay with cash).

So, now that the atmosphere is out of the way, let’s get down to the food.  I decided to get 1 chicken taco and 2 fish tacos.  It said all the meat was grilled, not fried, I couldn’t remember ever taking part in a grilled fish taco! They also had a deal where you got a free soda with three tacos and based on the fact that I didn’t sleep a whole lot the night before, I was definitely itching for a nice caffeinated Coca-Cola.

The tacos were served on flour tortillas which I was fine with.

Three tacos - the avocado on top was a fantastic touch.
Three tacos – the avocado on top was a fantastic touch.

The chicken was pretty tame in flavor, but the fish seasoning was fantastic.  I did like how it was grilled and not fried – it made it taste more fish but it wasn’t overly fishy either.  The shredded cheese was almost TOO standard – it was just shredded mozzarella which had almost no flavor to it.  The pico de gallo was literally out of this world.  It was so flavorly and had a nice spice to it.

Always check Twitter - it's a great way to preview the real world.
Always check Twitter – it’s a great way to preview the real world.Three tacos – the avocado on top was a fantastic touch.

 

Speaking of the pico, with the avocado on top it literally made  every bite feel like a super fresh guacamole on top. The cilantro is always the selling point for me. You need fresh cilantro and this tasted like they chopped it right before they mixed it into the salsa.  The inclusion of cabbage of top of the taco was also great – the crunch was very welcome. The sour cream was so tangy – chipotle mayo. So it also had a little bit of a kick to it, but again, not too much.  The taco flavor was very, very balanced.

All I needed was a nice modelo or maybe a margarita to wash those bad boys down.  Makes me sad that el rods doesn’t have fried fish tacos…or do they? But then again, neither of those is appropriate during noon at work unfortunately.

Not the best fish tacos I’ve ever had (here are the best I’ve ever had. EVER.), but I’d go back.

TL:DR (Too long, Didn’t read) – If you have the chance to go to DC Taco Truck, do it! Not the absolutely best in the world but for a quick, inexpensive DC lunch I would definitely recommend it.  I can’t wait to try the other meat options that they have or even their soup – they have a wide selection which is good, but it’s not too wide that they aren’t using quality ingredients.  I believe small menus make the dream work when it comes to restaurants, and I think they are on to something here.

Flavor? (1-10) 8
Customer Service? (1-10) 8
Would I go back? (Yes/No) Yes

A line of food trucks with the United States Capitol in the background.
A line of food trucks with the United States Capitol in the background.

Lunch time.

Well, my friends.  I think the time has come.  It is officially time for me to do what I’ve said I was going to do since June, when I reinvigorated my blog-site.  I think I’m ready to make the leap (at least for the next month or so)…

Anyone who knows me well also knows much about my obsession with food.  I think that food is very important.  It’s necessary to live.  Geeze, it’s literally mandatory.  You NEED it to survive.  Not only it is mandatory but also it satisfies every single one of your senses.  Smell, taste, sight, touch…all of em.  You can do that with food.  And if it’s REALLY good it can kind of take you to another level.  For me, food can make my day.  A great meal, especially in great company, is one of my favorite things to experience on a day to day basis.  At the end of the day, I’ll burp, and get a good taste of that burger that I had for lunch (too far?)…it brings back memories to when I had that meal, for sure.  I mean it’s one of the reasons my mother’s nickname for me is “Fatness.” I used to be nice and fat when I was little cause of some medication I had as well as the fact that I would just eat and then go right to sleep.  It was kind of ridiculous.

So, this past summer, when Kristin and I got bored we decided to take up cooking.  We spent a lot of time in the grocery store and a lot of time in the kitchen trying out all kinds of different recipes, mostly ones that we would see after obsessively watching the Food Network for hours together.  Back then she typed up a bunch of the recipes that we had made.  More often than not we would take official recipes from a cookbook or from a website and alter them to what our mutual taste buds preferred.  We didn’t always get it right, but that’s the beauty in cooking – trial and error.

We ended up sharing a Google document between the two of us to spontaneously add recipes to whenever we’d like. We’d both be at work and text each other and be like “OMG I found this crazy awesome recipe,” and sometimes, later that night, we’d make it.  I can’t wait to get back to cooking together, it’s something I don’t do as much now that I’m a lofty grad student, ya know. :D

So this blog, as it turns into a “food blog,” will obviously not just be food.  It’ll also be more important things about life and what not that I wish to share but I created a “food” category so that if you click it at the header, it’ll just show you only food blog posts.  The posts will range from something fantastic that I’ve eaten in a restaurant, maybe at a food truck, or maybe an old recipe that we tried.  It’ll vary.  If you can’t tell which is which…well then we’ve done our job. :) haha but I’ll try to make sure I clarify which is which as I write the posts.

Hope you guys enjoy!