Tag: food blog

Supporting Local from Home

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It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. To be honest, I’ve had plenty of inspiration but not enough motivation. I’m trying my best not to feel defeated and deflated by 2020, but it hasn’t been easy.

My blog and my Instagram started out as a way to support small businesses – local restaurants, particularly, and connect fellow food-lovers worldwide. But the incredibly, poorly-handled pandemic has forced me (and many others) into a very long, on-going isolation. My Instagram has transformed into a stay-at-home, cooking account. And let me tell you, cooking is NOT my forte. It does not come naturally. But I’m trying my best, and since I relocated to my parents’ during this time, I’m learning a lot of tips and pointers from my mother.

In effort to still shop small, I’ve been trying to buy local produce and products, and shop on sites like Etsy. My personal favorite has been all the new local wines and beers I’ve discovered. I can find them in grocery stores here and enjoy them at home.

Aside from supporting the community where I have temporarily relocated the “Foodfixxe Isolation Station” to (Lynchburg, VA), I also want to continue supporting the community that helped me kick off Foodfixxe (the Washington, DC metro.)

I left a lot of loose ends when I moved, but thanks to the internet and our amazingly wonderful essential workers who deliver mail and packages, I have been able to get some DC-area products four hours away. Mambo Sauce was always at the top of my list of “DC things to try” but somehow I never got around to it. I did, however, finally get around to ordering some online from Capital City Mambo Sauce.

I copied a recipe on their website and made Mambo chili cheese fries. We devoured it! I forgot to by ground beef (woops), and since we don’t go out for single items, I substituted it with dark red kidney beans. Still amazing! I absolutely cannot wait to make this again! If you want to try it out yourself, you can find Mambo Sauce online. I’d recommend trying both types – as the hot has a nice little kick, but still not too spicy. I’m putting them on everything now.

Support Local Chinese

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As we are all aware, coronavirus has landed in the U.S. Those of us in large metropolitan areas like the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia) are prepared to see a higher number of cases. My city reported one of the first cases in our large state, followed by another case in the county, then 3 more cases in neighboring counties. The chaos and supply outages around here started well before that.

Am I worried? Yes, of course. I’m most worried about my elderly family members and those with health conditions. I’m worried about my sister who’s an ER nurse. I’m worried about vulnerable populations in all parts of the country and world. I almost cried last week when my radio alarm went off to the sounds of CSPAN – with a 71 year old caller from Detroit on the line, expressing his concerns about being a bus driver with chronic illness. Those are the people I’m most worried about.

Still, we can’t hide from it. It’s here and it’s going to be more prevalent. We must all be cautious and vigilant but not so fearful that everything else comes to a halt.

But not only are people wiping out the hand sanitizer and water (and toilet paper???) aisles in stores, other ugly things are surfacing.

As you may imagine, one of my primary news sources is Eater. They recently wrote an article about the vulnerable workers in the restaurant industry that don’t get sick leave. When people don’t have sick leave, they don’t get paid if they can’t work. If they can’t work, they can’t pay their bills. This is simply not an option for some people. People are going to get sick, think it’s not serious, tough it out because they need to get paid, and put their communities at risk, through no fault of their own. Don’t @ me, @ your Congressman.

But as Eater and other medias have also reported, people are still eating out… just not at Chinese restaurants. The upsurge in racism towards Asians, in particular Chinese, have caused a decline in local Chinese restaurant businesses. Fear in times of crisis causes hatred, prejudice and ignorance to soar.

Chinese food doesn’t spread coronavirus. Not washing your hands spreads coronavirus. WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS! Follow the CDC guidelines to limit the spreading of any germs (which as you will notice, does not include “avoid Chinese food.”)

And whether you’re a part of the foodie community or not, I propose an initiative to support those small businesses that are unjustly suffering right now. Go visit your favorite local Chinese restaurant this week. Then ask a friend which is their favorite, then go visit that one.

Stay safe, stay well, and stay woke. And wash your damn hands.

Resources:
Coronavirus Information from the CDC
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Vulnerable Food Workers Don’t Have Sick Leave
https://www.eater.com/2020/3/5/21166187/food-service-workers-without-paid-leave-cant-afford-coronavirus-quarantine

Coronavirus Effects on Chinese Restaurants
https://www.eater.com/2020/2/10/21131642/novel-coronavirus-american-chinese-restaurants-explained

Coroniavirus Effects on DMV Chinese Restaurants
https://dc.eater.com/2020/2/26/21154257/coronavirus-dc-chinese-restaurants-peter-chang-rockville-fairfax

New Years Goal Progress

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Happy Belated New Year!

Can you believe it? The first month of 2020 has nearly come to an end! We just celebrated Chinese New Year, and we’re coming up on the wintriest part of the season.

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? I don’t make resolutions; they’re more like goals. This year, I set a goal, as a self-declared DMV blogger, to visit the M and D at least once a month. I stay and work in Virginia, but getting to DC and Maryland takes a little more effort.

However, as plans don’t always pan out, sometimes adjustments are necessary. I don’t look at it as failure, just modified goals.

I spent the first week of the month with my family, 4 hours away from the DMV. When I returned home and went back to work, I almost immediately caught a nasty winter bug, which had me down and out for nearly a week. At the end of that week, we had some snow and ice come through. I missed out on a couple of events in DC. By that time, more than half of the month had gone by.

Eventually, I was able to take a roadtrip to Maryland with some fellow food blogging friends. We had lunch at Oppas of The Block in Rockville, MD. Then we had dessert nearby at Kyoto Matcha. Trying to make the most of our day trip, we hopped into The Spot food hall, then took a quick peek into Pike’s Kitchen food hall before heading back to Virginia.

TL;DR

January has run out of days. Today is my “rest day,” and I didn’t feel like venturing out to DC. My New Year’s goal, as a DMV food blogger, was initially to visit Maryland and DC at least once a month. Having already dealt with challenges (travel, illness, and weather), I’ve had to adjust my goal to visiting Maryland OR DC at least once a month. If you haven’t kept up with your resolution, don’t fret. You can still pick up where you left off! If it wasn’t working out very well, determine how to adjust it, and start fresh.

Here are some of the delicious shots from my January Maryland visit:

Giving Tuesday is Near

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“When you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence.” – unknown

Happy Thanksgiving fam!

I hope you have a wonderful day and an amazing feast! I would like to encourage everyone to take this day as an opportunity, especially as you may gather with family and friends, to remind you that Giving Tuesday is next week.

As a foodie, I’m naturally drawn to hunger and food insecurity causes. The USDA estimates that 14 million US households are food insecure. Higher rates exist among men and women living alone, those with children, black and Hispanic households, and least surprisingly, low income households. That to me is completely unacceptable in a country that has more than enough food to feed everyone. Greed and waste are at the root of hunger and food insecurity, not lack of food. Sometimes it’s up to us as individuals and groups to ensure that our neighbors are taken care of when needed.

This year I’ve chosen to give to Patriot Pantry, a food bank for students of the university I work at, who are homeless and/or food insecure. This cause is very dear to me as a college administrator, and a former student myself, because students deserve to succeed, and hunger should never be a factor interfering with that. George Mason University is situated within one of the richest areas in the country – the Washington, DC Metropolitan area (DMV). Again, there is no excuse for these students to go without a basic necessity like food, where households a mile down the road may bring in million dollar incomes.

Other examples of local organizations in the DMV that fight hunger and food insecurity:
Maryland Food Bank
Arlington Food Assistance Center
Food for Others in Fairfax, VA
DC Central Kitchen

But I digress, your favorite cause doesn’t need to be food-related at all, it just needs to be important to you.

Have you decided yet which organization you will be giving to on Tuesday?

Focus On: Agua 301

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I’m excited to share my first “Focus On” with you! I’m not a good critic, which is why I never got into Yelp. I’m not good at writing negative reviews, especially about the restaurant business, because I know how easy it can be to have one bad night due to unusual and unexpected circumstances that don’t accurately reflect the place. Now, ask me to write a negative review about an apartment that I spent 24/7/365 in and I will happily rip open a new one ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

Anywho, I only write about restaurants I love – short and sweet, so let’s put the focus on Agua 301 in Washington, DC.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Agua 301 with a group of foodie friends. The Yards Park restaurant at the Capitol Riverfront serves a variety of delicious Mexican dishes with a modern flare for dinner, lunch, brunch and happy hour.

Chef JAO’s talent and passion for Mexican cuisine is quite evident. Every dish I tasted was incredible! Even things I don’t normally eat, like Pork Belly, made its way to the top of my favorites list in the form of Tacos. Other dishes among my favorites included Chipotle Shrimp, Steak & Shrimp Fajitas, Crab Cakes Benedict, Sopa de Mariscos (seafood soup), and Mushroom Huarache (a vegetarian flatbread.)

We had such a great night of community, eating, and enjoying margaritas and sangria. It’s such a fun atmosphere and the location is nice too. Chef is so personable and talented, the staff was super friendly and attentive, and the food speaks for itself! If you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, do yourself a favor and go!

Halloween Giveaway

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On Halloween morning, I will be hosting my very first Instagram giveaway! I went back and forth on what to do before finally deciding on Dunkin’ Donuts. My boss and I took an afternoon walk to Dunkin for her tea, and while we were in line I saw this adorable spider donut. I didn’t have an easy month, and it wasn’t very festive. Sometimes it just takes something little to turn your mood around. I couldn’t resist the donut that made me smile.

While contemplating giveaways, it was important to me to make my first one applicable to my many friends around the country – obviously the DMV, but also so many in New Jersey and New York, Florida, Arizona, Chicago, etc. Dunkin is pretty much everywhere! And if you weren’t aware, the Dunkin company supports many local organizations that address issues like hunger, safety and children’s health.

In the future I plan to do local giveaways as well because I am an advocate of supporting small businesses. But I’d also like to include my international friends in a giveaway.

As we head into the season of thanks and giving, I want to say THANK YOU to my friends. I hope we continue to support each others’ journeys for a long time. But for now, excuse me while my spider donut and I get back to watching Hocus Pocus!

Happy Halloween donut!