Hopscotch and Pottery

Last week marked John's first official week of being a new doctor. Even though I haven't been able to see him near as much as I would like to, I am beyond proud of him and the hard work that he is putting in to serving others. While he was at work, I spent a lot of time doing two things that I love: practicing yoga and being creative in the kitchen. I cooked a lot of new recipes including: homemade chicken salad with an amazing recipe for homemade mayonnaise (thanks to a friend going through WLC), grilled salmon with avocado salsa, and stuffed bell peppers. However, one recipe that I tried for the first time was good enough to share, in my opinion, is as follows:

Sweet Potato Turkey Shepherd's Pie 

Ingredients: 

For the potatoes-

1-1/2 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup 1% milk (I used Almond milk)

1/4 cup fat free chicken broth

2 Tbsp reduced fat sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

For the filling- 

1 lb lean ground turkey

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 celery stalk, chopped

2 cloves garlic

10 oz mixed frozen vegetables

1 cup fat free low-sodium chicken broth

2 tsp tomato paste

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp freshly chopped rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

a dash of paprika

-Boil sweet potatoes and garlic in salted water until softened. Drain and mash with chicken broth, sour cream, salt and pepper. 

-Preheat oven to 400.

-In a large saute pan, brown turkey meat and season with salt and pepper. When cooked through, remove from pan and set aside. 

-Drizzle olive oil in the pan, then add onion and saute for one minute. Add chopped celery and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 10-12 minutes or until the celery has softened.

-Add garlic, frozen vegetables, chicken broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, cooked turkey, and mix well. Simmer on low for 5-10 minutes.

-In 8 oven safe ramekins, spread the meat and vegetable mixture 3/4 of the way to the top of the ramekin. Top the remaining portion of the ramekin with the sweet potato mixture. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes before serving.

On Tuesday night, John had the evening off. So, we took a quick spin to Georgetown after I got off work. While there, we checked some things off John's Georgetown bucket list including Hill & Dale, a local record shop, and Hugh & Crye, a men's clothing designer from right here in the District. Both establishments were tucked away on side streets and definitely one of a kind. I have to admit, finding those little local establishments made me fall a little more in love with this city. 

After work on Thursday, my friend Wesley met me for gelato at one of my absolute favorite gelato/ice cream shops- Dolcezza gelato. We both opted for sorbetto- blueberry lemon thyme for Wesley and strawberry tarragon for me. After we received our delicious order, we took it back to my place and enjoyed it on my rooftop while taking in a view of the setting sun. It was a wonderful ending to the end of the work day.

On Friday evening, John thankfully had the entire day off. So, we got to have a date night once I got home from work. We started by walking a few blocks over to Lauriol Plaza. They serve traditional Tex-Mex fare, nothing too fancy but filling. After our meal, we enjoyed some rays of the day's summer sunshine by walking along the tree lined sidewalks of our neighborhood. Eventually, we made our way to 17th street to visit Mr. Yogato. The local fro-yo establishment, has been talked about and blogged out with nothing but good buzz. So, we were happy to go see what all the fuss was about and give it our stamp of approval. The menu changes frequently and the flavors are pretty limited, however the flavors that they do have are packed with goodness. Plus, they have toppings galore to choose from. My favorite part of the whole experience (aside from our cup of coco-loco shandy coconut fro-yo with crushed Oreo topping) was the fact that if you answer the daily trivia questions correctly- you get discounts!

Afterwards, we hopped on the Metro towards Cleveland Park to spend the rest of our evening at All Fired Up. We have been to pottery painting places in the past, but it's been years and it made for a fun and relaxed date night. I just love the Cleveland Park neighborhood with it's quaint main street areas and historic homes. John worked very hard on an Anthropologie inspired serving bowl while I worked on a butter dish, also inspired by Anthropologie. John finished in no time, but my project ended up taking longer than expected (probably thanks to my super detail oriented nature). So, I wrapped mine up and saved it to be finished the next day.  So, the next day after a walking detour through Woodley Park, I headed back to All Fired Up and spent the majority of the afternoon finishing my (now) prized butter dish. It should be fired and ready to go by this Saturday. I can't wait to see the result. 

That evening John and I went back to Mr. Yogato to celebrate his 6th birthday by participating in a scavenger hunt for a chance to win prizes. It ended up being more like a truth or dare game at times since the hunt required you to either capture items by taking photos or collect items by bringing something back to the final judges. For us only having 2 team members, we did a great job. I mean, John got a police officer to write him a "get out of jail free" card and I played a good old fashioned game of hopscotch inside a neighborhood bar. Even though we didn't walk away with any official prizes, we did snag some free cupcakes and lots of hilarious memories.

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to do a weekly chore with one of John's fellow interns, Rebecca, by going grocery shopping. Who knew how much fun such a task could be when you enjoy it with a new friend? Afterwards, we went on a walk around my neighborhood and took in the sights of the Spanish Steps and Woodrow Wilson's home. 

The past week wasn't as jam packed compared to weeks past but it was a good pace for me. I am continually thankful for this new city full of new people and new experiences. Cheers to another great week full of memories to be made.