Surviving and Thriving

So Hurricane Sandy paid the Northeast an unwelcome visit this week on Monday-Tuesday. GW was closed on both days! My roommates and I stocked up on water, flashlights, and food...and were very very fortunate to not have been hit as hard as New York and New Jersey were. It just felt like a violent rain storm. Some people in the DC area lost power; our apartment building did around 5:30pm Monday. This was taken in the dark using the flash on my camera...

We huddled for body heat but then a friend in the building invited us to go make no-bake cookies since our building has gas stoves. We played some games in the dark then gave the leftover cookies to random neighbors down the hall, kinda like reverse trick-or-treating :)

Woke up on Tuesday freezing cuz we still didn't have power, but our awesome home teacher, Mitchell, invited us to come to his house. So we packed up our electronics (our addictions to email, Facebook, texting, and the internet were extremely apparent right away) and headed over to his cozy lit house. His roommate even fed us lunch! Thai curry chicken -

I finished and sent in my paper due that day and did some more homework. Mitchell and his roommates were so great about us taking over their house for several hours.

Then I went to hang out at Britt's house and tried to do more homework. What a great friend (in more ways than letting me mooch off her electricity)! My apartment got power back right before bedtime!

Things I learned - or had reconfirmed - during "Frankenstorm":

1) We are all pitifully addicted to/hopelessly reliant on the internet and social media
2) I underestimated the hassle of losing food to a dead refrigerator and the discomfort of freezing in an unheated home
3) There is no other network like the one we have in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Within minutes of losing power, I had friends, visiting teachees/teachers, and home teachers check on me and offer help in any way. I love that we are taught to be independent and self-sufficient but have a backup support system if we are unable to take care of ourselves. Find out more @ www.mormon.org :)

One of my friend's basement room flooded so I called my home teachers to come with me to help rip out her molding carpet. Can't say enough good things about my home teachers who are always so willing to serve.

If only we could have 4 day weekends and 3 day work weeks all the time, but without the storm damage!

Wednesday - Halloween was uneventful since I felt like I already celebrated at last week's dance and had to replenish my spoiled food.

Friday - Got to cross off another item off my DC bucket list! Walking along the quaint streets and amongst the quirky shops in Old Town Alexandria at night :)

As you can see, the Christmas lights are already up, which added a magical quality to the stroll (or brisk walk since it was COLD). Compared to night scenes at Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Chinatown, U Street, and Crystal City...Old Town is my favorite local place because it feels the safest but still has so many interesting shops to check out.

Ate dinner at Layla's Lebanese Restaurant. I didn't really like my first experience with Lebanese cuisine (see blog post), but I was determined to be open-minded and optimistic that this restaurant would be better. It was!

I don't think I've ever eaten out with a fellow foodie/blogger/food blogger before (I don't have a food blog, but food is definitely a strong theme, if you haven't noticed) and it was a freakin' blast! It was so fun to have another person to get all geeky on food with :D We took the time to smell the food before eating it, tried to guess what ingredients provided the distinct flavors, discussed the textures...basically passed judgment on everything haha. This was all enhanced by eating family style.

We both wanted to try new things and couldn't decide on an appetizer. Luckily, Layla was one step ahead of us and has a sample platter on the menu -

The pita bread was much more delicate than I've had before (Americans like to beef everything up). The falafel was well-seasoned and had a great crunch and contrast of textures. I thought the spinach pies and hummus were bland but the tabouleh was well-marinated. But oh, my favorite was the grape leaves. Even though they were vegetarian, they smelled like smoky bacon and was packed with flavor. We got 2 entrees. The salmon was perfectly cooked with a great crust but I thought the sauce was too bitter, tho well complemented by the golden raisin couscous -

I loooved the lamb & eggplant dish cuz it reminded me of spaghetti and tasted like the perfect comfort food -

Luckily, it turned out that we each had our own favorites so together we pretty much cleaned the plates haha

Dessert was a separate adventure, at one of the many cute cupcake places - Occasionally Cake.

Unfortunately, the decor was better than my cupcake. Root beer float (fail) and S'more (winner) -

Walked to the waterfront but forgot to take pics cuz it was so pretty! Lovely night in Old Town :)

Saturday - Homework all day, but then I had the delightful opportunity to see Wreck-It Ralph on its opening weekend! I'm not into video games at all but still thoroughly enjoyed this wholesome fun.

Great animation, witty script (very punny), excellent plot twist, endearing characters, complex morals. I highly recommend it! Watch out for my analysis on my other blog.




Full-time work and part-time grad school really puts a damper on experiencing DC to the fullest, so I'm grateful for the fun things I was able to do this week!