Cinco de Derby

Combining Cinco de Mayo AND Kentucky Derby in one day can cause a bit of an identity crisis. Sombrero vs. Floppy hat. Margarita vs. Mint Julep. Poncho vs. Seersucker. Enchilada vs. BBQ. Horse racing vs. Hat Dances. Add in a Stanley Cup Playoff game, and you have our dilemma. Ahh!

Let's be honest... to Americans, Cinco de Mayo is our excuse to wear sombreros, drink tequila, and yell "Arriba" sporadically without being judged. Similarly, the Kentucky Derby is something that .0025 % of people actually care about... it's an excuse to drink Mint Juleps, wear obnoxious hats, and dress like assholes for 24 hours. The fact that both events were on the same day was the perfect storm.

Hence... Cinco de Derby!

Borrowed this pic

Here's how we celebrated, Mr. & Mrs. Smith Style. Why limit it to one day??

Wednesday: "Get in the Mexican spirit" day with healthy mexican sweet potato skins.

Finally broke in the cast iron skillet! Roast corn for 10 minutes in a tad bit of butter & cumin.
Important: don't stir often! 2-3 times max, helps the kernels brown.

Real fancy: buy the organic microwaveable sweet potato to save yourself 45 minutes of baking.
Warning: They make a whistling sound while cooking... totally normal.  

Let potato cool: carve out filling and place in bowl.
Add roasted corn, black beans, 1 chipotle pepper, sour cream, cream cheese, cumin, and cilantro.  

Top with sour cream & cheese {any kind} and serve with avocado- Deeeelish!
*Side note: I used all fat free products, so this was yummy AND healthy!
1 potato serves 2 people- these babies are big.

 Thursday: Tequila Tasting.

Monthly Zeke, Kate, and Derek date.

1st up: Jose Cuervo. 

Up next: Don Julio. I need a minute after the Jose.

Not sure about this...

Yep... 2 down, 4 more to go.

Fast forward a few drinks...

All done! 

That's a disturbing amount of empty glasses.

I went home about 5 minutes after this picture. 

Friday: Derby Day! Bringing Kentucky style to NorthWest DC.

Aren't we fancy?

5:00 pm Mint Juleps

Friday night: Happy hour with Lisa and Dustin at the new Mexican restaurant on our street:

Didn't get any pics :(

Then, a not-Cinco De Derby related date night to see the 11:00 pm showing of The Avengers:

Good movie, but we both fell asleep due to:
a) the margaritas and dinner we ate before
b) the 11:00 pm viewing time

Saturday: Up bright and early for Cinco de Caps Game

First Stop: Rosa Mexicana for pre-gaming 

My 2nd Caps playoff game vs. NY Rangers = 2nd win I've been present for.
Maybe there's a pattern? ;)

Got cray in DC. For about 30 minutes. Then I went home and took a looooooong nap.

Thanks to our loooooooooooong nap, Seis De Mayo was fantastic and rather productive. We met Nick and Janice for 11:00 am brunch at Carlyle {again, no pics, bad Kate!}, knocked out some chores, went to the gym, did our monthly wine club tasting, and cooked a rather fantastic dinner that I'll write about tomorrow.

I hope your weekend was equally as cliche and fantastic!

XoXo

Autographs, anyone?

Maybe I didn't make it in the paper for sports in high school... but this month, my mom finally has a reason to be proud. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you our DC debut:

Girl's Night Out... Bring On Brunch... totally up my alley, right?
Or was Mr. Smith spotted at the Nationals game???

Look closely...

It was none of the above.

That's me on the left, looking like a catfish.
And Zeke is the floating head in the middle, pondering the mysteries of the universe.

Might not be the most flattering picture, but this bad boy is going in a frame ASAP! I guess being a P Brennan's regular has finally paid off... this was taken at Fado for the Guiness Pouring Competition that Eoghain won. The funny thing is that Eoghain took the trophy home, and the only part of him that made the magazine was his eyebrow in the upper right corner of the picture. I guess On Tap Magazine is prejudice against Irishmen.

While we might not have a fancy write up in the Washington Post's "Who's Who" section... you gotta start somewhere. I better get some beauty sleep for our publicity tour that kicks off tomorrow. For autographs, we will make an appearance at P Brennan's from 7pm-9pm. See you there!

1 Year Anniversary: U.S. Edition

Hi there everyone!! Long time no see :) I won't apologize for my blogging negligence this time, because Mr. Smith and I have spent the last 8 days soaking up the sun in the beautiful country of Belize. I'm working on a post that summarizes our ah-ma-zing trip... so sit tight for that one. We took a whopping 400+ pictures which I'm screening through.

In the mean time, I never shared the deets of our celebration at home. We are still in awe that 12 months has flown by... and what a year it's been. We had a fun-filled evening planned: gift exchange, champagne toast, cutting the cake top, then a cooking class in Alexandria.

First thing's first: Presents!

For the Mrs: Ice cream maker attachment {I forsee a lot of sorbet in our future!}
For the Mr: Shiny new Burberry tie. {Major wifey points}

Next: Champagne toast, cake cutting, trip down memory lane.

Zeke teases me because I'm kind of a sap sometimes. Ok, ok... I'm a major sap. One of my favorite "games" to play is "What's your favorite memory of {fill in the blank}?", and we take turns naming things that pop in our head. I play this with him when we're being lazy on the couch or laying in bed sometimes. I'll say random things like: our dates, times with your friends, our wedding weekend, trips we've taken, our weekends in Houston, our weekends in DC, meals we've cooked, etc. I feel like things fly by so fast, and it's always fun to take pause and think back on the experience you've had. If you don't ever do this, I suggest you try :) You'll be surprised what your boyfriend/husband says!

This was my favorite round of the game so far. After we cut the cake and were enjoying our champagne, I asked him, "What's your favorite memory of our first year of marriage?" We sat and thought for a minute, and both agreed that April 9, 2011-April 9-2012 was one of the best years we've shared thus far. Some of our favorite memories and things we are thankful are: We had the wedding weekend of our dreams thanks to our wonderful and loving parents, spent a week being pampered in St. Lucia for a picturesque honeymoon, have enjoyed learning the nuances of changing from boyfriend/girlfriend to husband/wife, love exploring our new city, trying new restaurants and cooking new recipes {thank you Pinterest!}, have hosted several fantastic visitors, have traveled back to Texas quite frequently for family visits/friends' celebrations, are extremely happy in our careers, are making new friends here, became Aunt Kate & Uncle Zeke to a beautiful niece, my best friend had a beautiful healthy baby boy, we've attended all major sporting events in DC {baseball, hockey, football, basketball}, I crossed a half marathon off my bucket list... I could go on and on. We we were once again reminded of how truly blessed we have been- we couldn't thank the man upstairs enough.

After our toast, we headed to a Thai cooking class at AuDela in Alexandria. We've always had the itch to attend a class, and I know absolutely nothing about cooking Thai food, so it worked out perfectly! Even though it was a demo {not hands on}, we still learned great methods, got some recipes that we can't wait to try at home, and ate some delicious food. Chef Coulon might be from Louisiana, but he sure does know his Thai.

Cooking chicken for the soup. 

His suggested coconut milk- some brands are garbage.

Explaining the importance of soaking sticky rice before cooking it.

Marinating the beef. I like his stlye- he doesn't go by exact amounts.
He prefers "method cooking", aka go with your gut and add as much or as little as you like.

Add onions/peppers, and simmer. 

Chicken, Coconut, and Ginger Soup. Seriously- one of the best soups I've tasted.

Beef with Sweet Basil and Jasmine Rice. Surprisingly sweet with a spicy kick from thai peppers.

Mango Sticky Rice with Coconut Cream. No words needed except YUM.

My biggest take away from the class was confirming my renegade kitchen habits: cooking isn't about exact amounts and following rule books- you really can get creative and make something your own. That's what I love about it so much... once you know some basic techniques, you're able to apply them to different dishes/meats and play around with the outcome. I learned some cool basics for Thai that I'll definitely throw into my routines.

All in all, we had a great beginning to the anniversary celebrations. Up next: 1 Year Anniversary: Belize Edition!

Xoxo,

Kate

Steak, Wine, More Steak, More Wine.

Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting some wonderful guests at Chateau Smith: Jessica, Lauren, and Cody. 

Jessica, one of my BFF's, made her third trip to visit since we've moved. She wins the frequent traveler award... and major friend brownie points ;) She had a work event Thursday evening and conveniently stretched her trip out until Sunday. Lauren and Cody were DC first-timers. Lauren is a teacher, so she had last week off for Spring break, and they decided to use their time wisely and spend Friday-Tuesday with us.

Hosting a group is fun, but it comes with certain pressures. You want to make sure that each visitor has an amazing trip that they will always remember. We genuinely appreciate when friends/family make the trek to the East Coast, so we want to show them the best time possible. When we were contemplating plans for the weekend, we knew this one would be a little tricky. Since this was Jessica's third visit, she's "been there, done that" on the touristy front. A trip to the Smithsonian and National Mall was not in the cards. 

Lauren and Cody, however, were first timers. The good news what that they were strategic with their planning, and they booked their trip through Tuesday so that they could sight-see while we were at work, and could spend the weekends playing with us. 

We had the prefect week/weekend planned... {or so we thought!}

Wednesday: Kate/Jess dinner at Founding Farmers in DC

Thursday: Jessica's work event {Open bar, tequila, mariachi band. Duh.} then bar hopping in DC

Friday: Dinner at Ray's the Steaks in Clarendon, potential bar hopping after

Saturday: Chartered bus trip to 3-4 wineries in Loudon County, Virginia, who knows after

Sunday: Brunch, possible Sunday Funday

Monday: {Day} Lauren/Cody sight see, {Night} Movie at Arlington Cinema Draft House

Sounded awesome, right?! Too bad...

Wednesday: Jessica booked her flight into the wrong airport, landed late, and we missed dinner.

Thursday: Event was *awesome*, bar hopping turned into one drink and a fat steak dinner, then home by 10:00. 

Friday: Took Jess shopping and sight seeing in Georgetown. Lauren and Cody's flight was 3 hours late AND Delta lost their bags temporarily. No steaks, bar food at P Brennan's instead.

Saturday: SUCCESS! Made it to 2 wineries, were back in time for a make-up dinner at Ray's the Steaks. Well worth the wait-- some of the best steak I've ever had!

Sunday: Brunch happened, but no Funday. We all drank water, then came home immediately to sleep again. Home cooked pasta dinner by Kate and Lauren.

Monday: Dinner and NCAA Championship viewing at P Brennan's.

Even though everything didn't go exactly as planned, we had a fantastic weekend. Thanks again for visiting, everyone!

Wednesday: Post- event drinks with bestie at POV  

The ridiculously delicious  28 oz prime rib with lobster mashed potatoes at The Occidental.
{Jess and I split this, of course}

Jessica's first Food Truck Friday! 

Overall: not a top 5 favorite, but the Mac and Cheese was stellar!!

Quick trip to the Georgetown campus-- so pretty!

I'm officially obsessed with this house and I can only see the front door.
If only I had $2 million. Sigh....
#lifelongDCrenters

Enjoyed spring flowers 

Saturday- Chartered winery tour in Louden County

First stop: Bluemont Winery 

Easy, Jess. There's enough to go around. 

Lauren & Cody enjoying the scenery

He's the king of the world! With an empty glass :(

Second Stop: Sunset Hills <3 

Pretty outside patio

I see you! 

Jessica trying to finagle earlier reservations at Ray's the Steaks. In spanish.
"Si, si, si. A la ocho. Si si si."

A must every time: car bombs at P Brennan's before dinner

Sunday night home cooked dinner! Pasta making lesson with Kate & Lauren.
She's a natural! Cody-- I think your wifey needs a stand mixer ASAP ;) 

The finished product-- fettucini with sweet italian sausage and peppers in vodka sauce.

Monday night: Eoghain/Lauren bonding.
This one's for you, Rob!!

Tuesday, we came home to an empty apartment, and 11 emptier bottles of wine.
Great weekend!