make her a cake.

After months of disregarding this so-called food blog, I literally had an epiphany yesterday. I was sitting at a table at Juice Joint, observing the culture around me and just loving life. I realized I had to write a review of this place, because it was that good. So:

Where to begin? Juice Joint has it all. It begins with its name. It’s short, catchy, and easy to say. It is technically a “juice bar and healthy foods cafe.” I entered, only having eaten there once before, and I was pleasantly satisfied. This time around, I spent a good 3-4 minutes perusing the menu and I finally settled on a turkey burger (their menu states: “A healthier version of America’s classic”) and the Classic Smoothie (call me boring, but simpler is better. Strawberries, bananas, and apple juice - 16 oz.) This is honestly enough for me (not quantity-speaking, just enough to make me more than satisfied). So, I settled on these two items, and got in line to pay. The line moved very fast, and as I stood there for about a minute, customers were flowing in as if there were free giveaways. When it was my turn to pay, the cashier was incredibly friendly, speaking so fast I could barely understand him. I did catch his question that made the service impeccable at this place. As I handed him my cash - my two items came to a total of $12 something, not bad at all for a college student on a budget trying to save money, specifically this week - he asked, “Have you been here before?” I said I had, and I chose to return because I was recommended to by one of the women I work with (side note - I saw her leaving as I entered.) I told him I really like it and I’m going to keep coming back. He said thank you so much. Talking to someone with a friendly attitude makes all the difference.

Then I stood waiting to pick up my food and it was very quick. As I sat down to begin eating, I couldn’t help overhearing the conversations at the tables next to me. Nearly everyone was raving about the service, how good the food was, the quality, how they’re going to tell their brother about it…it was a pleasure to hear this. Within 30 seconds or so of finishing my food, they whipped away my tray. Like I said, impeccable service. I was in and out of there within 25 minutes, and I didn’t rush myself at all.

The single best thing about Juice Joint is that I am going to go there every Wednesday (hopefully) for my lunch break, and I will be able to get something different each time.

This is the kind of place that needs to take Eaglebucks, and it’s also the kind of place that need to be in Hanover. Enough said.

If you know me, you know that I LOVE chocolate, and I LOVE milkshakes, so I will have to say that the world’s best chocolate milkshake that I’ve had thus far is in Hanover at Lou’s. Lou’s has always been one of my favorite restaurants growing up, but it feels like I don’t go there very often. Now that I don’t live here during the year, I really don’t go there very often. So, that allows me, every time I go there, to order a chocolate milkshake. Today, that’s what I did.

At Lou’s they prepare their milkshakes very thick. They are unhealthy, but if you’re like me you can convince yourself that they’re healthy because they contain MILK. They are filled with chunks of chocolate ice cream (or vanilla, or strawberry, for that matter, or any combination of the three.) The only times when I would consider getting a black and white is if I’m sharing the milkshake with whomever I’m with, which happens often because the size is so large. It is served in a silver blender glass, and two clear plastic glasses are brought to the table so that the portion can be split into two (point proven). 

When I take the first sip of a Lou’s chocolate milkshake, the taste is unbelievable. It is satisfying beyond belief, it is always exactly what I am expecting, and it is always just what I needed. It keeps me full for hours after, and it usually ruins my lunch-dinner pattern like it has tonight, but I don’t care too much. Although it is extremely heavy and the portion is out of control, it is completely worth it.

Unlike the lobster roll at the lobster roll “place”, this was far from the first time I have had a Lou’s chocolate milkshake. I will give it a rating of 10/10, because today, there was not one thing wrong with it, in the presentation, taste, or anything else involved.

It’s going to bother me but I can’t remember the exact name of the restaurant I ate at last night, but it was a lobster roll shack. A ton of people hate lobsters for a variety of reasons, and I might put myself in that category, but I really like lobster rolls. A lobster roll sandwich is not the same thing as a “lobster”, like you would picture it as a full animal straight out of the water. While I’m eating, I don’t really think about the fact that the lobster roll came from a lobster, which was alive in the ocean. In the same way, I don’t think about how shrimp or any other kind of fish was caught and killed in the same way,and I don’t often think when I’m eating a chicken sandwich about how the chicken was once alive and on a farm of some sort. I’m not an animal activist of any sort, but going to the lobster roll shack got me thinking.

I was not impressed with the cashier who rang up our food. I didn’t realize it at the time because I wasn’t paying attention, but she had trouble splitting the bill (which was $43) into 2. What she did was charge one credit card with $40 and the other one with $3, which is completely absurd. Then she called over another girl who was working and asked her to do the math, and that girl called over an older man, who sorted out the problem. All of this happened before I enjoyed my lobster roll sandwich, and that was tough because I was starving.

The lobster roll was made up of cut off lobster on a white bread hot dog bun, but you didn’t get that much lobster at all. Then it came with some coleslaw on the side. I wasn’t impressed with the presentation all that much, and I wasn’t impressed with the fact that they automatically put layers of mayo onto the lobster roll. I did enjoy the flavor of the actual lobster roll but I wish I had gotten more to eat since I was so hungry.

Overall, due to service, food quality, and overall experience, I’ll give the lobster roll “place” a 7 out of 10. Personally I hate the grade of 70%, but since it’s the summer, I’m gonna say who cares about the percentage and actual grade; I’ll just leave it at the ratings.

I don’t wannaaaa:

-Take down my birthday decorations that have been up since, well, my birthday, in February.

-Say goodbye to some of my favorite people whom I’m not sure if I’ll be able to see over the summer.

-Pack. Pack my clothes, my school supplies, my bedding, my room, my everything…

-Study for and take finals. Two legitimate tests and then many, many papers.

-Think about what happened this weekend in Connecticut and Canada, but I can’t help it.

However, what I DO want to do is:

-Sell back my books and get rid of many, many books that I have no interest in looking at.

-Move out of my room.

-Listen to my amazing new workout mix.

-See my parents!

-Get tan again this summer.

-Shower without shoes.

-See various people at home (shoutoutttt, duh)

FINALS. let’s do this.

And instead of participating in that class, I write down all the funny things she says in my notebook. I’m really good at taking notes. This is how I know being a communications major is right for me.

In a discussion about lying and cheating:

“The best relationships are based on lies!”

“It’s always hypothetical in this class!

“Kissing isn’t cheating…

…unless it’s your mother!”

On a discussion about consequences of an action:

“I just didn’t understand the hookah…I figured it was legal.”

Random:

“I would do it to keep the vice president from becoming president.

We love him. We love him because he says the “F” word!”

In a discussion on excess taxation:

Relating to the abortion display on the quad today:

“It’s about people that were killed in Colombia..” - student

  - “not Columbia Heights…?”

it’s dangerous during the daytime…” - professor (Columbia Heights is an area of DC that is known for being unsafe at night and sometimes people are even scared to go there during the day).

On food/drink taxes:

“What’s the other one you all drink? Oh, Red Bull. You know that’s really made of urine from cows, but I’m not telling you that.”

As a student who is always pretty hostile and who sits in the very back corner of the room is about to participate:

“Shhh. Michael always says good things. He’s our conscience.”

On the discussion if swearing ever required taxes:

“Swearjars for everyone!” - student

“Wow, you get enthusiastic!” - professor

Love her!

I have a horrible, horrible addiction to simply “logging” onto Facebook. I don’t do anything else, honestly. I just log in and leave it up, but then I get distracted. It’s horrible. Today I had a whole free day and I got one thing done that took 45 minutes, not even, and it wasn’t even that important. Just a small homework assignment.

Someone needs to invent a program that allows one to use the Internet for strictly academic purposes, no exceptions. I need to be so much more hard on myself.

The End

(of this annoying little rant)

Naturally, when crunch time arrives, I procrastinate and turn to blogging when I SHOULD be doing so so so many other things. It’s Sunday April 18th, and tomorrow is the first day of the last week of classes of freshman year. There’s a lot that needs to be done. I need to make this kind of short, but I can’t resist. I’m going to do a photo recap of freshman year, and I’m going to try to avoid repeating pics that were used in my 2009 photo recap.

August:

We used to go around window shopping allllllll the time. Such a carefree life. Didn’t work hard. Literally went to Georgetown every weekend we could get.

September:

I will always love this day, and this picture. Things are so very different from this day, but I still like it. It’s bittersweet in that way. I also had a really great time at the baseball game.

October:

This night was fun. I haven’t been back to this bookstore/restaurant since then, although I would love to. BusBoys and Poets in U St area in DC = amazing.

November:

Sadly, it would be very difficult for a similar picture to be taken again, not to mention in the same location.

December:

This was probably the one day of the entire year that literally made me jump out of bed, clearly because it was the first snowfall of the year. It was even a Saturday morning. It was such a fun morning.

January:

This was probably the only night the entire month I went out and had fun. At the beginning of the night, it still didn’t feel right. By the end, I was better. Not fully better, quite yet, but well on my way.

February:

Honestly, the snowstorm, my birthday, and the noise violation are the three things that will stand out about this month. This photo here was taken the night of my birthday dinner, which was planned extremely last minute, but I was happy that I could at least have some friends celebrate with me.

March:

I don’t have one picture from school in this month, which is kind of weird. I was really stoked to be able to see my cousins, shown here. I miss them a lot and we don’t get to see each other nearly as much as we should!

April:

Well we’ve come full circle, clothing and weather wise. This is currently my desktop background. It was April 3rd, and it was a beautiful, beautiful day in the district. This is a group of us at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. I had a great time today as well. I also like the biker on the left staring into the distance.

One more week of classes, then finals. 17 days until summer vacation - a whole four months long of it. Sigh. So many emotions. Excited, excited, excited.

I have an obligation for a class (not a university credit class, but a class) on Friday night, but Eric Hutchinson is coming to my school and I would miss seeing him. If I skip the obligation, I will lose $75 from the $300 that I gain from taking the class. I really want to see Eric Hutchinson because I’ve never seen him live. I haven’t missed anything from the class, I don’t even enjoy it that much, and my friends in the class are not attending the event Friday night. What should I do?