melvin hazen trail | rock creek park

The last few weeks have been some of the most stressful of my life. I don't say that lightly. In bold, open truth and probably too much disclosure, the only things I've ever faced that have left me as emotionally distraught, stressed out and overwhelmed are when my stepfather passed away last year, and fighting to afford to stay in college my freshman year (another story for another time?).

In fact, I hesitate to talk about it at all. I haven't been blogging much lately because I don't exactly know what to say. On Thursday, I wrote about trying ScratchDC, and within that, I talked a little bit about my housing situation - namely, that my roommate Matt and I haven't had heat. That barely scratches the surface of the whole story. Where to even begin?

Matt and I moved into our apartment in September. The rent and the space were both incredible, and we were in the very neighborhood we'd wanted to move. In the first 24 hours after moving in, we knew it was a mistake. The place was a mess. There is a pigeon nest outside of my bedroom window. There's no windowsill on that window ledge. A piece of cardboard was wedged between the AC unit and the remainder of the window to keep it stabilized. Pigeon poop, dirt and leaves covered my floor. Water leaked from the AC unit.

In every room, electrical wiring is exposed and windows hang loosely in their frames. There are cracks in the walls, and the bathroom floor is rotted beneath the tiles. The shower drips constantly, so mildew builds no matter how often we clean it.

We made a list of every problem we found that first weekend. We read through the DC tenant-landlord laws and DC housing code. We highlighted half a dozen housing code violations. We sat down with our landlord for a meeting. We ran through the list wit him, and he laughed at us, physically laughed. "You get what you pay for," he said. He continued to bully us - saying if we "worked" with him, he'd "take care" of us - like, maybe if we played nice, he'd replace the refrigerator that leaks and has two broken shelves.

Total strangers began to tell us that we messed up moving into one of our landlord's buildings. No less than three people said, "Take your rent and go. Get out if you can."

We persevered. 

We were scared. Professional bullies, and slumlords, in our case, are good at it - they're intimidating. And also, Matt and I are used to adversity. That's the only way to say it. I grew up with a single mom. She worked three jobs, and there were brief times where electricity was turned off or we waited a few months until we could afford to have the leak in the living room repaired. "It's life," I kept shrugging. We do what we can with what we have and move on.

Then winter arrived, and the heating source promised to us since we moved in never came. Men arrived at random hours of the day and evening without prior notice to install gas heaters. They ran a gas line from another unit in the building. We didn't feel safe. It was 50 degrees. We finally called in DCRA - the city's housing authority.

We've now had two DCRA inspections, and they want to schedule a third. The second inspector came from the illegal construction unit. He deemed all of the electrical wiring and gas connections illegal. There's even a sewer pipe behind our stove --- ew. He told me off the record that on the path the inspections are on, the building very well may be condemned.

It sounds like a happy ending, kinda, but working with DCRA brought a whole new set of problems with the landlord. He demanded to know why I have gone "guerrilla warfare" on him. Which, come on guys, was kind of a total compliment. But really, it's awful. I panic every time he calls, knowing it's going to be a fight. Matt and I have withheld rent since December, since we don't have adequate living conditions. We've spoken with a tenant advocate, who advises us to take him to court immediately and have the court hold the money.

court? we can't afford that. we can't afford a new apartment. we can't afford to fight him. 

We found out in the midst of all of this that our slumlord? That creep? He's a well-educated, influential lawyer at a big firm here in D.C. There are pictures of him with the president. He contributes to national publications. It just keeps getting better.

So. Last week we did find an apartment. It turns out finding a two-bedroom apartment in D.C. city limits that allows dogs in January, well, is a fairly impossible task. So we found a large one-bedroom apartment with a big enough common space to partition a second bedroom. It is what it is.

It's more than we can really afford. It'll be a stretch. And require sacrifices. But at least we'll be out of this place.

We sold our souls to the slumlord - made a deal that we owe him nothing, can keep the rent we've withheld to afford to move out, if we stop talking to DCRA. I cried. And debated. And had no clue what to do. Ultimately, we had no choice. We don't have the resources to fight him.

One of our applications for the new apartment was denied. In order to live together, we had to find a co-signer.

DCRA has called twice - bless them for following up. City government is good. I don't know what to do. I feel like this is a moment, an issue, a time that is self-defining. I'm between a rock and a hard place. I don't want anyone to ever live in that building like we have. I want to stop him.

I packed up Theo this weekend and went to Zan's. He has been my rock and forced me to realize that sometimes I need help, sometimes I have to accept help, and sometimes I even have to swallow my pride and ask for it.

There's a trail below Zan's apartment. It's the Melvin Hazen trail - part of Rock Creek Park here in the city. I took Theo for a short hike on it, tears stinging my face in the biting cold on Saturday afternoon. It's only about half a mile long. Twenty feet in, I let Theo off-leash. Traipsing through the snow-covered woods that felt much further away from the city than in reality, I let go of it all. I found some peace. And when Theo slid around in the snow and got soaking wet in the stream and ran with wild abandon up and down the hills, I couldn't stop laughing. The only thing better than being in the woods is being in snow-covered woods.

For better or worse, we move into our new apartment on Saturday.

Learn more about the Rock Creek Park trails here. Come hike them with me - they'll practically be in my backyard at the new place!

ScratchDC delivers

 
My apartment has no heat. It has some heat, limited heat. It stays warm enough to keep frost off the floors. I live in pajama pants and thick boot socks (okay, that part's not so bad). The other night, I tried to ignite a gas heater our landlord recently had rigged (totally unsafe and illegal, I'm 100% positive). It wouldn't light. I tried again. And again. And 87 more times, all while on the phone with Zander, until I broke down crying. So that's how my living situation is going these days.

I wanted to curl up into a ball under blankets in my bed and not move for the rest of the night. I probably would have eaten pasta with a lackluster attempt at some bottled marinara thrown on top. And then I remembered my ScratchDC bundle. And it saved my night.

ScratchDC is a new culinary concept from Ryan Hansan, a native Virginian. After graduating college in D.C., he wanted to make homemade meals, had an appreciation for good food and even considered himself a foodie, but found himself spending huge amounts of money on spices and ingredients he'd only need a teaspoon of and would never use again. He wanted to find a way to take the hassle out of making great home-cooked meals. Enter Scratch.

He and his small team of three full time staff (small and mighty!) create gourmet menus Monday-Friday. As orders come in online, they prep the locally sourced ingredients for each meal - meat/veggies, sauces, olive oils, spreads, bread crumbs, seasonings and fresh herbs, and package them with instruction cards. The bundles are hand-delivered to your home at your preferred time. And you're ready to cook! The meals take as little as 20 minutes to put together.

When I finally convinced myself to come out of hibernation the other night, I excitedly opened my thoughtfully put-together Scratch bundle. My menu for the night was red curry chicken with peppers and shiitake mushrooms over rice noodles. I loved how organized and cute the small containers of soy sauce, olive oil, fresh Thai basil, peanuts and carefully wrapped chicken were.

Ryan's team adds humor and wit to the easy-to-follow instruction cards that had me smiling at every step. Within 12 minutes, the smell of ginger, garlic and red curry filled my house and warmed me to the core. My favorite part of the experience quickly became learning a new recipe. I've made Thai red curry a million times it feels like, but I'd never added chicken broth to it - a step that Scratch included. I loved the depth the broth gave to the sauce, and I'll continue to use it when I make curry on my own.

Scratch doesn't skimp on ingredients. Mine made enough for at least three meals. Of course, Zan was at home sick, and Matt was gone for the night, so that meant it was just me eating. If the guys had been around, I'm sure there wouldn't have been a drop left.

They don't skimp on their menus, either. There are vegetarian options, as well as unique dishes and hearty steak and potatoes dinners. Ryan's favorite is Pan Seared Duck Breast with Goat Cheese Polenta and a Port Wine Reduction. I drooled typing that. 

Ryan hopes to expand Scratch out to Maryland and Virginia in the coming months as the new business continues to grow. There may also be some dessert additions to the menu... I may or may not have heard whisperings of "lava cake." (Sign. Me. Up.)

 My over-all thoughts on my first experience with Scratch...

The good

• It put me in a good mood! The little bits of personality and thoughtfulness go a long way. It makes cooking fun. 
• The meal I tried was very good and taught me a new recipe.
• Generous portions 
• They included two small balls of cookie dough as a "Thank you" that was very appreciated!  

The not-so-good: 

• My bundle included such a large portion of rice noodles that soaked up the curry, it became more of a pad-thai fusion. It was delicious fresh, but re-heated as leftovers, it's a little dry. That said, they included a bit of soy sauce and a few drops made it moist again.

As someone on a frugal budget who likes to cook, when would I use Scratch? 

• A romantic date night. It'd be nice to talk over a few glasses of wine and have the prep work done for us.
• A weekend meal. Friday's are for fun, not slaving in the kitchen. I would order one of these babes and a movie On Demand, pop open a bottle of bubbly, and feel spoiled staying in. 
• A busy week -if I don't have time hit the grocery store, this is a great substitute. 
• Supporting a local business with locally sourced ingredients.

Want to try ScratchDC? (You really should. I mean, cookie dough!) Ryan has generously offered a 15% discount to my blog readers on your order! Enter "TravelHikescratchDC" in the promo box when you checkout on ScratchDC's website. The promo code is valid through February 8th so get your orders in! Thanks Ryan, and the entire Scratch team!

Now, where are some more boot socks?