Monthly Archives: October 2008

Food and Drink, Penn Quarter, The DC 100
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DC Omnivore 100: #67: Beignets, period

Photo courtesy of micky mb
Cafe au lait and a beignet, please
courtesy of micky mb

Item 67 on the Omnivore 100 list is “Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake,” but I have to say – this is one place where I take issue with the list. I grew up in Miami and had family in New Orleans, so I’ve bought many a pack of churros while stopped at a streetlight on Calle Ocho and eaten my fair share of beignets at Cafe DuMonde. Calling elephant ears and funnel cake the same thing is one matter, equating them with beignets and churros simply because they’re variations on fried pastry is just…. wrong.

I leave you to your own devices to find an elephant ear; the circus comes through town on a regular basis and you have a decent chance at any street fair of finding a booth selling the drizzled fried dough. Churros we might re-address later – feel free to share any local location you think is worth out looking into.

For a beignet, however, my devotion to you, constant reader, is such that I compared two locations where you can try one of the few Louisiana exports to surpass zydeco. Continue reading →

Petworth, The Daily Feed
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Your Heat On Yet?

Taxi looking for warmth

Taxi looking for warmth

We here at the Wayan homestead are in a fight over the heat. As you can see, Taxi, like I is chilled by these 50 degree freezing(!) nights than only make it to 72 in the day. Yet my hot pregnant wife is refusing to heat the house.

While I have no hope of hot air, what’s the verdict in your home? Heat yet?

Or do you just snuggle with cold feet, determined to save a few pennies while embracing the fall chill?

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed
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McCain Campaign: Northern Virginia Isn’t Real Virginia

real 1 |ˈrē(ə)l|
adjective

2 (of a substance or thing) not imitation or artificial; genuine : the earring was presumably real gold.
• true or actual : his real name is James | this isn’t my real reason for coming.
• [ attrib. ] (of a person or thing) rightly so called; proper : he’s my idea of a real man | Jamie is my only real friend.

That’s what the Dictionary on my Mac says “Real” means. But, to hear the McCain campaign say it, Northern Virginia isn’t “Real” Virginia:

Oh c’mon, this is just as much bullshit of not liking NoVA people saying they’re from the DC area.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nationals Pay Rent. Finally.


Nationals Red Neon
Originally uploaded by tbridge

The Nationals and the City have finally resolved their differences regarding rent at Nationals Park. The Lerner family has promised to pay $3,500,000 or so in rent payments for this year’s games to the City on Monday. Bout damn time, guys. If I was this late on a mortgage payment, Sheriff would’ve come by and thrown my ass out.

The Daily Feed
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Enough with the Adverts!

Overwhelming Advertisements

Overwhelming Advertisements

Walking through the Pentagon City Mall, I am accosted by a new level of visual pollution – they now have flat screen TV’s blaring out advertisements from above.

Can we stop the madness?!

I am already in the hose of commerce, already on my way to spend, do I need to have yet another advert blaring at me? Especially when its not even for the malls’ shops but some damn TV show?

Please, turn off the TV’s and put the music back on, I’d like to spend in peace.

Foggy Bottom, The Daily Feed, Travel, WMATA
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Fill out your Metro survey!

Metro Survey I was on my way home on Friday and I received a very exciting piece of paper at foggy bottom! The 2008 METRO SURVEY! . Now I know this is so incredibly, shamelessly, totally geeky, but I love surveys, you can visit here if you want to make yours. I think it stems from my background in PR, I just love collecting and understanding market data. It’s useful in so many ways, it is helpful in planning new communication, deciding fare increases, acquiring station data, and so many things that will help Metro out. But more than that, this survey gives YOU, oh Metro commuter, a voice! You hate how crowded metro is? FILL OUT YOUR SURVEY! You wish there was a station at Tyson’s Corner? FILL OUT YOUR SURVEY! Is the proposed Purple line is the best idea ever? FILL OUT YOUR SURVEY! There are few better ways for Metro to know how to improve than to run a survey and get back well-rounded results. Even if you’re a tourist, fill out that survey! They need this data – I promise you! So dig it out of your purse, the trash can, your back pocket, and fill that sucker out! And best part? It’s free! postage paid! And with 17 questions it’s not the most laborious thing you’ve ever done. So you literally have no excuse. You can return it at any metro station, or stick it in those convenient blue mailboxes on practically every corner in the city. Here’s a mailbox locator link just for you, dear reader, because I want you to fill out your survey so badly. Metro Survey Questions (And no, I don’t work for WMATA, or any part of Metro. I just am truly this passionate about surveys, and in particular the Metro survey!) Images courtesy of Flickr user Needlessspaces.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Organic norovirus on the way out

Photo courtesy of Mike Burns

Dicky pukes, courtesy of Mike Burns

The Hoya’s website seems to be down right now, but BarfBlog writer and food safety expert Doug Powell quotes them as reporting that Georgetown University has kicked Organic to Go out the door. While GU doesn’t flat-out blame the outbreak on O2G, they state “there was enough reason to suspect a potential link between those items and the virus on campus” and are moving towards in-house item preparation.

O2G categorically denies this as true or even possible, though Powell relates a troublesome past interaction with them. Their representative had plenty of time to mail him repeatedly asking him to remove a past story about them, but when he made note of their dispute and then asked the representative for some food safety and training standards information… they suddenly failed to respond at all.

Something to consider if you are faced with the opportunity to eat at one of their 4 area cafe locations.

Update: The Hoya is back up and the story that Powell cites is here.

Food and Drink
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Tourism: National Harbor and The Gaylord

national harbor

Last weekend was sunny, warm and the perfect day to spend on the waterfront, so my boyfriend decided to surprise me with a trip to National Harbor. We have tickets later in November for Kooza, which will be set-up on a lawn somewhere at the Harbor, so Matt thought it would be nice for us to walk around and visit before it gets too cold. So we headed on over.

National Harbor would be smart growth defined (if only it had public transit included) – it’s home to restaurants, hotels, the obvious harbor, condos, a troubled farmer’s market, shopping, and office space. And it’s perfectly manicured. I’m positive that somewhere in their marketing and advertising literature someone calls it ‘luxury living defined’. Which also makes it just a touch creepy. (I sometimes have a problem with perfection. Weirds me out.) But hey, on a day designed for us to play tourist, it’s perfect. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Fun & Games, Night Life, The Daily Feed
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Ghost Tours @ National Building Museum

Courtesy National Building Museum

Courtesy National Building Museum

One of the creepiest places to be this fall will be the National Building Museum. And who doesn’t love creepy around Halloween time? The museum is hosting a lantern-lit ghost tour through through the NBM’s dark hallways, spooky basement, and up to the fourth floor balcony.

The hour-long Historic Hauntings Ghost Tours is led by the ghost of Mary Surratt, co-conspirator in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Along the way, Surratt reveals stories of the other ghosts who call the Museum home, including an irritable horseback rider and mysterious faces in the Corinthian columns. Think history meets creepy fun!

Courtesy National Building Museum

Courtesy National Building Museum

The Tours will be offered from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on October 17, 19, 24, 28, and November 3, 16, and 23. The tours are $12 for Museum members and $14 for non- members; prepaid registration is required. Register by visiting www.nbm.org or calling 202.272.2448

BOO!

Monumental, The Mall
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Monumental: John Paul Jones

John Paul Jones

Where 17th Street dead-ends in Independence Avenue, just to the south of the World War II Memorial, stands John Paul Jones, atop a Marble Platform. The monument, built in 1912 as the first in Potomac Park, stands as the memorial to our first great Naval hero. While his remains lie in the chapel of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, this memorial to Captain Jones stands looking North toward the White House.

Jones was born John Paul, a Scotsman who emigrated to the Colonies around the start of the Revolutionary War. He served aboard British merchant ships prior to his arrival in the Colonies, and had been master and commander of the brig John, where his troubles began. By the time he arrived in Fredericksburg, he’d had to assume another name, John Paul Jones, to avoid hanging for the murder of two sailors under his command: one through flogging, one through a swordfight over wages.
Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson at Union Station

Heading home from Union Station, I unwittingly fell in step with a group of security personnel, only noticing when their leader addressed them, “She’s over there,” gesturing towards the Postal Museum Building, where an Amtrak motorized cart was negotiating a crosswalk. On board, an older woman accompanied two younger girls. My eyes met briefly with those of the long-haired girl, and I nodded noncommittally before walking on, not recognizing her. She looked very worried.

Suddenly a small gang of wild paparazzi appeared as if out of nowhere, a boorish, swarming mob of shoving, yelling, fanny-packed photographers, circling the cart and clicking away. The girls covered their faces, one of the paps yelled mockingly, “I love you, Lindsay!”, and the security team pushed him and the others aside. It took me about another minute to realize which “Lindsay” the photographer had been yelling at.

So I guess I have a nodding acquaintance with Lindsay Lohan now. I got some quick fuzzy video (above) as the cart retreated towards Union Station with the paparazzi in tow, but she’s barely visible. I felt so bad for her being chased by that repulsive swarm that I decided not to go after her for clearer video. No use turning into one of them.

tittergrrl tells me that Lohan and her partner Samantha Ronson are here for “Hollywood Vibes Come to K Street,” a charity event.

Update: Some of these pap photos include the couple aboard the Amtrak cart in question.

The Daily Feed
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OLPC News XO Upgrade Errors

washington dc by wayan
Photo by Wayan

When upgrading the XO Laptop software while drinking heavily, be warned. The results may be shocking.

Expecting a new Sugar interface, we got Windows XO instead. Not what this FOSS crew was looking for at the Looking Glass Lounge.

Our lesson learned: be carefull of random Microsoft USB keys.

Fun & Games, The Daily Feed
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White Rabbit Replaced by Bamboo Carterpillars

 

Bamboo Carterpillars
I went to the supermarket at the Eden Center this past weekend to buy some delicious, fresh, cheap produce. That place is the negative reciprocal of Whole Paycheck Foods. Great food at a great price – just my speed.

One of the joys I have going to such places is seeing all the stuff you don’t get in the pretentious expensive places like Whole Foods or the Teeter. For example, this can of bamboo caterpillars in brine would never grace the shelves of most mainstream markets, so it’s almost a treat to see such diversity just down the road from my home.

The one thing I didn’t see there that I was expecting to see were White Rabbit candies, which were recently recalled due to their melamine content. I was glad to see that the news had gotten to them and that they, along with other products I used to see there that turned out to have similar issues were now gone.

Thanks for your social responsibility, Eden Market. You will see me there again and again, but very likely not to buy three ounces of drained briny wormy goodness.

Where do you like to buy your produce?

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Guy Falls On Metro Tracks

Washington Post reports that an unidentified male has fallen on to the Metro tracks at Friendship Heights Station. WJLA says he is “unresponsive” with “minor injuries,” and that he has been removed from the rails. WMATA Service Disruption alerts still have delays on the Red Line in both directions due to the incident, as well as an earlier switch malfunction problem. WTOP says Metro has turned off power to the third rail at the station and are single-tracking trains between Cleveland Park and Bethesda.

Getaways
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Getaways: Lynchburg, VA

 

Looking up to the Lynchburg Museum from Church St.

Looking up to the Lynchburg Museum from Church St. Photo by Tom Bridge

Tom and I were in Lynchburg, VA this weekend for a dear friend’s wedding. I left the office early on Friday, hoping to dodge the traffic, but of course we were not successful, arriving at our hotel at 8:30 PM. The beautiful fall scenery would have to wait for our trip back on Sunday afternoon.

We stayed at a perfectly lovely boutique hotel, the Craddock Terry, named for the shoe company who used to have their factory in the same space. Our room was gorgeous, and there was an insert in the guest services notebook describing the furniture company who appointed it- a Ghanaian immigrant who had come to the US with $20 in his pocket 15 years ago and who now owned the company that did all the wood furnishings for the hotel. Of course, since I had come down with a bad cold and had a fever and nasty sinus congestion, all I was interested in was the bed, and settled into it right away. Exploring Lynchburg was going to have to wait.

Continue reading →

Petworth, The Daily Feed
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Caution: Grant Circle Ahead

Evidence of a quick stop

Evidence of a quick stop

For all those that are speeding along New Hampshire Avenue NW, caution as you pass Georgia Avenue NW, headed north. Ahead is Grant Circle, and if you are going too fast, you’ll see it up close.

About once a month, someone winds up in Grant Circle, with skid marks showing their lack of foresight. This morning its just hubcaps and dead grass. Tomorrow, let it not be you.

The Daily Feed
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Oktoberfest at Rustico


Stella and Erin
Originally uploaded by philliefan99

Saturday should be a lovely day to throw a few back at Rustico in Alexandria. “The Big Block Party “/Oktoberfest kicks off this Saturday at noon and goes all night. With 20 beers on tap, 5 bands and plenty of food, it’s bound to be a good time.

I adore Rustico, their beer selection is perfection. (Ha! I rhymed.) Sit me down on their patio with a Raspberry Lambic and I’m a happy happy girl.

The Rustico Web site says, “The majority of net proceeds from this event will be donated to the Capital Area Food Bank to help combat childhood hunger.”

And who doesn’t like to drink for a good cause?

Visit Rustico on the Web at www.rusticorestaurant.com. They’re located off the GW Parkway at 827 Slaters Lane in Alexandria.

The Daily Feed
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A little relaxation, brought to you by We Love DC and Flickr.


Breaux Vineyards
Originally uploaded by maxedaperture

Max Cook, curator of our Featured Photo series, is a modest sort and doesn’t like to use this space to pimp his own work.

So I’ll do it for him.

I’ve been going back to this photo over and over for a couple of days now- it’s gorgeous, and it makes me think of many peaceful Sunday afternoons hanging out at the vineyard owned by our CSA farm. When I look at this photo, I can almost feel the Adirondack chair I wish I was observing this scene from.

You can see more of Max’s photos in the We Love DC Flickr Group.

The Daily Feed
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Summer’s Last Gasp


Teddy eclipse
Originally uploaded by philliefan99

According to the Capital Weather Gang, today may well be the last day of summer-like weather. Prep for a high in the lower 80s today and get ready; a cold front is expected to visit later this evening and send temps down into the 60s tomorrow after an overnight low near the mid 50s.

I saw an abundance of leafy colors this morning; the trees outside my office have decided to turn, which means a photo trip to the Shenandoah is coming up really soon.

Enjoy it while you can today!