The Daily Feed

Food Truck Tracker

Photo courtesy of
‘Rebel Heroes’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Oh Monday, you are so silly.  You’re not anything like your sibling Friday, who rocks everyone’s socks off.  But, you’re not so bad, Monday. You brought us our food trucks back, and that’s not so bad. We had hoped to tell everyone about the first day of the Lobster truck, but sadly they’ve pushed to Tuesday, so you’re stuck with your usual complement of awesome and not the expanded complement. Remember: Blue flags are trucks, Purple flags are stationary carts. If you’ve got something to add, drop it in the comments, otherwise, click through for the map!

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The Daily Feed

Strasburg To Bryce Harper: Sign Or Get Off The Pot

Photo courtesy of
‘The Smoking Gun(ner)’
courtesy of ‘Mylar Bono’

Crossposted at Sports Grid

For the second straight year, the Nationals carried the first overall pick in the MLB Entry Draft. Once again, there was an excellent, pro-level prospect sitting there for the taking: Bryce Harper, a kid profiled by Sports Illustrated back almost two years ago about his future. Sure, Jason Heyward was a hyped rookie, but Harper is up there with Ken Griffey, Jr. in terms of expectations. Continue reading

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Local, Organic, Delicious…Frozen?

Eat & Smile Prepackaged Meal Delivery

I’m busy. All my friends know this, and you dear readers have probably noticed that yours truly, has been sorely missing from the blogosphere lately. I’ve been hard at work at my actual day job, and behind the scenes here, and all this hard work adds up and leaves little time for actually cooking. If I can’t even blog, how in the world am I going to cook?

Enter: Eat & Smile Foods, the locovore foodie’s answer to “no time to cook”. Chef Oliver Friendly visits all your favorite farmer’s market stands and then hand-makes pastas, breads, and whips up local ingredients into instant-prep dinner.Chef Friendly prepares balanced meals (think grass fed ribeye, strawberry bread pudding with berries from Westmoreland Berry Farm, even fingerling potatoes) then freezes them in airtight packages that just need to be thawed and popped in a pot of boiling water, usually for 10 minutes, and voila! A chef-prepared well-balanced meal all ready for your consumption.

I’ve been trying out dishes for the past few weeks on nights where I have no time to cook, and have adored Chef Friendly’s meatballs in tomato sauce, corn and red peppers, smoked pork and more. Meal delivery is pricey, the standard 7 meals per week is $150 per person, but I had the smarts to buy a Groupon for half price, which just about equaled my bougie Whole Foods grocery bill.

News, The Daily Feed

Last day to change party/precinct information

Photo courtesy of
‘Vrouwenkiesrecht / Votes for women’
courtesy of ‘Nationaal Archief’

We’re under 30 days to the mayoral primary this morning, and today marks the last day that you can change your voter registration to vote in that primary.  DC operates closed primaries, which means if you’re not registered as a Democrat, you can’t vote in the Democratic primary.  As someone who’s never held close ties to a political party, this seems wrong and undemocratic, but it’s the way things work for now, so for the first time in my life, I registered as a Democrat when I updated my voter registration information this spring.

If you’re not registered with the DC Board of Elections & Ethics, you can do so until the close of business today.  You need to print, sign and mail the form from their website today in order to have your party change official before the September 14th primary.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed

On the bats of Zimmerman and Willingham, Nats pick up series win

Ryan Zimmerman crushes HR #23
Photo by Ian Koski / Nats Daily News

Not everything was at it seemed to be at the Nationals game this afternoon.  What was expected to be a fairly full house to watch Stephen Strasburg, was a half-full park of enthusiastic fans.  What was expected to be a show of dominance by Strasburg, was an effective, but not errorless, five inning outing by Strasburg.  Four protestors ran onto the field in the bottom of the fifth to protest the decision to hold the All Star Game in Arizona next year, and were eventually lead off the field.

But, in the end, it was a win.  Not a pretty win, by any stretch of the imagination, but home runs from Josh Willingham and Ryan Zimmerman lead the Nationals to a 5-3 win and a 2-1 series win over the Diamondbacks this afternoon at Nationals Park.  Stephen Strasburg would put in five innings of work, with 85 pitches thrown, and seven strikeouts, all swinging.  He was having some command issues, though, and after getting ahead in the count, he would sometimes struggle to finish the job.  That’s part of his learning process, and something he’ll need to master. Continue reading

News, The Daily Feed

Four protestors arrested at Nationals Park

Two Protestors clash with Nats Park security
Photo by Ian Koski / Nationals Daily News

Four immigration protestors today stormed the field at Nationals Park during the fifth inning to demand that Bud Selig move the 2011 All-Star Game in Arizona in response to the state’s immigration reform laws that empower state and local police to enforce immigration issues.  Two protestors came onto the field initially and distracted most of the on-field security, while two others tried to use the fracas as a distraction to unfurl their banner on the field.  They were unsuccessful.  A security guard took down the protestors trying to open their banner before it was exposed.  The text of the banner reportedly read, ”Bud Selig Move The All-Star Game / No SB1070,” according to the Post’s Adam Kilgore.

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News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed

Concerning Rob Dibble

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_0598’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

On Wednesday night, Rob Dibble opened his mouth during a MASN broadcast of the Nationals and swallowed his whole foot. He said, of two women sitting behind home plate, that they must be talking about shopping. It went on like this for a bit. His broadcasting partner, Bob Carpenter, tried to help Dibble out of the jam, and threw him a rope. Instead of taking it, Dibble hung himself with it.

There have been a lot of column inches and pixels devoted to Dibble’s terrible miscue, and his ill-advised rambling, and we’re not about to join them except to say: In the short history of the Nationals, no one figure, on the field or off, has been so widely discussed and largely disliked as the MASN broadcaster. There’s good reason for that, and his comments Wednesday were pretty much atrocious. They represent the worst sort of bias: the kind that’s laughed off.

In his response today on the MASN website, Dibble once again dodged this issue. In a piece titled, “The Greatness of Baseball”, Rob Dibble does everything but apologize. He concludes the non-apology by blaming those who interpreted his remarks: “The other night I made an off-handed comment, the meaning of which may have been misconstrued beyond what was said. If any fan of this great game took offense, then he or she should know that this was neither my intention nor my history in the game.” Continue reading

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed

Nats drop embarrassing game to Diamondbacks, 8-2

Manager Jim Riggleman takes the ball from Jason Marquis
Photo by Anthony Amobi / Nats Daily News

The Nats have a hard choice right now.  Jason Marquis’ last two starts are little better than his April ones.  Tonight he pitched just 4 innings, but gave up 5 runs on 7 hits, walking 2 more.  Asked after the game tonight, manager Jim Riggleman said, “his sinker just wasn’t down.”  It showed.  Miguel Montero blasted him for a 2-run homer in the 2nd, and Gerardo Parra added a solo shot later in the inning.  That would be all the Diamondbacks would need, but they kept up the offense just to stay engaged.  Kelly Johnson added a homer in the third, and Montero slapped a second bomb in the fifth.  Riggleman wasn’t comfortable talking about Marquis’ fate tonight, but one has to think the Nats have to be thinking about what possible utility he has at this point.  There aren’t a lot of options for them down in Syracuse, and Jordan Zimmermann isn’t quite ready yet, nor are Yunesky Maya or Chien Ming Wang.

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The Daily Feed

Verizon Center Adds Free WiFi

Photo courtesy of
‘Verizon Center – Chinatown’
courtesy of ‘BAR Photography’

You know, for a building nicknamed “the Phone Booth” thanks to the sponsor name on the side of it, you’d think that there would already be a pretty good wireless network inside of it. I was at least a little surprised to find out there hadn’t been one for the greater public, but as just announced, the building will now have a free WiFi network for patrons. In a post to his blog, Capitals, Wizards, Mystics and Verizon Center owner Ted Leonsis shared the news:

We have installed free, unrestricted wireless Internet access at Verizon Center, and it’s currently available for Mystics games and will be available for the upcoming Capitals and Wizards seasons. Our new FanAccess Wi-Fi network allows fans with wireless devises the ability to connect to the web from their seats.

This guy continues to be one of my favorite owners in all of sports.

The Daily Feed

H Street Restaurant Week Starts Monday

Photo courtesy of
‘da bomb’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Anyone with an appetite is well aware that Restaurant Week starts on Monday. But this year, H Street is battling against the big boys with its own week of dining specials.

H Street Eats will take place from August 16th through 22nd, offering fixed-price meals for $20.10. If you, like me, earn billions and billions of dollars as a writer, then $20.10 for dinner sounds a lot more appetizing than Restaurant Week’s standard $35.10. Further defying conventional wisdom, a few establishments are taking their own approach to the traditional three-course formula. At Capital City Diner, you can get two dinners or two breakfasts for $20.10, and at Sticky Rice, two of your “courses” include tots and a PBR. Dangerously Delicious Pies is offering two slices of savory pie, two slices of sweet pie and two drinks as their menu, while Argonaut is serving up your choice of two sandwiches and two drafts. Delicious.

Other participating restaurants include Biergarten Haus, Ethiopic, Granville Moore’s, H Street Country Club, Liberty Tree, Star and Shamrock, and Taylor Gourmet.

Adams Morgan, Entertainment, The Daily Feed

Owen Wilson A Nats Pitcher In DC RomCom With Rudd & Witherspoon

Hey remember last year when that romantic comedy was filming around Adams Morgan and everybody was trying to get a look at Paul Rudd & Reese Witherspoon?

Well that film, How Do You Know, is slated to be released the day after my birthday (December 17th, 2010) and the first trailer has been released.

The film stars Paul Rudd, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, and Jack Nicholson. According to IMDB the film is described as, “a romantic comedy centered on the love triangle between professional softball player Lisa Jorgenson (Witherspoon), a corporate executive (Rudd), and a major-league pitcher (Wilson.)”

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The Daily Feed

Hot Ticket: Dragonette @ Rock & Roll Hotel 8/15/10

This summer has seen a string of excellent, female-fronted, electro-pop acts in concert so far and the action continues on Sunday night at Rock & Roll Hotel with Dragonette. Much like the record temperatures have been driving the mercury higher and higher, each awesome electro-pop show to hit town has raised the stakes for the next. The Golden Filter, Goldfrapp, and Robyn have all delivered phenomenal shows in DC and each one has been better than the last. For Sunday night, Dragonette are on deck and I’m expecting it to be a hot, humid, sweaty dance party when they make their bid for the Summer 2010 Electro-Pop crown. Continue reading

The Daily Feed

I need something from you guys today.

Photo courtesy of
‘Double rainbow over Glover Park’
courtesy of ‘ianseanlivingston’

It’s not a big thing. It’s a pretty small thing. But it’s still a thing, so I’m going to ask nice. Can we not have any big nasty news stories today, like shootings or fires or political candidates getting huffy and bitchy? I need a heavy dose of fluffy kittens, lobster trucks, double freaking rainbows, or maybe yet another story on local grocery stores by Sommer Mathis at TBD. Can you help me out, DC? Can you? Please?

Or is it just going to be one of those weeks where every day has another suspicious package or two? Or a world-ending power-wrecking tree-carnage-causing storm? Or a baseball team whose primary skill against the Marlins appears to be looking good in a uniform? Or a football team whose pre-season stinks of a 5-11 effort in the regular season? Or a local mayoral race where we can’t seem to stay focused on the issues long enough to talk policy?

Sigh. DC, I need your help. Bring me the good stuff.

The Daily Feed

And So It Is Done, the Lobster Truck is Here

Photo courtesy of
‘Lobster’
courtesy of ‘Mafue’

Oyez! Oyez! Mark your calendars folks, this is a day that will go down in history. The much anticipated Red Hook Lobster Pound Truck (that’s a mouthful) is finally here. It’ll roll out today after months of Internet chatter about just when, how and what would come to pass from something so perfect sounding as a lobster roll truck.

An offshoot of a restaurant and truck of the same name in Brooklyn, the owners are bringing their brand of heaven on a roll to their native Washington. At $15 a piece (or $18 with a drink and chips), the rolls aren’t exactly cheap, but they are packed to the gills with real deal, lip-smacking, knuckle and claw Maine lobster. You can get it with the traditional lemon-mayo dressing (my style) or the “Connecticut style” with lobster tossed with butter. Really, you can’t go wrong with either. And they’ll be serving up homemade Whoopie Pies to top off the meal, but in my honest opinion, there’s no better way to top off a lobster roll than with another lobster roll.

They’ll be tweeting their locations daily (and will of course show up on the Food Truck Tracker), and welcome suggestions of where to land while they get their bearings in a new town. I’ve already anonymously tweeted for them to park outside my apartment thirty or forty times today. Well, I guess not that anonymously.

Entertainment, The Daily Feed

We Love DC Does Top Chef DC: Episode 9

Photo from Bravo TV

Prior to the tonight’s episode I went a little to do restaurating and enjoyed happy hour with some great friends over at Brasserie Beck. Now it’s time to curl up and catch the late airing of the latest episode of Top Chef DC:

11:00: Thanks Bravo for reminding me about the pea puree. Can’t we just let it go? Of course as I learned last week, they don’t show you something unless it’s supposed to be a set-up for later on. Does this mean Ed and Alex are going to war over stolen ingredients? We can only hope.

11:01: Kenny doesn’t know why he’s in the middle, he says he’ll need to unleash the beast. Sorry Kenny you aren’t the first reality star to say that in DC. I still think you are a pimp however so it’s all good.

11:03: Ed hopes to “work closer” with Tiffany for the Quickfire Challenge: a blind-folded tag team challenge. Ed needs a girlfriend really bad.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed

Chances wasted as Nationals get swept by Marlins

Photo courtesy of
‘monsoon!’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

The Nationals had a couple chances tonight, in the fifth and in the seventh, when they could’ve mounted a rally to beat the Marlins and snap a four game losing streak.  In the fifth, they loaded the bases, but couldn’t capitalize as Adam Dunn continued his awful performance with runners in scoring position and two outs.  Dunn can muscle the ball, no doubt, but in clutch situations he’s not delivering the way that other sluggers have. In the seventh, they’d get back-to-back singles from Pudge and Willy Harris, but pinch-hitter Alberto Gonzalez would ground into a double play and Roger Bernadina would fly out to end the effort. That would be all they could look at as they slumped off the field after dropping a 5-0 loss to Florida.

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The Daily Feed

Girls Rock DC showcase is here again

It’s hard to believe it’s been another year but Girls Rock!DC is underway again. Just as before the bands will take to the stage of the 9:30 Club at 11am on Saturday to show off what they’ve been working on this week. If you believe – as I do – that live performance is about energy and joy then this is a can’t-miss. The measly $10 it costs to get in goes towards continuing the program and you get to scream your support for young women getting up and rocking out.

The Daily Feed

DC State Fair Photo Contest

Photo courtesy of
‘County Fair Winner’s Ribbon’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

DC is getting a state fair, part of Columbia Heights Day, and they are looking for photographers to enter their first ever photo competition. The theme of the photos should be to show your DC spirit and DC’s cultural independence.

You need to be a resident of the District to enter, but entry is free. Judges from Ten Miles Square (who is sponsoring the event), the Pink Line Project, and Prince of Petworth, along with a few guest judges will pick the winners. The winning photos will be printed and framed and displayed at the DC State Fair tent, and the winners will get ribbons, and a small cash prize.

Read the rules and enter up to two photos on their Flickr group. You’ve got until August 22.