Tom’s sister alerted me to Let’s Dish, which is a part grocery store, part cooking class sort of store that has locations in Minnesota, Washington state, and the DC/Baltimore area. There’s also a location in Ashburn coming this summer.

The basic premise is this: You register for a class time, you pay $155, and then you show up and make 8 different dishes, each of which will feed 6 adults. Then you take them home and stick them in the freezer until you need them. The cost per serving is $3.23- cheap!

The store/service/whatever is designed for people who don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking every night and don’t always have the ingredients on hand to make a full meal. It seems to me that this is the perfect kind of business to appeal to the modern urbanite- we know we shouldn’t keep eating out or ordering pizza, but we’re having trouble finding the time to shop for and cook decent meals regularly, so Let’s Dish tries to make it as convenient as possible.

I’ll probably check this out once the Ashburn store opens- I love to cook, but rarely have the time and energy to keep it up steadily for any length of time. This has got to be a better alternative to frozen dinners and endless nights of sandwiches.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Quite a niche, no? Anyway, if you’re a Mac-using foodie in DC, you might enjoy this Tiger Dashboard widget that queries the TourOfDC.com restaurant database.

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As we drove into the city yesterday, the skies rent themselves asunder and poured down a torrent of rain that I’ve seen just a few times in the years that I’ve lived here, but right before that, as we drove by the Pentagon and over the 14th St. Bridge, the sky turned that eerie green color usually indicative of an approaching tornado. I’ve seen that green precisely once, as I drove across Nebraska through a driving storm, eventually stopping under an overpass when dime-sized hail dropped from the sky. But really, the storm that ebbed around quarter to seven last night wasn’t the main event. Like a good undercard, it excited the crowd, warmed them up and prepared them for the brutality to come.

The super cell that passed over the district yesterday around 8pm was spectacular to watch. The first sign of the impending “the end is nigh” storm was a fluffy black cloud that trailed in from the southeast, and that’s when you realized the wind wasn’t a light breeze anymore. The flags in center began to whip out of the stadium, desperate to escape their lanyards, the pennants that ring RFK snapped in the wind. The rain began as many small drops, but within a minute those drops had become a deluge, sheets of water rippling in the stadium light over the diamond.

As the wind grew, those of us near the top of the second deck began to get soaked from in front and behind, as the rain began to blow through the gap in the side of the stadium. The corrugated metal tube used to roll up the tarp began to roll around the outfield, propelled by the gusts coming into the stadium. That’s right about when the fireworks began. Booming thunder, bright, forking lighting, each announcing their presence with mind bending intensity. Several bolts of lightning struck nearby causing the crowd to roar and scream in response. Some rowdy fans behind us shouted, in the height of the storm, “Let’s Play Ball! Let’s Play Ball!”

The swirling winds soaked section after section with their changing tide of water, the worst of it going to left field, which seemed to be the rock that the wave of rain broke upon. The storm began to abate after about 20 minutes. It felt longer, but wow, what a ride.

The Nats went on to win last night 4-3, despite a Cubs-fan-heavy crowd. Man, I thought Yankees fans were obnoxious in Baltimore, but they’ve got a lot to “learn” from the Cubs fans. Special props to the Cubs fan behind me who decided that he needed to boo and taunt his own pitcher in the 8th. Nice show of class.

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I’ve attended several Nationals games in this, their inaugural season, and have enjoyed the obvious enthusiasm this city has for this brand new team, as well as the apparent enjoyment the players are getting out of having an actual home crowd come to cheer for them. I’m also smug, as I look around at the 25,000 to 40,000 people in attendance and remember Peter Angelos’ assertion that there are no real baseball fans in DC.

That being the case, I’m a little confused about a practice that DC fans seemed to have imported from Baltimore. During the singing of the National Anthem, at the line “O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave…” the fans in attendance are still yelling “O” along with the vocalist.

People. This was already inappropriate and disrespectful at an O’s game, but it could at least be understood as an expression of enthusiasm for the home team. At a Nats game, not only is it inappropriate and disrespectful to the singing of the anthem, it’s also ridiculous and out of context.

So cut it out, because it makes you look dumb. And rude. And, um, stuff.

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The Base Closing Committee has announced their decision for recommendations of closures, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center is on the list for realignment, moving many jobs out of the District and into suburban Maryland, around 5600, all told. 26,000 jobs currently inside the Beltway will be lost as part of this round of closures, with all but 3,000 or so remaining in the greater metropolitan area.

The Mayor and Del. Holmes Norton are both promising to fight the action, but neither have what anyone could remotely consider “power.”

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Due to a fire on a bridge in New Jersey, the DC-NY Metroliner service (which is replacing suspended Acela service) has been suspended.

So if you were planning to take the train to New York anytime real soon, better go Greyhound.

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That’s right, a favorite DC tradition is coming back: Restaurant Week! Jason Storch of DC Foodies has has the announcement.

Set your calendar for August 1-7 and get ready for some Good Eats! 3 course prix fixe meals, $20.05 for lunch, $30.05 for dinner, at some of the very best restaurants in town. No restaurant list is up yet, but it’s coming, so keep your eyes open!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This week’s Favorites post is all about the movies. Sometimes, you just want to sit back, grab the popcorn and watch the credits roll. We’re here to help you find the best place in town to do just that. Read on for all about favorite theatres, from the Uptown to the Hoffman Center to Bethesda Row.

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It was about ten after twelve when I finally got back from a tech call, I sat at my desk, packing my things, getting ready to head for the Orioles/Twins contest up in Baltimore. The alarm was going off in our building, again, but I figured it was yet another false alarm.

Then I heard the voice, shrill and cutting to the core of my very being. It was Judy, and she was agitated. “Everybody OUT. NOW!” Such orders from Judy could only be considered miraculous divination, as this is the woman who would not even let us out one millisecond early during the inaugural mess. But, of course, there she was, watching MSNBC in the conference room when the alerts came and she marched people toward the elevators.

Of course, it turned out to just be some jackass in a Cessna, but hey, it sure was exciting. Of course the two guys involved will be spending a long time explaining themselves to Very Angry Customs Agents, followed by Very Angry Capitol Police and Secret Service.

By the by, we DID hit Code Red today, according to WTOP, which is a first for the DC area. Never before have I been so glad to see the Capitol in my rear view mirror.

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So, does anyone know a benefactor who’d like to help out this seasoned adventurer?

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Sure, Los Angeles has its charm: the movies, the orange groves, the beach, the star wars line. Here in DC, we have the Capitol, the Smithsonian, the Monuments, and…our own Star Wars Line?!

Hey, at least our line is at the right theatre…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

A poster on Craigslist Boston has a cautionary tale that I’m sure everyone in the Capital area will benefit from.

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I love listening to baseball on the AM dial. I grew up on Ray Fosse and Bill King on AM 560 in the Central Valley, spoiled by their incredible nuance and style, I was disappointed first by the Orioles Broadcast team, and initially by Dave Shea and Charlie Slowes. However, these two have grown on me, more than I ever expected. Tonight I listened as they called the second and third innings on my way home from rehearsal, and I was pleased to hear them on Z104, calling Tony Armas’ return to the diamond. They’re getting better, learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses, playing to the former and avoiding the latter. It’s nice to hear a new team mature, just like our Nationals (currently up 2-0 on the Diamondbacks.)

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Has anyone else noticed reliability problems with Washingtonpost.com lately? I was all set to link to their story about the ad-wrapped Metro cars and provide pithy commentary, but despite it’s placement as the featured photo on the front page, the story itself is (as of this writing) completely missing from the site. You can’t find it with a search, you can’t click on the link, the photo link doesn’t lead to it… This has happened at least once a day for the last week- I’ve tried to read a WaPo story online, and been thwarted by whatever gremlin is stealing it from their content management system.

The short version of the story is this: Cash-strapped Metro is going to start accepting more forms of advertising- TV monitors in the trains that will show headlines, weather, and ads; tunnel ads where the panels will be sequentially placed to be viewable as you pass through, and of course, ad wrappers on the outsides of the cars. The first one is an ad for McDonald’s Fruit and Walnut Salad.

This has met with tempest-in-a-teapot controversy.

People tired of seeing ads plastered on everything: “Wah! Ads on metro cars! It’s tiresome! Wah!”

Metro riders: “Hey, if the extra money gets me to work faster and keeps fares down… whatever it takes.”

Obligatory smartass interviewed for comic relief: “They’re advertising food on a system where you’re not allowed to eat.”

I suppose I fall into the second camp- Although Metro has shown an unusual ability to mismanage taxpayer money, if they want to mismanage private funds and maybe actually do some good with it in the meantime, more power to ’em.

I too tire of being treated as a pair of eyeballs to stick ads in front of, but look… we already live in an area where billboards are mostly forbidden. The DC area is already full of buildings that either by choice or by ordinance can’t or won’t change their facades to include obnoxious signs and lights, so compared to other cities, we’re actually getting off pretty easy on the whole advertising thing. And as any blogger will tell you, sometimes advertising is the best way to break even on your product.

So your choices are either to fund Metro better, pay higher fares, or put up with a great big set of Golden Arches over the sliding doors. Give me the Golden Arches any day.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Yesterday Mayor Williams did something rarely done: he actually fired someone who was bad at their job. Yesterday, Taxicab Commission Chair Lee Williams was unceremoniously thrown from the ratty driver’s seat of the Taxicab Commission, charged with incompetence and mismanagement. As anyone who’s ever attempted to get a cab in DC may tell you, “It’s about damn time.”

Sure, he stopped cheating on the licensing exam, but only by stopping the exam, entirely. Sure, he’s saved hundred in cab fares for the citizens of DC, but only by failing to order the stickers associated with the spring fare hike. Yep, this is one employee DC surely won’t miss.

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While the Pentagon is the largest office building in the world, there are a lot of defense workers that don’t actually work in the Pentagon, but in rented office space all over Northern Virginia. Of course, due to a new DoD regulation, they may well be moving soon. The new reg says that any building with in which DoD staff works that is not on a military base must be a bizarre and odd 82 feet from the road, which eliminates much of their Northern Virginia space. Oops. New office space out beyond the beltway is becoming more and more likely for the DoD. Of course, this just on the heels of an article about the recovery of the Northern Virginia Commerical Real Estate.

Oops.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

What’s spring/summer in DC without Yet Another Article about how much time we spend in traffic?

The study, which was based on 2003 data, says that DC denizens spend 69 hours per year stuck in traffic.

Seeing as how that data is now out of date, it’s probably worse now.

Blah blah, our traffic is almost as bad as LA and San Francisco. Blah blah, expanding population, not enough road capacity. We’ve heard it all before, but if you’re interested, there it is again.

Of course, this morning traffic on the 395 was light and it took 15 minutes to go the seven miles from Tom’s house to his office, and then another 30 minutes to go the one mile from Tom’s office to my parking garage, so go figure.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Thanks to astute reader Joseph for his tip about the US Capitol Switchboard, coming from Blue Oregon and Metafilter:

Talked on the air to KPOJ’s Thom Hartmann this morning, and he suggested calling Senator Gordon Smith (and the rest of the right-wing extremists back there) by using the toll-free call-in line on Capitol Hill: 1-877-762-8762.

But here’s the great part: That number translates to 877-SOB-U-SOB. (Seriously!)

You’re never more than a few SOBs away from the Capitol!

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Tomorrow is the annual Free Comic Book Day, but due to the vagaries of the calendaring system we all share, it is also National Masturbation Day. I know that some folks, maybe even readers of this site, will be torn between participation between the two. I would ask that you not confuse the locations, though.

For Free Comic Book Day:

Beyond Comics 2 on Wisconsin Avenue will have A. David Lewis signing autographs.

Cards, Comics & Collectibles in Reistertown, MD will have Frank Cho (Spiderman, Liberty Meadows), Steve Conley and John Gallagher signing autographs.

For National Masturbation Day:

Please keep this confined to your home. With the windows covered. Please. Think of the children.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Sure, Los Angeles has Coachella and Burning Man, New York has Woodstock, but here in DC, we can only dress it up to the nines and get some gambling involved. That’s right, it’s Gold Cup Weekend: where the dress code is insane, the drinking prolific and the horse racing is hotter than the Kentucky Derby, only with less julep. The gates open at 10am, and the Tavern Tents open at 11, so get your Saturday best on (Hunt Country Casual, please!) and be sure to check with the Washington Socialites as to what’s in this season.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs