Sweet Home Fourth of July

Random candid of my cousin Amanda. When I get bored, I just shoot.

Wow, what a week! I decided to take a bit of vacay and head down south for the Fourth. I was going to hit up Airtran, but at the last moment my good friend Dawn had her plans canceled and we decided to make it a road trip instead! After pushing my flight to credit we loaded up her SUV and made some headway on Wednesday evening. We scored a sweet hotel room at the Marriott in Chattanooga on Priceline at less than a 1/3 of the advertised price…I shit you not.

The next day we made our way down to Montgomery for a little lunch at Sinclair’s with my best friend Annie. Not only did she treat us to a killer burger, but also gave us a tour of her mother’s gorgeous antebellum house that’s being remodeled (I plan on shooting it when done! Oh hells yes!) and me a bag full of venison! Tough to top that! The last little stop on the way was in Loxley where we grabbed strawberry milkshakes at Burris Farm Market. They are phenomenal! We finally hit up the beach around 6:30PM and made good with the folks before heading down to catch a glimpse of the sand and waves at night on Florida Pointe.

Friday was spent running around all of tarnation. We hit up the store since I was cooking later that evening and eventually made it up to Oysterella’s on the Causeway. We dined in for lunch with my Mom overlooking the U.S.S. Alabama.  The food was average for a similar sort of restaurant, and thus nothing to write home about. From there it was a haul back to the beach, stopping both to pick up Dawn a houndstooth U. of  Alabama hat and to pick up 5lbs of royal reds from Blalock’s Seafood. It was definitely a welcome feast when I steamed those up later that evening. Mmm… Prior to that though, I had to introduce Dawn to Dippin’ Dots (how has anyone not had them!?) and grab a beach dress for her at some local beach shop. All went well, dinner was delicious, and we ended the night by going to see the Orange Beach fireworks. Sadly, they were cut to around half the normal length, but they were nice nonetheless.

Beginning of the finale.

The Fourth came along the next day and we headed for a morning on the beach. It was gorgeous weather and hot as tarnation! Nonetheless, we had a great time walking up and down the beach, wading into the waves, and getting the powder white sand EVERYWHERE. From there we headed home for the huge party my family puts on every year. With over 30 friends and relatives over, we had a huge meal of steaks, ribs, burgers, and all of the essential side-dishes.

Sunday we decided to start the trip back to VA. We headed out early and started the trip with a delicious brunch at Spot of Tea in Mobile with a close friend of mine. The bananas foster french toast was outstanding! Paired with the strawberry sweet tea out on the patio, it all made for a great start to the day. We continued on our trip up the back-roads of Alabama, making our way through 43, 5, 25, and 69 right into God’s Country: Tuscaloosa, AL.

I gave Dawn a nice crash course in the glory that is Alabama’s campus, pointing out the important spots (including the current home of the Mallet Assembly. MUA bitches!). After chillin’ again with my best friend for a bit we all headed over to Dreamland for the best damned ribs anywhere. I treated everyone to a couple racks of ribs and delicious banana pudding. Mmm… Sadly, all good must end and we headed towards B-ham for the night to stay at my bro’s.

Sadly, this was the end of the fun for the most part. Monday was spent driving the final twelve hours to NoVa. Tuesday was spent recovering from the vacation, and Wednesday was a full day of work. Exciting, right? Exactly. So, I’m back up north and back to discovering good food, good fun, and good people. I cannot wait to fire up the grill and throw on some venison and sausage! Looking forward to making y’all jealous soon!

More images on my flickr: Family & Fireworks

Marvin, Soul Food Done Pretentiously

I headed out to U St. to meet up with a friend, Lady Glock, for brunch and a second round at Artomatic. We finally decided on hitting up Marvin for some tasty fare.

There wasn’t much traffic when we arrived for Sunday Brunch so there was an abundance of seating. Nonetheless, the hostess refused to seat us on a four-top and forced us into a two-top. Normally I wouldn’t mind a two-top so much, but the positioning of these made them feel very crowded and small. We were seated towards the back along the wall. Down the wall there was a few sections formed by 3′ high dividers that each boast a light on the end. Each compartment was set up with a two-top (along the divider), a four-top, and a final two-top. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue except that 1.) I was hot from walking from Farragut West and wanted some room, 2.) there was an ABUNDANCE of open seating, and 3.) the light on the divider burned my arm.

So, having already been given the impression that this place was very pretentious (sorry I’m not good enough for your four-top guys), I decided the restaurant desired to be held to a higher standard (which is why, I presume, they have unlamenated card-stock menus). After waiting a fairly lengthy amount of time to put in our drink order we had by then decided on our meal as well. All of the food available sounded delicious, and I finally settled on the Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Waffle with a side of fruit. The food arrived and looked amazing. The waffle was excellent and exceeded all of my expectations (good call on the sharp cheese!). The fruit side, however, had a couple of issues. The sous-chef needs to learn two very basic skills: removing the green rind from cantaloupe & removing the entire green stem from sliced strawberries.

Of course, my determination that this place is overly-pretentious was further confirmed once the check was brought…on a chrome saucer…yeah. It’s my opinion that if you want to act like a pretentious restaurant then you need to learn to get the details right. I hope to visit again sometime as the food was excellent, but I hope these small details can be ironed out in the meantime.

Artomatic is a MUST SEE event in DC!

The rubber duckie reminds me of one of my best friends, Marmar...Miss her.

I know, a normal post title. Lame? Maybe, but it took something amazing to convince me to do so. Artomatic is a local DC art show that’s in its 10th year and showcasing the work of over 1600 visual & performing artists. Needless to say, this is nine floors of awesome.

I first heard of Artomatic via twitter since a couple of people I follow(ed) actually have displays in the show. I’ve been excited about getting down to see it and I was blown away by the entire thing. I headed straight for Lady Glock’s display to admire her photography. It wasn’t long before I was able to hook up with her and hang out for awhile. She’s a cool cat and a lot of fun to harass/talk to.

From there I decided to venture around as much of the space as I could before they closed (at 1AM no less). Since I only had an hour I didn’t get a chance to study too much, though I was caught several times by many works that were simply amazing. I’ll most definitely be heading back in the coming weeks to take more time exploring all of the unique, interesting, and at times hysterical work.

Me? A geek for liking this?...neeeevveeerrrr...

While many of you might not be huge on seeing art, I think this is a worthwhile trip for anyone to make. There is every type of art imaginable in this show, including a huge peeps diorama collection! How crazy is that? There’s just enough of a variety to entertain anyone at some point and make the trip worth it for everyone.

Oh, and did I mention there’s a Hard Time Cafe & Bar? Yeah, and art show with alcohol. How badass is that?

For kicks, here’s a few artist’s websites that had work I loved:

Lady Glock
Candace Keegan
Matt Dunn

Knitters on skates? Well, not really…

I can’t say my past weekend was terribly boring all considering. I spent Friday night at the Old Dominion Brew Pub watching the Caps with several new friends and had a great time…even though we lost. That’s right, ‘we’! I’ve never really been a fan of any pro sports, but the Washington Capitals seem to fit in well. How?

1.) I wanted to learn about hockey.
2.) They’re local.
3.) Most importantly, they ROCK THE RED!

As you have probably heard by now, the Caps just lost Game 7 and will have to try again next year. At least next year I’ll be able to enjoy the full season with plenty of meetups at the ODB and maybe even a few games in person!

Lots of flying umbrellas in the wind Saturday.

Saturday I had to miss the game for other obligations. I started out grabbing some breakfast at the farmers’ market and relaxing for a bit on my couch. Around lunch I headed down the orange line and ended up in front of the White House shooting photos of CODE:PINK protesters as they protested war all over the globe. There were plenty of women out and they were very kind in allowing me to wander around shooting any and all photos I wanted. These women weren’t nearly as crazy as the IMF protesters from a couple weeks back.

After a nice hot walk around the park, I decided to head back

BAD-ASSED WOMEN!

to the Metro and book it over to Eastern Market to chill at the Starbucks and recharge my phone. Next I headed over to the Nat’l Guard Armory to watch the DC Rollergirls Championship and it rocked! The house was packed and I took a ton of photos, but you’ll have to head over to flickr to check them out.

Sunday was fairly uneventful, but I did mow the jungle of a lawn we have. Holy hell, 10 days of rain make for 18in of grass and a full-to-the-brim trash can of clippings. This week I plan on getting the plants I have repotted, hitting the farmers’ market up again, and who knows what else!

Wandering and Pahndering Part Deux

So, here we go with last weekend’s non-food events! I know, I took my sweet-assed time, but that’s life. I run this place so deal. This should just be some updates from previous posts, with a dash of new fun mingled in here and there.

Colbert!

National Museum of American History – I feel like I raped this museum in my first outing, but having given it time to settle down I decided I’d give it a second chance. Well…hrmm… I’m still not convinced the museum was laid out the best. It doesn’t flow well and there are bottlenecks on both ends that tend to hold up crowds. However, they have improved the exhibitions. The introduction of the Lincoln and First Ladies exhibits very much improves the value of visiting this museum and I definitely enjoyed revisiting several other exhibits that I had seen previously. Overall, the museum has grown on me some and I will obviously return since I am a complete sucker for American History.

I must say, the most breathtaking part of visiting this museum is by far the Star Spangled Banner. Just…wow… Annie and I were both completely impressed with the entire exhibit. As two history geeks, it was the pinnacle of the weekend.

So many people to look at!

Wineries – We did my normal wine trail with a couple of twists. First off, we decided to go in reverse of my normal route and hit up Breaux (my fav) last. We were recommended to go to a new winery that’s right across VA 9 from Corcoran Winery. Sunset Hills Winery is where we ended up and it was in a gorgeous restored barn that just filled your lungs with that fresh cut smell. Sadly, the rest of the experience doesn’t quite live up to the gorgeous building. The service was very business-like with no explanation of the wines, winery, or any real small-talk whatsoever. Wham-bam thank you ma’am! Of course, I guess that somewhat goes along with the wine, which was sub-par in my own amateur opinion. They have a decent dessert wine, but that’s about as good as it gets.

National Portrait Gallery & American Art Museum – This is museum is a must-see. There’s such a wide array of art here that there’s bound to be something here that tickles your fancy. You just really need to go here, and be sure to check both museums out in the building, not just one.

Weenend-o-Wanders Part I (FOOD!)

It was a nice break from work, taking off Thurs-Mon, to have my best friend in town to visit. It was time for another weekend-o-the tourist! Needless to say, we wandered around a bit, but it was somewhat directed. I have a few updated opinions about former subjects, so let us get down to the juicy tidbits…

Ray’s Hellburger – Friday night we rocked out in style and hit up the best damn burger in the region! Once again, they didn’t let down as they keep putting out excellent quality beef patties. Annie, Beje, and I dove in and were extremely satisfied afterwards. I got my usual “Let’s Get It On” and it was like sex in your mouth. Mmm… I almost felt as if I needed a cigarette afterwards…

Ella’s – Friday for lunch we dove into an excellent feast of ‘za! The quality is still supurb and any wait is well worth it here. Annie discovered a new way to skimp and ordered a pizza with arugula on it. Since the arugula it added post-baking, you can eat it off the top like a salad and then dive into your pizza! Excellent call Annie!

Pollo Factory – This place is just a given. It never waivers from a standard of excellence. Any place that can deliver white meat as moist as this place is golden in my book. The pollo is always seasoned and roasted to perfection! Kudos on a job well done!

Coastal Flats – This was my first weekend to check this place out. It’s owned by Great American Restaurants and they have a thing with creating great food and atmosphere. I only went because my roommates work there, and I’m very picky when it comes to any type of seafood restaurant. The bar service is superb, but I’m also a bit biased since one of my roommates was my bartender. I did have a few issues here: 1.) The food service to the bar is lackluster. The servers mix up orders, forget bread, and basically kill the bartenders’ chances at good tips on a regular basis (all this from observing for a few hours). I don’t know how their serving system works, but it’s obviously broken here. 2.) My “firecracker shrimp” came out looking and tasting delicious…mostly.You see, these shrimp are butterflied prior to frying. Doing so serves several purposes, one of which is the allow for the removal of the shrimp’s shit-tube. Of course if it’s not removed, as was the case with half of mine, it’s on glorious display (front and center) and actually accentuated by the butterflying.Being raised on the Gulf Coast it didn’t really bother me, per-se, but if I’m paying someone this much to cook my food then they need to prepare it properly.

Eastern Market – Once again, this place delivers on EXCELLENT quality steaks. We grilled up several Sunday and then we promptly devoured them! Here’s my quick suggestion on a great meal:
Steak ==> Rub (salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper (black and cayenne)), grill medium rare, top with whole-seed mustard, top again with a load of fresh parm., broil to melt cheese, serve.
Mexicorn ==> Roast (sweet queen) corn, cut off cob, add lime juice, salt, cayenne pepper, and butter to taste.
Twice-baked taters ==> Bake, cut out oval in top, scoop out, mix insides with sour cream, milk, salt, pepper, cheese, put back in taters, cover with cheddar, bake until cheese melts.
Grilled onion ==> Cut (sweet) onion halves in thick foil, add lots of butter, throw on grill before you cook, remove when done cooking.
Hennepin Belgian Ale from Ommegang Brewery (Whole Foods, Harris Teeter)

Four Provinces of Ireland – This is my favorite place to grab a brew locally. The 4P’s is a laid-back, local pub with some great bartenders and an atmosphere you can enjoy just hanging out in. There’s nothing like relaxing here with a black & tan while munching on a bit of bar food. Did I mention they win the Taste of Falls Church nearly every year? Yeah, the food’s not too shabby…

Finally, The Original Pancake House — This place is a bit pricey for breakfast, but why not eat there for lunch? The blueberry pancakes are excellent and you MUST MUST MUST order the breakfast sausage and bacon on the side for your party. You will definitely not regret it. Also: fresh squeezed OJ & grapefruit juice ftw!

Part II still to come!

Southern Hospitality. Assholes. Happy medium?

It seems that while many here think themselves Southerners, they are not. I have heard many a claim on the Mason-Dixon line delineating the North from the South (yes, I disagree with wikipedia), but that’s a load of horse manure. While DC isn’t a bastion of assholery that NYC or Chicago can be, it definitely isn’t near the warm and hospitable South as experienced in Alabama, Georgia, North Florida, and Tennessee (Note: The further south you travel in Florida the further “north” you really are). As such I’ve decided to help people figure out where the South ends and what you can expect from the middle-folk.

From St. Augustine, FL. Far enough south to be north...

1.) Mason-Dixon Line: Traditionally, many people claim the South to be states that are below the famed Mason-Dixon Line. This line was surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to settle a border dispute in the old British colonies. As such, this basically puts every state below Pennsylvania in the South. This line begs the question as to whether or not you just stretch it clear across the US. One can assume you would since it was once used to mark the line between slave and free states, but that would leave parts of Indiana and Ohio in the South, while relegating some of West Virginia to the North. And where does it end? California? Texas? This just seems to not quite fit the current South.

2.) Confederate States of America: Sure, we’d all like it to be this easy, right? Just mark down all the states from the CSA as the South and be done, but are they? I’ve already established that the southern part of Florida is the North, not to mention Texas is definitely mid-west. They’re…different…and arrogant. Then, one could also count all of Virginia in the South, but further along I will argue that Northern Virginia (NOVA) is indeed part of the North now.

By this method the South would include South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, & Tennessee. Then there’s the question of the states with dual governments such as Kentucky & Missouri and places claimed by the C.S.A. such as: Indian Territory, New Mexico, & Arizona. Finally, one would also need to consider the border states of Delaware, Maryland, & West Virginia. Holy crap! Talk about a mess!  I think that’s just too much of a hassle and far too antiquated a method for such a demarcation.

Mmm....southern fast food.

3.) Pork BBQ & Sweet Tea: This is my preferred method for delineation. Basically it works like this: To be a part of the South the area in question must produce both of these or one in total excellence. This gets rid of NOVA, MD, WV, most of KY, MO, TX, and southern FL. God knows DC isn’t in the south according to this method. There is hardly any decent pork BBQ in this entire region, much less good. Most non-southern inspired restaurant chains also do not carry sweet tea, and if they do it’s that God-foresaken Lipton Lemon CRAP that only WISHES it could be considered sweet tea. I thank God every day for places like Chick Fil A where I can grab some decent sweet tea on the run or a REAL southern chicken sandwich (screw you McDonald’s!).

Now, since we’ve established this isn’t the South, I must say it’s not the typical North either. People in DC & NOVA aren’t complete assholes,  just somewhat. Here’s what you can expect when you come here in comparison to what you’re acustomed to.

-People will not waive when you let them over in front of you while driving.
-Some people will hold doors, most won’t (the people who do are probably tourists anyway).
-You must be semi-aggressive to merge.
-Everyone wears their hats indoors.
-Most people don’t wait to start eating until everyone is served.
-Don’t expect a ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ terribly often.
-You will get strange looks when trying to make small-talk with the cashier.
-People will not acknowledge you when you walk past.
-The person that you think it making random friendly conversation with you is actually on their bluetooth headset. They now think you’re crazy.

This is just life. Sure, people aren’t as nice here, but they could be much worse. Overall, I’m loving the DC region. It has its pitfalls, but overall it’s a winner IMHO. Now, time to go make some sweet tea…

I love Saturday markets!

I could stare at this selection all day...

There’s no better way to spend one of the first gorgeous weekends in the spring than to head out to the farmer’s market. Saturday Beje and I hit up both the Falls Church Farmer’s Market and Eastern Market. The first was fun in that we were able to introduce my roommates and they were hilarious. It was almost like watching two kids in a candy store! With all of the excellent fruit samples, crab cake, and fresh mushrooms they were caught up in a whirlwind of delicious sights and tastes. (Yeah, R has a thing for mushrooms, but her fiance J is excited as hell for the umpteen thousands varieties of apples…and it’s not even peak season.) After a bit of ‘Bucks we headed back home to drop them off so they could head to work and Beje could drag me out to DC (yeah, drag….riiiight…heh… ).

I remember catching these when I was little!

We wound up having a tasty lunch with some of her friends (possible later post) and then headed down to the National Museum of the American Indian (upcoming post…possible rant…) before hopping over to Eastern Market. Mmm… I just love walking through and checking out the amazing cuts of beef, lamb, pork, seafood, etc.

I mean, come on! I grew up catching croaker off the pier in my hometown down on the bay. You just don’t see this on the menu anywhere, but I always loved catching them. Hell, they were about the only fish that made any noise! (Hence the name…)

Doesn't this make your mouth water?

On top of that, they serve up all kinds of old fashioned cuts of pork, with some you just don’t see ANYWHERE else. I can’t even get the Amish guy at the Falls Church market to sell me a raw pork belly! Here you can get that, brains, extra thick fat back, etc. Then move on down a both and you’ve got numerous kinds of fresh pasta and sauces. Across, numerous kinds of cheese, and further down a baker and organic poultry where they even sell the feet! You just have to love this place, especially since you can flip this all around, run to the other end and when you’re done salivating over the fresh seafood, you can turn around and get in line for some excellent soul food. There is just no other place like this in the region and no better way to start or end a day in DC…carrying home two excellent steaks to throw on the grill…damn that was a good day.

Going out of business sale that puts furniture stores to shame!

I’m a fan of sales, hell, I’m a fan of saving money in general. However, some people have started giving sales a bad name. First it was furniture stores, since they’re ALWAYS “going out of business”. We’ve come to accept that there’s basically no such thing as a good deal at a furniture store. However, electronics are a different story. With all of the big box competition and online competition, there’s always a good sale somewhere. Sadly, with the demise of CompUSA and Circuit City, the “going out of business” sale BULLSHIT has hit the electronic stores like a couch-pushing pro.

First a preface on how this works. CompUSA and  Circuit City both went bottom up. With tons of instore merchandise to liquidate they sold off everything to a liquidation company for a low cost to wash their hands of any more bleeding. Sadly, these new owners are doing their best to squeeze every last cent out of CC customers, just like they did at CompUSA. Knowing all of this I decided to travel down to the local CC to check out the “deals” and see if it was as rampant as had been reported. The known M.O. is to mark ALL merchandise back up to MSRP and then take the discount off that new, higher price. Was this at work in Tysons Corner? You betcha! And I have pics!

I’ve used the Internet to find prices for several things I photographed in-store and have listed them here for comparison. Note that there were a couple of decent deals, but the problem is that everything sold is sold ‘as is’ so there is ZERO possibility of return if the product is defective. If it is, you’re just screwed. And trust me, anything can be defective at CC.

Office Ultimate 2007
CC: $680 @ 60% off = $272
NewEgg (NE): $380

Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Laptop Memory Model KVR667D2K2SO/4GR – Retail
CC: $149.99 @ 30% off = $74.99
NE: $39.99

Panasonic DMC-TZ4S Silver 8.1 MP 2.5″ 230K LCD 10X Optical Zoom 28mm Wide Angle Digital Camera
CC: $299 @ 40% = $179.99
NE: $225.99

ACC-FH70
CC: $119.96
B&H Photo: $75.80

160GB EIDE WD HDD Caviae SE
CC: $79.99
NE: $44.99

100DVD-R
CC: $49.99@60%=$19.99
NE: $19.99

50DVD-R
CC: $29.99@60%=$11.99
NE:$10.99

QuickCam Orbit AF
CC: $141.99@40%=$85.19
B&H Photo: 95.95

G51 Logitech
CC: $209.99@40%=$125.99
NE: $169.99 Shipped

Panasonic TH-50PZ85U HDTV 50″
CC: $2199.99@40%=$1319.99
ShopDigitalOnline: $1,199

These guys have a special little place in hell reserved for them. I highly recommend everyone help protect themselves from such scams and visit Consumerist.com regularly. I’m an avid reader and this place will open your eyes (and help your back pocket).

DC Vote? I vote for eviction.

I too think it’s a shame that the residents of the District of Columbia have no real representation in the House or Senate. Hell, it hasn’t been terribly long since those same residents couldn’t even vote in the Presidential Election! Though I feel these people should be represented in Congress, I think the wrong path is being followed.

First, I believe the District should be as it was originally envisioned: a federal district. That is to say, it’s separate from the rest of the country as it is set aside for the federal government to convene upon. It is set out in the Constitution of the US as such in Article I. It is to be distinct from the states, not as one of them.

Second, granting representation to DC would be akin to granting single cities their own senators and congressmen. Hold up though, I don’t mean NYC, Chicago, or LA! I mean Nashville, TN, El Paso, TX, or Charlotte, NC. Seriously!? You want them to have the same power as a state as well? I don’t think so.

So what’s one to do about this? Easy. Rezone the entire district non-residential. Evict all residents of the District and make DC a true federal entity. Everyone in the nation would be properly represented and DC could slowly be morphed into a massive national park and national treasure. I know this would likely be the absolute most unpopular thing to do, but I think at the heart of the issue it is the correct thing, discounting all emotions from the equation. The hardship bore by the residents would be massive, and the bill for the nation’s taxpayers would be tremendous. However, this is only a result of allowing this issue to fester far too long without a proper solution. Outside a constitutional amendment, I think this is just about the only constitutional direction in which the legislative branch can head.

Not like it’d ever happen.