parking on u street

so i always knew parking in the vicinity of u street is somewhat sketchy - but i've never really had a problem. sometimes i've paid to park in the 930 club lot - but since we were doing dinner in the neighborhood before the show last night we decided just to try and find a spot on the street. we came up 13th street and then looped around w street back down to u street. we initially saw a bunch of free spots on w street but weren't sure if they were legal spots. so we kept looking, but we ended back on the same block. right ahead of us a cop pulled over into the empty spots so i pulled next to him and rolled down my window.

me: excuse me, can we park here?
cop: i don't know. (in a rude/sarcastic tone)
me: um, ok.
cop: i just pulled in here and now i'm leaving.

and then before i had a chance to say anything else he peeled and raced to the end of the street. so after being confused for a bit we decided to pull into a free spot. and after examining all of the signs on the street we determined my car would be safe there. and safe it was - it was just coated in a rain when we got back after the concert.

rilo kiley

yes, they stood under the blacklight (and luckily the guys were wearing white shirts so you could tell). but no, they didn't play that song. overall the concert was great - i'm just a little tired today that's all.

we missed the first band (thanks to a delicious dinner at creme), but we got there just in time for the second opener. it was a little bizarre because there were people on stage tuning instruments and then suddenly the lights dimmed and the drummer announced "we're grand ole party"/"we're rilo kiley" (it depends who you ask) and then they just started playing. the band was two guys (one on bass, one on guitar) and then a girl drummer who was also the lead singer. once i got past the fact that the girl had a bowl cut and designs drawn around her eyes i really enjoyed their music. i was disappointed in their set though because they literally just played through all of their (really short) songs with no breaks. i could have been just as satisfied at home listening to their cd (that is if i had a copy).

then after some dorky guy in a cardigan (very much like henry on ugly betty) single-handedly tuned every single instrument on stage rilo kiley finally came out for their show. jenny lewis is so vintage chic - i love it! honestly i wonder how many gold sparkly dresses she possibly could have. and she matched perfectly with the gold curtain handing in the back (and the giant balloons that were thrown into the audience that spewed gold confetti when they popped). one complaint - she is probably due for a hair cut - she has literally had the same haircut since she was 12 (or however old she was in troop beverly hills).

although i don't remember the whole set list i do know that it was a good mix between old and new. my only disappointment in the song selection was that they didn't play 15 - and i was especially annoyed to find out that they played it the night before. although from what i've heard thursday night's show was the better of the two (come on - everyone knows the last night is always the better one).

crank that soulja boy

Texas Longhorns Crank Dat Soulja Boy @ UCF - Watch more free videos

i'm not sure what's funnier - this video or when all the thirteen year old girls at the bar mitzvah i went to earlier this month lined up and did this dance.

is today national piñata day?

at least google seems to think so.

update: or it's just google's ninth birthday. whatever.

what i'm listening to

1. matt nathanson.
he's one of my old favorites (and i finally get to see him live next month!). i know i've already told you about him - but his song "car crash" is the itunes free single of the week right now. and for anyone out there without an ipod you can go to apple.com and download itunes for free. do it now.

2. the sketches.
they opened for eric hutchinson last weekend playing an acoustic set. i was hesitant to buy their cd since they promised it was all electric. but i listened to the songs on their myspace and it's not that much different than what we heard on sunday.

3. bellman barker.
just read about them over at dcist so i took a listen and i'm liking what i hear. plus i'm always up for supporting local bands!

4. chrisette michelle.
i've actually been listening to her for a while - ever since my dad gave me her cd. although i did miss out when she was at the black cat a month or so ago - i bet she's really great live!

5. tyrone wells.
odds are you'll like his music - he pulls from so many different styles. and he's currently touring with stephen kellogg - but tragically not for the birchmere show in november. i'll just have to catch him the next time he's in town.

this weekend in a nutshell

michael's, snake bites, zydeco, washington apple, dragon beer, bronchitis, three ring circus at 1815, french toast, football game in the brutal heat, lots of g.o.s. singing, arch's, lots of football, south street, crepes, five dollar cab rides (for seven people), biltmore, bodos, mincer's, bellair II, eric hutchinson.

so except for the skins totally blowing it i'd say this weekend was great!

charlottesville tonight!

nine hours and counting... clearly because of that today will totally drag on forever. but i have two tubs of smore cupcakes waiting for me when i get home (just a friendly tip - when a frosting recipe calls for sour cream don't use it - it totally botched up the marshmallow frosting for my otherwise amazing smore cupcakes!).

but back to charlottesville - i'm really excited to see all the changes since april (when i was last down there). i already know that jaberwocke has been renovated and reopened under the name 3. and amigos closed to make way for another location of christian's (ha haha ha). also i heard that o'neills is closed for good - although i'm not sure that anything has opened in it's place.

oh, and the game. we generally play georgia tech pretty close (and usually win!) so i'm hoping for the same result tomorrow. i still remember first year when we beat them on the hook and ladder play and everyone rushed the field!

hooray, beer!

so i called back this week and got pretty much the same answer as last time: "um, i don't really know." but then i just got an email from sweetwater saying that their oktoberfest is on tap now and their pumpkin ale isn't too far behind. i can't wait!

the most ridiculous kitchen gadget

seriously - check it out. i mean i'm sure there are worse, but this one seems pretty useless.

shiver me timbers

today is talk like a pirate day!

hail to the redskins!

remember last year when after two weeks we were 0-2?? well now that's officially in the past with the skins off to a 2-0 start and fresh off a road win in the nfc east. and with the next three games at home (the struggling giants, the lions and the cardinals) things are looking like they finally might go our way.

and i'm really glad the game didn't go into overtime since i was majorly struggling to stay up as it was. but watching the skins beat up on the eagles up in philly is totally worth me being exhausted today.

side note: please tell me you saw sean taylor's fro last night. you could see it creeping out of his helmet all night and then after the game ended they had a great shot of him and all of his hair (yes, i will try to find a picture of it later).

update: here's the picture.

eammon's

eammon's opened in old town over a year ago, but it's taken me that long to get down there and try it. we even made it to px (the exclusive bar above eammon's) months before i made it back to give the food a try - but friday i made it down there to try the fish and chips place behind the folks at restaurant eve. there's nothing like some good indigestion to start off the weekend, right?

the weather was dreary so it made for a perfect night to stuff myself silly with fried food. literally everything on the menu is fried. between four of us we ordered the cod, the grouper, chicken bites, a burger, coleslaw and of course some chips (aka fries). we thought that wouldn't be enough and contemplated ordering more - but it's a good thing we held off - it was more than enough.

all the fishes come with your choice of sauce. i think there were six choices for sauces - we ended up getting four of them - tartar sauce, dijon, old bay and some spicy sauce - and of course we had a side pile of ketchup going for the fries (oops - i mean chips).

i was expecting a night of fried food - but i was somewhat shocked when the burger came out deep fried. the patty had been cooked and then dipped in batter and deep fried. it was good, but not really what i was expecting at all.

and in case you're thirsty they have guiness on tap and a few other bottled beers to wash down all the fried food. and they have a cooler of water set up in the back so you can keep going back for more (one complaint - they're water cups are about the size of panera's if you know what i mean). if you want anything more substantial in the drink department you'll have to head upstairs to px - and let me tell you it's definitely worth it.

honestly the real reason i had been looking forward to going to eammon's was for their dessert. mainly the fried milky way. everyone else i went with was stuffed to the brim - but of course i was more than ready for dessert. i went up to order the milky way and they were out! instead i just settled for a snickers (i'm not sure why they couldn't have just gone down the street to cvs and picked up a few milky ways - but whatever).

even though it wasn't my first choice - the fried snickers was everything i dreamed a fried candy bar would taste like. it was delicious - crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside:)

and great win for the hoos on saturday (i got a little scared there towards the end). i'm pumped to go down to charlottesville for the game this weekend!

prison break starts tonight!

dad's backyard burgers

for anyone who lives near the gallows/29 intersection in merrifield knows how long dad's backyard burgers has been "coming soon." and for those of you who don't know? it's been over three years. it was the first tenant announced in the new retail development at the intersection, but since then carvel, cinnabon and z pizza have opened.

in what began as excitement for a new burger place opening right near my house turned into an obsession over when the place would actually open. everyone had their own theory on why it was taking so long (they ran out of money, they couldn't get permits, etc.) and everyone also had their own ideas of how far along they had come. whenever i drove by i would see someone peeking into the windows to see the progress (and yes, i'm guilty of this as well).

so as i said before three years had passed since the initial "coming soon" sign had gone up. at this point i had pretty much given up hope that it would ever open (despite the build out looking somewhat complete). then last friday when i drove by at 7am en route to ct i saw the sign: "opening 9/10." could it be for real??

in the days of five guys and elevation burger i was pretty excited for another non-fast food burger place (i mean does anyone actually like mcdonald's burgers??). so this week when my coworker asked if i could help her move on thursday i suggested we grab a burger first.

after confirming it was actually open (apparently it didn't quite make it open on monday - or tuesday - or maybe even wednesday) we left work starving and ready for a burger. we got there and there were only a few customers (and nearly four times the number of employees!). we walked up to the register to order and they handed us a menu and an order sheet. it's kind of like how they do it at jettie's - for those of you familiar w/ the process. you check off what you want and write and special instructions and jot your name down at the top.

so, what do they have on their menu? obviously they have burgers - but they also have hot dogs, grilled chicken and grilled fish. (i honestly wonder how long the fish will stay on the menu - no offense, but why would a vegetarian go to a place called dad's backyard burgers??). everything comes with fries and a drink. for the burgers you have a choice of 8oz ($8) or 5oz ($6.50) and pretty much everything you could think of is available as a topping.

since it was our first time there we decided to get a burger and a hot dog so we could try both. i settled on a cheeseburger w/ cheddar and my friend got a cheese and bacon hot dog. we put our orders in, got our drinks and settled in at some seats at the bar (no, they don't serve alcohol).

as expected the service was extremely slow. they had about five too many people behind the counter assembling the meals. and they weren't preparing the orders in order - about four people who ordered after us got their food before us. but luckily we weren't in a hurry and we were actually kind of enjoying watching the show by the grill (which is wood burning, by the way).

it was probably at least thirty minutes before they called our number - but the unusually long wait was more than worth it. the burger was honestly one of the best burgers i've had. the patty was stuffed with herbs of some sort and the wood burning stove really brought out the flavor in the meat. the hot dog was a big fat hebrew national hot dog (in other words - it was delicious!).

the fries were good, not great. they need to work on getting them a bit crispier since they were on the soggy side. but the flavor of the fries was good so i have faith that they can get the cooking style right.

now the real reason i wanted to go was because it was a brand new place in the neighborhood. i honestly didn't have high expectations about the food. i stand corrected. if you're looking for a good, fresh burger look no further than dad's. oh and i heard a rumor that they are going to offer half price burgers on tuesdays after a skins win - much better than that papa john's deal (gross).

my wish list

check this out and tell me it's not one of the coolest things you've seen. it would definitely be easier to transport than that huge piece of plywood!

happy positive thinking day!

no, i'm serious. and it's just perfect for me (hahahaha).

happy new year!

i was a little nervous that the recent scarcity of honey would throw a curve in our celebrations last night. but luckily my cousin was just recently in serbia and apparently there are still bees over there because he brought back some delicious honey!

i'm still full thinking about last night's dinner - matzoh ball soup, noodle pudding (aka kugel), fresh tomatoes w/ basil and mozzarella, broccoli ( you know i dominated that dish), lots of chicken and a yummy apple cake for dessert!

and the best part about jewish holidays are the leftovers - and now brigid knows that as well:)

l'shanah tovah!

don't forget to vote!

you can vote for cavman once a day!

what i missed by not going to my company's world conference

yes, that's dj am and paris hilton (and some random dude). really i'm more jealous about missing dj am. he's amazing!

only in dc...

in a city that's slightly obsessed with politics it was only a matter of time before a dc bar took full advantage of the upcoming presidential election. lotus lounge (14th & k) has kicked off "pick the potus at lotus" contest (clever, isn't it?). their bartenders have created a drink for every presidential candidate taking into account some aspect of each candidate's background. for a full list of drinks go here.

vote for cavman!

our football team may not be all that great, but we still have a chance to win something! go here and vote for cavman in the capital one mascot challenge.

GO HOOS!

the only highlight from the vmas

mtv has the whole show online but don't waste your time - just go watch this.

hail to the redskins!

unfortunately instead of watching the game i was stuck in the post-game traffic on the beltway. (and this is after i got stuck in the jets traffic up in dirty jersey). but the skins WON - hooray!

weekend!

i'm headed up north early tomorrow morning. it's the bar mitzvah for my cousin's youngest. bring on the "professional" dancers, endless buffets of food, the martini bar and of course the cha cha slide.

goals for the weekend:
1. snag the extra set of keys so we can crash at the ritz.
2. spot a celeb when i pop into nyc for the night on saturday (i'm 2/2 the past two times i've been up there - kate moss and adrian grenier - and it is fashion week).
3. not resort to buying sorbet on saturday night (god, i wish i had a picture of that one).

a new twist on dessert pizza

you know i'm a sucker for anything w/ oreos in it. but dominos? nope, i think i'll pass. plus seeing as i've pretty much mastered oreo cupcakes i think i'll try my hand at recreating the oreo pizza.

hootie!

originally we were supposed to go see hootie back in july. but then darius rucker (aka hip shaker) got hurt and they had to postpone their tour. so two months later we finally go to see them. and honestly i'm kind of glad it was in september - the weather last night was absolutely gorgeous! (just like darius, right brigid?)

i had done some research earlier in the day on the opener - patrick davis. i listened to his music on myspace and i was not impressed. he reminded me of a southern, country josh groban. does that sound like a good combination to you? let's just say he didn't do anything to win me over with his live performance. in fact i think his cowboys comment made me cross him off my list forever. sorry.

but hootie was a completely different story. they sang through their old hits and a few of their newer songs off of looking for lucky. did you know that hootie and the blowfish has been a band for 22 years? that means i was two years old when they first came together. that is just crazy. but by the way they move on stage you could never guess that they are all in their forties.

a special treat was that peter holsapple was playing on stage w/ the band. it was especially cool when they played a cover of rem's "losing my religion" since peter played guitar on the original recording of the song w/ rem. he played keyboard for most of the night - but through in some guitar for some of the songs. and i'm pretty sure he was the one playing harmonica - but really we couldn't figure out who exactly was playing it.

but probably the best part of the night were the two signers. yep, there was someone signing the entire concert. it was really cool! and apparently it's really tiring because the guy and the girl kept switching off. but the guy was so much better - he really evoked the rhythm of the songs. and i got to learn some sign language from the girls i was sharing my blanket with.

i have a few complaints, though. first of all i don't like the double encore. it's really not cool. especially when you don't even play for a hour and a half total. and a big concert pet peeve of mine is when bands end on a cover. i don't even care if it is oasis - we paid to see hootie. and if they had played all of their songs i would have understood - but they left out tucker's town and i go blind. total bummer.

ps. i'm so glad i'm stuck here at work while my coworkers are off in toronto gallivanting w/ paris hilton.

why sweetwater needs a new receptionist (or whatever you call them)

here's the conversation i just had with some girl who answered the phone:

sweetwater girl: good afternoon, thank you for calling sweetwater.
[awkward pause since i thought she was going to continue with, "how may i help you?"]
me: hi, i was wondering when your pumpkin ale would be going on tap
sg: excuse me?
me: your pumpkin ale?
sg: oh, we don't have that yet
me: i know, i was wondering when you would be tapping it
sg: oh, i don't know exactly. i think it's next month - but first we have to run out of the beer we have right now.
me: ok thanks.
[click]

that was probably the most uninformative phone conversation i've ever had. ugh.

i might just try and call back again tomorrow hoping i get someone different. or if anyone else hears when they're tapping their pumpkin ale let me know.

update: i did some more digging and apparently they didn't tap their pumpkin ale until mid-october last year. oops - i guess i jumped the gun a little.

what you need to know

- um, i don't think you can just unresign.

- i'm still confused as to how you can make a candy bar more to go.

- maybe i'll have to order some of these for the holiday next week.

- the green fairy might be coming to a liquor store near you!

- so nice to see perez has jumped on the eric hutchinson bandwagon. i've only been singing his praises (not literally of course) since i saw him back in 2005. seriously - do yourself a favor and go get his new cd. oh and he's playing at jj on 9/23 - tickets are only $12.

i love tom toles

harder, better, faster, stronger

as i was listening to the new kanye cd last night (thanks nick) i was reminded of this video i saw a few weeks ago at work. make sure your sound is on. it's pretty awesome.

all who enter must surrender the booty

this definitely calls for a party!

happy day after labor day!

and nothing says welcome back to work like a delay on the metro. and the rumblings around the office seem to suggest that the traffic wasn't so great this morning either. but why dwell on the bad things in life?

how about the weather this weekend? it's definitely the nicest labor day weekend we've had in a long time. and it might have been the best weekend we've had all summer. and i got to enjoy all four days of it at the pool - i think the last time i've spent four straight days at the pool was when i actually still worked there.

and the time spent away from the pool was pretty excellent too. on friday night we continued our tour of hotel bars. this time we stopped in at topaz. it was fun - and the drinks were good (strong, but good). and since we were one of three groups in the entire bar i'm still not sure how the bartender screwed up our bill. but since he only charged us for three (not four) drinks we didn't complain.

note to drunk georgetown students who frequent garrett's: if you are going to act like an idiot and dance like a fool we are going to stare at you. and then when you get all huffy and yell at us for looking at you we will call you a crazy bitch.

saturday night was spent in my kitchen. i picked up some fresh peaches from the farmer's market on saturday morning so i decided to try my hand at peach ice cream. it was a long process, but the final product turned out really good! and in between peeling the peaches, soaking the peaches, cooling the peaches, etc. i managed to bake a batch of my famous oreo cupcakes and assemble homemade ice cream sandwiches with my fun little molds.

and all that baking was in preparation for our little barbecue on sunday night. we had invited a few of our friends over to grill out and savor the second to last day of summer. nari's friend had taken "feel free to bring along some friends" a bit liberally and before we knew it we had a party at our house.

and after lots of grilled meat, too much pasta/asian salad, an oreo cupcake and ice cream sandwich, a game of beer pong and a few of nick's infamous shots we were sitting at a table at ri-ra playing the finger game with a fun bunch. i'm exhausted just thinking about it all.

sunday brought a full day of relaxation at the pool. well it was relaxing until everyone and their mother decided to show up for the last day. the pool was so packed you couldn't even stand there without running into anyone. and add a three year old to the mix and it gets that much crazier.

so long summer - but hello three day week:)