amazon.com

as a somewhat frequent user of amazon.com i have un-surprisingly landed on their email list. so every so often they will send me an email with things they think i might like to buy. do i ever take their suggestions? no. but, today's email cracked me up so i figured i had to share.

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

As someone with the surname Brown, you might be interested in "The Brown Name in History," a new book that offers fascinating facts and commentary about your family name. Find out where people with the Brown last name originated, ships they sailed when immigrating, and where they reside today. Learn about marriage, literacy, military draft registration rates for Brown households, and much more.This book makes a perfect gift for you and your family members.

haha. seriously?

happy hallmark and chocolate companies want to rip you off day

it was just before eight this morning and we were in the tunnel between rosslyn and foggy bottom. i was busy reading the paper when the metro announcer came on and told everyone to put down their books and newspapers and listen up for a minute. he wanted to wish us all a happy valentine's day. and he didn't stop at that. he went onto tell all the women not to go home and cry if they didn't get a valentine today. and then he advised all the men to make sure they didn't go home empty handed tonight. because honestly, what woman doesn't dream of getting a giant heart shaped chocolate??

update: i just got out of a meeting with some clients from michigan and the one guy brought a giant heart of chocolates. he felt awkward giving it to my coworker (a guy) so he gave it to me. must have read my mind.

the park at 14th

so you may or may not have heard my story about the park. back in december after our work holiday party (600 strong at the jw) a big group of us headed over to the park. i was totally excited! at the time it was relatively new and was supposed to be the hot new place to go. so someone got a table and we all got in (without waiting in the large line out front - woo!). we all checked our coats and headed up to the third floor for more drinking and dancing. so then when thursday night (tcc happy hour) finally caught up with me i figured it was time to call it a night. i went down to gather my coat and then head to the metro. so i handed the guy my coat check number and then the woman on the ladder went to fetch my coat. i started walking away when i suddenly realized my brand new red scarf was not in my jacket arm like i had left it. tragic! so i went back to tell the guy and he pretty much told me i never had a scarf. the nerve! i left, pissed off and cold. and after that night i swore never to return to the park.

fast forward to tonight. last week daily candy sent out an email about how the park is planning to start a restaurant and that until they actually open for business they would be giving away free samples every night after work. free food? obviously i forgot about the scarf incident and immediately made plans to go back. the first free night was tonight so we headed over after work for a drink and a few bites of food. well, after we struggled through the rain/ice/sleet we were pleasantly rewarded with lots of yummy food! literally guys in suits were walking around handing out plates of food the whole time we were there. all in all i ate: three sliders, caprese salad, corn chowder and a corn muffin and a big bowl of spinach and artichoke dip. definitely more than we expected! and good enough that i'm very curious to see their full menu and see what they'll be offering when they open for business.

also, we dominated the "guess what song and who sings it" game. i'm sure our server (and other patrons) thought we were crazy when we started yelling out artists and/or song names. especially when i randomly yelled out "george michael"!!

oh, and you know how i'm rightfully paranoid of black ice? well it took us probably 15-20 minutes to walk home from the metro tonight because of all the ice. in the words of panda man, "careful sllliiiiiippppppyyyyyy."

vote!

if you're registered in virginia, maryland or dc don't forget to go out and vote in the presidential primary today!

update: obama sweeps it all! wooooooo!

whitney!

she's totally making a comeback!

seven years of bad luck

i came home from work last week to find my mirror fallen on the floor and broken in half. yikes! i (along with my roommates) managed the rest of the week with a shattered mirror until i could get out to buy a new one (since i figured it would be slightly awkward to buy one on my lunch break and lug it home on the metro).

so i made it over to target on saturday and picked up a brand new full length mirror. it rang up for only $5.99! i brought it home, scrounged up some nails and put it up on my door. and then i was getting ready to go out to dinner, which obviously involves checking myself out in the mirror. i figured it was just because i had had a lot to eat throughout the day, but i was looking pretty busted in the mirror. so i just used my bathroom mirror and called it a night. but then sunday afternoon i took another look and realized it was the start of my bad luck. i now have a fat mirror. i will clearly be needing to make a trip to bed bath and beyond this weekend.

you'd think...

that on a day like today the washington post would double bag their papers.

the wire!

thanks to the writer's strike and the lack of watchable tv shows on right now i decided to join blockbuster's version of netflix in an attempt to catch up on movies and tv shows i haven't had the time to watch over the last few years. the main thing i've been dying to see is the wire (since we don't get hbo and i've been unwilling to dish out hundreds of dollars for the dvd set). and yesterday i finally got to see what everyone has been raving about for the past few years. only three episodes in and i'm already hooked!

restaurant week, part III

not really a part of restaurant week - just a place i ate during the week(end).

the restaurant: locanda.

the space: small dining room straight out of new york city. there's a small bar in the back. good luck getting a seat though since they serve their full menu at the bar, and reservations are hard to come by (probably since they let you linger for as long as you want. seriously a number of the parties who were already eating when we got there at 8:30 were still mingling when we finally left at 10:30).

the food: it's a very simple menu, but everything sounded so delicious it took us a while to decide on what we were going to order. we ended up getting the crostini to start - think bruschetta but instead of tomatoes it was a hearty, smoky spread with fresh manchego cheese on top. for the main course we all went for their homemade pasta. we got their version of mac & cheese (brought out to the table in the skillet it was baked in), the gnocchi (in a heavenly sauce) and a pasta (like a fettucini on steroids) with veggies in a garlicky, slightly spicy sauce. after soaking up all of the sauce with the endless baskets of bread brought to our table we just couldn't bring ourselves to order any dessert.

the service: it was great to start off with, but the mishap in the end kind of ruined it for us. since we were told to expect major delays on the metro, we left on the early side just to be safe. and because we left so early we obviously didn't encounter any delays at all so we arrived a little early for our reservation. not a problem - we just headed back to the bar and got some champagne to start off the evening. we just continued our thrilling game of botticelli and sipped on our champagne and before we knew it we were seated at our table. our waiter was very attentive and offered his (excellent) personal suggestions for our wine and food. our food came out and we gobbled it up, but that's when things went downhill. he asked us if we wanted dessert and we declined (being full and having to get down the street for a friend's party). you would think the fact that we declined dessert and that there was nothing else to eat or drink on our table would signal to the waiter that we wanted our check. instead he disappeared forever and no one else in the restaurant would even acknowledge us sitting there. and at this point we had finished our second botticelli of the night (sara tancredi, yes!) and we were so ready to go. then finally our server came out of hiding and we snatched him and asked for our check and he went about getting it like we hadn't just been sitting there for thirty minutes waiting for it. ugh.

the bathroom: simple, one person bathrooms. which, honestly is just about all that would fit in the back of this place.

despite the horrendous service we had at the end of the meal i do plan on going back to try even more of their delicious pasta! or maybe even branch out to some of the meat dishes they had on their menu...

restaurant week, park II

the restaurant: rasika.

the space: simple, but nicely decorated. and the tables were nice bid wooden tables, which was nice for sharing purposes. although the restaurant is much smaller than i had imagined (maybe that's why it's so difficult to get a reservation?).

the food: honestly, i'm not sure why i have gone through life saying i dislike indian food. the basic premise of indian food is meats, sauces, rice and bread. that's my favorite! we settled on a lamb and a chicken appetizer and did the same for our entrees. the appetizers were good - a few pieces of grilled chicken with some lamb and bean patties. the flavors were just great! and then our entrees were both curry dishes. i love curry! so much that i soaked up every last bit of the sauce with the rest of the bread. oh, and then there was dessert. i got the ginger honey ice cream - it was the perfect way to end off the meal!

the service: they did the whole rotating server thing so every time someone came up to our table it was someone new. my water stayed full and our food came out in a timely manor, so i guess that would mean the service was good.

the bathroom: nice and clean. there were private stalls with a giant mirror behind the toilet. kind of cool (i guess).

the most intriguing part of the whole place is their cocktail menu. i've heard nothing but great things about their bartender and can't wait to get back there to have some drinks at the bar (and have another meal, of course).

restaurant week, part I

the restaurant: vidalia.

the space: simple and bright. and kudos for having stylish glass walls separating the bar area from the main dining room. and since we had to wait a few minutes for our table we got to make use of the super comfy couches in the bar area.

the food: delicious. here's a breakdown of what we ordered...

appetizers - bison carpaccio w/ mozzarella, rabbit sausage, veal tounge and tuna w/ crabcake. the rabbit sausage and tuna/crab cake combo were definitely the two best. the carpaccio was rather flavorless. and the tounge was good, but it was on a stiff, flavorless pita that kind of took away from the dish.

entrees - duck (w/ a delicious egg roll!), steak, cod and shrimp & grits. obviously i liked the duck and steak the best, but i would like to have you know that i at least tried both seafood dishes. and they weren't bad at all. and i can't forget to mention the side of macaroni and cheese that we ordered (and devoured!).

desserts - vanilla bean cake w/ a strawberry jam filling, peanut butter crunch and the pecan tart a la mode. [side note - does anyone else immediately think of little miss sunshine when hearing the word "a la mode"??]

oh, and drinks! well we did a number at the tabard inn beforehand so we held off on the wine at dinner. but, they were offering a number of bottles for $32 in honor of restaurant week.

the service: ok, but nothing great. i didn't mind not having someone hovering over us, but i wouldn't have minded a little more attention. oh well.

the bathroom: anyone who knows me knows that a) i go to the bathroom a lot and b) i like checking out the bathrooms in nice restaurants. the bathroom at vidalia is nice, but nothing special. although they strategically put mouthwash by the sinks to help rinse out the flavor from the delicious onion bread (served before the meal with cornbread).

my only complaint was the fact that more than half of the menu had upcharges. i understand they don't want to lose money, but honestly if you can't offer your food for the restaurant week rate then don't participate in restaurant week.

new music

1. vampire weekend.
after all i've been reading about them i finally got a chance to check them out. how can you not love oxford commas?

2. sia.
you might recognize her music from some early episodes of grey's anatomy. or even when she lent her voice to zero 7 (on the garden state soundtrack). plus check out her new album cover - love it!

3. jens lekman.
his music is good. and his myspace page is great.

4. jenny owen youngs.
i was a little upset when i saw she was playing a free show at the millenium stage last saturday. at 6pm. right smack in the middle of the skins playoff game. i'll have to catch her next time she's in town.

5. emily king.
she's a refreshing voice in the overcrowded world of r&b/pop. she'll be at the black cat on groundhog day. oh, and she's nominated for a grammy!

and lots more to come once i can get through all of the new music i just got...