The Smiling Face On Your TV (SOTD)

The Kleiner just got a Blu-Ray player! Hopefully this won't totally destroy my ability to blog. And yes, it's tenous, but seeing the colors really pop on my screen made me think of this:

Remember when people dressed like that? Cool people?

First Look at Columbia Heights's Newest Offering: Tynan Coffee

After months of ‘walking by down Irving Street’ anticipation, Tynan Coffee has finally opened. I had about 45 minutes to kill while waiting for the Kleiner, so I decided to pop in, have a café au lait and a biscotti and settle in to reading my book of the month (or at 700 pages, maybe book of 2-3 months) Nixonland. Tynan Coffee serves the usual variety of espresso and coffee drinks, a few different chai tea lattes, smoothies, cold drinks, beer and wine and a short list of the usual coffee place casual lunch and dinner options. The atmosphere is slick, rather than homey, with light colored walls, high top seats by the window, and many two seater regular tables. There are a couple of plush, yet modern styled chairs in the back. In a nod to creating a community atmosphere, there is a bulletin board atop a bookshelf of shared reading material.

I wanted to like Tynan – really, really wanted to like it. I absolutely adore a good independent coffee shop for its ability to create a community and offer a place that people feel comfortable meeting and relaxing . I also really wanted it to offer above par espresso that I would want to pay close-to-the metro- Columbia Heights prices for instead of Starbucks (or dare I say, Dunking Donuts ). I wanted it to be a place that I could enjoy a Chai Tea Latte (a personal favorite to try around the different places I go) and a place where I could relax while reading or writing.

Crime in Petworth - A Special Report

Last night, the Kleiner and the Kleinette attended a special Ward 4 community meeting at the MPDC Northern Regional Operation Command center hosted by Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser held in response to a spate of recent shootings, and centered around a question-and-answer session with MPDC Chief of Police Cathy Lanier. Let us begin by saying that the most remarkable fact of the meeting was probably its very occurrence; that the police and the politicians responsible for the safety of the area would feel it necessary to hold such a meeting in response to violence that, as recently as a few years ago, would probably have been considered par for the course in the neighborhood in question.  This demonstrates both  increased civic engagement on the part of the neighborhood's residents and increased responsiveness to public opinion and welfare on the part of the responsible insitutions. In the face of the saddening violence in our community, these kinds of meetings are positive for the future of Washington, D.C.

Brief remarks from Councilwoman Bowser commenced the meeting that began roughly on time and was attended by roughly 75 citizens representing a diverse cross-section of gender, race, and age. In attendance beyond Bowser and Chief Lanier were Lt. Michael Farish of Homicide, several ANC Members, representatives of Metro Police, the Ward 4 Safety Advisory Council, and the entire 4D Command Staff. Also present were multiple reporters taking notes and two television cameras, one handheld and one mounted. The cameraman operating the tripod-mounted camera said his footage would be distributed to Channels 4, 5, and 9.

New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down (SOTD)

Yes, the Kleiner is a New Yorker, but being a Mets fan, can stand nothing less than seeing good things happen to the Yankees. Especially since yesterday's debut SOTD could be reasonably construed as promoting pro-Yankee sentiment, the Kleiner felt it necessary to shoot that down as fast and as hard as possible. So, because right now they're the last, best hope at prevent a Yankees World Series victory, and because the Kleiner might be making a day trip to the City of Brotherly Love soon, here's a great track from one of Philly's most endearingly over-earnest bands:



This song was #60 on the Billboard Chart - not bad. But then Tavares released a more-popular version, so Hall & Oates re-released the original, which went to #7 on the Billboard Chart. Much better!

Hood Forever (SOTD)

I'm now introducing a new feature - the Song of the Day (SOTD). Today's is in honor of yesterday's concert and tonight's World Series kick-off:




Enjoy!
-The Kleiner

Jay-Z at 1st Mariner Arena

HOVA!

As referenced below, last night the Kleinette and the Kleiner journeyed north to Baltimore - you know, that actual city? with the tall buildings 'n' stuff? - to see Jay-Z perform at the 1st Mariner Arena. The Kleiner, who frankly must confess to having something of a man-crush on Jay, came away very impressed with the performance, as did the Kleinette. Although we came away less impressed with the venue, all-in-all expect what follows to be a pretty positive overall report.

The first thing to know about Jay-Z as a performer is his preternatural command over an audience. The intensity of his charisma really shines through on-stage, and he clearly has a natural gift for between-song banter, stage timing, and soliciting audience participation. Beyond that, though, he has a broader and rarer gift for managing the ebb and flow in pulse and energy of a crowd over the course of an evening that goes further than just a well-structrured set-list, knowing when to flow through three songs at once or when to quip, knowing when the audience is ready to party and when not to. Especially with having a full live band behind him (guitar, bass, two drums, two keyboards, a DJ, and three horns), and with clutch assists from Memphis Bleek and Pharrell Williams of N.E.R.D. (who also opened) he seemed really able to play with moments perfectly.

Streetcars in DC - Ward 1 (First in a Series)

The future of America's capitol?

Reported by both the Kleiner and the Kleinette:

By now most District-residing readers will know that the DDOT has released and is strongly promoting a broad and sweeping transit plan that centers around several new streetcar lines. The streetcars will for the most part operate in mixed traffic, though the possibility of dedicated streetcar lanes still exist. This plan will be accentuated by many other mass transit programs, such as increased bus service with "premium" (read: express) buses running in dedicated lanes and an ambitious bicycle-sharing program; however, it is the streetcar program that DDOT is placing front-and-center, going as far as to hold a series of eight meetings, one in each of the District's wards.

Being the ambitious types, the Kleiner and the Kleinette plan on attending as many of these meetings as possible and issuing joint reports. We will try to report on as many of these open houses and meetings as we can. We will be issuing several reports, which we hope in spite of being incomplete will offer a broad picture of what DDOT is planning, how they are reaching out to the communities, and how those communities are reacting (at least those segments of the communities represented at these meetings). We start with Ward 1, the Kleinette's home ward; we'll continue on Friday with a report on Thursday's meeting in Ward 7.

What took us both by surprise was the format, not a lecture but an open forum of charts, informational packets, and representatives ready to proffer information and answer questions.

The event was loosely structured, with brief remarks coming at roughly 7:15 from community officials and Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham. Local ANC representatives Jack McKay and Greg Edwards were in attendance.  Councilman Graham enthusiastically endorsed the Street Car project and reminisced about past plans to construct street cars through 18th Street and Harvard Street.  He also described how Metro has been focused mostly on bringing people in and out of the city, rather than transporting the city residents around their own city.  Given that this project is receiving no federal money, he strongly supports routes that will benefit DC residents internally, providing revitalizing and economic development effects.  He does note, that while he believes that street cars will benefit Ward One, that Anacostia and H Street need the new transportation more and he is excited to see it come into action.

Just don't ask him to call you a cab, he doesn't appreciate that.

In terms of the details of the plans being put forward by DDOT, it's all but impossible to fault them for ambition. But we want to know when will the cars come out from their storage facilities in the Czech Republic and start to make their way around Washington, DC!

This post in Beyond DC and Greater Greater Washington gives a comprehensive outline of exactly when we can hope to see these Street Cars actually taking place.  The good news is that while representatives say that the process will take 7-10 years, they are including time already elasped, so these should be coming in the next 3-4 years. 

How Does the Modern Indepenent Video Rental Outlet Survive?

"Are we going the way of the dodo, Dante?"

The Kleiner is a self-proclaimed film geek; not satisfied with merely really, really liking movies, he went so far as to acquire his bachelor's degree in the subject. That he actually has a job, in this economy, seventeen months out of graduation, is a minor miracle of whose provenance he'd rather defer discussion. What he would like to talk about is movies and television and the whole culture that surrounds it, so while the Kleinette does double, nay, triple, nay, billiontuple duty discussing our culinary proclivities and her endless explorations of the District's myriad nooks and crannies, it falls to me to offer this blog's Kulturkritik; so, you know, feel free to skip all my posts. Consider yourself disclaimed.

Anyway, rather than muse in length on Mad Men (the first seventeen episodes of which the Kleinette and I have watch in just the past week) or Skins (a favorite of the Kleinette, Anglophile that she is, on which I have some thoughts) or some of the recent films I've seen, I'd like to start by jumping off the Kleinette's latest post and talk about one of our latest sights seen: Takoma Park's Video Americain.

Takoma Park - Magic Hippie Land on the Border - Continued

Still interested in exploring the world of Takoma Park, and now finally tired of cooking, the Kleiner and the Kleinette headed back up to Takoma Park tonight to have dinner at Mark’s Kitchen, a cool sort of asian-american diner that mixes deli sandwiches, ginger ice cream sundaes with bulgogi platters and stuffed acorn squashes.  As we both are very vegetarian friendly/or are vegetarians this was a perfect choice.  Marks Kitchen looks like a diner, white tables, aluminium pull out chairs and no booths.  I’ve had the Vegetable Curry with Brown Rice, which is really tasty and not too spicy, and feels extremely healthy.  I’ve also had bento boxes with various vegetables and seaweed that were delicious as well.  I like the variety of a bento and the healthiness of simply prepared veggies.  Tonight, I had Spinach Tofu Pancakes served with a soy-raspberry sauce, string beans, roasted sweet potato, salad and brown rice.  I really liked this dish, it felt healthy and the tastes were savory and rich.  Clocking in at about $9.50, it was a very perfect price.   The Kleiner had a huge veggie club sandwich that even included fake bacon.  Served with real, hand cut French fries and cole slaw this was a also a great option for a vegetarian often relegated to a veggie burger, grilled portabello, or hummus wrap.  I love Mark’s Kitchen, and will probably be back. 

I have to mention that I was tempted by both the cosy Roscoe's Neopolitan Pizza place that has fabulous reviews online and the Middle Eastern Cuisine and Market restaurant also located on Carroll Avenue.

After dinner, we made our way over to Video Americain, a video/film/dvd/movie rental shop that looked like it could have belonged equally as much in Takoma Park as it would in Somerville, MA or Brooklyn, NY. Its offerings are organized by country/genre/and sometimes even by director.  It has a sofa and a television mid-store for any sampling you might want to do.  I was woo'd by the 90s indie-emo flicks, the Israeli films, the British TV series and all the African movies...  I'll let the Kleiner take over reviewing it as he is the filmie and I the companion on these sorts of jaunts....

A quick home made balsamic tomato sauce

As the Kleinette has been on a very strong spree of cooking for everyone in sight, she thinks it might be nice to share a delicious recipe for quick home made marinara sauce that you can serve to any guest or group of guests that you'd like.  The trick to this tasty marinara - balsamic de-glazing.:) There are a few things that you should always have on hand in order to make home made sauce, a 32ounce can of crushed tomatoes [either the ones on sale, or the best ones that you can afford], onions [fresh or frozen chopped], italian seasoning, garlic, olive oil and of course balsamic vinegar.  The recipe I am including here is a more souped up version of the most simple one you can make:

College Perk - Best News Ever?

Reporting by The Kleinette, Your Resident College Park Afficianado:

I may be the last, but definitely not the first, to see this post on the College Perk's MySpace page.  People outside College Park might not have known the joy of the Colleger Perk, a crazy little coffee house that settled into what seemed almost like a little compound on the hill at the juncture of Rt-1 and 193.  Rumors were that the property really had been a brothel, with all kinds of secret codes and rituals to get in.  I'm not sure I buy it, but, it was simply the most ideal coffee shop ever.  Full of rooms with bright walls and group couches and strange chairs that sometimes included a dental chair, the perk served delicious chai and coffee and eventually even alcohol and food.  It had an enormous white wooden movie screen outside, nights with very local politicians, open mic nights and music.  There was a genuine hippie, warm accepting atmosphere and many a person was there alone just finding their way.  I really loved it.  That said, I will quit gushing, because it had some tax problems and ended up shutting down.

However, their myspace page appears updated and it looks like it might take over:

"A New PERK—Yes, there may be a new PERK! The 94th Aero Squadron abandoned their lease on the property near the College Park Airport. We hope to resurrect a new improved version of The PERK in its place. The new PERK will maintain the same bohemian style coffeehouse—But lots more! The new PERK will offer a spectacular fine dining area, a banquet hall, and an indoor music stage for dinner theatre style concerts. So far, three notable chefs have signed on to make this effort succeed, including the original chef that first opened the 94th We are working with other local groups to include new features such as a green roof, solar, enhanced re-cycling, herb gardens, free meeting space for civic associations and student groups, blues jams, wine tastings, and a showcase of local musicians

 All we need to do now is convince M-NCPPC that The PERK should be there!"

Sounds great doesn't it???

Takoma Park - Magic Hippie Land on the State Line?

Reporting by The Kleinette

I found myself on Sunday afternoon with a few hours to kill between teaching ice skating lessons out in Rockville, Maryland and my girly activity of the groupon discounted facial in Takoma Park.  I had purchased a 'groupon' a month ago for a $25 facial at the Still Point spa in Takoma Park.   Groupons coupons that are sold through the Groupon website for extremely discounted goods and services, often at places that you actually do want to go.  Many of the groupons tend to be for restaurants. Between the Kleiner and the Kleinette, we hold groupons for Policy, Napolean Cafe, ACKC, and L'Enfant Cafe.  Example: $15 for $35 worth of food and drink at L'Enfant Cafe in Adams Morgan. 

Since I was very early for the facial, as I am known to do, I stopped by a local coffee shop that I think is probably pretty new to Takoma Park called The Savory Cafe.  I love, love, love independent coffee shops because often they play nice music, have a community atmosphere, and more often than not serve really nice espresso drinks that I don't make at home.  I am still searching for one that can match the greatness of the College Perk, now gone from College Park, Maryland.  The Perk certainly can be credited with the reasonably high quality coursework I produced as an undergrad at Maryland, I spent all my free time studying there on their comfy community couches listening to their well chosen music.  The Savory Cafe was filled with laptop users, group meetings, and people having a bite to eat. They served food ranging from typical coffee shop wraps to asian noodles and dumpings.  I had a cafe-au-lait and an oatmeal cookie. They have live music on Friday nights, and I'd definitely like to stop in one night after getting dinner at Mark's Kitchen (to be reviewed later). It was a very different scene from the Big Bear Cafe, which is the place to go if you want to listen to obscure hipster indie rock and drink exceptionally good coffee with the hipster population of Eckington while reading a paper or editing something on your computer.

The Still Point is a pretty little spa located on the Maryland side of Takoma Park.  Interestingly, along with their spa treatments they also offer yoga classes in a serene looking studio that has windows onto the woods.  The 'Groupon' Facial was an extremely express facial, very minor extractions, no massage, so I don't know that a review from me of that will nesecarrily offer the best review of what the Still Point has to offer.  The treatment was okay, the technician chatted to me the whole time about her experiences online dating which did not make it particularly relaxing, but interesting and funny.  I probably would not go back to the Still Point as their express facial is $80 and their regular facials are $150 which is so above and beyond my budget for girly rituals that I wouldn't really even consider it.  I personally prefer to get treatments at the Aveda Institute in DC.  They are about $35-40 and done by students who generally seem to know very well what they are doing :)  [word of warning - hair color / spa treatments = excellent at Aveda, cuts, eh..... at your own risk]

The Men of Mad(ison) Ave and an Apple Torte

The Kleiner and the Kleinette, having had enough of the extremely cold temperatures, decided to spend the night in Mt. P cooking, watching many episodes of Mad Men and generally hiding.  First of all, Mad Men is a fantastic, fantastic series that the Kleinette is very much looking forward to completing.  Between this morning and this evening, we watched five episodes, all of which very catchy and extremely depressing.  I can't imagine living in 1960, in a world so extremely governed by societal norms that box women in so much.  I have a feeling we finish the first season within the next two weeks and then another three for the second. 

We also made our own variation of a friend's recipe for an 'Apple Torte' with 'Butter Rum Cream Frosting.' It is a heart attack in a pan, but an extremely apple-y, cinnamonee, brown-sugaree heart attack.  Recipe follows:

Apple Torte:

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar (or 1 cup white plus 1 cup light brown)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cups apples - peeled, cored and diced (tart best)
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 3 tablespoons rum
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch cake pan (or pirex).
2. In a mixing bowl; beat oil and eggs with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat well.
3. Combine the flour salt, baking soda, and ground cinnamon together in a bowl. Slowly add this mixture to the egg mixture and mix until combined. The batter will be very thick. Fold in the apples by hand using a wooden spoon. Spread batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes or until cake tests done. Let cake cool on a wire rack. Once cake is cool, cover with Cream Frosting and Nut Topping.

Cream Frosting:

Mix 2 sticks of butter until creamy. Add 1/2 cup of sugar (or to taste) plus 3 tablespoons of maple syrup. On the side, mix one egg white until pick and set aside. Add the egg yolk to the butter mix and fold the egg white to the mix by hand (you want the cream to be light). Once you have blended everything, add the rum and the milk and keep blending.

Nut Topping:

Using a food processor, chop one cup of walnuts, two tablespoons of ground cinnamon and half cup of sugar (more to taste). Spread evenly over the cream frosting - it will create a sort of hardened delicious nut topping.

These are essentially the directions I got from my friend, except for the Rum, thats my own variation.  I also made this all in a kitchenaide stand up mixer which seemed to work extremely well.  Also - its fall, and Washington, DC's latest craze is the Farmers Market.  We have them in many neighborhoods ranging from Mt. Pleasant, to Anacostia, to Dupont Circle.  Now, the Farmers Markets have hit the Executive Branch.  On Thursdays, there is a 'White House' farmers market set-up just north of Lafayette Park full of lavender goodies, apples, fancy empanadas and the usual staple Quark.  Following the White House market, another one has opened on Fridays by the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center on Pennsylvania Ave, which means, delicious farmers market apples for the torte.  In my humble opinion, Farmers Markets can be the most difficult places to avoid the impulse purchase, so, I generally pick a recipe using what I think are in season items and then pick them up at the market.  

The 3G Underground

The revolution, as it were, will be telephoned.

Though I had not the time to post this from below the Earth's surface, you can imagine the Kleiner's surprise when he was reading his usual selection of blogs as he descended into the DC Metro after work last night to discover that, unlike every day that came before it, his service...continued! "No," he thought, "this cannot be" - yet, sites were loaded, e-mails sent, calls receieved. Yes, Metroers - your phones now work underground! So long, that is, as you're in

Ballston, Bethesda, Columbia Heights, Crystal City, Dupont Circle, Farragut North, Farragut West, Federal Triangle, Foggy Bottom-GWU, Friendship Heights, Gallery Pl-Chinatown, Judiciary Square, L’Enfant Plaza, McPherson Square, Metro Center, Pentagon, Pentagon City, Rosslyn, Smithsonian and Union Station.

The rest of the stations, along with the entirety of the system itself (!!!) is coming by 2012. I found the service to be pretty impressive. I consider this unadulterated good news, as I think all folks will aside the usual batch of Luddites and curmudgeons. Any thoughts/experiences to share?

-The Kleiner

Dinner Parties and Disaster Avoidance

Chuck Norris will cook you a really, really mean lasagna.

The Kleinette is really the chef of the couple; at best I'm somewhere between "sous-chef" and "that gangly kid from Ratatouille." But I do like to help as best I can, and I have a couple thoughts about preparing a dinner party like last night's, when the most important things can be not to promote good outcomes but avoid the worst possible outcomes and let the fun build more organically:

-> Don't panic. This is the most important thing. Last night, midst-lasagna prep, the Kleinette realized she had forgotten the ricotta with no time to get more. Oh noes! But fortunately she remembered a recepie for bechamel sauce.Whew. But she was so frazzled from her nearly screwing up she nearly screwed up the bechamel. Oh noes! The key is not to cook on tilt and not let your mistakes lead to more mistakes. Once the Kleinette and I were making ravioli, only to discover that we really screwed the proverbial pooch and we ended up with a pot full of boiling water and cheese. Lame. Fortunately, we decided to just let it boil, leaving behind a delicious cheese sauce that we poured over fettuccine. Yum! We almost ruined the whole evening but salvaged it into something delicious.

-> DIY activities are fun. One of the Kleinette's friends was a bartender. We let her mix the drinks (good call on our part). Rather than watch a movie in the conventional sense, we put on a goofy 80s action flick (Chuck Norris FTW) and played upbeat, fun music beneath it. We alternated between a homemade MST3K-style roasting of the events on-screen and drifting off into conventional conversation. Actually sitting and watching a movie outside a theater setting would've been too anti-social, but just sitting around and expecting conversation to materialize can sometimes be a bit too demanding and awkward, even if everyone knows everyone else. A relaxed group activity is the best compromise.

All told, we had a fun Friday night. And, yes, Edy's Double-Churned Ice Cream is pretty delicious...and would explain why the Kleiner is finding his old jeans a tad constricting lately. :P
-The Kleiner

Eggplant Lasanga, Pumpkin Double Churned Ice Cream, and the Delta Force!

This is the Kleinette, reporting from the Big Bear Cafe, an Eckington haunt that serves delicious coffee to a crowd of vaguely hipster-esque laptop users.  More typically, I turn up here after going to the Bloomington Farmers market (believe it or not, Farmers Market prices can be shopped around the city, but that is another report for another day) but as it is 45 degrees and raining, we thought that a visit would be a nice way to spend the afternoon. Their espresso alone is worth the trip, it is full of coffee flavor yet not bitter at all.

Last night as temperatures began their dip into the cold into "you don't want to go outside" levels, the Kleinette and the Kleiner decided to host a group of friends from the Kleinette's hometown for a delicious vegetarian dinner (as the Kleiner is a recent vegetarian, and the Kleinette is extremely veggie friendly, most of their cooking will be vegetarian).

I don't really like to cook 100% from recipes as most of the time they are not simple enough for my needs but do often have ingredients that are easily replaced.  Plus, a good way to learn to cook ad lib style at home is to constantly read recipes and then edit them for your own uses.   Last night, with much assistance from sous-chef The Kleiner, I made a roasted Eggplant and Zuchini Lasagna accompanied by a spinach salad with blue cheese and tomatoes. Here are the recipes (they are big enough for 6-8 people) :)

Eggplan and Zuchini Lasagna (including homemade sauce):

3 packages no boil lasagna noodles [in the future, I'd consider buying the boiling variety, I was time crunched]

1 eggplant, sliced into 1/3-1/2 inch circular pieces

1 yellow zuchinni

1 zuchini

32 ounces crushed tomatoes

3 onions

3/4 cup baby carotts

fresh basil

fresh parsley

salt/pepper

garlic paste

tomato paste

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons flour

2.5 tablespoon butter

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound mozarella cheese

5-7 tablespoons dried italian seasoning

1/4-1/2 pound parmesan cheese [the best you can afford] to grate

1 cup panko crumbs

1 egg

First Step:

Slice eggplant into thin slices and layer between two paper towels.  Set aside with a pot or pan on top to weigh it down for 30 minutes.  Its important to follow this step whenever you cook eggplant to get the water and bitterness out of the vegetable. After this, chop your three onions and chop or food process the carrots.

Second Step: "make the tomato sauce"

In a large pan, sautee the onions and carrots in olive oil for 5-6 minutes.  Add salt, or seasoned salt to taste. At around 6 minutes, add 3-4 tablespoons tomato paste and sautee for two more minutes. Also add your balsamic vinegar, sautee until it is reduced and begins to turn into a glaze.  Next, add your crushed tomatos and bring almost to a boil to bring it all together.  Add about 5-8 tablespoons of dry italian seasoning. Then reduce to low and let simmer.  Towards the time you become ready to use the sauce, add fresh parsley and basil.

Third Step: "roast your eggplants"

This is the step that makes this special, roasted eggplant.  Preheat the oven to 400. Make a plate with one egg, mixed with a fork and another plate with the panko bread crumbs. Feel free to add whatever seasonings you'd like to the panko, usually, its classic to always add salt and pepper.  I like garlic seasoned salt.  Dip each eggplant, both sides in the eggs, then in the panko and set on a pan to roast. Also, chop your zuchinni into small 1/2 inch peices.  You can also put these on a pan with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to roast at the same time as your eggplant, or not, if you want them to keep a little crunch in your lasanga.  Roast for 25 minutes.

Step 4: "The secret is in the bechamel!"

Normally, I like ricotta cheese, but last night, I forgot to buy it and had on hand everything to make a Bechamel sauce.  I grabbed this recipe from foodtv.com.

In one pan, melt the butter and mix it with the flour to form a roux.  In another pan, heat the salt and the milk until it is nearly boiling.  Once the roux has formed, combine the milk and the roux by whisking for about 8-20 minutes.  This should result in a thick dairy sauce.  At the very end, add your nutmeg.

At this point, your sauce is made, your veggies are roasted, and you are ready to assemble the lasagna!

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Step 5: "Let the building begin"

First layer - Sauce

Second layer - Noodles

Third layer - Bechamel sauce

Fourth layer-Eggplant

Fifth layer - Mozarella

Sixth layer - Parmesan

Seventh layer - tear fresh basil leaves for flavor

Eighth layer - cover in sauce :)

[at this point, you should be careful to ensure that your no boil noodles are fully covered in a sauce so that they will soften as you cook]

REPEAT two more times.....the last layer should be full of as much cheese and tomato sauce as you've got left for extra deliciousness.

Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Garlic Bread:

1 baguette

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon garlic paste

leftover mozarella and parmesan cheese

Melt the butter and combine with the garlic paste. Drizzle over peices of cut up baguette.  Top the butterest peices with the mozarella and cheese and bake in a 300 degree oven for 5-10 minutes.

Spinach Salad-

1 bag preashed spinach

1/2 container of cherry tomatos, halved

2/3 container of crumbled blue cheese

Combine all of this and offer with creamy balsamic dressing (I love Trader Joe's Tuscan Balsamic).  Its simple, and GOOD.

***

The Kleiner and the Kleinette, like many Americans share a distinct love of ice cream.  In particular, double churned, whichever brand between Edy's and Breyer's is on sale.  Typically, we go for Cookie Dough, but, we also tend to buy whatever new Edy's limited edition has been produced just to see.  Last night, we had Pumpkin Double Churned by Edy's for desert,and it was delicious.  Basically, it seemed to be pumpkin pie filling, sugared and frozen.  MMMM. We have also recently tried hot chocolate double churned, which was merely whelming.  It tastes like a frostie with real marshmallows.

The group settled in to enjoy the lasagna with muted AMC on TV and a combination of Stevie Wonder (great party music, btw) and Ratatat.  The Delta Force came on, and all were amused :)

-The Kleinette

Hello Washington!

Salutations from an extremely rainy and unseasonably cool Washington, DC.  I am the Kleinette, and while the Kleiner took the lead in publishing what is sure to be a 'riveting' (or, hopefully just interesting) account of what kinds of things 'young professionals' like to do and our fun activities, I just wanted to say "hi" and talk about my role a little bit in this here web log. As a lifer in the Washington, DC metro area, I have a keen sense for where the highways go, and what to do through the burbs, especially those in Maryland.  I spent some years living outside the country and some years living outside of Washington while 'in country.'

 I am obsessive about reading any and every going out and restaurant guide and have so many ideas of what I want to be doing with myself, and the Kleiner, that I think we could be busy for years. :) I'm excited to add to the literature.

So - hopefully, if you like to eat well, but not spend too much, like to road trip like crazy, but aren't put off by Sheetz and Wawa coffee, like offbeat movies and watching entire seasons of onbeat tv, then my ramblings will help illuminate the DC life. ;) 
-The Kleinette

Welcome!

Hi! We're the Kleiner and the Kleinette, a young and, by the standards of many, rather cool couple living in Washington, D.C. We started this blog because we wanted to share our thoughts about the various adventures and goings-on we experience every day. So if you read this blog, you can expect to hear about:

• Where we travel.
• Where we eat.
• Where we party.
• What we cook.
• What movies we see.
• What concerts we go to.
• What TV shows we watch.
• Our thoughts on the life and times of our home city, of which one of us is a lifer and the other a recent but enthusiastic adoptee.

And all kinds of other fun stuff! All accompanied by cool photos! So come back soon or put us in your feed.


And if you're wondering how we picked our pseudonyms and blog title, check out this Washington Post chat with Ezra Klein from August 27th:

Adam - Zurich, Switzerland: A bit off topic, but maybe you could throw this in at the end of your chat session. My wife and I are moving to the DC area, where would you recommend living for an urban 30-something couple? If you had to choose between Clarendon, Rosslyn or Ballston, which would it be?




Ezra Klein: None of them! I recommend living in DC if you can, particularly the Mt. Pleasant or Columbia Heights area. Petworth is getting better fast, and it's comparatively affordable, and some interesting stuff is happening down in the 5th and K area.

As you may have guessed by now, the Kleinette is a Mt. Pleasanteer, while the Kleiner lives down by 5th and K. Thus making us, of course, Ezra Klein's Coolest Couple. QED.
-The Kleiner