From DC to Florida - A hippie odyssey :)

Hello DC Blogworld!!

The Kleiner and I have taken off on an epic winter road trip....... we are going by way of Richmond, Savannah and Palm Coast to/from Miami via Charleston back to DC. 

We will offer MANY reviews from this trip - highlights of which inlcude singalong 'Its A Wonderful Life' at the historic Richmond Byrd Theater, the High Tides and Snack Jack in Flagler Beach, Florida, Clary's in Savannah, the Golden Lion of Flagler Beach, mayhaps even a review of Palm Coast's own European Village (or better, the Palm Coast Linear Park that leads through the glades to the village....) in due time.

For now, we're ensconced in North Florida, which actually offers many many awesome restaurants, cafes (Flagler Beach Coffee Beanery?) and nature spots (sitting on the beach @ at Daytona Beach).....

On Wednesday, we are off to M-I-A-M-I!! (and this is where you say, wait, they have not explained the reasoning for calling it a hippie odyssey, for now it looks like an extremely long road trip)......... to catch PHISH on NYE ;)

An Education

An Education (Scherfig, 2009) - ***1/2

From an era when candy from strangers was readily accepted.

Direct, breezly, and possessed of a remarkable economy of movement and speech, An Education, based on Lynn Barber's same-titled memoir, can easily deceive a viewer into thinking it’s a simple film. But far from it; this latest entry into the English-speaking West’s growing obsession with the tail of the post-WWII era, picking the scabs of repression and enforced order that would soon erupt into cultural and economic fissures that continue to hiss and steam (Mad Men, Revolutionary Road, A Serious Man, to name just a handful), is a dense and difficult fable that, like A Serious Man, portrays a lot of events that, on the surface, leave very little actually changed. But like A Serious Man’s oncoming storm, what we’re seeing is the last desperate attempts to preserve a social order that is collapsing under its own weight.

Behold, man's greatest Erector set.

Jenny (Carey Mulligan, fantastic) is a cello-playing spiretly young middle-class English student who loves to share her fluency and feels stifled by her father’s monomaniacal desire for her to attend Oxford; when charming older Jew David (Peter Saarsgard, ibid) leverages a ride home into what is at first a sweet seduction, Jenny leaps at the opportunity to be treated like a woman. That the relationship won’t end happily isn’t a surprise; what is surprising is how little is made of Jenny’s virginity, and how easily her father (Alfred Molina) acquiesces to an alternate route to securing his daughter stability and wealth, treating his daughter less like a precious flower to protect than an investment property to leverage.


Fine, but I want that reliever with the funky delivery and two players to be named later.

As Brendon Bouzard insightfully notes, An Education achieves the lamentably rare feat of “incorporat[ing] an incredible amount of stylistic goo-gaws, but…in service of the narrative.” With fascinating near-cameos from Emma Thompson as the curiously vile headmistress and Olivia Williams refracting her role from Rushmore, the film is most remarkable at its inability to avoid judgment or punishment, either in plot or style. The real question the film asks is in its very last line of voice-over, one that knifes its seemingly unearned conclusion, and one that asks just what a person’s soul is worth when society considers the rest of them a commodity.

Maintenance & MSG

Hi, everybody, it's the Kleiner. This is just notice of a few things:

1. I'm back! Whoo! Expect a big run of pent-up reviews, starting with Mary & Max directly below.
2. On the sidebar, you'll notice that we've begun compilation of all our reviews. We hope that once it's really up-and-running it will represent a full index of all the things on which we have opined. Cool!
3. Here's something I saw this morning at 5th & I NW walking to the metro that I thought was funny:

Yum!

Mary & Max

Mary & Max (Elliot, 2009) - ***

If the long, hard, and often fruitless struggle to make even the faintest meaningful connection with another human being doesn’t sound like the basis for an adorable claymation film, you merely lack Adam Elliot’s vivid, sometimes wild, imagination. Elliot, an Australian animator best known for the Oscar-winning short Harvie Krumpet (2004), does some pretty amazing stuff with Mary & Max, an uneven but ultimately rewarding telling of the allegedly-true story of a bizarre pen-pal relationship between a lonely Australian girl and an Aspie from New York.

Billy Idol, eat your heart out.

Mary Daisy Dinkle (Toni Collette) and Max Jerry Horowitz (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are friendless; Mary for the more conventional reasons of being awkward, pudgy, and oddly-birthmarked; Max because, to paraphrase the omnipresent narrator (Barry Humphries, dry in the classically British manner), he has trouble negotiating an unstructured and undesignated world. Reaching each other through serendipity and connecting instantly through chocolate, the Noblets, and a mutual intutition that each can relieve the other’s lonliness, a lifelong friendship begins.

New York, I love you, but you don't fit into my exceedingly limited way of engaging the world around me.

Elliot tales his tale with a surplus of gusto – a suburban Australia drenched in earth tones and filled with big-eyed animals and deeply-weird humanity stands in stark contrast to a grey-on-grey Manhattan bursting with noise and nearly-visible odors. The characters are brilliantly distinctive, the animation painstaking, and the story compelling. But the film is not without its flaws, some grievous – it’s mostly told as a recitation, almost entirely blanketed by voice-over from either the narrators or letters exchanged between the protagonists. It occasionally drones, and leaves you begging for these characters to actually interact, or even act, without feeling dictated to. And while the music is often used exceedingly well – especially Penguin Café Orchestra’s “Perpetuum Mobile,” – when it’s not, most notably in a scene near the conclusion set to Pink Martini’s version of “Que Sera,” it threatens to throw us out of the film altogether.

In spite of its flaws and limitations, Mary & Max is well-worth seeing, especially at a breezy 80 minutes. It’s mostly compelling, always inventive, and crafted with delicacy, care, and a weird but ineffable love for its creations. Veering between adorable and wicked with manic abandon, Mary & Max is an unusual, unique, but ultimately rewarding film.


Seen at the AFI Silver as part of the Washington Jewish Film Festival.

Watch the trailer:

The Passenger - The Joy of the Unknown

The Kleiner and I had been craving extra-decent cocktails for a couple weeks now and after not actually finding them in New York (the West Village, our destination to bar hop has apparently gentrified into a land where plain rail drinks like cranberry and vodka seem to be the choices), decided to skip right to the top and try out the new 'The Passenger' bar a few blocks away from the Sixth and I synagogue on 7th Street about a block south of the Mt. Vernon Square metro station.

The row of shops by the metro has long had many empty store fronts - so - the Passenger is a welcome sight on this row that should be filled with businesses.  The bar itself has a dark ambiance, almost like a warehouse, with only a few booth like tables and a long bar.  It is dim, and the side wall is lined with evening photography that plays with light and design. There were a variety of patrons ranging from couples, to groups of friends, to people reading books and working on their laptops at the bar.

The food menu is short, you have your choice of a few different paninis or hot dogs (more to come) and some interesting bar muchies like salted spanish almonds.  As we were arriving just after work, the Kleiner had a panini with roasted vegetables including asparagus and mushrooms with route 11 salt and vinegar chips and I had a 'slaw dog', meaning beef hot dog with coleslaw and bbq sauce and sweet potato chips.  A simple dinner, but a very savory and tasty one to my surprise!

Now, what you are probably (or should be waiting for), the cocktails!  They do not have a cocktail list, rather you tell the waiter or waitress or bartender (ess?) what kind of base liqour you'd like and an idea of how you'd like it to go, e.g. spicy, nutty, lemony, bitter or sweet and they whip you up a cocktail.  I had a almond/vanilla spice flavored vodka drink, a spiced rum drink [almost tasted like curry] while the Kleiner had a whiskey based drink (heavy on the whiskey) and a suberp lemon martini (strong, without a strong alcohol taste and a clean yummy lemon finish.  All of the cocktails were $8 which we thought was a great price point.  The wine list has been described elsewhere as diverse and the beer list had a quirky selection too - but - given out cocktail cravings we didn't pay much attention.  Next time perhaps??

**note -- it was not so crowded at 6.30 on Monday night, but some reviews I've seen mention that it can get crowded already!  Congrats!

Angelica Kitchen - Delicious, Creative, Vegan Fare in the East Village

The Kleiner and I, in search of a delicious and unique vegetarian meal, visited the Angelica Kitchen in Manhattan's East Village for dinner last Wednesday before Thanksgiving.   The Angelica Kitchen didn't call itself 'Vegan' officially, however, the menu was completely devoid of any product derived from an animal.  Washington, DC does not seem to have too many exclusively vegetarian restaurants, the main ones that I know about are Vegetate (which to our dismay is closing and looking for a new space) and Soul right by Howard University.  There are a lot of vegetarian options in the cities restaurants, but not straight up pick anything you want on the menu vegetarian joints.  In fact, I liked it so much that I invited them to open one in DC, but, I'm not sure they want to trek so far south -- a shame!

The atmosphere of the Angelica Kitchen was perfect in my eyes - softly lit, orangey, little wooden private tables and large windows looking at the city.  On this night friends and couples could be found chatting intimately and enjoying heaping plates of freshly prepared veggies.

The Angelica Kitchen featured a very comprehensive menu with lots of unique options of different vegetable fritters, tofu formulations, pastes made of curried cashews, dragon bowls and veggie filled sushi.  We opted to try the curried cashew paste with raw vegetables that left us with a punchy, spicy taste in our mouths.  I had a dish with roasted red squash, green salad with mustardy dressing and balsamic marinated tofu with mushroom ragout. YUM!  Hows that for creative vegan?  The Kleiner had a vegetarian Rueben that could be described not as a fake Rueben but what a rueben would be if was not meant to be composed of corned beef.  We skipped desert preparing for Thanksgiving day, but the menu had a variety of vegan deserts that tempted us greatly. 

To note, it is Bring Your Own Bottle - so grab one if you want to imbibe and enjoy the creative fare!  

Electronic Fairy Princess Imogen Heap at the Historic Sixth and I Synagogue

The Kleiner and I just saw Imogen Heap play at the historical Sixth and I synagogue on Monday evening immediately upon returning from their long hiatus playing on and around Long Island for Thanksgiving.

Aside from the nightmarish traffic (in the future, will only take the Pennsylvania Amish Country adventure route to New York), the trip was fantastic and included a visit to the Angelica Kitchen (a delicious East Village vegan restaurant), Bryant Park and its Christmas Market (oh, the beautiful ice rink and double oh, for the modernized European market complete with chocolate of the Israeli Max Brenner chocolate shop served by 'the bald man' [or one of the owners] himself, lots of pizza and the Sweet Lilly spa.  We also saw 'An Education' which may or may not be reviewed later by the Kleiner.

First of all, concerts at Sixth and I are great, as we have discovered.  The space is gorgeous - there is a beautiful sephardi painted dome and mezzanine and main temple seating.  Everyone piles into the synagogue benches and those who want to get really close to the artist press themselves against the 'bima.'  Imogen Heap herself, is a magical fairy princess of electronic music.  She started the evening by personally introducing her openers (and members of her 'band).  Each time she came out, her hair became wilder and wilder until it was one big frizz mess piled on her head and secured with a few different bows.  She wore a short satin skirt - almost like a tutu and white ballet flats.

I absolutely love her music and her joint project Frou Frou, so I was extremely excited for this show and even more excited that it was at Sixth and I.  It is amazing to see how she puts together the music live.  Her set included numerous computers, synthesizers, microphones and toys that she uses to generate the sounds that get sequenced into her music.  Some of the insturments truly were just her voice make a few chirps or heavy breathing.  Her openers, who also comprised most of her 'band' also do the same thing, bringing even more computers and mics to the stage.  Truly amazing.

The set was heavy on her newest album, Ellipse and inlcuded a few much loved favorites such as 'Just for Now' and 'Hide and Seek' from Speak for Yourself.  Other songs played were 'Bad Body Double' which was a lot better live than on the album - the upbeat bits include almost hip hoppishly strong beats which generate great energy, an audience favorite, Swoon, Last Train Home, Aha! (which almost had hints of Klezmer) and Litte Bird. During Aha!, she brought up a local cellist who competed via her website to add the cello live. The last encore,the heart breaking - 'The Moment I Said It,' was chilling, near to the point of tears.

Overall, the show was fantastic, but, one aspect was confusing.  She seemed to play many slow songs, despite the fact that her discography includes so many fantastic upbeat songs that fill a space so well.  I can imagine they are extremely difficult to build up the sounds for now that I can see the complicated rig needed to generate the richer songs, but, the pay-off for the audience is worth it.  On the other hand, most of the lyrics to her songs are not only sad, but emotionally jarring, bringing you with her on emotional highs of falling in love and the lowest lows watching yourself lose your spouse, or the way 'clothes feel like second hand throwaways' when your ex falls in love with someone new' or the pain and confusion of watching your parents divorce.  Perhaps a live show that only includes the upbeat songs would be a dishonest representation of the artist.... 



I would 100% see Imogen Heap again, but hope the next time will be at the Black Cat or another venue where the audience can dance ;)

Beige Friday?

Currently blogging from Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, NY, America's 11th biggest and the largest in the state. The Kleinette's now having a pedicure, but I couldn't help but notice: crowds are large but manageable, maybe only a notch or so above your average Saturday crowd. Anyone else feeling the recession today?

Right Next to DeNiro

Sorry for the slow posting! Live has been crazy lately, but soon we'll turn the backlog into a flood of posts!

In the meantime, quick update: we're in TriBeCa! While the Kleinette gets a manicure, I'm going to stare longlingly at the
menu at Nobu. Oh, New York...

Baltimore - WE LOVE YOU - part. 1 of ???

The Kleiner and I found ourselves in Baltimore yesterday after a family type of thing in Columbia.  Each and every time we enter charm city we find ourselves a little bewitched because there is something special about it, the fact that its still changing, still pulsing, still trying after so many years of decaying economy, its history and its singular non-transient culture - all are endlessly endearing.  Upon arrival we roamed through Fells Point, which is the typical next stop after the Inner Harbor for many a tourist.  We checked out, among other stores, the Sound Garden, one of the few really cool independent record stores still around anywhere these days. Next, we drove up to Hampden to visit the fabled Atomic Books, an 'ideological' book store with loads of magazines and books on politics and arts, so we could see through the minute we were permitted inside before the extra early 7pm Saturday night closing.

 The Sound Garden

As we are big adventurers, or minor ones, however you see it, we decided to keep walking down the road to Falls Road which led to what seemed to be the center of Hampden which was adorable in ways that I just haven't found a place to be adorable in the DC area.  We passed the Wine Bar, a swank place with loads of $6-$10 glasses of wine and interesting 'small plates' at reasonable prices ($5-$7).  There was a make your own pasta joint, a kitchy 'Cafe Hon' playing on the Baltimore 'Hon' ladies, lots of vintage shops with funky finds in the window, a 'junque' shop, or shops, organic salons and the place we ultimately chose for dinner, The Golden West.  

Cool menus look like album covers.

The Golden West was a quirky, southwestern inspired cafe with loads of 'last supper' painting son the walls, funky tables and chairs, great music and a million art flyers (including one for the soon to be checked out Patterson Art Collective) laying about the crowd of young people, families, and couples.  A long bar was situated in the back of the restaurant with a long, bottle beer list and a fantastic cocktail list that ranged in price from $5-8 (is that possible in DC, no!) with drinks such as a bacon martini (ok, not for me, but maybe for you) a New Age Cowboy (cream or soy, bourbon and cinnamon), Italian Boyfriend (limoncello martini), and a rootbeer infused vodka!  The menu offered generous selection for vegetarians, vegans and carnivores alike.  The Kleiner had an un-chicken barbeque and I had an Aztec Burrito, that while spicy as hell, was delicious with roasted corn , eggplant, avocado, plantains and salsa fresco.  The menu included appetizers like buffalo tofu, cheeto pie, and a reminder to order your fresh cookies then to be baked for the end of your meal (3 for $4).

The Golden West has been around for 13 years and we can see why.  The service could be described as lackadaisical at best, but we loved the super veg friendly menu, the quirky surroundings, the affordable composed cocktails and the atmosphere of being somewhere special that cares about its food and its sense of community.  Dear Golden West, when will you add a location to Mt. Pleasant Street?

Intense Police Activity at 14th and Columbia?

We were just driving west on Columbia Rd at about 10:00pm. As we reached 14th Street we found Columbia Rd blocked off going west towards 16th Street NW with at least 4 police cars.  A spotlight as usual was set up on Columbia Road.  There were other police cars posted around roads to the west of Columbia Rd.  Does anyone know what is happening in Columbia Heights tonight, November 14th?

*****update

From Prince of Petworth: http://www.princeofpetworth.com/2009/11/terrible-crime-in-columbia-heights-sat-night

And the Washington Post:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/14/AR2009111403300.html

Nat Osborn @The Rookery (SOTD)

Last Thursday, the Kleinette and I were lucky enough to follow through on a recommendation to go see Nat Osborn & The Free Radicals open for the Honey Island Swamp Band at The Rookery. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay late enough to see the main act, but it was still a very worthwhile experience.



The Rookery is a cool venue, striking just the right balance between cool dive and upscale chic. The venue has two stories, the first of which is just the bar, the second of which has the small stage in an intimate room with a second bar. The bar has a $30 credit card minimum, so be sure to bring cash. The show we saw was $5/per, which seems to be the standard cover there for their shows, which is pretty good! They don't have "big names" like the Black Cat or the 9:30 Club, but they're well-located near the Foggy Bottom metro and off the Rock Creek Parkway, drinks aren't priced tooooo unreasonably (two mixed drinks put us back $16) and it's a fun, lively atmosphere.







As for Nat Osborn & the Free Radicals, they were a blast. Only Osborn and two other performers were present, which meant they had to ditch a lot of the instrumentation you hear on their album, which is more densely layered with horns and strings. Live, however, they really play up a more classically bluesy vibe, which we greatly enjoyed. Their music catchy and fun, and Osborn has a compelling stage presence, clearly enjoying performing and feeling the music strongly. The above video, the opening verse and chorus of "Yours Alone," can't really do justice to either the venue or the performance, but hopefully it gives some sense of the liveliness of the music and intimacy of the venue. The video below is the album version of "Claire." The self-titled EP has six fun tracks.







All in all, both artist and venue come recommended!
-The Kleiner

St. Elmos Coffee Pub - Alexandria Part 1

The Kleiner and the Kleinette went to the Arlington Costco to get a copy of the Audacity to Win by David Plouffe signed (and to do the sample circuit...) and decided to bring their laptops and explore a hood they had not yet sampled, Del Ray in Alexandria.  A quick search for wifi/Del Ray alerted them to what seemed to be a great spot -St. Elmos Coffee Pub.

The St. Elmo's Coffee Pub is adorable and for the most part typifies the kind of coffee place that I would love to see open on Mt. Pleasant Street or somewhere in Columbia Heights.  First of all, Mt. Vernon Street, is adorable.  Filled with spas, quirky shops and art stores that encourage patrons to make art in their midst, it feels like a little artists colony.  St. Elmos Coffee Pub fits in well on the street, painted blue with white cloud sculptures with pigs flying on them adorn the big bay windows that face out onto the street.  Inside, the coffee 'pub' is spacious with couches, large tables with chairs a la Pain Quotidiene, a variety of vintage cushioned chairs and a coffee bar.  The walls are brightly colored in orange and marbled green and each one features a different artist showcasing water colors, pop-arty and photography for sale. The one strange thing was that they were playing opera on NPR which lent itself to a very quiet atmosphere.  Families, couples, friends and singles gather here to work on their computers, read novels, study and catch up.  There is community library in its own separate section of the coffee pub.  Finally - on Friday and Saturday nights - live free music!  Fantastic.

I had a gingerbread latte and the Kleiner had an iced White Chocolate Mocha that he found to be delicious and over Starbucks par.  I also liked the gingerbread latte, but, would like to try the vanilla toffee latte next time or one of the many other creative drinks on offer.  One menu offered daily drink concoction specials, while the rest of the menu was a typical coffee house menu, lattes, espressos, cappucinos, cafe au laits, teas all reasonably priced at Starbucks or just below Starbucks levels.  The bakery looked delicious, many muffin flavors, papusas (this is Northern Virginia), quiches, sandwiches.  Biscotti is present in abundance and the flavors included Pumpkin (this is November.... no menu of anything is complete without something squash infused).

St. Elmos is an adorable place to spend some time on a weekend afternoon, especially after a quick trip to Costco, however, I must give a word of warning.  They offer free wifi, but it has an extremely frustrating level of connectivity which makes it difficult to plan on coming to St. Elmo's to do any sort of web related work.  This may be a 'my computer' thing, but, I witnessed 'could not be loaded pages' all around me.  That said, I really wish someone would carbon copy this place with slightly livelier music right onto Mt. Pleasant Street - given the crowds at Heller's, I'm sure it would be packed :)

Your Daily Metrofail

So the Kleiner is commuting from the Kleinette's Mt. P pad, from Columbia Heights to Pentagon City. So, of course, the Branch Ave. train breaks down at Shaw Howard. And of course the next Branch Ave. train is two cars shorter so the Kleiner can't even get on. And if course the NEXT train closes its doors while folks are still boarding and there's still room, so the Kleiner is nearly dismembered. And so the Kleiner has to wait 25min to take a Green line train ONE STOP so he can switch to the Yellow line so he can get to work, woefully late and profoundly irritable.

Metro, I love you, but you're bringing me down.

Streetcars A'comin

Currently @gym, waiting for the Kleinette to wrap up her workout, but thought I'd share this latest post from Streetcars4DC:

http://streetcars4dc.org/wp-trackback.php?p=74

I can't wait to take a streetcar down to H St NE...
-the Kleiner

What's coming this week

Busy Mondays at work mean slow blogging, but here's what to expect us to blog about this week:
-Alexandria
-Food, Inc.
-The Up Series
-The Rookery
-Buca di Beppo
-For All Mankind

We're working through Season 3 of Mad Men as we speak.

One Night in Arlington: Bangkok 54

The Kleiner and the Kleinette had the pleasure of a visit on Friday night from a Boston centered friend.  Undecided about where in Columbia Heights/U Street wouldn't have an insane line on Friday night and would be delicious enough to justify the trip, the group which included another friend of the Boston one decided to journey via the Rock Creek Parkway out to Arlington for a night of delicious Thai food at Bangkok 54.

Widely known in the DC area by those who love Thai food as one of the best Thai spots aside from Thai Xing / Thai Crossing(which a word of warning takes many hours and is extremey spicey, but delicious for anyone who can take the heat) Bangkok 54 was worth the trip.  The restaurant is pretty big and fully appointed with various Thai tchochkis and dim lights.  The music, which drew interest from the group was chilled out techno versions of popular 80s songs.  The menu is long and includes a large number of vegetarian friendly items delineated by vegetarian and mish-mashed amongst the noodle entrees.  There is a long cocktail list that included such gems as blue margaritas, and 'nutty favority' which mixed Rum, almond liqour, pineapple and strawberries in a blender.  Asahi's were cheap too, clocking in at $3.75 per bottle.

The group sampled fresh rice wrapped spring rolls with hoisin dipping sauce, calamari, and fried edamame sticks with sweet-spicy thai dipping sauce.  All were good, especially the edameme sticks which were a new offering to us.  Two of us got Pad Thai with chicken or tofu, which for the spice lover was delicious but not so great due to lack of heat.  The portion was enormous, no one should of finished (but we did anyway). Another got Bangkok fried rice and the Kleiner had green curry tofu which he says was delicious but heat shy me though was so so spicy.

The atmosphere is sparkly and fresh, but still homey and good for a date, an easy weeknight/week end meal, or for a special occassion (there was a party there that night).  The cocktails were good and cheap, so bring a designated driver because it is not so close to the metro.  All and all, while most Thai in DC is simply average, Bangkok 54, in the Klein/Kleinettes opinion is absolutely worth the trek due to the fantastic selection and preperation of food, great price/quality ratio and cosy/well decorated interior.  We will be back.... and we ask, can this open in Columbia Heights?  What do you think?  Should we soon compare it to Thaitanic 2?

And Just for Fun: "One Night in Bangkok" by Murray Head

Don't Be A Coconut (SOTD)

Pursuant to the Kleinette's latest SOTD, I've rapidly become completely obsessed with Julian Casablancas' new album. Totally expecting a huge dissapointment, I found it to be a tight, fascinating eight-track beauty which sounds like the best of The Strokes' but heavy on the keyboards, while simultaneously pushing further against generic boundries than any of the previous three albums. I do hope they follow through on their plans for a new album, but this album makes me feel like it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if they didn't so long as Casablancas keeps making music. I've just fallen straight into it.

Anyway, here's a personal favorite Strokes tune of mine:

Trader Joe's Spinach Punjab Simmer Sauce and Curry Potatoes

Having bought EVERYTHING at Trader Joe's in Rockville in Sunday, the Kleinette is now prepared to make lots of different simmer sauce dinners.  Last night, I made this one and I thought I'd share the recipe in case you too would like to have an idea for a pretty easy Indian type dinner at home...

I made rice with onions, peas, tumeric, and cumin. I also made curried potatoes and Spinach Punjab simmer sauce vegetables.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Rice/2 Cups Water

1 Onion

3 small potatoes

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon Curry Powder

1 bag Trader Joe's Vegetable Hodge Podge (any back of frozen veggies will do, but the Trader Joe's ones actually taste really good).

1/4 cup Trader Joes frozen peas.

1 tsp garlic powder.

1 tbsp each Cumin/Tumeric

First Step- Potatoes-: Preheat oven to 450.  Wash and chop potatoes into 1-2 inch 'cubes'.  Melt butter in a small saucepan and mix in the curry powder.  Spread the potatos over a cookie sheet and top/toss with the curry butter mix.  Put in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

Second Step: Rice- Put your usual rice pot on the stove and heat to medium hight.  Add 2-3 tbps of olive oil to heat. Chop/Dice one whole onion.  Sautee 2/4 of theonion with garlic/salt/pepper until it is translucent.  Next add cup of Rice and sautee briefly until the grains start to become translucent too.  Add 1 tbsp Cumin & Tumeric to the Rice, mix and cook just about 30 seconds longer.  Next add 2 cups of water (or whatever the correct moisture/rice combo is for your rice) and about 1/4 cup frozen peas.  Bring to a boil then turn to low heat and cook per rice directions.

Third Step: Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a wok or big skillet.  Stir fry the remaining onion and the frozen vegetables.  Add the whole jar of simmer sauce and 1/2 cup of water.  Let simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat to bring the sauce together.  The Trader Joe's recipe calls for an entire jar of water, but I find that waters down the taste too much.

Enjoy!  This should take less than one hour :)

SOTD: Tourist - Julian Casablancas

Yesterday, I was driving along Constitution Avenue around 5.00pm.  The sky was a gorgeous combination of orange and blue, the chill was there and perfect, and leaves were falling.  Traffic was moving slowly and I was watching the washed out white federal buildings pass me.  I felt.. at home and like I was looking at something new at the same time....

This song, Tourist, by Julian Casablancas of the Strokes fame was playing on the radio, and it all just seemed to make such a nice fall moment.

-The Kleinette

Not Gonna Happen (SOTD)

Meant to post this yesterday, but to follow up on yesterday's review, one of the coolest covers ever:






I tried to do this with the office scanner, and my boss was not amused.

Skins: The Second Series

Evertbody get in the misery pile!

Skins, a British show which airs this side of the pond on BBC America, is of what is probably my least favorite genre - the teen soap opera. So of course it was not through my own agency that I began watching it, but via the Kleinette, who was obsessing over the first series (read: season) when we first began dating. I watched mostly through osmosis, interested more in the fascinating female creature I was just then getting to know, but I picked up on the general arc of the plot and characters and a sense of the show's style.

Flash-forward to late this summer, when the Kleinette and I have fast become rapidly comfortable being rather domestic together. She begins taping and watching what we would later figure out was the third series, with a new set of characters; I watch with more interest. By the end, my curiousity is officially piqued. And a quick Googling reveals that we have, in fact, skipped the entire second series, a continuation of the first. A situation easily remedied by Netflix. And I learned that, yes, the first and third series of Skins are well-mounted, well-paced, mostly enjoyable teen fluff that frankly demolishes most of its American counterparts - but they pale when compared to the second series.

That the DVDs' menus are all set to Radiohead's "Nude" should have been a hint; setting a tone of beautiful despair, the second series of Skins is a paean to the "quiet desperation" of lower-class English life, a tone poem dedicated to those born and entrapped there, fumbling through attempts at happiness that tend only to exacerbate the pain. It's, dare-I-say, a masterpiece of misery. Beginning with a resurrection and ending with a funeral, it's built on death, literal and figurative, infused with metaphors of Christ and Moses, and wild with music and light. But it never shies away from life's hardest rule - actions have consequences - and makes sure that any fleeting, bittersweet moments of pleasure are always earned, and often at prices that seem far too high.

The Tracks Are Down - Ward 8 Anacostia Street Cars

The Kleiner and The Kleinette - both reporting from the Ward 8 Anacosta Street Car Meeting

The Kleiner and the Kleinette attended the November 2nd DDOT DC Ward 8 Street Car open house at Savoy Elementary across the river in Anacostia. It seems we overpromised - originally, our intention had been to attend as many of these street car open houses as possible, but we've quickly come to realize that they are generally the same open house with posters replaced each time to describe the actual work to be done in a given ward.  Ward 8, one of the cities most neglected areas, has few grocery stores, pharmacies, or sit-down restaurants.  There are only a couple bridges connecting the area to the bulk of Washington, DC and the main activity appears to be the Bolling Air Force Base.  It is represented in the DC City Council by Marion Barry (previously a multi-term DC Mayor).

Along with the H Street/Benning Road tracks that are being laid down, Anacostia will be the first area of the city to see the Street Cars come to life.  According to the professional in charge of the construction efforts, the first turnaround tracks have been laid near the northern segment of the Bolling Air Force Base connecting the origination point to the Anacostia Metro Station (about 1.5 miles) and they should be moving in the first part of 2011 which is much faster than previously anticipated.  We also learned from other officials that as street renovation has been taking place on H Street and Benning Road, those communities decided to lay the tracks there faster than planned, so those routes should also be moving in 2011.

We learned more certainly that the funding will be comprised of DC taxpayer dollars at the Ward 1 meeting. Ward 1 Council Member Jim Graham expressed his belief that, because D.C. is paying for it, these street car routes should primarily benefit D.C. communities, not simply provide more ways to commute into the city from the suburbs.  At this event, when we asked officials about the funding, the situation seemed more fluid and there seemed to be more possibilities of multiple funding sources.  Will this change the routes or prioritization of route construction and operation?

At each of these events, easels with markers and paper have been provided for community comments on the projects.  In Anacostia, we noticed that the community comments were different than those in Ward 1.  The comments in Ward 1 focused much more on developing the best routes and the fastest time frames.  In Ward 8, we noticed that the comments focused more on the effects on the community, would there be trauma to the community resulting from road construction, how would it affect popular bus routes, and would it cause more traffic and reduce parking/neighborhood accessibility?  There seemed to be more questions about its impacts on the community.  
 
And Now, Anacostia urges its readers to go to the Ward 8 meeting to support the street cars given some resistance from the 'community' as the author moved to the neighborhood hoping for increased accessibility.  I'm interested in exploring this tension further, the desires of those new to the community hoping for change and the others who are concerned about the intervention.  It is our opinion that increased connectivity between all neighborhoods and communities in Washington, DC will greatly benefit the residents of the city.

What do you think?

Really, Good Stuff, Eatery

Planning to attend the Ward 8 DDOT DC Street Car meeting last night, the Kleiner and the Kleinette did as many tech connected (or addicted?) DCers do when going to a neighborhood they are unfamiliar with around dinner time, researched the restauarnts.  And to our dismay, but perhaps not surprise, could not find some sort of interesting hole in the wall or not hole in the wall to check out in Anacostia.  Looking at the map however, we noticed that the Good Stuff Eatery (303 Pennsylvania Ave SE) was easily on our way for a quick stop from our Freedom Plaza commencement point.

I had sampled the toasted marshmallow milkshake before at Good Stuff Eatery, and loved it.  I had also tried the Dulce De Leche milkshake too right when the joint first opened.  Good Stuff Eastery is a hamburger, fry and milkshake order at the counter type of place.  Established by Spike Mendelsohn of Top Chef fame (or infamy...), Good Stuff Eatery is one of those new gourmety hamburger places, in the vein of the ever delicious Ray's Hell Burger (famous because of Ray's the Steaks for locals, famous for everyone because of the President's visit).  Lots of interesting, sauteed, carmelized, deglazed vegetable and cheese toppings for oozing burgers.  There is even a veggie burger.  You have some choices for your fried side, herbed fries with sea salt, rosemary and pepper, classic fries or their take on fried onions.  They have at least four types of mayonaise including Old Bay (a nod to Marylanders), Chipotle, Mango(my favorite), and herb.  Last night we shared a plate of fries and a Milky Way milkshake.... very delicious!

Overall, a good quick stop in the Eastern Market area.  I still haven't tried a burger, so I can't really make a final comparison to Rays (or final review conclusion), but, from the crowd on a Monday night, it looks like people enjoy them :)

-The Kleinette

Haydees - Means Hell in Greek and Delicious in English

The Kleiner and the Kleinette very often prefer to create concoctions of random goodness at home for dinner on weeknights, but, after working forever one night and meeting at the Columbia Heights metro stop, the two were exhausted and very interested in having someone else do the cooking.  Where else to go on a random week night but Haydees?

Haydees, located at 3102 Mt. Pleasant St is a comfortable and welcoming restaurant with what Americans consider to be pretty standard Latin American food - tacos, fajitas, seafood, enchiladas, burritos, taquitos, plantains, quesadillas and nachos.  The restaurant itself is dark with lots of different pictures on the wall, always with either some kind of American or latin Pop music playing, a television with sports, and the nice feeling of dimmed lamps and little colored lights.  There is a bar with seating and a bunch of booths - upstairs and downstairs. It has a great community feel, all the different types of people that live in Mt. Pleasant can be found noshing and drinking margaritas there at any given time.  Pitchers of margarita make it a popular place for birthday parties.

Meals at Haydees start with a big bowl of fresh chips and very spicy salsa.  We have sampled the plaintains and beans (many times), veggie fajitas, veggie enchiladas, cheese taquitos, and quesadillas and find them to be homey and tasty.  Happy hour essentially goes all night with $3 imports and $4 margaritas (!). Prices are all extremely reasonable, ranging from $3 -10 (appetizers) and $8-16 main dishes.  Everything seems to have a vegetarian version which makes this a great spot for vegetarians desiring more variety than a veggie burger!

All and all, thumbs up Haydees for being a community destination with consistently yummy, homey food and a quirky decor~!
-The Kleinette

Close to Midnight (SOTD)

We have such stories to share! Specifically, about Halloween at Mt. Pleasant. In the meantime, let's remember the good times just past with the most obvious possible rememberance:







Creatures...crawling...in search of BLOOD!

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: