I love the internet. Get your t-shirts while they last!   link | 0 comments

Talk about a mixed metaphor--I just saw a Greenpeace canvasser with her t-shirt tied in back, Hooters-girl style.  link | 0 comments

The quote board is MINE! All MINE!!! (MWAAHHAHAHAHA!!!)
Thank you, Beavis.   link | 0 comments

Saw my first DC cicadas today. Well, actually, I saw the first one yesterday, on the Metro at Foggy Bottom. Guess he was a commuter. At any rate, I saw three today, and their calls are filling the air. Just in time for our party!  link | 0 comments

Whoo hoo! We just got our copy of Rejected. We'll have it on endless loop at our party next weekend, to be sure.  link | 0 comments

YOW!  link | 0 comments

This is kinda creepy, for some reason. One can look up almost any Federal employee and find employment details, including GS level, which, of course, can be used to figure out how much that person earns. Doesn't work on me, though, since I'm legislative branch.  link | 0 comments

Minibar!

Excellent service. Some (very nice!) friends arranged everything as a wedding present. The hostess knew who we were, and we never saw the check. A great present for foodies such as us. There were three chefs, and one assistant who poured the wine and cleared the dishes, all for only six diners. Amazing.

I transcribed the menu; I tried to include descriptions, but I'm sure I don't remember everything perfectly, so corrections are welcome:

Chicken Curry Popcorn -- a little salty, but a good start to the meal. Probably 10 kernels of popped corn with curry powder

Tropical Chips -- similar to Terra Chips
(eviltiff: "Aren't these Terra Chips?")

Mojito Spritz -- a little mister bottle with Mojito; great palate cleanser
(eviltiff: "Careful with the spritzer. You don't wanna get any of this stuff in your eyes.")

Chocolate Foie Gras Truffle -- one bite, dark chocolate shell with liquid truffle and tamarind
(eviltiff: "Mmmm... chocolate salty balls.")

Cone with salmon roe and cheese -- a one-bite bagel, very creamy cream-cheese

Jicama ravioli: with guacamole; with tuna ceviche -- tissue-paper thin jicama. I liked the ceviche version better
(eviltiff: "Portable, bite-sized guacamole snacks...Brilliant!")

Pineapple ravioli with cured salmon, avocado, and crispy quinoa -- I remember the crispy part, not the others

Caesar salad -- "deconstructed." Two bites, one with a raw quail egg on top, one with anchovy, Parmesan, and romaine. A really neat effect, eating one then the other, everything mixes in the mouth

Watermelon: with balsamic and olive oil; with lemon; with pistachio -- tiny half-inch cubes of each
(eviltiff: "Please, sir. I want some more.")

Cotton candy foie gras -- they have a little cotton-candy machine behind the bar, so you get to watch this being made
(eviltiff: "Don't forget the corn nuts.")

Sea urchin with pomegranate -- a gooey shot. I liked, MrsMoonPie (a.k.a. eviltiff) did not
(eviltiff: "Nope.")

Hot and cold foie gras soup -- vaguely remember this, served in a coffee cup; I do remember liking it
(eviltiff: "Not my cup o' tea. First taste is intriguing. Second taste stays with you all night. Can see why MrMoonPie would enjoy this.")

Conch fritters -- one bite, hot liquid center with chunks of conch. I wanted another, two more, three more!
(eviltiff: "Conch is one of exactly three things I miss about South Florida. This dish alone made the minibar experience worth it.")

Lobster Americaine -- a big chunk of lobster and a little syringe filled with "lobster essence"
(eviltiff: "Warning: lobster essence is fluorescent green.")

Sardines in a crust -- lightly breaded sardine
(eviltiff: "The breading is pretty.")

Cone with tomato and basil -- vaguely remember this, a one-inch ice-cream cone with tomato and, um, you know, basil
(eviltiff: "...")

Mango ravioli with trout roe and tomato-- don't remember this one. Probably too much emphasis on roe; the roe dishes all seemed to run into one another after a while
(eviltiff: "Large juicy fish-flavored bubbles popping in your mouth.")

Jicama wraps: with tuna and sesame; with apples and cabrales -- the apple and cabrales (a Spanish blue cheese) was excellent
(eviltiff: "Soon to be featured on STINKY CHEESE NIGHT @ the Moonpie household.")

Egg 147 -- soft-cooked egg with sugar and, I believe, vanilla
(eviltiff: "Wonderful illustration of how black truffles can co-exist with other, blander flavors rather than completely annihilating them.")

Deconstructed white wine -- this was neat. Jelled fermented grape juice, with one sliver each of orange, vanilla, apple, mint, pineapple, and others, all spritzed with white wine. A mini wine tasting
(eviltiff: "There's always room for Jello!)

Corn on the cob -- yummy. Corn chowder, with a roasted baby ear of corn, with Corn Nuts on top
(eviltiff: "As corny as Kansas in August.")

Tuna with rice mousse -- a creamy bite of sushi
(eviltiff: "Raw fish... I'm sensing a trend.")

Cauliflower in textures -- creamy, fatty cauliflower mousse, black truffle gel, with crunchy raw cauliflower on top. Very good
(eviltiff: "Somebody call Atkins!")

Guacamole and tomato sorbet -- my least favorite. Frozen, granular tomato ice
(eviltiff: "Think tomato juice slurpie.")

Wild pink scallops -- vaguely remember this one; I think it was the one with borscht
(eviltiff: "Heh-heh... you said borscht.")

New England clam chowder -- enough about this elsewhere
(eviltiff: "Insert inappropriate clam joke here."

Meat and potatoes -- ahh, excellent. Some sort of intense beef essence with potato mousse
(evitiff: "The potato mousse is fabulous. Agar you say?")

Watermelon air -- not a foam, but like a foam
(eviltiff: "Melts in your mouth... not in your hands.")

Apples with Red wine “Freddy Girardel” -- don't remember this one
(eviltiff: "I do! Mascerated red & green apple bits served with red wine jelly.")

Pina colada -- I usually don't like these, but this was good, a shot of fresh juice and foam
(eviltiff: "Parrotheads everywhere rejoice.")

Chocolate pop -- one bite of chocolate lace
(eviltiff: "The secret ingredient is pop-rocks.")

We also had the wine pairings, 4 (too) generous glasses of wine timed to the courses. I tried to help eviltiff finish hers when she started to get behind, but I gave up when I realized how tipsy I was getting. We're no lightweights, either; the couple sitting next to us had the same "problem." But, hey, if the only criticism is too much wine, that's pretty damned good!

Other reviews:
here | here | here | here | here  link | 0 comments

We're back!

Three days of drunken debauchery, beads earned the hard way, romantic carriage rides, and a neat-o steamboat-riding marriage.

I was surpised at how un-Disney-fied Bourbon Street is. I've never seen so many drunk adults before. Sure, I expected lots of collegiate types, but I didn't expect to see Mom wobbling down the street. In this age of PC anti-alcohol abuse initiatives, I was shocked -- SHOCKED -- at how easy it was to get really, really shitfaced. 32-oz beers, hell, 64-oz beers, fishbowl Hand Grenades, daiquiri bars....reminded me of college in the 80s, except the average age of the drunks was much higher. Hey, I'm not complaining; I was out until 3:30 am with eviltiff's brother, then had my first frozen Long Island Iced Tea at 10:30 am the next morning, so I was taking part whole-heartedly. Spent our last afternoon at Pat O'Brien's, of course.

Open prostitution, lots of flashed boobies, over-flowing trash cans, and it wasn't even Mardi Gras. I didn't see a single fight, though Angry Guy was running around kicking stuff. Lots of cops around, too.

There's a pervasive odor of vomit throughout the area. Didn't matter what time of day it was. I guess they can't wash that out. We resorted to mouth breathing.

Our best meal of the trip was when we got home. Sure, I imagine there are good places to eat there, but most places around where we stayed were obviously catering to the drunk bingers--pizza, red beans and rice, pizza, some pretty good mufalettas, more pizza. We did have some yummy beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde, of course.

The wedding was lovely. Perfect weather on the steamboat, around 80 and breezy. We had a nice trip up the Mississippi, too, with the captain narrating the sights. Music was provided by the Dukes of Dixieland. Then eviltiff and I took a buggy ride around the French Quarter.

Oh, yeah, it was 18 hours from the time we left the hotel to the time we got home. Bad weather in Atlanta, which made us miss our connecting flight. That wasn't so bad, except we had to wait in line an hour and a half (starting at 11:45 pm) to get our hotel voucher. Then a refreshing 4-hour nap, and back to the airport. Sooooo nice to get home after that. Our cat had vomited on the couch, so that was a nice reminder of New Orleans.

Addendum #1
Going through my wallet this morning, I found a very telling piece of paper: An ATM reciept, with a $4 service charge, from Dante's Pizza N Daiquiris, 730 St. Peter St., 10:32 PM, Saturday night.

Addendum #2
A guy had set up a big telescope, probably 4 feet long and 8-10 inches in diameter, right on Jackson Square. For $1, you could have a look. I did, and saw Saturn with VERY clear rings, then Jupiter with cloud bands and three moons. It was all so clear that it looked fake. I wonder if it was? (they assure me on MetaFilter that it was, indeed, real)  link | 0 comments

Conversation of the Day: #423
Beavis: "Do Amazons believe in tacos?"
eviltiff: "Dunno. But I know tacos believe in Amazons."
  link | 0 comments

Bonus! TWO new Chick Tracts!  link | 0 comments

(click for a larger version)
So many little things I miss, like how the fingers on his right hand splay out just so.

The other day, I was having some conflicts about an etiquette issue. The first question I asked myself was "What would Dad do?" It is, of course, a shame that I couldn't ask him directly; but what a wonderful gift that I consider what Dad would do to be pretty much the ultimate arbiter of what's right and proper and good.

Not always, of course. He worked too much, especially when we were kids. It was all for a good cause, for our futures, all that, but I would have been happy if he would have come on a few more camping trips and what-not. But, in the vast majority of cases, his life, his ethics, his ways are great guides. Don't sweat the small stuff. Choose your battles. Start up an air current before farting. Be there. Maybe not a great man, but a good man.  link | 0 comments

I <3 my Launchcast station. Muddy Waters, followed by 2 Live Crew's Me So Horny, followed by Dwight Yoakam's Little Ways. Much fun.  link | 0 comments

Getting psyched for New Orleans this weekend!  link | 0 comments