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TedE

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Everything posted by TedE

  1. TedE
    I just got some at the D.C. location. After going through our previous supply early in the Spring I had been checking every time we went over the summer to restock but they never had it available. It turns out Costco considers this a seasonal item (holiday baking I guess?) and only stock it in the Fall/Winter. The woman behind me abandoned her place in the checkout line to go get some when she saw it on the conveyor belt. On a Saturday afternoon that was no small sacrifice!
  2. TedE
    In Starbucks' defense ( ) I think it's just people being too cheap to pay for the latte when they can pay for a double shot over ice and add the milk themselves to save a buck. In the Murky brouhaha they refused to make an iced latte at all (the customer was willing to pay for it). So that customer got creative and did it himself. I have some sympathy for the proprietor in the former case, but absolutely none in the latter.
  3. TedE
    We were at the stadium on the early side simply because one of my season ticket partners had a couple extras and it was a nice day to soak up the final day of an incredible regular season. We got those spiffy winter hats for the family, had a hot dog, and then left before the first pitch because the kids needed to get home for naps I listened to the game progress as I was driving around town running various errands. Ended up spending the last 25 minutes sitting in the parking lot of the Georgetown Safeway listening to Charlie and Dave talk around the no-hitter without actually mentioning the words in order not to jinx it. I think I scared the crap out of the lot attendant with a very loud "Fuck yeah!" when the final out was recorded.
  4. TedE
    It's been amazing to watch him this year, but as is noted now and then he tends to have a bit of a late season fade that may hurt LA when it really matters. Another relevant statlet: ERA so far this September: Clayton Kershaw - 2.17 The entire Nats staff - 2.28 Dodger's team ERA for the month sits is over 4. That could be a fun NLCS.
  5. TedE
    The point is that looking at his career as a whole he isn't even the best shortstop of his generation. And nowhere near the best Yankee of all time. But ultimately what is really behind that rant is not Jeter's accomplishments (as they say, you don't back in to the 6th highest hit total of all time), it's why does he get to be singled out in this way? Why not other players who, by the numbers, are more deserving? The answer is simply marketing: he was the most marketable face of the most marketable franchise in baseball for 20 years. This is just another Olbermann dig at the ESPN-ization of stardom, and IMHO well-deserved.
  6. TedE
    Counterpoint
  7. TedE
    Bloomingdale Liquors at 1st and Rhode Island NW as of Sunday night. They've really picked up their beer game recently and stock a nice assortment of rarer offerings, but almost always toward the high end of the local price range (I think they had Founders KBS at $20+ per 4-pack). Anyway, they usually don't sell out too quickly, so if you're looking for The Oracle at any price I'd give them a call.
  8. TedE
    I had the opportunity to sample this one at Snallygaster. In all honesty, prior to that event I had not heard of this beer and had not been keeping up with Bell's new offerings in general, but apparently it's been around for a few years (but maybe not distributed widely?). A friend and I went for a sample of this and Bell's Hopsolution just to compare the two DIPAs they were pouring and to see how they differed from HopSlam. The Oracle was the clear winner of the two, and in my mind surpasses the current iteration of Hop Slam. I'd even go so far as to say that The Oracle c. 2014 is closer to what I remember HopSlam tasting like 5-6 years ago than HopSlam c. 2014. It has a malty, toffee/honey backbone that I recall being the hallmark of that beer, and it balances the intensely fragrant hop nose very nicely. Very squarely in my wheelhouse. I probably wouldn't even bring it up had I not seen a 6-pack for sale the other night that jogged my memory and noted another apt comparison to HopSlam: the $27 price tag
  9. TedE
    We had dozens of male flowers starting about 3 weeks ago. My plants got hit pretty hard by squash vine borers, and I had to cut the little suckers out by hand. After re-burying the stems they seem to be OK, but I've read that the stress of infestation and surgery can delay fruiting. I saw the first female flower just a couple days ago and pollinated it by hand, so we'll see how that goes. One of the plants looks like it may not make it, but maybe I can get at least one squash! It's been a bad season for the rest of our small, urban plot. Tomatoes are just showing fruit in the last week (but I started some of them late from volunteer seedlings), and the plants seem smaller than usual. The peas I was excited for all succumbed to some sort of wilt (fungal, maybe) and yellowed and died; I got 4 small pods, total. Cukes got shaded out by the aforementioned squash plants; I thought I had given them enough of a head start, but they never even reached the trellis. A couple eggplants and sweet peppers, both of which suffered pervasive blossom rot last year, are my last hope. I think I need to test the soil.
  10. TedE
    One of our favorite ways to use up surplus zucchini/yellow squash/eggplants is to take a mandolin to them and use the resulting thin sheets as a sub for pasta in "lasagna". Even better chilled and sliced as a veggie strata.
  11. TedE
    This recalls what Jamie Oliver was trying to do in the West Virginia school district several years ago. The results were not encouraging: It wasn't really a true test of whether from-scratch cooking could succeed in in the cafeteria, however. If I recall from the TV specials the kids were always given a choice and only encouraged to eat the healthier alternatives. It's hard to get a kid to take the carrot when the stick is made of fried mozzarella
  12. TedE
    That's usually the case, but waiting until 7:30 is a gamble on any given night (could easily be in the 90 minute range). It's a spectator sport watching people standing on the corner of 1st/RI Ave deciding where to go while waiting for their tables around that time! If you can dine early (say by 6:00) you shouldn't have a problem getting in right away. With the recent RAMMY news I would expect even longer waits than usual for the near future.
  13. TedE
    "Services" does not include such low level tasks. There is no way the software doesn't handle that as delivered (you would need a Micros person on staff just to handle daily specials!). "Services" in this regard refers to everything short of the actual sale of hardware: initial installation/setup, software updates, POS screen customization, adding/configuring ticket printers. Hell, they probably sell services that will do financial analysis and tax reporting for you. It's how large IT industries make money these days; you can't stay afloat by selling silicon, it's a commodity. This is especially true with the shift to cloud-based solutions (sale-as-a-service) where the only thing you are selling is the service, the client is basically paying you to run their system within defined performance specs, up to the company to make that happen with whatever hardware is required. If that is where Micros was going then this sale makes complete sense.
  14. TedE
    Probably because there tends to be a lot of overlap in the flavor profiles, especially as brewers get more into style hybrids that blur the lines. Something with a pure brett character is pretty different than a true lambic, but they tend to be assigned similar descriptors as a group along a continuum: earthy, funky, tart, astringent. To the average drinker I don't think "sour" is a bad catch-all as a jumping off point. Most people would respond with blank stare to gose, geuze, lambic, or (especially) brettanomyces
  15. TedE
    We were in Charleston over the winter and dropped by Westbrook for a tasting. By far the best offering they had was the Gose (everything else was good-not-great, the rye was probably the best of the rest). At the time they had Gozu on tap at the brewery and seen at many places around town. It was their Gose finished with yuzu, and it was spectacular. Seriously, if they still have it make sure to seek it out. It's odd that this was brewed and distributed in January because it is a quintessential summer beer. And if anybody lives in DC with an interest in sour beers and has not been to Right Proper, shame on you ...
  16. TedE
    Thanks for the head's up, Green Flash puts out consistently high quality (and high octane!) product. Le Freak is one of my favorites beers of all time. Anybody reported seeing this anywhere else in the District? Green Flash seems to come in waves and pop up in random places. The nearest to me that I can recall stocking them consistently is the P St Whole Foods.
  17. TedE
    Analogous: How much do you want a 2015 Corvette Stingray? Enough to pay several thousand dollars above MSRP for one? Any of a number of dealers that have inventory for this new and currently limited resource will gladly take your money. It's up to you whether the price is worth it for the exclusivity of driving around in one on release. And remember when people were paying $5-6K above sticker for the VW New Beetle? A BEETLE!!! Or you could wait until these cars are on the market for 6 months or a year and haggle with the dealer like a normal transaction.
  18. TedE
    The answer is that they have not designed their dining experience for you personally. A restaurant operates in a way that is most efficient and profitable for the restaurant knowing full well that one aspect or another will turn some subset of potential diners off: - "You don't offer any interesting vegetarian options!" - "It's too loud in here!" - "A Miller Lite costs how much?!" - "There's no valet and this neighborhood is hard to park in!" Etc., etc. Having no reservations is just one decision made with this in mind. People seem to be complaining that by not taking reservations a restaurant is writing off their (the individual's) business. And you know what? They are writing it off. But with full seatings at prime times and consistent 2-3 hours waits they can afford to because they are taking all of the business that they can handle. That's all this comes down to.
  19. TedE
    Cairo Liquors on 17th/Corcoran has a decent keg selection, and I know for a fact they offer wine delivery. I would assume putting those two things together wouldn't be a hassle
  20. TedE
    I think you read that right here, and I had the same thought. Would like to know more about alternate traditional methods.
  21. TedE
    OK, that sets the hook. An interesting and varied seafood tower has great gravitational force.
  22. TedE
    I admit, Fiola Mare is someplace I should be falling over myself to visit. Two things are keeping me away: 1) It is, as the kids say, hella expensive. We have a dining budget. FM does not fit that budget. 2) It's in Georgetown. I do not like trekking across the city to visit Georgetown. Yes, it's a minor thing and kind of petty, but it's true. I would be most interested in their raw bar options, not necessarily a full dinner. Convince me that we need to get a sitter and go here on a beautiful spring day before the tourist apocalypse hits this summer. Otherwise I'm OK getting my seafood fix down the street at Eat the Rich. Joe, I know you are a bit of an elder statesman here on DR, but I didn't know you were that old . Ahem.
  23. TedE
    Own a piece of DC restaurant history
  24. TedE
    For the first time ever I finally had my sh*t together to get peas in the ground at the appropriately early time. From two full rows planted I'm left with a total of 5 seedlings due to those thieving bastards. On a brighter note I will need to construct a much smaller trellis.
  25. TedE
    We have one of the AmEx Preferred Cash cards for everyday expenses. It's 6% at grocery stores, but with a $6K/year limit, 3% on gas and a few other categories (unlimited) and 1% on everything else. Until a couple of years ago the 6% on groceries was unlimited, but they figured that people were gaming that by buying gift cards for lots of other stuff (need a new TV? Buy $1000 worth of Amazon cards at Safeway). For our spending patterns these days it's the best cash back card I found. We don't do much flying or hotel stays with two little ones, but from my days traveling for work I still have a Hilton Visa card and we get a couple nights a year out of that (I mostly keep it for the bump in reward level these days)
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