TedE

On 9/4/2019 at 5:09 PM, TedE said:

 Almost surely a wild card team.

*Gulp*

Buckle up.  20 games left, of which only 3 are against an opponent who is out of the playoff picture.  8 of those games are against NL teams currently battling for the 2nd WC spot (Phillies and Brewers, both are currently 5 games back of the Nats).

18 hours ago, DonRocks said:

That was incredible!  For my money the Dan-Uggla-sending-the-Braves-packing game is still the most entertaining come back in Nats history, but this is close.

I had been keeping up with the score on my phone while doing stuff around the house and hadn't even checked in after the Mets scored their third or fourth run in the 9th, when I turned on MASN fully expecting to just watch the post-game coverage.  Instead I happened to tune in during the wind up of the final pitch.  It took me a few seconds to realize what I was watching was live, and why FP Santangelo was screaming himself hoarse.  That was fun.

What a turn around since this thread was last active in May.  Best record in the game.  Almost surely a wild card team.  The bullpen is still pins and needles, but the Nats have my ticket money for another round of nail biting playoff baseball.

Really sad to see this.  Bill Madden is a local brewing hero.  Some kudos from around the industry on DCBeer

I'm guessing the short-lived Glover Park ale house put them in a pretty big hole.  He is absolutely correct about the state of brewpubs vs. tasting rooms.  You can make more money on less overhead pouring pints and filling growlers out of a warehouse and letting Insta-influencers give you free marketing.  It's great to see growth and diversity on the local scene, it just sucks that it came at the expense of one of the pioneers that helped make it possible.

I'll miss Mad Fox at Nats park, they always had something great on tap at the District Drafts stands that was perfect for a hot summer day.

8 minutes ago, Pat said:

It's not so much that people get rejected but that people who don't provide the basic information we ask for don't get approved. Even though the technology and software have changed, it's still the same basic process it's been from the beginning. So, what you did when you joined is pretty much what it still is.

Also curious: what kind of new member bump does a mention that like produce?

We finally made it here last night right at opening.  We don't live terribly far, but it's never at the top of our list when we get time to go out.  We were on the way back into town and thinking of places between the BW Parkway and our house and it popped into mind.  Wow.  We never should gave waited so long!

First thing: my wife is celiac and appreciated that they state up front that they use tamari exclusively.  She remarked how often she craves Japanese pub/izakaya food, but is always nervous that there is shoyu in everything and ends up ordering "safe" items.  It's the first time she's been able to pick from the whole menu without care.

I don't have any frame of reference with the NYC yakitori spots, but Momo compares very favorably to what we remember from Japan.  The set combinations could have been described a little better; we ordered the 6 piece tare/shio combo and then the tsukune set thinking the meatballs would be their own thing, but the 6 pc. set included 2 meatballs as well. Also had duck hearts (well, I did) which were fantastic.

All of the yakitori were very good to excellent (duck hearts and the "oyster" nugget with crispy skin), but the highlight of the meal might have been one of the veggie plates:

I had gone to take our 4 year old to the rest room when this arrived at the table, and was lucky there was any left when we returned.  I was worried this would be too natto-y, but it wasn't overpowering at all.  A simple dish that hit every note perfectly.  Of the 4 veggie dishes we ordered I think only the silken tofu is something I wouldn't order again (it was fine, but the subtlety was lost amongst the other dishes).

We were going to get a Rita's for the kid afterwards, but tried the toasted marshmallow and purin anyway (at $3 a pop, why not?).  The purin was a perfectly good take on the familiar flan, and the marshmallow was, well, a toasted marshmallow.  BUT!  The black sesame buttercream on the side.  Holy shit.  I would have been happy spooning a bowl of that directly into my mouth.  We joked if they sold it in pints, and the bartender said they've done just that a couple of times for regulars 😂

We will definitely be back (our little one ate almost everything he tried, and I know our older ones will like it, too).  I found it pricey just due to the amount needed to order to make a complete meal.  Our total was around $120 before tip including 3 cocktails, which were expensive and by far the weakest part of the meal.  I will stick with the interesting all-Japanese beer selection next time.

On 5/17/2017 at 6:56 PM, Pat said:

Per Wapo, the cart is closing.

The ghost of food carts past haunts an alley in Bloomingdale.  It's been awkwardly parked there for at least a couple of weeks now.

My summer revelation, hit upon while making a batch of iced tea: green tea infused gin.  I've since found some other recipes online, but here is what I used based on my preferences:

Base gin: Beefeater.  I wanted something on the neutral end of the gin spectrum (and cheap, in case this didn't turn out so well  )

Tea: genmaicha, the particular brand I used was also mixed with matcha powder.  This is my go-to tea around the house, and during the warmer months I keep a half-gallon of cold-steeped tea in the fridge just to drink or use as a smoothie base.  I fell in love with the smokiness several years ago, and I thought it would be an interesting take on a G&T.

So far I've tried it simply with Fever Tree Light and a big squeeze of lime.  It's very refreshing, on the dry side and not too sweet, but the toasted rice adds a really nice depth.  It would also stand up to a much sweeter tonic, and I plan to experiment with a few down the line.

Here is the bottle (ignore the actual bottle, it was transferred during the straining process).  I eyeballed the amount of tea for the infusion based on what I normally do for iced tea (also completely eyeballed), and let it sit for an hour.  With the matcha you get a pretty quick infusion, and I didn't want it to come out too bitter as it "aged".  First run was through a french press to remove a bulk of the solids, then I ran small batches through my AeroPress.  That was laborious; the filters got clogged with fine matcha residue very quickly.  Even with all that a good amount of solids made it through, and you have to shake the bottle to get them back in suspension before pouring.  If I knew I'd go through a bottle in a day for a party or something I would have skipped the AeroPress and ended up with a more robust infusion and a much more vivd green color. Genmaicha in general tends to produce a yellowish-brown tea, but it's more green than the photo makes it out to be.

On 5/22/2019 at 10:09 PM, genericeric said:

I realize that I'm in the minority in thinking that these moves can improve the beer landscape.  I was at Devil's Backbone Outpost in Lexington recently and had a very nice cocoa beer and barley wine.  Revolutionary?  No.  Innovative?  Maybe.  But I had a nice meal and a few good beers in a facility that was providing jobs and rewarding brewing quality.  

It was owned by Budweiser.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Dogfish long ago passed the threshold of being a small brewer, with 175,000 keg production.  Sam Adams is also a behemoth.  Both make some good beers, though I personally find both flagship brews to be middling.  But its hard to argue that neither has earned their place in craft brewing for advancing the industry.

So we can celebrate an industry to martyr brewers (an admittedly desirable land for martyrdom) who produce a quality product but realize low financial gains.  Or we can celebrate an industry that rewards innovation and success in niche categories, mixed with financially successful, mass-market product lines, to raise all ships.

(this post written while drinking a Dogfish Dragons and YumYums in Collaboration with Flaming Lips - a "Pale Ale  brewed with dragonfruit and yumberry, passion fruit, pear and black carrot juices" - Bud Light it is not)

I initially had a viscerally negative reaction to this news, mostly because I've known and loved Dogfish since they were a little brewpub on the Delaware shore, and I don't have a rosy view of Sam Adams (I've never thought any of their flagship beers were anything special, even when the world of craft brewers was small, and frankly stopped caring about them sometime in the previous century).  But after reading the details I agree with the above; it's a partnership that will hopefully allow each brand to continue to do what they do best on the operational side while mitigating whatever financial pressures they face in the market.

1 hour ago, Marty L. said:

Anything worth purchasing this year other than La Casita? Anyone been to the Chiko or Hank's stands?

I got an order of the Chiko tater tots last night.  They were pretty good for stadium food, but there's no getting past that it was a $12 box of tots.  I could have sworn the menu said something about a spicy mayo as the topping, but mine came with some sort of hoisin-based sauce with no observable mayo component .  Tossed with furikake as well.  I'll stick to nachos the next time I forget to bring a sandwich with me (although the bulgogi hoagie was tempting).

Wow!  Kwame with Rising Star and Tom Cunanan (Bad Saint) with Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic.  That's a nice, if probably unexpected, haul for DC.

On 3/31/2019 at 7:43 PM, MC Horoscope said:

Whoa, what a walk off knock for T Turner Sunday! Bullpen can't handle inning 8 yet! Gonna be a tense year, I believe!

And they still can't handle the 8th (or 7th, or 9th, or whatever inning they are called on for relief).  An 8.00+ ERA for the 'pen so far!  That is atrocious.  I guess we should be thankful that nobody has an infinite ERA any longer ...

Edit: I should note (because I just looked it up and it surprised me) that the Nats relievers have thrown the fewest innings, and by a pretty good margin! Usually when the bullpen is struggling it's because they are overworked night after night (see the O's who sit just above the Nats with the 2nd worst reliever ERA, but have thrown the most innings).  The Nats bullpen has just been flat out bad so far.  Wonder if there is anybody out there looking for work?

14 hours ago, Ferris Bueller said:

Very tough loss, I was hoping the CAPS would take one on the road as a good confidence builder coming back to CapOne Center for game 5.

Oshie being cross-checked and potentially hurt can do a number on the team.  He is a leader and really does a lot to help bridge the gap on this team.  I really hope he is OK.

Update: Capitals T.J. Oshie 'won't be playing any time soon' after being hurt in Game 4 loss by Mark Brehm USA Today

The second he got up from that hit I said "Dislocated shoulder", then the way he was hunched over supporting his arm on the way off the ice.  If he "merely" separated it and they popped it back in there is a chance we see him again during a deep run, but probably no chance the rest of this series.  If there was ligament damage he's done for the remainder.  Someone else said he thought maybe a broken forearm, but I've seen my share of shoulder dislocations during play and that was my hunch based on the impact and how he reacted after.

2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

The Nats are paying him $0 per plate appearance - his allegiance is with his team. Things could have been warm and fuzzy; the fans chose to create a hostile, 13-year-long rivalry, and so that's now what we have - maybe it's for the best. I see "The Flip" as "The Flip(-Off) Heard 'round the World."

Bryce is not blameless in this.  He left town without a single word of thanks to the fans that watch him launch his career.  You've seen other players in similar situations reach out shortly after their move and at least feign some gratitude; a full page ad in the WaPo is relatively cheap.  Instead, other than the slip up at his press conference, there was zilch about the organization he was leaving until the instagram post early this week that was dripping with "my PR team made me do this".  Everybody in this situation has been selfish all around (and, yes, I include Nats fans in this).  This after a couple years of him draping himself in the DC flag and waxing on and on about his "home".  It was all window dressing as a sales tactic aimed at the ownership; it seems clear his loyalty wasn't with this city at all (unless it was accompanied with gobs of money).

As the way in which the negotiations evolved has leaked out via some good reporting in the past week it was clear that the Lerners didn't really want him back and Harper realized that and didn't even bother to negotiate further.  Yet he could have done a lot more to not come across as a selfish a@@hole who just wanted to ink the biggest contract ("Only $20M a year with the rest deferred, what does that do for my family?!?").  He got that biggest contract prize (only barely, and not via AAV) only to see it eclipsed in absolutely comical fashion by Trout barely 2 weeks later.

I'll be staying outside of Boston this week, nearest to Lowell (Chelmsford, specifically).  I aim to venture into the city proper for at least one meal, but does anybody here have experience with the area or advice on decent solo-diner-friendly places in the greater Lowell area?  I'll have a car, but not looking to fight rush hour traffic for dinner every night.  Thanks!

The "Salt" episode of Samin Nosrat's Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat series on Netflix has an extensive segment on traditional soy sauce producers still operating with centuries-old technology.  Totally fascinating. (I'm not sure if the BBC article treads the same path, it didn't load past my ad blocker)

Let's get the 2019 Nats going!  Bryce is still in the wilderness, the starting rotation could be really exciting (or a couple injuries away from meh), catcher doesn't seem to be a liability position any longer, and there are more puzzle pieces that don't seem to have places yet.  They are still the consensus pick for the NL East, but for the first time in a few seasons that doesn't feel right in the gut (but we saw how they fared when they've been runaway favorites, so maybe that's a good thing!).

Opening Day falls during our Spring Break this year, so for the first time our whole family will be able to attend together.  First Spring Training game is tomorrow and will air on MASN.

The first full games of spring training are imminent, and he still isn't in camp (NO COLLUSION!  NO COLLUSION!!).

The next labor battle is a-comin', and it won't be pretty.

On 2/20/2019 at 10:24 PM, DonRocks said:

In the blink of an eye, Nike went from "Air Jordan" to "Tear Zion."

He shouldn't play another second of college basketball; this injury is a fine smoke screen to sit the rest of the season out.  Imagine if that had happened with his knee at a more compromised angle.  He'll be picked first in the draft anyway.  Let the "purists" bitch about it; it's not their 100s of millions of $$$ on the line.

The Sommeliers of Everything

The article is a shallow dive into what would have been a really interesting subject for a longer essay.  It's a survey of the recent rise of "sommeliers" for everything from water to honey to chocolate, and the attendant certificates and certifications that go along with this expertise.  As expected, the actual expertise indicated by these certifications varies widely.  The cultural drivers behind the rise of tastemakers and knowers-of-specific-things weaves a thread throughout, and it concludes thusly:

Quote

Indeed, what the rise of specialized taste education, the cult of sensory analysis, and the wine-ification of everything means is that taste is becoming more and more codified all the time. There are good tastes and bad tastes; not only that, there’s a growing caste of gatekeepers in every field who are keeping score on what tastes great, middling and flawed. Maybe this is what morality or philosophy looks like in an increasingly post-religious, post-intellectual, materialistic United States. 

I would have liked to see more from the scientific perspectives on this (e.g., how much of this "expertise" is complete bullshit when measurements are applied and cross-checked). This could easily be expanded to any other number of fields that have acquired "experts" in the information age, and parallels with the increasing tribalism in online communities in general.  I couldn't help but think of Japan's otaku culture as well.

On 10/28/2018 at 6:08 PM, Sluggo said:

Visiting philly, and saw a sign for a DT coming soon, on Market St near city hall.  Checked their web site, it won’t be their first Pennsylvania location.  A dc taco chain going national? Kudos to them, wishing them luck!

My in laws live not far from King of Prussia.  There is a whole new-ish mixed use development across from the Wegman's that is like a "Little D.C.".  Within spitting distance from one another are District Taco, Founding Farmers and Compass Coffee.

Snallygaster is back this weekend, now in a different location on Pennsylvania Ave by the Mall.

Everybody else in my regular Snally crew is out of town this weekend, so I didn't get tickets to make an early day of it.  Since it's now in walking distance I might stroll down when general admission opens to sample the 3 or 4 beers that really pique my interest and then bug out.  This year was going to be the year I volunteered, but alas there are too many other obligations that day.

Apropos of this, I did a column count on the number of times "hazy" appears in a beer description from the spreadsheet posted on the site.  Roughly one out of every SIX beers being poured this year is a hazy IPA/DIPA.  A full 2/3 (!!!) of the total number of IPAs being poured are "hazy" 🤨

4 hours ago, dcs said:

filling the restaurant with antiques and stained glass bought on the cheap from various Washington historic buildings facing the wrecking ball. 

This is funny, because a storefront on 18th St in Adams Morgan recently recycled some of the wrought iron work from Blackie's!  I wonder where Auger originally got it?  The Google street view isn't up to date, but it's a vintage clothing shop just south of Amsterdam falafel called Mercedes Bien.

On 9/18/2018 at 11:11 AM, bookluvingbabe said:

I tried to go today.  Sign says it is open 7 am to 4 pm.  Walked in a little before 10 am.  "We open at 11."  But your sign...  "We're here at 7 but we open at 11."

(They have a breakfast menu posted... I wasn't in the mood to argue with someone who clearly didn't want to serve me. Mr. BLB and I have been talking about having a lunch date to revisit it and the memories of our days living in Dupont--I think we'll head to CF Folks instead...)

In my experience their breakfast service was only ever active between 7-9 or so (but I haven't been that early in a few years).  You probably caught them in break down/transition to lunch and got Kosta-ed.

1 hour ago, DaveO said:

Oh my!   A season to forget:  Now it’s Bye bye Gio

Inevitable.  The season was all but done a couple of weeks ago and they weren’t going to re-sign Gio.  He was a great addition during the early part of the 201x playoff run, but ....

The Madson deal surprised me more.  The bullpen continues to be a Rubik’s cube for this franchise, one that never seems to get solved.  Hopefully they stick with Doolittle at least. 

2019’s team is going to be new and interesting!

We've had a Ring Pro at the front door plus another one of the stick-up cameras out back for a little over a year now.  I researched basically all of the options available and settled on the Ring because a) we didn't have an existing doorbell and I was fine DIY-ing running the circuit to make that happen, and b) the motion zones seemed to be the most configurable of everything we looked at.  I was very close to choosing the Arlo system, but read about too many bad experiences with battery life.  An active camera that I have to get up on a ladder to charge every couple of months wasn't appealing.  What finally settled it was the availability of a small solar panel to charge the Ring remote camera that wasn't hard-wired.  I'm thinking about picking up one of the security light/camera combos for our driveway as well.

Pros

• Doorbell notifications work well.  Sometimes it is slow to connect when you are away from wifi, but we can get a notification on our phones, pull up the app and be talking to the person at the door in about 5 seconds
• Motion zones are very configurable on the wired Pro model.  I was basically able to create a path that alerts to anybody setting walking up our front pathway and onto the porch, but also excludes the front path for the townhouse next door.  The remote camera not so much (see below)
• Alert notifications also pretty configurable, even down to times of day if you want to set up the schedules (only alerts you to motion events from 8-6 on weekdays while at work, etc.)
• Solar panel set up keeps the remote camera fully charged even with limited sunlight exposure (it only needs a couple hours a day to top off it seems)

Cons

• Yearly subscription is required if you want any meaningful recording history; I really wanted a HDD system to keep local recordings, but nothing fit the bill
• Resolution on the stick up camera is pretty bad; ours out back gets basically washed out by a nearby floodlight at night; motion zones on that one also not as configurable, so I had to dial back the range in order to not pick up every car driving down the alley
• Wifi signal needs to be very strong.  We had to get a wireless repeater and place it basically in line of sight for the front door in order to not get constant disconnect errors.  Remote camera was a little more forgiving, but probably because of the lower resolution.  This was a big drawback

Ultimately I wanted a fully wired camera set up and a local HDD with remote capabilities, but running the cables everywhere we wanted would have been a real pain (old masonry row house).  Ring was the best of the wireless options I found, but not perfect.  I wish I could have test driven the Arlo system as well as they are cheaper and more easily extendable.