cucas87

I just read in a Frommers newsletter that there are some good Amtrak discount codes that may help with this trip. According to Frommers, you still may need to purchase tickets 3 days in advance to take advantage of the fares. I haven't tried to use these codes myself but I will certainly look into them as the dim sum trip approaches: "Within the Northeast Corridor -- that's Boston to Washington, including the branch up to Springfield, Mass. -- V688 will get you 20% off tickets on regular reserved regional trains (no Acelas) through December 13. That's a terrific deal, one of the best we've seen in a while. Friends Let Friends Ride Amtrak There's a slew of codes all of which promise 50% off a companion ticket (that's 25% off each of two tickets) in the Northeast Corridor, which stretches from Portland, ME down to Newport News, Virginia, with branches out to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Albany, NY. V769, V679, and V383 all supposedly work for travel until December 13, so if one doesn't work, try a different one of the trio."

I'm a fan of Intelligentsia and really like the Black Cat Espresso blend (both for espresso and regular coffee).

See you all at Da Rae Won, thanks for the transportation help.

I would love to come to Da Rae Won on the 24th but I will not have my car that day; is it close enough to a metro that I could walk/bus or someone could meet me?

Thanks for the information, that's great! Sorry we'll miss you.

We have decided to take our dim sum expedition on the road to see how our local dim sum favorites compare to a hot NYC dim sum spot. Our plan is to make a one day trip to NYC for dim sum. We hope you can join us. So, check your calendars and see if you can make it on Saturday, June 23rd for a NYC dim sum adventure. Please note: we plan to travel to NYC by Amtrak and/or bus, not by car or caravan. It looks like we could take an early morning train or bus on Saturday and return home on Saturday night and still have enough time to have a great lunch, some gelato, maybe some NY pizza, get in some NYC shopping and then make it back to DC in time to recover on Sunday. Of course, people are welcome to stay over in the City and make a weekend of it. Since we all may not be traveling together, we'll be sure to coordinate our travel arrangements so that we all meet up in NYC. We'll provide more travel information later, but for general information, Greyhound buses run from a location nearby to Union Station and a round trip bus ticket (absent a special promotion) costs approximately $69 (or $59 with a 3 day advance purchase). Roundtrip Amtrak tickets cost between $154 and $180 (or 10 percent less with a 3 day advance purchase and proof of AAA membership). We plan to have dim sum at: Dim Sum a Go Go 5 E. Broadway, New York, NY 10038 (between Catherine St. and Chatham Sq.) 212-732-0797 And we may just have to stop for some gelato at: Il Laboratorio del Gelato 95 Orchard St. (between Broome & Delancey Sts) 212 343 9922 http://www.laboratoriodelgelato.com/ Please respond here in this thread if you are interested in joining the trip so that we can get an idea of how many people (including friends and/or guests) are interested. Finally, if anyone has other ideas about things to do in NYC while we are there, please suggest them here in this thread. And of course, if you have any specific questions about the trip, feel free to PM me.

I'm posting a day early because tomorrow is my brother's birthday and I suspect I'll be having some ice cream and cake and goodies in his honor. In any case, I lost 1 1/2 pounds last week despite doing next to no exercise. I attribute this to (1) the (very literal) pain in the neck from my pinched nerve and (2) Scott's really wonderful low-cal home cooked dinners. Not necessarily in that order. That said, I have a loooong way to go. Perhaps I'll celebrate Jon's birthday with a skinny cow treat and a walk.

The scale says I've lost another 1 1/2 pounds but I don't feel like it. Not that I'm complaining. I hurt my neck about a week ago and seem to have pinched a nerve during my recent work travels from hell and I've learned that the stairmaster is not your friend in such a situation. That said, and though I'm not sure I'll make my fitness challenge goal, I'm sticking with this. The scale is going in the right direction and more important, not only is my college reunion 5 weeks away, but my musician brother will be here in town for a gig at Blues Alley in late June and I would love to feel...fitter and be able to wear something fun by then. Stay tuned.

We're going to try to keep a running list of what everyone plans to bring to the picnic. So please let me know, either here in the picnic thread or via PM, what you plan to bring. A request: please consider bringing both a food item and something to drink (alcoholic or not, as you prefer; there will be adults and children of all ages at the picnic). If it is not obvious, let me know (1) under which of the following categories your food contribution will fit; (2) whether it is vegetarian or vegan and (3) whether you consider the item to be "healthy" or otherwise "certified for the fit for summer challenge." A final note: at this point we do not need people to bring paper goods. General categories: Appetizers, snacks, finger food Sides/Salads Main course 1. meat/fish 2. vegetarian/vegan Desserts/sweets Beverages Misc.

I will bring mojito salad (aka, the rum delivery system) and some kind of "light" dessert.

Woops, this is actually Scott Johnston posting lunch? Any good chicken places in Rockville?

A little progress, finally. Weight lost this week: 1 3/4 pounds. Exercise is finally becoming more of a constant and it feels pretty good. In addition to walking up the 11 flights of stairs to my office every day (anything, really, to delay getting to work!), I have done the following this week: Sunday: 20 minutes on the treadmill and elliptical machines (combined time) and then a 25 minute walk after a wonderful Easter dinner. Monday: 30 minutes on the treadmill (and 2 additional 10 minute walks to/from metro). Tuesday: 30 minutes on the treadmill/elliptical (combined time) (and 2 additional 10 minute walks to/from metro). Food lesson: It's always good to buy 2 packs of Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches because that way if you accidentally drop one pack on the kitchen floor, you still have some dessert left in the house.

Note to anyone who has to change planes in Newark and will be traveling through terminal A: it is a very, very small "satellite" terminal (you get there by taking a bus from the other terminals or some kind of monorail from places outside of the airport). It has no decent food/drink options at all. I was happy -- and I suspect, lucky -- to find a cold bottle of diet coke. EWR

I will never be the kind of person who says, during times of stress, "I'm not hungry," or "I forgot to eat." (Say what?) I tend to find comfort in my two great, good friends, Ben & Jerry. That said, last week I managed a trip to Florida to deal with some unhappy family business without gaining weight, overeating or otherwise overindulging. (And I mean that in every way, thanks or no thanks to the Holiday Inn's lack of an in-room minibar. Note to Holiday Inn: when your budget numbers fall short this month, you can point directly to the lack of minibars in the rooms. How I could have used a drink or 6 last week. And this would have been true even if I'd been in town for fun. It was spring break for most people, for crying out loud). Having gotten through the last week from hell, I'm happy to be back at home and on the plan. Walking up the 11 fights of stairs to my office this morning went ok, and I'll be taking a walk at 1:00 today. Fitness challenge, I am back. Nine weeks to the college reunion.

I'll be out of town on and off but would love to walk on a whim!

Scott Johnston and I are in as well.

Three of us went to Overwood on Saturday to test out the 3rd night of the soft opening. Since the restaurant officially opens this week, I am going to go ahead and post about my very good experience. There were a few glitches but the staff could not have been nicer. Also, the restaurant had decided to offer a limited menu during the soft opening (and, I believe, for the first few weeks after their opening). I think Overwood will be a great addition to the lower Old Town area. There's a bar, with flat screen televisions, and a few dining rooms, so you could have some quiet-- or not -- as the mood strikes. My take: a very good neighborhood restaurant where you could go to watch a game, for happy hour or for a nice dinner. This is not haute cuisine but a really good take on the classics. To start with, we shared the calamari appetizer. Very tasty. A nice portion that would be perfectly shared by two people. It came with some fried peppers and a corn salad. The calamari was perfectly fried. The menu says that it also comes with fried lemons, but my dining companions ate all of them and I wish that the kitchen could add some more. I would absolutely order this again. The table next to us ordered the mussels that looked and smelled fantastic; these were a large portion and were gobbled up by the patrons before we could beg for a taste. For mains, we had: (1) grilled rockfish; (2) 12 oz strip steak: and (3) 12 oz rib eye. The rockfish was a nice sized portion, served on jasmine rice with three very large grilled asparagus. The fish was very well cooked but oversalted (on one-half of the portion). The rice was delicious (mainly from a butter sauce) and the asparagus tasty. I should have taken a photo of the asparagus and emailed it to Oceannaire, which charges far too much for asparagus as a side dish. The strip was very juicy (although we had ordered it medium rare and it came rare). It was a generous portion served on mashed potatoes and with three asparagus, (I do not have the menu with me so I am not sure if the dishes will be served with other sides once the menu is fully available). The rib eye looked great and while I did not taste it, there was not much left of it by the end of the night. The fish, potatoes, and strip were completely gone as well. We did not try the burger but we saw a number of people eating the burger and I have to say, the fries looked excellent. We forgot the fit for summer challenge and didn't order any of the main course salads, but we saw a few tables get the grilled chicken salad, which was a huge portion of chicken on some greens. D'oh! We had the Elvis Pie for dessert. It was very rich and tasty. Not overly sweet but very decadent. We didn't finish it, though. The space is very nicely laid out with a few separate rooms and a decent amount of space between the bar and the tables (which I think is key in places like Overwood, with TVs in the bar area). The wine list had a nice variety. Price-wise, most wines were $6 to $7/glass and around $24-30/bottle. I cannot recall the name of the sparkling wine I drank but it was very nice. Overall, I would say, very good food, a nice space, a good addition to Old Town, and it is so nice to see some of the folks from Majestic back in Old Town.

I read today that Whole Foods will work with a Chicago-based charity to make loans to Chicago-area farmers. (Note: the excerpt below is from the Chronicle of Philanthropy) "Whole Foods Market, the Austin, Tex., grocery chain, is collaborating with Sustain, a Chicago nonprofit group, in offering loans to family farmers and artisanal producers as a way to boost the number of locally grown sources of organic foods to its Midwestern stores, the Chicago Tribune reports. Whole Foods has pledged to lend up to $10-million to farmers across the country who want to expand their production or move into the organic foods niche. Sustain, which promotes organic and sustainable agriculture, will administer the loan program in the Midwest on behalf of Whole Foods. Loans are limited to a maximum of $50,000, and interest rates in the program stand at about 5 percent to 9 percent, which the company says are lower than the rates commercial banks would charge small farmers. Loan life may range from a few months to 10 years."

Has anyone been here recently? Some friends are interested in going and wanted to know if I'd heard about it.

Count me in for a case.

I work neary Union Station. I'd love to meet people and walk during lunch, but at most I can only take an hour's break. I'd also be willing to meet up with people after work or on the weekends. Depending, of course, on schedules, etc.

I'm so glad I was able to make it last night -- *now* I understand the great reviews China Bistro receives. It will be very hard to order dumplings anywhere else for a while. I really liked the shrimp and chive dumpling and also the beef with celery and I liked the non-vegeterian vegetable triple dumpling. And really, everything else. I'm torn on whether I prefer steamed or fried dumplings, but I think the shrimp dumplings are too light to be fried. 16 dozen? I don't think that's part of the fitness challenge. Ugh. Thanks all, it was a blast.

This challenge has been suprisingly difficult. I've done ok at eating less but not too well at exercising. Maybe it's due to a bad time at work, which makes me want to sit on the couch and eat bon bons. In any event, I've had a series of colds and lots of stress and as a result, exercise had fallen to the wayside. But this week I have felt re-energized. Maybe because of the warmer weather, or two upcoming events at which I'd like to feel and look more fit: my college reunion (now less than 3 months away) and my brother's upcoming cd release party (sometime in the next 6 weeks or so) -- or a possible job search in the not too distant future. In any event last night after work we took a walk for close to an hour. It was a beautiful night and I felt great when we got back. I haven't had time for an actual lunch break today but I have walked up and down the stairs to my office on the 11th floor a few times so far. Here's to a renewed effort and more weight loss during the next few months. If anyone else wants to step up their efforts for this second half of the challenge, count me in.

Felix in Adams Morgan used to have Passover seder meals. And this article references a few other Passover-type meals. http://www.washingtonwoman.com/html/passover.shtml

I am not going to be able to make it to Los Tios tonight, I hope it's a great dinner.