Yes, it's nearing the end of summer. And in Maryland that can mean only one thing - the peak of blue crab season. I realized that I didn't have any crabs yet this season (not even a crab cake) last week, and this definitely needed to be remedied. Luckily for me, while reading The DCist, I saw that the Washington Post published their Best Bets 2005 list. I had hit paydirt. Being new to the DC area, I had no idea where to go for good crabs - I know a couple of places in Baltimore. And though it's not outside of my nature to drive for good food, I wanted to find somewhere more local.
So here is this year's list of the top crab places. The fact the Phillips Seafood is on the list disturbed me a little. But I read the review for the Bethesda Crab House and decided - YES, we must go get crabs! So JS and I made a plan, reserved our crab feast for Friday at 7pm, and ventured off to find this Best Bet.
Well, this place was a little hard to find. First - Parking in Bethesda SUCKS. Be also, we originally thought we had passed it. We drove by a whole bunch of restaurants and thought that this place surely had to have been on that block. But no. We continued our way down Bethesda Avenue, and began to worry when we started to approach car dealerships... where the hell is this place? Well, situated at the end of a block of car dealerships and garages, was the crab house. Little, old bar like, faux paneled walls, newspaper on the tables, and absolutely packed. This was definitely the place.
JS and I ordered our crab feast - all you can eat "small" crabs, corn on the cob and slaw. The slaw was barely passable. The corn was perfect - Maryland being the home of the best white corn. And their "small" crabs were closer in size to the mediums, so all the better for us. I had heard it was a good season (last season was particularly excellent, so I was hoping for at least that much), but I wasn't prepared for just how good. We got our crabs, grabbed our mallets and started smashing.
By the end, I had consumed a nice round dozen along with 2 ears of corn and JS (more of a crab novice, but definitely getting the hang of it) had 9 with 4 ears of corn. We were stuffed and oh, so happy. So for any of my dear friend not in Maryland with easy access to these wonders of yumminess - come down and visit before the end of October (and that's really beginning to push it). We want to go back to the Crab House, and we want to bring friends!
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Thursday, August 18, 2005
I C U P
Eventually, I suppose in our never-ending quest to find renewable fuel sources, it would come to this - a disposable battery powered on, you guessed it, pee. It makes sense, when you think about it. One's urine contains a whole host of ions and minerals excreted from the body. Perfect for creating the chemical reaction which makes a battery work. It also makes sense in the practical medical sense - you have so many tests in which you would use urine, why not make the urine power your test equipment as well. And the supply is endless!
It just caught my attention to see the headline: Scientists create pee powered battery. Just seeing the word pee in a headline makes me giggle a little.
And for all my Singaporean friends... notice where this wonder of technology was developed.
It just caught my attention to see the headline: Scientists create pee powered battery. Just seeing the word pee in a headline makes me giggle a little.
And for all my Singaporean friends... notice where this wonder of technology was developed.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Saved for now
When I read a few months ago that CBGB's may be evicted from it's home in the East Village, I was shocked. This place is a landmark in modern punk and rock. The place where the Ramones and Blondie began their luminous careers, along with dozens of others. So today's ruling, which ruled that CBGB's could not be unceremoniously evicted from it's home on Bowery, was a great relief to fans of music and for New York natives, like myself. Having lived, worked and gone to school in the neighborhood, the idea that there would be no CBGB's was ... unthinkable. Hopefully, CBGB's and their landlords can come up with a new lease deal that will let the club remain a fixture in the East Village for many, many years to come.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
My hero!
Sometimes there are people out there who just inspire you with actions. Hearing what MS did this evening was one of those enspiring moments:
G: Bob says that you are beautiful and I agree with him.
MS: I don't care what Bob thinks, what do you think?
G: I said that I agree with him.
MS: You're not good at this are you?
G: No
MS: Repeat after me - MS, I think you are beautiful.
Not many people have the balls to just lay it out there. Nor are there many people who will just not take the bullshit and call the person on it. Tonight, MS is my personal hero.
G: Bob says that you are beautiful and I agree with him.
MS: I don't care what Bob thinks, what do you think?
G: I said that I agree with him.
MS: You're not good at this are you?
G: No
MS: Repeat after me - MS, I think you are beautiful.
Not many people have the balls to just lay it out there. Nor are there many people who will just not take the bullshit and call the person on it. Tonight, MS is my personal hero.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Another story...
Well, as I said in my previous post, other than my return trip from San Juan, my trip to PR was fantastic. Here's the other story...
After spending a lovely morning and lunch in Old San Juan with SA and her cousins (the kids are too freaking cute), I was off to the airport. Arriving a good hour before boarding time, I had time to relax, make a few phone calls and wander. (An hour is about the upper limit to the time I can spend in an airport without wanting to jab a needle in my eye.) Unlike my flight to PR, my return trip was not direct - there was to be a short layover in Miami before jetting off to DC. And that's where things went, as Lewis Black so eloquently puts it, awry. We actually landed in Miami 15 minutes early. I thought to myself, "Oh, this is great. We'll get in a little early, then I don't have to rush to my next gate," as my connecting flight was in a little more than an hour. American Airlines apparently had other plans...
We sat on the runway for 45 minutes. That's right, sat. Didn't move, no info, just that the gate we were supposed to be going to was still occupied by a plane and there was no other gate free. Mind you, Miami International Airport is HUGE. I really mean huge. It was hard to believe that there were no gates available. But that's what we were being told... so we sat. Everyone in the plane getting anxious as it was obvious that I was not the only one with a connecting flight, time quickly ticking away.
Finally, after 45 minutes, we began to move, slowly, toward a gate. We parked in gate A21. My connecting flight was leaving from gate D34. There is literally over a mile of airport to cover between them. And by the time I actually de-planed, I had less than 10 minutes to get there. Needless to say, I hauled ass as hard as I could... falling on the escalator (no clutz jokes from anyone, please), knocking people over, stepping on feet, and screaming apologies along the way. Well, while I can run a 10 minute mile, I cannot do it weaving between people, with luggage, going up and down escalators in an airport in which I've never been before. There were times I wasn't sure I was even going in the right direction.
Needless to say, I missed my flight. By 8 minutes. Dammit. Making things worse, the next flight to Dulles was not until 4pm the next afternoon (it was slightly after 8pm at this point). But the guy at the gate assured me that my hotel, dinner and everything would be covered as this was the airline's fault and not weather related. All I needed to do was go to the ticket counter and talk with them to get everything in order. This was not as easy as it sounds. I waited on a long ass line of people, who, like me, missed their connecting flights because we were just sitting on the runway. After an hour of waiting on line, I was told at the ticket counter that the delay was weather related (apparently there was lighting earlier in the day, which delayed some planes, which caused us to get stuck) and that the airline would not be covering hotel or anything else for that matter. After trying to explain it to me again and again, I still did not get why other planes being delayed by weather made my plane, which landed EARLY, be classified as weather related. If that were the case, every flight delay could be reasoned to be weather related.
Well, they were kind enough (*sarsastic sneer*) to give me a discount coupon for a nearby hotel and booked the first flight out of Miami the next morning, which, unfortunately, did not fly into Dulles, but into Reagan. But at that point, I was not going to spend the day in the airport, waiting for an afternoon flight, which would likely be delayed due to weather again as the forcast was predicting the same kind of thunderstorms and lightning that caused me to miss my flight in the first place.
I did finally make it home. Missed a day of work. BC was very generous to not only pick me up for work the next day (I unfortunately made him wait for 20 minutes, as I locked myself out of my apartment - not a good week, as we can see. I'm still really sorry about that, BC), but also to drive me down to Dulles to pick up my car (which promptly got a flat the next morning - again, not a good week). I was very greatful.
The moral of this story: plan for the worst; and American Airline SUCKS!
After spending a lovely morning and lunch in Old San Juan with SA and her cousins (the kids are too freaking cute), I was off to the airport. Arriving a good hour before boarding time, I had time to relax, make a few phone calls and wander. (An hour is about the upper limit to the time I can spend in an airport without wanting to jab a needle in my eye.) Unlike my flight to PR, my return trip was not direct - there was to be a short layover in Miami before jetting off to DC. And that's where things went, as Lewis Black so eloquently puts it, awry. We actually landed in Miami 15 minutes early. I thought to myself, "Oh, this is great. We'll get in a little early, then I don't have to rush to my next gate," as my connecting flight was in a little more than an hour. American Airlines apparently had other plans...
We sat on the runway for 45 minutes. That's right, sat. Didn't move, no info, just that the gate we were supposed to be going to was still occupied by a plane and there was no other gate free. Mind you, Miami International Airport is HUGE. I really mean huge. It was hard to believe that there were no gates available. But that's what we were being told... so we sat. Everyone in the plane getting anxious as it was obvious that I was not the only one with a connecting flight, time quickly ticking away.
Finally, after 45 minutes, we began to move, slowly, toward a gate. We parked in gate A21. My connecting flight was leaving from gate D34. There is literally over a mile of airport to cover between them. And by the time I actually de-planed, I had less than 10 minutes to get there. Needless to say, I hauled ass as hard as I could... falling on the escalator (no clutz jokes from anyone, please), knocking people over, stepping on feet, and screaming apologies along the way. Well, while I can run a 10 minute mile, I cannot do it weaving between people, with luggage, going up and down escalators in an airport in which I've never been before. There were times I wasn't sure I was even going in the right direction.
Needless to say, I missed my flight. By 8 minutes. Dammit. Making things worse, the next flight to Dulles was not until 4pm the next afternoon (it was slightly after 8pm at this point). But the guy at the gate assured me that my hotel, dinner and everything would be covered as this was the airline's fault and not weather related. All I needed to do was go to the ticket counter and talk with them to get everything in order. This was not as easy as it sounds. I waited on a long ass line of people, who, like me, missed their connecting flights because we were just sitting on the runway. After an hour of waiting on line, I was told at the ticket counter that the delay was weather related (apparently there was lighting earlier in the day, which delayed some planes, which caused us to get stuck) and that the airline would not be covering hotel or anything else for that matter. After trying to explain it to me again and again, I still did not get why other planes being delayed by weather made my plane, which landed EARLY, be classified as weather related. If that were the case, every flight delay could be reasoned to be weather related.
Well, they were kind enough (*sarsastic sneer*) to give me a discount coupon for a nearby hotel and booked the first flight out of Miami the next morning, which, unfortunately, did not fly into Dulles, but into Reagan. But at that point, I was not going to spend the day in the airport, waiting for an afternoon flight, which would likely be delayed due to weather again as the forcast was predicting the same kind of thunderstorms and lightning that caused me to miss my flight in the first place.
I did finally make it home. Missed a day of work. BC was very generous to not only pick me up for work the next day (I unfortunately made him wait for 20 minutes, as I locked myself out of my apartment - not a good week, as we can see. I'm still really sorry about that, BC), but also to drive me down to Dulles to pick up my car (which promptly got a flat the next morning - again, not a good week). I was very greatful.
The moral of this story: plan for the worst; and American Airline SUCKS!
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