Upcoming: 3rd Annual Birthday Scavenger Hunt!

Apologies again for the blog silence - there has been ever so much going on. Some good, some bad, but the one I want to share with you all is that the Boyfriend is now the Husband! We got married on October 3rd, and in true DC365 form, it was DC-centric and very special to us both. We had the ceremony and a luncheon for our families at The Willard, the cake was from (where else?) Baked & Wired, and afterwards we got beers at Stoney's and ended the night at Amsterdam Falafel. All told, a wonderful and memorable day.

And now I can focus on planning the next big event...the 3rd Annual Birthday Scavenger Hunt!

Mark your calendars now: Oct. 31, Halloween, at noon, we will be starting at the fountain in Dupont Circle for another round of photographic, DC-themed, eating and drinking, costumed madness! This year we're opening it up to, well, everyone, so don't be shy!! Bring your friends, your metro day pass and your running shoes, and get ready to WIN!

(Or at least have some good, clean fun!)

This year, I'm implementing an admission "fee," two cans of food to play, all of which will go to So Others Might Eat as we enter the holiday season. Also, since Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, costumes aren't required, but they are highly encouraged -- there will be a real points benefit to coming in costume, so plan on it.

Otherwise, the rules are the same as last year and the year before. You'll get a list of people/places/things/foods/drinks that are all worth various points, and you'll have to strategize which ones you want to go after. Teams can be of two to ten people, and you can come with your own team, or get assigned to one upon arrival. You can use your feet, metro or the bus only, no bicycles, cars or taxis. The hunt ends at 4pm with prizes and cake, plenty of time for you to get ready for your regularly planned Halloween parties.

The hunt is appropriate for all ages, but if you did feel like starting the party early, there is an optional "bar crawl" version of the hunt that you could easily pursue, and still be competitive.

You can read all about the 1st annual hunt and the 2nd annual, or see the pictures from the 2007 hunt or 2008 hunt, all of which will give you a good idea of what to expect.

Leave questions in the comments, otherwise, see you soon!

Related: Urban Dare (Won), Urban Dare (Lost), Post Hunt

Quick Hit: Shout Out in the Washington Post!

So, pretty much everything in my life is changing right now (all great things though!), and I've been busy trying to make order out of chaos. Which is why you haven't heard a word about my fun trip to Ft. Reno, my amazing baseball game tickets, the baby gorilla at the zoo, or stuffing myself chock full of pupusas and chicharonnes. It's coming -- I promise!

In the meantime, enjoy this great write up of adventure racing and Urban Dare featured in the Washington Post, with a nice shout out to this here blog, as well as a sweet little interview of me and friend of the blog GFD:

The key word in Keefe's slogan is, of course, the "can." Just ask Francoise Galleto, 27, and David Brown, 26, two Washingtonians whose first Urban Dare in 2007 didn't turn out quite as they'd hoped: They finished sweaty, sore and sunburned after 4 1/2 hours. "The day after, I went back to the gym. It was a wake-up call," Galleto says.

They already had the smarts part down. After all, Galleto bills her blog (at http://www.dc365.blogspot.com) as "an exploration of DC's restaurants, bars, tourist traps, and the places only the locals know about." She organizes an annual birthday scavenger hunt. And as Brown notes, "We're both nerds."

After two years of training, which included running the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler, they entered the Urban Dare event again this spring with a very different result: Conditioned for sprinting and armed with sunscreen, they came in first, finishing in just over two hours.

Two years ago: my fabulous dinner at Kaz Sushi Bistro.

Top 10 DC Things To Do This Summer 2009

By now, I'm sure you've heard the news and if not, let me be the first to tell you: Screen on the Green is back, baby! The outdoor movies will screen in their usual spot every Monday from July 20 - August 1o, starting with Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The truth? I've known for awhile; and since it's no secret what my #1 summer activity is year after year, I've been holding my Top Ten list until it was made official.

So, without further ado...the DC365 Top Ten Things To Do This Summer in DC, 2009 edition!

10. Hillwood Estate outdoor movies: There were only two of these wonderful events scheduled for this year, and there's only one left, so what are you waiting for? Get your ticket! A nice, lush lawn, candelabra, cake stands, quality movies, wall-to-wall gays and free bug spray. Trust me, you want this.

9. Go on a bike ride: My bike tour of the Anacostia Riverwalk inspired me -- there are tons of trails in the area to get your cycle on and enjoy the summer sun. If you have a bike, consider joining the Washington Area Bicycle Association. If you don't have a bike, fork over the $40 and join Smartbikes for a year. I'm a member, and I'm a big fan. You can take a bike from any of the eight current docking stations and return it to any docking station within three hours. And, the program got $3 million in stimulus money to expand, so there will even more stations in the coming year.

8. Mr. Yogato: When you're sweating and salty, the very best thing for that is a cup of original tangy with fresh blueberries and strawberries. If you're really salty and sweaty, you can attempt the 30-day challenge: eat at Yogato every day for 30 days and you get a flavor named after you! If you prefer variety, you can also check out tangysweet, Larry's Homemade, Dolcezza and Pitango.

7. Pick Peaches: The Boyfriend and I had a blast picking apples at Stribling Orchard, and this year we plan to go back out to the country to pick as many peaches as we can load into our bags. You can pick peaches at Stribling, or you can join Farmfoody, which is like Facebook for farmers, to get bulletins on whose peaches are ripe and when. A summer full of peach cobbler, peach ice cream, and peach pie? Yes, please.

6. Cantina Marina: This bar is like Spring Break, all summer long. Right on the water, open and breezy, and with copious frozen margaritas at your disposal, you'll think you're back in college in Cancun. It is a great place to while away a lazy afternoon in the sunshine and summer breeze. Beware, on Nats game days and Friday and Saturday nights it can be quite crowded. If you're looking for an alternate roof deck or patio, check out the Helix Hotel bar, Marvin or the Beacon Martini Sky Bar.

5. A Nationals Game: I know the Nats suck, but come on -- sitting in the sunshine with an $7 Miller Lite, a Ben's Chili dog and some peanuts, watching the Nats lose? Doesn't get much better than that.

4. Wolftrap: I do love the Wolftrap, with it's lawn seating and liberal alcohol policy. Check out their schedule for upcoming acts. Why did this beloved summertime activity drop to #4 this year? With all the rain we've been having, the risks are high that you'll be stuck on the lawn in the middle of a downpour, which is not fun at all.

3. The Uptown: Harry Potter VI comes out this summer, and you will find me in line at the Uptown. This is still the best venue to see the the loud and flashy summer action movies with it's enormous screen and old timey balcony (!) seating. The Uptown is full of memories and experiences, I can sum it up better than I did when it was Thing 49.

2. Go on a picnic: I'm really trying to expand my picnic repertoire this year, and I always welcome more suggestions. Although the cherry blossoms are gone, the Tidal Basin and Haines Point remain excellent picnic locations, but there is also Malcolm X Park, the Franciscan Monastery, Gravelly Point, Poplar Point, Pierce Mill, Logan Circle, and on and on. Bring a cooler filled with cold, refreshing beverages, some dips in a tiffin, and kek with a chole in it, and you've got yourself a perfect summer afternoon.

1. Screen on The Green: See you for some box wine, dancing and sweating at Close Encounters of the Third Kind!! And many thanks to the saviours of this event: HBO, Comcast and the Trust for the National Mall!

Want more ideas? Check out my 2008 Top Ten list and my 2007 Top Five.

Thing 152: Bike Tour of the Anacostia Riverwalk

If any of you out there are following my Twitter feed, you'll know I spent pretty much my entire weekend on one tour or another. Yes, it was the semiannual WalkingTown DC, which gives locals and tourists alike the opportunity to participate in over a hundred free walking and bike tours. This event is held in the spring and in the fall, and organized by Cultural Tourism DC, and I urge all of you to take advantage of this opportunity!

I started my WalkingTown weekend at 9am on Saturday morning at the entrance to the Southwest fish market, bike in tow. I was there for the bike tour of the Anacostia Riverwalk, along with about twenty other early birds. This tour is put on by the DC Department of Transportation (or DDoT, or "d.") and was actually led by the head of DDoT, Gabe Klein. Allow me a moment to geek out, but how cool is that? If you read this website, you'll remember that Gabe Klein was a bold and progressive choice for the job, having come off of a four year stint as regional VP of ZipCar, and as an advocate for transportation that might not necessarily begin and end with the personal car. And now here he was, in bike shorts and bright yellow biking shirt, ready to give the twenty of us his own guided tour of the Anacostia waterfront.

After giving us an introduction and an overview of the plan to rebuild the Southwest Waterfront area, we cycled in a pack down to the Titanic Memorial, and then east to the Nats Stadium. At the stadium, Klein, with help from three other DDoT employees, talked about the transportation issues surrounding the building of the stadium, and also the colossal engineering project that was the lowering of the South Capitol Street Bridge.

We continued on to the new USDoT, which stands next to the Navy Yard, and they spoke about the grand plan to connect the stadium all the way through the Navy Yard and beyond with new bike trails, hopefully easing some of the commuting congestion for the 20,000 expected new federal workers in the area. Klein mentioned that he's also looking at remaking the bridges, adding extra bus lines down M Street, and hopefully extending the upcoming street car system into the area, along with encouraging mixed-used developments so that people can live, work and play all within walking distance.

After this stop, I get a little hazy, geographically speaking, on where we went next. I know that we rode along a trail that took us next to a boat house where there were crew races:

And then over some railroad tracks and around and behind RFK Stadium, to what I think was Benning Road, where there was a farmers' market. We took a ten minute pause here to use restrooms and refuel, as needed.

From there, we crossed the Anacostia to its east bank, and then rode for several miles along the river, past a roller skating rink, past playgrounds and picnics and people fishing, seeing the crew races and the Navy Yard and the Stadium from an angle that I've never seen before. We met up again at Poplar Point, where one of the DDoT employees talked about the huge mixed-use development they envision some years into the future, with plenty of park land and new housing, retail and work space, all a few steps from the Anacostia Metro Station.

And from there, we went over the South Capitol Street bridge, and back to the fish market. In all, the ride took three hours, I saw parts of DC I've never seen before (and frankly, I'm not sure I can find again), and got an inside look at the vision behind a lot of the development projects that will shape the future of DC.

From there, I had to zip back home to shower and eat before heading to the next tour...Historic Logan Circle.

Related: Before There Was Harlem and North by Northwest

Thing 27: Urban Dare Revisited, Dominated and Won

You didn't think I trained for the ten miler just to run a ten miler, did you?  Oh no, it was all training leading up to Urban Dare 2009.  And guess what?  It was worth it, because we won.

We. Won.

Let's backup a bit here.  Urban Dare is a scavenger hunt/amazing race activity that GFD and I did two years ago, and totally failed miserably.  You can read about the entire pathetic experience here, but in sum, it took us over four hours and we technically never completed the race.  We vowed to do better the next time.

Then I went to Seattle and missed Urban Dare 2008.

Which bring us to last Saturday, a sunny and clear day perfect for the race.  I was in literally the best shape I've ever been in my life, having taken to the gym the day after Urban Dare 2007, and having kept it up pretty regularly, for the most part.  GFD and I also had a system this year, basically a solution to all the amateur mistakes that we had made two years ago.  I was wearing spandex and sunscreen.  We were ready.

The starting point this year was at McFadden's, where we all congregated to get our t-shirts and do some trash talking.  Then out to Washington Circle, where, like two years ago, we were released for the race depending on whether we go the correct answer to a multiple choice question.  This year, neither David nor I had any idea what the answer was (Treaty of Ghent?), but were already standing in the "B" quadrant so we just hung out there.  And we were right!  We ran to grab our clue sheet, and then got to work.  

I don't want to divulge too much of our patent-pending, 100% effective strategy, but we solved all the clues before we left.

Then we were off.  Our first stop was to run about a half mile straight north, to take our picture was "the gentle giant that defeated the British empire through peaceful means," the Gandhi statue west of Dupont Circle:

Then we ran to just south of Dupont Circle, to take our picture with the statue of the "only U.S. poet to he honored with a commemorative sculpted bust in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in London."  Our picture with Longfellow:

Then over to the Jefferson Hotel (which is currently under construction), which was "the hotel where Dick Morris got in trouble for sucking a call girl's toes."

We look pretty judgemental about toe sucking, don't we?  

Then it was a couple block north to Scott Circle, "the memorial to the person create homeopathic medicine," where we had to do a dare.  We had to hop on one foot twice around the statue, shouting "yellow" and "purple" as we went.

Next stop, the statue of Samuel Gompers who "founded the American Federation of Labor and served as its president for over 30 years."  This was another dare -- we had to throw beanbags until we got one in each of three holes.  David rocked this one and we were back off and running in no time. 

Further down Mass Ave (and yes, we jogged this whole time), and we took our picture with "the memorial to all victims of communism":

Then up to Union Station for our "bubble dare". This was pretty gross. I had to retrieve a piece of bubble gum from a pile a whipped cream without using my hands, and then blow a bubble.  See how sweaty I am this point? Imagine running three miles, being salty and sweaty, and then diving into a pile of whipped cream.  I was sticky and pretty gross at this point.

Then we took a bathroom break.  That's right, we were so confident that we nonchalantly took a pause to visit the restroom and the water fountain.  Then, back to running. 

Next up, we hit the memorial to those that had been in Japanese internment camps in WWII.  This dare was similar to the one we did two years ago, so we knew how it worked.  We got our word, "mendicant," and then had to add up it's point value based on the value of the letters as they were scattered around the memorial.  This year, no homeless man blocking our view, and we finished this dare in no time.

Down Pennsylvania Avenue now to the memorial to General Mead, who "commanded the Union forces at Gettysburg":

Then a few more blocks down Penn Ave to the memorial for General Winfield Scott Hancock, who was the failed Democratic presidential nominee in 1880.  Here we had to do a wheelbarrow dare, so David got on his hands while I held his feet and walked him once around a set of cones.

Here is were, by a small stroke of luck, I almost fainted.  Ok, so I may have the endurance to do ten miles, but by this time it was 1:30pm and it was HOT outside.  I was thirsty.  I started to see spots and probably should sit down.  I crouched while David bought a bottle of water from a street vendor, and then the 36 bus was coming right then, so we hopped on, hoping to get a bit of air conditioning and a small rest.

Our next stop was the Treasury Building, and the 36 bus goes all the way down Penn and stops on 15th Street next to the Treasury, so what the heck, right?  David was afraid it might slow us down, so we kept an eye on other Urban Darers as they were running down Penn Ave and wouldn't you know it but we ended up passing the team that ultimately came in second!  That bus was our lucky break.

We hopped out at the Treasury and got our picture with "Genius of Finance" Gallatin:

Then we got our second lucky break, the 5:00 Bonus photo.  "Get your picture with the memorial where a topless woman is handing a sword up to her hero," for which we could get 5:00 knocked off our final time.  We had a hunch it might be in Lafayette Park, and we were debating whether or not to run around and try to find it, or just pack it in and go back to McFadden's when we looked up and the statue was right in front of us:

Then we ran the eight blocks down Penn to McFadden's, where, much to our utter amazement, we were informed that we had actually come in first place. See how amazed I am?! I still can't quite believe that we went from being miserable failures at this thing to winning a Super Dare three-day cruise in the Bahamas for free!!

Plus, it gave me lots of fodder for my annual birthday scavenger hunt.

Two years ago:  Our first pathetic attempt at Urban Dare.

Things 146, 147, 148 and 20 Revisited

Well, it seems that it took ten weeks before I abandoned one of my new years resolution to blog more regularly.  But, it was in part because I was busy completing a different resolution that I didn't tell you about at the time (in case of utter failure).  And that resolution was to complete the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler.  Which I did.  

So, without further ado, a brief roundup of the Things I've been up to in my absence.

Thing 146: Run the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler

I've never been a runner in my life, so what possessed me to sign up for my very first race and have it be not just a 5k, or heck, even a 10k, but ten miles?  Apparently, I don't like to do anything half-assed.

So I started training in December, building up to three miles as a comfortable base distance.  Then I joined a running group that trains for this specific race.  We met on Saturday mornings going ever-further distances: three miles, then four, then six, then (I can't believe it still) eight, until I'd built up to 9.75 the week before the big race.  Eight miles really seems like a lot when you look at map to see that you've run from Foggy Bottom to Lincoln Park and back.  

Race Day was beautiful.  The weather was a warm, breezy 70 degrees, the sun was out and everyone was in great spirits.  The people cheering along the route helped to keep my spirits up as I ran from the Washington Monument, across the Memorial Bridge and back, down to the Kennedy Center, around the Tidal Basin, around Haines Point and back to the Memorial.  And I beat my goal time of two hours by a whopping eleven minutes!  Coming in at 1:48:59, I completed my first ten miler.

Thing 147: Founding Farmers

This restaurant has been buzzing since it opened, and I'm surprised it took me so long to make it over there, seeing as how their philosophy is very much in tune with mine. 

At Founding Farmers we believe that everyone benefits by knowing more about the source of the food they eat. We understand the journey of our products from seed to harvest, and from Farm-to-Table. Owned by a collective of American family farmers, Founding Farmers exists to promote the products and services of family farms, ranches, and fisheries.

Plus, the have a bacon-bourbon cocktail.  Bacon! And bourbon! In a cocktail!  

I went for a work lunch, and my guest and I had a really great experience.  I had heard mixed things about the service, but one time I was there our service was impeccable.  In fact, our waiter walked us through choices on the menu, specialty cocktails and why they were so special, and even shared a laugh with us about biodynamic wines.  And he read my mind when he asked if I was ready for the carrot cake I hadn't ordered yet but was so totally ready for.

The food was great, too.  I had a harvest salad with fresh spinach, hard-boiled eggs, blue cheese, thick cut cubes of bacon and caramelized onions.  My guest had fried chicken and waffles, which I stole a bite of in order to vouch that the fried chicken was juicy and crispy and all those things fried chicken really ought to be.  And the carrot cake was exactly what I wanted, with not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting and these ridiculously good candied pecans.

My bacon bourbon cocktail?  The biggest disappointment.  Perfect in theory, but in practice, you get a glass of cold, spicy bourbon and a hot bacon lollipop on the side, and consuming it in a way that makes sense is impossible.  Either you dunk the lolly, in which case the bacon gets cold and the fat congeals, or you drink and nibble, drink and nibble, which is simply too high maintenance for a cocktail.  

This place is not cheap, so save it for a special occasion.  But that said, I did have a good experience here.

Thing 148: The Shakespeare Theatre Company

Hey, remember when I saw The Heavens are Hung in Black and it was terrible?  Well, my recent experience at the Shakespeare Theatre was the exact opposite of that.

My friend Sam took me to see Ion, "the Greek tragedy with a happy ending", in the newly built theater in Chinatown.  The play has been updated in language and look, and I have to admit, I just loved the whole production.  The Greek chorus was recast to be a half-dozen modern-day tourists who attended to a royal power couple.  Apollo's temple was a tourist attraction, attended to by Ion, a boy born to Creusa after she was raped by Apollo.  (The back story recap was done with puppets and was both playful and effective).  Mistaken identities and hilarious hijinks ensued, but instead of a stage littered with dead bodies, this play ends in singing and uplift.  

Not every part of the update was a home run, but enough of it was, and it was playful and fun enough to keep everyone engaged and smiling.  

Thing 20, Revisited: Cherry Blossom Picnic

We inaugurated picnic season under the blossoms again this year, with an abundance of dips, deviled eggs, box wine, cookies and a gingerbread bundt cake.  Do not be dissuaded by the crowds, this yearly tradition is not to be missed.

If you do have a favorite picnic place, please leave it for me in the comments.  I want to fit in as many 'nics as possible before the humidity sets in. 

Thing 75, Revisited: 2nd Annual Scavenger Hunt

I have finally compiled the master photo album for the 2nd Annual Birthday Scavenger Hunt!  You can find the pictures HERE.

Thank you again to all of you who participated and made this year even bigger and better than last year!  The Boyfriend and I are already planning ways to improve and expand in 2009.  

You can read about the first one here, and see the complete pictures here.

And if you'd like to plan one yourself, and are looking for a little inspiration, leave a comment.  I'm more than happy to share my lists with anyone interested.

Thing 124: Nellie's Sports Bar and Trivia Night

Add Nellie's to the list of fabulous patios for summer time drinking in the out-of-doors. Nellie's, located on U Street a short block up from the African American Civil War Memorial, boasts a gorgeous, spacious rooftop deck replete with Beyonce, two rooftop bars and beers served in buckets.


Downstairs, the two spacious, high-ceilinged rooms are decked out with TVs showing nonstop Olympics coverage , along with enormous portraits of 19th century ladies. Rough brick walls and exposed pipes, colorful Chinese paper lanterns hang from the ceiling and an enormous antique mirror lines the wall behind the main bar.

If this doesn't sound like your typical straight-guy sports bar, that's because it's not. Nellie's caters to the gays of DC, and has become something of a see-and-be-seen place apart from the strip on 17th street.



A couple dozen of us had assembled for Good Friend David's birthday. GFD loves beers, Olympics, gay men, nachos and trivia, so the decision was pretty simple.


On Wednesdays, Nellie's hosts a trivia night, two games of four rounds each. We stayed competitive until the last round, during which we promptly lost it all. Questions ranged from the topical (Olympics) to the gay (Bette Midler) to the downright obscure (Ross Perot's running mate?). A lightning round was comprised of ten second snippets of song covers, and the answer had to list the name of the song and the original recording artist.

But our sorrow over losing was easily abated when GFD was presented with birthday nachos, complete with candle and boisterous singing. The menu at Nellie's is your typical bar food, burgers, wraps, wings, and hot dogs, along with some Mexican specialties (arrapas, empanadas and burritos). I can personally vouch for the mini hot dogs, which I demolished in between rounds 3 and 4 of trivia.


So here's wishing GFD a very happy birthday, as he joins the ranks of the Very Old. Wishing you many more, and lots of occasions to celebrate in the coming years!

Related: Trivia at the Wonderland Ballroom. Wow, that was the first Thing...how far we've come.

Thing 75: Organize a Scavenger Hunt

A city-wide photo scavenger hunt, my friends. I organized a city-wide photo scavenger hunt for my birthday. Because drag queens and orcas and Creme just weren't enough, I wouldn't rest until rogue teams of costumed individuals roamed the streets of DC harassing tourists and slamming back sangria. It was everything I had hoped it would be.

I had been dreaming about this event since I casually mentioned it to a friend in January for his birthday and he passed on the idea. I realized I was relieved, because I wanted the idea for myself. Then came Urban Dare, and it made me want to organize my own version that much more. And so, as the Saturday before Halloween dawned clear and the previous night's rain dried up, I met my friends in Dupont Circle to let the games begin.

This was incredibly fun and relatively easy to plan, and I urge you all to do this too (or, as the entrepreneurial Boyfriend insists I mention -- I will do it for you, for a nominal fee). Teams met in Dupont Circle at 2, and were handed a list of over 60 places, things, people, foods and drinks, all of which were weighted with different point values based on distance and/or difficulty in obtaining. I did it this way, rather than with clues or a shorter list, so that I could play too. There was an element of strategy involved this way that did not guarantee that I would win (and boy, did I not win. My team got smoked in fact). The teams then had four hours to run around the city, collecting as many photographs off the list as they could in an attempt to get the highest point total.

The list included everything from the DC specific (the point where the four quadrants begin, Duke Ellington's childhood home, Dorothy's ruby slippers), to the crafty (on 'spinning' bikes, in an elevator, playing shuffleboard), to the embarrassing (a tourist with a fanny pack, three tourists doing the "Charlie's Angels" in front of the Spy Museum), to local foods and drinks (sangria at Jaleo, a Julia's empanada, a salty oat cookie from Teaism). Extra high marks were awarded to the damn near impossible - 150 points for either a U.S. Senator, or George Clooney (who was in fact in town filming a movie that weekend). No one managed to snag a picture with George or a U.S. Senator, although our team did do a sweep of the men's rooms at Union Station.
Since it was the Saturday before Halloween, costumes were encouraged, but not required. One team showed up in some amazing lederhosen, which led to one of my favorite moments of the whole afternoon. Stopping at Jaleo for a quick sangria, the bartender told us that there had been another team in to do the same thing earlier in the afternoon. "They were dressed like Keebler Elves, but taller," he informed me.

At 6:30, all the teams met back up at Ben's Chili Bowl for dinner, cake and prizes. First prize went to team No Pugs with an amazing and unbeatable 515 points. The prize is a dinner cooked by me, so really, I was going to be a winner no matter, sharing food with good friends sometime soon.

You can check out all the wacky and ridiculous pictures here. And if you'd like to do one of these yourself in the future...do it! I will be happy to help, just leave a comment and I'll get right back to you.

Thing 39: The Strawberry Festival

I just bought an ice cream maker. Happy summer to me!

That purchase is key to understanding my motivation for begging and pleading the Boyfriend to drive us out to Delaplane, VA for the Strawberry Festival last weekend. Because at the strawberry festival there would be cheap and abundant strawberries, and that meant fresh, homemade strawberry ice cream and sorbet. I had to test out my new Cuisinart ice cream maker, cherry red, and David Lebovitz's beautiful book that I ordered along with it.

Where exactly is Delaplane? I still have no idea, but I think it's about 50 miles West of here. I had it in my head that it was a suburb of DC, which it decidely did not turn out to be, so it took a lot longer than I thought it was going to. We drove about an hour out on 66, then turned onto a country highway lined with rolling green hills, cows and silos. The Boyfriend has a Miata convertible, and we took the top down for the first time this year and drove and drove with the wind in our hair and NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me blasting from the radio.

Finally we pulled into Sky Meadows State Park, where the festival is held. We paid the $20/car fee, and parked in a large, grassy lot. By this time it was noon, and the sun was beating down pretty hard. We slathered on the sun screen, and trudged across the wide lot into the festival.

We did a lap of the festival, checking out the children's games and activities, the local crafts for sale, and the food vendors, before finding a grassy spot in the shade for our picnic lunch. We'd packed our own ahead of time, although there were a half dozen food booths selling pit BBQ sandwiches, homemade potato chips, kettle corn, fruit smoothies, crab cakes, and New Orleans gumbo. Everything smelled wonderful. We ate our modest sandwiches, leaving room for the strawberry sundaes that were the main attraction.

At 1:00, we bought a large glass of strawberry lemonade and then made our way to the stage area, grabbing a sunny seat on a bale of hay. It was time for the World Championship Strawberry Eating Contest.

I had never been to a professional eating competition and I must say, it was amazing in that car wreck kind of way. I could not look away. And yet, I knew that this sort of gluttonous competition is a lot of what I think is wrong in this country. And great about this country. Do we celebrate the triumph of an incredible physical feat (which truly, it was)? Or do we frown on such extreme excess? The term "food warrior," which the competitors used to describe themselves, makes it sound like food is an enemy to be destroyed rather than one of life's simplest pleasures. I remain conflicted.

The amateurs were up first, a group of fifteen local people doing this for a lark rather than cash money. Only one woman in the bunch, and she ended up winning! In five minutes, she put down an impressive three and a half pounds of strawberries. She will have the privilege (punishment?) of competing in the pro contest next year.

And then it was the turn of the professional "Food Warriors." The emcees, two veteran 'warriors,' were manic faux gangstas, trying to display their street cred with their 'yo yo yo's and their tough talk. They introduced the ten professional competitors, who all had really impressive (terrifying?) credits to their name -- most matzoh balls eaten if five minutes, 115 chicken wings eaten in seven minutes, world record cookies and milk holder.

They had seven minutes to eat as many pounds of strawberries as they could. Seven one pound baskets were laid out in front of them; enough to beat the previous record of five pounds and some change. The timer started, and they were off! Whereas the amateurs all omitted eating the green stems, opting to place them in a separate bucket to be weighed against the amount eaten, the professionals all ate the entire strawberry, greens and all. Like machines, they just kept putting one after the other in their mouths, chew, swallow, chew, swallow. The most impressive and ultimately successful competitor, Tom "Goose" Gilbert, is an army reserve officer, and he ate those berries with a will and precision that would have been admirable had it not been so gluttonous. "Goose" ended up eating nine pounds even, a decisive win, and a look of total misery when it was all over.

The Boyfriend and I spent the next hour wondering around the festival, eating ice cream, petting barnyard animals and giggling at the tacky local knick knacks (awesome tie dye t-shirts, anyone? Floral tea cozies, perhaps?). Around three, on the verge of suffering dehydration, heat stroke and/or sunburn, we headed home. On the road back to the highway, the Boyfriend swears he saw Tom "Goose" Gilbert in a car pulled over to the side of the road, throwing up about nine pounds of strawberries out the side door.

And the homemade ice cream? Oh, people. It is what heaven tastes like. I made two of David's recipes -- strawberry sour cream ice cream, and strawberry rhubarb sorbet. They were both incredibly easy, requiring almost zero cooking. The ice cream is a rich, light pink ice cream with real strawberry flavor at the center, not the sugar or the cream tastes. And the sorbet is light and tart and sweet, a dark red-pink, and with barely any sugar, the stuff is downright good for you! I have a quart of each in the freezer that I'm slowly working my way through, a refreshing, delicious reminder that summer time is here!

Thing 33: Ride A Horse

You could probably guess this already, but I'm a city girl. I'm more Urban Dare than Survivor. But every now and then, a girl's gotta leave the confines of the city, get a little dust on her sneakers, and ride a horse.

The Roommate found the Woodland Horse Center in Silver Spring because she is seriously considering taking riding lessons and was researching places to do so. The appeal of Woodland is that they give a free, one hour introductory lesson every Sunday afternoon. The Roommate had never so much as been on a horse before, and before she committed several hundred dollars to the thing she wanted to be sure she liked it. She asked me to come along because she knew I wouldn't say no. And the Boyfriend came too, because he just likes to ride horses.

Which is how we found ourselves speeding out to the suburbs in a zip car Volvo last Sunday. Now, you fellow city dwellers may be like me and think, "Silver Spring? That's not so far." Well, as it happens, Silver Spring goes a lot further north than I had thought, and gets a lot more country. As we drove down on Colesville Road from downtown Silver Spring, apartment high rises gave way to large, single family, suburban homes. Then, once on New Hampshire Avenue going north, the suburban homes gave way to...nothing. Country roads.

The Woodland Horse Center is beautiful. When you turn onto the dirt driveway off of New Hampshire you drive under a huge, drooping willow tree and come up on a large barn. Not surprisingly, horses peek their heads out of the barn windows. A large field extends south of the barn. To the north of the barn is a dusty, fenced in corral, where our practice lesson will be held. Behind the barn there is an idyllic scene behind a wooden fence - green hills, leafy trees and a small stream, two horses quietly grazing on the grass. (I have the distinct impression that I made up the bit about the stream, but I'm pretty sure the rest is accurate and not subject to my fantasy of what "the country" is supposed to look like.)

We arrive just a bit late, and the introductory lesson is already underway in the barn. Although Woodland accommodates all ages with its lessons, the vast majority of the dozen people attending the free introductory are under the age of ten. The Roommate, the Boyfriend and I significantly up the average age of those participating.

The lesson begins with a short lecture on staying safe around a horse -- don't walk behind the horse, don't make any sudden movements, don't approach the horse if its ears are flat against its head. Then one of the more advanced students demonstrates how to get on and off the animal, making it look, of course, effortless and easy. Just place the reigns behind the neck, lower the stirrups, grab hold of the mane, and swing your leg over the beast. Easy!

Having been shown the basics, we are ready to ride. Since we'd arrived late, the three of us don't have helmets or horses yet, but the staff gets three horses ready as quickly as it takes for us to read and sign our waivers and pick out helmets.


Our three horses are waiting for us in the corral, while the others are already on their horses. They are walking slowly in a circle on the outer edge of the ring while our horses stand in the center, waiting for us. My horse is named Tonka, and she is a white horse with a light caramel color on her ears and the sides of her face. I am entirely too short to mount the horse, which is not quite as simple as they made it look in the introductory lecture. I can't even lift my leg high enough to get my foot in the stirrup and I need to use the step stool and feel like a total wuss. Once I'm actually on the horse, my helper adjusts the stirrups to the proper length, shows me how to hold the reigns, and then walks Tonka, with me on her, to join the group as their horses walk in a circle.

Every person gets a helper who is an experienced rider, who holds the reins while you're on the horse, and gives you tips about your form and technique. My helper turns out to be the manager of Woodland, a middle aged woman named Tammy. I ask her how long she's been riding, and she tells me that it's since she was a little kid. She gave it up when she had children of her own, but came back to it just as soon as she could because she missed it so much. She is very patient with me, giving me good pointers about how to sit correctly and how to interact with the horse.

Once we've gotten the feel for riding the horse while it's walking, we practice "posting," which is the motion one makes while the horse is trotting. This is where it gets hard. You have to thrust your hips forward, basically causing your entire body to rise until you are almost standing in the stirrups, then lower your body back down, all while keeping your knees turned out and without pulling up with the reins. It's hard because the motion is very awkward, and your natural instinct is to lift up with your hands to balance yourself. Unfortunately, that tugs on the reins and pulls the horse's head back, which is uncomfortable for the horse. So you need muscle control and exceptional balance, which anyone who has seen me walk in high heels knows I do not have.

We practiced posting while the horse was still walking, then one at a time we had the chance to actually try it while our horse trotted. In addition to the difficulty of the hip motion and the balance, you have to time it with the rhythm of the horse's trot. If you lose control of your body, it is called "bouncing," which is exactly what it sounds like. Needless to say, I did my fair share of bouncing. But I began to get the hang of it just a bit, and I can see why lessons would be both necessary and fun.


Our introductory lesson was over after the attempt at posting. The helpers would return the horses to the barn while we returned our helmets to the office...which was coincidentally where you could sign up for lessons! The three of us snuck off without signing up for anything, but the Roommate liked it enough to make some follow up calls regarding pricing and scheduling.

We came back to the city, returned the zip car, and then immediately took naps when we got back to the apartment. Horse back riding is exhausting! But what a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon -- an idyllic country setting, a magnificent animal, fresh air and sunshine.

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Thing 24: Trusty's

I strolled down Pennsylvania Avenue early Thursday evening, leaving work and heading Southeast towards the Anacostia. Past 8th Street and Eastern Market, watching the houses get a little smaller and a little shabbier, past the local shops and corner bodegas, past parents strolling with their children on bicycles. Around 12th Street I crossed the street and started strolling on the wide median that was covered in new, bright green grass and lined with trees blooming small pink and white buds. The air was fresh and cool from the afternoon's April shower. I continued under this blooming canopy down past Potomac Ave and then another block until I reached Trusty's. It's just a small storefront, with four small tables on the sidewalk and a large orange sign announcing "Trusty's" and "Full Service."

Brought to you by the people who own the Pourhouse, Trusty's Full Serve Bar is a small neighborhood joint designed to invoke a service station. A large road map of the United States lines the wall in front of the bar and vintage license plates and road signs fill the walls. The bar itself consists of one room, with a couple tall tables in the front window, a bar lined with stools, and about ten larger tables in the back. A large chalkboard on the back wall wishes luck to the Nats in large letters and decorated with pastel fireworks. TVs on the walls broadcast the Nats. Located walking distance from RFK, this bar roots for the home team and serves game day drink specials before, after and during Nats games.

But the best part, oh the very best part, is that each table in the back area is stacked high with games! Connect Four, Parcheesi, Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, chess, cards, Jenga, backgammon, Jeopardy. They're all there and they're all free, yours to choose and play at your leisure.


I went there on Thursday, with GFL and the Boyfriend. We ordered beers, which arrived in mason jars, and looked over the brief menu. The "kitchen" consists of a deep fryer and a small griddle, each about a foot and a half across, and both located behind the bar. The two guys working that night do everything -- serve the drinks, fry the food and clear the tables. The menu reflects the limited cooking space. Sausages and hot dogs, burgers and grilled cheese, nachos and chili are about the only choices. My party each orders a hot dog or sausage and they come to our table greasy and delicious, with a heap of potato chips.


And now it's time to get down to business. Or rather, get down to playing. It's game time.

We start with Chutes and Ladders, which is much preachier than I remember it being. GFL gets caught up in the initial series of chutes, and stays towards the bottom of the board for the majority of the game. The Boyfriend starts out hot on my heels, but a couple of chutes at the end trip him up Chutes. I emerge the triumphant winner.

Tired of getting lectured at about eating too many apples or pulling the cat's tail, we put away Chutes and Ladders and break out the Parcheesi. Trouble is, none of us know how to play. But I used to play when I was seven, so how hard could it be? GFL reads us the rules and we begin to muddle along, moving our elephants and camels slowly across the brightly colored board. About midway through, when it is taking forever, I remember that GFL had said something about moving 20 extra spaces each time you land on and "kill" an opponent's piece. Ah ha! Once we begin employing this rule, the game moves at a more rapid clip.

This also led to one of the funnier incidents of the night. Hoping to win a bonus and move ahead, GFL says, "I really need to kill someone soon!" The uniformed police officer sitting at the bar turns to us and says "I didn't hear that." GFL immediately starts back-tracking, "I mean, I, um, I really need to kill someone in the game. This game...right here...Parcheesi...oh dear." The Boyfriend and I are in stitches.

I won Parcheesi too, by the way.

While we are playing our games, a random man with a laptop sits in a corner and plays some tunes. He wasn't really a DJ, or a least didn't look it and didn't seem to be taking requests. He appeared to be just some guy from the neighborhood, selecting Tribe Called Quest, Ben Folds, Green Day and Bon Jovi from his personal I-tunes play list, whenever he felt like it. GFL, who lives in the neighborhood and frequents the place, assures me that there is always some guy with a laptop playing tunes. Not always that same guy, but always some guy. We then go back to singing along to Ben Folds.

Finally, we order one last beer and break out the Jenga. The Jenga set has already been abused by various drunken parties over the course of its history - the pieces are written on with everything from 'yo mama' jokes to chemical formulas to very dirty commands. I decidedly lose at Jenga, knocking over the tower into GFL's lap.

Trusty's is working hard to be a place for the neighborhood, from its cheap eats to its low frills setting, support for the home team and friendly setting. Thursdays they offer a 15% discount to people from the neighborhood, but it's not all that expensive to start with (the three of us drank and ate well for $40). To the naysayers who think they absolutely cannot travel that far, I say that it is one block from the Potomac Ave metro stop -- closer than a trip to RFK stadium. Trusty's is a great place to relax with a jar of beer, a board game, and some friendly people from the neighborhood.

Thing 4: Wizards' Game

I'm not really a sport person. I don't know things about sports. I had never been to any basketball game at all (yes, even a college game, even when I was in college). So it was in the spirit of trying new things that I accepted the extra ticket to the Wizards' game when Good Friend David offered. He also doesn't know a thing about a sport, but he had gotten a couple of great tickets free through a work thing. They were seven rows back, behind the basket ("they're behind that goal-post-thing" to quote GFD).

We did a little pregame at Hooters, half a block from the Verizon center. Hooters is a chain and it doesn't bare mention here except to say that I have strange affinity for the place. We arrived at the game midway through the second quarter, armed with two drinks each, and settled into our seats just as there was a "free burrito" break where they were handing out free Chipotle burritos to random members of the arena audience. "FREE burritos? We're gonna like basketball games!"

The first thing we noticed is that the court is incredibly small in real life. It looks much smaller and much glossier in real life, the players look bigger against the background of such a small court. Second thing we noticed is that the game itself is kind of an afterthought. There are all kinds of giveaways, mascots running about (see the picture!), blimps and inflatable trucks on strings circulating around the top of the arena, people making baskets on trampolines during time outs and of course, the cheerleaders in their little shiny black underpants.

We spent most of the time engaged in the spectacle and less time watching the game. At the half time we were each given those inflatable sticks that make noise when you hit them together -- another distraction that we took to immediately, occasionally getting over-enthusiastic and hitting the folks in front of us in our vigor. They were not our biggest fans. Then we spent some time smiling and looking lovey and/or dancing, trying to get on the jumbo tron for the kiss cam/dance break. Then finally it was the last minute of the game, and we focused our attention on that.

The Wizards were playing the Hawks, and we had kept five or six points ahead throughout the course of the game until the last minute or so when the Hawks came up from behind and the Wizards were only one point ahead. Then they were one point behind and a time out was called. We were treated once again to the cheerleaders in their hot pants and knee-high boots. When the players returned to the court, everyone stood up and banged their noise makers together and hoped that the home team could make it back to the lead. And they did! The final score: 93 to 92, Wizards win!

My final evaluation: We had a great time, and it was fun to try something so new. I'm not sure I'd go on my own dime, but if anyone has any more free tickets out there, I'd be happy to take them off your hands. I mean, I do love free Chipotle burritos...