Turns out the new Adams Morgan Harris Teeter did indeed open on time this week. Things were pretty low-key there yesterday when I dropped by around 5pm. There were a bunch of folks signing up to get their VIC (Very Important Customer, aka how the supermarkets track our tastes) cards, but otherwise most folks were just going about their business.

The place is pretty swanky, with sushi, lots of happy produce, and a million brands of everything—toothpaste, cereal, canned goods. It’s all regular supermarket stuff, but still in the just-stacked stage and therefore looking extra sparkly. Otherwise I’m not sure it’s that impressive. Yes, there are more produce options and some items are cheaper even than at the old dingy Safeway around the corner, but the selection (of items I buy, that is) didn’t seem enormously better. But I guess people will vote with their feet.

There was a guy picketing outside, a Mr. L. Napoleon Cooper, Jr. (“Coop”), who was willing to take a moment to discuss his gripes, though I had to walk with him in order to comply with DC laws governing demonstrations. It seems that, according to zoning laws, having a 50,000 square foot supermarket that sells beer and alcohol undermines the neighborhood corner shops, but the city provided HT with a license anyway. He was incensed, though I’m not fully convinced he was just doing this out of pure civic duty.

Anyway, the charge didn’t seem too egregious to me. I wandered over to the Dorchester Market, one of the small markets Mr. Cooper had referred to, and chatted a bit with the Ethiopian employees. They weren’t particularly angry about the new HT.

I know – it would have been even better had Cold Stone been outside, rather than in the Ballston Mall. However, you can’t deny that even the Weather Channel is predicting ongoing ice cream weather until about late September.

My choice this evening was a malted shake with French vanilla ice cream. For those of you who are uninitiated, French vanilla is the king of the ice cream jungle. It can kick ass all over chocolate any day. Plus, it tasted rich enough that it was like sweet butter and vanilla flavoring.

What’s your favorite ice cream place? What do you get when you go there?

Photo: Ice Cream! Originally uploaded by carlweaver

From time to time, you just need to embrace the lolcat. Thanks, rsplatpc, for embracing it in a uniquely DC fashion.

Couldn’t resist — Originally uploaded by rsplatpc

I kicked off work about 4:45 today to come down to Nationals Park for tonight’s Nats/Cubs game, getting to the game around 5:45. Imagine my surprise when I could get into the stadium….but not to my seat. In fact, none of the inner ring of the ballpark was accessible until 6pm, 90 minutes before the start of the game, and more importantly, 10 minutes after the Nationals had stopped taking BP.

How are young fans supposed to engage with the players and get to know and love them? I mean, I understand that the team’s in a slump, and maybe you don’t want them pressured to have to perform for an audience, but why open the park at all, then?

I don’t get it. You want us to bond with the team, you have to let us bond with the team. You have to let us inside the park to do that. Don’t just leave us stuck in the centerfield entranceway where the players are specs in the distance.

What’s better? This is Little League Support weekend. The idea being that the Nats are holding a used equipment drive for the local Little League groups. You want us to do everything we can to support youth baseball? Let us take kids to the park and watch how the pros get ready for game.

Standin’ Around — Originally uploaded by tbridge

Found this via Wonkette, with a much bigger picture. Apparently, they’re having some sort of firearms training group (Warning, website has sound, which may or may not make you hate humanity…) demonstrating their wares in various House of Representatives offices today. Laser Shot’s mission is: “Our mission is to be the leader in firearms training products specializing in “Use of Force” and “Judgmental Training” to save lives emphasizing on military and law enforcement products.”

Hysterically, their Mission statement includes links to their four major branches: Military, Law Enforcement, Hunter Education and…

…Home Theatre?

No really. For real. They will sell you a kit to install in your home theatre so you can practice pistol shooting, rifle shooting or shooting skeet! The best part of all of this? The “firearms” they sell are probably the only legal ones for the District.

I guess if somebody breaks in you can put a dot on their chest…

I had the dubious pleasure of being in Fair Oaks mall in Fairfax on Wednesday night to meet some people and walked by this ad that set off my latent hippie genes. Seriously, that’s your advertising technique? Forget those dirty clothes, just buy new ones!

I feel like I should go eat granola and wear hemp, I find this so disturbing.

A few days ago, I found myself in a foreign land known as “Capitol Hill”. It took me about 45 minutes to find my way over there from NW DC, partly because my GPS told me to get onto 395 like the stupid gadget that it is. When will I learn to turn that thing off while driving through our complicated crisscross of roads and quadrants? Alas, after going from Dupont to Union Station to L’enfant Plaza to Eastern Market, I had finally made it to my destination on 8th street SE in what was probably the most difficult possible way.

After meeting with my underground stonecutters group and drinking the blood of an English sheep, I decided some food was in order. “What do these people of ‘Capitol Hill’ eat?” I wondered. Do they partake in the sushi, the steak frites, or the spaghetti and meatballs? It was then that I remembered a tale once told by my friend about a place known at Kenny’s BBQ and how it was legendary in this far off land. Low and behold, this famous eating establishment was a mere ten minute drive away.

As I made my way into the establishment, I was greeted by a fine young lady behind the counter. Actually that’s not true. She didn’t say a word and just stared off into the distance, waiting for me to order. She used a toothpick to clean underneath her fingernails. I perused their menu and started to salivate because one, I was starving and two, it’d been ages since I’d eaten some good BBQ.

I asked the customer service oriented counter lady, “What comes with the platter?” She replied, “It’s a platter.” Mmmmm. That was sounding good. I then remembered how much I like baked beans with my BBQ and asked, “Do you have baked beans?” As she stared down at the cash register and ran her fingers over the buttons she replied, “No.” So I decided on the shredded beef platter with a side of macaroni and cheese, and in the absence of baked beans I chose a side of black eyed peas and rice. In ten minutes my food was all bagged up and ready to go, so assuming I could find my way back to NW, I would be eating in no time.

When I got home, I unpacked my Styrofoam container of shredded dead cow as my dog anxiously drooled nearby. To my surprise they had included some cornbread along with my massive meal. I couldn’t wait to see how much of it I could stuff into my face at 10:00 at night. I dove into the BBQ beef and at first thought to myself, “Arrrggggghhhh….BBQ….sooo delicious….” My dog looked at me and said, “Arrrggggghhh….I know…BBQ…sooo delicious…give me some noooow you bastard….” But as my hunger wore off and I actually thought about critiquing the taste, my thoughts changed to, “Hmph. It tastes like shredded beef with sweet and sour sauce on top of it.” The macaroni and cheese had almost no flavor to it. It was more like macaroni and Elmer’s Glue. The black eyed peas and rice tasted pretty good but would have been much better had they been baked beans. And the cornbread you ask? It was pretty dry and tasted like it was premade or had been sitting on a shelf all day long.

So all in all, my Kenny’s BBQ experience wasn’t one that I’m going to highly recommend to you. In fact, I’d rather eat with my grandma in her retirement home’s cafeteria where they serve a delicious ham with applesauce. Plus I get to eat in the warm company of my grandma.

Photo of a flying pig by Grundlepuck

These are the rare perfect nights here in Washington, when the weather is pleasant and civil. When you can sit outside on your patio, the hum of an AM radio droning in the background, the chirping of the robins dying down. The sky is robin’s egg blue, slowly heading for midnight blue. The breeze wafts in the smell of mown grass and freshly turned soil.

It’s the nights that make me love this town. In Summer, they swelter, and your clothes cling and stick, as if pressed down with a wet army blanket. In Fall, you can smell the fireplaces, the leaves, and the dew. In Winter, the smells of snow and of brisk cold and the fires down the street.

Tonight I can smell the charcoal grill two blocks over, sweet and gentle on the air.

All our windows are flung wide, the smell of springtime suffusing the house. I can almost smell my roses from here.

Well, apparently, the District now owns 3 Czech-made streetcars. Sure, they’re still operating and living in the Czech Republic. The city, and its taxpayers, have forked over $10 million for a set of three streetcars back in 2005. The line still hasn’t been built yet. Designed to go from Bolling AFB to the Anacostia Metro, the tracks have never been laid. The city promises they’ll be looking into that, and an operator for this new system, this summer.

But those 3 streetcars are still running in the Czech Republic…

So, wait. We’re going to pay $10M for used streetcars? For real?

For those who do keep their finger on the world pulse, tomorrow is World Malaria Day (April 25th), sponsored by the World Health Organization. While Spring is here, and the standing water from the heavy rains a few days ago will sure spawn our favorite Summer pest, the mosquito, it’s good to remember, that here, in the US, we’re lucky enough not to have the scourge of malaria, one of the largest killers of people, young and old, worldwide. So, as a reminder, since we do get other mosquito borne illness here, notably the West Nile Virus, if you have standing water pooling on your property, in buckets, plastic sheeting, or other places that seem innocuous, tip it out and drain it. (Remember, D.C. used to be a swamp, so it makes sense…)

On the upside, Senegalese singer, Youssou N’Dour is performing at the World Bank in the atrium at 2pm. I’m not sure if it’s fully open to the public, but you can try, given that it’s supposed to raise awareness…it’d be dumb to restrict access.