I know DC’s an expensive place to live, but I didn’t know it had gotten this bad:

Your aunt has unexpectedly come into town and wants to take you to dinner. Where do you go?

Well, if you have a sense of direction like mine, you go someplace close to her hotel so you don’t get lost on the way back. Fortunately, she was in Woodley Park, so we chose Medaterra on Connecticut Ave. from the host of options available to us.

The place was nearly empty when we arrived, so we received immediate service. We ordered the calamari, since I get it wherever I go, and the baba ghanouj, because I’d never had it before. The calamari wasn’t the best I’d ever had, but the sauces it was served with were excellent- a cold bruschetta-style tomato sauce, and an off-white aioli that I couldn’t quite identify. And if Medaterra’s baba ghanouj is any indication of what baba ghanouj is like overall, I think I have found my new favorite snack…

(It was at this point that my aunt, who spent some time in the Middle East in her 20s, told me a very amusing story about trying to make baba ghanouj in a friend’s kitchen but instead she caused the eggplant to explode all over the room.)

I ordered the sirloin special, which was very tasty and had an especially good gravy poured over it. But the real star was the lamb shank special my aunt ordered. The meat was falling off the bone and practically melted in your mouth as you chewed it.

For dessert, there were a number of interesting-looking options, but as I was mostly full from dinner, I chose the mango sorbet. It was a much larger portion than I had intended. It was 5 small scoops, sprinkled with powdered sugar to offset the tartness of the fruit. Mmm. But of course by the time I finished it, I was stuffed.

So two thumbs up, though I do recommend the ethnic dishes over the American-style ones. Price: ~$20/person.

Cold Ducks
Originally uploaded by tbridge.

It’s cold in DC this morning, it was about 17°F when I snapped this shot of the ducks in the fountain at Freedom Plaza. I was hoping that yesterday’s thaw would get a chance to last us through the cherry blossoms, but I believe the phrase goes “No Such Luck.”

We’ve mourned the passing of HFS, but sources report that the HFStival is still on. True, no bands, dates, or location have been announced yet, but it sounds like the go-ahead has been given. (In the past, the HFStival has been held the weekend before Memorial Day, so they might try that again.) Thanks to the Washington Nationals, RFK Stadium is probably out as a venue, but there are plenty of other places around here to consider. Once any of us hears about bands, dates, or locations, we’ll let everyone know.

The folks in Chicago have come up with a new metric for urban density and business growth. Here at my office at 12th and F above Metro Center, we’re at 61 SBD, and my condo over in Fairlington is at 32 SBD. Converting the metric into Starbucks per Square Mile (S/mi^2), that’s a 0.77 S/mi^2 for downtown and 0.40 S/mi^2 for Fairlington.

I actually expected a lot higher cluster of Starbucks downtown, but apparently they’re all over by Georgetown. What’s your Starbucks Density?

Yesterday, an assistant superintendent in Prince George’s County was indicted on charges of money laundering for a drug ring. The indictment spans 267 pages and charges 30 people with charges ranging from selling drugs to money laundering. The local news was interviewing parents last night who hardly seemed shocked, but yet appeared quite upset that their administrator was involved in a drug scandal.

It’s not yet clear how deeply she was involved, as the five charges she was indicted on are only related to Money Laundering. There is, of course, more in the Post.

Police Say Be On Guard, Late Night In Mount Pleasant – There have been 5 robberies in the Mt. Pleasant/Columbia Heights neighborhoods in the last week. The good news is that not only have the police stepped up their foot patrol at night, the residents have been involved in stopping at least one attack according to a message thread on the Mt. Pleasant forum. Which, by the way, is a great place to hear about Mt. Pleasant events before anyone else.

Last weekend I went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s special exhibit, “Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race.” The exhibit was very intelligently reviewed by the NYTimes (Museum Review: The Tainted Science of Nazi Atrocities, January 8, 2005, By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN). For anyone who hasn

Metroblogging DC’s own Julia has some suggestions for Metro behavior.

Heads up, everyone: there’s a winter storm watch in effect for most of the weekend. The current weather forecast is predicting 3-5 inches of snow in the DC area, with snow starting on Saturday morning, and snow/sleet continuing to fall through Sunday morning.

Remember: just because you have a SUV does not mean you can drive faster than everyone else on the road–you’ll still have the same problems stopping on icy roads as those in other vehicles. Drive safely and enjoy the snow!