Weekend Reviews

Reviews from our Fifth Wedding Anniversary Weekend:

Willow Restaurant. Two thumbs up. One of the best filets I've ever had on the East Coast, and Sweetie's lentil and wilted green entree was to die for. One of my yardsticks for a good meal out is if I want to make the meal at home. Yeah, I think I'll try to recreate this soon.

"Forever Plaid" at RCP. Mixed thumbage. We enjoyed the performance of our friend, Troy Miller, very much. He's got such a great presence on stage. The show itself is very cliche and cheesy, but that's the point. (I am afraid that in 10-15 years or so the entire "Ed Sullivan Show" parody will have to be removed because the people who get those jokes may not be around anymore.) The best moment of the evening involved a ketchup bottle that had been struck one two many times.

National Museum of the American Indian. Mixed thumbage. Two of the exhibits we enjoyed very much, but the rest of the museum feels very scattered. Artifacts are displayed with very little context (although with plenty of interactivity!). The building itself is gorgeous, particularly the interior. As a bonus, we actually drove down and found parking right next to the museum! Gotta pay back the parking karma...

Alton Brown's "The Chewy" Chocolate Chip Cookie. Two thumbs up. Sweetie now has another baking assignment: these cookies. Like meth, these cookies are...

"Thank You For Smoking". Two thumbs up. The ensemble is terrific! With the exception of Katie Holmes. She. Can. Not. Act. At. All. We left trying to figure out why she gets parts. But JK Simmons and William H. Macy more than make up for her. It's very funny and even-handed in its sarcasm. Check it out!

Our Waiter at Tutto Benne. Two thumbs down. I'm gonna submit this episode to Tom Sietsema's chat this week because it really flabbergasted us. Sweetie (a vegetarian) orders the cheese ravioli and it arrives dressed in a meat sauce. She didn't realize that she had to choose between marinara and meat sauce and so asked the waiter to make the change. Not only did he express profound reluctance to make the switch, but implied that he would be charged for the "extra dish." We were both a bit flummoxed, but Sweetie pointed out that he hadn't asked her if she had a preference. The dish was fixed and everything ended up ok, but it left a pretty bad taste in our mouths.

Breaking Radio Silence

So. I haven't been around here for a while. Sorry about that. I've been in a bit of a funk, the sources of which are various and sundry. I'm not getting into the actual reasons for the funk, but here's a list of things that are not causing me pain:

• The tattered state of my NCAA brackets. My two final teams (Duke and Villanova) are still alive, but there is a big X where my Washington, D.C. bracket used to be.
  
  
• The tattered state of Barry Manilow's face. It's so sad to see one of my childhood idols fall prey to the plastic surgeon's blade.
  
  
• The tattered state of Alfonso Soriano and the Nats. Sure, he took Left Field yesterday. So how 'bout tomorrow?
  

I'm feeling a bit better today than I have in a few days. So don't worry, the only way to go is still up.