Random Tidbits
Apr. 3rd, 2009 08:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxkloreA capella: I went to see The Tone Rangers in Bethesda the other night, along with a German a capella group named Vocaldente. I enjoyed the show, but I do wish The Tone Rangers had done more new material. The only did a couple of songs that are not on their (not so) new CD. Admittedly, some of those are songs I love their arrangements of (e.g. "Helen"), but I like variety. They do have a real affinity for Dean Friedman songs. Not only did they sing "Ariel," but they also did "McDonald's Girl."
I didn't really know anything about Vocaldente, but I really enjoyed them. I especially liked their rendition of "Let's Misbehave." (That shouldn't surprise anybody who knows how I feel about Cole Porter songs.) I'll definitely keep an eye out for them in the future.
Burgers: I've now had occasion to eat at three of the restaurants that Tom Sietsama of the Washington Post listed in the "best burgers" section of his last dining guide. My verdict is that Ray's has the best actual burger, but the bun doesn't stand up to it and they don't have fries at all. Good Stuff loses points for not cooking burgers to order. However, even though their style is more done than I would choose, the burger was still tasty. And their fries were excellent, especially dipped in the sriracha mayonaisse they have. BGR was, alas, very disappointing with an overly mustardy "mojo" sauce dominating the flavor and surprisingly bland sweet potato fries. Perhaps I should have ordered the fries with rosemary, but charging an extra 50 cents for that irritates me.
Demons and Angels: The most underreported obituary of the week was Monday's death of Andy Hallett, who played Lorne, the karaoke demon, on Angel. He died of congestive heart failure at only 33. Apparently, his heart disease stemmed from a tooth infection in 2005. Scary.
Travel I have almost figured out my plans for my European trip in May. I still need to buy some train tickets and make a few more hotel reservations, but I'm past my usual waffling stage. Given how much I travel, I should be far more decisive on these things. In short, I'm flying to London and dragging Robert off to a romantic weekend in Paris. After he returns to London, I'll continue on to Burgundy (Dijon and Beaune). From there, I will go to Lausanne and, finally, Geneva (from whence I will fly home). I am blaming Robert for some of my indecisiveness since he demands certain things of a hotel which I don't, e.g. an elevator.
Freecycle: I understand that something can come up that prevents somebody from picking an item up when they originally said they would. But it seems rude to me if you email me at 4:30 to tell me you will call at 6 to set a time for that evening and them email at 7 to say you can't make it.
I will save my rant on the subject of homo touristicus versus homo sapiens for another time.
I didn't really know anything about Vocaldente, but I really enjoyed them. I especially liked their rendition of "Let's Misbehave." (That shouldn't surprise anybody who knows how I feel about Cole Porter songs.) I'll definitely keep an eye out for them in the future.
Burgers: I've now had occasion to eat at three of the restaurants that Tom Sietsama of the Washington Post listed in the "best burgers" section of his last dining guide. My verdict is that Ray's has the best actual burger, but the bun doesn't stand up to it and they don't have fries at all. Good Stuff loses points for not cooking burgers to order. However, even though their style is more done than I would choose, the burger was still tasty. And their fries were excellent, especially dipped in the sriracha mayonaisse they have. BGR was, alas, very disappointing with an overly mustardy "mojo" sauce dominating the flavor and surprisingly bland sweet potato fries. Perhaps I should have ordered the fries with rosemary, but charging an extra 50 cents for that irritates me.
Demons and Angels: The most underreported obituary of the week was Monday's death of Andy Hallett, who played Lorne, the karaoke demon, on Angel. He died of congestive heart failure at only 33. Apparently, his heart disease stemmed from a tooth infection in 2005. Scary.
Travel I have almost figured out my plans for my European trip in May. I still need to buy some train tickets and make a few more hotel reservations, but I'm past my usual waffling stage. Given how much I travel, I should be far more decisive on these things. In short, I'm flying to London and dragging Robert off to a romantic weekend in Paris. After he returns to London, I'll continue on to Burgundy (Dijon and Beaune). From there, I will go to Lausanne and, finally, Geneva (from whence I will fly home). I am blaming Robert for some of my indecisiveness since he demands certain things of a hotel which I don't, e.g. an elevator.
Freecycle: I understand that something can come up that prevents somebody from picking an item up when they originally said they would. But it seems rude to me if you email me at 4:30 to tell me you will call at 6 to set a time for that evening and them email at 7 to say you can't make it.
I will save my rant on the subject of homo touristicus versus homo sapiens for another time.
