I’ve been featured more than a few times in the Express Blog Log and for a while I do admit to the odd post that was trying to catch their eye, but now that I’ve added myself into the DC Blogs live feed, I get plenty of traffic from around the area through that. Still it seems that less of my original thoughts (except that angry blogger one about Chinatown) and more of my referenced quotes or the second-hand stories that most personal-run blogs thrive on are the items getting attention. I typically save my IM logs because some of the chatter is downright hilarious and as such it’s really Kris that’s “almost famous” from my entry yesterday and not me, but I don’t mind the extra traffic at all.

I never have done anything with those IM logs. Most of them are saved to HTML, so I could probably go online with Lulu or similar and have them made into a book. Anyone (that isn’t an amazing writer like a certain William Mize that I know) had success or strife using Lulu to turn internet dross into paper product?

I shared this with Kris the other day as he’s the biggest choc-a-holic I know, but it was too amusing an anecdote not to revisit. We’re pretty used to amusing and informative scribblings on the back of our food packaging by now, but Gena over at Big City, Little Kitchen (I can relate to that title) wins with this one:

A few days ago I was able to take a close look at some of Vosges’s exotic chocolate offerings. I liked them so much that I bought another, the Barcelona bar, at my local Whole Foods. On the back, I had expected to see an ingredients list, and possibly health information, but I was surprised when I found instructions. Yes, how to eat chocolate!

Kris’ response to the above question was the best, however… I’ll tell you how I would enjoy an $8 chocolate bar: while running, because I must have stolen it. Considering the chocolate works out to $42/pound, that sounds about right!

Hurrah, spring has sprung. Coulda sprung a bit warmer tho, couldn’t it? It looks to be an interesting week or two and I may be hard-pressed not to break my “rule” of not blogging too much about the office. Hopefully not more on that later, but I will say that while those possessing a Project Management Professional certification are entitled to put PMP behind their names… I really wouldn’t.

An article in today’s Express mentions the Flutie Effect and their poll today asks for input. Seriously?! Fighting my nerd instincts, I don’t ignore the power of sports, but I’d like to hope that it’s only because a school was thrust into the spotlight (for a positive reason) and not that one merely wants to hold a degree from a school with a winning team. I typically like to think people choose their school to follow their academic path or because they got a handout/free ride that was impossible to refuse. In my more whimsical moments, I also like to think it was out of spite, similar to Legally Blonde.

Stuff like this makes me really want to beef-up my Photoshop skills. I love The B-52’s, and I listened to the single “Funplex” from their forthcoming album of the same name. It’s a fun song, with some good remixes and I might have to get the new album, but I think that on their album cover… they might have had just a little work.

vs.

The most important thing I can tell from these two images is that I still want to do Keith Strickland. He must follow the same exercise/meditation/tantric regimen as Sting. Also, my retouching kung-fu is humbled by the magic evident above.

It’s been a few nights since I had dinner at Locanda with Tim, but it’s still very memorable. I found that, for all of my foodie ways, when it comes to Italian cuisine I am completely unprepared for the myriad names for dishes and types of pasta. In the past few times we’ve talked, he mentioned a new Italian place on Pennsylvania Avenue and I am not as good at keeping up with DC food news as I used to, so it was completely unknown to me. Locanda is just down the block from Eastern Market metro station, in fact it used to be Meyhane, where Jhim took me for my birthday 2 years ago. Later that night I would experience my first line dancing lesson. As I walked around the block before heading in, my brain was wondering where Meyhane was, but my memory wasn’t good enough to realize that this new restaurant had taken its place.

It’s never a good thing to eat with friends that enjoy food. We are mutually bad influences on each other. We pretty much shared bites of our orders and our meal consisted of:

Cheese course: Toma Piemontese, Pecorino Sardo and Gorgonzola Dolce

Appetizers: Panzerotti (w/mozzarella, mortadella & peas) and Burrata & Prosciutto Di Parma (over a drizzle of “Laudemio” oil)

Entrees: Maccheroncelli (w/truffled fontina cheese) and Chive Fettuccine (w/day boat scallops, speck, shiitakes & Amontillado cream)

Dessert: Strawberry and Lavender Panna Cotta

Their menu from that night was sort of temporary, but I found myself unable to remember the specific names of the dishes we had, so I e-mailed them. Owner Aykan Demiroglu was kind enough to respond quickly and send me a copy of the current menu which I’ve posted online. We had a lot of food, much more than I’m used to in one sitting, but everything was very good.

Highlights are the Burrata & Prosciutto appetizer. Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell is solid mozzarella while the inside contains both mozzarella and cream. Had it not been sitting atop strips of prosciutto, it might have been mistaken for a dessert. After having some, I would easily order that to finish a meal instead of something sweet. It’s impossible to describe the dish, almost like whipped mozzarella and when wrapped in the ham, it was simply delicious. I’m sure that olive oil costs a small fortune, but having seen enough shows about it, I’m sure it was Tuscan and it was fragrant and the dish wouldn’t have been the same without it.

When I asked the server what Maccheroncelli was he responded very plainly, “Macaroni and Cheese” explaining that the type of pasta was different from elbowed macaroni. There was nothing plain about that entree at all. Fontina cheese, truffle oil, toasted breadcrumbs sprinkled over top that melted in your mouth and all served in a mini cast-iron pan. Except for the fact that I couldn’t touch it for a while (it kept its heat well) it was amazing. I love a good mac & cheese and that put every fancy version of it I’ve ever seen to shame. I am in so much trouble come holiday time when I have my mother’s mac & cheese because I’ll be dying to jazz it up.

I could easily see myself going back to see what new items they’ve come up with, and maybe to get that Burrata dish to go. I probably wouldn’t get a cheese plate again. I do love cheese, but the portions weren’t really worth the price. The Fettuccine was great though the scallops were a bit extraneous as they overpowered the taste of any bite they were in. I almost might have wanted them served on the side. And I am learning not to skip dessert, that Panna Cotta was amazing, I’ve never had it before and while I wouldn’t order one just for myself it was the perfect light closer to the meal.

When it gets nice outside and they’re able to open the windows out onto Pennsylvania Avenue, I imagine the place will be packed one the scent of the food starts to pervade the block. Interesting note was the size of the tables. We were seated for two and in most place there is barely enough room for one to rest ones’ arms and elbows on the table. Yeah I know some old book says that’s uncouth, but I don’t care. Their tables are big enough for multiple plates, glasses, etc to all fit without jockeying for space. We had more room than was necessary and they didn’t try to put the tables on either side of us right up close. By comparison, I’ve been to a few tapas places in recent months and the tables are so bare minimum that it’s a good thing not all dishes come out at the same time because there’s never enough room. —

While it seems to be a bit upscale considering its restaurant neighbors on that block, Locanda is definitely worth the trip… in my case a second trip. Or maybe I’ll just call up to see if I can get that appetizer to go.

It’s early yet and I’ve not got much content, but this simply has to be shared.

[W]hat happens when you combine typography with motion? That’’s the process of kinematic typography and the results, when paired with some excellent scenes from your favorite films and TV shows, can be moving and marvelous. Here are some of the best examples of film kinematic typography on the web.

– Always Watching: Great Scenes from TV and Film, Told Using Only Typography (and Sound)

That’s a perfect pairing. If they ever find someone willing to do this for an entire audiobook, I would definitely buy it as a DVD. Some other good ones are from Ocean’s Eleven, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, the latter two are NSFW due to language. The one from Psycho works perfectly, it almost looks like an Edward Gorey cartoon but in words. And a very frenetic take on the Abbott and Costello bit “Who’s on First?” is just as difficult (and fun) to follow in text as it is when watching them perform.