Life 3.0

I had a quick thought about this last night before bed. Which writers made me want to write, both back when I was young and now that I’m actually a writer? Through their books, they’ve energized my passion for writing. They’ve shown me that books can have such an impact on a person, and I want to be in that fellowship. This list is, by definition, incomplete, but they represent some of the works that most touched me.

• Isaac Asimov (The Foundation Trilogy)
• Albert Camus (The Fall)
• Paul Bowles (The Sheltering Sky)
• Natsuo Kirino (Out)
• Kenzo Kitikata (Winter Sleep)
• John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath)
• Mikhail Bulgakov (The Master and Margarita)
• Max Barry (Company)
• Marie Phillips (Gods Behaving Badly)

After seeing Let There Be Love at Center Stage on Saturday, we decided to try out The Brewer’s Art for drinks. I’d gone there back when I was working for/at STScI and had told Diane about it for ages. Now that Diane drinks some beer (Belgian-style only), it seemed like a nice way to finish off the night. Brewer’s Art is a great Belgian microbrew bar and an eclectic restaurant.

We decided to walk through the treacherous snow and ice to go from 700 N. Calvert to the 1100 block of N. Charles. Funnily enough, it was just a few blocks up the street from where we had dinner. Nothing like going back and forth, but that was a way to burn off the calories from Kumari. Normally, this would be a quick walk. But with ice, snow piles and a few vehicles on the road, it took us a bit longer. Luckily, it wasn’t too windy or cold out. We did learn that it would have been better to cut over to Charles as quickly as possible as Calvert didn’t have as much clear sidewalk or street surface area.

We arrived around 10:30 and the place was jammed. The restaurant was closed, but a few diners were still finishing food and drink. Diane got a beer menu from the bar and we figured out our respective drinks. My first ever beer here was Resurrection Ale, but I’m more fond of dark beers. They have one called Proletary Ale and that’s what I ordered. I had had it before, so it wasn’t a surprise. It was just as good as I remembered it. Diane chose the Resurrection Ale, as it’s one of their finest examples of an Abbey-style ale.

Taking our drinks, we stood in the front bar area, surrounded by 20-somethings, and the odd 30-something couple. It seemed that everyone in their 30s or higher travelled in couples, i.e. 2 people, or 2 sets of 2 people, etc. The younger crowd travelled in gaggles and crowds. We felt a little old in the place, but we weren’t posers (i.e. trying to look younger). I did do an old person faux pas when I first saw the beer menu. I got out my reading glasses to check out the menu. Diane told me to put them away. Point well taken.

We worked our way to the mid-chamber, where the couches, fireplace and some tables were set up. It was crowded in here too, but we took up residence at the maitre’d desk, which was abandoned since dinner service was over. We hung out, talked, watched the crowd and enjoyed our drinks. After, we set off back into the street, heading down Charles as far as we could go to get back to our car. A fun evening.

We were seeing a play at Center Stage and wanted to grab some food first. I knew the neighborhood somewhat, especially Mughal Garden and the Helmand. But, we wanted to try someplace new. A few googles away, and we found Kumari, an Indian, Nepalese, Tibetan restaurant. We arrived just before 6 and the place was mostly empty. We attributed it to the hour and the snowpocalypse of the past week.

We started with pompadons and three chutney. The ‘brown’ was a tad too sweet, but the other two were nice

Then we split an appetizer of chicken mu-mu, very similar to steamed chicken dumplings. It was large, about 7 large pieces These were served with a type of spicy tiki masala sauce. Very yummy but filling.

For dinner, I ordered the chicken vindaloo, Indian-level spice. Diane got the lamb saag, regular spice. The saag was great. The vindaloo was nice. It was hot (I sweated profusely) but I didn’t taste much burn or spice. Sad. But, I’d like to try the curry or jalfreezi next time. We had plain naan and rice as sides. Very fresh and good.

Primarily drawing from the 1970s and 90s, but with the late 2000s coming up strong. One local band, Wye Oak, made the list. Another might join soon. The Violet Hour’s eponymous album does indeed join the list.

1. The Battle of Los Angeles (1999) – Rage Against the Machine
2. Crimes of Passion (1980) – Pat Benatar
3. Dark Side of the Moon (1973) – Pink Floyd
4. The Doors (1967) – The Doors
5. Fever To Tell (2003) – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
6. Horehound (2009) – The Dead Weather (2009)
7. I (1969) – Led Zeppelin
8. In The Heat of the Night (1979) – Pat Benatar
9. The Knot (2009) – Wye Oak
10. Midnight Boom (2008) – The Kills
11. Nevermind (1991) – Nirvana
12. Powerage (1978) – AC/DC
13. Power to the People & the Beats (1987-98) – Public Enemy
14. Pretty Hate Machine (1989) – Nine Inch Nails
15. So Tonight That I Might See (1993) – Mazzy Star
16. Ten (1991) – Pearl Jam
17. Vegas (1997) – The Crystal Method
18. The Violet Hour (2009) – The Violet Hour
19. Who’s Next (1971) – The Who
20. The Yes Album (1971) – Yes

An article in the Washington Post today (Feb 2, 2010) talks about the slow process to repealing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law/policy. I think this policy should never have been put in place, and it’s even worse that it was codified as law. It should be repealed as soon as possible.

One thing that caught my eye was a group that the top civilian and military leaders say they want to create. This group would oversea plans for changing the policy, and,

Among the issues to be addressed by the group: whether gay soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines will face any restrictions on exhibiting their sexual orientation on the job; whether the Pentagon will be obligated to provide for their domestic partners; and whether straight military personnel could be compelled to share quarters with gays.

Wow, to me, this reeks of moving second class citizens out of a closet but keeping them as second class citizens. If you’re in a marriage, be it gay, straight or whatever, you’re in a marriage and the Pentagon should be taking care of your spouse. Also, if homophobic service members will be allowed to oppose being quartered with gays and lesbians, will gays and lesbians be allowed to refuse to be quartered with other groups? And what’s a group? These are all culturally constructed.

Further, what the hell does “exhibiting their sexual orientation on the job” mean? Are hetero-soldiers required to hide their orientation “on the job”? A bunch of old white men are being forced to confront the 21st Century and move away from hate-based paradigms. Let’s make it happen quicker rather than slower.

One of my new favorite bands, and their local, from Baltimore. For a mellow band that I use to help facilitate my writing, they can rock out. Can’t wait to see them live sometime:

To quote from Chris Cillizza’s post today:

Virginia’s 5th district (D): Give freshman Rep. Tom Perriello (D) this: he’s got guts. After being pilloried by national Republicans for his vote in favor of the President’s cap and trade proposal earlier this year, Perriello cast a vote last month for Obama’s health care bill. Those twin votes almost certainly doom his re-election chances in this Southside seat where Republicans have found a top recruit in the form of state Sen. Robert Hurt.

Congressman Perriello is voting for the best options for his constituents. He’s standing up for what he believes, which is what the people who voted him into office wanted when they elected him. Here’s a politician who says he won’t fly under the radar, that he will make the hard votes, and make them himself. We need more Perriello’s in Congress. Thanks Tom!

Diane and I spent two weeks in London, a day in Oxford and four nights in Edinburgh. We ate some amazing meals, including adding one to our Top Meals Ever Worldwide.

In London, we dabbled with Pret and EAT for lunch. Pret was so much fun the first time we found it in 2007, but now that we discovered EAT, that’s a much better place. I had amazing chorizo sausage baguette sandwiches several times. Yum.

For dinner, we ate at Wagamamas several times. Good noodles and a great vegetarian selection. Their tofu was done nicely, but then again, it was fried so it’s hard to mess that up. We also did “take away” from Marks & Spencer’s Simply Food. It’s like a US Trader Joe’s, so we bought sandwiches, salads, crisps and cookies there. We also had some nice beer (stouts and bitters) and wine (Spanish).

We did fish & chips at three different places. One from the take away shop above the Anchor bar, one from Hornimans at Hay’s and a quickie for Drew at Jacko’s Fish & Chips in Islington. Of the three, I liked the hole in the wall Jacko’s. The others were good (better than most you’d find in the States) but not spectacular.

One night we went to dinner with an old colleague of mine. We ate at Wahaca, a fantastic Mexican place. It was as good as some of the stuff we’d find in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as some family run places in our neck of the woods (El Azteca and La Palapa). Definitely check it out if you’d like, but be warned that it’s crazy popular, very busy, and doesn’t take reservations.

Another night, we went out with two of Diane’s colleagues, Claire & Jo. We went to Cantaloupe in Shoreditch. It was pretty quiet (weeknight) so we had much of the back room to ourselves. They had a nice selection of wine but almost no ale/beer options. We had some starters and then a nice meal with a bottle of Malbec, if I recall correctly. The best part of the evening was the shared company and the fun walk from their office through various parts of The City.

For Italian, we ventured back to a spectacular find from 2007, namely Made in Italy down in Chelsea. They make spectacular pizzas and have a very nice wine selection. We actually ate in the basement, right by the open kitchen. Was hot at first, but mellowed in a few minutes. So good. We also tried out Zigos, over in Islington, for some pizza and drinks. We were in the area to see Letting in Air over at the Old Red Lion Theatre Pub, and we needed snacks before hand and dinner afterwards. The bruschetta was good but the pizza and pasta dishes were mediocre at best. The high prices were not appreciated.

As we were in the UK, trying Indian curries was a must. We ate at the Bengal Clipper in Butler’s Wharf, just a few minutes away from Tower Bridge and our hotel. It was hit and miss here. I had their signature house curry that wasn’t all that yummy and Diane had a lamb saag that was pretty tough. But, we went back a few nights later and I had a fabulous spicy Murgh Xacuti and Diane had a yummy, tender, fall apart just looking at it lamb dish. So, sample the menu and try again if at first you don’t succeed.

We took a day trip to Oxford one Saturday and had some good Thai food for lunch at AT Thai and then some nice Indian at Chez Zouk. It was good but I liked the drinks we had at the Half Moon pub better.

After Diane finished working in London for two weeks, we took a four day holiday to Edinburgh. On our first night, we turned to Cafe Roma since it was close to our hotel and it was a rainy windy night. It was nice food but not worth the high price they charged.

Another night, we tried to go to a cool Japanese sushi place, but it was closed that one night for renovations. We ate next door at a nice Thai hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Chiang Mai. They had wonderful Thai curries and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

When we first arrived, we quizzed our taxi cab driver about where to get good curries. He mentioned three places and we tried two of them. Sadly, the third suffered a horrible fire several months ago and was closed while we were there. They had a small place they rented but we passed on it. The first place was called Omar Khayyam’s and it was packed when we showed up with a reservation. But, we had great food there. Yummy.

On our last night in Edinburgh, we went to The Indian Cavalry Club. This was the best Indian food I’ve ever had. Diane had a great meal which I can’t remember right now and I had the best chicken vindaloo ever. The quality of the food, decor of the restaurant, great view from our window seat and amazing service made this one of our favorite meals ever. We can now add The Indian Cavalry Club (Edinburgh, Scotland) to our list of best meals that also includes Chez Girard (Lyon, France), NOLAs (New Orleans, USA), Gary Danko’s (San Francisco, USA) and Yacout (Marrakech, Morocco).

Okay, that’s a long post. I hope this helps others who might stumble upon my entry while looking for places to eat if they’re in London, Oxford or Edinburgh.

This is impressive. I saw this over on Brick Lane in East London. I was so moved.

First, because the UK is working on providing care to the homeless. And it’s part if the National Health Service, not some NGO stepping in to do what the government should be doing.

Second, I was moved since we don’t have anything official like this in the States. We have so many without healthcare, and the homeless likely have no care and get no proper respect. This place in London wasn’t an emergency room. It was an established, government-run healthcare facility.

We must learn from this and provide care, top-notch care, to all. That is the duty of government.

I saw some statistics in the Fall 2009 Update put out by American University’s School of Public Affairs. In an article featuring Jennifer Lawless, who ran for the U.S. House seat in Rhode Island’s 2nd District, there was a stat “cheat sheet” at the end. I’ve heard these numbers in various places, but never gathered together. This is a call for change:

• The United States ranks 85th worldwide in the percentage of women serving in the national legislature.
• Eighty-three percent of the members of Congress are men
• Three-quarters of statewide elected officials and state legislators are men
• Men occupy the governor’s mansion in 44 states.
• In 89 of the nation’s 100 largest cities, men run city hall.