This has been a good weekend so far. A good weekend may sound trivial... and it may just be, but none-the-less, it was awesome to be able to experience it. Makes living in DC somewhat bearable.
So where does it start? It starts of course with a trip to get a zipcar. I accomplished that around 10am. I got to drive a Scion xB this time near the old office. I've avoided this vehicle until now. But today, I took it. Its a great vehicle to drive around town in . What do I like about it? Space. There's a lot of space in it. The way it looks. I am not sure I would want to own one of these vehicles, but it sure looks different than the ordinary cross-over/mini-van/SUV/sedan out there. The auxiliary input. This time around, the cable was even there, so I was able to listen to my iPod... I must say, very nice. Which reminds me, I will need to buy that cable soon :). The tiny arm-rest. The seating in this car is a bit odd, so having an arm rest on the right side was quite nice.
What didn't I like about it? It was a bit hard to see around the vehicle while backing out. I didn't like the fact that I had to manually turn off the lights... it is the 21st century, a car should be able to figure out how to turn the light off when the key is taken out of the ignition. Fuel consumption. I think I did like 150 or so miles of driving and the car consumed about half a tank of fuel. Mind you, fuel was cheaper (relative to recent prices at $2.01 a US gallon).
Well, enough about the car for now. I picked up Chu, headed out to the Comcast customer service centre somewhere in the middle of nowhere, exchanged his digital converter/DVR and then headed off for Costco. That was pretty quick. The closest Costco was the one in Gaithersburg I think, where Murali lives. I messaged him to let him know I was at his über busy Costco. We had to do a couple of rounds to find parking... that Costco is always busy.
We spent a good hour or so in that place... its amazing how much stuff you can buy at Costco. I forgot to pick up an Economist, but that's not the end of the world I suppose. Not picking up rice would have been pretty close to it though. What kind of asian would I be... living without rice (As Russell Peters says, we are Asians too, representing the South). I couldn't find rice there for whatever reason. We were on a bit of a time deadline; the Canucks were playing the Penguins at 2pm and Anton wanted to go watch the game on Centre Ice. We also wanted to go to the Chinese grocery stores and since we were not that far away from Rockville, we decided to go. We went to both the stores in that area. The second store has the bakery by the door where I get my favourite bbq pork buns (not the stuff you steam, these things are baked). When I went to get the buns, they didn't have any bbq pork buns. I was bummed out for sure. As we were about to leave, this fellow showed up with a tray full of fresh buns. And what do you know, there were bbq pork buns in them. Of course we got a few... and eating a hot bbq pork bun outside in the frigid cold was just plain awesome. Somewhere along the way (when I was buying rice), Murali called me and told me about him going to the gym etc. He sounds like he's really working out.
Incidentally, just after we finished eating the bun and got into the car (and I got zapped by the GPS unit due to the dry air and static electricity) this lady came by and was standing by my window. I thought she was going to ask me about the parking spot (there is limited parking at that place) but that wasn't the case. She wanted to find out more about my car. Apparently she liked the car too. I gave her some explanation of Scions and Toyota and finally she left us alone and we were on our way.
We got to Chu's place, unloaded his stuff and then I headed out. I had wanted to go to a Wal-Mart and since there aren't any that are metro accessible (god knows why seeing as the folks who are likely to shop there are also more likely to be less well off and might not have a vehicle to get them there...) it was a great opportunity to use the car to the fullest extent I could. So, I plugged in Wal-Mart and of course the GPS told me about the non-existent ones on New York Ave and 7th Avenue in DC. Neither of those exist. I don't know why google and other vendors of information still list it (google at least has a 'removal requested' note on it) as a valid one... Anyway, I tried one somewhere in VA. Sounded like a reasonable one, and the closest to Chu's place. I started driving, got on the 495, got stuck in horrible traffic (there was an accident somewhere along the way where a car flipped on its side, pretty ugly crash) and then made it towards the address. I turned in and what do you know, its a 3 storey parking lot next to a tall Verizon building and no Wal-Mart. That pissed me off. I had spent a lot of time trying to get to this Wal-Mart only to not get to a Wal-Mart. Grrr. Anyway, I found another Wal-Mart and found in google maps on my berry as well; a super centre somewhere in Burke. That sounded more legitimate and off I went to this new Wal-Mart. Thankfully, it was a real Wal-Mart and I was able to go in and do my shopping. I also saw a Salvation Army bell ringer fellow right by the door in the cold; I am glad I saw him, because I know that organisation does a lot for the poor.
After the shopping, I filled up petrol in the car (at $2.01/gallon which wasn't really a bargain in Virginia, since the average in the state was $1.78 apparently) and headed out home. I had barely enough time to drop my food and then head out back to Chu's place so we could go to Ray's the Steaks in Arlington VA. That place is right next to the Phở place that is really good as well. We made it there through the city (I still need to figure out a) if I can get the GPS to avoid cities as a detour and b) How to do so when I enter the address itself). and got there about a quarter after 6. Ben and Dan were there, and apparently, the wait was three and a half hours! For whatever reason, we decided to wait that out (the steaks did come with really good reviews) and so headed out to this bar called Rhodeside Grill which was a block up the street. We got there and even before we ordered a drink... a scuffle broke out. It looked like a couple of guys were about to punch each other silly but it was over even before it began.... except for the crying lady there. I guess the 2 women were friends and the 2 men who were with them weren't quite friends. At any rate, this woman bawled on for far too long and no one got kicked out of the bar... it even ended rather comically; the two men shook hands and had a lengthy conversation with the bouncers standing right there should anything go wrong. Eventually, one lot left, and the woman who left (not the bawling one) seemed to be yelling at the fellow outside the bar. Poor bastard.
We got some nachos to tide us over while we waited... and Dan cheered the PSU Lions (I think) to victory over some other school... Its funny how much allegiance folks out here seem to have to their college American football teams. I had a great time at UBC as well, but I wouldn't even know why I would cheer for the thunderbirds... I'd cheer the school along if they published something in Nature or someone there was up for a Nobel prize... not something sport related... that is the sort of glory I would be interested in. The nachos were good. And while sitting there and wondering about the fate of his precious blue devils (I think that's what the Duke team is called), Ben figured out that not only was there not a wait at Ray's the Classics in Silver Spring, but that the menu was the same (same steaks at least) and we could be finished with eating and so on even before we were called by Ray's the Steaks. So, after some tough decision making (I learned a new thing... something about touching your nose and saying not it...), we decided to go. Dan graciously chugged down the remainder of the pitcher and his untouched glass of beer and we headed back to the parking lot at Ray's the Steaks. I think Ben went in to see if they had a change of heart and would let us eat soon, but that was not to be. So we decided to go to the 'classics' place and Ben decided to follow me since I had a GPS unit.
We made it out of there and when the GPS decided to send me through the city again, Ben suggested we take the highway and we followed him. The GPS kept trying to get me to go back to the city; kept finding me ways back until it finally gave up. We got there fairly quickly and Anton and I figured out that it wasn't that far from where Gurpy lives. We left a prime parking spot to Ben (who proceeded to ignore it... hehe) and then found some parking after circling the block once. When we got back, we were all seated right away and got to ordering.
The folks at Ray's the Classics have a bistro menu I think it is called where you can get an appetizer, an entree (the steak) and a dessert with coffee for just under $25. That was an awesome deal! I had read a LOT about their hanger steak, so I decided to go that route. Surprisingly, Dan went for that too. I've eaten quite a few times with Dan, and I can say with absolute certainty that he is one person who takes his food seriously. When we were out in Austin, he was the primary driver of good food (read steak, barbecue etc) and we all enjoyed the food. Speaking of Austin, I actually miss that place. I could go for a gas station trip to Rudy's and get some of the best barbecue I've ever had. Anyway, back to Ray's. Our waiter was a bit of an odd ball. He kept hanging out by our corner table... expecting us to say something else or ask for more... he hovered a lot. I wouldn't call it creepy, but he definitely bordered on that. Anyway, the soup came and then the steaks finally came. The bisque was aweome. Chu was the only one who got the cowboy cut, alleged to be 28 oz of bone-in rib eye. That steak looked humongous.
We polished off the food and then got three different desserts and coffee. The food was great. I can't tell you how nice it was, so I won't. Just go try it once and see if you like it. Once that was over, we went to the Giant by Anton's place and after he got some stuff from there (heavy stuff like water) I dropped him off and headed home.
I was woken up fairly early (7:30 or so) by my grandma... I guess she forgot that we changed time here in early November. Anyway, I had to go return the car and so I got up. After that, I needed some cash, so I walked up the Bank of America ATM at Dupont circle and then walked to the farmer's market by Mass. Avenue near the circle itself. Browsed through there, and then I headed north on Connecticut until I passed Ruth's Chris. Their steaks are good too... but WAY pricier than Ray's. I headed up on Columbia and made it to 16th. It was brisk walk... and since it wasn't as windy as yesterday (though it was just as cold), I didn't mind walking. I almost wanted to walk all the way home, but decided to do the last leg on the bus.
Once I got home, I started being lazy... and started writing this blog. Since then, I have cooked and consumed dinner, watched the National from Friday night, booked a car to drive out to NC for next weekend to visit my cousin and found out that the Calgary Stampeders won the Gray Cup. I also found out that the Canucks beat the Penguins yesterday (yay) and that they're playing the Red Wings tomorrow (that should be a good game).
It has been a pretty decent weekend so far. I can't believe that I actually did all these things this weekend... my usual weekends in DC include sleeping in till the afternoon and not really doing much else after. Hanging out with a few decent people, talking to Murali and eating bbq pork buns, not to mention an awesome steak last night really was a treat. I am going to call it the Obama factor...
One sad note for today, I heard there are an estimated 760,000 children in Canada defined as living in poverty. Its incredible that governments around the world (and in Canada) are thinking of bailing out the banks and the (Canadian) auto industry... and not doing much to reduce poverty of any sort in a rich country such as Canada. It is unfair and I think downright cruel on our parts to allow this sort of social evil to exist in our country.
And finally on a more uplifting note, there are only 445 more days to go before the Olympics games start in Vancouver! They announced the route for the Olympic torch and I am hoping I can see it somewhere along the way. Until next time, auf Wiedersehen.
So where does it start? It starts of course with a trip to get a zipcar. I accomplished that around 10am. I got to drive a Scion xB this time near the old office. I've avoided this vehicle until now. But today, I took it. Its a great vehicle to drive around town in . What do I like about it? Space. There's a lot of space in it. The way it looks. I am not sure I would want to own one of these vehicles, but it sure looks different than the ordinary cross-over/mini-van/SUV/sedan out there. The auxiliary input. This time around, the cable was even there, so I was able to listen to my iPod... I must say, very nice. Which reminds me, I will need to buy that cable soon :). The tiny arm-rest. The seating in this car is a bit odd, so having an arm rest on the right side was quite nice.
What didn't I like about it? It was a bit hard to see around the vehicle while backing out. I didn't like the fact that I had to manually turn off the lights... it is the 21st century, a car should be able to figure out how to turn the light off when the key is taken out of the ignition. Fuel consumption. I think I did like 150 or so miles of driving and the car consumed about half a tank of fuel. Mind you, fuel was cheaper (relative to recent prices at $2.01 a US gallon).
Well, enough about the car for now. I picked up Chu, headed out to the Comcast customer service centre somewhere in the middle of nowhere, exchanged his digital converter/DVR and then headed off for Costco. That was pretty quick. The closest Costco was the one in Gaithersburg I think, where Murali lives. I messaged him to let him know I was at his über busy Costco. We had to do a couple of rounds to find parking... that Costco is always busy.
We spent a good hour or so in that place... its amazing how much stuff you can buy at Costco. I forgot to pick up an Economist, but that's not the end of the world I suppose. Not picking up rice would have been pretty close to it though. What kind of asian would I be... living without rice (As Russell Peters says, we are Asians too, representing the South). I couldn't find rice there for whatever reason. We were on a bit of a time deadline; the Canucks were playing the Penguins at 2pm and Anton wanted to go watch the game on Centre Ice. We also wanted to go to the Chinese grocery stores and since we were not that far away from Rockville, we decided to go. We went to both the stores in that area. The second store has the bakery by the door where I get my favourite bbq pork buns (not the stuff you steam, these things are baked). When I went to get the buns, they didn't have any bbq pork buns. I was bummed out for sure. As we were about to leave, this fellow showed up with a tray full of fresh buns. And what do you know, there were bbq pork buns in them. Of course we got a few... and eating a hot bbq pork bun outside in the frigid cold was just plain awesome. Somewhere along the way (when I was buying rice), Murali called me and told me about him going to the gym etc. He sounds like he's really working out.
Incidentally, just after we finished eating the bun and got into the car (and I got zapped by the GPS unit due to the dry air and static electricity) this lady came by and was standing by my window. I thought she was going to ask me about the parking spot (there is limited parking at that place) but that wasn't the case. She wanted to find out more about my car. Apparently she liked the car too. I gave her some explanation of Scions and Toyota and finally she left us alone and we were on our way.
We got to Chu's place, unloaded his stuff and then I headed out. I had wanted to go to a Wal-Mart and since there aren't any that are metro accessible (god knows why seeing as the folks who are likely to shop there are also more likely to be less well off and might not have a vehicle to get them there...) it was a great opportunity to use the car to the fullest extent I could. So, I plugged in Wal-Mart and of course the GPS told me about the non-existent ones on New York Ave and 7th Avenue in DC. Neither of those exist. I don't know why google and other vendors of information still list it (google at least has a 'removal requested' note on it) as a valid one... Anyway, I tried one somewhere in VA. Sounded like a reasonable one, and the closest to Chu's place. I started driving, got on the 495, got stuck in horrible traffic (there was an accident somewhere along the way where a car flipped on its side, pretty ugly crash) and then made it towards the address. I turned in and what do you know, its a 3 storey parking lot next to a tall Verizon building and no Wal-Mart. That pissed me off. I had spent a lot of time trying to get to this Wal-Mart only to not get to a Wal-Mart. Grrr. Anyway, I found another Wal-Mart and found in google maps on my berry as well; a super centre somewhere in Burke. That sounded more legitimate and off I went to this new Wal-Mart. Thankfully, it was a real Wal-Mart and I was able to go in and do my shopping. I also saw a Salvation Army bell ringer fellow right by the door in the cold; I am glad I saw him, because I know that organisation does a lot for the poor.
After the shopping, I filled up petrol in the car (at $2.01/gallon which wasn't really a bargain in Virginia, since the average in the state was $1.78 apparently) and headed out home. I had barely enough time to drop my food and then head out back to Chu's place so we could go to Ray's the Steaks in Arlington VA. That place is right next to the Phở place that is really good as well. We made it there through the city (I still need to figure out a) if I can get the GPS to avoid cities as a detour and b) How to do so when I enter the address itself). and got there about a quarter after 6. Ben and Dan were there, and apparently, the wait was three and a half hours! For whatever reason, we decided to wait that out (the steaks did come with really good reviews) and so headed out to this bar called Rhodeside Grill which was a block up the street. We got there and even before we ordered a drink... a scuffle broke out. It looked like a couple of guys were about to punch each other silly but it was over even before it began.... except for the crying lady there. I guess the 2 women were friends and the 2 men who were with them weren't quite friends. At any rate, this woman bawled on for far too long and no one got kicked out of the bar... it even ended rather comically; the two men shook hands and had a lengthy conversation with the bouncers standing right there should anything go wrong. Eventually, one lot left, and the woman who left (not the bawling one) seemed to be yelling at the fellow outside the bar. Poor bastard.
We got some nachos to tide us over while we waited... and Dan cheered the PSU Lions (I think) to victory over some other school... Its funny how much allegiance folks out here seem to have to their college American football teams. I had a great time at UBC as well, but I wouldn't even know why I would cheer for the thunderbirds... I'd cheer the school along if they published something in Nature or someone there was up for a Nobel prize... not something sport related... that is the sort of glory I would be interested in. The nachos were good. And while sitting there and wondering about the fate of his precious blue devils (I think that's what the Duke team is called), Ben figured out that not only was there not a wait at Ray's the Classics in Silver Spring, but that the menu was the same (same steaks at least) and we could be finished with eating and so on even before we were called by Ray's the Steaks. So, after some tough decision making (I learned a new thing... something about touching your nose and saying not it...), we decided to go. Dan graciously chugged down the remainder of the pitcher and his untouched glass of beer and we headed back to the parking lot at Ray's the Steaks. I think Ben went in to see if they had a change of heart and would let us eat soon, but that was not to be. So we decided to go to the 'classics' place and Ben decided to follow me since I had a GPS unit.
We made it out of there and when the GPS decided to send me through the city again, Ben suggested we take the highway and we followed him. The GPS kept trying to get me to go back to the city; kept finding me ways back until it finally gave up. We got there fairly quickly and Anton and I figured out that it wasn't that far from where Gurpy lives. We left a prime parking spot to Ben (who proceeded to ignore it... hehe) and then found some parking after circling the block once. When we got back, we were all seated right away and got to ordering.
The folks at Ray's the Classics have a bistro menu I think it is called where you can get an appetizer, an entree (the steak) and a dessert with coffee for just under $25. That was an awesome deal! I had read a LOT about their hanger steak, so I decided to go that route. Surprisingly, Dan went for that too. I've eaten quite a few times with Dan, and I can say with absolute certainty that he is one person who takes his food seriously. When we were out in Austin, he was the primary driver of good food (read steak, barbecue etc) and we all enjoyed the food. Speaking of Austin, I actually miss that place. I could go for a gas station trip to Rudy's and get some of the best barbecue I've ever had. Anyway, back to Ray's. Our waiter was a bit of an odd ball. He kept hanging out by our corner table... expecting us to say something else or ask for more... he hovered a lot. I wouldn't call it creepy, but he definitely bordered on that. Anyway, the soup came and then the steaks finally came. The bisque was aweome. Chu was the only one who got the cowboy cut, alleged to be 28 oz of bone-in rib eye. That steak looked humongous.
We polished off the food and then got three different desserts and coffee. The food was great. I can't tell you how nice it was, so I won't. Just go try it once and see if you like it. Once that was over, we went to the Giant by Anton's place and after he got some stuff from there (heavy stuff like water) I dropped him off and headed home.
I was woken up fairly early (7:30 or so) by my grandma... I guess she forgot that we changed time here in early November. Anyway, I had to go return the car and so I got up. After that, I needed some cash, so I walked up the Bank of America ATM at Dupont circle and then walked to the farmer's market by Mass. Avenue near the circle itself. Browsed through there, and then I headed north on Connecticut until I passed Ruth's Chris. Their steaks are good too... but WAY pricier than Ray's. I headed up on Columbia and made it to 16th. It was brisk walk... and since it wasn't as windy as yesterday (though it was just as cold), I didn't mind walking. I almost wanted to walk all the way home, but decided to do the last leg on the bus.
Once I got home, I started being lazy... and started writing this blog. Since then, I have cooked and consumed dinner, watched the National from Friday night, booked a car to drive out to NC for next weekend to visit my cousin and found out that the Calgary Stampeders won the Gray Cup. I also found out that the Canucks beat the Penguins yesterday (yay) and that they're playing the Red Wings tomorrow (that should be a good game).
It has been a pretty decent weekend so far. I can't believe that I actually did all these things this weekend... my usual weekends in DC include sleeping in till the afternoon and not really doing much else after. Hanging out with a few decent people, talking to Murali and eating bbq pork buns, not to mention an awesome steak last night really was a treat. I am going to call it the Obama factor...
One sad note for today, I heard there are an estimated 760,000 children in Canada defined as living in poverty. Its incredible that governments around the world (and in Canada) are thinking of bailing out the banks and the (Canadian) auto industry... and not doing much to reduce poverty of any sort in a rich country such as Canada. It is unfair and I think downright cruel on our parts to allow this sort of social evil to exist in our country.
And finally on a more uplifting note, there are only 445 more days to go before the Olympics games start in Vancouver! They announced the route for the Olympic torch and I am hoping I can see it somewhere along the way. Until next time, auf Wiedersehen.
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