mb palaver

FoodPalaver: Hello, Peanut Blossom Cupcake

I finally made it to Hello Cupcake today to give it a taste test.  Because Maya Favorite Cupcake is not a Monday option, I tried the Peanut Blossom, a take on the cookie of the same name, with chocolate cake, peanut butter frosting, and a chocolate kiss on top.  I experienced double nostalgia nirvana:  the nostalgia of eating cupcakes as a kid, which presumably explains the current cupcake craze, coupled with the nostalgia of eating Drake's FunnyBones.  Mmmmmm.  Drake's FunnyBones.

In case you've wondered, you can eat in at Hello Cupcake, where they have a few tables and serve coffee, as well as milk (which I really wanted but was too embarrassed to order).

If you live out in Virginia and getting to Dupont Circle is too much of a trek, evidently Wegman's sells FunnyBones.  Though they have more sorbitan monostearate than Hello Cupcake's version.

Hello Cupcake
1351 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20036
(202) 861-2253

WebPalaver: Jabberjaw, or Lessons from an Urban Mom

Some time after my friend Jabber's baby was born, she (Jabber, that is, not the baby) took to the web and started sharing her experience raising a baby in Manhattan.  Eight months ago, to my great delight, Jabber and her family moved back down to Washington, where they belong, in my humble, self-interested opinion.  Now Jabber's focus is on life with her toddler in DC, as her blog, Jabberjaw, puts it.  But if you're a new mom you don't have to live in DC to benefit from Jabber's now DC-centric blog, any more than you had to live in New York to benefit from it before, because she also chronicles the place-transcendent experience of life with a youngster, and provides exhaustive reviews of baby products (for want of a better term).  And even if you don't have children, she's an entertaining writer who's always fun to read (and those baby product reviews come in mighty handy for baby showers).

RestaurantPalaver: Potbelly, or Any Port in a Storm

A few months ago a Potbelly Sandwich Works opened around the corner from my office building.  I'm not a huge fan of Potbelly's sandwiches, but pickings are slim at the corner of 12th and Nowhere, SW, so this is big news under the Eb Principle.  (If you're a single woman in Hooterville, Eb looks pretty good.)  Still, I initially found going to Potbelly an assault on the senses:  the line, the noise, the live music, the ceiling fan/light strobe effect, the guy yelling at you to yell at him that you want a meatball sandwich on wheat.  And the micromanaging of the condiment people.  All this for a mediocre toasted sandwich.  I figured out two things that make it all bearable.  First, everything tastes better with hot peppers.  Theirs is a mix of vegetables, like an Italian giardiniera.  (One day during the jalapeno food poisoning scare this summer, a woman in line asked the condiment guy if the hot peppers include jalapenos, and when told yes, declined them.  The peppers were on display in gallon jars. Did she really think these were just canned that week?)

Second, and most importantly, you can now order online. I just log in, pick one of my usuals from my list, such as the turkey and swiss on skinny wheat with hot peppers, lettuce, tomato, Italian seasoning, and oil and vinegar, choose what time I want to pick up, and select the option to pay when I get there.  At the appointed time I arrive, go to the side cashier, give my name, hand over some money, and walk out with my sandwich.  No line, short noise-exposure, no yelling, and hot peppers.  It's perfect.  Like Eb.  If you're in Hooterville.

Not all locations are offering online ordering yet, but they seem to be rolling it out, so check back if you don't find your location here.  If you work in my building (you know who you are), you might want to bookmark this page.

RestaurantPalaver: Pick a Winner at The Majestic

Everybody's looking for a bargain these days, and if you work anywhere with quick access to Old Town, Alexandria have I got a bargain for you.  At The Majestic, part of Cathal Armstrong's mini restaurant empire in Old Town, you can pick any item on the lunch menu, plus a soft drink, for only $12.  The only catch in what they call The Royal Pick is that you have to sit at the bar, which is really no catch at all, given the comfy seats and friendly and efficient bartenders.  Though some of the lunch items don't cost much more than $12 to start with, there are several real steals available.  I've twice had the so-called crab cake salad, which would be $21 if you sat in the restaurant. And given that Armstrong, the celebrated chef of Restaurant Eve, is behind The Majestic, it's no surprise that it's one heck of a dish:  three small crabcakes each topped with a dollop of remoulade, surrounding a salad of watercress and other greens with pickled pearl onions, tossed with a lemon vinaigrette.  They don't skimp on the extra touches, either, starting the meal with delicious house-made bread and Kerrygold butter from Ireland ("Made from happy cows," as the menu says), and sweetening your iced tea with simple syrup.

The Royal Pick is available Monday through Friday from 11:30 to 2:30.  (The page that gives the details says the deal is good Tuesday through Friday, but the restaurant's home page says it's "now available" Monday through Friday.  The "now" gives me some confidence that's the correct one, but if you're heading over on a Monday you might want to call to confirm.)

Next I want to try Nana's Sunday Dinner at The Majestic.  But that's a subject for another post.

The Majestic
911 King Street
Alexandria, VA
(703) 837-9117

MoviePalaver: Karen's Movies, or Which Women To Watch

Occasionally friends will tell me they've let their Netflix memberships lapse because they can't think of enough movies to rent.  As someone with 115 movies in my queue, I can't quite relate, but I do have a suggestion, at least for fans of old movies.  My friend Karen, a/k/a The Queen of All Media, started a blog highlighting movies everyone should see.

Karen's current post, on the 1939 film "The Women," is quite timely, because a much-promoted remake opens tomorrow.  The original starred Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, and Paulette Godard. The new one, as you know if you've turned on a television in the last two weeks, stars half the women working in Hollywood today (Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bette Midler, Candice Bergan, Carrie Fisher, Cloris Leachman . . .).

Karen says:  "If the reviews for the new one are good, you may want to wait before you rent this. If they are bad, however, as most remakes are, I strongly recommend renting [the original] instead."  Given that the one opening tomorrow currently has a 34 on metacritic, you might want to look for the original.  (It doesn't appear to be available on Netflix at the moment, but you can find it at blockbuster.com if that's your thing.) Then again, Roger Ebert gave the remake a good review, so your mileage may vary.

To read Karen's review of "The Women, and for more classic movie recommendations, visit Karen's Movies.

SportsPalaver: Guess Who's Back . . . Roger's Back

 

You might be wondering why I haven't posted lately.  You might think I have nothing to say.  That is, those of you who've never met me might think that.  In reality, I blame Roger Federer, Serena Williams, the DNC, the RNC, and Dell, because the last two weeks I have been obsessively watching hours and hours of the US Open and the political conventions, leaving me little time to eat, wash, or figure out whom to vote for in tomorrow's DC primary, much less post some palaver.  And that's where Dell comes in. I only have 256 MB of RAM.  I've somehow managed with that for five years, but my computer is, it seems, dying.  And angry.  I will fix this situation.  In the meantime, I will contemplate Roger's tremendous run at the US Open.  And hope that I'll also make a comeback.