Category Archives: The Daily Feed

Eat Like Me, Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Sugar and Champagne Affair

Photo courtesy of Plantains & Kimchi
chocolate custard, cocoa crumble with roasted banana ice cream @ Watershed- Washington, DC
courtesy of Plantains & Kimchi
It’s almost time for the Sugar and Champagne Affair — back next month for the eleventh year. As the name implies, Sugar and Champagne is a dessert and bubbly reception that benefits the Washington Humane Society.

Once again hosted by Chef Todd and Ellen Gray, the event highlights all things sugary and sweet, with chefs showcasing their confections. Of course, leashed dogs are welcome and encouraged to attend. So walk around with your favorite four-legged friend and eat desserts and doggie hors d’oeurvres respectively.

Chefs on-hand for the VIP reception include:

New this year: you can also meet contestants from TLC’s show Next Great Baker. Held Wednesday, February 1st, at the Ronald Reagan Building, the event begins at 6pm with the VIP Chefs’ Tasting Room followed by the General Reception at 7pm. Click here to purchase tickets.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Red Apron Butchery Wins Good Food Award

Photo courtesy of laura padgett
glover park farmers’ market 7.10.10 – 32
courtesy of laura padgett

Locavores rejoice: Red Apron Butchery has been awarded a 2012 Good Food Award in the charcuterie category. Red Apron, a creation of Neighborhood Restaurant Group, was the DC area’s only 2012 finalist and winner out of approximately 1,000 submissions.

The Good Food Awards, started two years ago, honor “tasty, authentic, and responsible” foods in eight different categories: beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, pickles, preserves and spirits. Winners of Good Food Awards must adhere to certain standards, including no usage of artificial ingredients and no usage of synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or GMO foods. The Good Food Awards honor artisans from across the country who focus on honoring traditions and cultures through food, as well as local ingredients and sustainable practices.

Chef Nathan Anda accepted the award for his crème de cochon, a whipped lardo made from Ossabaw-Red Wattle crossbreed (that’s a type of hog, for you laymen) with garlic, coarse black pepper, rosemary and sel gris. Anda and Red Apron’s crème de cochon beat out 11 other butcheries who competed in the category.

While you can find Red Apron’s cuts of meat and other products at various farmer’s markets or at Planet Wine Shop in Alexandria, the butchery is planning on opening a location in downtown DC later this year.

Entertainment, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Paul Pierce Carries The Celtics To A Win Over Wizards

Photo courtesy of RMTip21
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courtesy of RMTip21

Celtics star Point Guard Rajon Rondo was ruled out of today’s game against the Wizards with a sprained right wrist. In the second quarter Ray Allen left the game with a jammed left ankle. Slumping and battered, the Celtics looked like a prime target for the Wizards, who have been improving their play game-by-game this week.

However Paul Pierce took the team on his shoulders with a season-high 34 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds as the Celtics continue to own the Wizards this season with a 94-100 loss.

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Entertainment, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nuggets Outrun Wizards, Boos Keep Raining On Blatche

The Wizards had a little swagger in their step as they took the court Friday night. Coming off a big win over the NBA-best Oklahoma City Thunder, the ‘zards went up against the Denver Nuggets and pummeled them in the first quarter. Washington scored a season-high 37 points and were in the game down to the end.

However the Wizards could not solve Denver’s Al Harrington, who led the Nuggets with 29 points. His dunk with 7.9 seconds left in the game sealed the Wizards’ fate in a 104-108 loss.

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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Friday Happy Hour: Hong Kong Empress

Monday marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year, and Natalia has a round-up for us of restaurants offering special menus and events. I was invited along with her to sample the special holiday offerings at Zentan Restaurant in the Donovan House hotel. In addition to the food, I got to try some of their signature Asian-inspried cocktails.

The Hong Kong Empress is the only whiskey-based drink on the list, so naturally my eye went right to it. Rye, specifically, combined with a cinnamon syrup, organic ginger, and served on the rocks with two slices of candied blood orange.

When it first arrived, it seemed pleasant, but on the sweet side for my taste. However, this was one of those times where the pairing really snapped the drink into perfect focus. When a Szechwan hot and sour soup (which was, in fact, both spicy and sour – deliciously so) arrived, the sweet, citrusy drink was the perfect compliment. They really balanced and enhanced each other in a delightful way. Both the soup and the cocktail should be on the menu even after the new year celebration, so drop in and enjoy all winter long.

Special Events, The Daily Feed
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NPR’s Terry Gross Comes to Strathmore

Photo courtesy of Finsthwait
Terry Gross of “Fresh Air”
courtesy of Finsthwait

Every day on her acclaimed NPR talk show Fresh Air, over four million listeners tune in to hear hostess Terry Gross interview prominent figures in politics, culture, and the arts in an intimate, long-form format that is too rarely heard in the mainstream media. On February 3, the microphone will be flipped around on Ms. Gross for a special event at the Music Center at Strathmore. Head up to Bethesda for an evening with the famed journalist and hear her “behind the mic” stories of her decades on the air and the fascinating brains she has had the unique opportunity to pick.

Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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Wizards Shock The Thunder As The NBA’s Worst Beats The Best

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

This quote was posted inside the Wizards locker room tonight, very apropos for the game. The Wizards came in tonight as the worst team in the NBA at 1-12, facing off against the best team in the NBA in the 12-2 Oklahoma City Thunder. The Verizon Center was packed with fans that wanted see Baltimore’s own Kevin Durant, and expected a big game from him against the Wizards. Boos came from all directions at Andray Blatche, who has lost all respect with the fans. It wasn’t shaping up to be a good night for the Wiz.

But tonight the Washington Professional Basketball Team demonstrated that they could compete with the best of the best in a thrilling victory over the Thunder 105-102.

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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Dan Giusti Makes it to Final Round on Chopped

Photo courtesy of christaki
cheesie
courtesy of christaki

Last night a tweet from Sam Grieder, caught my eye: Dan Giusti, formerly of 1789, was on Food Network’s Chopped. And since it was completely unexpected and I hadn’t heard any buzz about it earlier (no tweets from the chef himself indicating the episode was coming up or anything of the like), I had to turn on the TV and let out a Flava Flav-esque “Yeahhh booyyy” shout.

Back in August, Giusti left DC to head to Denmark to work at the “best restaurant in the world,” Noma. On last night’s episode, Giusti beat out two other chefs but ultimately lost after the final dessert round in which the ingredients basket featured masa harina, chocolate covered peanuts, frozen cranberries and white balsamic vinegar. Yeah, scratch your heads on what to make with that, too. Giusti opted for ice cream while his competitor, Adrienne Grenier, went with a masa harina shortcake. Grenier is the sous chef of 1500 Degrees in Miami.

Giusti joins a growing cast of DC chefs who have been on Food Network’s Chopped, including Andrew Markert, Allison Sosna and Will Artley (whose episode has yet to be aired).

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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FREE FOOD ALERT (For a Year): Fuel Pizza

Photo courtesy of ekelly80
174/365
courtesy of ekelly80

No need to re-read that headline; you read the most epic free food alert right the first time. Today marks the opening of DC’s first Fuel Pizza & Wings, and the first 50 customers will receive free food at Fuel for a full year. My bet is you should start lining up now.

The grand opening runs today from noon til 6 PM. If you’re not one of the first 50 customers, don’t worry–you’ll still be able to taste some complimentary dishes from the menu.

The NY-style pizzeria comes to us by way of Charlotte, NC. One of the owners, Paula Seefeldt, grew up in the DC area and says she wanted to bring Fuel “back home” since they first opened. The menu includes Old Bay crab pizza, a gluten-free pizza menu and hot wings. There are currently eight Fuel Pizza locations in Charlotte.

Fuel is located at 1606 K Street NW. Cancel your previous lunch plans and let us know what the line looks like…

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
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Islanders give Capitals a Rough Ride, win 3-0

Photo courtesy of bhrome
DSC_7692
courtesy of bhrome

When the Capitals came into Tuesday night’s game against the New York Islanders at the end of an unusual homestand: every one of the four teams the Caps played had played within the previous 24 hours. Tuesday night, however, the Caps came out looking like the tired team and were shut out for the first time this season.
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News, The Daily Feed
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An end to corporate donations in DC?

Photo courtesy of nevermindtheend
VOTE
courtesy of nevermindtheend

Well, at least part of DC life.

Local political advocates Bryan Weaver (you remember him from his At-Large and Ward 1 council campaigns), Sylvia Brown (An ANC in Ward 7) and Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells are teaming up to put a ballot initiative on this November’s general election ballot to end Corporate Political Donations for local campaigns.  Should the measure get on the ballot (not a certainty), and pass (doubly so), DC would join 30 states and the Federal Government that forbid corporations from donating to local campaigns.

The group would need at least 20,000 signatures in order to get the measure on the ballot, but first it must pass some oversight by the Board of Elections & Ethics, and survive a challenge period.  Should it do those things, it would end up on the November general election ballot.

There’s been a lot of focus on the national stage about the role of corporations in politics, and I would expect that this measure would draw out a number of groups both for and against the corporate contributions. This will be one to watch.

We had hoped to get the text of the proposed amendment, but Mr. Weaver did not return contact ahead of this story breaking at the Post this morning.

The Daily Feed
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Rush Limbaugh wrong, crass about DC Councilwoman

Photo courtesy of Lord Jim
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courtesy of Lord Jim

If there’s a caricature in the media politics age that we live in, Rush Limbaugh is that clichéd, hackneyed caricature that you just can’t seem to scrub out of the landscape. On yesterday’s broadcast, the target of Rush’s ire was Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, for her bill from 2010 about humane trapping of wildlife (not vermin, Rush, wildlife.), as well as her supposed authoring of the plastic bag tax bill (sorry Rush, that one is on Councilmember Tommy Wells’ record).  According to DCist’s transcription of the segment, at least Rush did get one thing right:

“This Mary Cheh babe — C-H-E-H — she is the woman behind the D.C. plastic bag tax”

Rush is correct; Councilmember Cheh is, in fact, a stone cold fox. However, as it’s wrong to objectivize women, or refer to them by a slang word for their looks, we would never call a public official that.

Entertainment, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Wall Puts Up Career High 38 Points, McGee Showboats In Loss To Rockets

In between the 3rd and 4th quarter of today’s Washington Wizards match against the Houston Rockets, Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like An Eagle” filled the Verizon Center. I thought it was fitting since it is the first track on the Space Jam soundtrack and coach Flip Saunders recently commented that the team, “looked like ‘Space Jam’ where everyone lost all their talents and couldn’t do anything there for a while.”

Listening to those lyrics it was very clear that for the Wizards time was indeed slipping as the Wizards lost the game 106-114.

John Wall reached a career high 38 points including 18 in the final quarter but the Wizards couldn’t catch back up after keeping it competitive in the first half. Wall looked aggressive, attacked the hoop, and landed a spectacular dunk in the third quarter.

Wall wasn’t the only Wizards slamming the boards today, JaVale McGee had several highlight worthy finishes including a second half dunk that caught Flip’s eye- not for good reason however.

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