Tuesday, January 31, 2006

New York, New York...

I don't even have the strenght to go into it all right now... so just look at the pictures and let them tell the story!

Click here to see some of them.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

News Action Channel 6 reporting live from Adam's Life

I'll keep this post brief:

First, Saturday was Fred's birthday! Happy Birthday, Fred... or belated birthday... At any rate Phil and I went to have dinner with him, Margo, Manish, etc. at this sushi place in Foggy Bottom called Kaz Sushi Bistro. It was exceptionally good.. I highly reccomend it.

Speaking of restaurants I should reccomend, Phil and I also last Thursday finally ate at Churreria Madrid. It desevres it's own "review" later, but if you eat at one restaurant in the District this month, visit this place! It's absolutely amazing (and reasonably priced too). It's the best (if not only) authentic Spanish (as in Spain, people, not Mexican!!) restaurant in this city.

I am off to New York this Friday. Long story short I was offered the chance to go on a business trip to Portland, Oregon for a stupid conference. I've been to plenty of silly meetings etc. all the time that no one else in my office wanted to go on, so I was in the position to say no this time around (not that I mind getting paid to NOT be in the office, I usually jump at the chance for a trip). If I go to Portland it's going to be for fun, not some boring conference. And I already planned to go to NYC anyway, which brings me to this point. I'm always looking for more apartment things (kitchen, living room etc)... any places reccomended. I know the usual stores I can find in Manhattan, but if anyone has some not-well-known little place they'd like to reccomend to me, please do!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

When Bears Attack!

Life has been busy... I realize I need a re-cap of the last week, so here goes:

Wed. 11th - Phil and I saw "Wicked" at the Kennedy Center. We scored with box seats (a gift from one of Phil's friends) and the musical itself was amazing. If you have a chance to see this show, do so. I was starting to get sick (took the day off work) , but I still had a great night out.
Thurs. 12th - Went back to work despite not feeling so great. Fortunately co-workers had planned a happy hour at nearby Halo, which was fun (I used to not like Halo, but they are growing on me as one of my favorite bars).
Friday 13th- Yes, it was Friday the 13th... and long story short there were funding proposals due that hadn't been worked on...I won't bore you with my nightmarish day at work, but it was a bitch. On top of feeling ill, I actually stayed home that night! ( I know, how rare)
Saturday 14th - I slept in. Intrestingly it was Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend. So Phil convinced me to check out the events going on at the Plaza Hotel (use your imagination: slings, whips, leather chaps). It was educational to say the least.

Somehow we wound up at Halo, and from there we treked over to the Green Lantern/Toolshed. Normally I wouldn't step foot in there, but hey, it was Leather Weekend and I secretly love to gawk at the leather daddies. We had a late dinner at Annie's (or as i call it, the Glass Coffin because of all the old queens who hang out in the window booths). Our waiter was truly interesting...
Sunday 15th - Started the day by going back to my apt. to get cleaned up, and I met Phil and his friend Cameron at Healthbar (1612 U St.). I think it's time for another...

Restaurant Review:
Healthbar

This place, sadly for me, gets two major thumbs down. What a clusterfuck!
Now, before I go any further, I will say they have awesome healthy smoothies. Worth going in for.
I will also make the disclaimer that perhaps the dinner or normal lunch times are better. But I was disapointed on almost every front, and their urban decor could not, alas, make up for the shitty service, confusing seat-yourself atmosphere (I HATE seat-yourself establishments), and poor, bland (yet surely healthy) food.
My advice: stear clear of brunch! Our waiter had tons of attitude, no service, the clientele is VERY yuppy U-Street, and the food (when it came) was not enough to make me ever want to come back.
I thought the drag brunch at Chaos has shitty food! But at least there were singing drag queens to make it worthwhile... not the case with over-hyped Healthbar!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Wicked!

I'm so excited... tomorrow night Phil and I are going to the musical "Wicked" being performed at the Kennedy Center. I'm just listending to the Broadway soundtrack now, and I can't wait to see the show tomorrow. Will tell how it goes...


In other news later this month we will both be going to New York City, it's been about a year unfortunately since the last time I was there. It's so close to DC, yet somehow I never get up there as much as I'd like to.

Friday, January 06, 2006

Domo Arigato, Sushi

Restaurant Review:

Last night Margo and I checked out the sushi restaurant Saki in Adams Morgan (2477 18th St).
We ordered a great deal of sushi, and even desert. Both the sushi rolls and the nigiri were good. And until 7:30 they have happy-hour prices which are pretty unbeatable, especially given the restarant's modern ambience and prime location.
The only downside seems to be the service. When you enter the first-floor sushi bar, the service seems to be fine on the right side... but the further down the bar you sit, the poorer the service becomes. Be forwarned.

Nevertheless, the place serves excellent sushi and has a great atmosphere, so I reccomend it! (They also have a good sized menu of non-sushi Japanese items for those squeemish of raw fish).


Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Drama Fix, 2006!

So, I have survived the holidays(sometimes barely) and now live to gossip about it on my blog... when I should be working, because a certain project draws nearer to its completion. But like jello, there's always room for blogging.

So much has happened, in fact, I'm going to give a highly condensed version of the past two weeks.

First off, I have been on a paid vacation since December 23rd. Coming back to work today feels so weird.
I present, The Twelve Days of Drama-mas
So, 23rd - I was off work, and it was a beautiful sunny day. Took my new bike for a ride around town. If you haven't checked out Rock Creek Park's bike trails, you really ought to!

24th- Went home for Christmas Eve. Had a great dinner with the family, surprisingly drama-free. Alcohol may have had something to do with that.

25th- Christmas Day- I got a lot of great Christmas gifts this year! Among them, a stereo system (including a vinyl record player! - I love records), a smoothie maker/blender, other kitchen stuff, an electric fondue pot (thanks Phil), The French Laundry Cookbook (thanks Margo and Fred), living room stuff, money, and more!

26th - Day after Christmas - by this point, I remember why I don't live with my family. The family cheer was wearing thin, along with my patience with my mother's condescending comments and questions. I got a ride back into a city, and was glad to be home.

27th - Phil came back from visiting his family in Massachusetts. We went to JR's first and met friends of his, then we went to Cobalt for their Retro Night party. I had an awesome time. Maybe I drank too much.

28th- We had a relaxing day that involved us going to City Lights of China with Dena for dinner, watching a movie, and having a relaxing Wednesday night "in."

29th - Had dinner with Phil's friend Dave at CPK, went to JR's again, went to Cobalt again...it was their "Best Package Contest" night. No, I did not enter the contest. Had a lot to drink...again.

30th - I dont think I did much of anything all day, except go shopping around Metro Center for a bit.

31st- New Year's Eve. Phil took me to a wonderful dinner at Ardeo on Connecticute Ave (Cleveland Park neighborhood). The food was absolutely amazing, it's a very nice restaurant. We shared a bottle of wine, and desert drinks, and went back to Phil's to open that bottle of Veuve champagne I won at the Festivus party. Always good stuff. From there we went to Cookie Buffet/Chris Dyer's (depending on if he's in drag or not) party at Hotel Helix. I was surpised just how many people were there. Among them, some of my co-workers, and two friends of Phil's.
After the midnight toast, we split and went up to a place in Columbia Heights neighborhood (yes, I know, there are fun places in Columbia Heights??) called Wonderland. It was interesting... I mean, I liked it for what it was, which was hard to put a finger on. Of course, I was by this point roaringly drunk. There was some drama with a drunk bitch and a taxi cab (which, I refuse to apologize for... I do occasionally have my princess moments) and drunken food, getting sick, and poor Phil having to take care of me through the NASTY hangover the next morning.

Jan 1st 2006- Maybe I'm superstitious, but I rang in the New Year well, so the whole year will hopefully be great. Well, I felt awful most of the next day, but I got my self together enough to cleap up and meet Margo and Fred for dinner in Chinatown. Afterwards we went in that place... I don't even know if it has a name. It's the shady-yet-charming Chinese herb and tea shop. If you haven't been in there, go... it truly feels like some back-alley shop in Beijing or Hong Kong. Here's to a fabulous New Year!