Dating Dimes* on a Dime in DC

*slang noun in relation to physical beauty in place of a "perfect ten"

By Westmoreland

14. Love or Whatever

There has been feedback. Informed folks have been double-clicking ���Dimes��� and depositing mad love on the Dub. ���Round here, we call that Dub Love. We dig Dub Love. To those relating to the struggle, you are in my heart. Unless you are a dude. (You, obviously, cannot be in my heart if you are dude. But you get my meaning.) So, continue to pay your Comcast/AT&T cable bill, or borrow some unsecured wirelessness (as I do -- because it is free), or hit up the InSite from the computer at work (when the Man is not hovering over your shoulder). I am going to be here until Thanksgiving, at least. So please continue to click through. Dating dimes on a dime is a lonelier business than it looks.

Big love to all who are bent on jamming Benjamins into a brokerage account or buying one more house or sending your babies to the best schools or finishing your PhD or running for President of the United States of America��� I pump my fist for you, Baltimore style. Hone your vision and execute. Every time you are advised that you cannot reach your goals, thank the advisor. They have simply disclosed that they are not qualified to envision your success. Nowadays disclosures are valuable and hard to come by.

Big shout out to my man, Michael P who is holding his wife and little man down with a fresh position in NYC! Do your thing! And a big-smug-elitist-hug goes to Vanessa who is recently tenured and consistently awe-inspiring! She is a featured speaker, here on CSPAN (I am in the audience��� There is a brown speck in a taupe suit in the back. No close up, though. Leave it to C-SPAN to hate from the sidelines). Happy belated birthday to Treva (who is safekeeping my American Express Card). Shalom to Brian. Stack shekels, but more important, be safe. Tranquillo to Roland on baby numero dos! One love and peace to everyone who recognizes reality when it is scrolls across your browser!

Of course there has been some two-cent feedback to ���Dimes.��� George W. Bush and I call these folks Two-Centers. If someone had told me in 2/22/2008 that there would be resistance to one man���s march toward one woman and wholesome wealth, I would have laughed. Actually, I would not have cared. I was pretty depressed. But if 50 Cent can sell records on the theme of fast money and misogyny why would I expect hard feelings reflecting financial austerity and monogamy? What planet am I on?

By sheer serendipity, I met one reader on the opening weekend of the ���Sex in the City.��� She was a cute girl with big beautiful eyes, high cheekbones and perfect skin. She was on her way to the screening in a brown dress. If you threw a rock in DC, on that weekend, you would have hit a woman in a beige or brown or tan dress. Who knows what that browning meant? I am going to suppose that brown is the ���in��� color this year. If you know, and you are dying to provide some explanation in the comments section, restrain yourself. I am not curious in a genuine way.

There were quite a few suburban women in their finest couture clicking around the city in pricey heels and lugging huge empty purses. It was a little bit odd. It was like the opposite of a Star Wars opening. ���Sex in the City��� is, actually ���Star Wars��� for chicks. Is it Science Fiction? Who knows, I didn���t see the movie. But in the same way that the nerds and whackos wear the Stormtrooper costume, hot soccer moms and frumpy coeds dressed themselves as Carrie and her 3 cohorts. It was alienating. Some pull it off, some don���t. I liked the television show, but my corpse would have to be dragged into the theatre for me to go anywhere near that movie.

Anyway, this reader (who is BFF of a friend invited to share a pre-viewing drink) was introduced, and perched herself at the Ruth���s Chris bar conveniently close to the theatre. She asked if I had caught wind of some ���smart remarks��� she had made regarding this correspondence. I wondered aloud, how? I wondered to myself, what for? I proffered cocktails which they accepted. (I may be a touch antisocial, but I am polite.) Three sips in, she looks up at me and declares ���I thought you had facial hair.��� I looked down at an awkwardly balanced lime wedge garnishing a jumble of ice-cubes in my glass of straight vodka. Then I looked at my friend (in her striped brown dress). Who smiled back at me. ���I just pictured you as having facial hair.���

These days, I hate being out on Saturday night. I hate it. I want to be at home teaching my children to read above grade level. But I don���t have any children. So I have idle hands on Saturday nights. There are guys who may envy my single lifestyle. But, being single is mostly about being alone in a way that is not always stylish. And, like the slice of lime in my glass, I tend to find myself in situations where I am somehow straddling inclusion and seclusion.

For 15 weeks, I have shared the intimate cynicism of my colliding financial and love lives in the center of a capital city. One might assume a pattern. If I buy you a drink, you are running a risk of being blogged. If you are rude (or even non-sequitur) in the process of drinking the cocktail I bought, you will be blogged. General note of etiquette: you are not allowed to make remarks or recommendations regarding someone���s physical appearance, unless they are compliments (or invited). Don���t trust me? Google it. Even then, there are constraints on what is acceptable.

Still don���t trust me? Test these phrases at your next opportunity to make a first impression:

���You are black/white.���
���Your breasts are small/large.���
���You are tall/short.���
���You do/do not have a beard.���

I would not expect a woman to have facial hair (and this reader did not). But I did not congratulate her, ���It is awesome that you do not have a goatee!��� I don���t think this young woman appreciated the surreal recursion involved in offering a beard critique to a date critic. So? I won���t blog her. I will only point out that if a man has a laptop, then he probably has an electric razor.

This is what I am dealing with, people. Pray for me.

The cupid comes from this artist��� http://moritat.deviantart.com/art/cupid-15131109

This Week in Chicago

Wednesday, June 11 - August 16

74th Season of Annual Grant Park Music Festival
Each week there will be a wide range of classical music concerts and special events at the state-of-the-art Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, and in other select city locations.


Upcoming Concerts:

• Barber and Brahms Wednesday, June 11, 6:30pm
• Beethoven's Missa Solemnis Friday, June 13, 6:30pm
• Beethoven's Missa Solemnis Saturday, June 14, 7:30pm

Click Here for the full schedule and more info.

Thursday, June 12

My Taste of Brazil
Alhambra Palace, 1240 W. Randolph
5pm- 2am



Thursday, June 12-August 24
Chicago Summer Dance Festival
Click here for dance schedule.







Friday, June 13

Bike to Work Rally at Daley Plaza
Join fellow cyclists, former motorists, local media celebrities and the city of Chicago at the Bike to Work Rally.
7:30 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Daley Plaza, 50 West Washington.
At the rally, bikers will receive a FREE continental breakfast and t-shirt while supplies last and will be eligible throughout the day for raffle prizes. There will be food, drink, BMX bike stunt performances, and live music. Free valet bike parking at Daley Plaza from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The Professional Afterwork Committee goes to Madd Soul at Cuatro
2030 S. Wabash, 10pm - 2am
Chicago House w/live Latin & Jazz - featuring Micah Frazier on Trumpet
No Cover

SPYBAR Chicago Premiere ReOpening Party

646 N Franklin St
Effen Vodka Specials
10pm

Weekend Festivals
Click here for info.

Oscar De La Hoya
Signing his book American Son at Borders, 150 N. State St.
12:30 pm

This Week in DC

Some dining ideas for Father's Day. Click Here

O's Corner: Mock Tuna (Salmon) Salad

• 2 large hard-boiled eggs to produce about 1/2 cup chopped
• 3 large ribs celery to produce about 1 1/2 cups chopped
• 1 foil pouch (7.1 ounces) boneless, skinless pink salmon (see Cook's notes below)
• 1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons sweet-pickle relish
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons seafood seasoning blend, such as Old Bay (see Cook's notes below)
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/2 cup dried cherries, optional (see Cook's notes below

Peel eggs and place in a 6-cup or larger mixing bowl. Chop the eggs finely (using 2 knives may help) and add to bowl. Add diced celery. Add the salmon and all the remaining ingredients. (Add dried cherries right before serving) Stir until the salmon is flaked and the salad is well mixed. Serve at once, or refrigerate until ready to serve. Start to finish: 20 minutes. Makes about 3 cups (3 1/2 cups with cherries added).

Per 1/2 cup serving: 121 calories

Cook’s Notes:
Ready-to-eat foil pouches of wild salmon that don't require draining are available at most grocery stores. The exact ounces may vary by brand but a slight variation won't matter. If you can't find seafood seasoning, substitute 1 teaspoon celery salt and 2 dashes hot pepper sauce. Cherry-flavored dried cranberries, such as Craisins, are a good substitute for dried cherries. Golden raisins also work.

Until Next Wednesday, Remember Keep It Simple and Fast.

Angela's iPod

IDINA MENZEL
STAND 2007
3.5 Stars

For those of you who remember Idina Menzel from Wicked and Rent and enjoyed her, you might want to check out her third album, “I Stand“. With this CD, you get a close-up chance to really appreciate her powerhouse voice. And what a voice! She grabs a note, holds on and takes it to heaven. Her voice goes from soft to strong, from low to high pitch in a breath. Her transitions are smooth as silk.

These songs are rather Broadway. But they are also a little rock, a little pop, a little like the music on CD106.7 ( for those who don‘t have that station - easy listening with an edge). I’ve heard a least one person say she is reminiscent of Barbra Streisand or Celine Dion. As such, when you play this CD, you’ll have a tough time deciding if you should listen or just join in. All the songs are fun to listen to but they are so sing-able, you will want to sing aloud, just hoping you might sound one-quarter as fabulous as she does.

The music is full of piano interlude with hints of guitar, tympani and lots of soft melodies and booming crescendos. And though I enjoyed it, if I had to complain about anything it would be that all the songs follow the same formula. They start off slow and soft, segue into a more upbeat style with a big chorus and then build to a crescendo. The formula works, but it would have been nice to have a little variety.

The best songs on the CD are “I Stand,” the opening song; “Gorgeous,” with a Latin edge; ”Perfume and Promises,” in which she sounds like the wasted lover in the song; the aggressive “Don’t Let Me Down;” “Better To Have Loved;" and “I Feel Everything.”

The CD is a decent showcase for the huge talent of Idina Menzel. If more of the songs kept her edginess and allowed her unique voice to shine without the help of crescendoing music, then she might have a true winner. But in the meantime, this CD shows her talent and her potential.

Click here for more information.

Play It As It Lies

Greetings. Today, I feel like I’m extremely lucky. I’m returning to a golf course that I had been privileged to play, or should I say experience, last year. The famed East course at the Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, NY. Golf addicts know what I’m talking about when they hear that name. For those currently not on the little white ball intravenous program, let me give you a run down on the prestigious championships Oak Hill has hosted over the years. It has hosted the Ryder Cup, the PGA Championship, the Senior PGA Championship, the US Open Championship, and the US Amateur Championship.

The course pedigree is impeccable. However, if you need further insight, let me give you a quote on the industrial strength of Oak Hill from the best player on the planet. Tiger Woods said, “It’s the hardest, fairest golf course we’ve ever played.” If Tiger Woods attributed that to Oak Hill, what chance do mere mortals like you and I have? On that note, I’m here for the latest championship, the 69th Senior US Open. The history on the course is like a thesis for winning: Tom Watson, Craig Stadler, Jim Thorpe, Sandy Lyle, Dr Gil Morgan and others. There must be something in the water to allow this caliber of player to continue to press on after age 50, playing at this level. Well, maybe not the water, but surely the parking lot. That’s where the player’s fitness/rehab trailer is located. Five days of pain, mental gymnastics, prayer and the thickest rough on the east coast - not located on Bethpage NY’s Black course.

Upon entrance into the Open, you are searched for any and all electronic devices. Cell phones, cameras, iPods, etc. They are to be left home or they can be checked at the front gate. If you’re worried about having to call someone, scattered about the course are banks of free use phones from local carriers.

For a golf junkie like me, this was Camelot. I took it all in - the practice putting green, chipping area, and driving range. Watching, I realized Pro golfers are very meticulous in their preparation prior to playing a round. Each pro’s “situation” can look like a White House cabinet meeting attended by agents, swing coaches, short game gurus, and sports psychologists. Each has an integral part in the success of their player. I felt like I was looking through a peephole and stealing a graduate level golf education first hand. It was too much for me. Oh well, off to the action...Stay Tuned Next Monday

Mardi Gras 3.5 Stars

7020 Austin Street

Forest Hills, New York 11375
718-261-8555

By Angela

For all you Queens folk who feel like a little fun, jazz, and easy dining try Mardi Gras. It is a combination of Latin, Cuban Creole and Southern cuisines. The restaurant has two levels with a large bar area in the back of the restaurant on the main floor, which fills quickly. The entrance is filled with mardi gras signs and tiffany-style lights hang over the tables. The tables downstairs are nicely spaced, but upstairs is very cramped.

At Mardi Gras, the food is appealing but the service is spotty. The waiters are usually friendly, but I have experienced a rude waiter in the past. Also, the service is frequently slow. Sometimes you wonder if your waiter has forgotten you ( fine if you’re hanging out, not if you wanna get out).

The bar is full-service. They have a decent cocktail menu including a wide variety of martinis. Though they will make a drink according to your specifications, they are not always generous with the alcohol. Every Thursday they have a live jazz band and once a month they have belly dancing. They can’t tell you when, instead they suggest you call or check their website. Not very organized, but maybe they are still testing belly dancing.

I have been to Mardi Gras many times and while I find the service unpredictable, I do enjoy the food. The portions are healthy without being ridiculous. The food is better than the average fare available at most hang-out spots. Some of their dishes are actually delicious. One caution, most of their dishes are spicy.

Their appetizers include alligator pops, fritters, spicy jambalaya, crawfish popcorn, coconut chicken, andouille sausage, Cajun crab cakes, gumbo, spicy chicken wings and artichoke with crawfish in a garlic butter cream sauce. The gumbo is sometimes salty, but the jambalaya and the coconut chicken are a good bet. The alligator pops and crawfish popcorn are among my favorites. My daughter swears by them. The artichoke is not bad either.

The po-boys (made with huge pieces of chicken, catfish or large shrimp) are pretty good as is the cebiche (an old world dish from South America also called ceviche). The cebiche is made with calamari, jumbo shrimp and either catfish, tilapia, or corvine. The sauces are also different and range from mild to very spicy.

The sides are decent. The sweet potato fries are good and the curly fires nicely seasoned. But the best side is the jalapeno-cheddar mashed potatoes. They are delicious. The side I would not recommend is the onion rings; they are disappointingly greasy. As for entrees, the most popular ones are the voodoo pasta, the blackened salmon, the jambalaya, the stuffed shrimp and the filet mignon.

Their dessert list includes after dinner coffees and hot chocolates, and bananas foster and bread pudding. Those two desserts are, in a word, yummy. My recommendation is to get lots of appetizers and sides, one or two entrees and then share everything. Oh, and save room for dessert.

Things you should know if you are interested in checking out this spot:
Thursday nights feature a live jazz band
Friday and Saturday nights are packed and the wait can be up to an hour
$$
Monday to Thursday, 4pm until midnight
Friday and Saturday, noon until 1am
Sunday, noon until midnight

Book Review: Standing at The Scratch Line

By Clarence Lewis

Hey Guys!!! I was having dinner with Neonu and was telling her all about a great book I���d just finished reading. She said I should write a review to share with the InSite Family, so here you go. The book is titled, ���Standing at the Scratch Line��� by Guy Johnson. Johnson is the son of renowned author and poet Maya Angelou (not that genetics has anything to do with writing).

The book was recommended to me by my mom. It sat on the shelf for 2 months because the title was so strange I thought it was about black people struggling to make it, a la Good Times. Boy was I wrong. This book is set in the early 1900���s and is about the life and times of King Tremain. One of my friends who also read the book described the character as ���the man every man wishes he was���. Remember the Godfather Part II when they show you the history of Don Corleone and how he became the godfather. Now make that character a black man building an empire during the height of Jim Crow and Harlem Renaissance. THAT���S THE HOOK!!

When I think of that time period, I picture it like ���Gone with the Wind��� and ���To Kill a Mocking Bird��� and other famous films which depict black people as always waiting to be saved or redeemed by the white majority. That���s what makes this book unique to me. It presents the idea that even in the worst of social times if you stand strong, then you can control your own destiny. King Tremain is definitely a force to be reckoned with (guns a blazing, if necessary). One of my boys read the book and called him an absolute ���stud.��� My mom thinks it���s the best book she ever read. I wouldn���t go that far. She also said that every woman wishes she had a man with some (not all) of King���s characteristics. That I can agree with whole heartedly.

I���ve turned about 10 people on to the book and everyone who's read it has enjoyed it. The book didn���t get much acclaim so you���ll probably have to find it on Amazon or some other online book store. Oh, if you do read it and you enjoy it (I���m sure you will), don���t forget to check out the sequel, ���Echoes of a Distant Summer.��� Maybe I���ll tell you about that one another time.

PS. I could say so much more about this book like what is the meaning of the title, but I���m going to let you find out that and much more on your own.

Dating Dimes* on a Dime in DC

*slang noun in relation to physical beauty in place of a "perfect ten"

By Westmoreland

13. I am Bringing Sexy Backward

I write a lot of songs in my head. I picked up the habit when my first iPod blew up on me. To compensate for, say, the loss of The Roots or Led Zeppelin, I would just compose my own music on the way to work. In my head. I wrote ���I���m Bringing Sexy Back��� on the Orange Line train to work. In my head. The music that I used was different. And (more importantly) I was not singing all falsetto like the thief who recorded the track. When I heard my song on the radio, I was like ���The Pussycat Dolls stole that from me.��� When I perform it is more ���I am bringing sexy back. Yes.��� The radio performance is all ���I���m bringin��� sexy back, yeah?!?��� Not the precise expression of the feeling, but damn close. Oh, I also used an orchestra. It has more of an Ellington big band swing feeling. In my head. Of course I wrote the song in D major. In my experience few things inspire the imagination like major Ds.

The song is inspired by my experiences with bringing sexy back (or introducing it entirely) to real life situations. I cannot bring sexy back to software development. There is no back to bring, there. And sexy is well established in consulting. There are so many wild foxes roaming the building where I work. Sex sells, man. It even sells ���business solutions���. So I do not bring sexy back to work. But I do, occasionally, bring sexy back to ordering chicken at Popeye���s. ���I would like an 8 piece spicy with two biscuits. Yeah?!?��� Or in the Whole Foods near my place. ���Where do you guys keep the hummus? Yeah?!?��� When I wrote the song, some time ago, and way before I heard it on the radio, I toyed with a longer refrain. ���I am bringing sexy back and have sex often. Yes.��� But it was just not as catchy. Often doesn���t rhyme with anything groovy. Coffin? Coughin���? McLaughlin? Anyway, as my circumstances have radically changed, I am thinking about doing a remix.

My remix is not as upbeat. It is somber. I am just kickin��� a few ideas around here, but it goes like this, so far

My love life���s way off track, yeah!
For chas-ti-ty, I do not have the knack, yeah!
I want a woman with a sexy back, yeah!
(And take her to my crib!!)

By the way, Pussycat Dolls, if you have a problem with any of this, please feel free to contact my lawyers (who are prettier and more talented than your whole group combined, and one has a photographic memory. You do not want to join this issue. Trust me.) Come to think of it, I know so many super sexy attorneys I could start my own girl group. A la ���Making the Band���. My group would be called ���Raising the Bar���. Man, I know some sexy attorneys��� and I am somehow friendly with them all. Ugh. I wish you could see some of these luscious legal eagles. You know what? This is the last year that I am going to tolerate being friendly with gorgeous women. If I cannot secure a serious relationship by Thanksgiving, the gloves are coming off, ladies. Sorry. By Christmas, I am jumping down somebody���s chimney. Which is way off subject, but there are side effects of chastity that render you easily distracted. Everything is distracting.

Anyway, I���ll need Diddy to do the remix, obviously. It needs to be downbeat like ���I���ll Be Missing You���. Diddy, have your lawyers contact my lawyers. On second thought, if you also have a gorgeous legal team, have them contact me directly. We can work it out. I���ll take it from there.

This Week in DC

Wednesday, June 4
Yappy Hour Fundraiser
Hosted by the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Center
Science Club, 1136 19th St N.W.
5:30pm - 8:30pm

The fun includes drink specials, raffles and a date auction, for a date with both a canine and its owner.

Thursday, June 5
Code Orange Happy Hour/ Pool Party
Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St. N.W.
5:30pm- 8:30pm; $15.00

Price includes one complimentary frozen drink, use of the hotel's sprawling, secluded pool area, the Jacuzzi, sauna, and locker rooms. This happy hour can't be beat!

April Hill at Andalu
Andalu, 1214 18th St. N.W.
Free before 8pm, $5 after
April Hill has a jazzy, neo soul sound. Click here for more info.

Friday, June 6
French Wine Society Happy Hour
The Park at Fourteenth: 4 Stars, 920 14th St. N.W.
Information: 202-944-6091
7:30pm -9pm, $20
Advance purchase suggested

Price includes French cheese selection, charcuterie and chocolate with Pommery champagne, French wines and St. Germain cocktails. Music spun by French DJ Terry Smith.

Saturday, June 9
Chuck Brown and Midnight Star at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre
16th Street and Colorado Avenue NW
7:30pm, $20 (Unbelievable price!!)
Click here for tickets

Sunday, June 8
The Best of Washington Party
Hosted by Washingtonian Magazine
The National Building Museum, 440 G St. N.W., 20001
7pm - 10pm
Click here for Ticket info

O's Corner: Asparagus

Asparagus should be flooding the markets now. Look for tightly closed tips and firm stalks that have no vertical wrinkles. Asparagus should be cooked only until bright green, while still crisp and not mushy. If you prefer more tender asparagus, use a potato peeler or knife, prior to cooking, to remove the outer skin of the stalk about two inches below the tip. This woody part which is fibrous will not become tender without the tips becoming mush.

Asparagus with Orange Mayonnaise

• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed
• 1/2 cup light mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange zest

Fill a large skillet with about 1 inch of water and bring it to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook until it is bright green, approximately 4 to 6 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the mayonnaise, orange juice and orange zest. Spoon the mayonnaise over warm or cold asparagus and serve. Makes 4 servings.

Zest

Using a grater or a knife, grate the skin off an orange, careful to remove as much of the white part as possible. Keep a few strands of the orange zest to garnish the platter.