Kevin's Watch

Cail wrote:If I enjoy myself, it'll be pants-optional....

It's impossible to get anyone to go streaking with you if you're the only one who's drunk.

And perhaps the first meeting isn't the time to meet Cail the Tank.

Alynna Lis Eachann wrote:I'm always good for a couple of beers, but I can't drive after the first one unless I've had a couple hours to let it wear off. I'm such a lightweight.

"... There are no signs proclaiming its location. Just follow those for the conference center, which is part of a state program for adult part-time learners. Inside you will find the Garden, which offers American standards with a decided Maryland flair.

Through double French doors, just off the main lobby, the restaurant beckons with simple formality. Queen Anne-style chairs are pulled up to white-tablecloth-draped tables, each adorned with a single flower.

At night, small oil lamps and brass chargers set the scene. Doors along one side of the room lead to an interior Asian garden filled with tables, where one can dine in good weather. On the opposite wall is a display of artwork from Bali and China. A small bar fills a corner.

...There is Maryland crab soup, a broth-based vegetable soup rich with sweet crabmeat, though perhaps too gently spiced for true aficionados. The spinach, artichoke and crab dip, served with pita wedges, is rich and fresh-tasting, but not the least heavy. And the seafood sampler features a mini-crab cake, deep-fried calamari and grilled shrimp, all of which allow the inherent flavors of the seafood to shine.

The flatbread salad, offered at dinner, tops a slice of flat bread -- accented with garlic and Parmesan cheese -- with baby lettuces and other greens in a light balsamic vinaigrette. The Caribbean chicken, a luncheon appetizer, is fingers of breast meat, deftly fried to a golden brown, in a jerk barbecue sauce.

As a tribute to the artwork in the 45-seat restaurant, Hutcheson's menu also includes a few Asian-inspired dishes, including California Asian shrimp salad and pan-Asian salmon, served with banana-papaya chutney.

Maryland-style crab cakes are available as part of a salad or sandwich, or as an entree. In each, the cakes are mostly lump crabmeat, with little filler as distraction.

But crab isn't the only thing on the menu. Other standard dinner entrees include two chicken preparations (one with crab), two pasta dishes, two beef selections and rack of lamb. The filet of beef, twin tenderloins, was grilled just to medium rare, as requested, and served atop roasted red potatoes and asparagus.

Desserts display a decided University of Maryland bent, beginning with ice cream from the university's dairy. It's rich and full of flavor, and available only on the university campus. The turtle cheesecake -- a nod to the university's mascot -- is dense and chock-full of caramel and chocolate on a chocolate cookie crust. The chocolate love cake is almost like eating pure fudge, and nearly as addictive. "

Lucimay wrote:i'm staying at a rinky dink little hotel six blocks from the mall!!! yay!!! walking distance!!! woooo hooo!!!

here's where i'll be, it looks like somebody's grandmother's house!!!

www.braxtonhotel.com/directions.html

Romeo wrote:

Lucimay wrote:i'm staying at a rinky dink little hotel six blocks from the mall!!! yay!!! walking distance!!! woooo hooo!!!

here's where i'll be, it looks like somebody's grandmother's house!!!

www.braxtonhotel.com/directions.html

Um ... looks like you'll be staying at the Washington Monument? Great location, and even better view, but too many stairs for my liking.

dlbpharmd wrote:Just got an email from United, my arrival time has changed to 4pm on the 23rd. Now if only I could only get someone volunteer to pick me up <hint> <hint>