Michael Keller

Leisure

Foreign films come home

This weekend the “Global Glimpses” film festival, only in its second year of operation, will screen all five foreign films nominated this year for an Academy Award. The festival aims... Read more

By February 12, 2009

Leisure

Lookin’ for soul food and a place to sleep …

With the perspective of time I can see these endeavors for what they were-pretty gross to the untrained eye-but still, the desire for just a couple French fries with my milkshake has stayed with me. With friends graduating or even worse, getting real jobs, the impulse to disregard these concoctions as childish can be tempting. But in the face of growing up, the food that makes us smile is the food to hold onto. Like keeping songs in your playlist in the face of a breakup even though they remind you of your ex, some things you just need to keep with you.

By November 13, 2008

Leisure

We’re brunching out

Rarely on Saturday and Sunday mornings do I venture to what's now known as ‘Leo's Down Under.' Partly because the thought of the cafeteria's nether regions makes me slightly nauseated, but also because a weekend brunch diet of tater tots and breakfast burritos gets old faster than the Nazi at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. If you choose to take a post-midterm break for a nice weekend brunch, you will have chosen wisely. And although mornings are not my strong suit, when I'm enjoying a delightful brunch, time doesn't matter.

By October 30, 2008

Leisure

Dessert it yourself — The New DIY

Although it’s already mid-October, I’ve declared this fall to be the Summer of George! Although the results were mixed for the oft-chunky George Costanza, my roommate Dan and I are all about gettin’ into being healthy and lovin’ love. The first step on our road to healthy living begins where any bildungsroman should, in the dessert aisle.

By October 16, 2008

Leisure

Mr. Sohielinia’s neighborhood

At the corner of 34th Street and Dent Place, one block south of Reservoir, Le Petit Corner Store is a half-house, half-storefront whose interior is a homey, welcoming, albeit assorted mixture of a deli, café, and community rendez-vous spot.

By October 2, 2008

Leisure

Chinese triathlon

Two years ago, I conducted a historic competition that took place among three giants of the Georgetown Chinese delivery circuit: Kitchen No. 1, Best Hunan, and Hunan Peking. Scored on price, delivery time, taste, and texture, the judges based their decisions on three dishes: Orange Beef, General Tso’s Chicken, and Chicken Fried Rice. The winner? Hunan Peking, hands down, with Best Hunan a close second and Kitchen No. 1 more like Kitchen No. 3.

But these times, they are a-changin’. Hunan Peking has since closed its doors, and Best Hunan has changed its name and image to the posh Banana Leaves and Asian Restaurant. It was time for a do-over.

By September 18, 2008

Leisure

Sweet cuppin’ cakes

From an etymological perspective, a cupcake is a cake, but in a cup. A name as commonplace as cupcake, like any word said too many times, loses the emotional connection to its referent, and many have forgotten just how marvelous cupcakes can be.

By September 4, 2008

Leisure

Steak Out: a bi-weekly column about food

Newton vs. Leibniz. Itchy vs. Scratchy. Disraeli vs. Gladstone. Michael Scott vs. Toby. The writer Elbert Hubbard once said that rivalry is the life of trade, and if you take a look at the local Georgetown food circuit you’ll see that he was right.

By August 22, 2008

Page 13 Cartoons

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Part 2

Continued from our August 30 Issue

By September 6, 2007

Page 13 Cartoons

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Part 1

All the scuzzlecrafts were out and about. The view through our man’s windshield showed the completeness of the system as he went flying from level to level of the city, drooping, soaring, twisting and canoozling (if he had ever chosen to be daring). The skyscape was never as beautiful as it was at rush hour. The sleepy sun was almost beneath the ocean and darting wizzerskids alongside leviathan autowoofs rose above its electric amber glow casting shadows on the clouds above. The skyfull of shiny cylinders shooting below mulberry and barley colored clouds, going to and fro all in a hurry to get home before . . .

By August 30, 2007