Best Of

Three recent highlights that deserve a "Best" ranking...

Best Coffee - Minh's in Arlington
This inexpensive (for DC) and good Vietnamese restaurant has great coffee. It's served with the hot water still dripping through the compressed grinds in a small aluminum container that's sitting on top of your coffee cup. Hidden at the bottom of the cup is a thick serving of sweetened condensed milk. Our helpful waiter instructed us to use the lid of the coffee maker as a base when it was time to take the contraption off the cup and set it on the table (protect the tablecloth). Stir it all up to create a smooth sweet flavorful blend, pour it over ice, and have a terrific glass of iced coffee.

Best Political Writing -- Dana Milbank in The Washington Post
I was among the millions of Americans disgusted with President Bush's veto of reauthorizing SCHIP, the program that provides health care for low-income children, and the House's failure to overturn that veto. Dana Milbank, a celebrated columnist for the Washington Post, offered a window into related deliberations In an October 24 column, "Children's Health Yields to the Senators From Pork," It opens this way:

The United States Senate yesterday was confronted with a stark choice: health care for children, or pet projects for lawmakers' home states.

The final tally?

Pet Projects 68. Kids 26.

Milbank's writing is snarky and smart. Proof? In this piece he labels senators not with their state, but with their pet project. Egs, "I assume this comes as no surprise that I oppose the amendment," declared Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Figge Art Museum)," or "A spokesman for Sen. George Voinovich (R-First Ladies Library)..."

Read it and enjoy some great wry writing.

Best Hike & Fall Colors - Sugarloaf Mountain
Much later than what we're used to in Wisconsin, the height of the fall color change is now in DC. Thanks to a tip from DC folklorist Leslie Prosterman, Ack and I went hiking at Sugarloaf Mountain near Comus, Maryland. This is a beautiful set of trails in a privately owned park that is open to, and enjoyed by, a teeming public. Crowded, yes, but that just means more people are out with their families, friends and church groups on a gorgeous Sunday to challenge themselves with a strenuous hike to the 1,282' peak with the reward of beautiful vistas of the surrounding farms and woods. Sugarloaf is a monadnock (a mountain that remains after the erosion of the surrounding land) so it offers great views from all sides. We took the very vertical green trail up to the summit, and the long and more leisurely 5 mile blue trail back. The trails wind through continuously varied landscapes, with their beauty enhanced from the brilliant fall colors. It was a lovely afternoon.

Ack here, we had read complaints of the trails not being well marked, but I did not find that to be the case. With the map and 'tree markings' it was easy to stay on the trail.