Cleaning pots and pans with a bamboo brush: http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/bamboo-wok-brush-easy-no-soa.ht...

The Gin is In covers DC's Green Hat Summer varietal: http://theginisin.com/gin-reviews/green-hat-springsummer-2013/?u...

Speed-aging bourbon: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/05/02/180661986/how-a-dist...

Now we're cooking with... flowers? http://frozentropics.blogspot.com/2013/05/learn-to-cook-with-edi...

1. House-made brioche with smoked trout roe and greek yogurt
2. Cured salmon with squid ink toast and raw pacific mexican whitefish with green tomato
3. Raw scallops two ways - with coconut milk and with crumbled pistachios
4. Burrata with asparagus and lemon breadcrumbs
5. Egg ravioli with ramps and dried tuna flakes
6. One-bite spanakopita
7. Smoked fois gras with pea purée
8. House-made half smoke with spicy tomato chutney, half sour pickle and beer
9. Warm date stuffed with marscspone topped w olive oil and sea salt

(Click for the slideshow)

Did you know that DC has a drink, and that July is its month?

WeLoveDC gives you all you need to know about the Rickey.

I got introduced to the Thievery Corporation in Venezuela, never imagining that I'd one day see them live in their hometown of DC (or hear them used as music in every hip restaurant in DC and the West Coast. DC, for not being as in-your-face with its music scene as Austin, has a surprising amount of influence.

I've spoken about the Amen breakbeat before, and probably made you watch this video, but it explains how a beat by DC funk band, The Winstons, is in almost every electronica and drum-and-bass song out there: http://dcist.com/2009/12/how_a_dc_bands_beat_conquered_the_w.php

If we didn't live so close to Eastern Market, we'd be ordering from Arganica pretty much every week. If you consider yourself a locavore in DC, they are the best source for a lot of the more difficult items to source at your local farmer's market, and the flour you can get from them is out of this world. Don't even get me started on the yogurt with the layer of cream on top they have. Arganica is a local business which is like a meta-CSA - you get local yumminess, what you order, delivered to your door, and support a local business who's changing the way you interact with your food. It's made of win.

And if you also support another local DC business, http://www.dealsfordeeds.com/ (think Groupon for Good), you get a 3 month membership for $40 - half off! Try it. You'll like it.

The Hill is Home put together a great set of links for eating locally: http://www.thehillishome.com/2010/04/eating-locally/ with a hat-tip to our favorite vendor, Arganica: http://arganica.com . WeLoveDC takes local to a whole new level with what can best be described as lawnmower salad: http://www.welovedc.com/2010/04/13/truly-local-eating-a-homegrow...

If you're road-tripping and want to keep things "local" , there's a great resource to find local favorites via boingboing

It turns out the Virginia's retrocession of their original land grant to the District (now Alexandria and Arlington) may not have been constitutional. Via the DCist:

http://www.thehillishome.com/2009/08/lost-capitol-hill-eastern-b...

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blockquote>With the reopening of Eastern Market, it seems only right to look at the pre-history of what is again the center of our neighborhood. Long before Cluss built his masterpiece, there was another market, one which L’Enfant had planned into his earliest drawings of Washington DC: Eastern Branch Market.

Ben Eisendrath knows his grills (Via WeLoveDC):

Local entrepreneur Ben Eisendrath had been introducing friends to the glory of South American-style wood grilling for years before he chucked the daily grind to re-launch his father’s invention and transform it into a viable business. From “grubby greasy shop drawings” to 3D CAD renderings, Ben translated his father’s elegant design for the modern world. Shops in Michigan and Virginia now produce what’s known as the “Maserati of Grills.”