Matchbox is on three levels and we got seated in the far back corner of the top level. Lots of room for us and it wasn’t as cramped as other parts of Matchbox.
The hype around this place seemed to range from “great pizza” to “best pizza in Washington” so my expectations were high. A few people independently told me to “get the mini burgers” but I’m not much of a burger guy. You can get 3, 6, or 9 of them and some of the staff were wearing black shirts that simply read “3.6.9″ implying your snack options. They looked fun as wait staff shuffled around serving them as appetizers.
I got the Double Pepperoni which tasted good but didn’t live up to the hype. The pizza was really quite sloppy to eat, very greasy and the crust was mushy. The pepperoni pieces were tasty and spicy though but almost literally covered the entire pizza. A bit overboard for me. Donika and Mike seemed to enjoy their pizzas a lot more than I did so I’m hoping to come back the next time I’m in town and try a different pizza to turn around my mediocre opinion.
I finished with cinnamon ice cream which came as a large scoop in a low martini-like glass. Surprisingly and pleasingly strong. Yum.
Less than a block from the Chinatown Metro.
Matchbox Vintage Pizza Bistro
713 H St NW
Washington, DC 20001
202-289-4441
If you’re not familiar with the XO Laptop or the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, from laptopgiving.org:
The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege.
Mike has been testing with a development unit for awhile. The first thing I noticed is that it is very small and confusing to open the first time. Once I knew that the WiFi antennas, or “ears,” pop up first (they act as a lock) it opens quite easily.
It boots fairly quickly with 256mb of RAM and opens to a screen where I have what feels like an OS X Dock at the bottom to choose applications. After about 10 minutes I felt really comfortable getting around it and everything worked in a rather simple manner.
Browsing was about as fast as the iPhone on WiFi and there were a few music creation applications that I didn’t spend the time to figure out. I tested out the RSS reader on it as well and it was pretty swift.
One of the most interesting things about the XO Laptop to me is in the collaboration features. It creates mesh networks on its own with other XO Laptops and will share a common internet connection, which is very useful in remote areas. In the absence of internet connectivity, it will share resources with the other laptops. Teachers can share information to other laptops live and students can then take them home and share the information and pages with their families and others.
They’ll also take a wide and dirty range of power to charge it. You can use things such as a solar panel, a foot pump or hand crank in addition to using a normal power adapter.
I ordered one through the Give One, Get One program a week and a half ago. You order two. One gets shipped to you and one gets donated. I can’t wait to play around with it more. UPDATE: On 15 Dec 07 I got my own OLPC XO Laptop.
See more photos from my Washingtontrip as well as Mike’sphotos from when we met up.
From their website:
In 1998 the Italian government formally recognized Neapolitan pizza as a traditional food worthy of preservation and granted it D.O.C (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) status, which specifies the legally permitted ingredients and methods of preparation necessary to produce authentic Neapolitan Pizza.
Although D.O.C. is primarily used for wines, there is quite a list of things under D.O.C. and 2 Amys has three pizzas apparently abiding by this label: Margherita, Marinara and Margherita Extra. While they have a lot of other pizzas on their menu, we ordered only from those selections and we were quite pleased. Felt to be just a bit better balanced than Pizzeria Paradiso less oily than what I’m used to at Punch Pizza or Pizza Nea at home in Minneapolis. The crust was soft, chewy and just crispy enough around the edges. Just the right amount of cheese too — it wasn’t overloaded like a lot of Americanized forms of the Margherita. So yummy.
If you’re taking the Metro, the website says to go to Tenleytown-AU but if you don’t mind walking through a residential area the Cleveland Park stop seemed to be closer.
2 Amys Neapolitan Pizzeria
3715 Macomb St NW
Washington, DC 20016
202-885-5700
(Post originally on Minnesota Meow)
Name: Neko
Nicknames: Neeks, Neekers, Neky
Born: June 2002
Lives in: White Bear Township
Lives with: Alan, Lynn, Deanna, & Steve Wyman and her sister cat, Emily
Neko came from the Northwoods Humane Society via PetSmart in Maplewood. They went to the store for cat food and came home with two new cats, Neko and her sister Emily.
Neko’s favorite TV show is House, MD. She comes running into the room and complains loudly that she was not told before the theme music came on. When House is not on, she likes viewing the bird feeders and bird bath through the patio door.
She dislikes being picked up and audibly purring.
During the summer she will spend the day in the screened-in gazebo which she’ll walk directly to when let out of the house. While in the gazebo, she taunts wayward grasshoppers. “She starts taking their legs off one at a time to see what they do. Once they can’t do anymore she decides they are now boring and eats them,” Alan retells. She has also climbed and left holes in the screen in the gazebo to get a better look at the birdhouse mounted outside. She’ll run back into the house if it starts raining. “In fact she almost ran headlong into the glass one day recently.”
She plays with rubber spikey balls, batting them around the house and systematically removing the little rubber spikes. Twist-ties are favorite toy as well. She can find a twist-tie or rubber band anywhere in a wastebasket.
Alan is a Implementation and Training Consultant with US Foodservice and Lynn manages the Roseville Public Library. Steve and Deanna are away from home generally as they are students at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and Winona State University respectfully.
More photos of Neko can be found on Alan’s “Neko” set on Flickr.
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Posted 24 November 2007
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Leonardo’s is located just north of I-694 on Highway 120, on the border between White Bear Lake and Mahtomedi. It’s small and in a strip mall. They have only six tables and they deliver. It’s cozy. We were surprised by their menu. This isn’t a normal indie pizza joint in a strip mall: most of their menu is their specialty pizzas including a Mediterranean Chicken pizza to a Hawaiian influenced Big Island Delight pizza. Their full menu is on their website. They also have grinders, wings and some appetizers.
Unfortunately their prices were bit higher than we expected. Co-worker Nick and I ordered two drinks and a regular 10″ Margherita, which is one of their least expensive pizzas. The total came out to be $18.38 before tip. Their 14″ Sicilian Supreme Deep Dish pizza is $23.79! They had specials written on a chalkboard but they all seemed to cater towards parties of four or more.
The pizza was quite tasty — better than I expected. Nick thought it was “all right.” I think he would have preferred a more traditional pepperoni pizza. Next time. The crust was crispy and I thought it had just the right amount of toppings and cheese. We went through it quickly. It’s a sharp contrast to the pizza down the road at Donatelli Brothers which generally has a lot more cheese and really oily. I think Leonardo’s, from my first taste, has better pizza but Donatelli’s is probably more utilitarian if you’re starving.
We both thought Leonardo’s service was friendly, fast and personable. We’ll be back.
Leonardo’s Pizzeria
3150 Century Ave N
Mahtomedi, MN 55115
651-777-1200
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Posted 21 November 2007
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(Post originally on Minnesota Meow)
Name: Oreo
Nickname: Chubba
Born: October 2002
Lives in: Savage
Lives with: Kendra Sundvall, Kendra’s mother and Oreo’s sister Scooter.
Oreo was rescued from the Minnesota Valley Humane Society. She crawled on Kendra and wouldn’t get off. “Love at first sight,” Kendra retells. They adopted her sister Scooter at the same but they don’t get along much. “They’ve never really acted like sisters.”
When I first got her, she stole my Oreo cookies off the counter. I wanted to name her something more special but it was too true to pass by. Even still, when you open a bag of Oreo cookies she comes running instantly like most cats would for tuna.
Oreo can be conversational and will verbally respond to you. “Sometimes she gets fussy and meows louder… or quiet depending on what we’re talking about,” Kendra adds. Oreo also likes batting pencils and paintbrushes around on the floor. Even though she’s an indoor cat, Oreo once ate through a screen door and snuck outside with Scooter.
One thing Oreo loves is attacking the mouse cursor on a computer. “I’m shocked my laptop is still in tact, to be honest.”
Kendra is a student and budding photographer. Some of her work can be found on Flickr. She is looking to continue studying photography and further persuing a career in photojournalism.
More photos of Oreo can be found searching the “oreo” tag on Kendra’s Flickr account. Be sure to click through to the next few pages as there’s some really great photos of Oreo.
(Post originally on Minnesota Meow)
Name: C. Bac
Nickname: Canadian Bacon, Grey Cat
Born: June 2003
Lives in: Ericsson, Minneapolis
Lives with: Erica and Terry Johnson and another cat, Roni
C. Bac, short for “Canadian Bacon,” was rescued from the Humane Society when he was a kitten after Erica saw a news story about a large influx of cats that needed to be placed in homes. His original name was Edison but as Erica’s sister had a cat named Chovie (short for “Anchovie”) and they are all devoted pizza fans, Edison got named Canadian Bacon. Chovie has since run away but C. Bac now lives with another cat, Roni (short for “Pepperoni”).
As Erica describes:
C. Bac’s the kind of cat that sees you looking at him from across the room and will coming running and beg to be pet. And no minor petting will do — he needs the full-on attention. It gets so bad that at some point you have to hide your hands so that he can’t rub his face on them to encourage you to pet him more!
One of his most bizarre habits involves licking plastic bags around the house. Nobody’s sure where he developed this interest but Erica says “it needs to stop.”
We’ve never thought of C. Bac to be very smart. We love him, as the big oaf that he is. When he and Chovie escaped the house we were surprised that C. Bac was the one that found his way home. We were sitting in our family room above our garage and heard a “meow, meow!” coming from outside. We looked out the window and on the hood of TJ’s car in the driveway was C. Bac screaming at the window. Unlike Chovie, he knew well enough not to wander far and did everything he could to get our attention and get back in the house. It was very sad when Chovie didn’t come home — and C. Bac roamed around the house crying for his friend.
C. Bac lives with his best friend Roni as well as TJ and Erica who are newlyweds that moved to Minneapolis a year and a half ago. TJ works as a application developer for Four51 and Erica work as a graphic designer and event planner for Public Affairs in Hennepin County. They enjoy playing ultimate frisbee, are avid Minnesota Wild fans, love movies and eating out. They’re looking forward to adding to their family soon — this time with less fur.
More photos of C. Bac can be found in Erica’s “Kitties” Gallery.
Today I caught my neighbor Troy and a roommate of his building version 2.0. Tens of thousands of lights programmed to music. Instead of 16 different channels for lights like last year, there’ll now be 80 channels. They’ve switched to LED lights as they draw significantly less power. Not for the sake of energy bills but so they can prevent the circuit breakers from snapping from them going off and on so quickly.
All new songs, all new setup. This means an even bigger traffic jam in front of my house this year. It’s probably the biggest display in the Longfellow and probably the craziest in Minneapolis.
They plan to have everything up and running on December 1st.
Update: Had about thirty people at my house the other night to see the new lights.
(Post originally on Minnesota Meow)
Names: Mimi and Dora
Nicknames: Mimi: Snotwad, Baby; Dora: Pandora, Adorable, Baby
Born: February 2006
Lives in: Lowry Hill, Minneapolis
Lives with: Lesley Babb
Mimi and Dora are sisters that enjoy staring out the window, chasing and attacking each other, chewing on each others ears, and fighting through the shower curtain. Amidst their shenanigans, they also find time to groom and snuggle together.
When Dora wants attention she’ll jump on your lap and then flop over but when Mini wants attention she’ll nibble on noses and fingers. They’ll also jump into the shower — they like the water!
Dora makes some strange noises though. Lesley explains:
When Dora was a kitten, she got an infection which damaged part of her nasal cavity so now she’s a very loud breather. She snores loudly and sometimes squeaks. Some people come over and think that they broke her or that she’s sick. She’s a perfectly healthy kitty!
They have toy mice and balls but prefer their green mouse. When igorning their toys they knock breakable things off shelves and kill plants. After four plants, none are kept anymore. They also enjoy scraping paint off of surfaces in the condo and eating it.
Mini and Dora live with Lesley Babb who is a Case Manager for AccessAbility, Inc., a non-profit that provides vocational training for disabled and disadvantaged adults.
More photos of Mimi and Dora can be found in this Flickr photoset.
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Posted 16 November 2007
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(Post originally on Minnesota Meow)
Name: Sofia
Nicknames: Sofielynn, Sofie, Kittybooty
Born: April 2005
Lives in: Standish, Minneapolis
Lives with: Heidi and Carlos Quezada and their children Carmen, Ethan and Elan
Sofia came to live with the Quezadas from a farm in Becker, MN when she was about 6 months old. Heidi tells me that:
Sofia acts like surrogate mother to my three children. She wakes each of them up in the morning with her purr. I don’t know how she knows what time they need to get up for school but she does and she always lets them sleep in on Saturday. She always knows when one of the kids is sick or sad. She’ll meow at them and get this worried look on her face. Then she’ll snuggle up to them and purr in their ear. It always makes them feel better.
Sofia is supposed to be an indoor cat but she will occasionally sneak out with someone leaving or arriving. She’s quick but the kids can usually catch her unless she climbs up their maple tree. She loves the snow so after a big snowfall it is almost impossible to keep her inside. However, the deep snow usually slows her down so she can’t get too far.
Sofia is a very friendly and social kitty. She has several friends that come meow at the windows and she’s also very popular with guests.
Heidi works in the Minneapolis City Council offices and Carlos works for Hennepin County Corrections working with high-risk Latino children.
More photos of Sofia can be found in this photoset as well as on Heidi’s Flickr account.
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Posted 14 November 2007
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