Next Friday, October 12th, I'm giving a talk at the Writers' Center in Bethesda MD at 7:30 pm. It's timed to coincide with the annual Small Press Expo that weekend also in Bethesda (well, White Flint). I'm posting this a week ahead so you can make plans, or cancel the plans you've made and rearrange your schedule. And those of you in Canada or New Zealand might still find available transportation (or maybe you two could carpool). I've got no idea what I'm going to say yet, and the way I mumble you'll not have much idea what I said, but they're good people at the Writers' Center so come on down. Did I mention it's free?
And Bethesda is like Eating Central, with every block crowded with restaurants elbow to elbow . When we were dating my wife lived smack in the middle of it and around 3 in the afternoon you could hang out her window and inhale the smell of all the grills starting up and thousands of dinners being prepared in every cuisine imaginable.
But no place in Bethesda can compare to the Tastee Diner, which has sat on its corner, opened 24 hours a day, for about 70 years. It's where the waitresses stop and chat, call you Honey, and know what you mean when you ask for a one-eyed bacon cheeseburger. And late at night, early in the morning, you'll see a wider cross section of humanity in its booths than you'd think one planet could hold, never mind one diner.
So here's the deal. After the Writers' Center chat, let's head over to the Tastee Diner for some scrapple or a plate of fries with gravy or one of those milkshakes where they bring you the shake in a glass and the silvery pitcher it was mixed up in too, with some extra shake still in it. I'll need one for sure.
8 comments:
You going to start at SPX and then head on down? If so, I'll tag along and drive if you like.
Mike
Wow, if the event is free then it would be worth the NZ-US airfare... if I didn't have to buy carbonated guilt offsets...
Once you have completed your cartoon world domination, perhaps you could come here instead.
They got one-eyed bacon cheeseburgers there?
What is a one-eyed bacon cheeseburger, please? I'll probably stick with the scrapple, anyway.
A cheeseburger with a fried egg on top. Mmmmm!
Oh, that one-eyed bit was predictable, but "stick with the scrapple"? Oh My God. Have you ever seen that stuff?
Of course I have, Mike - I like it. I wonder if I can get a one-eyed bacon cheeseburger with scrapple on it?
In some places, like Ohio, they put maple syrup on scrapple. I like it plain with cornbread. It's hard to find the good stuff, though it's not hard to produce so I don't know why. That part "scrap" pretty much describes it. A few years ago I was at the Tastee Diner, sitting in a booth up near the counter in front. Youngish well-dressed people kept coming in and ordering scrapple to go and the chef finally asked one why? And the customer told him they were at a party and it was one of the things on a list for a scavenger hunt. The chef threw him out and swore the next guy who came in ordering scrapple for a g-dd-m scavenger hunt was gonna get a good kick in the pants.
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