This year's Winter Wonderland

This year Bethesda will again have it's Winter Wonderland weekend. It starts on Friday December 3rd at 8pm at Imagination stage (4908 Auburn Avenue) with a free Choral Concert featuring American University Gospel Choir, BlueLine, Euphonism, and Georgetown University Phantoms.

On Saturday from 1-4pm it continues in Veteran's Park on the corner of Norfolk Avenue and Woodmont Avenue. There will be live Ice Sculpting from 1-2pm (see the picture below from last year's Wonderland). From 2-4pm there will be Santa Claus and singing by some local schools (Garrett Park Elementary School, Our Lady of Lourdes, Seneca Valley High School, St. Jane de Chantal, Watkins Mill High School, Winston Churchill High School).

Fixing the drains at Montgomery and MD-355

The past few rainstorms have resulted in a huge puddle in the middle of the road on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Montgomery Avenue in Bethesda, MD. I wrote about it (and took pictures) back in September. The cause of the problem was a clogged storm drain right at the corner.

The good news is they have started replacing that drain. Yesterday they were pulling out the old pipe and putting in a shiny new pipe. You can see from the picture below that the old one was in really bad shape. It had corroded through in many places and had lots of dirt built up in the bottom.

They only replaced the dozen or so feet closest to the drain, I don't know if they will be back after the holidays to do some more or if they are done.

New Restaurant Kabob Bazaar opened today

As I was out and about today I noticed that Kabob Bazaar is now opened. I spoke with one of the people who works there and it turns out that they just opened today. It is where Javian used to be and before that was Mongolian Grill. There is also a Kabob Bazaar on Wilson Blvd in Arlington.

7710 Wisconsin Ave, Bethesda, MD

A fancy little fence

I noticed these cute little fences around the trees on Old Georgetown Rd near Wisconsin Avenue. Hopefully this is just the start of things and they will put some plants around the base of the trees too.

I'm not sure if this is a Bethesda wide thing or not, but it looks like it is at least around the Clark Building.

The perfect Halloween treat

I saw these at Hinata Sushi Carryout and Grocery on St Elmo Ave in Bethesda, MD and, given the proximity to Halloween, couldn't resist getting some. They are single serving, snack size dried sardines. Each sardine is about 1.5 to 2 inches long. In addition to the fish, there is a bit of corn syrup and sesame seeds.

Since I got them, I felt obligated to try some. They are crunchy and taste a little bit fishy. If you can get over the fact that you are eating whole fish whose dried out eyes look like they are pleading with you to spare them, they are perfectly edible. I ate about half a package before deciding I had enough. My cat quite enjoyed them and has been asking for more.



According to the nutrition label (The only part of the package that is in english) they have no fat, 3g of sugar, 3g of protein, and 24 calories per serving. A serving is three packages.

Hinata has more than dried fish snacks, they also have fresh sushi and a plethora of other Japanese snacks. If you want something a little out of the ordinary, this is a good place to go.

Not such a bad storm

Yesterday I got a Montgomery County severe weather alert and expected a pretty bad storm overnight. when you read "WIND FIELDS WILL SUPPORT ORGANIZED LINEAR STORMS CAPABLE OF DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND NOCTURNAL TORNADOES." that is serious. So this morning I was glad that the wind hadn't woken me up and we still had power. It doesn't look like there was much damage here in Bethesda, though I did find a tree on these two cars.



There are lots of things you tend not to think of until something happens and you need to. Finding a body shop is one of those things. Can anyone recomend a good auto-body shop in Montgomery County, MD?

La Madeleine gets a new sign

Normally I wouldn't post an entry just for a new sign on a restaurant, but today I was walking down Old Georgetown Rd here in Bethesda, MD and I'm like, whoa, what happened. Gone was La Madeleine's calm, beige and brown sign and in its place is a bright yellow and maroon one that really, really stands out.

For comparison, here is the old sign.

Kolmen 3-day makes its way through Bethesda.

The Susan G. Komen 3-day walk for the cure came through Bethesda, MD this afternoon. It started as a trickle, a few people set up by the Bethesda Metro station, an occasional person or two wearing a pink shirt mixed in with the normal lunch time crowd, making their way up the sidewalk towards Gaithersburg (their stop for the night). Later, it turned into a frequent, larger groups walking along the sidewalk and bunching up as they waited for traffic lights.

There was a good sized cheering section by the Metro who cheered and shouted encouragement to walkers as they went by.


According to the website for this event:
How does Susan G. Komen for the Cure utilize the contributions?
Net proceeds from the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure fund innovative global breast cancer research and local community programs supporting education, screening and treatment. Every major advance in the fight against breast cancer in the last 28 years has been impacted by a Susan G. Komen for the Cure grant.

According to Charity Navigator, for fiscal year 2009,the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization spends 84.4% of its budget on program expenses, 10.5% on administrative expenses, and 6% on fundraising expenses. The president of the charity, Hala G. Moddelmog made $531,924.

Update 4:45pm:
As the afternoon has progressed, the flow of people has really increased. Earlier in the day you'd see groups of 5-10 people waiting to cross streets, now it is more like 15-20. Here are a couple pictures from around 4:30.

Armored Car robbery in Bethesda

Shortly after noon, two people held up an armored car outside this Wachovia bank on the 7900 block of Wisconsin Ave (MD-355) in Bethesda, MD. The suspects reportedly fled in a black jeep, going northbound on MD-355. There have been other armored car robberies in the DC area in the past week that are possibly related.

The top photo was taken this afternoon and shows the armored car involved in the incident. Police tape had surrounded this vehicle but it was removed prior to the picture.


More information at Patch and TBD.

Taste of Bethesda wrapup

Taste of Bethesda couldn't have happened on a better day. The sun was shining and it wasn't too hot. The streets were packed, lots of people came out to try the food. I tried a bunch of it myself, the Pad Thai from Bangkok Garden was great, I also tried Lamb Stew from Ri-Ra, some crispy pork dumplings from Hanaro, and Gazpacho from Daily Grill.


It wasn't just food either, I watched The Players Band on the Fairmont Avenue stage for about 20 minutes.