On Saturday, I went to Rasika with a few friends of mine. It's a relatively new Indian restaurant near the Verizon Center. I had read about this restaurant in the Washington Post as well as on DC Foodies. I was intrigued by what I read and decided it was worth a try. You have to remember, that I live 5 minutes away from the best Indian restuarant in DC, Heritage India. So, it has to be pretty special for me to go to another Indian restuarant.

When you first walk into Rasika, you are impressed by it's decor and atmosphere. I had made reservations, so we were seated pretty quickly. One funny thing happened here, I started looking at the menu right away and forgot to put my napkin on my lap. Our waiter then took my napkin and placed it on my lap. I had never had that happen before, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

The menu was interesting. They had a whole section for chaat which is typically under the appetizers section. They also had Ragda Patties as an appetizer which I have never seen before. My mom used to make these for me all the time. They are spicy potato patties which are delicious.

They had familiar favorites for entrees, including my favorite, Palak Makai, spinach with corn. This is my favorite dish at Heritage India. At Rasika they use baby corn, whereas at Heritage they use regular corn. I have to say, I prefer Heritages Palak Makai because there is more flavor and it's a bit more spicy than Rasika's. Though, at Rasika, I failed to tell the waiter that I would like it a little bit spicy.

Riki order her favorite dish, Paneer Makhani. She thought it was fabolous, as good as Heritage India which is still her favorite. The rest of us tried the dish and thought the sauce was amazing. The Paneer (cheese) was all right, but the sauce really made the dish.

The boys had a lamb dish which they both thought was good, but doesn't make them want to come back and have it again.

Overall, Rasika is a good restaurant with a great atmosphere and good food. If you don't live near Heritage India on Wisconsin, I would recommend you to try it out.

Stupid License Plate Watch
BALDEGL

Some of you must have thought I was insane after posting my last post about lacrosse. Never fear, I still love college basketball. How could you not after watching George Mason beat UCONN in OT.

I was at the Verizon Center (The Phonebook) watching regional basketball action. The first day, there were two games, Wichita State vs George Mason and University of Washington vs UCONN. The first game, George Mason got off to a nice 9 point lead by making their first 3 three pointers. From that point on, Wichita State had no chance. From the very beginning with the very Pro-George Mason crowd, Wichita State had no chance.

The next game was awful. University of Washington and UCONN could not hold on to the ball. Lots of stupid turnovers and lots of stupid fouls. If I were to introduce people to joy of college basketball, I would not show them this game. I'm just glad it's over.

Finally, the regional championship game, George Mason vs UCONN. I will spare everyone the details about david vs goliath. On paper, this looks like an easy win for UCONN. The beginning of the game, UCONN took a quick lead. It seemed like they could not miss a shot. This was the UCONN I was used to seeing during the regular season. George Mason though, would not quit. They stuck to their game and executed it perfectly. Though, at halftime they were down by 9 points. I was a little discoraged, but I told my friends, 9 points is not a lot.

Second half starts and you could feel the difference with the George Mason players. Remarkably, they seemed to be playing looser than the first half. Little by little they narrowed the score, eventually taking the lead. The first time they took the lead, the lost it seconds later. About 5 minutes later, they took the lead again and held onto it for a little while. Both UCONN and George Mason exchanged baskets before the thrilling end of the second half. Of course, UCONN had to tie the game with .2 seconds left on the clock. At this point, I was in shock that George Mason was able to compete with UCONN.

OT was a perfect ending for George Mason. They got control early and beat UCONN. The atmosphere in the Verizon Center was amazing. I've never seen it so loud and so happy. Everyone was insane. I kept saying this was unbelievable.

I can't wait for the Final Four to start.

Stupid License Plate Watch:

IDONTWAIT

Forget aboout college basketball...college lacrosse is way more exciting. Last night I saw the Bucknell men's lacrosse team defeat the #1 University of Maryland men's lacrosse team. The game was super exciting. Evidence by the score:



While driving to the game, I was thinking I really hope Maryland doesn't embarass us. I figured Maryland being the #1 team in the country would be really good. I thought that they would dominate the face offs and rush to a quick lead. What ended up happening is that I saw a very sluggish Maryland team. The first three quarters they made a variety of mistakes, unable to catch the ball or even pick up the ball from the ground. This allowed Bucknell to score a few times on Maryland turnovers.

Actually, the first 3 quarters the Maryland team looked sluggish. From the very beginning of the fourth quarter it looked like the team woke up. The score at the beginning of the fourth quarter was 6-3, Bucknell. Maryland was able to score 3 quick goals to tie up the game. The game then went into OT. Maryland was still very hot and won the face off. It looked like they were going to win and in fact had two great shots on goal, but the Bucknell goalie was able to stop them. Bucknell had the ball at the end of the first overtime and tried to score the last goal with time running out. They ended up getting a pretty good shot but unfortunately it didn't go in.

Onto the second overtime period. Things were different, Bucknell won the faceoff but unfortunately couldn't score. Maryland had the ball but then they turned it over. Bucknell took control and worked the clock. With ten seconds to go, they went in to score and they did! Game over! Bucknell won! It was amazing.

Watch out college basketball...lacrosse may become my new favorite sport.

This is by far the biggest win in Bucknell's men's lacrosse history. I am pretty sure we had never beaten a number one team before.

Big game Friday, March 10th.

Patriot League Championship

Holy Cross vs Bucknell

I'll be watching it at Hawk and Dove near Capitol Hill. I'm going to try and get there around 4.

Hope to see everyone there.

GO BISON!