How to Dress for Extreme Heat

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It’s been hot in Baltimore lately. Real hot. Damn hot. Unbearably effing hot. Any heatwave with 100° plus temperatures is hard to endure, but many people in Maryland spent most of the last week without power, making the heatwave exponentially worse.

We were without power for 3 days here at the Chophouse, meaning not only did we not have air conditioning, but couldn’t even run a fan or make a cold drink. It was awful, and we spent most of those 3 days out of the house at ballgames and movies and parties and restaurants and whatnot, returning home only to sleep.

While we were out around town, Baltimore’s crimes against fashion rose with the mercury and were even worse than usual. We saw more than our share of the fat-old-dude-in-jorts-and-suspenders-with-no-shirt look, and it got us to thinking… how is one expected to dress well when the temperature is over 100°?

Roger Federer. Always cool.

The answer is to dress for tennis.

Some of tennis’ biggest tournaments are played in very hot weather, and the sport demands so much energy and exertion that it’s impossible not to sweat your ass off while you’re playing it. If Roger Federer can win 16 grand slams while wearing socks and a collar, you can wear them around town without dying of heatstroke.

We’re still casting disapproving eyes on things like flip flops and wifebeaters, but in triple digit temperatures it’s fair for grown men to break out the shorts, provided they haven’t got cargo pockets or purple camouflage all over them. To stay well dressed in the midsummer heat, just ask yourself “Could I wear this on a tennis court?” As long as you avoid headbands and giant logos (and the tennis tradition of white-on-white) you’ll be golden.

Here are a few suggestions from the Chop:

Short Sleeve Cotton Jersey Printed Irregular Stripe Polo. Available at Lacoste. $49.

J. Crew 9″ Club Shorts. Online only. $40-60.

Fred Perry ‘Kingston’ Plimsolls. Available at Topman. $90.

East by Easteast

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We’ve said before that Baltimore may be suffering Festival Fatigue. This weekend is evidence of that. There’s enough music being played live this weekend in Baltimore to easily last a full Summer if it were stretched out. According to our count, there are nearly 70 acts performing this weekend, and that’s just at a select few DIY events.

When you take into account The parties that happened during the week this week, as well as Ratscape, Scapescape, and Hampdenfest which are all upcoming- and add in the large number of non-DIY music festivals happening this Summer, we’re starting to look more like Austin all the time. (But, you know, without all the corporate money and TED-talk-tech-types douching it up. (#ExEE))

Even the most plugged-in and hyper-aware of scenesters is going to need some help getting around this weekend, so we’ve placed a lot of the info you’ll need on a single page. We hereby present to you…

The Baltimore Chop’s guide to East by Easteast 2012


View East by Easteast in a larger map

Click through to larger map for easy-to-read descriptions.

Baltimame

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With the whole Derecho Debacle and the Fourth of July falling on a Wednesday, this week has turned into pretty much a nine day weekend for a lot of folks. Even if you weren’t lucky enough to get 9 days off, it’s a good bet you’re slacking pretty hard this week and taking at least some time off.

Like most folks, we’re spending the week, and weekend cooking out, listening to music, drinking beer, watching baseball, and generally loafing. These are the perfect times, and perfect time of year for a giant bowl of Baltimame.

edamame with Old Bay

    Baltimame Recipe

  • Bag of edamame pods
  • Old Bay seasoning to taste

    • Dump a bag of edamame pods into a pot of boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Season liberally with Old Bay. Chill in refrigerator until cold.

Pretty simple, but not a hell of a lot of people have ever tried this, so few know just how good it is. Hell, most people have never even tried edamame without Old Bay. It’s pretty popular among vegans, but even for vegetarians it’s only an occasional thing for most, and the lion’s share of meat eaters have never heard of it.

Baltimame is a great snack though, no matter your dietary preferences. It’s healthier than just about any other snack you’d care to name, and for Marylanders, a simple and convenient way to savor a favorite and familiar flavor.

If you’re heading out to a cook out, picnic, roof deck, or whatever this week, give it a try. Just remember: you eat the beans, not the shells.

The Couch Chronicles, Volume XVI

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Volume XVI. That’s sixteen in regular numbers. Our living room has come a long way over the course of the last few months. When we began this whole process, our front room was nothing more than a convenient place to park a bicycle. There was nowhere to sit, and even if you wanted to stand there was no place to do so much as rest your coffee cup.

Our 3 bedroom rowhouse felt more like a tiny 1 bedroom apartment. We only ever had use of the bedroom, office, and kitchen. We couldn’t have friends over or bring home a date. It was like buying a car and driving it only in second gear.

During our time designing and blogging about our new living room, we’ve literally taken hundreds of photos. Today we’ve assembled just a few of them into a slide show which gives the full picture of just how far the space has come over the last several weeks.

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Mouse over slide show to play, pause, or click through photos manually.

The end of June also marks the end of the Test it, Blog it, Win it contest. It’s been an exceptional opportunity for us, and we want to take space in this final post to offer one last round of thanks to both Su Casa and Pad, as well as Nick Johnson, Leslie and Derek, Jacqueline, Kyle and Rob, and everyone else we met along the way.

And in the end, that’s the difference between Su Casa and anywhere else. We’ve bought a lot of furniture before, but couldn’t tell you who the hell we bought it from.

Besides having an incredible inventory and a wealth of product and design knowledge, we never got the impression that Su Casa was full of commissioned salesmen. It’s full of, well, people. Nice people whose names are worth remembering.

They were warm, kind and helpful every step of the way, and we definitely got the feeling that all of these folks are really a part of our community. We wouldn’t be a bit surprised to run into any of them at the Sound Garden or the Grind or Bad Decisions. And if we do it’ll be our pleasure to get the first round of drinks.

One thing is certain though. We’ll definitely see them again when it’s time to buy some more furniture. After all, we’ve still got an empty bedroom…

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You can read the rest of the posts in this series and see our living room’s full progression here.