Halloween Fun for Adults in the DMV

Ghosts of Halloween past

Halloween seems to be dead at my house.

When once we would have been frantically checking off lists for our annual Halloween party and scouring eBay for authentic additions to our costumes and dragging our kids’ costumes through the mud – they’re always some form of zombie or monster; they always need mud – this year, nary a pumpkin has graced our front stoop. No candy has been bought. My youngest is still deciding whether he will go trick-or-treating.

I know I should let it all go gracefully, but part of me is stomping my foot. I like Halloween. I like the dark and the costumes and the witchy atmosphere that accompanies the evening. I’m not seeking the wild, hoopla Halloween parties we used to throw, and I’m not going to drag my teenagers to pumpkin patches. 

But I am hunting for way to put a little creep in the season. So I’ve put together a list of a few ways that my husband and I can have some adult Halloween fun that won’t leave us haunted with hangovers the next day:

- Carve pumpkins at my favorite coffee shop/wine bar in Arlington, Northside Social (10/27, 7pm).

- Dress up in spooky historical costumes and tour the historic burial grounds of Congressional Cemetary in D.C. during Ghosts and Goblets (10/25, 8pm-12am).

- Shop and sip Halloween-inspired cocktails during the Mosaic District’s Bootique in Merrifield (10/30, 6-9pm).

- Relive those wild and crazy days with a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the University Mall Theatre in Fairfax (every Saturday), or a live interpretation from Spotlighters Theatre in Baltimore (until Nov. 8, various times).

- Enjoy a wine and Halloween candy pairing, tarot card readings and wine hosts in costume at Fabbioli Cellars (10/26).

- Play glow-in-the-dark lawn games, check out the Naked Mole-Rat and try local food trucks at the National Zoo’s Night of the Living Zoo (10/30, 6:30pm-10pm).

- Go tree-climbing and ziplining, which is terrifying enough in the daylight, in the dark at Harpers Ferry Adventure Center’s Harpers Scary (10/24, 10/25, 11/1) and the Adventure Park at Sandy Spring's Halloween Night-Crawlers Climb (10/24-10/26).

(You’ll notice I’ve skipped all events on the actual holiday, Friday, Oct. 31. Many of us need to keep our eyes on our kids; the rest of us would rather stay out of the crush of too many people trying too hard to have fun on a Friday Halloween.)

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I'd love to see photos of your favorite Halloween costumes!

Go to my Facebook page, check out my past pics and post your own. 

Happy Halloween!

Cursing Ben's Chili Bowl in Virginia

Oh…damn you Ben’s Chili Bowl. You’re evil is what you are. My taste buds were thrilled and my waistline was terrified when I discovered that there would be a branch of the famous D.C. diner opening in Arlington, on my side of the Potomac. How would I resist the thick, spicy half-smokes smothered in Ben's chili when I no longer had close-to-impossible parking or a two-train Metro ride separating me from them?

When I visited the restaurant at 1725 Wilson Boulevard in Clarendon a few weeks ago, it was even worse than I feared:

• The store is bright and clean and welcoming, a spruced up version of its U Street forefather.
• They take credit cards. No more squinting at the ancient ATM machine at the original, cash-only Ben's OR forgoing the chili cheese fries because I don't have enough cash. 
• The Arlington branch has lots of indoor and outdoor seating and you can sit wherever you'd like, unlike the bizarre hierarchy of seating that will get you charmingly yelled at if you sit at the wrong place at the original spot.
• No one yells at you in Arlington.
• The parking lot of the Colonial Village Shopping Center with its many popular restaurants can get a little crowded during prime dining hours, but there is a lot of accessible on-street parking nearby.

Worst of all, I discovered that the one-of-a-kind half smokes and the spicy, condiment-like chili were just as delectable on this side of the river. The shakes were just as spoon-standing thick and the chili-cheese fries were just as deliciously gluttonous. What have you done to me, Ben's Chili Bowl? My waistline may never forgive you.

Ben's Chili Bowl in Arlington

Ben's Wall of Fame

All the Charm of the Original Ben's

The Famous Half-Smoke

Coney Dog and Chili-Cheese Fries

Welcome to Ben's

Chili Cookoff at Clarendon Day

Next Saturday, Sept. 27, Clarendon Day will descend on Arlington, Virginia with eight stuffed blocks of fun. A 10K, bands, beer, a Kids Zone, arts-and-crafts vendors and a ton of food will all be a part of making 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. fun.

But I would like to direct your attention to the new Lagunitas Chili Cookoff Stage where -- under the new 100-seat tent -- beer will flow from the Lagunitas beer garden, bands will rock, and our dear friend Thad Halcli will once again go toe-to-toe with other chili greats at the DC Chili Cookoff.

Last year was the first year the former DC Chili Cookoff -- once a rowdy, beer-soaked festival in the District -- was held at Clarendon Day. That beer-and-band free-for-all was what first got Thad hooked on the idea of cooking chili for competition. A digital marketer and filmmaker who always had a flair for cooking, Thad began entering area chili cookoffs in 2000 with a schtick: His young daughter and a friend would dress as cowgirls and do a little dance for the crowd. They called their booth, "Two-Step Chili."

Joe and Thad, Rage Against the Cuisine.

Now that young daughter is a college student. Thad and longtime friend Joe Duffus now produce red and green chills under the name "Rage Against the Cuisine."  

Do you have any idea how much work goes into producing chili for these competitions? I didn't. First of all, competitors are under a strict set of rules about what can and CANNOT go into a chili. "It's a very specific Texas-style chili," Thad said. "There can be no beans, no pasta. At some point, when the generations change, I hope the idea of chili will be a little bit broader than it is now."

Secondly, competitors have to provide all of their own equipment to cook at the competition and their setup has to be up to health code standards. That means providing stoves, burners, pans, coolers, water, ways to sanitize, ways to keep your meats and veggies separate, ways to serve it, tents, and trailers to haul the whole set up there and away. "It's like you're bringing your own mini-food truck," Thad said.

Lastly, all that chili served to the judges and all those little cups of chili that you, the eager taste-tester, can try -- that's all at the expense of the participants. Thad said competitions used to offer a small stipend to help cover participants' costs for the chili they would serve eventgoers. No longer. 

"It can be exhilarating if you win," Thad said. "But if you fail, you come back dragging dogeared."

Thad knows that exhilaration. Rage Against the Cuisine has placed second through fifth all around the region. Once, at a Maryland chili cook off, they tied for first. But a toss of a coin determined that the other team would move on to the World Championship competition.

He's hoping to have another shot at it this year. "I'm a relentless competitor, no matter what I'm doing," Thad said. "But these competitions, they're also a way to be outdoors on a nice day, hanging out with your buddy and drinking a beer."

He likes the DC Chili Cookoff's transition from a beer-laden spectacle -- public nudity and booths manned by strippers were a common sight -- to a more family-friendly event. He and his daughter always attended Clarendon Day, even before the cookoff moved there. 

"Clarendon Day is a classic street fair," he said. "There are a lot of family activities and stages for music. It is always on my list as a fun thing to do."

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Clarendon Day

Saturday, September 27, 2014; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Clarendon Boulevard and Wilson Boulevard between Washington and Highland, Arlington, VA