Hyattsville H4X podcast

by Chris and Tim

Hyattsville MD Community Podcast

Recent podcasts

Episode 50: The Fabulous Disaster (50 episodes in the can)

11/09/2007

Well here it is, a week late and about 10 bucks short - the Hyattsville H4X 50th podcast episode. We really tried to push the limits with this one. We were wired live to UStream.tv, we had five lap tops going, more people than there were mics available, and one bottle of 150 proof limoncello. Plus we attempted to do the show at a new location on an ad hoc network of many sorts. Lets just say the tech gods did not smile down on us this day.

Yet still we had a blast!

What you are about to hear is the second, or third take, of the podcast done in the wee hours of a Monday night at Greg's house. Rumor has it that our stunt mayor Scott Wythe was taken home in a Franklin's Taxi - essentially carted back home in one of the City's new 96 gallon toter trash cans. The real Mayor, Bill Gardiner, had the good sense to bow out early like the gentleman our Hyattsville hotties have come to adore. Special guest number three, Stuart Eisenberg managed to keep Wythe in check and put that wonk into our policy discussions right where it belongs.

Yes, a fabulous disaster sums up quite well how the events proceeded this late Monday evening/early Tuesday morning and if you want to hear some of our most outspoken residents gone wild, this is the episode to listen to.

Topics include:

1. The new City of Hyattsville logo, did it go out with the new trash toters?

2. The limoncello that Scott Wythe missed out on but made up for with Busch Lite causes him to wax poetic about Mayor Bill Gardiner (tears will stream down your cheeks - get a tissue).

3. Three people who have no relation to academia, Tim, Stuart Eisenberg and Chris, debate the physics of a near miss at Riverdale's railroad tracks. Scott Wythe insists he could have rolled his body over the tracks just in time to grab an Italian sub from Dumms pizza. The H4X declare Dumm's the best pizza in Hyattsvile (sorry Riverdale you have been annexed, except for your voodoo chicken bones that keep popping up in your town).

4. Some chit chat about letters under the guise of junk mail sent out to Fairfax, Va., residents from Comcast basically telling them that if they don't respond they give up rights to pursue legal action against the company for poor service. Hyattsville residents be aware!

Music by the Low Budgets, "Wipe My Ass with the World," Chunksaah Records (Hi Kate!)
Get their old record "Aim Low, Get High" on iTunes.
Get the new record "Leave us A Loan" from the Chunksaah store.

Episode media

Episode 50 Live Tonight, Aug 27 at 8:30 ET

27/08/2007

Watch us live...

Call in at 301-637-6060 or chat away and ask us questions.

Wooohooo!

Hyattsville H4X 50th Episode Birthday Party - You're Invited!!!

26/08/2007

Photo by: PinkCakeBox

That's right, episode 50 of the Hyattsville H4X will air live at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, August 27th. Please come back to this site to watch. We have a new set up and will be able to take your phone calls live at 301-637-6060, god willing and the creek don't rise.

More fun than watching the City Council Meeting on Channel 71 - we sure hope so. If you don't want to call in, you can ask us questions or make comments live on the website in our chat room. This will all be happening in real time. Plus, we have some special guests lined up for the show.

Of course the audio rerun will be available on the this page the following day and delivered to your iTunes account if you are a subscriber (subscribing is free and easy, try it), and soon we hope to have video podcast versions of these future episodes available.

In celebration of this milestone, Chris will break out the bottle of homemade Limoncello he just completed (if we don't finish it before hand!!! See recipe) and we will be eating some birthday cake as well.

It's a party y'all! And everyone's invited.

Hyattsville Homebrew - Limoncello

23/08/2007

What's better than sitting on your front porch in Hyattsville during the sweltering summer with an ice cold lemonade? Sitting on your deck with an ice cold limoncello!

Limoncello is a delicious lemon liqueur produced in Southern Italy. It is made from lemon rinds, alcohol, water, and sugar. It is bright yellow in color, sweet and lemony, but not sour since it contains no lemon juice.

My neighbor turned me on to the idea of making it myself and gave me his recipe. I also scoured the web in search of others to compare it to. One blog named Not Knowing & Trusting Simultaneously on the social network called Vox had a very interesting post about how to make it, and 46 comments to boot. Since it differed from my neighbors quite a bit I decided to give it my own twist, and so far the results taste astonishing.

Here's my version:

1 ltr Everclear 190 Proof 25-30 lemons, scrubbed well to get the store wax off 4 cups water 3 cups white refined sugar (less a cup of the simple syrup when mixed) 1 cheese cloth folded at least twice

Start out by washing your lemons with the rough side of a sponge. Since most lemons shipped in the US have wax on them, including organic lemons, be sure to get this nastiness off the lemon itself. Then take a carrot peeler and scrap off as much of the skin that you can. Be sure not to get any of the white pith as even a trace amount will turn the batch bitter. This is easier than it sounds and takes about 30 minutes to do. Put the scraped lemons aside for making lemonade or having fresh lemon juice on hand at a later date. You can freeze the juice too.

Next put the lemon skins into a large bottle with a cork and then add the Everclear. Let it sit for 1 month in a dark cool area of your house. Return every now and then to swish it around so all the oil from the lemon skins are well extracted.

After patience has paid off, cook up a batch of RSS (really simple syrup.) My ratio is 4 cups water to 3 cups sugar. Once all the sugar is dissolved let it cool for 30 minutes. Now this is important, remove one cup of the syrup and then pour in the lemon skin infused Everclear with the lemon peels. Stir it up a bit and have a taste. Mmmmm.

Now you have two 750 ml bottles of this lemony goodness. Bottle the mix up again with the lemon skins and store in a cool dark place for two more weeks. After that time period is up, strain both bottles into a big bowl through some cheese cloth. This gets out all the skins and any other larger particles that are barely visible to the naked eye. Pour the strained limoncello back into the rinsed out bottles and stick them in the freezer. After they have chilled thoroughly pour yourself a snifter full and enjoy. Be careful though, this stuff is strong and could really lay out the uninitiated.

My neighbor also had another interesting tip. Remember those lemon skins you removed with the cheese cloth? Freeze these as well and use as garnish. Nice touch Tom! Thanks.

- Chris

Episode 49: The H4X Go Live!

17/08/2007

Here is the rerun from last night's live streaming video podcast experiment. This seemed to work rather well and what was great was the fact we could actually chat in real time with those viewing the show. In total we had 10 people in Hyattsville watching. Items discussed in this episode include:

1. We're live on the internet and Chris' trip to Gnomedex in Seattle.

2. Discussion about the new trash toters that have been issued to all of Hyattsville's residents.

3. The latest issue of the Hyattsville Life & Times. Articles discussed include Michael Martucci's "Antedote for the Antedote" and John Aquilino's very personal piece on therapists.

4. Tim brings up the article "City Council reserves right to revoke rental licenses" from Thursday's Gazette.

5. Greg talks about his fine dining experience at Outback Steakhouse and their great customer service.

(Note: Chris once again forgets to insert the interview with Sarah Nemeth on her new role at the Hyattsville Life & Times.)

Music by The Descendants, When I Get Old, Epitaph Records. Courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.