dracisk

I've never worked in the restaurant industry, but I always thought it was standard to limit perfumes. If I'd liked the scent of our server's perfume I might not have minded as much, but it wasn't my cup of tea. I like when the staff folds your napkin while you're away from the table (which no one did here), but this was like, "I'm about to do a load of laundry, so can I have your dirty napkins?" She didn't say this or give any explanation as to why she wanted our napkins, but this is what it reminded me of.

I went to Officina Friday night with three friends. I enjoyed myself well enough, but I'm not sure I'd schlep to the Wharf for it again, especially with all the other Italian restaurants in the city. (I know nothing about amaro and had completely forgotten about the amaro bar mentioned above -- I can see how that might be a draw for some.) We split a bunch of salumi, cheese, and appetizers, plus three pastas. Highlights were the prosciutto San Daniele (so velvety), the robiola (smooth and tangy), the buffalo mozzarella, the duck liver crostini, and the bone marrow (which I wouldn't say was anything too exciting, but I always like bone marrow). I agree with Ericandblueboy that the calamari had too much going on and muddled flavors -- my friend had read that it was a must order and I didn't see what the fuss was about. The arancini (arancino? there was one) was meh. When it first came out it was better, but once it cooled down it was kind of bland and greasy. The three pastas were all tasty, but I liked two more than one. I only see one that we ordered on the online menu -- Cavatelli. Ricota. Goat Ragu. Pecorino -- except I think ours had lamb ragu. The others were maccheroni with some kind of interesting mushroom (chanterelle?) and a non-tomato, non-alfredo sauce and paccheri with frutti di mare in a light tomato-based sauce. The one I thought was meh was the paccheri. It just didn't have the same depth of flavor as the others. I thought it would be good to get something lighter with the other two, but I found it bland. What really put us all off, though, was the service. My only complaint about our main server was that she was wearing pretty strong perfume. Every time she came near me I caught a whiff that I didn't enjoy. My friend asked for more grilled bread to go with our bone marrow, and she happily obliged. (I didn't see the bill, so I don't know if we were charged or not -- if we were I would understand.) Otherwise there were a bunch of strange service hiccups. First, one of my friends had a menu that was different than what the rest of us got. We realized it because she was excited about duck confit and none of the rest of us had it on our menu. She flagged someone (possibly the sommelier) down and asked about it, explaining that she was excited for duck confit, and he said it was the Valentine's Day menu and they didn't have duck confit. I understand mistakes happen, but there was no apology or sympathy about my friend's disappointment. We ordered a bottle of wine and they only brought glasses for three of us. One of my friends still had part of her cocktail from the bar at that point, but why would they assume she wouldn't be having wine with us? They should have at least asked. We had to flag someone down for another glass. The service issue that happened over and over again throughout the meal was that bussers kept trying to take our plates before we were finished. We had plenty of room on our table, so we couldn't understand why this kept happening over and over again. It was quite annoying. Oh, and one other strange thing about our server was that she asked us for our napkins while we were still sitting at the table. Granted, we'd been at the table for quite a while at that point and we may have just paid the bill (I can't remember), but why not wait until we left to take our napkins?

Last night my 4-year-old had more cantaloupe and picked at the Thai peanut chicken ramen my husband made. Tonight they're going to Costco while I go out, so I'm sure she'll have a hot dog.

Aww, I never saw this! I had a few meetings with Victoria Lai when she worked for my agency (before her foray into ice cream). I think that means I'm only one degree separated from Bryce Harper!!

Like @seanvtaylor my first fine dining memory involved dining high above a city as a child. We took the train (Amtrak, I think -- this was before the T commuter rail extended to Providence) with my grandparents from Rhode Island to Boston for lunch at the Top of the Hub, which is still open. The view is amazing. I'm not sure about the food, but I'm guessing not so much. A few years later we ate at the Sun Dial while visiting my uncle in Atlanta. I guess my family liked eating on the top floors of skyscrapers.

Ooh, you can get cocktails at Plume Quill. Congrats on number 25!

I love Yoder's! For the last 4 years we've visited a farm a few minutes north of Yoder's and we've popped into Yoder's on every visit. The baked goods and sandwiches are delicious, and they have a great playground (with many Adirondack chairs nearby for parents to sit and watch kids) as well as a cute petting zoo. They're closed Sundays.

Half a cantaloupe.

Same issue in many languages (at least Romance languages). In Spanish "embarazada" means "pregnant," not "embarrassed." The nice thing for English speakers about learning Chinese is that there are few false friends (or false cognates) because there are few cognates period.

Does the Chase Sapphire Reserve consider gas purchase as travel (so eligible for 3 points per dollar in rewards)? I just noticed a couple of "Shell Oil" purchases that I only got 1 point per dollar for. How would I challenge that if I am in fact supposed to get 3 points per dollar for those?

And now Philos has closed. This was a popular place for happy hours among my officemates.

I'm not convinced mine doesn't have a sweet tooth. I just think she's that resistant to trying new things. (She loves ice cream, chocolate, and icing (but generally leaves the cake).) I wouldn't mind being wrong, though!

Welp, my 4-year-old (almost 5) finally got sick of the chicken burritos from Costco after quite a run. The last two nights were torture at dinner waiting for her to finish burritos that she'd gotten sick of -- I guess she didn't know how to tell us that. She's always been a very good eater in terms of quantity, even if I wish she would try more things (though I guess that's the plight of the parents of most preschoolers). Tonight she ate turkey breakfast sausages and applesauce. We have a ton of leftover desserts from our Super Bowl party (many kinds of cookies, a cookie pie thing, Rice Krispies treats), but she refuses to try any of those options. Tonight she ate a banana for dessert. Fruit for dessert?! I don't think she's in fact related to me.

We had a Super Bowl party last night. My husband smoked two massive briskets (packer cuts) and also made beer can chicken. For these items he used the pellet grill he received for Christmas from my parents and me. We served the brisket with sliced white bread and bread and butter pickles. I also made coleslaw. My husband also made chili, which we served with shredded cheddar, sour cream, and Fritos. For kids we had hot dogs. For appetizers I made a buffalo chicken dip in my slow cooker. I also put out several kinds of cheese and crackers and one of those fruit bowls from Costco. Our guests supplied some other appetizers, loads of desserts, beer, and wine. We have a lot of leftovers, but luckily my husband is happy to eat smoked meats for days on end. The brisket came out really well. I didn't bother with the chicken. :-)

I'm sad it's closing. I'm not sure how many times I visited -- I think and hope it was more than once! -- but I do know that I agree about the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs. I vividly remember making my way through that gallery. A similar exhibit was the World Press Photo Exhibition at Dupont Underground. They did it in 2017 and 2018 -- not sure if they'll do it again. Several photos appear in both exhibitions (as repeats).

This looks amazing. What, if anything, did you end up serving in addition to the cheese board and wine?

Rotisserie chicken and one apple slice. After a 20-minute post-preschool fit about how she just wants to play and she doesn't want to eat dinner. "Food is not the goodest!" (She's clearly not actually related to me.) 😣

Yes! I bought mine during my holiday season eggnog obsession.

I bought some at Giant (in Wheaton) in December. They were the McCormick Gourmet Organic brand.

The dry lambrusco for sale at the MoCo liquor store near-ish me was Venturini Baldini Quaranta Lambrusco Grasparossa. I enjoyed it!

Thanks! My husband picked some up for me at the Fallsgrove Montgomery County liquor store, and I greatly enjoyed it. He also grabbed some Riunite since it was such a good price. 😂 (We're returning the Riunite.) Since we were going to be in Columbia today I called a bunch of liquor stores there, and no one had dry lambrusco. And you're right -- Total Wine in Laurel didn't have it, either. So, to answer my own question a couple of posts up, dry lambrusco isn't any easier to find 11 years later.

Yes. Bland food. But I love Central America, especially Guatemala!

That was not my experience there. Granted, this was 10+ years ago. The food in Central America was the only thing I didn’t like. What did you eat?

You're right -- it does appear to be closed, though it's still listed on the Fractured Prune website. It must not have been there very long. I lived in Crofton from 2012-14, and I'm pretty sure I would have known if there was a Fractured Prune in my midst.

I'm not sure what @ktmoomau is planning to get exactly, but a lot of the Cheesemonster boards already include fresh fruits and vegetables, dried fruits, pickled vegetables, nuts, and preserves.