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What a fun game to watch!  US really needs to work on finishing when they get good opportunities, but such a young squad really gives hope for the future.

Also notable - check out Adams response to the questions from Iranian TV after the game.  Striking eloquence from a 23 year old (mispronunciation aside).

47 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Although I don’t know the answer to this, “Lupo” is a very common family name in Italy (it means “Wolf” (which is of course a very common family name here)).

The pictures and descriptions on their website look really good for a beach restaurant.

'In bocca al lupo' means good luck in Italian - literally in the mouth of the wolf, which I'm not sure really makes much sense at all.  By wayward circumstance that began with a Spanish I first class taught entirely in Spanish with everyone in the room clearly speaking Spanish already (including two Puerto Ricans in the room!), I ended up studying Italian and even getting a degree in it.  Totally worth it to read Dante as it was written.

10 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

Dinner was at Lupo Italian Kitchen.  In addition to the regular menu, they had some daily specials including a rabbit terrine.  We had that and some fried calamaries to start.  We then had three pastas: cacio e pepe, mushroom campanelle, and rigatoni bolognese.  The bolognese was the big winner with al dente pasta and a flavorful sauce.  The cacio e pepe was too salty but that was probably my fault by adding more cheese table-side before I even tasted the pasta.  Neither the cacio e pepe and the campanelle were al dente so that's another slight knock.  Still the only Italian place that I'll eat at at the beach.

Is this affiliated with Lupo Verde?

On 11/11/2022 at 11:42 PM, DonRocks said:

"Why the Crypto Bubble Has finally Imploded" (*) by Adam Lashinsky on washingtonpost.com

Also interestingly, despite the "implosion," Bitcoin is worth about double what it was when these conversations occurred here in 2018.

Bitcoin has doubled since 2018, sure, but it's also true that the total market cap of cryptocurrencies is down by 2/3rds from their peaks. That's a big decline by any measure.  Bitcoin is down more than 2/3rds from its peak as well.  Bitcoin is holding up better than most this year, but my guess is that's because funds that must invest in crypto are being forced to sell coins like FTT, so what do they buy?  The big one.

Going forward, I think the big schism will come from whether Ethereum or Bitcoin emerges as the style leader (proof of stake vs. proof of work) - subject to an actual use case being proven.  US GAAP will also have a fair value model for crypto in the next few months, so that might prompt some more willingness to hold onto crypto - it's still only a few companies that do so today.

Instant pot lamb shoulder stew with carrot, onion, and rosemary.  Too much of the latter - I'd never cooked it in an instant pot before and it really drives in the flavor.  We just realized that a few weeks ago that the 6' bush in our backyard (about 10 feet long) is actually rosemary, which was the inspiration for trying this dish.  Wouldn't do lamb shoulder again though, a bit too fatty.

21 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

https://www.bigzonesafaris.com/kenya-safaris/7daysbigfivesafarinairobi

Can you ask your wife if she remembers staying at any of the properties listed?  

No luck - she didn't recognize any of the specific properties.

My wife had a great experience in Masai Mara.  Luxury camping with some amazing animal spotting.  It was 10+years ago, so she can't remember the name of the company, but said there were a bunch that did similar tours.  She was already in Kenya for work, so just did a 3-4 day one.

Haven't been to Dublin in a decade, but with my European travels, I'll frequently hit Andy Hayler's website for high end recommendations.  Here are his reviews from Dublin.

He doesn't really do your local restaurants outside London, but if you've got one splurge meal, maybe useful?

We loved this place - it was always empty or had a table available.  The staples were good and there were a few lesser-known dishes that made a really great counterpoint.  The downside is that the wine list has always stunk.

The patio has always been there (and is the superior area to dine) but they closed it in during the pandemic.  Used to be lovely for evening slow meals.

39 minutes ago, Mark Slater said:

Holy conspicuous consumption, Batman!! This is a ludicrous price to pay for fine dining without any of the traditional ingredients of luxury dining. Is this all ego driven? Imagine paying a month's worth of grocery shopping for 1 meal. I don't get it. 

Evidently it's those pesky organic vegetables: "The pricing change will help the restaurant offset higher vegetable and vendor costs, in addition to providing for higher wages for back-of-house workers, according to a spokesperson for Eleven Madison."

You wouldn't believe how much more sunlight and dirt cost these days....

On 9/23/2019 at 10:54 PM, naxos said:

Sounds good!

My daughter is headed to Venice next week so thought I’d see if there are any more recent reviews. Forwarding Dean’s list (now 16 years old) to her as well. Also quoted Naxos to say that I’m heading to Naxos next month!

End of the season. Without throwing in spoilers, was pretty satisfied with how it went. I’d love to try a meal with any of the last 5-6 chefs. 
 

Living in the land of no tipping, I've grown to love this practice.  Back in the States, I've generally been a generous tipper within my means, but do have lingering concerns that the driver and primary recipient of the tip (service staff) is only one part of the equation of what makes a great meal.  I guess this is consistent with my opposition to the elimination of the tipped wage in DC - better to focus on equalizing service worker pay according to their skill sets.  Great servers (as salespeople, essentially) are likely to be paid more, but those toiling in the back deserve more than they get.

7 hours ago, hapatite said:

They don't do delivery from either location, correct?

Definitely no delivery from Bethesda location.

Interesting thoughts - puts a more positive spin on why Don hates Top Chef so much.  The random cocaine comment - which was just thrown out and then never explained - also caught my attention.

On 4/22/2022 at 5:57 PM, Ericandblueboy said:

Buddha clearly knows a lot about the show and cooking in general but some of the other chefs just don't want his advice - very frustrating to watch.  Shocked that Buddha was the next to last person picked in Restaurant Wars - are these people crazy?

I dunno - he's a great chef and clearly knows strategy.  But having watched a lot of this show, I think 'Cooked someone else's food (conceptual or style) and got sent home' is also extremely familiar to all the participants.

We had a fantastic tasting menu at this 1 star Michelin restaurant last week. Found it via Andy Hayler, with whom I’d agree that the food punches well above one star - the service is very good but a bit less formal and the decor is even more on the casual side. Menu below - I prefer descriptions to abstract, but whatcha gonna do? We paired this with a nice bio-Riesling from the Finger Lakes recommended by the sommelier  

First course was Parmesan three ways. The gougeres and straws were the two best. Nuts coated in Parmesan overwhelmed the cheese a bit. No picture. 

Salmon course was next - three ways.  Crusted (top), roulade with a great foam/cream, then a gorgeous cucumber ginger soup with cucumber granita and salmon.  We were contorting to get the last of the broth out of the bowl.

Next up was sea bass done in two ways - a sashimi style piece plus a roll, flash fried, maybe?  The inside remained raw on the latter. They came with a guacamole cream and in a ginger soy broth. The broth was again wonderful.  Those little mushrooms were memorable as well.

Next up was a foie gras terrine served with thin slices of nectarine and smoked duck in a decadent sauce. The dish came with light rolls that were absolutely used to mop up all the sauce.

Next up came two langoustine flambéed table side with Japanese whiskey. Served again in a broth - a welcome lighter course after the foie gras.  The mushroom tortellone were quite nice as well.

Main course was a perfectly cooked lamb. It came with charred onions, short rib (the dark square), parsnip, and polenta. I can’t recall the sauce, but the black garlic purée worked wonderfully with the lamb.

Last up were the desert courses. First was a grapefruit granita with fresh grapefruit and meringue shards. Next was a beautiful chocolate course, dark chocolate, peanut and chocolate, and passion fruit spheres. Last was petit fours. The baba was quite liberally boozed. The marshmallow pleasantly coated. Passion fruit gels continued that flavor profile. 
 

3 hours ago, Katya4me said:

The other night I was feeling hungry but not wanting to really exert myself to make a real meal and this came to the rescue: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/04/10/sesame-chile-oil-noodles-recipe/  

I'd originally thought about adding a protein to it, but ended up leaving it as just noodles and sauce, and it was delicious.    

I made this too!  I did add shredded chicken thighs and cucumber strips - still delicious.

New season - still figuring out who to like and dislike.

13 hours ago, Lydia R said:

Here’s an article from Bethesda magazine profiling the currently announced candidates for County Executive and their views on the County monopoly. They range from status quo to eliminating the monopoly and a hybrid in-between. Because I have not been following this topic during the pandemic, the assertion the system is now more efficient and customer-friendly is lost on me. The primary election is in late June 2022.
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/county-executive-candidates-divided-on-montgomerys-alcohol-monopoly/
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/county-executive-candidates-divided-on-montgomerys-alcohol-monopoly

This is one of my 'blood boiling' topics.  I'm sure the monopoly has improved under the prior manager (but he left two years ago).

Ehrlich's argument is that the current system brings in money for the county, therefore it's successful.  As a former consumer in the county, my counterpoint is that it's just a tax - we paid far, far more for beer and wine than our neighbors in any direction.  Much of that was siphoned off by employees who were paid far more than market rates with stupendous benefits.  The remainder was $30 million.  

I'm not against taxing people and spending that money on projects that are worth funding.  This system though is a huge tax that primarily funds a relatively few public sector union employees.

13 hours ago, saf said:

What did the ice cream taste like? Mastic ice cream tastes rather piney. We first tried it in Athens, and the Greeks kept telling us it was an acquired taste. I seem to remember that at one point they had cardamom ice cream with the chocolate cake?

I think it was the cardamom - but that wasn't the predominant flavor. I think it had rose water in it as well - which works in very small amounts but really doesn't when you go a bit overboard.  Perhaps it was the combination (very odd) of those two?

12 hours ago, saf said:

Brunch fries - which are regular Zaytinya fries with an egg yolk added to the dipping yogurt.

Turkish Coffee Chocolate Cake - molten center Valrhona chocolate cake, roasted pistachio, mastic ice cream, chocolate pearls (I cannot resist mastica flavored desserts)

I wish I knew how to make that yogurt dipping sauce - it's so wonderful and I'm guessing that once you know the recipe, it's simple to make.

My family loved the chocolate cake last time we were there, but found the accompanying ice cream to be downright vile, although the description looks like it's changed.  Maybe we weren't the only ones?

So I wrapped up a few days in Vienna this past weekend (plus a bonus day spent in an airport hotel with a series of cancelled flights).  Read through the recommendations above and appreciate everyone's shares there.  I had my 13 year old in tow, so the food choices were less high end than I would have maybe done if traveling with just my wife, but in the end I kind of like the kid so what are you going to do?  Lunch tended to be on the run and was typically Italian because honestly there are more Italian places than Austrian in Vienna as far as I can tell.  Some were quite good, though.  Here's a few dinner places we did eat:

Restaurant Konigshofer: This one was on the north side of the ring road, just outside the central district.  Really enjoyed the meal here - typical Austrian fare with an emphasis on game meats, earthy sauces and traditional sides.  Our son had his first schnitzel - chicken - which was indeed good chicken pounded thin and fried up in a pan.  Our son was a fan and asked if we could go back before we left town.  I'd agree with @Ericandblueboy that a sauce rather than a spritz of lemon would improve this dish in general.  Wife and I split duck breast with a lingonberry sauce and roast wild boar.  The former looked like it was going to be overcooked when it arrived, but wasn't.  Wonder if they sliced into pieces and then cooked it?  The latter was a bit tougher but the flavor was really wonderful. When we came in I tried to order a bottle of wine, but the owner shook his head, "silly American", was clearly going through his head.  Instead he came by with a pour of each of their whites, we sampled, liked all of them but settled on one.  Homey, but just a great touch.  Definitely a reminder of why our favorite bartender in DC became our favorite and why we still make a point of eating at her place.  The whole meal for three plus one dessert and a bottle of wine came to 90 Euro. 

Oswald & Kalb: Appreciate the recommendation!  We had a very good meal here- Schnitzels for two of us and a Goulash as well.  The latter was the standout dish along with a venison carpaccio appetizer.  Oddly, the dressed greens salad side was a highlight as well.  It's not often that I'd say that of a side salad, but the apple cider vinegar dressing really won me over.  Reminded me of a dressing I used to have growing up in the Midwest which was jarred and we had to get in Chicago on family visits.  I think I'm paying a compliment?  May be open to interpretation.

1080 Modi: So - how does one end up in a Georgian restaurant/nightclub in Vienna on a Saturday night?  Well - you don't make reservations ahead of time and wander the city for 90 minutes looking for an open table.  Evidently Austrians are big into eating out on Saturday night even with all the COVID restrictions in place.  That being said, this was a very good meal overall.  I don't remember the names of all the dishes, but starters included Khachapuri - a cheese filled bread that was just deadly, blini - a thin pancake rolled with a filling of minced meat and spices, and a bean dish with just a boatload of parsley.  I'd order every one again.  Mains were Khinkali - dumplings filled with minced meat that looked like oversized soup dumplings and ate like them as well, and Shkremuli - a chicken dish with a garlic cream sauce.  That sauce was absolutely amazing.  It was consumed with khachapuri, dumpling skins, basically anything we could use to scoop it out of the earthenware pot.  Nice bottle of Georgian white complimented all of this.  Again, really reasonable price given the amount of food we ordered - in our defense we only ate about 2/3rds but wanted to sample a lot from a new cuisine type to me.

Overall, was really quite impressed with the food in Vienna.  A lot of diversity and definitely beat my expectations of what Austrian food would taste like.  Hope to revisit as the city itself was absolutely stunning and I feel like I need to experience the opera in the Vienna opera house once in my life.  Next time, I hope to not bring COVID back with me...

9 hours ago, saf said:

Hello bakers!

I have a baking mystery. Let me explain:

I have a recipe for something called kuchen. I have never eaten kuchen made from this recipe. Why? Because half the recipe is missing! I am trying to figure out what the rest might be, or find a similar recipe that I could experiment with. 

I will gladly accept any ideas!

I think the recipe was written down as someone, probably either my mother or aunt, followed my great-grandmother around the kitchen. She wasn’t really a recipe cook (neither was their other grandmother, so they did the same thing to her), but mom and auntie are, so this is how they got their grandmothers’ recipes. I’m very grateful, otherwise I wouldn’t have any of my Christmas cookie recipes. It's odd though - I recognize both mom's and auntie's writing, and this doesn't look like either of them wrote it. It does have g-gramma's full name on it though. So I am pretty sure it was her recipe. Maybe my great aunt wrote it down. Who knows.

Anyhow, my aunt was sorting out stuff and sent me a copy of this recipe. It’s handwritten, and I have typed it up exactly as written. I’ve asked her for the second page, but she cannot find it, and doesn’t remember what happens after the last step on this page. (she doesn’t really cook a lot) I showed the recipe to my mother, and she doesn’t recognize it at all. She remembers her grandmother’s kuchen as being flat with fruit on top. Great-Grandma died in 1960, and this was probably written down a number of years before that. She was born in Germany, brought to the US very young, spent many years in Buffalo, then a number of years living with her daughter (my great aunt)  in China and in Oregon. This recipe is probably from either her mother (so, German), or from the Buffalo years. (So, still German, really.)

Kuchen 

2 teas yeast, heaping full
1 cup water ½ cup, more or less, sugar
2 eggs
1 cup water or milk
2 heaping tablespoons shortning
scant teaspoon salt
vanilla, almond, lemon rind, your choice
flour

1)   Soften yeast in a little lukewarm water with teaspoon sugar in a cup
2)   Mix shortning, sugar, add eggs, one at a time. Beat well. Add salt + flavoring.
3)   The above has been mixed in a large bowl, add 2 cups of flour, 1 cup water or scalded and cooled milk and the ¼ cup yeast mixture, rinse the cup with a bit of water + add. Stir well, add more flour until a ball of dough is pliable.
4)   Cover. Let rise until double. With fork or knife lift and press down, let rise again until it has risen a few inches (about 1 hour) then cut dough in half, roll out to ½ inch and spread with mixture of sugar, butter, cinnamon. Little flour over the slightly sheet of dough. Also, you may spread beaten egg on the dough.
5)   Roll and close ends. Lift in pan, let rise.

Does this look reasonably close?  Most of the recipes I found used baking powder, so I tried adding yeast to the search.

https://redstaryeast.com/recipes/apple-kuchen/

Man - that post makes me want to visit these guys again. I did the Chinese New Year dinner with Peter Chang and the chefs from ChiKo in 2018 - what an amazing meal.  As much as the food, which was Peter Chang's at his best (you see the difference when he is the one cooking) and these guys just cooking their best for about 40 people.  It was intimate enough that Peter even came over and spent about 20 minutes speaking with the owner of Meiwah at our table.  Despite the differential in the cooking between those places, you could tell that they had a fondness for each other based on their work building their respective businesses.  

2 hours ago, Keithstg said:

This still the case? Novak is, and has been, a bad guy. ETA: not specifically talking about his personal decision re: vaccination, but rather his actions after being infected for the second time, and near total disregard for Australian policy....combined with all the other nonsense over the past 24 months.

Every time you think this story has reached its nadir of insanity, Djokovic hands over his beer one more time.