DanCole42

Bobby Flay's opponent made use of them on last night's Throwdown. Clearly their not-so-subtle mention here on DR has propelled the little buggers into the national spotlight.

Wow... that takes me back. Doesn't PARKED sort of defeat the purpose of having an ice cream TRUCK?

Sandwiches made from RTS leftovers. Tomato, romaine, vidalia onions, Maytag blue, all on a baguette that's been broiled while covered in my paprika/garlic/thyme composite butter. It's served with a pickle and some Terra garlic & onion potato chips (who wants to kiss me NOW?).

Try "Ayurvedic Cooking for Self Healing" by Usha & Vasant Lad. It's supposed to be very basic, therefore a good introduction.Ayurveda is, hollistically, very complex and goes way beyond the scope of a basic cookbook, and even if you were an EXPERT at ayurvedan cooking you'd probably have only scratched the surface of the whole ayurveda milieu. That's why I'm sticking to good old fashioned Western medicine. Like bloodletting.

I know we're not supposed to talk about our dinner, but I just had to gush! Michael, the mouse testicles over couscous were sublime, and my only complaint was that I couldn't tell which of the two main ingredients I happened to be eating. Also, I can honestly say that never before have I eaten the ENTIRE digestive tract of a flamingo from tongue to anus. One thing, though - you're not fooling ANYONE with your "mock dodo egg." I used to raise dodos as a kid, and I can tell you their eggs are a light shade of purple and not, as your dish suggested, orange and green paisley. Nor did they have sparklers coming out of them. Finally, did anyone else think that Jacques' off-the-cuff and obfuscatingly profane deconstruction of Horace's Carminum liber primus was a whole lot of drivel? PS - The bar service was awful. <!--End facetiousness--!> Seriously, Michael. Thank you for EVERYTHING! My fiancee described you as "passionate and inspired." Hands off. PS - Where do you get your Hawai'ian shirts? Mine have all been losing buttons and getting holes.

I don't know WHAT crazy hoohah Michael got into at 3AM, but it CERTAINLY wasn't on the menu at last night's RTC dinner. EDIT: Don moved this post to this thread, so it's out of context. To get it IN context, please see Michael's post in the Sushi Kappo thread.

Guilty.

You're kidding! When did THAT happen? Where will I get my Monday Italian fix? FYI - my comment about Clarendon going to hell since I left was meant to be a humorous comment on how my mere presence positively affects a community. I have nothing against Clarendon. And I LIKE the Cheesecake Factory. Good tex-mex eggrolls. My favorite cheesecake is the vanilla bean.

Man, ever since I moved away from Clarendon two months ago, the place is just going to hell. At least it's about as easy for me to drive to Falls Church as it was to drive to Clarendon. I hope their ice cream doesn't suffer from Falls Church's stringent deliciousness tax.

Is there a dress code? I've certainly been to RTS in shorts (I think), but I'm not sure if this is a more upscale place. Although, even if it isn't, since this is sort of a "charity ball" should I be dressing nice? I usually dress like a schlemeil, even to the office, so don't say "just wear what you'd wear to work"

Thanks to Rocks for permission to post this! The National Society of Collegiate Scholars is a non-profit honor society that rewards college-level academic excellence. They also provide both financial and instructional assistance to students and alumni. One of the ways they help is through the services of yours truly. Every month I write a column for those minimally exceptional cooks out there who just graduated from college and whose idea of culinary legerdemaine is to add ketchup to ramen and who think a bouquet garni is something you toss at an Irish wedding. My current article, wherein I teach them to make one of my favorite pastas, is here. I am not a professional chef and have received no formal culinary training. Much of what I say would be perceived by the Man as gauche or incorrect. Hopefully, though, my recipes are passably above ramen au l'ketchup. These are all basic dishes that require little specialized equipment, ingredients, training, or gray matter (with the exception of my rejected article on serving calf's brains).

Thanks to trying to figure out the joke here, I now know more about geoduck than I ever cared to know.It's pronounced "gooey."

That's his appeal, and why he's always invited back to judge. Nice job on the perfect score in originality, but I can see why he blew the rest of the categories. The point of the theme ingredient is that it's supposed to be the foundation flavor of the dishes - not an afterthought side-item. It seemed to me like Morou was just going to some of his go-to dishes and substituting/adding peas. NOT the spirit of the competition, Mr. Morou.

Thanks for all the advice, BTW. Trust me. There are far worse things than "monkey farts" to have your name associated with in a search engine. Do you have any idea how many people got in touch with me because they heard there was a "Dan Cole 5k Memorial Race"?

Couldn't find the 1+1 at Total Wine (a minute from my apartment! yay!), but the Goats was a big hit. I also picked up a bottle of the Domaine du Pouy for later. Thanks everyone!!!!

I always take steaks out of the fridge before grilling them to allow them to come to room temperature. My understanding has always been that this is to help the steak cook more evenly, rather than to adjust the flavor.Although I suppose if a steak is too cold, you'd end up with an overcooked outside and an undercooked inside, which would defintely affect the flavor/texture. Another factor might be that water is at its most dense at around 40 degrees, so a steak put on the grill at or near this temperature might get this higher density "cooked in" which would limit the distribution of flavors in the steak (think fifty people trying to move through a tiny room versus fifty people trying to move through a ballroom). Although I'm likely overexagerrating the effect of a few degrees difference.

Going to tomorrow night's performance of Nerds on Parade. Anyone have any recommendations for a cheap and grocery-store-available weather-appropriate white? And yes, I'm aware I said I don't drink white. Look at me, I'm growing.

It's VERY little known, and it's about 30 minutes OUTSIDE Philadelphia, but I cannot recommend the Mainland Inn enough. I have never had a bad experience or meal there, and it ranks number one on my list of personal favorite restaurants in the world.

What's good in the way of happy hour that's between 19th and K and 15th and M (i.e. mine and my fiancee's offices)? Looking for cheap drinks and cheap eats for those nights when we just plain don't feel like cookin'.

-Grilled burgers which were 3/4 ground sirloin and 1/4 ground bacon, topped with Maytag blue cheese - myocardial infarctiolicious -Grilled corn on the cob with a garlic, paprika & honey composite whipper butter -Leftover truffled mashed potatoes -Watermelon -Cookies & cream pie

I was joking. And I've certainly used Montreal seasoning before. It goes great in burger meat.What effect would adding some lamb to the ground mixture have? I've done beef/veal/lamb mixtures in chili before, and was very pleased with the results.

Mmmmmmmmmmm... other stuff.Does anyone (namely Michael) know what kind of blue cheese he uses on the steaks? I ask because my fiancee HATES blue cheese with a passion, except in a few very rare cases. RTS is one of those cases. I love blue cheese and would like to be buried with several pounds of St Pete's or Maytag. "Hey Phil, how come this one rotting corpse smells so much worse than all the other rotting corpses?"

He's a blasphemous heathen! Burn him at the steak! Get it? Burn him at the STEAK? 'cause it's a cheeseSTEAK, not a cheesePORK, and... aww, it's not funny if I have to explain it.

Cheese Whiz, first available in 1952, was not around for the original 1930s cheesesteak. This does not mean it's not traditional nor the appropriate connosieur's choice, it just means that the cheesesteak had to wait a couple of decades before meating (pun or typo - you decide) its soulmate. Hey, some people like their filet mignon butterflied and well-done. They prefer it, so they should eat it. However, most people with a discerning palate for meat will tell you that medium rare is the way to go. I'll leave everyone to their provolone and swiss or whatever sacrilege they prefer, but I'll stick with what my "discerning palate" tells me.

I just moved into a loft apartment at the Millbrook at Mark Center. I'm coming from the Courthouse area, so I'm using to have one restaurant for every three people, and several phone books-worth of menus shoved under my door every day. What's good in the area? I like Clyde's, but I like variety more. I'm looking for both dine-in and take-out. Any take-out recommendations would preferrably have menus on their website, since they're too lazy to shove them under my door. Good take-out peking duck is a must...