Malawry

SMC has great products. We had a nice time at their Cow Caper festival earlier this summer, which is a good opportunity to ogle some farm animals and buy some great dairy foods. The ice cream was ok but I was most impressed by the whole-milk yogurt, particularly the blueberry variety. I am also pleased that they sell whole-milk buttermilk. There's a small shop on-site in Middletown if you happen to live nearby. One of my neighbors is the owner's brother, so they deliver out here on the rural edge of suburbia, too.

More on Volt. They're slated to open tomorrow.

Our son didn't really take off on solids until we found foods he could feed himself. He scarfed crackers, peas, blueberries, grapes and grape tomatoes because he could easily grasp them and shove them in his mouth. (You can cut down the grapes and grape tomatoes to make the pieces smaller and less chokeworthy.) Same for bits of chicken, beef or turkey burger, and fish. He did not like the texture of pureed food and he really didn't like being fed. He's since gotten pretty good with a spoon, so a lot of typical baby foods like yogurt and applesauce are on the menu more at age 2 than they were at age 1. So, if you have trouble getting baby off the bottle and into a plate of goodness, keep experimenting and offering things, and don't just stick to purees.

Ah, well, that didn't happen any other year we lived in that house--only the year of the cicadas. I'd never seen an entire tree stripped overnight like that before or since.

Mona, the absolute nadir for me was the year the cicadas ate every single Queen Anne cherry on the tree in our front yard the second they ripened. Literally, one day they weren't sweet yet and the next day they were all gone. Damn. Anna Blume, I don't have enough experience with jam-making to spread my wings much right now. (I'm still learning to troubleshoot.) I've had success with following directions on the box of pectin and with using the USDA's Complete Guide to Home Canning.

In Dan's defense, I think American Flatbreads really is all that and a bag of chips. I spend a lot of time in Loudoun County and I would like to see this type of restaurant thrive in the Land of Stripmalls. I might feel differently if I still lived in MoCo and had easy access to all those other pizza places--Comet, 2 Amy's, etc. I'm not convinced it's worth a special trip from inside the Beltway for this reason. But it is very, very special, particularly given what else is available in its area, and I don't think Dan's comments overstate the case. I suppose one could argue that the only useful barometer for measuring a restaurant in the DC metro area is to compare it to other eateries around the DC metro area. That's not always effective for people like me who live on the rural edge of suburbia. I live pretty far out, I am married to a "non-foodie" and I have a young child, so my tolerance for schlepping all over to get the best pizza is pretty limited. Where a restaurant is situated affects my interest in trying it, and my judgment of its offerings. Fortunately, DR accepts both viewpoints.

Thanks, ya'll. Actually my local guy had them yesterday, so I'm all set.

Frederick is really lucky to be getting this place. Having toured it personally, I can definitely say it is NOT a small space. It's broken out into several rooms that will be designated as a bar/lounge, main restaurant, and two spaces that can be used for private dining or as part of the main restaurant's seating. If you've seen the building, you know it's not small, and Volt is taking over the entire ground level.

The guy at my local market who grows sour cherries reports that his will not be ready for a couple of weeks. Due to travel plans, that means I'll miss them completely this year unless I go to another market to find them. Who has sour cherries right now? I'm willing to log some miles to nab a flat. (We're out of sour cherry jam, and that's not cool...)

B'z appears to have opened shop at the Paeonian Springs grocery [Now Vino9Market]. I haven't stopped in to see if the menu is the same, but it's the same logo and everything. To get there from Route 7 Westbound in Loudoun County, take the exit for Route 9 and turn right at the end of the ramp. B'z is just past the traffic light and the gas station on your right. (The grocery is a nice stop if you're out cruising local vineyards, with a good selection of gourmet snacks, some local wines and a few organic food and household supplies. This is a step up from the offerings in your standard convenience store.)

The Frederick My Organic Market carries Moorenko's, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's also available at other area MOMs.

Here's a little story I wrote about these overly friendly goats and the cheeses made from their milk.

I actually thought the Newman's Own microwave popcorn was surprisingly good. It's been a few years since I tried it though.

On the plus side, that particular Bugaboo is close enough to L'academie de Cuisine to be a convenient stop for a drink. Not that I know from personal experience or anything.

Went tonight with my husband and rather incorrigible son. They handled us with aplomb, even talking with my boy about how hot the oven is. The three of us split the special Greek salad, with Cherry Glen chevre and some really good black olives, and then we shared the sundried tomato and mushroom flatbread. We hadn't been back since late last summer (for a lot of reasons having nothing to do with AF) and were pleased that the pizza was as good as ever.

I bought some at the TJs in Reston yesterday. $2.99 for a pint container.

I have had acceptable but not extraordinary sushi at the Miyako on Rte 40 in Frederick. The servers there absolutely ADORE my son, which is a nice plus.

Not to be a downer, but I have no idea how you're going to get a turkey that is Kosher. organic AND local. Two out of three would be pretty good, especially for Kosher birds--I don't know about any local Kosher slaughterhouses, and there aren't many Kosher organics out there that I've seen. Is it important that the bird be Kosher? If so, and if you don't want a frozen Empire bird, it actually might make sense to do some planning on that right now...call around to the meat dept at Shalom Kosher in Wheaton and Koshermart in Rockville as a start and see what they have to say. If the bird must be Kosher, I really like the frozen Empire ones. That's what we usually eat at Thanksgiving and Passover. I usually get them free from the supermarket I shop at most often, since the Empire birds are eligible for the "buy $x worth of groceries and get a free turkey or ham" deal. Defrosted slowly in the fridge, brined, and either roasted or fried, they're pretty good. Not as flavorful as the local organic turkeys I've bought from a local farmer, but pretty good nonetheless.

Hi Rob, welcome to DR. I've seen you around on the Frederick Maryland Online blog and look forward to more Frederick-area talk on here!

Huge fan of Kashi GoLean Crunch. It is really really crunchy--too crunchy for some people. I find that it sticks with me a little longer than other types of cold cereal. It's also really good stirred into yogurt, which was today's breakfast.

Clayrae, if you're at the farm tomorrow, be sure to say hi. Diane is showing me around while I work on a feature on their cheeses for the Frederick News-Post. Bryan Voltaggio turned me on to their products, which really are quite outstanding. (Frederick-area folks can buy the cheeses at My Organic Market and at the Thursday market at Shab Row.)

I need advice for where to take my 2-year-old on Saturday the 17th. We can eat dinner early, but not before 5:30pm, and it MUST be a place we can make a reservation. My son has about a 1 hour tolerance for being in a restaurant and I'm unwilling to squander it waiting for a table. I've done the Jose Andres restaurants too many times to count, and I've been to Central twice, so I'm looking for another option. Extra bonus points for places near Dupont Circle, places with parking, or places on OpenTable.

That's funny, Janis, I had an arepa and a tamarindo for lunch today from Caballo Viejo myself. The arepa was too large and too bready, I could only eat about half of it, but the chorizo and veg filling was fantastic. It's a nice addition to town. Have you tried the rotisserie chicken yet?

Is it really nice to slag on a place that's already closed? It's like Alan Richman kicking New Orleans while it's down. Here's a nice thing about Thyme Square: it was one of the first places with plenty of real vegetarian options that I tried after moving to the DC area (I was a vegetarian then). Yet they had plenty for omnivorous eaters on the menu. And I liked their grilled artichoke with eggless mayonnaise, which I always ordered when I went there. Simple but tasty.

I like soy milk. I usually buy the Silk in the dairy case, either plain or vanilla lite. The Giant Nature's Promise label in the dairy case is ok too. I don't usually like aseptically packaged soymilks, but Westsoy froths well for cappuccino, and I keep small 3-packs of Edensoy Extra for soymilk emergencies. I have sampled a lot of soymilks and think the fresh Silk is the best. I always drink a carton within 2 weeks so I don't know how long it lasts beyond that. I think it is worth trying different brands because different people like different things, I know some folks who hate Silk. I don't use it in recipes, I use it in my coffee and my cereal mostly. I have cooked with soy milks in the past and they are more delicate and sweet than dairy milks--I hear Silk Unsweetened can work in creamy soups and whatnot though. My husband and I both get gassy from dairy but he prefers Lactaid milk to soy products and I use the Lactaid for bechamel, stovetop custards, etc. My brother is Orthodox Jewish and as such keeps glatt Kosher. His dream is a fat burger with soy pepper jack and a big Soy Dream fake-ice-cream milkshake. There is some place near Chicago that sells this meal and he daydreams about it. Soy Dream is ok but I'd rather have dairy ice cream or a sorbet.