synaesthesia

Sundays are Sushi Sundays in my apartment. We've been trying various places, and tonight was Spices. We had it delivered. I don't know if it was because it was delivery, but the rice was atrocious and mushy. The bag didn't seem warm, so I don't think there was additional heat. It couldn't have been from sitting too long since grocery store sushi doesn't appear to have the same issue either. The soft shell crab roll had mayonnaise and lettuce inside; it tasted almost exactly like a McChicken sandwich. It is time to just stick to Kotobuki.

FAIDLEY'S!!!!!!!! crab cakes are the best. I've heard their other fried seafood is very good also, and that the fried chicken is also excellent. I've also heard you can pick up some prescriptions there... a-hem - so be a little careful.

Went for lunch today. Got a choice of three from the butcher's block - vension breseola, kielbasa and smoked salmon and trout. They were all amazing. It made me a little sad since I know the kielbasa isn't on the bar menu right now.

Had the Crispy Duck Confit and Galantine over Grilled Black Mission Figs, Goat Cheese and Frisee, Hazelnut Vinaigrette. The mission figs tempered it a bit nicely, but the dressing or the confit was very, very salty. I don't know if it was just me or a consistency thing. But it had me gulping down some water. I could see potential in the dish, but I'm not sure what happened there.

Dessert was caramel apple cake with pecan ice cream. Yum! I loved the crisp little bit of caramel that had been dripped along.

I went for lunch today (Sushi Day!). The yellowtail was flavorful and buttery. The temaki was amazing, it seemed to surpass the regular rolls. The rice on the nigiri was great and held together very well. I don't know if it was a result of the other people in my party being regulars, but the cuts were on the thicker side. The salmon and the toro were solid. I've had better spider roll elsewhere.

Thanks for the suggestions! Honestly, I had totally forgotten about Ching Ching Cha; aside from Paradiso Georgetown is totally off of my radar these days. I'll have to stop by when Fall starts behaving like Fall again.

Off to do some online tea shopping ...

I've liked Adagio Tea, and my cousin told me Teality is good. It looks like they have a good selection of Asian teas.

Let's pop this back up to the top.

I'm going to propose the first one for the afternoon of Nov. 18 for Chinatown. So if folks can also chime in with suggestions of places to visit.

As an aside:

I'll confess I have an ulterior motive for this date and location. The Fannie Mae Help the Homeless Walk is earlier in the morning near the Smithsonian. Not aiming to be preachy or guilt-trip folks, but oh heck I will go there. With all the money/time spent on food, I know I'm keen on doing a little something. If you are interested in doing the walk (info here:http://www.helpthehomelessdc.org/) PM me and I'll give you some details on a special deal with registration fees. And there will be no namecalling if you join the progressive meal and don't join the walk. I swear.

So the City Paper has posted a picture of the pizza. But it looks like they had more tomato sauce on theirs than I had on mine.

Well that looks like carryout (I asked and they do carryout) so that probably made it easier to get away with. Though that doesn't guarantee it will be there tomorrow.

So here is the list we're looking at:

Eden Center

Little Mexico

U Street.

Peruvian chicken

I would further add maybe Rockville Pike with some of the small dishes at the various Chinese restaurants. I would also suggest a brief walkthrough on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, because there is a Fannie Mae Help for the Homeless Walk that day that I hope people will be interested in joining as well. (*edit - oops I meant to write Chinatown)

not yenching palace, which is wacky chinese and on the opposite side of connecticut, across from palena, and worth a trip for neon huggers. the place i am talking about is two blocks north of van ness, in the same block as liliana, which i guess had to shutter after serving too much burnt fish. however, i said it was the promo duck place, not primo. it is a family business, but i know nothing about its genealogy.

we repair to yenching palace every once in a blue moon. it has lots of possibilities, not that it lived up to any of them the last time we were there. spices is in the post this morning with a depiction of duck, by the way.

Yes it is called Shanghai Garden. They still have the duck special. I think Uptown Cathay *snicker* may have a special too.

No personal experience, but I have been told from a few folks that Mark's was the place to go for that. Why did it get ruled out?

I've found that their regular roast duck is meh, and that was the table consensus.

I'd be in for this, for sure. Great idea... I love food crawls.

Just so the attribution goes to the right place. This was DanielK's idea, and augmented upon by the "rowdy table" last night.

When you say tours are you talking about formal 'trips' to places where we meet with the owners? Or just informal get togethers where folks stroll through, try, and (hopefully) find some neat stuff? I guess this could be a kind of like a $20/Tuesday get together group where not much advanced planning is necessary besides location and type of food. I would be up for a stroll around the Eden Center.

More like $20 Tuesday, but on a Saturday. There would be a little planning by people in the know to ensure we hit the good places, but nothing very extensive.

Last night DanielK and some folks came up with some interesting ideas for doing food tours. Possibly some Saturday doing a walk around of Hyattsville or Riverdale. Another suggestion was a tour of Eden Center. I would also add perhaps finding a way to get some Peruvian chicken from around Wheaton and gathering at Wheaton Mall to try all of them.

The $20 Tuesday was wonderful. Everything was great, and we got to try out some special things. Well worth it. Dean really pulled out all the stops for us. Thanks Dean!

I'm looking for a decent place near Farragut North or Dupont. I personally find Firehook pretty gross.

I''ll see you there tomorrow evening.

Ohh... I might join y'all next Friday.

For some reason, my bullshitometer is inching into the red zone on this one.

It was the original incarnation of Eamonn's, pre-Eamonn. That's why the wallpaper has a fish theme!

Uptown Cathay. It was the down the street... I wanted sushi. And it was a dumb, dumb decision. Chewy, rubbery salmon. Bad, bad service. Churlish staff.

I would love a dinner in Virginia. I would have a much better shot at making it. Woodlands sounds good. Wasn't there a Lighthouse dinner planned for the Annandale location at some point (or is that wishful thinking..)? Flavors is a great idea, too. Anything after the marathon (10/29) would be fabulous.

Ohhh.. more geography confusion. I was thinking of the Woodlands in Langley Park, not Virginia.

Oh man... this makes me feel like a dummy for missing out during all four years of college. I always wondered how that place was still open. I guess it's the restaurant that's like the ugly girl with the great personality. Oh well at least I can be proud that it wasn't because I ordered Danny's!

There's a plethora of new places that opened up in the CP area recently. There's a good Israeli kebab place - Pita Plus. Great bubble tea at Bubble Mix, and a Ten-Ren with Taiwanese small eats (unlike the Rockville one). There's a Tasti D-Lite, which is a low-cal frozen yogurt place, but it's really good. DP Dough's is good and the Prince Cafe is better than the one in Tenleytown.

I have yet to check out the Philly cheesesteak place yet, but hopefully I'll get a chance to go out there soon.

Oh yeah, York Tropical Ice Cream has a location in Beltsville... corner of 212 and Route 1. Mmm... Guinness ice cream.

Great minds think alike, I was thinking the same thing (Flavors).

How about we find a Pizza and beer place one night.

Shamsury is another suggestion in tysons

Virginia?! PSH. That den of iniquity? Unless it's for dim sum.

Indian? I'd vote for Woodlands though it is a bit far. Mmm... paper dosas.

I stopped by tonight. From the way it sounds compared to everyone else, I think the list of pizza toppings changes by the day, since we didn't see sausage on the list.

We ordered one with smoked mozzarella, melted onions, roasted red peppers and garlic.

The mozzarella was wonderfully smoky, and there was a little bit of spicyness. It was dripping some grease, which helped to make the crust nice and balance out the crispy burntness. Maybe a little on the pricey at $14 for a personal... But I'd def. avoid paying the $7 for the house salad.

Lucky for me I live about three blocks from this place, so I think there will definitely be plans for some takeout evenings.

Cornerstone on the corner of 15th and M St. is going to be offering bubble tea soon. I'll let you know if it's any good when I try it.

I have an idea: (if there is no big kitchen)

1. Choose a recipe/date/time and post (i.e. anybody interested in cooking this recipe on some day?).

2. Group people by area (3 or 4 people/group MD, DC, VA and so on) or by preference.

3. Pick a kitchen in the group.

4. Start cooking at the same time on the date.

5. Post the result.

How do you think?

That sounds like a great idea! I'm willing to volunteer my place in the Van Ness area to be the first.

Going back to the book club concept as well if we do start with the tasting book, I think it could be open to a larger number of people since we wouldn't really need a kitchen. Plus the greater number of people the more varieties of whatever it is that we're tasting.

So it seems this has a potential to split into two different activities:

1. Recipe club

2. Tasting club

I would personally like to try making macarons. (I think I need a mixer!)