xcanuck

Fans of crispy pig need to run (not walk) to Dino. The Lombata di Maialino is f**king brilliant. If I recall correctly, it's a huge hunk of baby pig that has been confitted in duck fat and finished on the griddle (I'm sure Dean will correct me if I'm wrong). The result is tender pork surrounded by melt in your mouth fat and nice layer of crispy skin. Delicious!! One word of warning - do not attempt to gorge on pig skin the day after getting a root canal. Ouch....

Because everyone at donrockwell.com comes to expect this kind of intelligent discussion from me, I ask you to consider this article. I mean, I like a grilled cheese sandwich as much as the next guy. Though, I must say that I prefer my sandwich bound in bacon. And with spicy mustard. And occasionally, I like a double decker sandwich. Does this make me a bad person?

What a great time!! The food was fantastic - too many to list and while it's unfair to single out certain items, I just have to give some serious props to the following: Mrs B's pea shooters, Zora's gazpacho, Antonio's chicken (dude...you worked waaaaay too hard. But we loved every delicious bite!), the homemade oshinko, the Bon Chon chicken, the tres leches cake, agm's ribs, the pulled pork, Dean's pate and pickles, Jake's Brooklyn....wow, there was A LOT of food. Of course, serious thanks to Scott and cucas87 for all their efforts organizing this madhouse. Good friends, food, booze, and weather. Perfect!!!!!

Just had a fantastic lunch at Caribbean Feast. With the demise (quality-wise) of Antonio's (nee Negril) in Gaithersburg, this is the best option for a good West Indian meal along I-270. The chicken curry I had was plentiful, served up with a side of rice and beans, plus a pop, for $6.50. While the curry was a little mild, it wasn't anything that a few generous shakes of the scotch bonnet pepper sauce couldn't cure. And they have saltfish/ackee loaf!! One of my absolute favorites (though I didn't have the stomach space to try it). This definitely takes a very high spot on my lunch rotation. I also picked up a bottle of their homemade jerk sauce for under $4. That'll be nice for the chicken wings I'm grilling tomorrow night.

Of all the items that were available at Ray's the Classics when it first opened, the one I miss the most was the side of bone marrow that came with some of the steaks. That's what really won me over at RtC. However, it's SO easy to make your own at home! That's what we do when we have a craving. There's a description of the process in Jenifer Mclagan's cookbook "Bones" but there's not much too it. Heat up the oven. Toss in the bones. Season. Scoop and eat. Yum!

So I made my own mozz last week and it came out quite nicely except that the texture was a little off. The curds came together OK but it never got to that shiny and stretchy phase. The texture before it went in the fridge was somewhere between mozz and chevre. Even after it firmed up in the fridge, it was still a little on the creamy side. I used whole milk instead of 2% so I wonder if that comes into it at all. Any ideas what might have happened? Was it kneaded too much? Too little? Too much time in the microwave? The recipe/method I followed is consistent with what cjsadler posted here, and with many others on the 'net. I microwaved in a fairly new microwave for 60 secs, 35 secs and 30 secs. It seemed like the hotter I got the cheese, the more it approached a stretchy consistency but it never got there (which is why I think temperature may have been the problem). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We've already finished off the first attempt and I'd like to make another batch later this week.

Lisa and I will be there. Plan on bringing a bacon and onion tart, along with a Pâté de Campagne. So lots of pork there. As a side note, those of you on twitter saw my latest piggy porn. It tasted pretty damn good, too!

I am in and so is Lisa. See you there.

There were Greek sardines at the Silver Spring WF a few weeks back, but I haven't seen them since. They were in stock for about a week and I did my best to clean them out. The manager said that they pretty much have a standing order and do their best to get them in whenever there's availability. Last year, we were able to get sardines at the SS WF pretty consistently during June and parts of July. More often than not, they were imported from Portugal.

I can't say too much. I ordered the floating market noodle soup last week for lunch and it was back to it's original wonderfulness. Not as bland or salty as a few months back. So take that for what it's worth.

That is very doable, though I'm gonna feel sorry for my optometerist, who I see a mere hour after lunch.

Second from the far end totally sucks. The light fixture hangs directly in front of the TV and obscures any chance of watching Ovie pot one top shelf, right where momma hides the cookies.

Crap. Power is still out at home so I have to stay in G'burg office. Blame Pepco.

How about today?

Any day but Tues. Maybe JPW will join us. More importantly, what about gin drinks?

Damn. Wish I had seen this earlier. I just had a can of soup for lunch. Ick. But I definitely need drinks after work today. LOTS of drinks. We're hitting RtC for dinner. Maybe I'll just get there an hour early and start drinking gin.

I remember a few years back, when RtC first opened, Michael told me the details of how they make their Key Lime Pie. He stressed several variations from most traditional recipes, saying that's what make their offering such a hit. Unfortunately, I had had a few of Nick's martinis and was into our second bottle of wine. I do distinctly remember having a shit eating grin on my face while trying to keep Landrum's face in focus. Not sure how successful I was....

Just noticed ol_ironstomach's post about the absent owner at APdC. They've opened a sugar shack outside of Montreal so Picard may be spending much of his time there. They'll be making their own maple syrup products, as well as raising pigs for the restaurant. For the record, I was there a couple of weeks back and it was everything I remember. Punk rockers doubling as cooks and servers and pulling it off. I went solo to the bar and cleaned off a plate of sliced roast piglet shoulder, pickled and braised tongue, foie gras hamburger and frites (fried in duck fat, natch). I'm still trying to lose the weight I gained at that sitting.

I've seen kids in there several times. You'll be fine.

You have NO idea how much I f**king hate to do this....I was so excited to check out Sudhir Seth's newest offerings but now I've been punished to the deepest depths of Orange County for most of next week. So me and the +1 are out. Sucks to be me....again...

June 21 is not only Father's Day, but the last day of NXNE for us hardcore music types May 31, June 7, and June 28 all work at this point, though June 28 is starting to get late in the season. I think earlier would be better. A pâté-off is a great idea. I think I make a decent pâté de campagne and chicken liver pate. We'll see how things stack up.

I'd try the Asian markets. While it's not likely to be organic, there's enough turnover to ensure a very fresh supply.

They take CCs.

Lisa and I can make Apr 01.

Waitman was very generous and saved the last half of the Salami Cotto for me (I arrived about 5 minutes late). But there IS something disconcerting about a guy - especially Waitman - saving a nice long piece of spicy fatty meat for me. I also picked up a couple of slabs of the pate de campagne and the smoked kielbasa. I think all that, along with the bottle of Hendricks and case of Fever Tree tonic, will form the basis of my solitary festivities tonite. Thanks to Jamie and Carolyn for bringing the bounty to us. Next time....BRING MORE!!