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PollyG

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Posts posted by PollyG

  1. Happy to report that Bob's has transitioned well to Pandemic restaurant survival.  They have a big table up front full of insulated bags keeping hot items hot and a freezer case for frozen XLB.  We remembered that they offer large quantities of XLB frozen at a good price so I called on Thursday to see if I could order some for Friday or Saturday pickup.  Picked them up yesterday along with a double order of the pan-fried pork dumplings, the pickled  wood ear mushrooms, shrimp dumplings, and the pork with dry noodle.  We ate the fresh items after a 35 minute drive home to Herndon (other than the one hot pork dumpling I ate in the parking lot as the driver's tax) in my own insulated bag and had some of the XLB for our New Year's lunch today.  The XLB survived freezing beautifully; each is separate.  Bob's kindly included both sauce and steamer basket paper in the package and they had some ice cubes in a baggie inside the bag with the XLB to help them stay fully frozen.  In our case they'd gone right into their own insulated bag with cold packs for the drive, but that's some smart packaging.   

    We had 12 of the XLB today and they were outstanding.  We had one round of some XLB from H-mart and they weren't even close in quality.  

    • Like 5
  2. I came here (not eating out so I've been largely absent from the community for a while) specifically to see if I could spread the word about Duck Chang's situation.  I've donated and am hoping that they are getting a long term commitment from the new landlord in exchange for the upgrades that they are going to be making.   

  3. I went on Labor day to purchase a mezze feast for lunch on Rosh Hashanah.  The bakery side was *really* hopping; the case was missing several of the normal pastries.  Their hummus remains the only commercial hummus I really like.  The only disappointment was the halal stuffed grape leaves; they were just too dry.  If only they were a little closer to home; we found them when we lived in Alexandria's West End, but have since moved out toward Dulles.  My Palestinian hairdresser is even further out and agrees that there is nothing closer to us that compares. 

     

  4. Riceberry, located at 22034 Shaw Road #114 in Sterling, is visible from Church Street as you drive West toward Rt. 28.  It is a small carry-out only Thai restaurant with a limited set of grocery items, almost all of them Thai ingredients that the owners must feel are not available at area pan-Asian markets.  We enjoyed a feast from them over the weekend, concentrating on starters.  There is a fair amount of street food on the menu.  Everything we tried was good, and that includes the $10 platter of sausages we bought to cook at home tonight.  They had two different types of house-prepared sausages to go.  There are a number of grab-and-go ready to eat items as well, and they have plenty of desserts.  Well worth continued exploration and if you work at AOL in Ashburn, you will likely consider it a lunchtime treasure.  We used their web site to order ahead.  www.riceberrymarket.com

  5. It was nice to see A&J get some love in the WaPo's food section today.  We have made the trek from Herndon to Annandale about once every 2 months during this pandemic (it was more like once or twice a month before) to get our fix.  Some dishes, like the tiny wontons in hot sauce, do not travel well.  As the weather improves, perhaps we can tailgate closer to the shop.   Have folding table, will travel.  

    • Like 2
  6. On 7/10/2020 at 2:26 PM, Pat said:

    Not DC area, obviously, but this seemed like maybe the thread for this (?):

    https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/07/08/alinea-made-a-coronavirus-themed-dish-its-not-going-over-well/

    I didn't have a visceral negative reaction but it appears many people have. Acknowledging the reason everything is so weird doesn't seem horrible on its face, but repeatedly try to defend it against angry pandemic sufferers seems like a lost cause.

    ETA: The one comment about it by Kokonas makes me think that Grant Achatz must be the one who came up with it, and he's high risk, so you'd think that would be a mitigating factor in evaluating the canape.

    ETA2: Achatz is the person who designed it. More here. It doesn't mention him being high risk, though, so maybe he's not considered high risk now.

    And. . .they're closed after a staffer tested positive.  Quite sure there is zero causality, of course.

  7. On 3/17/2020 at 9:54 AM, genericeric said:

    Observations on how different store chains are handling the outbreak - understanding that this is likely highly regional.

    Wegmans - sanitizer at the door with a sign asking all customers to please use before entering, ample cart wipes.  Substantial restrictions on quantities you can purchase, which for the most part I agree with, however I wasn't able to get enough for normal grocery shopping for three nights.  Still limited stock available, even at 6:30am.  Note - a woman in line to check out who appeared to be receiving chronic medical treatment (perhaps chemo) began to feel faint.  The Wegman's staff could not have been more kind or helpful as they completed her shopping for her while making her comfortable and offering medical assistance.  After that I heard no one else complaining about lines.

    Costco - Sanitizing carts at the door, but not until after you pushed it up.  Signs out front listing what they had and what they were out of.  Frequent signs displaying what 6 feet social distance should be.  Traffic direction so that people didn't get too bunched up in line to pay.  Completely out of paper goods but had a lot of water, 2 max.  

    Whole foods - the grocery delivery and pickup appeared to be booming.  Completely out of red meat, very limited produce available.  They always have cart wipes, and employees were changing gloves between each customer.

    Giant - Our local giant has been almost fully stocked, lines manageable.  Canned goods, paper towels, water, even some toilet paper.  Yesterday morning at 6am the shelves were sparse, but they said the truck was late - saw it pulling in as I left.

    Wal-Mart - no sanitizer, no wipes for carts, no food.  If they didn't sell a baby food that's hard to find, there's no reason to deal with it.

    H-Mart (Herndon branch): May have had someone to santize carts at the near-door pickup, we grabbed one from the corral and sprayed it down ourselves.  They did have decently sized plexiglass shields set up at the cash register to give the cashiers some protection.  No marks on the floor to establish distance for shoppers at the checkout, but it wasn't an issue because we arrived shortly prior to closing.  It was well stocked except for cleaning supplies, which were sparse.  Our experience has been that the Asian markets are less likely to be totally denuded.  It's probably a combination of racism and economic reality; many of the people who regularly shop at these markets don't have the financial means to buy several weeks of groceries at once.  

    • Like 3
  8. Padaek, Thip Thao, and their 2 sister restaurants have stopped offering takeout and shut down for now.  Just posted to their FB page. They mentioned gift cards so it appears that they currently expect to reopen.  The projections I just read require 3 months of sheltering in place for most of the US including Virginia if we want to avoid hospital overload.

    https://www.facebook.com/115494498473231/posts/2900118850010768/?sfnsn=mo

    • Sad 1
  9. I am hoping that one positive item will come out of all of this:  we need mandatory sick leave for food workers.  Industries that place workers at risk of losing their jobs for being sick should be nowhere near our food supplies.  

    Meanwhile, we are planning on finding ways to support our local restaurants.  

    • Like 4
  10. 1 hour ago, deangold said:

    I saw them at Lotte Plaza and they looked intriguing. But no way was I going to put a case in the cart. We have way too much fruit already in house to get thru. Question: do they have an aromatic zest? I often find a lot of crossbred mandarins lacking in aromatic zest. Making a bitters or cordial with the zest offsets the cost of the fruit.

     

    I don't think the zest is particularly aromatic.  Give the season another week or two and they will probably be available loose or in smaller quantities.  I assume, perhaps wrongly, that since it is Lunar New Year right now, people are buying them as gifts.  Our local H-Mart on Eldon Street in Herndon was down to its last 2 boxes yesterday.  

  11. 14 hours ago, deangold said:

    We have the Jigae yesterday for dinner and it rocked. Fiery hot. I was shocked that Kay could even eat it as it was that spicy. My next kimchi project will be quartered nappa kimchi. I have a Zyliss julienne y-peeler that shreds almost as good as a mandoline and is far easier to use {not to mention my old mandoline dies jsut as we closed the restaurant and the Zyliss was $7.98 and not $100 plus.

    Can you post a pic of the Zyliss?  I have a rotating Benriner shredder for carrots/daikon that I picked up from a Korean grocery quite some time ago.  I need to start making my own kimchi again because I'm allergic to shrimp and most commercial preparations have either shrimp or xylitol, which would be toxic to my dogs should they accidentally get any kimchi.  

  12. On 12/11/2019 at 7:15 PM, TheMatt said:

    My favorite comes from the Mediterranean Bakery on Pickett in Alexandria. Fairly certain it's made there and it just has...flavor compared to store-bought varieties.

    Totally second that.  It is the only one that really works for my tastebuds.  The recipe book that came with my Cuisinart back in the 80's has my go-to recipe, although I add more garlic and lemon than it specifies.  

    • Like 2
  13. I also ordered my turkey from Mom's. Too many incidents where the staff at Whole Foods assured me that my pricey turkey is only "air chilled on the surface" when I said it seems awfully solid, only to find that it is frozen all the way to the fricking center when I got it home!

    We have been smoking our turkeys of late; has anyone tried a combo of smoking and then finishing in an oven to crisp the skin?  I realize I might have to oil the skin post-smoking to make that happen.  

    Two contrasts in recipes are on my list this year:  
    cornbread souffle  which relies on Jiffy mix and canned corn.  It's been on the table the past few years and is much loved.  It does not reheat well.  

    This stunning tart   True to my nature, I'm planning on using just the cranberry gelee and  leaving the non-seasonal, likely both tasteless and expensive, raspberries off the topping.  I'll put the gelee over something more to the family tastes, like cheesecake.  

    • Like 1
  14. My son is installed in his new college apartment with a far better stocked kitchen than I had throughout college.  He has a microwave, oven, electric stove, blender, stand mixer, crockpot, rice cooker and electric griddle.  He is part of the generation who believes that he doesn't need any lessons from Mom because everything is available on the internet.  (You'd think all those Pinterest fail photos might have clued him in, but not yet.)   I've offered, he's passed. 

    He has a copy of my much loved Chinese Menu Cookbook, which teaches classic techniques bit by bit.  He also has Carol Field's Italian Baker; loves to make bread but usually goes with recipes he finds on the internet, with mixed results.  

    I'm looking for another cookbook for him with simple recipes and meticulously edited technique descriptions.  I'm thinking Maida Heatter level detail, but for savory dishes.  Does anyone have suggestions?  

  15. Wow, 2+ years since anyone last mentioned this stalwart of the Eden Center!  Today we picked up my son's college apartment mate at Union Station and brought them to Huong Viet en route to our home in Herndon.  Our son has been vocal in his displeasure with the quality of food at Rochester Institute of Technology (on-campus and delivery) and after a meal at Huong Viet,  his apartment mate now "gets" why Isaac has been so critical.  One bite of their cha gio is pretty much all it took.  We ordered cha gio, the chopped baby clam appetizer, and split the big mixed grill platter (grilled shrimp, chicken, beef, pork, noodles, and greens for wrapping) two ways while my husband had the yellow noodle duck soup.  My only complaint is that I think someone forgot to add the sugar syrup to my salty lemon drink so it was a bit too salty for me.   

    This is a restaurant that doesn't coast on its reputation.  It cranks out good to stellar Vietnamese food from a huge menu.  It's also the reason I was so unimpressed by the Slanted Door in San Francisco back when Slanted Door was one of the top rated restaurants in that city.  Every traditional Vietnamese dish I had at Slanted Door was better and cheaper at Huong Viet.  

    • Like 2
  16. On the wall oven, based on my recent experience, do not go for the Wolf double electric.  Ours is about to have its SECOND control panel replacement after installation in March.  Each time has involved a week's wait for a service call and at least another week's wait for the part.  The folks at Wolf are very pleasant, but one more failure and I will be asking for a refund plus costs to install a replacement for this very expensive oven.  

     

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