PollyG

We have a couple of local chains that might be worth checking. Home Goods is an interesting source for kitchen and tableware--it is run by the TJ Maxx group. There is no predictability as to what you will find on the shelves, but the pricing is generally very good. World Market (Cost Plus for those of you from California) also has an eclectic selection, at prices that are often beyond fantastic.

foodtrip and others - where are you getting kabocha this year? I was seeing them in abundance last year and none this year. Thanks!

I've been getting them at our local Asian markets, the Grand Mart in Sterling in my case. There were more of them 2 months ago than now, but there are still plenty.

The latest Williams Sonoma Catalog, one of the most ridiculous pieces of kitchen pornography I've seen in a while*, has a full page devoted to the pans, curved wooden tongs, etc. to make these.

*I think it was this ice pop maker that sent me over the edge on this one.

weekly lunch stop. the exploding egg special is one of the best things I've ever eaten.

We tried that today on your recommendation. I wasn't blown away by it, and preferred the current noodle dish on the "specials" menu (lower right side). But it was pretty good and I've certainly never had anything like that before, anywhere.

I can't say that my most recent experience at Hooked, last week, was anything like eyedubya described. We also live fairly close and have been there several times over the past year. My party of 5 received attentive service, and my mom praised the crab cake as being all meat, no filler. The mussels in a Thai curry sauce were really excellent, plump mussels in a sauce that was generously dosed with coconut milk. My father and I both had the fatty salmon belly, which was the only disappointment for us. The flavor was fine, but the chef had inexplicably chosen to score the fish in a diamond pattern, which diluted the velvety texture.

My only complaint is that they've removed the caesar salad with tempura lobster chunks from the menu.

If we were more flush with funds, we'd be there more often.

And now they are closed.

Shame on the new owners who ran this into the ground. The Mike's Mexolina pulled beef and the corn salsa were wonderful and will be much missed by our family.

Thai by Thai is one of Sterling's Thai restaurants, and the only one I know of with a "secret" Thai menu. It has become our Thai restaurant of choice. I couldn't find a thread devoted to it, and it is deserving of one.

It's a brightly lit place where you order at the counter and they bring food to your table and has a much nicer vibe than most counter-ordering locations.

The menu posted over the service counter doesn't hint at the existence of the special Thai menu, but does have a few street food items, such as the sun-dried beef. They have monthly specials posted on the cash register, which are items they are auditioning as possible additions to the Thai menu.

The Thai menu is available upon request and includes English translations. Its content changes with some frequency but includes wonderful fare such as deep fried pork belly strips with Chinese Broccoli, fried pork rib chunks with sticky rice and an incendiary dipping sauce, and a pig organ soup. Be sure to have one of their noodle dishes other than the Pad Thai. Noodles come out with a wonderful smokey touch. The Pad Thai is unexceptional, probably tailored for the tastes of the majority of their lunchtime customers. When we look around at our fellow diners, most have ordered a fried rice dish or the Pad Thai. Our experience has generally been that the person running the deep fryer knows their business--the pork strips in that pork with broccoli are perfectly crisped and maintain that texture for as long as it takes to inhale the dish.

Noodle dishes are generously portioned; the other dishes are often less so.

Thai by Thai's Sterling location is on Rt. 7 just West of Dranesville Road, across the street from the Shoppers Food Whorehouse and the Burlington Coat Factory, in the same plaza as Grand Mart.

They also had a sign announcing the December 19 opening of a second location, this time at 29 and 50, near a mobile phone shop. We're just hoping that the chefs who do such exceptional woking and frying are not headed off for that location.

Was it litterally at the base of the nam san tower or was it in a part of seoul just below the tower? I was there a month ago and at a a place pretty close and it was hand pulled and the name had the work Wang (king) in it. It is a chain but on the wall it talk about TV shows it had been featured on. It was pretty good. There there are a lot of JJM places in seoul and many of them were pretty good.

It was at the base of the tower--not in the tower itself, but after you walk up the long driveway from the bus stop.

We tried the Trader Joe's pre-brined turkey this year and rubbed it with zaatar. It turned out moist and with no salty taste--I was able to make a non-salty gravy with the pan drippings. I think the ones I've brined myself have been a touch tastier, but the lack of hassle of figuring out where I could stuff the brining pot was probably worth it. Other dishes:

Kabocha squash bisque with masaman curry and coconut milk.

4 kinds of sweet potatoes: 2 US varieties, 1 Korean, 1 purple yam. The Korean sweet potatoes are yellowish and have a chestnut flavor, while the purple ones are extra sweet. We serve them baked plain with butter and cinnamon available.

Spinach salad with mandarin orange, candied pecans, and pomegranate seeds

Beet salad with goat cheese

Chestnut stuffing

Gravy from pan drippings

Pumpkin creme brulee

Cranberry -orange relish

Cooked cranberry sauce

I messed up and left the cranberry sorbet in the freezer. Whoops!

Have tried a (perhaps not the) chinese version and the korean version. I thought they were someone close but korean version has more stuff and is more gloppy.

I am biased toward korean (blame it on heritage) version but to me it is comfort. but I would not pass up on the chinese version either. Both solid.

The thing that funny for me is that when ever I take non asians to JJM (ja jang mein), I get a strong reation (hate it or love it). Unfortunately, most people seem to hate it. It could be the gloppy heavy sauce, difference in texture or the taste. I'm alway suprised by the reaction because for it it is really akin to maccaroni and cheese. Just your basica comfort food. My wife especially cannot stand the stuff but then goodness, my kids love the stuff.

Soup

We had a very good Korean version in Seoul, which everyone in our 25 person group liked--even the kid who'd been living on rice for a week. The noodles were hand pulled in the front of the shop, and were really of extraordinary texture--silky, but still with some chew. This was at the place at the base of the observation tower in Seoul, with a name that translates to something along the lines of "noodles for the king." We have not found anything comparable in our Annandale forays--I thought the version at the place behind the Popeyes on John Marr was downright nasty. A&J's, with thick noodles and a different saucing, is what comes closest for us. Ironically, the prepackaged JJM from the Korean grocers is also better than what we'd had at the Korean-Chinese place.

Costco's rack of pork is back in the cooler section in the Sterling store. This is the same cut as a rack of lamb, but obviously larger. We got one last year and were sorry to see them disappear. I coated today's purchase in zataar and roasted it at 350 for an hour, yielding porky perfection, an excellent smelling house, and 2.5 meals for my family of 3.

Does anyone have experience with the TJ's pre-brined natural turkeys? I'm thinking of getting my brining the easy way this year, if my read of the ingredients list finds it free of junk. Otherwise, I'm going for a TJ's Empire turkey--the Koshering process is pretty much a brining anyway.

Super H has peeled chestnuts in foil-type bags. Edited to add - two or three kinds of fresh and dried ones too if you want to do the work.

Pretty much all of the Asian markets have these, and they are a LOT cheaper than the jarred ones. We've been using them for several years as both a snack and for our Thanksgiving stuffing. We have used many brands and have never had an issue with quality.

I believe in past years, the Popeyes chain has offered fried turkey, ordered in advance.

When I was growing up in Cincinnati, my mom always made a great salad that we called "crunchy noodle salad." After living in DC for 6 years I still can't find the noodles that she used (LaChoy Rice Noodles). My mom has to send them to me because I can't live without the dish. Does anyone have any idea where I can find them? I would be forever in your debt.

Thanks so much!

I'd try contacting ConAgra (or www.lachoy.com) and asking them if they could tell you which stores in your area stock this product. I recall seeing fewer Chinese-American products in our local Giant over the years.

What I was asking, albeit not clearly, is the Monday lobster roll the same size as the regular lobster roll. I have my doubts.

I can't speak to the size of the regular dinner lobster roll, but the Monday one this past Monday was the normal size for a Maine lobster roll--about the size of a standard hot dog bun. Other than overstuffing it more, which would have made it difficult to eat, I can't see how the dinner portion would be larger.

The meat was chopped more finely than I prefer, and had a bit too much mayo, but at least it was tarragon-infused mayo. Our standard is from Reds in Wiscassett, where we could well pay $15 for a roll alone, but the rolls have a lobster's worth of meat in them, in nice big chunks. With the excellent lobster and choice of 3 soups for $15, Passionfish's Monday lunch special is quite the deal. I had the butternut and lobster bisque as my soup. The lobster meat was not overwhelmed by the butternut and its sweetness worked well with the smooth bisque.

I stopped here with a colleague on Sunday, after attending a funeral across the street. My colleague is not the world's most adventurous eater, but she was headed back to the Richmond area and needed something to eat. I had her order the salmon shiroyaki, which my daughter has enjoyed previously, and it was a nice version of that dish. The fish had a salty, crusty exterior to contrast with the fatty salmon flesh. I had a much lighter ume onigiri. Temari is not a destination restaurant, but if you are in the neighborhood and want decent, unpretentious Japanese food, it is a good choice.

Yep. One of the best in northern Virginia is Mikaku Sushi Taro in McLearan Square. The exact address is 3065 Centreville Rd, Herndon, VA 20171 for your GPS. I eat here often -- it is distantly related to Sushi Taro downtown, and has received great reviews. In fact, if you had asked "what's the best restaurant of any kind in the Dulles area" I would have mentioned Mikaku Sushi Taro in my top three, at least.

I'll second that--it's a haul for us but definitely a good step up from everything else in the area. If memory serves, they have a tatami room that might be reservable for your group. Don't overlook the one page specials sheet. The ika "noodles" are a favorite of mine, but I'm sure it's a texture thing that doesn't work for some people.

My dad uses an old corkscrew to poke two holes in the top at the "eyes" of the coconut, drains the water out, then splits it by taking it outside and using a hammer. When we were in Maui, we were introduced to the machete free "whack it hard on a rock after the water is out" method.

Trader Joes in Reston now has Zico in boxes at $1.49 each. The ingredients list says "100% natural coconut water," but it wasn't quite as delicious as I remembered.

It is probably just as well that this is not an expense account sort of place. I imagine that charges to the Pure Pasty Co. would raise a few auditing eyebrows.

You know how to eat it. However, do not eat a lot at a time. It will cause constipation.

Worse yet, they're implicated in causing a very serious gastric blockage, a phytobeozor. I'd written my dad's warnings about excessive persimmon consumption off as an old wive's tale, but now that we have the internet to find all sorts of disgusting things, it turns out he was right.

I don't think so, though I can't be certain - the Steve from Chowhound isn't a journalist, and spells his full name Steven, not Stephen.

I have confirmation that it isn't "our" Steve.

the only news I can find

The article is written by Stephen Siegel, same guy that posts as Steve on CH?

What a shame. Lebanese Butcher is a real gem. I may still have some of their lamb shanks in the freezer, and we've brought their sausages home for the grill on many occasions.

An upcoming camping trip has me thinking again about what we can make over the campfire. Last time our friend hosted our monthly dinner club at the campsite - we had mexican style stuffed onions topped with fresh avocado and cilantro, bacon-wrapped trout stuffed with lemon and herbs, grilled asparagus, risotto made on the camp stove, and s'mores with red chile chocolate for dessert. And lots of beer and wine of course.

So what are your favorite things to make on the campfire?

Since you seem to be going upscale, oysters scalded in the embers until they just start to open are delicious. We made them this way on Prince Edward Island on vacation a few years ago. Obviously you need a good pair of tongs to pull this off.

We made baked apples at our campout a few weeks ago. I brought them to the site already stuffed with cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter and wrapped in foil.