PollyG

The Herndon branch of Pho 75 doesn't come even close to what you're describing. Our broth was short in the star anise department and the noodles had clearly been pre-cooked (stuck together at the bottom of the bowl.)

Herndon remains a watered-down wasteland for Asian food except for Thai, where we have some reasonably good places (Tarin Thai, Thai Town, Thai Luong).

Our one trip to Pho Hot on Little River Turnpike in Annandale suggests we ought to be going back, but we have a very hard time getting to that area and not going to either A&J or Yechon.

Additional excellent ethnic eateries that won't be more expensive than Outhouse Steakback:

Tay Do or 4 Sisters in the Eden Center. 4 Sisters gets writeups from all the Food sections. I thought it was fine, but I'd had a better version of every dish we tried there elsewhere in the Eden Center. Tay Do is very new but has a modern interior that should put your friends at ease. Do NOT get the pho at Tay Do--the broth was cloudy and the noodles were obviously pre-cooked. Everything else there we've had in two visits was very good; they offer a huge hot pot at $30 that is easily enough to stuff 2-3 people. Once you break them into Vietnamese food, drag them into Viet Royale for the shaky beef or the caramel fish and a very good garden roll, or into the downscale but excellent Huong Viet for grilled meats and the garlic butter frog legs.

Korean: A number of the Annandale Korean places have upscale interiors with lots of nice wood and excellent food. Entrees are going to be in the Outback range ($14-21), but will come with soup and panchan, making the meal a bargain. Reassure your buddies that Korean food isn't always incendiary and stick to grilled meats, jap chae and hae-mul pajun (seafood pancake)the first time. 3 places that won't scare your buddies:

Edited to mention that the najki bokum is hot. We find it only semi-incendiary, your mileage may vary.

And now Bo Derek has taken up the anti-horsemeat cause.

I freeze my cheese-laden pesto under an olive oil cap in a glass jar, scooping out what I need (I soften in the microwave) and then re-establishing the cap. It can keep for years as long as you keep that nasty air off the pesto.

Use enough water to completely cover your chicken and veggies. The stock will reduce as you cook it. My standard chicken stock ingredients:

Whole chicken and/or chicken backs + any necks, wingtips hanging around in the freezer

A package of chicken feet, if I can get out to one of the Korean markets (add flavor and body--look creepy rolling around in the pot)

White wine or dry vermouth-- at least a cup,up to a whole bottle, depending on how much stock I'm making.

An onion or two, cut in half but unpeeled (the skins add depth of color to the stock) stuck with a few cloves

A couple of carrots, peeled and cut in large pieces

Two or three stalks of celery, with leaves

A leek (mostly white part)

Parsnip, peeled and cut in large pieces

Bay leaves, stalks of parsley and fresh thyme

A few whole allspice berries

A dozen peppercorns

Strong second on the use of parsnips. They add a sweetness and depth to the stock far beyond what the carrots alone will lend. But Zora, where is the head of peeled garlic cloves?

If you like garlic, I make a garlic/rosemary/breadcrumb paste and put a crust over all exposed surfaces of the lamb. Ideally, it sits in the crust overnight prior to baking. Your proportions can vary but here's about what I use:

1 cup peeled garlic

1 cup bread crumbs (seasoned or unseasoned, your choice)

Ground black pepper if using unseasoned bread crumbs

4 10 inch sprigs of rosemary

3 TBS lemon juice.

I use the Cuisinart to mince the garlic and rosemary, then add the breadcrumbs and lemon juice and pulse a bit. I apply the paste just thick enough so you can't see the meat.

I have also used a mix of yogurt and tandouri seasonings, marinated for 24-48 hours, and smoked the lamb leg.

There is in fact a wine available in the US from Coopers Creek Winery called "Cat's Phee on a Gooseberry Bush." About $10 and a very good representation of that style.

But will the Japanese robot wine nose describe it as cat piss?

We had lunch today at Yechon, greatly relieved to find tables available at 12:45pm on a Saturday. Unlike Dino's experience, the oyster and scallion pancake was the weakest of our three dishes. The pancake was a bit too thick so the center was soggy; we're used to thinner and crisper versions. And the green onions could have used a shorter cut. Some were as long as 3 inches which made for some awkward chewing. I think this dish was better on my prior visit a few months ago; perhaps the chef is off on holiday.

The nakji bokum (octopus and mixed vegetables in a red pepper sauce) was chewy but tasty. The sauce wasn't so hot that it overpowered the octopus. The jap chae was one of the better renditions of that dish we've had, with julienned strips of beef matching the vegetables in texture.

We also ordered unagi from the sushi bar but I cannot comment on it; the 6 year-old wasn't sharing. She declared it to be excellent.

My favorite of the small dishes was strips of zuchinni, agar-agar, and shitake in light sesame oil sauce.

I'm not sure why the food press hasn't discovered Yechon yet (it's by no means a dive and it sometimes seems to me that when it comes to the food press and ethnic places, they'll tout nice interiors with competent food over stellar food), but I'll be happy to continue to dine my way through the menu without having to compete with the crowds.

We replaced the sink in our kitchen shortly after moving into the house. The original owners were pretty obviously not cooks; the double sink did not have a sprayer arm. We special ordered a single sink in a double-sink size and will neversettle for anything less than a double-wide again. The double-wide sink is large enough to soak all of our big pans. I heartily recommend a big sink.

We have a Silestone countertop that is in its second year now and I'm still very happy with it.

What I really want is to remove our existing closet-style pantry and replace it with a pull-out style. But that will be some time in the future.

FYI, Open Table told me that Zaytina was booked for the entire lunch session on Wednesday August 16. But I called and was offered noon or 11:30 reservations. So you may not want to rely purely on Open Table as you decide what is and is not available.

Super H in Fairfax has a modest selection of sakes, including some of the white unfiltered ones.

Little Kings taste like paperclips.

Say it ain't so! "Little Kings Cream Ale, it's too good to be beer" was their jingle. I used to see bottles littered around residential construction sites in KY in the late 70s.

My mother, generally a good and creative cook, was a total failure when it came to school lunches. The worst had to be the year she was clerking for the state supreme court; I am fairly certain it was kosher salami and mustard on Pepperidge Farm bread with a mealy Red Delicious appleevery day of that school year. The only positive thing about it was that I avoided the school's cafeteria fare, which was Southern overcooked everything.

Needless to say, I'm not trying to recreate my lunchbox trauma for Naomi. We bought several kid's bento box sets from Super H. They have 3 compartments on the top layer and 1 on the bottom layer. In theory, the bottom layer is for rice. It's also about the right size for a half sandwich. The 3 compartments on the top pretty much force me to make sure she gets some variety with her lunch. Generally they hold grape tomatoes, carrot sticks, and a third fruit or vegetable.

Naomi's absolute favorite sandwich is a peanut butter and mini-robin egg sandwich. But you have to plan ahead for those since robin eggs are only available around Easter time. She also likes peanut butter and nutella, cream cheese and butter on matzoh, rice balls, and soba. She's okay with PB&J, but not wild about it. She also flips all over the place about whether or not she likes yogurt. The truth is that she gets suckered by advertising into begging for yogurt marketed to kids, but finds it too sweet. The Dannon whipped yogurts seem to work.

The Container Store (and possibly your local grocery store) has Rubbermaid juice box shaped drink containers with a straw. These can be very handy if you don't want to get suckered into paying the high price for juice boxes.

Ironically, though Naomi has enjoyed her lunches, she is currently looking forward to attending a public school with a cafeteria. It's a novelty. We'll see how long that lasts.

Home-made soda can be a race between consumption and undesired fermentation. I'm not exactly a stranger to the process, but the fact is that even good sanitary procedure is unlikely to wholly eliminate wild yeasts from finding your soda. Leave it long enough at room temperature, and it will ferment. This is why you sure as heck don't want to put your soda into glass bottles. I happen to use steel soda kegs for my soda, and they can hold a LOT of pressure.

I'd left a partially consumed keg of ginger ale in the basement, unrefrigerated, for a month or so. I knew that it had almost certainly fermented. It was time to get rid of the spoiled soda. The pressure in the keg prevented me from just opening the top. I hauled the keg to my kitchen and next to the sliding glass patio door. I opened the door, but instead of taking the darned thing outside, I attached a tap hose inside, intending to spray the soda out onto the patio.

This was a mistake. The pressure snaked the tap out of my hand and began spraying ginger ale around the kitchen. It hit the ceiling. I managed to toss it outside pretty quickly, but the ginger ale stains on the ceiling proved impervious to any cleaning attempts.

That's not why we sold the house, but I do wonder if the new owners found brown spots seeping through the fresh coat of ceiling paint.

Oh, and yeah, when I make soda now, I make certain to hunt down one of the keg tops that has a pressure-relief valve.

Yum. I could go for one right 'bout now. I think the closest to me is Shilla in Rockville. Oh, I do recall seeing a GIANT version being served up at Bob's 66 as well.

You may need to ask for the dessert menu at Bob's 66 to get the listing of shaved ice options. We opted for a single serving and it was plenty large for 4 adults. Our 6 year-old had already received a smaller version, compliments of the house, which had slightly more pedestrian toppings, such as M&Ms.

I'm not sure that I've seen them recently, but it used to be that you could get a hand-cranked shaved ice machine for under $20 at virtually every Asian market in the area, often in cutesy animal shapes. Ours has 2 little bowls for freezing the ice; one ice disk is enough for two bowls of shaved ice. (12 step program for gadgetaholics, anyone?)

The latest on the US horsemeat legislation saga.

Teocalli Tamali, an unassuming eaterie in Herndon, was featured in the Post's Worth The Trip. But the reporter blew it. The Mikes Mexolina is the best filling, but she failed to mention the wonderful corn salsa. The corn salsa is draped over the tacos in the picture. You will also want to specify soft corn tacos as you order.

The tamales at Teocalli are okay and tasty enough, but not a standout like the tacos.

This is an order-at-the-counter sort of place, with a cheerful interior, definitely kid-friendly. There's a huge hot sauce collection on the wall if your salsa didn't do the trick for you. Some of the sauces are available for purchase.

But, I'm still drawing a blank on my other favorite. Anyone know where I can find that sticky rice and pork wrapped in a (lotus?) leaf? Or, what it's called??

Mark's Duck House, Fortune, and New Fortune all definitely have sticky rice in lotus leaf. Being a round-eye, I've learned that you have to ask for sticky rice when the steam cart rolls around; for whatever reason the sticky rice is one of the dishes that the servers won't show you as they try to convince you to eat the entire contents of the steam cart. The same holds true for ginger and scallion steamed tripe, chicken feet, and duck web, though if you ask for the tripe, you may be shown all the other goodies.

I generally quarter mine, zap 'em in the microwave for 2 minutes, toss with EVOO and then add my spices. For whatever reason, I was having problems with seriously undercooked potatoes before I started microwaving to pre-cook.

I usually coat with a mix of lemon peel, granulated garlic, citric acid, and pepper.

Harris Teeter often has several varieties of fingerling potatoes available in bulk; these make a great mixed roast potato.

There is a park in Reston on Temporary Road that you can reserve through the Reston association. It has a large picnic shelter, a big grill (2 charcoal bags end-to-end), and portapotties. But the most salient feature is the water fountain with a hose-threaded spigot. If your plan is now water balloon fights/tosses, water guns, slip-n-slide (which, cruelly, has dire warnings about how it isn't for adult use), etcetera, you will want a ready supply of water.

The grill is not positioned for child safety and is sort of in the center of the picnic area. It is also pretty much guaranteed to require serious scrubbing. So you may want to bring your own smaller portable grill and set it up to the side. Or you can decide that fire and sugar-crazed 7 year-olds don't mix.

Or you can become part of the slow food movement, and become a snail farming tycoon.

How about one of the vineyards? It would probably be in poor form to not at least have one bottle of their wine, but you won't be hassled by the park police as you would at any of our public parks. Tarara has nice views.

You might also inquire at Sphinx Cafe (or is it Sphinx Kabob) on Spring Street in Herndon. They make moist kabobs and have very friendly staff.

Pacific Rim in Sterling is almost certainly beyond your price point.

Went to A&J on monday with the wife. Not the first time for me, but the first for her.

Loved everything except the dumplings. Had both versions, beef and pork, but just weren't doing for me.

I did however LOVE the pork dumpling, I can't remember which one I ordered, that had the soup in it. I wasn't aware that that's what I ordered, but was delighted none the less. A large dumpling that looked like a sausage patty wrapped in dough, steamed and pan fried. I picked it up and bit into it and received a large squirt of juicy pork goodness I wasn't prepared but luckily I didn't take it in the face......I loved the cuke salad, the shredded pigs ear, the shredded chicken with cucumber noodles, the fried pork chop rice and absolutely loved and could eat allllllllllldayyyyyyy long-the steamed short ribs. I wasn't sure about these at first because they looked like they were covered in steamed bulgar wheat, but one melting taste....ohhhhh I was so mesmerized, I stopped talking to my wife for the 5 minutes I was eating them....then ordered another one.....

Upon reading the earlier post I realize it wasn't pork in my bun but beef....even better

It's the pan-fried pork dumplings (8 to a serving, the only menu item that has mentions having 8 items in case of doubt) that get the raves from most diners. Drizzle some of the vinegar onto them. But tastes do vary; we were underwhelmed by the beef patty in dough that wowed you.

You should also try the ground beef with pickled long bean. They do have the best rendition of pig's ear I've had, but I've only had it in 2-3 restaurants.

I grew wary of Slavin some time ago. And to think that they were proud to keep product that wasn't looking its best in the case is just another reason why I'm glad I avoid them. I think you may be on to something for when you want to shop at Slavin. Make a decision on what to buy based on what's in the back and not what's in the case.

When I lived just 2 exits from Slavins, I bought my fish elsewhere. Why? Because Slavins stinks. A well-run seafood store should not smell of old fish.