PollyG

ARA in Annandale has it on the menu. ARA is a very busy noisy nightclub in the evenings -- I know someone who tells me she always sees police cruisers there at night, but extremely quiet at lunchtime.

Unfortunately, due to that urban myth, most children will not be allowed to consume the fruit unless the parent is with them and knows you. We live in an unlit neighborhood and hand out glowstick bracelets as well as sugar bombs. I'm still astonished how many of the kids are poorly lit; I used to accompany my kid and her friends in a flashing jellyfish costume to be sure they could be seen.

Tanpopo just gave me the nicest chirashi I've ever had anywhere and I wanted to give them a shout out. I selected the jo chirashi, at $24. It included, among other more pedestrian items, fatty tuna, scallops, what I believe were two different types of clam, one botan ebi (without a fried head, alas), a generous strip of grilled eel, a huge amount of salmon roe, and three pieces of top quality uni. I've had some very nice chirashi, but for variety and quality of ingredients, this beat them all. It was a steal at $24; both my daughter and spouse had samples of several items and it came with miso and a green salad.

Things seem to be a little less bustling out here in the Reston/Herndon area. As a family not directly impacted by the shutdown, we're actually trying to eat out more to help the restaurant economy. Tonight is "take a furloughed family to dinner" night for us.

The bizarre thing is that IIRC, the Commisaries are not using appropriated funds and are actually a revenue generator used to fund recreational activities on most bases. Neither of us is directly impacted by the shutdown. We had dinner at Hong Kong Palace tonight and usually tables are pretty full with a small line by the time we finish. Tonight, while it was far from empty, tables were available.

Good Land Organics is at $25 for a half pound this year, shipping included. http://www.goodlandorganics.com/store/finger-limes

We are very sorry to learn of Chef Itoh's passing. Makoto is a gem. On our last visit, the Chef had turned the reins over to one of his sons, but his training had clearly been excellent and the food was as good as ever. I'm so happy we took Naomi (age 13) there this winter in a long-delayed celebration of her mastery of chopsticks.

Not all kaiseki restaurants in the US have zaseki seating, thank goodness. It's really hard on my arthritic knees. Makoto is the closest you will come to kaiseki in the region. We enjoyed a much more expensive kaiseki meal in Maui a number of years back, with more attention to the appearance of the food, to the point of preciousness. Mushrooms had been carved to look like eggs, etc. We like Makoto a lot, though they are importing many ingredients and not just sticking to local items. Not everything is a hit with us at each meal, but each meal brings at least one dish that is a revelation about what can be done with top notch ingredients.

How fabulous. I remember both of them fondly.

Is it the catbirds who are taking the first bite of my Chicago Hardy Figs? The ants are also swarming the tree. I have tanglefoot on the way to take care of the ants, but perhaps I should get a bird netting too.

The other thing to consider is whether you enjoy a glass of wine or a beer with your dinner. If so, the comparatively high markup on wine or beer makes dining in even more economical.

Today we finished our trip on a high note. We went to Dynasty Seafood Restaurant for a very good dim sum. We focused in part on items we had not seen before, such as their shrimp roll with preserved egg and pickled ginger and their ginger fried milk. Quality was very good and the seafood tank was full of actively waving geoduck clams, crabs, lobster, and spot prawns. We seriously considered returning for dinner. But instead we went to Kitsilano Daily Kitchen, where we opted for the 6 course tasting menu for $68 each (the one drawback is the whole table has to opt for this). KDK features a menu that changes daily depending upon what the chef found at the market. For the tasting menu, the server double-checks for food allergies or intense dislikes before the chef starts cooking. With the exception of dessert, all 6 courses were well executed and consisted primarily of a simply prepared protein on a bed of more intensively prepared vegetables and a starch. For example, the first course was a sunny-side up quail egg over a slice of big-eye tuna, resting on a rissoto that was studded with fresh peas. Dessert was a flourless chocolate torte served with tart currants that was just too dry. We were stuffed by then and it was the only course we did not entirely finish. We really enjoyed the meal and the servers provided detailed information about each dish.

We're not quite done with Vancouver, but here are a few notes: XLB at Shanghai River are very good, though I think that I prefer the more gelatinous broth from Shanghai Deluxe in NYC. The rest of my family preferred the crab to the pork version; I preferred the pork. The spicy wontons are very good, much bigger than A&J's tiny little comet versions. There was a pleasant texture to the filling; possibly water chestnut for a bit of crunch. On the recommendation of Vancouver Magazine, we tried Landmark Hot Pot House for a seafood hot pot. This establishment has been around for 25 years and they offer more than half a dozen different broth options. Just be aware that the Fresh Shrimp are LIVE prawns threaded lengthwise on individual skewers. We had been a bit sad about not ordering these as we saw them whisked from table to table, until at the end of the meal, my 13 year-old noticed that they were still moving, which we all confirmed to be the case. She is not into killing her own food, so it would have been a bit of a disaster. Also, cuttlefish shrink down by a factor of at least 5. The major disappointment so far has been one Chendgu Szechuan Bistro, which deserves a false advertising award. Food was acceptable as generic Chinese food, but the menu was not what we expected at all and had nothing to do with Chengdu cusine as we know it. And finally, while sushi is cheap and plentiful, be aware that the rolls are HUGE everywhere. Order less than you are accustomed to ordering. The option to have local salmon rather than farmed Atlantic is a novelty we're enjoying while we can.

Please do not overlook the garlic fish. Melanie suggested it one night when my daughter initally wanted both the cumin lamb and the cumin fish, suggesting that the seasonings were too similar and this would be a good alternative. (And there is no one in my family who is going to be happy if we make the trek to HKP and don't have the cumin lamb.) The garlic fish is a non-incendiary dish that helps balance out a table full of heat. It is breaded and fried, crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside, with a fair amount of crispy fried garlic bits on the plate. This would not be the one dish I ordered if I was limited to one entree, but it provides a nice balance and the friends we introduced to HKP last weekend loved it.

Can you clarify as to where you got the XLB? Was it at Shanghai River? We'll be in Vancouver for the better part of a week next month and are planning on taking advantage of the plethora of excellent Asian restaurants and the fresh seafood. One of my Asian-American colleagues from SF assured me years ago that it is the best city for Asian cuisine in North America.

We had duck at Honey Pig (Centreville location) last night, so maybe it is becoming trendy. It was good, but the spouse and I both agreed that the duck flavor was largely lost with the preparation.

I'd agree with him but for 2 things: 1) Fairfax County has, in its wisdom, placed my child's bus stop at a shaded intersection with neither curb nor sidewalk; and 2) Has he SEEN the way people drive around here when the roads have any snow? I spent grad school in Wisconsin driving at night for a free ride service, and I have zero doubts about my ability to handle a vehicle on snow and ice. But I sure don't want to be on the roads here in such conditions with all those idiots who think that an SUV means they can tailgate in snow or brake and turn at the same time.

Thank you! Sounds perfect.

While I would have little interest in eating food "printed" from a bunch of chemicals, for a couple of years people have been using 3-D printers to work with sugar to create 3-D shapes that would be difficult to create in any other way. I see that one as having a potential application for specialized novelties and the extreme cake decorating industry. http://wiki.candyfab.org/ There are actually 2 different approaches. The one in the video uses a nozzle, while the Candyfab, if I remember correctly, uses a very different method, starting with a whole tub of crystalized sugar and bonding the form within the tub of sugar.

We are absolutely open to another type of groundcover, as long as it is not going to invade the yards of the neighbors. Cutting the trees is not an option. Unlike most of the neighbors, I actually do respect the conservation easement that covers most of the yard. Even without it, I'd really hesitate to take out a healthy mature tree. I am open to anything that does not involve a lot of chemicals (lime and other soil ph changers are not going to be an issue, pesticides/herbicides would be) and leaves me without the horrible mud pits that are not fun for the dogs or us. Wear and tear by the dogs is actually not that much of an issue--we can fence to keep them off of baby seeding areas, and after that, they use the yard for pooping and little else. Poop is removed 2x weekly.

I have a house with a southern exposure and full growth forest in most of the back. We have typical red Virginia clay with very little top soil on our unwooded portion of the back yard, which is shaded most of the day by the house and the trees. I need a landscaper who can come up with a long-term solution to get grass or another year-round cover back here again without a bunch of chemicals. Heavy fertilizers, herbicides, etc. are not an acceptable option for us. A landscaper who doesn't look at the neighborhood and quote astronomical fees would also be a big plus. We are open to installing sprinklers in recognition of our inability to stick to a regular watering schedule.

I've found that my Cuisinart's dough blade is really fabulous at cutting butter into flour.

We just concluded our first annual Feast of the Seven Knishes. Fillings were: standard mashed potatoes, with lots of sweet onion bits; wasabi mashed potatoes; kim chi potatoes, yams, mushrooms (essentially duxelles, with a little bit of mashed potato to keep it sticky), spinach, and kasha. The crowd included a lot of my neighbors who are fairly white bread people (although with good taste in wine and beer) and the kim chi variant was the surprise hit.

Do NOT use the recipe from last year's Saveur magazine. It was a disaster for me--buttercream separated (and I'm a stickler on pastry measurements), the recipe on meringue mushrooms was way too fussy and then failed to explain how to attach caps to stems, and the outer frosting was not stiff enough either. That was about the point that I said "[explictive] this [explictive], where's my Maida Heatter?" and rescued the whole mess. Her recipe for mushroom meringues is a dream --I had 13 year-olds doing some of the piping and assembling this year, and I used the delicious and stiff frosting from the Queen Mother's cake on the outside. The one problem I encountered that was not recipe related was discovering that my wall ovens are too small for a properly sized jelly roll pan. The end result looked great, but suffered from a drippy buttercream inside. After the fact, I found comments online suggesting that other readers encountered similar problems. Have you considered a jam filling that would complement the coconut? Perhaps guava or mango preserves?

Which location did you visit? A few of the dishes formerly only on the secret Thai menu have made it onto the overhead menu at the Sterling location, such as the jungle fried catfish, sun-dried beef, and fried pork ribs. For noodles, go for the deliciously smoky pad see eww dishes. I'd also suggest one dish with fried pork; the Chinese broccoli with fried pork belly slivers is excellent.