DameEdna

The Alternative Picnic (or whatever) is waiting to be organized (for another day). So many people can't do June 3rd.

Happy birthday, Laniloa! (every time we go to Corduroy, we think of you.)

maybe you need one of these ...still click "At last it is easy to make alcohol distillation a hobby. The actual distilling is as easy as making coffee!" (Yes, another good thread perverted with childish humor)

May I have the slab of bacon amuse, while the vegan torments the server with a detailed discussion on what on the menu might, or might not, be acceptable? Thank you.

the male ego heals slowly

I was wondering what you were going to do next, to top head cheese. Now am scared.

.02: NBD? BD! INF! SS.

This is a great discussion. I think we will soon see food products labelled " Contains no ingredients from China". What effect this will have global agricultural economics, I don't know. Personally (based on absolutely no facts) I am convinced that Wal-Mart has trained the Chinese to think that Americans want the very lowest price, and quality is entirely unimportant.

The opportunity to mess local ecology (is a postive way?) is there ... eat more cownose ray!click-here Are they tasty? Unknown. Do they suffer from 'monkfish' syndrome (ugly, scary seafood)? Probably.

That phrase "session beers" is new one for me. Does it only apply to English beers? Alcohol between 3 - 4%? I like the general definition " a beer which can be consumed for several hours, and then still be able to go back to work!" True definition? We used to try and judge what we could drink, and still go back and grind out a few lines of COBOL code --- we didn't have a special phrase to describe these potables, though (sorry, ancient history reference).

Many years ago, I lived on Hilton Head Island, in South Carolina. The kitchen helper at the restaurant where I worked would not show up some days, when the shrimping was good ... he would be out on his uncle's boat. Maybe it is an overly romantic view, but I think it was the inefficiency of the business on so many levels that helped maintain the shrimp population. Building in deliberate inefficiency as part of designed policy ... much more difficult.

Corduroy is changing ... Ferhat is leaving, off for a "home visit" (what a concept!) and then will reappear somewhere else in DC. Pichan is also leaving (going to Thailand?). Much as I would like things to stay the same, I wish Ferhat and Pichan the best of luck. Tom Power is likely to have some new ideas. Now that the Summer season is here, maybe we will get some more ice creams! Barbara gets all dreamy and faraway looking when she thinks of the soft shell crabs at Corduroy.

An opportunity for women to try out their comedic skills.

I see that the Sabatier section (on Amazon.com) lists at least five different "collections" of knives. They give something of the manufacturing method, and where manufactured. The lowest priced "collection" is made in China. Even though I am a cook of the most casual sort, I have had many of the usual problems: carbon steel knives that darken and stain, beautiful stainless knives that are a bitch to sharpen, thick blades that don't want to go through anything. I looked at some "sushi" knives and thought them rather delicate for my style of cooking (and, I'm sure, excellent for fileting fish).

Chef machismo is very common, but i don't really understand it (watch me pull this sheet of chocolate chipcookies out of the oven --- without a pot holder!) It used to be that the chef business was considered not suitable for woman --- too physically demanding! In simpler times, the kitchen knife business was divided (by manufacturers) into: home cook knives (for a woman, who was thrifty, and had small hands), and professional (a man, willing to spend more, big hands, and, if the truth be known, easily swayed by the prestige factor). Now knives are available in many more weights, sizes, styles and price ranges. The nuances of knifery provide the ideal fuel for a barroom debate, especially the part where someone says "I have a large knife right here ... let me show you what I mean." Question: When those prestige brands moved production to China, did product quality suffer?

Don't you have to drink at least five, to get your daily requirements?

I love the idea that the intellectual foot soldiers of the Washington process will (finally!) have a comfy place to knock back a stiffener or three before boarding the bus to go home to the leafy precincts of Upper Northwest.

"Customers have also requested male models, and the restaurant is trying to oblige." Wasn't there a Washington doughnut shop that did something like that?. Maybe not ...

I'm reminded of an episode of "Fawlty Towers" where Basil gets tired of his wife giving him a difficult time, so he resigns from his job, then reappears moments later as a demanding customer. Not that Corduroy is in any way Fawlty Towers. Mostly not, anyway.

I'm listening to WETA, and then I'm looking in the refrigerator to see if we have some beer. Then I say, certain music sent me looking ... It was the Rheingold Beer jingle music. No, it was the Estudiantina waltz, arranged by Emile Waldteufel, Opus 191, No. 4. To me, it will always the Rheingold beer jingle. I'm not sure if the version I remember is the one recorded by Les Paul, or not. Rheingold closed its doors in 1976 ... I must have been listening to beer commercials as a very tiny tot.

Free ice cream cone at Ben and Jerry's, April 17 . I always laugh at the very well dressed people waiting for free cone at the Ben and Jerry's on 19th Street. Why is the wait worth it to them? Then I think (doh!): "Billable hour!" Whose account gets charged: The Confection and Ice Cream Frozen Dairy Dessert Association?

This is the best RFK parking lot map I could find: click for map

No one ever asks me an question and expects a rational answer. I think you should improvise at decision making time,and expect something wonderful to happen. Above all, do not give in to "great restaurant stress". I'm sure you will have an unbelievably good time.

DameEdna + 1, thank you.

I'm thinking of doing a dinner in homage to the Titanic - it sank April 14/15, 1912. Not going to do the full 1st Class dinner, which would be eleven courses! The original wine list is cryptic, but I have this: Claret Château Rouzan Segla, first quality Château Camponac, Medoc Hock - Rhine wine Rudesheim, still Moselle Josephshofer, still Burgundy Volnay Also, numerous varieties of champagne (don't have the names). I don't have vintages. Interestingly, there is some indication that some of the vintages were from exactly one hundred years ago. Any suggestions for wines that would represent these names? Thanks.