Mrs. B

The female corollary is the afrodisiac of the big man or the man with the big bank account.

So true

Did I miss it? Is there a central "theme" or taste-off yet?

Ah yes, the pumpkin.

I was wondering how successful people have been packing warm/hot things in their child's lunches. My daughter started kindergarten this year and we are going the packed lunch route. We got a nice kid's drink cup made by the good folks at Thermos which keeps her milk cold all day without needing an ice pack. I'm now looking at their line of food jars and wondering how practical it would be to put hot things in them other than just soup or chili. Specifically, Lily would love to have something like rice and meat or mac and cheese in her lunch.

We have packed spaghetti, chili, stews, red beans & rice in the food jars with sucess.

Usually nothing, congee (plain), Saltines . Nora and I both had upset stomachs last Saturday, better on Sunday.

I have the same question - is it cooked like corned beef then, actually in the water?

Cooking instructions from Dunn's a Montreal rival to Schwartz's says to cook over water "no part of meat should be submerged. " But I like xcanuck's suggestion about popping it into the oven.

Any thoughts on cutting it or do I need to cook it whole?

I assume you got this from Schwartz's in Montreal. If so, then "steam" it the way they do it in the Montreal delis - just fill a large lidded pot/pan with about an inch of hot water, put the brisket in there, and put the lid on. Put the whole thing in a 350F oven for a couple of hours. It'll be beautiful.

Schwartz's.....*sniff*...that's just beautiful. The jewel of The Main.

It's is indeed from Montreal and it is a thing of beauty that I really don't want to screw up. The meat can sit in the water, no need to elevate?

Congratulations! I'll be over right after work.

I have used one of those to steam pastrami, and it worked fine. I did need to add hot water from time to time.

Thanks Heather. See you soon.

Another question. Can I cut the whole brisket into thirds without running the risk of it drying out? They already made an initial cut at one end for people unfamiliar with the concept of cutting across the grain.

I have beautiful new addition to my life. A bouncing 5.5 lb smoked brisket (fatty) from Schwartz's. The directions say to steam like a vegetable for 2 hours or until a fork comes out without resistance. I pretty much understand that except I'm a little unclear about the "steam like a vegetable" part. What apparatus should I use? I don't generally (ever) steam vegetables but I do have a steamer thingy though this doesn't seem up to the 2 hour steaming task. Any hints or help greatly appreciated.

Nelly's, Solly's or Thirsty Bernie's?

This weekend's weather looks to be spectacular. If you can get away I highly recommend following Irving Streete's Advice regarding barbeque in southern Maryland. Also, L'il Margaret's Bluegrass Festival in Leonardtown is the real deal and is a true gem. If you go, try to camp over Saturday and visit the trailer campground after the show. That's where the real musical magic happens. Seriously, go.

I think Waitman got it exactly right. Time is the best editor. With the occasional exception of truly time-sensitive information, if something's not worth the effort of jotting down some notes, or emailing yourself, or leaving yourself a voice mail for later use, and then going back later to generate a coherent message, it's generally not worth bothering other people with.

There seems to be a big push towards a stream-of-consciousness world, where every thought must be shared instantly with everyone you know. Unless your name is James Joyce, I'd much rather hear a carefully considered opinion on a topic you've decided is worth your time and attention.

I agree with this 100%, people spout off enough even with this format and there's already a where did you dine thread to keep everyone up to date with your dining adventures without having to go into great detail.

I occasionally check out the tweets of a few bloggers I regularly read and the innanity/mundanity is amazing. Honestly it's stupefying. The thought of actually signing up to have this stuff delivered to my computer doorstep . Still as long as it doesn't get in my way here, go ahead twitter away. I'm crawling back under my rock now.

I have an officer of the law coming over on Sunday and would love to serve some doughnuts. I prefer the fried variety. Any favorite recipes, tips or tales?

I believe it's well estabilshed that I am a Luddite - still no cell phone. Nevertheless I must proclaim that the idea that something (anything!) would lead me to twitter someone/everyone (everyone - G-d forbid!) with my random thoughts is preposterous and makes me shudder with a strong feeling of un - ease. Why would I want to share my twitty thoughts with you? Why would you want to share yours with me?

GAH It's taking the thought out of thoughtful. :

It's clear that I don't "get it"

Why is it better to twit than to text, phone, e-mail or send an engraved invitation? Is it because you can share your feelings with a wider group at one time without effort. Is this really the future way of communicating? Is it a bit like placing a billboard on your own internet super highway? . Or just a mind dump to serve as a place holder till you can collect your thoughts for a coherent essay? I just don't want to see something I spewed/twittered come back to haunt me or someone else.

I'm going back under my rock now.

(seriously though for you that twit, I wouldn't mind hearing from you via PM if you think you can give me a reason to come out of the cave, and compel me to get a cell phone of my own)

Thanks for your consideration.

my big weakness is chocolate chip cookie dough - scarily enough i cannot stop eating it raw from the roll of slice and bake cookies - i used to live half a block away from 7-11 and much to my scale's demise I discovered the raw slice and bake cookies. I cant even have chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream - it serves as a trigger for my addiction.

Lolita

Welcome to our lair Lolita.

Stop with the dough, okay?

Maybe you could post a link. I can't seem to find any.

Oh honey, I'm sure you know where to look

No can do But I would like to encourage those that can to jump on this asap. RJ and his crew are doing some amazing stuff.

Walter Nicholls has a lovely article in the Escapes column of the Post's Style section on buying farm fresh food from the Amish in southern Maryland.

RIP Professor Pausch you really knew how to live.

I am currently seated in the Jurors' business center and am torn between 701, Cafe Atlantico and Oyamel. The Rasika concept has certain appeal as well. Thanks for all the great food for thought. I can't wait for lunch!

I just consumed one of the adorable miniature watermelons that Sunnyside had last week. Very juicy and sweet. The flesh was not in the least bit mushy. The seeds were annoying not so much because of the number but because they were very small and did not make a satisfying sound upon being spat into the sink .

Now that things have died down (yeah right ) would there be any wisdom/advice on the best time to appear to avoid the crunch and be able to eat on site?

At least for me this time they had really good blueberries and raspberries. Westmoreland has a good following because they do well word-of-mouth -- although I've not heard anything bad from the people that line up there, I've had 50-50 success rate there with their fruits. However, I think this popularity goes for Toigo, Atwater, Blue Ridge, [insert farm/stand here]. All the farms/stands can have hit-or-miss produce/stuff from my experiences there. I think that's why it's nice there's such a good variety and that you can choose the places that suit your needs.

The Westmoreland folks are really nice, don't get me wrong, I just would never wait in a line as long as theirs tends to get for 50/50 fruit (I agree with your ratio). I wouldn't wait that long for Toigo's either (luckily the line never gets any where near the craziness of W-land's). I have occasionally waited in line for tomatoes from Wheatland Satruday and two weeks ago at New Morning but only because it was the start of the season and I had to have a Cheerokee Purple fix. I also will wait in line for Atwater bread because it's pretty much 100% good and can sell out and there's not alot of other options.

I am also learning to spend more time at Penn Quarter (thanks Heather!) and my own local Mt Pleasant market where the lines are virtually non-existent except for Breadline but that comes and goes and they don't usually run out (although the stroller jam is not to be denied). There is no pleasure for me in going to the wall-to-wall people scene that I experienced at Courthouse and Dupont this weekend. And while I'm ranting, let me add that as mentioned before, the parking at 8:00 at Courthouse was a joke (except it wasn't all that funny) of seriously major league entitled a**holes cutting off people, scowling and acting just plain ugly. Totally put me in the mood to dis the line standers .

Line was super long at Westmoreland Berry Farm as usual, Bought blue- & raspberries at Westmoreland, but decided to buy peaches at Toigo instead -- excellent choice, as it tasted riper than the ones looked at Westmoreland.

The lemmings/sheep/incredibly patient people bother me. It makes me crazy to see people lined up for not top notch/mediocre produce. This really does seem to be herd mentality.

The necatrines at Quaker Vallery Sunday (Dupont/Saturday @ Mt. Pleasant) made me very happy today. The berries are not bad at Westmorland but not worth 30 minutes of my Saturday compared to other stands' berries (especially their strawberries). Kudos to Westmorland because they have such a devoted following to sweat it out for the not top notch berries & other fruits. Kudos to the other farmers that produce fruit more to my taste and to my lack of patience.

Would someone care to wax poetic about the wonders of scones? I've never had one that has been other than a virtually tasteless (except for fruit etc), crumbly (double yuck on the crumbly), mouth-drying hunk of over baked dough. This also describes my cornbread but I have actually tasted great cornbread made by others. Is there a locally (DC or Arlington) available scone that one can recommend that would be the epitome of sconiness that I could try in order to figure out if scones are just not my cup of tea? I would really like an excuse to consume more clotted cream and not-too-sweet jam.

So, a buddy of mine at the office is off to business school in Switzerland, and our copmpany of eight-to-ten wants to take him out. He's quite the foodie, and it would be nice to take him someplace excellent but which also respects the corporate bottom line. I've not been dining out much lately, so I'm wondering if there's something I'm should know of but don't. Think Tabard Inn -- although the Tabard has been immensly mediocre my last three visits -- or Cork, if Cork could seat ten people at 7PM. Proximity to Dupont Circle appreciated but not demanded. Oh, mid-priced but well-selected wine list a plus.

Blue Duck Tavern?