Pat

I got a softshell crab appetizer at Bis a couple of weeks ago. It's not terribly cheap (though cheaper than a main) but is on Metro.

Tuna salad on a potato roll with a slice of provolone

Breakfast for dinner last night: bacon, scrambled eggs, home fries, and raisin toast.

Lamb merguez sausages with spicy chickpeas Couscous Roasted garlic bread (Costco) I had only bought a couple of the lamb sausages and wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. I supplemented them with two chicken andouille sausages in lamb casings and made a half recipe (more or less). It came out pretty well. I made my own spice mixture from a version I found online. I didn't have preserved lemons, so I used the zest of one fresh lemon.

Search for a salt-rising bread. That should work.

I would imagine that they took you to that table because they had the seating for the evening pre-set and that was your table. It would have been nice for someone to realize you were having a problem and call an audible and change that, but I doubt they were being malicious. Maybe that does need to be part of their training. I haven't been there in a while, but I've always found the service quite warm and friendly. I'm sorry that lowered your opinion of the restaurant.

The recommended restaurants are boldfaced. It's the equivalent of a giving a restaurant stars. He doesn't do it for many places.

Ah, thank you! Melted chocolate sounds like a good plan.ETA: It worked out. I scraped off the most burned parts, leaving a white oval in the center of the cake. Since it was supposed to be served with raspberries and blueberries alongside, I scattered them on the cleared area, with a few out to the edges. Then I drizzled semisweet chocolate over the whole thing. It looked like it was supposed to be that way, and the berries were wonderful with chocolate on them . Thanks again, Porcupine, for the chocolate idea. You gave me the courage to scrape the burned part off. I really was afraid I'd ruin it if I did that.

I made this s'mores cheesecake for something later today. I have several gripes about the recipe, but it did appear that it would work out until I hit the last step. I went to run the marshmallow frosting under the broiler. It said to watch carefully so it didn't burn, about 2 minutes--and to put at least 4 inches from the heat source. I had it closer to 10-12 inches and didn't preheat the broiler fully. At just over 1 minute I smelled it burning . I started working on this 24 hours ago and don't have time to make anything else. There is a pretty swirled pattern on the top, that is supposed to be light shades of brown. Some of it is...and some of it is black. How do I rescue this? I thought about making another batch of frosting and scraping the old off, but it has to be thoroughly chilled before serving, and I'm barely going to make that requirement as it is. I'm also afraid if I scrape it off, I'm going to cause more damage than by leaving it alone. The only thing that makes me think I can take this with burn marks on the top is that it's a s'mores cake, and the top looks in places like what happens when you get your marshmallow too close to the campfire . My inclination is to take with the burned top, get a funny story out of it, and scrape the most burned parts off when we go to eat it. Cutting into it will break up the area that is most burned. Help?

Spiced almonds and peanuts Potato and cheese pirogies with cubed salami, sauteed finely chopped button mushrooms, and pea shoots I plated the pirogies over a nest of sauteed julienned orange bell pepper and vidalia onion, and then added the salami, mushrooms, and pea shoots. I topped the whole thing with a little grated Parmigiano and used a few of the flowering vines with tiny pods as an edible garnish.

Cantaloupe wrapped in proscuitto Chicken andouille sausage "hot dogs" with fried peppers and onions plus edam cheese, on toasted potato rolls I was pleased to find that Costco has Sausages by Amy chicken andouille sausage again. They're the best chicken sausages I've ever found but are prohibitively expensive to order online. The brand name has changed to Sausages by Amylu, but it's the same company and product.

A meal of two appetizers last night at Bis: Belgian endive salad and soft shell crab.

I'm pretty well stunned.

Spaghetti and meat sauce with mushrooms, made with half whole wheat and half regular pasta. Topped with Parmigiano. Onion rolls with butter.

This recipe says to start at 450, and then reduce to 200 degrees. This one says the same thing. With your sugar rub, I would go with the one that cooks it at the higher temperature for a short time.

I have Armenian recipes for something like this. My MIL's uses cottage cheese, but I have one from a cookbook using feta. Does the recipe use eggs?

Thank you. The splitting 3 eggs in half was the original suggestion too, so I guess that's the best bet.

I need to make a couple of dozen cupcakes for a bridal shower next week, and I wanted to make 2 kinds. NCPinDC's chocolate strawberry version will be excellent, but I'd like to make more than 8. I'm thinking of doubling that one and making half of these lemon cupcakes. I'm glad I came back and checked here, because I wanted to make lemon cupcakes and hadn't found a recipe yet . I'm wondering if maybe 2 medium eggs would work for half of 3 large?

I think it says something about using tongs to shake the bowl over the heat source. I guess you have to wait to eat the popcorn. (I'm really not sure of the practical advantage of a bowl on the stove vs. a pan.)

I do mine in a saucepan too, but then I put it into a bowl. Maybe he's trying to eliminate an extra step by popping it in the bowl you eat the popcorn from.

I've been making antipasto platters the past couple of nights, and that's been working well. Salad is one of the components

Salads

What about Brasserie Beck? That's more a beer than wine place, though. They show availability on opentable for Thursday night.

Thanks for the tips. The microwave paper bag version is here and stovetop bowl method is here.

Chicken enchiladas Refried black beans Corn and radish salad