Pat

I like that too. Just bought some yesterday. The receipt says $13.99. It may have gone up recently. I don't buy it real often because it's always a short time until the use by date. It's wonderful cheese, though.

We went to a wedding reception there a few years ago. The food was better than I thought it would be. It's been too long ago for me to give any specifics, though. Sorry I can't be of any more help.

Corned beef sandwich and fries at Central. The fries were just the way I like them--perfectly crispy, just the right amount of salt. The bread on the sandwich seemed a little too soft, but I can't recall how it was the last time I had one. I love the cole slaw on the sandwich. I think I prefer it that way to eating it as a separate item.

Fajitas: Lime-Tequila marinated skirt steak Roasted Red and Yellow Pepper strips Salsa crudo Grilled corn tortillas

What about Kinkead's? More seafood-y than steak but seems to have the feeling you're looking for. It's not far from the Smithsonian and it's close to metro (even if it's not the right line and requires a transfer).

Thanks. I was thinking I'd go ahead with it anyway, though not today. I think it was the part where the article said it was mostly used for stir-fries that seemed to conflict with the other information. Then on the other other hand they talked about the bavette that's a flank steak .

YES. May is my favorite month in DC because of the gorgeous weather, and this is completely unacceptable .

Might I use a recipe for bavette (flap) steak to cook flank steak? From reading this article, I am unsure.

They used a different photo to accompany the recipe on their web site.

I hope he doesn't do this. It's a personal quirk, I guess, but I don't like prix fixe only menus or meals that go on and on all night. While it could benefit from changing a little more than it does, I like that the menu is reliably the same.

Appetizer: Homemade guacamole with Tostitos Meal: [crushed toasted hazelnuts over the whole plate] Blanched baby mustard greens with hot pepper sesame oil, topped with some grated Parmigiano Braised chicken thighs with mushrooms, garlic, red onion, and yellow bell pepper (started stovetop and finished in the oven) Risotto with pea shoots, topped with some grated Parmigiano

The plastic bag our (soaked) newspaper arrived in this morning advertised the Potomac Avenue (Capitol Hill) Harris Teeter opening on May 14th.

The new restaurant is gorgeous! The area for the bar and the private rooms upstairs is most appealing. We had a our seats in one of the tucked away side booths, which I really liked. (To my husband's annoyance, I also kept saying how much I loved the wallpaper next to us. I loved the wallpaper .) We also could see somewhat into the kitchen. I'd not tried the lobster salad before and started with that--very delicate and fresh. My husband had the porcupine, which was on the specials menu. (ETA: I'm not even sure the lobster salad was on the menu before. I can't remember.) For my main I got the scallops and mashed potatoes. That is the best dish I've eaten this year, bar none. The combination of flavors, the presentation on the plate, the mushrooms in the sauce...just everything. I was down to my last bites--half a scallop on half a disc of potatoes, with a couple of mushrooms alongside--and it looked just as beautiful on the plate as it did at the beginning. I was full, but I was not leaving that on my plate. Before my husband ordered the whole chicken for his main, our server was careful to draw attention to the amount of salt in it from brining. I thought that meant the whole thing would be salty, but the amount of saltiness was variable as he made his way through the bird. The bit I got was quite good and didn't seem particularly salty. We drank a half bottle of Sancerre that held up nicely to everything we ate. I'm very glad Corduroy is back.

I told my left-handed husband about the soup spoon comment, and he wasn't aware there were right-handed spoons. He'll be on alert . We'll be there tomorrow night too.

Breakfast for dinner Al Dente's stepmother's Oatmeal Pancakes with butter and maple syrup Bacon Fried eggs over easy Everything bagels, toasted, with cream cheese and smoked salmon The pancakes were great. (The butter is measured before melting, if anyone is planning to make these ). Urrp...I don't usually eat this much food at night. It was wonderful, though .

Last night was lamb curry (onions, red peppers, raisins, chicken broth, coconut milk) over brown rice. I had frozen two packets of cooked lamb slices a month or so ago, after roasting a boneless leg of lamb from Costco. There was just too much lamb left to finish it without eating it every day for a solid week. I wasn't sure how well the pieces would hold up through freezing and reheating, but it worked fine for this curry. I froze the more end pieces that were cooked medium to medium-well separately from the pieces that were medium rare, thinking I might be able to use the medium rare pieces in something without overcooking them too much. For a curry or stew it doesn't matter. I could also end up just making a curry with those too, since I know it works now.

Good. I was figuring other people would be bringing some, since 25 of each won't go too far . I was going to bring along what we had that's just taking up space, but figured I could buy some just for the picnic if there aren't enough. Sounds like that won't be necessary, though.

Guacamole sounds like a good use for the green. Thanks!

Tuscan potato salad (balsamic and olive dressing) Pierogies with smoked salmon String beans with French's friench fried onions The first two were recipes I found online. The flavor of the potato salad was good but the purple of the balsamic and olives in the dressing made it visually unappealing to me. That didn't bother my husband, though. I had smoked salmon I needed to use and mushroom pierogies in the freezer. I googled the two terms and found this recipe. I was a little apprehensive about the recipe, but it was delicious (and much more attractive than the potato salad). I didn't have basil, so I just used dill. Used whole milk instead of light cream. The recipe is definitely a keeper.

Egg salad with cornichons and celery on a toasted everything bagel

Thanks. I don't know if I've read the member agreement since I registered.

I remember that thread now. Does this mean the user agreement is now going to be modified?

I'm so glad the restaurant is open again, and I finally did get through to get a reservation. This makes me very happy .

I was going to make this point but couldn't think of any examples. It was just more of vague idea than any kind of statement I could back up. Thanks.

I've been thinking about this and don't really know what I think. I've got a few random thoughts, though. People who have to join to get the card will have to keep coming back or they won't know what the discounts are. If they're only coming here to get the discounts, the allure of that probably will wear off after a while. Instead of killing the social aspect entirely (which is a good point and could well be the case), it could reinvigorate the site with an infusion of new people who do have somewhat different interests than the majority of people posting here now. That could be a good thing. And maybe people who are here mostly for the discount offer part of the site will even start meeting up to use their virtual coupons together. It might be something about calling it a membership card (rather than a coupon generator or something) that's making me a little uncomfortable. I don't think there's any way for this not to create some kind of new stratification among the membership. And it will change the customer-business interaction, possibly in unintended ways. There are undoubtedly people now who throw the name of the site around to get things, though, and this would verify that they do in fact have an affiliation with the site and didn't just see the name in a google search for reviews. Finally, it's Don's site and one of the things that's always always appealed to me is his sense of his own vision. If this is what his vision says to do now, I'm going to trust that. With the economy in the condition it's in, this could be a very good time to implement a program like this--both for restaurateurs and customers and, I hope, for dr.com. It's a very thoughtful offer, to be sure. (I do have one question, and maybe I missed it in what I read. Is each person in a dining party going to have to have a card to get the discount, or is that something the businesses will have to decide? I had one of those entertainment books years ago but can't recall how that worked. Unfortunately, I recall having some problems trying to use coupons from that book...)