Pat

Brunch today at Café des Artistes at the Corcoran. It had been quite a while since I'd been there. We were in line promptly at 10:30, when it opened, and quite a number of people arrived right about the same time. I'm not a fan of buffets and probably should have gotten the sandwich on the a la carte menu that appealed to me rather than the buffet. Despite the fact that we were there right at the beginning, most of the food on the buffet was cold or coolish. The warmest foods were just warm. My friend, however, loved the brunch buffet and went back for several refills, including a trip to the waffle station. She got a big Belgian waffle with all (or most) of the trimmings. Buffet included mini buttermilk biscuits (warm, pretty good), bread assortment (raisin bread slice--ok, very cold), fruit (probably the best value--lots of good berries), cheese and something souffle (good according to my friend, and warm), scrambled eggs with bits of veggies (pretty good, and sort of warm), potatoes with peppers and maybe onions? (ok), cheese grits (thin and not too flavorful), and sausage and bacon (buffet-like). Service was good and the coffee was fine. Tab was $38-something pre-tip. A receipt from the brunch gets you $2 off the admission price for the special exhibition (The American Evolution: A History Through Art). We enjoyed that and the exhibition on California, which closes the 14th.

Salad of baby arugula and baby romaine, with tomatoes, cucumber, mushrooms, and radishes; creamy buttermilk chive dressing Baked chicken breast (lemon juice, salt and pepper) Green beans with caramelized shallots and Meyer lemon-shallot vinaigrette Buttered medium egg noodles with grated Romano Onion rye bread with butter or soy spread

Thanks Dean. I'll try making this tomorrow. I'm going to use green cabbage, though, as I have quite a bit of it left that I need to use.

She's back, after her winter hiatus from the market . I bought some cilantro and baby arugula this morning.

The Spice House has kosher @3 lbs. for $2.99..Penzeys packages are smaller and relatively more expensive. (I'm kind of brain dead this morning, since I quoted you and still didn't notice you said that you didn't want to buy a bunch of 3 lb. boxes .)

A question I saw raised elsewhere got me to thinking: Have people here harvested their own pine nuts? It looks to be a pretty labor-intensive process.

Does anyone know when this store is going to open? I walked by a few days before the end of March and there were still permits plastered all over the windows. It was hard to tell how close to opening it was. I gather it didn't make the opening in late March target date. The website hasn't been updated with opening information either.

The experiment: I made an enormous roasted stuffed eggplant (split in two) and topped it with meatballs, spaghetti sauce, and provolone, then put it back in the oven to heat through. The eggplant shells are filled with roasted eggplant, basmati rice, tomatoes, parsley, thai basil, and some of the cooked meat mixture from the meatballs, all topped with toasted pine nuts. The meatballs are pork/veal/beef, parsley, Thai basil, garlic, onion, egg, bread soaked in milk, salt and pepper, fried in olive oil. (There are 3 meatballs down the center of each shell, so the stuffing isn't totally covered. There's a stripe of spaghetti sauce over the meatballs, then one large slice of provolone over the top of each eggplant shell.) OK, it's good. It's like an overstuffed eggplant meatball sub.

Last night: Beef vegetable soup Leftover chilaquile casserole Baked yam with butter and maple syrup Baguette and brie (Trader Joe's brie--big hunk--less than 3 bucks) I'm planning an experiment for tonight. We'll see how that goes .

Curried chicken salad with raisins and marcona almonds, leftover from yesterday's lunch

Butter lettuce salad with campari tomatoes, alphonso olives, artichoke hearts and vinaigrette Baked macaroni* and ham and cheese with cracker barrel cheddar and borough market stilton Costco dinner rolls and butter *actually cavatappi

I posted about this in the What Are You Eating Right Now thread, but I might as well crosspost it here. I recently stumbled upon an excellent pizza place called Gaetano's on the edge of the city (Delaware County, Clifton Heights). When I wrote the original post, I had just finished off the last of the pizza, which I hauled all the way back to DC, since I hadn't eaten the whole pizza and didn't want to throw any out.

I just finished a couple of slices of mushroom and pepperoni pizza I brought back from Pennsylvania. I forgot how much good pizza is to be had in the area in and around Philadelphia. Not the very best pizza you could ever eat--and not artisan gourmet pizza--but walking into a pizza shop off the street and walking out with a tasty pie kind of pizza. Capitol Hill just does not have that. When I first got the pizza yesterday afternoon, it was a little too soggy but quite satisfying. After a night in the fridge, it made perfect cold pizza for breakfast, lunch, and now dinner. One pie: $15 and change=4 meals. Not a bad deal. I have to say, I think I actually prefer leftover cold pizza to pizza to steaming hot. I just walked into this place [Gaetano's, 210 S. Springfield Rd., Clifton Heights] because I was nearby and hungry, but it turns out it gets some pretty rave reviews, at least here and here and on Chowhound. From my research, I learned that I should ask for my pizza a little well done (that probably would have helped with the slight sogginess) and that having the cheese under the sauce (where I was at first having trouble determining if there was cheese on it) is their trademark. A nice touch when I picked up the pie was that the woman behind the counter lifted the lid on the box so I could see that it was what I had ordered.

Corned beef hash with fried eggs Mini BLT's

Many years ago, this is how I used to make eggplant parmesan (except I sliced it an inch or so thick and parboiled it). I didn't use any kind of recipe to make it, but it always came out really well. I remember I had neighbors who liked it when I made this. Once I started consulting recipes, I changed the way I did it, and I don't know if I even remember my original method any more.I love stuffed eggplant. I'll have to come back to your description next time I make it.

marinated asparagus baked chicken thighs chilaquile casserole remainder of brioche from yesterday (aka bunny butt)

Butter lettuce with hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, cucumber, and Emmental cheese, with blood orange-balsamic vinaigrette Bunny bread (bunny shaped brioche from Marvelous Market) and butter Ham studded with cloves and drizzled with honey, served with crushed pineapple Scalloped potatoes Steamed broccoli with butter

beef vegetable barley soup spinach lasagna baguette

Chilled asparagus salad strawberries; balsamic blood orange vinagrette; toasted sesame seeds Marinated antipasto subs provolone; cheddar; proscuitto; salami, soppressata; tapenade; pepperoncini; pickles The dressing for the subs is a little of the same used for the salad, plus some dried oregano, basil, and thyme.

Corn tortilla sandwich (a quesadilla, I guess, except I ate it like a sandwich instead of cutting it into wedges). Filled with chipotle black beans, cheddar cheese, and served with sour cream. Hit the spot perfectly.

. The real Cheez Whiz caught my attention too. Can't be using the fake Whiz. I'm not sure if Whiz has hallucinogenic properties, but we can imagine.There are several of those restaurants in that area of PA, along where the trolley lines used to be. I don't know if they all have the same ownership or are independently owned. The menus seem to vary store to store. The one in my home town is not as good as this one, so I'll cut them slack on the goofy menu descriptions. To take this back to dinner relevance, the meal in question was a week ago and I had a turkey club and bacon-cheese fries. (It was a $2 charge to sub a half order of the cheese fries app for the fries that come with a sandwich.) It was a filling meal, and the remaining half sandwich made a good breakfast the next morning.

Mesclun* with campari tomatoes, mozzarella strings, and shiitake sesame vinaigrette Rice pilaf with fresh English peas Baked chicken thighs *When I was in PA last week and took my aunt to dinner at our usual spot near her apartment, I did a double take when I saw Sesame Chicken and Mescaline Greens on the menu. The description, to be sure, said "Mescaline greens with crispy fried noodles and walnuts topped with our spicy plum and sesame glazed fried chicken." [$9.95] I thought there might be an odd menu thread around here somewhere but I couldn't find it. So that specimen is posted here for your enjoyment. .pdf of the menu with said salad here: http://www.caseysdh.com/menu_index.asp

Grilled corned beef on rye with cabbage and provolone (1000 Island on mine; husband doesn't like it) Black bean soup with chipotle (from a TJ package I've never tried before)

Last night: Corned Beef and Cabbage Tonight: Leftover pork shoulder with couscous, doctored up with some organic chicken broth and a dried chipotle from Whole Foods (previously rehydrated and stored in the fridge). Pita bread Guacamole and chips

I've heard about this place but haven't ventured down there. I usually only go to that part of the neighborhood to vote, and it may not have been open yet on primary day. I don't recall seeing it on election day, in any case.