Pat

Pizza usually holds up. Most soups. Other things vary a lot. I'd rather do carryout than delivery in many cases because I at least know roughly how long the food will be in transit and can plan for that. And I have control over the actual food. One pandemic era scene I will not forgot (and I don't think I've gotten delivery since, but I wasn't getting much anyway, except groceries) was a weekday afternoon at The Roost. I had stopped in the restroom and there were two women in there, one of whom was kind of babbling, like maybe she was high on something. She had an older woman with her. They were fussing around with something but I didn't see quite what. I ran into them again outside, as the younger woman was doing something with a food container she was carrying and had set down. The other woman was advising her on how to rearrange the food inside so no one would know what was missing. Yeah. I'll edit this to make it sort of consistent with what Don asks in the subject. I live within reasonable walking distance of at least 4 places I can get pizza, which is my most frequent carryout. I'm talking within a mile-ish. Those 4 would be Slice Joint, Paccis, Della Barba, and Tunnicliffs. (There's also the pinsa place on 7th, which I have still not tried; not talking about chains, including Spike's WTP.) My favorite by far is Slice Joint, but it is expensive. I tend to get the largest pizza, though. I often get just cheese or maybe one topping, and we're looking at $30 for a pizza. It's worth it, but it's the longest walk and I don't do it real often. Their service is spectacular. That's a damn lot of money for a pizza. Della Barba's pizzas are much smaller. Service can be weird. Depending on the type of pizza and maybe an extra topping or two, we're looking mid-20s and up. It's convenient, if they're actually open. I've only gotten one pizza at Pacci's. It's neopolitan style but was way too wet even for that. Service was, eh. I want to support them more than I am. I recall that being medium sized and low-20s. Tunnicliffs pizza is good bar pizza. It's 4th of 4 here. I will get mushroom and pepperoni or just margherita. It comes in under $20. (Their breakfast pizza is quite good, but I don't order that to take out.) What I realize writing this is that Paccis is the loser, not because of anything bad about them but because of the combination of factors that come into play. They're not the cheapest and not the best, and their direct competition (Della Barba) has multiple styles of pizza.

Yesterday seemed very much like a soup day, so I made a coconut curry red lentil stew. I simplified it even further by throwing the ginger (which was only sort of peeled) and garlic into the food processor after roughly processing the other veggies and then cooking them all together from the beginning. I used avocado oil for that and a splash of shoyu at the end with the lime rather rather than fish sauce. I tinkered with the liquids a little bit, using the last part of a previously opened can of coconut milk + a new one; a quart of vegetable stock + the remainder of an opened can of low-sodium chicken broth; most of a 24 oz. jar of passata (could not find any crushed tomatoes in the pantry, but I swear I have some!); and a little plain water near the end to thin out the texture just a bit. It was getting a little thick even for stew. This was excellent and perfect for a blustery rainy day. The rest of the meal was leftover salad and toasts made from the last of the striata.

Last night was chicken piccata over spaghetti, striata baguette, and a big salad.

I ate at Famous Luigi's once, with a friend and a bunch of her friends from GW. It seemed like the kind of place you just had to go to.

Sietsema recommends Unconventional Diner a whole lot.

Well, it's a new year, so maybe we could try again. I hope you're feeling better! I'm probably not the best person to plan something but we could do Alexandria and we could do Capitol Hill. If we can get 5 or 6, let's do it.

Last night I made steak and cheese sandwiches on striata baguette pieces. I should have just had us split one, because each of us only ate half. They should reheat well enough wrapped in foil, though. A couple days before, I had come across a couple frozen delmonico steaks I bought in the early months of the pandemic via South Mountain Creamery delivery and decided to put them in the refrigerator to thaw. When I buy steaks or chops from them, they tend to be very thin. I always forget this. I find it hard to cook these when they're so thin and get them to turn out right. These were a scant 1/2" thick, so I thought they'd be good in sandwiches. I cooked them sous vide, rested briefly, and then seared in a cast iron skillet. I composed the sandwiches with steak, sliced room temperature camembert, caramelized red onions, and sauteed cremini mushrooms. I added a little sriracha mayo to mine. I wished I had thought to get peppers, but, oh well. I set them back in the skillet briefly in a very hot oven to get the cheese meltier. The oven was hot from heating tater tots (topped with shredded Mexican cheese blend from an open bag I need to finish). There was also a salad of baby spinach, chopped endive spears, cremini mushrooms, radishes, and some crumbled feta. That's 3-for-3 on the cheese. Maybe I should be scaling the cheese back a bit

Last night I cooked the last of the black-eyed peas I had soaked* and added them to a skillet in which I had sauteed garlic and thinly sliced cabbage, seasoned with yellow mustard seeds, kosher salt, and pepper. I heated it all together for a while with a couple teaspoons of TJ's spicy honey sauce. The hot honey seemed like a good counterpoint to the cabbage, which isn't my husband's favorite flavor. We had this with pita from Yellow and salad. The base was a bagged organic herb salad from TJ's, with added tomato, cucumber, avocado, radishes, and hard boiled eggs. *The peas I used were from Rancho Gordo, which often don't even need soaking, but these had somehow been kicking around in the bean supply tub for almost 4 years. Since I'd soaked a whole pound, I used them for three different dishes. The first two were the Samuelsson recipe and an old black-eyed pea dip from Bon Appetit that doesn't appear to be anywhere online. Reader submission, maybe? We had it with tortilla chips and random leftovers Tuesday night. Can post if anyone wants it.

Last night was pan-seared and roasted pork tenderloin; sauteed kale; leftover rice; and, Marcus Samuelsson's black-eyed pea recipe from The Soul of a New Cuisine. I love the recipe and often make it for New Year's. It's a delicious and bright spicy African-inspired stew. In his headnotes for the recipe he refers to West Africa and specifically Ghana, but his further description makes this sound more like an "inspired by" than a specific dish from a specific place. When I showed the recipe to a friend whose mother's family originated in East Africa, in Tanzania, she said that her mother makes a recipe very similar to this. This is from his website and is a variation on the recipe in the book, only slightly different.

Last night was a grazing dinner: assorted breads, crackers, nuts, and olives; cheese sticks; camembert; prosciutto; tuna pâté; shrimp and cocktail sauce; and the last of the kielbasa with mustard. I came across the pate in one of my old recipe files and remembered it as being wonderful. It is. It includes butter to keep it from getting too dry, and I know I don't use the whole amount, but I couldn't remember how much I typically use. I added about 4 Tbsp., and I think I'd go lighter even than that next time. It is rich, delicious, and wonderful for a celebration. The recipe is originally from Fine Cooking #42. The publication seems no longer to exist, but there is this archive of the issue online. These are the ingredients: 6 large sprigs fresh rosemary 2 tsp. olive oil 8 oz. very fresh tuna 6 oz. (12 Tbs.) unsalted butter, at room temperature 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Crostini or crackers, for serving. Heat the rosemary in the oil until fragrant, then lay the tuna on top of the rosemary and cook about 5 minutes, until still pink. Let the tuna cool some. Discard rosemary. The cooled tuna goes in a food processor with the butter, lemon, salt, and pepper. Pack into a ramekin and refrigerate until set. We still have plenty left to have with a meal today. I think I may add some capers and/or cornichons.

I had no idea what to make for dinner last night. I looked at ingredients I had that needed using and decided on a beet salad, smashed yukon gold potatoes with sour cream and dill, and turkey kielbasa. For the salad I roasted 3 golden beets, a poblano, and 2 jalapenos. I peeled the peppers, chopped the flesh, and mixed with a little chopped cilantro and scallion. This didn't yield a lot of pepper, but what there was, was fairly hot. I then made a quick bit of vinaigrette with evoo, white wine vinegar, s + p, and a few squeezes of lime juice. I sliced the beets and plated them, topped each plate with a bit of the pepper mixture, and drizzled on vinaigrette. I crumbled some feta on top, scattered chopped avocado and cilantro around the plate and squeezed on a little more lime. It was a bit of an odd salad but pretty good. It went well with kielbasa and potatoes.

Last night was leftovers combined with the contents of a Spicy Mushroom Miso Bowl from Foxtrot. I sauteed the last of the cremini mushrooms I had on hand and added the last of the roasted carrots and squash to the skillet, plus some previously cooked Asian pear slices. In a separate pan, I cooked up thin slices of a leftover cooked pork chop and added the contents of the miso bowl to cook everything through. I didn't mix the two groupings together exactly, just plated them side by side, topped with miscellaneous fresh green herbs I had on hand (mostly parsley). I've been buying a fair amount of Foxtrot's prepared foods in the last few months. They're usually pretty good quality, if a bit on the spendy side.

Christmas Dinner: Porterhouse Steak Creamed Spinach and Wild Rice Casserole Buttered Green Beans Where's Linus Rose 2021 The casserole was something originally intended for Sunday, but I didn't really have the energy. It's not especially complex, but it has a bunch of steps and ingredients to prep. It also required making the wild rice, since I had none pre-cooked. Yesterday I mustered the energy for the casserole and then realized I couldn't both make that in the oven and reverse sear a steak; completely different oven temperatures. So I sous vided the beef in my InstantPot before searing. I don't like the sous vide function on the IP as much as the stand alone (but hugely bulky) sous vide machine I have stored away. It worked out all right, though. My husband really loved the casserole. I don't know how much we even have leftover. He ate at least three servings .

That's an enticing menu. The cheddar shortbread jumps out at me. Maybe for New Year's. Last night I made nothing I had first planned. Instead I made the David Tanis romanesco recipe again, and this time I used truffle burrata instead of plain fresh mozzarella. It generated a little extra liquid that way. Eventually I'll use the cheese he calls for! We had this with more scalded rye bread and the pork chops with apple butter I keep making. This time I used Asian pear instead of apples with the pork. This variation also worked well. Tonight's dinner will involve beef. The rest TBD.

Of late, I keep making elaborate meal plans and then don't follow through; however, I actually made two of the three items I had scheduled for last night when I started drawing up holiday menus a couple months ago. The fish and rice were the planned ones: Scalded Rye Bread (Atwater's) and butter Baked Fish With Pomegranate Sauce Saffron Rice and Golden Raisin Pilaf Steamed Purple Broccoli The fish was from a recipe Joan Nathan adapted for the NYT. Gift link. I used cod, which was half the price of halibut. It worked fine. There's a lot left. I probably should have halved the recipe, which occurred to me after I bought 2 lbs. of fish 🙃. The rice I served with it is from the Mayo Clinic - Williams Sonoma Cookbook. I used chicken broth instead of vegetable. Someone put the recipe up online here. I used to make a fair amount from that cookbook years ago. I should leaf through it again for inspiration. The recipes are generally pretty solid, IIRC. Tonight might include one item I originally planned. We'll see. It's that or zero...

Went to Han Palace on Barracks Row for lunch today. The Soup Dumplings were excellent. I had a little bit of the 1/4 Roasted Duck my friend ordered from the Hong Kong Style portion of the menu and a couple of her Pork Dumplings. So very good. She also had some Shrimp Dumplings, which were her least favorite. I didn't try any, but it sounded like the filling was more of a paste than having the discrete pieces of shrimp she prefers. All of the dumplings were from the Dim Sum section of the regular menu. She loves dim sum and knows more about Chinese food than I do, and she also thought the Soup Dumplings were the best thing we had. I also ordered the Spicy & Sour Cucumber, which I loved. I wanted a vegetable 🤷‍♀️. This dish was great on its own but also for cutting through the fat of other items. I could not stop eating these. Those soup dumplings🥰...

I've been making some pretty random meals lately. I roasted some butternut squash and baby (precut) carrots with evoo and lots of black pepper to go with leftovers the other day and then topped with minced green herbs for serving. That combination of vegetables was a good one, and I will do it again. I had about half a bag of the carrots from TJ that I occasionally keep around to snack on...and then let the remainder languish 😑. This was a good way to use them so they didn't hit the "toss" stage. Since they are pre-prepped, they have a shorter shelf (well, refrigerator) life than regular carrots. Last night I made a the harissa and persimmon chicken dish again (highly recommend while persimmons are in season). Served with a green salad and pita from Yellow.

I hadn't seen this article before. As I was reading and before I got to the part where Clyde's management explained it, I thought, well they can remove a temporary fee, but menu prices going down is far more unlikely. Bingo. I've paid this fee there and it's not really affected the tip I leave. It's the inconsistency of them everywhere that's a nuisance and presumably is why the AG demanded they give detailed explanations about what everything is for and where it goes. They seem to have done that, though the fact it's sort of going to a general pot for rising operating costs might not make for the strongest case in court. This whole territory is still so unsettled it's hard to know what to think. That's why it was interesting when I was out with a group recently and there was a collective sheesh reaction to the 20% service fee, but it was really the already customary autograt for a large group, done to ensure the server gets properly tipped. (We were a party of 7 with separate checks, so it was as applicable in 2023 as it would have been years ago.)

I had two unopened bags of tortilla chips that were largely broken and past their date. I'd bought a few bags because I was out and they were on sale, only to discover that these are a thicker corn chip than I usually gravitate to for tortilla chips. (Fritos are a different matter ☺️.) The last ones have been sitting in the pantry, unopened, and I decided to use them...in something. So, I made chicken tortilla soup, not particularly following any recipe and using boxed broth and shredded rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods. I started with sauteed onion, carrot, celery, and garlic, and added chopped poblano and jalapeno peppers and a can of diced tomatoes in addition to the broth. For spices, there were some dried hatch chile flakes, chipotle powder, garlic powder, and cumin. I put crushed tortilla chips on the bottom of the soup bowls, ladled in soup, and topped with mild cheddar, chopped avocado, and cilantro. I served sour cream and (more or less) unbroken chips for dipping. I put out the remnants of some cheesy corn bread too, but that was kind of redundant because I also made sandwiches (roasted deli turkey, American cheese, and watercress). So, a long and winding road to soup and sandwiches for dinner.

I've made a couple tried and true recipes again lately, one new one, and am continuing to tinker with my turkey meatball technique. I've done a lot of variations on the meatballs, all kind of improvised, and I should really write those down. I find that using harissa in the mixture (I prefer Cava's) adds a nice amount of moisture as well as some bright, blandness-counteracting flavor. The last batch of meatballs I made went into pita (from Yellow) to make sandwiches, with sheep's yogurt and sauteed red onion, garlic, and poblano pepper. The new to me recipe was from David Tanis at the NYT: Baked Romanesco Broccoli With Mozzarella and Olives. Gift link. I had to change some things around because I only had one romanesco. I also had to make substitutions. I thought I had fresh mozzarella but I didn't, so I used low-moisture part skim. Ditto for the black oil-cured olives. Instead I used pitted castelvetrano olives I had on hand from the Whole Foods Mediterranean bar. They looked wonderful with the colors of the casserole. I would use them again. This came out really well and was beautiful. One of the recipes I made again after not making it for quite a while is from Joy Wilson aka Joy the Baker, for a chicken and pasta dish. I've posted the link here before. For the pasta I use pipe rigate, which I can find at Whole Foods. I used shiitakes this time for the dried mushrooms, because I had them. I always forget how long it takes to make this and dinner is invariably late. We love this dish, though, and it's great for generating leftovers. Finally, a pork tenderloin recipe. This one is so old, it's not formatted on the Post site, so I've pasted it in below. (When they were looking for recipes people liked to include in the official cookbook, back in the Bonnie Benwick era, I submitted this one, but it didn't make the cut. Perhaps that's because it was straight from the source and not an adaptation, it occurs to me now.) https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/1996/07/24/on-the-fridge/a853cf23-34b0-4a9b-b0e2-bb639f80667f/ JIM'S GARLIC-SHALLOT MARINATED PORK TENDERLOIN 3 tablespoons soy sauce 3 tablespoons sugar 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) sour-mash bourbon or dark rum 1 teaspoon salt 4 to 5 cloves garlic, smashed or chopped 2 to 3 tablespoons minced shallots 1 tablespoon grated gingerroot 1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce, sugar, bourbon, salt, garlic, shallots and ginger. Place the marinade and the pork tenderloin in a zip-seal plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. When ready to cook, remove the meat from the marinade and drain for 20 to 30 minutes. Discard the marinade. Cook on a preheated grill or under a preheated broiler element, turning occasionally, about 25 minutes or until the meat is done. Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 227 calories, 37 grams protein, 6 grams fat, 1 gram carbohydrates, 89 milligrams cholesterol, 284 milligrams sodium, 23 percent calories from fat. NOTE: As is the custom, the same recipe or recipes are used to promote a cookbook in every venue that publishes a review or sampling of the book, so I've seen copies of this from all over from the same period. I have a note on one of my print copies from another newspaper a reminder not to leave the pork in the marinade too long because the bourbon flavor will be way too strong in the final product. Since that instance, I typically put the pork in the marinade first thing in the morning, rather than having it go closer to 24 hours.

I had lunch here with friends on Friday. My only objection is to the names of many of the menu items. I don't like it at Denny's and don't like it at cutting edge places like this. Small complaint but that's mine. I ordered the Deviled egg salad sandwich (which has some punny name), and it was excellent. I also got fries that came with a nice black pepper aioli. I think I might give the edge to the Immigrant Food fries I had a couple days before, but these were crispy and good. Friends got custard eggs (with caviar), toast with truffle butter, and panzanella salad. Someone ordered the chocolate pots de creme and we all sampled it. Very good. Since I'm not terribly fond of Ted's Bulletin, I'm very happy to have this place in the neighborhood. (BTW, Pacci's on Lincoln Park started to serve breakfast a while ago, but I haven't tried it.)

I went here for lunch last weekend with my husband and some friends after visiting the Museum of Failure in Georgetown. (The traveling exhibition closes this coming weekend.) Two of the group had been there before and wanted to relive the holiday experience. Very, very over the top but fun. It paired well with the museum. Filomena is very expensive for what you get, but the portions are large and it is an experience. Everyone working there was great. They seated us early when we arrived before our reservation. The Caesar salad is not terribly authentic but is filling and satisfying. I thought the meatballs in Sunday sauce (on the antipasti menu) were very good. Three of the party split a salad, a pasta course, and a bottle of wine, and it was the right amount for them (one light eater). My husband and I split the Caesar and he had a filet cheesesteak while I had the meatballs. It's quite a show at Christmastime. Reserve now if you want to experience it.

I went here with a group this week for lunch after visiting the National Museum of Women in the Arts. We were a fairly large group and arrived early for our reservation. Everything was handled well. We all enjoyed our food. People were grumbling some about the service charge but later it occurred to me it was the standard auto-grat for a large party. There's also a 5% wellness charge. There are so many of these charges now that when the older ones get mixed in, it's even more confusing. Our server was great. We got an assortment of bowls and salads and gumbo. Everyone was satisfied. Only downside: it was very loud.

I posted without really planning anything in my head, so I had nothing particular in mind. Vaguely, I was thinking of a late afternoon happy hourish thing accompanied by or followed by some sort of food. I thought I'd see what people wanted to do and gauge how how many people wanted to meet up and where would be convenient. Josephine looks interesting, and it's part of Neighborhood Restaurant Group. NRG was really a stalwart for us during the pandemic, so I'm happy to continue to support them. The main thing seems to be accessibility for people who might want to attend. Josephine is probably fairly close to King Street metro, which is a plus. Their minimum for a private party is 12. Another thing that occurs to me is maybe arranging something at NRG's food hall, The Roost. It's opposite Potomac Avenue metro. Their minimum for a private event is 20 people, a number we could hit easily back in the day but could have trouble with now. It can also be loud. They have a variety of food and drink, though, which could be fun for a group. It's not necessary to reserve a special space if there aren't many of us and we can just work it out with we've got. As time goes by, reserving is going to get more difficult with the holidays. (Should have thought this through!) I'm not sure if adding a poll to this does much good, but getting any kind of a number for people will narrow things down, so I might do that.

I wish there were a Wow! emoticon for this one. It sounds so amazing. The dessert! As awesome as everything sounds, those peppers, which were probably the easiest part, just sound great.