Pat

Happy birthday to Ian! We also had corn on the cob. It was leftover from last summer. This had been frozen after being parcooked and buttered. It wasn't reheating so well so I pan grilled it on top of the stove with extra butter and parmesan, which really perked it up.The rest of the meal was also leftovers, a sampler that came out surprisingly well: Two breaded goat cheese disks reheated and served over salad greens with vinaigrette; a braised beef short rib; and a fishcake made from cod mixed with mayo, breadcrumbs, onion powder, pepper, and hot sauce. We also had a defrosted loaf of multigrain bread and butter. I had planned only to have corn and bread, but I kept stealing bites of my husband's food. The short rib and cod cake were really good, if I do say so myself.

I made fennel that way recently--braised, then finished under the broiler with Parmesan. It was excellent.I like this leek and sausage pie recipe but haven't made it recently.

Thanks for the link. I hadn't seen that article. I was interested to see Luigino mentioned. I used to like to go there but haven't been in quite a while. I always found it odd that no else I talked to seemed to have heard of the place. The fettucine with porcini described in that article sounds really good. I wonder if they still have it.

I have a question about a recipe in The Babbo Cookbook and wasn't sure where the best place was to post it. I made the Roasted Beet Farrotto the other night, and it was quite good. There was one puzzling step in the directions, and I'm not sure if it's an error or I'm completely missing something. I'm wondering if anyone else here has made the recipe or has an answer as to why this instruction is given. When he describes the procedure for boiling the farro, the sentence reads: "Set up an ice bath nearby, and cook the farro in the boiling water until tender yet not completely cooked, about 20 minutes." The next step is to drain the farro and put in a pan with chicken stock to finish cooking. What's the ice bath for? He never mentions it again. It's not to shock the farro so it will stop cooking when you take it out of the water (is it? and that would just make a mess), since you're cooking the farro further right after that. The only other thing I could think of was that maybe it was for the beets, the preparation of which is described in the previous paragraph. That doesn't fit either, though, since those instructions say to wait until the beets are cool enough to handle before peeling. It doesn't like sound they're going into an ice bath either. I just skipped that step, but I'm still wondering. I'm glad I was paying attention, but it's hardly of catastrophic importance. It wouldn't have wrecked the recipe to have an unused ice bath. At least it would have been right there if I burned myself .

Veal chops cacciatore over homemade egg pasta Braised fennel finished with Parmesan This was a really delicious combination.

Baked Goat Cheese and Garden Lettuces (Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook) Roasted Beet Farrotto (Babbo Cookbook) Broiled Cod with Champagne Mango and Peach Salsa (I'd never heard of champagne mangos before but saw them at Whole Foods and thought they'd be good for salsa. Two of them and one peach, chopped parsley, plus some lime juice, s + p, made a nice chunky salsa for the fish.)

Thanks for the report. I'm making note of the specifics of your procedure. I checked at the Whole Foods in Clarendon on my most recent shopping trip and they're sold out of meyer lemons. I don't know if this means the end of the season or not. I may try it with regular lemons.

Last night was another clean out the refrigerator meal: goat cheese and basil ravioli with creme fraiche, parmesan, herbs, and smoked salmon blanched asparagus, red and yellow peppers with Caesar dressing for dipping (Leftovers for breakfast this morning were quite good.)

When we were there, my husband had the complaint about greasiness with the rotisserie chicken, but my lobster burger and fries were not greasy. I don't remember the lobster making my hands fishy either.

The reply: "no, no chemical leavening is used."I'll try to get my hands on some meyer lemons while they're still around and give this a try. I'll use salted butter to be on the safe side.

Nachos

I left a comment asking if there is supposed to be a leavening ingredient in it. I notice that it doesn't even speciify salt.

From the photo that accompanies it, I think it's probably meant to be fairly compact, like a cornbread made in a skillet.

When I find more, I may make this meyer lemon skillet cake.

Baked chicken breasts Trio of mushrooms with bok choy and sesame Almond rice pilaf

Gumbo! I've gotten my husband to eat it that way and he doesn't like okra. Where was this thread last year when I had a CSA and tons of produce I needed ideas for?

Dress code is "elegant casual" so I suspect assless chaps are out. Yeah, I mean, that block already has the Royal Palace. It doesn't get any classier than that. They will probably do OK with business clientele, although if they really wanted to rake in the Hilton conventioneer dollars they'd position themselves like the high-class strip club whose name I am forgetting (17-something?), as the high-roller Royal Palace.

I went there this morning and it was "closed for reorganization," according to the signs on the door. There was no indication of when it would reopen. Walking west on H Street, we stopped instead at Sidamo Coffee and Tea, a very pleasant Ethiopian-owned coffee shop at 5th and H, NE. It's only been open 4 months but seems to have developed quite a clientele. There's a small eating area inside and nice patio with a few tables outside. The space is really lovely. The coffee was quite good, served in beautiful coffee cups. Breakfast offerings are limited to breakfast breads and sandwiches. My friend got the (Canadian) bacon, egg, and cheese on croissant, and I got the same on a bagel. They were very well made for breakfast sandwiches--not at all greasy, obviously prepared from high quality ingredients. They have a chalkboard listing sandwich offerings for lunch as well. ETA: I didn't notice the post just above about Sidamo .

Melamine has also gotten into rice protein concentrate and into corn gluten in South Africa. The pet food recall list continues to expand. So far the confirmed contamination is still limited to foods for animals, but there are new reports of other animal feed being tainted beyond domestic pet food. Apparently, some hogs have also eaten contaminated feed and some may have been slaughtered and sent to market before that was discovered. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburgh...s/s_503671.html http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3058844&CMP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-goldst...lu_b_46285.html

Look at the requirements for employment: http://www.blackfoxlounge.com/jobs.html

Hi! Welcome.I think I usually put the bread in first before the cheese. I'm not sure that would cause the soup to bubble over the cheese. More likely, my guess would be that the cheese may not have covered the entire top of the crock/bowl. I usually do my broiling on a baking sheet so I can put lots of cheese on top and not worry about it dripping over into the oven. Last night was pan-grilled flatiron steaks (one of them was very gristly ), baked mashed sweet potato casserole, and braised sesame baby bok choy.

I'm glad the dietary restrictions are coming to an end. I haven't checked out the last couple issues of Bon Appetit. They just went straight into the magazine stack in the living room. I'll have to look for that recipe.

Harris Teeter at Pentagon Row sells dry ice. I just saw the display (don't know what to call it) when I was there last week. It's in the front of the store. I saw it when I was leaving the checkout to exit the store.

Pesto penne with asparagus and shrimp Country wheat baguette

Broccoli slaw with dried cranberries Braised chuck eye steak Baked sweet potatoes