Pat

Could something like that be built near where the new stadium is going in on South Capitol?

Not to be contentious, but you mentioned clearing out of "most of the vendors" to bring in more local produce. IIRC, there are two produce stalls and one bakery inside, with no realistic way of making the space devoted to the market bigger. Getting rid of most of the vendors would have to go beyond removing those 3 businesses and involve replacing businesses that are not produce or ice cream/candy. Perhaps you didn't really mean the comment to be that expansive. I don't know. When I read it, I was not sure how to reconcile the produce/ice cream issue with getting rid of most of the vendors. If the issue is restricted to those three, "most of" wouldn't be very much.

Those are independent vendors, though, so far as I know. Some people own multiple stalls and have more power than others. And, from what I gather, the politics of the way the entire place (plus flea market) are run is a huge can of worms. The bakery is okay and the neighborhood franchise of Marvelous Market is right next door. There is also an independent gourmet store across the street from the market.I'm okay with greengrocers bringing produce in from Florida Ave or elsewhere who are local independent businesspeople. There are some growers on the weekend. Others are bringing in someone else's produce. I'm really not sure what you want here. Market Poultry and Union Meat are my go-to places for certain items that I can't get or won't buy elsewhere. Canales has several stalls with products I go there specifically to buy. I can usually buy good fish at the fishmonger. The cheese stand has some good cheese, though the man who is often working is kind of cranky.

Thanks for the idea! This sounded so good that I made it tonight. Excellent stuff.

It must be very frustrating for you. All this because you're not overpriced . I don't mean that to be glib. I certainly think of Corduroy as fine dining but when i recommend it, I often comment about what a great value it is for the quality of food and service at that price point.

If they have the seared tuna with hijiki rice, that's my all-time favorite, but I don't know if it's on the menu at this point. I haven't been to Corduroy recently. I'm very fond of the lamb with mini goat cheese ravioli as well, if they're offering that.ETA: Both show up on this menu, but I don't know how current it is.

Baguette and butter Asparagus Alla Milanese Braised Veal Chops with Parsley Dressing I love making this asparagus recipe when asparagus is in season. It's really satisfying. It would also be great for brunch. I hadn't tried this veal recipe before and proceeded somewhat differently than the recipe indicated, as some of the steps seemed wasteful/redundant. I scaled it back to make only 3 veal chops and used butter instead of margarine (definitely not kosher). It was good but not spectacular. It made a nice complement to the asparagus, though.

The basement has its own hours, though you could get beer upstairs before then. I just called and the basement beer bar opens at 5 PM. That's what I thought the sign said, but I couldn't remember. Playing edit catchup here... The general hours for PP are Mon-Thurs: 11:30 am to 11:00 pm Fri-Sat: 11:30 am to midnight Sun: noon to 10:00 pm

Is the downstairs/BP open for lunch? I can remember seeing the specific hours posted, but I can't remember what they are .

green salad leftover pot roast braised greens (escarole and chard) with hot pepper flakes

I stlll had some of the Barbaresco left that I opened a week ago and decided to put the last of it into the pot roast I made last night. I can't think of any other circumstance where I'd be putting a wine that good in pot roast, but since it had been open a week and we never drank the rest, it seemed a good use for it. What it says, I don't know--since there are multiple variables--but I don't think I've ever produced such a great pot roast in my life. The flavor of the meat (on sale half price at Safeway) was incredible. I don't usually put wine in pot roast, so I'll have to try it with cheap wine next time for comparsion (though that's obviously not the same thing as side-by-side comparison).

Interesting article. Thanks. I agree with the author of the article when she says: "For one thing, short of a wine that is spoiled by age, heat or a compromised cork, there are few that I categorically would not drink." That changes the circumstances of the proposition (i.e., don't cook with what you wouldn't drink), I think, even though she discovered wines in her experiment that she didn't care for that worked fine for cooking. I tend to use the same cheap white table wines I drink when I need a dry white for cooking (I don't like sweeter wines, though I will drink riesling and use that if I need something a little sweeter.) The two whites I generally have on hand and use most often in cooking are Domaine Du Pouy and the ubiquitous Cavit Pinot Grigio. The other bottle I always keep on hand as an emergency substitute for wine (works for red or white) is a trusty bottle of Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth. I tend not to like red wines as much so usually have somewhat more expensive reds on hand than whites. When I have cheaper reds that I don't care to drink (or drink some of and don't like but don't want to pour out), I find that they work fine in cooking. When I was making recipes from Babbo recently, I was tempted to go back to Heat to check for the differences between the way things were done in the restaurant and how they appear in the cookbook. Then I decided I'd basically have to reread the book to do it, and take notes. That's a nice project for sometime in the future. I found it amusing that one of those differences is California merlot for Beef with Barolo. I wasn't going to shell out the full price for a bottle of Barolo to make the short rib recipe from the cookbook but wasn't sure what to get. The wine clerk said to get Nebbiolo instead, the grape for Barolo but not as mature wine. It was less than half the price for the Barolos. It worked very well in the recipe, and we drank the remainder of the bottle with the meal, along with a Barbaresco. I certainly wouldn't seek out the cheapest wine imaginable for cooking but don't see the inexpensive cost of a wine as a dealbreaker either.

The contaminant in the pet food is rat poison It may have been on wheat from China.

Last night, I made three recipes from Molly O'Neill's A Well-Seasoned Appetite: Turnip Bisque Baked Yams with Red Onions Escarole Risotto with Duck Of the three, the risotto was the clear standout. Unfortunately, I had timing issues and the risotto finished before the other food was ready and before I had cooked the duck. That meant that the beautiful bright green escarole that's only supposed to cook a couple of minutes sat in the pan of risotto long enough to turn a dark, overcooked green. When I make this again, I will make sure that anything else served with the meal has been prepared before I start the risotto and that I cook the duck breast before the escarole goes into the risotto. (The duck is pan-seared, sliced and served over top.) The way the recipe is written, you complete the risotto before starting the duck, and then I let the duck rest a bit before slicing (in addition to cooking a bit longer than called for to get it to medium rare). It is a dish I would make again but will definitely approach differently timewise. The yams and onions were good enough, but not remarkable. The recipe called for for 3 medium yams and 3 medium onions. All I could fit in a dish the size the recipe called for was the equivalent of one large onion and one medium-to-large yam. I'd make this again, but I doubt it would go into my regular rotation. The turnip bisque was the most disappointing. It came out with the consistency of applesauce or cream of wheat . I'd think that maybe I did something wrong, but the appears to be an error in the recipe re: the turnips. When I read the recipe ahead of time, it called for peeling long slices off a turnip with a vegetable peeler and crisping them in the oven. I decided I didn't want that garnish, so I ignored that aspect of the recipe. When I looked back later, I realized that the recipe calls for 4 turnips that have already been peeled and cubed; yet, the long, thin crisped slices would have to come from an intact turnip . That means that the recipe should probably call for 3 turnips, cut, plus one for the crisps. That would likely explain my consistency problem. I'm making the Banana-Walnut tarte tatin from the book tonight. Since I've seen several problems with the way the recipes are written, I'm going to be extra attentive. I don't know how many more recipes I'll try from the book. We'll see after this next one. I'm thinking this book might be better as a general guide for recipe ideas (i.e., what seasonal ingredients go well together) than as as a straightforward cookbook.

I used to like their tomato soup, but they've tampered with it so much that I don't like it anymore.

The causa recipe they have on that site is really elaborate. I have a recipe from a friend's mother, who is originally from Peru, that is much simpler. I love that stuff--basically cold mashed potatoes with lime and olive oil. He used to make the causa and didn't remember details. I used to watch him carefully and tried to reproduce it. I finally got the recipe from her on one of her visits. I also have a flan recipe from her and a bean salad recipe. One of the interesting anthropological aspects of getting these recipes was her discussion of how easy it was to use canned beans to make the bean salad in the US. I guess a lot of traditional recipes get Americanized due to convenience and/or unavailability of ingredients. The bean salad--despite the canned origins--is really good, though. It may just be the "Mom" factor .

I made several cookbook recipes on Saturday (discussed in the dinner party thread). It ended up being four from Babbo, if I want to stretch things (brown chicken stock, pumpkin orzo, braised short ribs, and bittersweet chocolate cookies). Those short ribs were amazing.I also made fabulous lemon shortbread cookies from The Chicago Tribune Good Eating Cookbook. I have dough left and can't find the right sized cookie cutter to make more. I had a less good experience with pasta handkerchiefs with wild mushrooms from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook, mostly because the pasta didn't turn out right (mushrooms were excellent). I'm not sure if it was me or the recipe, so I'll try that pasta again. It seemed to have an awful lot of eggs. Last night I made a quite satisfying soup from James Peterson's Splendid Soups (Swiss Chard with Garlic and Parsley--I'd have to look up the exact name).

I'm in the middle of reading The United States of Arugula at the moment (when I'm finished, I'll have read all of the writing in food nominees). I'm pleasantly surprised by the book. From reviews I had read, I expected it to be more of a dispassionate survey, but it has some fascinating details and anecdotes. I'm much more impressed with it than I thought I would be. It's definitely not a Michael Pollan book, but it's (IMHO) a worthwhile read. The best aha! moment I had was in the section on Michael Field, who seems somewhat lost to history (or maybe that's my ignorance .) A friend of mine had an ex who loved the Michael Field Cooking School book and swore by it as a cooking bible, so much so that when I saw a used copy I picked one up. I never knew until reading this book who he was or how he fit into the picture. I always wondered who he was.

With Whole Foods, it's seemed more like providing customer service than being angry at the store, but I've gotten that vibe sometimes too at various places. I remember doing a self-checkout at Giant, and there was some (fairly expensive) produce item not in the computer. The guy who came to deal with it was clearly not thrilled with having to figure it out and just asked me: "How much do you want to pay for this?" That left me a bit speechless, and he followed with, "A dollar?" "OK." (This was something clearly worth much more than a dollar.)

Other than putting on music you know they'll hate? . I haven't had this happen in years, now that everyone is older and needs to get home to sleep or send babysitters home. One thing I recall working: "This has been great. When shall we get together again? Let's set it up now, before you leave." [if you're sitting, stand up to say this.] Something about moving it into the future seems to get people to move. I remember one guy at a party years ago who just would not leave. Everyone had been long gone and he was still there. Saying we were out of alcohol finally did the trick.

It seemed like a good time to bump this thread back up. I've had a cat since last summer and never had a cat before. I asked her previous owner what she ate, and the answer was Purina One dry food. Since she was already two, I figured I should stick with what she was used to. (I alternate between giving her the chicken and rice and the salmon and tuna. She loves the stuff.) It seemed like a good idea to give her wet food periodically too, based on trying to balance the various pieces of advice I could find online. At first, I was giving her bits of the foil pack tuna (for humans) and had people telling me that wasn't good because it didn't have the proper balance of nutrients that canned cat food has. She only seems to like canned chicken or turkey--one particular formulation of each. The canned Iams turkey is the only wet food I can reliably predict she will eat. The cans I have are not within the code range of the recall, but I'm still nervous about feeding them to her anyway. (A couple of times I tried the foil pouch ones that have been recalled and she absolutely refused to eat the food at all. Sometimes being finicky is a good thing .) She doesn't like people food all that much, but she meows furiously whenever I'm working at the kitchen counters, since she thinks that means food for her. Yet if I give her a bit of something I have out, she most likely won't eat it (even cheese, which people keep saying cats love). When I made prime rib at new year's she liked that, though , and she likes freshly poached chicken. Mostly she turns her nose up at anything that isn't crunchy. I just keep trying to make sure she has plenty of water to balance out the dry food. I'm now reconsidering the wet food being something I make rather than from a can, though I'm trying not to be too alarmist. I've been searching around, and what I really would like to find out for sure is what foods cats should NOT have. I've found lists of plants and herbs to avoid, but I'm wary of coming up with some concoction that would be harmful. She's perfectly healthy now (a bit overweight but less than when I got her) and I don't want to fix something that's not broken.

I point out errors when I notice them, regardless of where it is, but I have also had the experience of being yelled at by the cashier for pointing out an error in my favor. My most memorable encounter came when I was about 15 and had gone to buy something for my mother at a local small butcher/grocery. The change the cashier gave me back wasn't right, and I started to say that only to be cut off and told that she'd given me the right change. By my third attempt to explain (by which time I had figured out that what was wrong was that she gave me change for a $20, not the $10 I had given her), she was visibly and audibly irate, so I gave up. She never checked her drawer or anything. Maybe it's because I was a teenager, but I've had similar things happen on a lesser (quieter!) scale since. I don't know if it's me or what. All I can figure is that I tend to notice something is off before I've quite registered what it is, and perhaps this is annoying. Despite these misadventures, I generally find it's better to point out an error than not, since sometimes the scene proceeds in such a way that it's to my benefit anyway. Some times when I point it out, employee will just give me the item for the incorrect/favorable price or, as I recall one time with a mislabelled turkey at Giant, for a negotiated price that is less than full price. At the Alexandria Whole Foods, I've been given more than one item for free because the cashier didn't know the code or there was some problem.

If you're going through a lot of it fairly quickly, that's possibly why you've managed to keep it unrefrigerated and not notice mold before. I always refrigerate Parmesan, even the green cannister kind (Doesn't it say on the can that it should be refrigerated after opening? I haven't bought any in quite some time, but I thought I remembered that.)

The recipe didn't specifically call for a reduction (though I was wondering if it was supposed to). It said, to serve, "top with a little of the pan juices." Later it occurred to me that the reason for only using a little liquid is probably that the meat is served in a bowl along with the orzo, and adding much liquid would drown the orzo. I guess there's no reason it couldn't be reduced and then only a little sauce used, except the degreasing (it was a pretty fatty liquid) and reduction would have taken time I didn't have on Saturday night . I'm really kicking myself over not keeping the liquid for later use, though.

There was some braising liquid left, but in the hectic cleanup last night, I told my husband not to keep it. That was stupid . I was thinking of how full the refrigerator was, but once it was too late, I realized that I should have found a way to make room. Oh, well...Next time I make this, I'll be sure to keep the braising liquid to reuse.I would definitely recommend the recipe. About the only deviation I made from it was to use prepared horseradish in the gremolata. I guess using whole wheat orzo was also a deviation. While I do like whole wheat orzo, I think the presentation would be cleaner with plain white orzo. It was exciting to turn out a dish that looked pretty much like the photo in the book.