Pat

Market Inn is one of the places covered in a show on DC food by Paula Deen's sons, Jamie and Bobby (ok, full disclosure: I think Jamie's cute. I also think they're better food "personalities" than their mother.) The episode is just about to end now. I don't know when it will be re-aired. I forget the name of the show I found the Market Inn piece the best of the three segments (the others were Mom's Apple Pies and Sticky Fingers Bakery). ETA: The show is Road Tasted, and it appears that the last airing of the episode was overnight.

I'm making Jeane Kirkpatrick's paella from this past week's food section, plus green salad, and eggnog-pecan-pumpkin pie.

I don't know if you called or not, but I thought I'd mention that I was there yesterday, and there was a big sign advertising organic PA rabbit for $4.19 per pound. I asked if it included giblets and was told that it does.

Have they got the pizza oven(s) up and running yet? I found a copy of Washington Flyer on the metro yesterday and started reading it. I was surprised in reading this article to see a reference to people getting pizza there, as I didn't think they were offering it yet. I wasn't sure if I missed something or if this piece was written way in advance, with the expectation that the pizza oven(s) would be up by publication.

On the TJ wine topic, someone on usenet posted a link to this blog rating wines (mostly from TJ). I haven't really checked it out: http://www.quaffability.com

I guess so. I just meant that I found the term amusing, not that I wanted to fight for it as a substitute for foodie.

Ah, thanks. I suppose I'm lucky it's good a decade later. The sauce I used it in came out well too.

Right now I am drinking a 1997 Domaine Cros Minervois. I found it in the basement. I have no idea how long I've had it or where it came from, but it is fantastic. I needed a dry red wine for the standing rib roast (see Joe H's recipe suggestion in the prime rib thread), and this was one of the few bottles of red I had. I cannot believe how good this wine is. I think this is something you're supposed to drink for a special occasion and not use to cook with, but it's open and the meat's cooking. This is such good wine, wow. Happy new year!

I like grubmeister

One thing I like about epicure is that it applies to appreciating both food and drink. It also lends itself to the pun epicurious, which is a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective There doesn't seem to be much middle ground between elite terms and the vernacular here. Gourmet is all right (and would be my second choice), but gourmand seems to imply gluttony to me, rather than appreciation of the experience.

I think epicure works just fine, but I may be alone in that.

I was wondering that if the fact they're switching format to tasting menu only after they come back on the 9th is the reason for the information appearing that way. That change may have been garbled along the way.

We had swordfish steak, cooked stovetop in a Le Creuset skillet, seasoned with some soy sauce and a little hot pepper sesame oil. Alongside we had a fabulous (if I do say so myself) vinaigrette-dressed salad of romaine, parsley, toasted walnuts, sliced radishes and cucumbers, warm slices of golden beets, and Nevat soft-ripened Catalonian goat cheese that I picked up at Cheesetique earlier in the day. I wanted a goat cheese but didn't know which, so tried a few and loved the Nevat. When it was still chilled a bit, it sliced like an aged cheddar. Once it softened up more, it crumbled a bit like a feta. I love this cheese.

guacamole and chips, leftover from last night

Last night was gussied up SOS. Thinking back on it, I don't think I've ever made this before. We ate it semi-regularly when I was a kid, and my father would eat it despite having had his fill of it in the military during WWII. I liked it okay but always found it too salty. A while back, I saw a package of chipped beef in the Safeway and bought it on nostalgic impulse. It sat in the fridge quite a while, and its sell by date came and went. I'm trying to use stuff up before we go away for Christmas, so I dug it out last night. I crisped up a few slices of turkey bacon in a skillet and crumbled it, then added 1-2 Tbsp. butter to the little bit of drippings in the pan and melted it. I tore up the dried beef (3 oz.) into smaller pieces and frizzled it in the butter, and adding a little flour after a few minutes and mixing through. Then I poured in a 12 oz. can of whole evaporated milk slowly, stirring as I added it so it would thicken. Once I had a nice sauce, I added the crumbled bacon back in and ground in some black pepper. I served it over onion rolls that had been split and toasted in the oven. When it comes to comfort food, there's no accounting for taste, but this was really good! Really The funny thing is, I only used evaporated milk because we're almost out of fresh milk and I didn't want to buy more before going away, but it adds a nice creaminess to this. The dried beef I bought was low-sodium, so it didn't have the saltiness issue. And I put turkey bacon in because the package was open and I wanted to use it up. The onion rolls (in the freezer for quite a while) added another savory note. I like that over using plain toast. For a completely unrelated appetizer, we had tortilla chips and homemade guacamole with tomatoes and grated sweet onion (avocados and tomatoes to use up).

A number of years ago, we stopped there after a camping trip, on the suggestion of a friend who's originally from Thurmont and who has a nostalgic attachment to the restaurant. I don't remember much about the food. There was a large group of us for a Sunday brunch/lunch, and it worked fine for that type of gathering.

I don't think this requires a ticket, but it's something that seems to be different from before, and I'm trying to work around it. When you paste in (a link, an emoticon, etc.), it remains in a blue highlighted box, which makes it very easy to delete the entire thing if you don't put your cursor down in the correct place after pasting. I've learned not to close out web sites I'm pasting a URL from before the post is successfuly made, so I don't keep losing stuff.

My big peeve (and I've wanted to post this for a while and I haven't) is people who occupy single-stall bathrooms in restaurants for long periods of time. I can't tell you how many times in the past couple of years I have waited outside one of these while in dire need grumbling, "What, are you taking a bath in there?!" I understand that people may have, uh, intestinal neccessities, that might keep them in the bathroom longer than usual, but I am talking about people in a bathroom where you hear water running and the electric towel dispenser going, over and over, like someone is taking a bath. The, uh, overflow, from this is women using men's bathrooms, which then upsets the men. [Grumbling edited a bit for conciseness.]

I was thinking of making a horseradish-crusted beef tenderloin for New Year's (it seems like we're always eating somewhere else for Thanksgiving and Christmas), but this thread is really pulling me towards a small standing rib roast. That's what my mother usually made for Christmas. She stuck with a moderate temperature all the way through, but I've got some time to mull this discussion over and decide. (She did nothing fancy with it, just salt and pepper, served au jus.

According to another thread, Dean & Deluca carries it.I should have paid closer attention. You asked about Montogomery County. Don't know about there.

This might not seem very Christmas-y, but there's a recipe I've made from one of the Canyon Ranch cookbooks that is vegetarian, with only 13 g. fat per serving. It's called "Mu Shu Vegetables and Twice-Cooked Tofu with Wild Rice Crepes." If you want the recipe, PM and I'll send it to you. Unfortunately, I don't recall how much we liked the dish as a whole, since I was so impressed with the wild rice crepes that that aspect is what I remember from the recipe. I think in your situation, I might be tempted to go with a family supper kind of meal where any cheese could be added at the table (e.g., some kind of vegetarian vegetable soup, green salad, bread, and spaghetti with tomato sauce). You could serve a broiled fish that's not too fatty instead of the pasta if the vegetarian eats fish.

Last night was a basic skillet meal: Toasted Barley and Chicken Pilaf from the January 2007 Good Housekeeping. That's long been my favorite recipe source among the traditional women's magazines, but they don't seem to publish as many recipes as they used to (or maybe that's my imagination).

Now, this is something to be upset about. Those and the biscuits at Circle Bistro were the bread standouts for my eating year 2006. I love all kinds of bread.sniff

Does anyone know if the sausage biscuits will be coming back, or is that recipe gone with the pastry chef?

Voice of the Hill has an article on the history of Park Cafe in its Dec. 6 issue. I don't see a direct link to the article, but it's on page 6 of this .pdf file.