goodeats

Jeff has, I guess since he's blonde, from Miami, and has an employer whose name causes me to do a double-take every time they flash that name up on the screen.... Actually, Jeff has good techniques, but gets a little over his head sometimes, I think.On another note, I was wondering why Ted Allen wasn't back this season, and I just noticed on Food Network, there's a competing/similar show called "Chopped" coming soon....

Last time I went, it appeared they repainted in there, in bright tan and red colors. I'm not sure how "disco" that is, but the fresh coat of paint did "liven" things up a bit...

Hands-down the best peach cobbler I've ever had was at Dixie Kitchen. Many great food memories were created there during my four years in Hyde Park, especially with fresh, hot, Johnny cakes and butter to start the meal off there. I was also happy to see The Medici featured as an old Obama haunt. Can't compare Dixie & Buck's - they're in such different leagues (homestyle Colorado Kitchenesque isn't Buck's, right?). But funny that you say that though.

Unless I'm thinking of the wrong place, isn't this place in Bailey's Crossroad (5440 Columbia Pike Arl)? If so, there's bus stop right by the restaurant at Columbia Pike & S Greenbrier Street (WMATA says the Arlington 41 stops there, as does the 16G or the 16D), but definitely not easily accessible.

Well, I can tell you that New Year's Eve was not the time to try out this program. I called at 1:27am for a ride and was a bit foolish to wait it out until 5:00am. Yep. But, I was having fun while I waited (amidst this silent panic, as it was after metro closed) , even after trying to call back, twice. The first time calling back at around 3am, I was on hold for at least 15minutes (after trying to call-in numerous times -- kept getting the busy signal), asked the receiver if I could get a status update, was mumbled a DC cab number and then hung-up on. While finally reaching the cab company, they punted me back to SoberRide and then this oh-so-fast click occurred, leaving me wondering what the receiver even said. So, I thought I would wait a bit more. The second time I called, again, it took awhile to call in, followed by the music and waiting, and then, I tried to put in a new request. Apparently, I got the person who took my original request, as he said rather curtly, in a not-so-nice way, "Oh no, I am *not* putting in a second request." To which I asked if he could check on my request's status, he replied, you need to call the cab company, and the phone went silent. Without a cab number.So, take it what you will, and your experience may be better on a not-so-busy day. But mine was more than a bit deterring, to say the least. I ended up paying cab fare.

There is a woman that sells baklava at the Falls Church farmer's market on Saturday mornings. I haven't tried it, but she had various sorts of flaky baklava to Apricot or Spinach baklava. I think it's Emile's. I'd be happy to ask and report back, if you'd like.

A mere five doors down from the newly opened Four Sisters' in Merrifield is a spacious bakery and espresso bar to enjoy a leisurely cup of joe or tea with a few cases full of pastries and cookies. Owner and Pastry Chef Toni Srour and his wife Samar opened this venture back in March, and it is a nice addition to the lack of bakeries in this area, especially in Merrifield. Of the three things I tried, a Mini Palmier, Lemon Macaron, and a slice of the Vanilla Yule Log, two were a hit and the last was a slight miss. It has been a long time since I've had a palmier that does not leave a lard- or shortening-like aftertaste and I did not taste it with this one. However, the sugar on top was extra-caramelized, which is fine by me. For $1.50, the lemon macaron was smaller in size than what I've seen in other bakeries, but the moist, slightly tart, but lemony flavor right after that initial crunch and break of the meringue part was well-worth it (although I haven't had enough macarons to make a great judgment). The Yule log slice of cake was similar to the moist cakes sold in Asian bakeries, but it was a bit too mushy for me. The buttercream was definitely better than most places, but I really enjoyed the sugar topping (a sugared chimney), as it reminded me of the sugar flowers that once topped cakes in the past. Owner and Pastry Chef Toni said that they bake everything there and they also serve some lunch items. One of the things I'd like to try next time is the Thyme herb Croissant. According to the Post article, it was his dad's recipe. The Pastry Xpo website is basically a shell right now, but Maurice Pastries is a bit better, content-wise. Pastry Xpo 8190 Strawberry Lane Merrifield, Virginia 571-282-4970

I just saw a large basket of them at one of the farms at the Dupont Sunday Farmer's Market last Sunday.

A few familiar looking faces here. Congrats to TMFIII and SeanMike!

After spending around 10 days in Malaysia, mainly Kuala Lumpur, I was struck by the hodgepodge of cultures mixed and apparent there. Mostly, I was struck by two things: i) Keeping Halal; and ii) Malaysian cooking contains a lot of Coconut bits, sugar, milk, or cream. Keeping Halal struck me as I accompanied my Mom to Tony Roma's for her Beef Rib fix: there were no baby backs to order. None on the menu. I felt like a country-bumpkin in some ways by writing this. If you want non-Halal restaurants, the place to go is the mini-Chinatown on Pentang Street in KL. Or the suburban areas. The hotels I stayed at all included a Breakfast buffet. It was strange to me to have curries for breakfast, but it was lovely to try. Usually there are Curries, American-style breakfast (waffles, cereals, pancakes or french toast, and omelet station), Chinese porridge, Miso soup, Yogurts, Cheese & Breads, Nasi Lamak, and Fruit at these buffets. Things to watch: Chefs making Roti Canai. It is fascinating how they make it. I was entranced. That and monkeys wandering the streets. Sitting at one of the cafes near the Petronas Tower at night. Chain restaurants available: Tony Roma's; Sakae Sushi; Madam Kwan's (a popular local-cuisine chain); Nando's; Italienne's (a TGIF Friday's version of the Macaroni Grill); Wendy's; McDonalds; and Auntie Anne's. There are others, but these are the ones tried, except for Nando's. Shopping Malls with a wide-variety of restaurants and food courts: Suria KLCC (near the Petronas Tower in KL); Pavilion (also in KL); Mid-Valley Mall (Mid-Valley); and Sunway (with its own water park!). Chinese-style bread bakeries worth trying: Lavender (Pavilion Court); BreadTalk (Pavilion and Mid-Valley); and BreadStory. If you are a fan of pork sung, it won't be available. There is Chicken sung, but out there they call sung, "floss." Also noteworthy is if you do buy Chicken Floss buns, they have the Cantonese-style oil, which does not keep past a day due to the humidity and heat there. So, if you buy it, eat it that day. Coffee: Starbucks & The Coffee Bean have outlets there. There is also a chain called "San Francisco Coffee," but I didn't try it. Instead, I spent many mornings at the Illy Espresserino at the Pavilion getting my Iced Shaken Espresso (Shaker). Food Court booths were trying at Pavilion Shopping Mall: Beard Papas (A cream puff chain from Japan; also available in NYC. Not as good here, but satisfied the craving); Ah Yip's (Cantonese-style claypot stocks, some with herbal Chinese medicine. Very soothing.); Toast Box (Thick or thin-style Asian toast. Toast here is "toasted" over a wood-chip grill. Makes a difference I feel like in the taste. Spread with Kaya, Butter, PB, or Utah.); UG Donuts (Soft, warm, not-so-over-glazed); Sweet Ice (get Malaysian-style desserts here); Mr. Baozi (a Taiwan Chain with meat & dessert-styled baozi). Areas to visit aside from KL: Genting (a Shangri-la in the mountains, though less romantic and less adventuresome food-wise); and Port Dickson (fresh seafood). Two MUST-trys: Congee Hotpot (or Shabu Shabu) and Kaya Jam. The first was amazing! Instead of a soup-base hotpot, Cantonese-style Congee was the base, and you cooked everything in the congee as you would at Shabu Shabu. WOW. By the time everything was cooked in there, the flavor was indescribabley delicious. Kaya Jam is everywhere and spread on toast with butter. Made mainly with Coconut milk, it is thick, hearty, sweet and sticky. A common breakfast/snack item. I am an official spice wimp because I could not handle the level of heat in some the local Indian and Malay curries. After eating them, my insides would be sweltering and sticky, depending if Coconut Milk was the base of the curry. But it made me realize how subdued the Malay-styles here are, and I wish I was more adventurous to try more of the curries. However, I also couldn't because common to the curries were: onions, garlic, shallots (in the rice), or scallions, which were all things I can't have, unfortunately. I now know that Kopitam stands for Coffee House, and that there is Kopi or a Kopitam everywhere you walk. Oh, and don't forget to look for a "Klinic" (Urgent Care) if you need services.

Maybe this link will help, although what came to mind were the soup containers given at Asian carryouts...

Synaesthesia posted an afternoon tea article link in the Afternoon Tea thread that may help. I can only think of the Ritz (Tyson's or Pentagon City), but that article link may help...

Here is the Holiday Market link, and it runs until December 23!

Goldenticket and I wandered around there today after volunteering at DCCK*. One of the soups of the day was Chicken Apple Curry, small for $4 (which to me is more like a large) and large for $5. The sampling I had was delish! I was happy to lob for the cart while we were chatting with sparkycom, the Super-duper-sole-cart-disher-outer-and-roper-person-of-the-day. Also worth sampling is the booth right across from the cart -- mini-donuts with self-serve toppings of cinnamon+sugar, chocolate sauce, or jimmies (sprinkles, as some what call it). I didn't catch the booth's name, but only caught the words "Zeke's Coffee," though I didn't see any coffee sold. *Let's volunteer there again in the new year!!

According to the BIG ad on page A2 of the Washington Chinese News H Mart will be "coming soon" to 9639 Lost Knife Road, Gaithersburg, MD.

In the transfer area I was in (the C Concourse area), the third floor yielded one fruit juice bar and candies or dried fruits available from the other three or so duty-free shops. Your better bet is on the fourth floor (which, incidentally, is the "shops and food floor," as kindly pointed out by the map), although choices may not be much better. For familiar places, there are Burger King and Starbucks available. There are also 3 cafe/coffee shops (not including Starbucks) practically right next to each other, only 2 "local" eateries, and 1 juice joint. My flight to Bangkok was delayed and shortened my layover time, for which I was grateful, as there was not much to choose from, much to my disappointment.BKK

I don't know off the top-of-my-head, but I'm replying to say that I'll report back after this week's shopping at the local Asian markets. I did see somewhere once about steaming them, but was not sure if that referred to steaming frozen chow foon, or something else. How are you thawing and cooking them? What brand & what ingredients or preservatives used? That can play a part in the gumminess, as well as the heat on the stove, when you're putting them in, and so on and so forth.In chiming in to the other comments: Chow foon isn't meant to be oily, but that from what I've seen and tasted, Cantonese (or some Chinese) restaurants DO tend to be heavy-handed with the oil, and well, woks aren't really washed that thoroughly after cooking one dish after the other, fwiw. If we're talking about McD's analogies, well, I guess you'll have to imagine fries cooked in a fryer that hasn't had its oil changed for a LoNg time.

A brief two hour layover in Changi International Airport in Singapore yielded the following: 1 really good Roast Pork bun from Wong's on the first floor "restaurant" area; heaven if you have a sweet tooth, as there was at least 3 well-stocked, wide-variety candy/chocolate stores; my favorite jerky place with free samples (Mei Zheng Shang); and a 7-11 upstairs if anything is forgotten. Also upstairs open for 24 hours was 1 Subway, featuring a Tandoori Chicken Sub special, a busy Burger King, and less frequented other varieties, with a very lonely looking conveyor-belt sushi place. Stick to the first floor for a variety of options, including a bustling Starbucks, but the better bet is to get a Phoenix (Yuan Yang) coffee/tea popular drink (they sell it at Maria's in DC-area) from Wong's or 1 of the other coffee-selling places. An extremely long layover in the International Transfer section of the Beijing Capitol International Airport was extremely trying, as there was a near-empty Pizza Hut (which I wasn't brave enough to try), 1 Korean restaurant, and many Duty-Free shops. I was grateful for the lounge access I was given due to my transfer, and although there was food to eat (although nothing edible) in the lounge, the only nice and comforting thing to report was the nice cushion to soften the 8 hours there. If anyone has advice on which places to eat/chill at Bangkok International (providing I don't get rerouted given the current political situation), I would greatly appreciate it (2 hour layover). SIN BJS BKK

Just to note that I was vouching for the fried rice at the Sushi Go Round place (I was unclear on which you tried. ). But it's been awhile since I've been back to Sushi Go Round. I've never tried the Thai Chili Peppers fried rice...If anyone's willing to walk a bit further Cowgirl Creamery has some sandwich and other lunch options too. I forget though whether it would be a cheap eat or not....

Stir-fry with thinly-sliced pork (saute with onions first), flavor it with soy sauce, add water and simmer with lid on for 5mins or until cauliflower softens. Add cornstarch-water mixture to thicken the sauce/soup to finish.

I was going to write something to the effect that the location in the background of this video laid as dormant as this thread when my tour bus drove past it in Beijing last year, but then it was injected life by Mr. Bob Loblaw....to be continued, I suppose??

Is Thai Chili Peppers' DC branch no longer in the Cinemas on 7th? That was another nearby Thai joint, though I think I prefer Kanlaya.... What about Sushi Go Rounds' bento lunches? I thought their fried rice was fluffy good.

If it's Kam Sam, they're Chinese. The pork belly will be in thick chunks and I'm not sure they'll cut it up for you. If you're looking for thinner slices, then the Korean markets are the better bet. I'm not sure what's the closest Korean market in Maryland, but these 2 links may help: 1. Korean supermarket in the US (scroll to M - 1/2 way down the page); and 2. Baltimore Sun article (scroll to the bottom for other recommended MD Korean supermarkets).

Ok, after a bit of googling, Equinox appears to be offering a Vegetarian Thanksgiving with a cider-brined tofurky according to this press release, but I could not find news of it on their website.

The Taiwanese menu at Mandarin Wok (5268 Nicholson Ln - nearby White Flint) was pretty nice when my mom and I tried there back in February, but I can't attest to the rest of the menu.