purplesachi

are the $100 cases of the rose still available? i'd like to pick up another one

i am planning on making this again this weekend. here's my question though. it seems as if a lot of people are using cut-up chunks of the pork shoulder, and marinating that in a plastic bag, then wrapping the pieces in banana leaves. (or maybe i'm wrong?) i want to cook the shoulder whole (which is what i did the first time), but i also want to try using the sour orange (oj & lime juice). any opinions on the amount of sour orange juice i'll need to use if i'm marinating the entire ~8lbs bone in pork shoulder? last time i made it, the meat wasn't even close to dried out (it was very succulent), and i'm wondering what the difference will be if i use the sour orange juice. (last time i dry rubbed the whole shoulder for about a day in the banana leaves, and then threw the entire thing in the lidded le creuset for about 5 hours with a little bit of water at the bottom, and didn't open it until 4-5 hours later). any thoughts are very much appreciated.

just the other day i asked politburo the same question. we often have tons of plastic bags, but as soon as we use them, we check if there are holes in the bottoms of the bags. if holes, we put them in the hole bags bag. if no holes, we put them in the reuse these bags bag. every week politburo drops the holey bags off at safeway where they are taken to...?i've heard of stories in some gov't agencies where the "recycling" bin is actually just taken out to the dumpster, along with the trash . i would hope that something similar is not going on with our recycled bags. maybe the next time i'm at safeway i'll ask the manager what happens to them.

que fantastico!

i also shop at the one in fairfax and i bought beef there (i believe it was sirloin, but i'm not sure). i always check the date on foods and there was nothing out of the ordinary w/ the date on the particular package i bought (sell by was like a week later than the date i bought it, or something like that). but when i got home and opened the package, the meat smelled off to me . just to be safe, i threw it out.

can you (or anyone else) give more insight on the tasting menu? are choices off the full regular menu that is posted on their website? i'm wondering if i should order a la carte or go with the tasting menu when i go in two weeks. also, marigold's website says the tasting menu is $60. is it $50 or $60? any thoughts are appreciated.

yeah, i have to agree. my favorites were the veg triple, and the pan fried beef and celery - the celery was something different that i wasn't used to, so biting into it brought a pleasant crunchy surprise. i was also very into the pork and chive dumpling, as well as mama's mixed vegetables app. i also very much appreciated that the dumpling skins were not a doughy mass that sometimes can counter the savory filling, turning the entire dumpling experience into a big glob of chewiness. personally, every bite was wholesome goodness. i tried to remember how many dumplings i ended up eating, and i believe it was around 12 or 13. (can that be right???) thanks to daniel and scott for sharing their dumpling haven with the rest us!

i just made this recipe two weeks ago, and i thought it came out pretty well (and yes, it came from molly steven's braising cookbook, which i've been on a quest to make as many recipes from there as possible). the recipe uses bone-in ribs, so i'm not sure how well it will work with boneless pork. the sauce is quite thin, but it's very savory.pork riblets braised in vietnamese caramel sauce 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 tbsp lime juice 1/3 cup asian fish sauce 1/3 cup sliced shallots 1 tsp pepper ~2 lbs slab baby back ribs sawed lengthwise in half spread sugar in the bottom of a wide heavy-based skillet (12-13"). pour over 1/4 cup water and lime juice and let sit for a minute to soak in. heat over med heat until sugar begins to liquefy. you can shake or swirl the pan or stir with a wooden spoon once or twice so the sugar melts evenly, but don't stir constantly, and stop shaking or stirring once the contents of the saucepan have liquefied entirely. (if you stir too frequently you risk crystallizing the sugar.) reduce heat to med-low and let caramel boil until it turns a deep reddish-brown, but not black, ~10 min. remove caramel from heat and standing back, add the fish sauce slowly and the remaining 1/4 cup water. (don't worry if caramel hardens.) return caramel to heat, stir and boil until you have a smooth, thick sauce, ~4 min. add shallots and black pepper and simmer for 2 min. remove from heat and set aside to cool to warm. (the caramel sauce may be made ahead up to this point and kept refrigerated for a week.) separate the pork ribs into individual ribs by cutting down between the bones. add to caramel sauce, stir to coat, bring to simmer over low heat. cover and braise, stirring and turning every 10-15 minutes so that ribs remain evenly coated in sauce for about 1.5 to 2 hours. ribs are done when they become tender enough to pull easily away from the bone and are a deep mahogany color. remove as much fat as possible from caramel sauce (which will be rather thin).

is there a menu for the dinner? i don't see one on the rustico website like i did for the brooklyn brewery dinner.

i haven't been posting my results because, well, because i don't really have any. in fact, i have gained 2 pounds. i'm not going to make any excuses, but i have been having stomach issues and i believe this has something to do with it (is that an excuse?). so in the time that is remaining, i'm going to get back on the horse and try to work hard to get the weight off. i'm not going to be depressed about it. i'm just going to suck it up and deal with it. i'm just glad that there are others out there who are very supportive and also trying to achieve the same goal as myself.

ah! i don't believe i added any citrus, so next time i will definitely do so - thanks for the advice. how much should i add? just enough to make the the spice mixture a paste? because i added just enough vinegar to make it paste-y.adding the sour oj reminds me of another recipe that i make - a stewed pork dish cooked in sour orange juice (called pork estafado, though not the filipino version). i would bet adding the citrus to the cochinita pibil would produce a similar flavor.

made cochinita pibil over the weekend. i used a whole pork shoulder (bone in) that i ordered through my csa back in the fall (did not cut it into chunks). i rubbed it with annatto power/cumin/ground whole cloves/garlic/salt/oregano/cider vinegar past i made with the mortar & pestle. wrapped the entire 4-5 lb. thing in banana leaves for about 18 hours. next day i threw it in the le creuset, added a tiny bit of water, lid, and put it in a 300F oven for about 4.5 hours, turning once halfway through. when i took it out of the oven i was elated. i unwrapped the darned thing and it was incredible. very tender with a subtle banana leaf flavor on top of the paste from the day before. it looked so pretty i didn't want to unwrap, but finally i overcame the silliness and lined a platter with the banana leaves and served it whole, using two forks to pull the pork from the bone. i served it with warmed corn tortillas, fresh salsa, and seasoned black beans. this is definitely going to be on my list of party dishes for the summertime.

i'm definitely interested in this, but this week isn't that great for me - i've just made two recipes from molly steven's art of braising book (cochinita pibil & vietnamese pork riblets) which politburo and i will probably be eating for the rest of the week as leftovers. though, i might be able to swing making sides or desserts...

i think walk-ins are fine. politburo and i just happened to go on opentable and see that oyamel was listed, even though the website says 'opening in march'. so we called to see what the deal was and they said 'soft opening this weekend'.i'd just go and stop by.

politburo and i also attended the soft opening of oyamel last night. when we got there it was quite empty - we were probably one of the first people there. but as the night progressed, more and more people started showing up. they still have the hanging butterflies around the dining room, which was nice to see. there is also a regular bar, which is where we sat, and has about 8-10 seats. they also have a ceviche bar, which is in the corner of the restaurant, so if you were outside at 7th and D, you could watch them make the ceviche plates. i think there were 4 seats at the ceviche bar. i was also told by one of the bartenders that the ceviche bar is also where they assemble the desserts, though, i didn't happen to notice from which direction our dessert came from. they had pitchers of margaritas (which i don't believe they had at the crystal city location), which i thought was a steal - $30/pitcher, which served like 5-7 drinks for us. if you order one margarita, i think it was $9. so we went into it thinking, if we at least drink three, it'll be worth it. (we actually ended up almost finishing the pitcher ) i think they are still working out the kinks with the pitcher, because the bartenders asked us about how many drinks we got out of the pitcher. i wouldn't be surprised if they change the price of the pitcher in the future. the bartenders also gave us a sample of a traditional non-alcoholic mexican drink, (horchata, i think is the name), and it was sweet and made with ground up rice. it tasted like rice pudding but in drink form. the menu is very similar to the previous menu, with some new items on there. they have a "reopening" special, chapulina tacos: grasshopper tacos famous in oaxaca. we opted to try one (you can now order individual tacos instead of getting a pair of them). i was skeptical because i don't like the idea of eating insects, but i couldn't resist just trying it once. i could tell that they were grasshoppers upon first glance, so i just took a bite without looking hoping for the best. it had an earthy flavor, and had a bit of crunch. it wasn't bad, though, i don't know if i could eat it again. especially when they still had the carnitas (pork suckling tacos topped with crumbled/crushed chicharon) on the menu, which was just as fantastic as i remembered them back in crystal city. other things we ordrered: papas al mole - just as i remembered. deep fried potatoes topped with mole, cream and sesame seeds. ceviche de atun - 4 tiny bites of tuna ceviche and red onion, wrapped in a thin layer of jicama, and served with a cilantro puree nopalitos - baby cactus salad with tomatoes, red onions, and prickly pear vinagrette we finished off the night by sharing the cafe de olla dessert. it was fantastic. i'm not exactly sure how to describe what it was. the bartender described it as a mexican chocolate flan, but it had more of a fudgy (or flourless cake) consistency. it was served with anise ice cream, and a kahula/coffee gelee. i'm already thinking about how i'm going to stop in there saturday night and order this dessert again. they are obviously still working out the kinks (i inquired about a private room and i was told that the room to the right of the bar was going to be the private room, for about 40 people, and they were still planning on putting up glass doors to segregate that area), but based on our experience during their soft opening, we'll definitely be back soon.

red-cooked pork belly (from molly steven's art of braising) prawn crackers rose brut champagne

recently i've been using the barilla no-boil noodles for lasagna. but i have a question. i remember reading somewhere (or perhaps seeing it on tv - i can't remember) that you can actually use regular-cook lasagna noodles, w/o boiling them at all, i.e. prepare the lasagna as if you were using the no-boil noodles, but use the regular noodles instead. of course you would need to use more sauce (as the no-boil also requires), and it would take a bit longer to cook. i guess the advantage is that you don't have to shell out the couple of bucks for the no-boil, yet you don't have to cook the noodles before you assemble the lasagna. does anyone know if there is any truth to this?

exactly - i don't rightly understand the garbage bowl. yeah it's great to have a place to put all your scraps for the garbage (or for your compost), but why dirty a clean bowl? i normally just use leftover produce bags as my "garbage bowl". that way, i use bags that would have otherwise gone into the trash empty.i have to admit although i don't really care for RR, but because i don't have cable, whenever i'm someplace that has food network, i'll watch whatever is showing, be it RR or bobby flay (though, i will draw the line at semi-homemade what's her face). speaking of throwdown, i thought i saw on tony luke's (in philly) website that they filmed a throwdown episode there. anyone seen this?

is it correct to assume that you can opt for the tasting menu even if you aren't sitting at the bar?

yes please.

is anyone else going to the brooklyn brewery dinner tonight at eatbar? politburo and i will be there and it would be cool to meet some other dr members...

saturday night politburo, his brother, and myself had our first meal at dino. we arrived about one hour early hoping to sit at the bar before our reservation. having never been to dino, we didn't realize the bar was small, but dean graciously seated us at our table an hour early (which ended up being a blessing because we were quite hungry!). i cannot stress enough how fantastic a time we had! everything we ordered was outstanding (collemattoni (sangiovese) rosso, alma rosa pinot noir, cheese plate, salumi, fritti di mare, cervo, cinghiale, calamari fritti), but i have to say the burrata was phenomenal - i can't stop thinking about how fresh it was! also, my beef short ribs on polenta - heavenly. the meat was obviously cooked with love and was very tender. the 3 cheese polenta that the beef sat on also was a favorite of mine. one other thing i'd like to mention was the timing of our dishes. we had 2 courses before our entrees came out, so we were filling up rather quickly. if the entrees had come out right away, i don't think we would have enjoyed our meal as much as we did. we did not feel rushed, and we felt quite comfortable talking and having wine and just enjoying the atmosphere of dino. we each thought of this at the table, and when we talked about it later, we all agreed that the timing was perfect. it's too bad that i don't live in cleveland park, because i would be going to dino several times a week! (but, we don't live that far, so maybe we'll still be stopping by more often). dean and kay, thanks for a wonderful evening!

HAHAHAHAHAHA

but you could argue that she is advocating tipping poorly.one of the things i don't like about RR is that she tucks in her shirts when it is clearly not flattering to her body type (at least imo).

i am really interested in making savory muffins. i just made a batch of potato & curry muffins for the first time and they came out rather delicate. is this how potato muffins naturally are? i even kept them in the oven a bit longer than suggested, but they still came out a little soft in the middle. does anyone have any suggestions or well-tested savory muffins i could try out? oh, and i have some possible problems: i don't have a standing mixer, nor a large food processor (i have a 2-3 cup one, but nothing larger). thanks.