zoramargolis

When I was in high school, I took a big chunk of white chocolate, wrapped an Ivory Soap wrapper around it and took it to school. Walked around at lunch eating it, with the white block of chocolate peeking out of the soap wrapper. I was trying to outdo my older brother who had brought ham and swiss cheese on matzo sandwiches for lunch during Passover to the same school, a few years earlier. (Fairfax High School, on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, which was about 95% Jewish at the time.)

grilled golden cauliflower salad with fava beans, roasted red pepper, feta, on mixed greens (baby lettuce leaves, mache, young kale) with capers and dill vinaigrette biscuits made with homemade cultured buttermilk, served with homemade cultured butter and New Zealand rata flower honey 2013 Alexander Valley Vyds. rosé of sangiovese

When we were first married, J. and I left Vermont during mud season (early spring) and drove south to Charleston, SC for the annual azalea festival. On the way back north, we drove through the Outer Banks. The road had been closed because of a hurricane and had just re-opened. The campground we found was deserted. The tideline of the beach was piled with detritus that had washed up in the storm. We drove to the nearest town and stopped in a small market to ask about buying some local oysters. The manager of the market gave us directions to the nearby home of a local waterman, who might have some. We drove to the man's house. He had just been out that morning, and sold us a "half-bushel"-- a corrugated cardboard carton-ful-- for $5. On our way back to the campground, we stopped and bought an oyster knife and some lemons. And after wandering along the beach searching for shells and for whale and dolphin vertebrae, we sat in our tent and J. opened oysters and I dripped lemon juice on them and we slurped our fill of incredibly fresh briny oysters until we were completely stuffed. It seemed as if we had hardly made a dent in our supply. The next morning, I made fried oysters and scrambled eggs on our camp stove. And we still had a lot of oysters left in the box. By that time, I couldn't even think about eating another one. By the time we packed up the car, another couple had pulled up to the campground, and we gave them the rest of the oysters and the knife to open them with.

Mediterranean seafood soup, tomato base made with shrimp shell stock, white wine, fennel, onion, garlic and aromatics, mussels, monkfish, manila clams, bay scallops Fresh Baguette baguette with homemade cultured butter 2012 Royal dry chenin blanc

That's a heartbreaking story. More than just a piece of family history, he threw away a treasured heirloom. I hope that he knows that serious amends need to be made.

eco-friendly pork blade steaks, trimmed and cubed and made into carnitas, using Pati Jinich's recipe, which was a bit on the sweet side. Also I browned the meat under the broiler before serving, a step she doesn't call for. Carnitas are supposed to be "twice-cooked" IMO. refried pinto beans rajas de poblanos guacamole pico de gallo corn tortillas Pacifico

Might be an illness, caused by something like a norovirus, the start of which coincided with your roast beef sandwich. Put yourself on a clear liquid diet for a couple of days, and see if it passes. If not, I suggest a visit to your doctor might be in order.

I would do big platters of good cold cuts (roast turkey, ham, corned beef, pastrami) and sliced cheeses, sliced tomatoes, a selection of breads and dressings, cole slaw and pickles. And/or lox, cream cheese, bagels, sliced tomatoes and onions, capers. If you have both, the bagels and lox will get eaten first. Hummus and pita chips, and crudites for the gluten-free vegans. People can eat a little bit, a lot, or nothing at all, and the leftovers are all incredibly useful for the next few days. Have your bil locate a good deli, where you can get all the stuff, and then you just arrange platters instead of worrying about cooking. Encourage him (or his buddies who cook) to make brownies, cookies, lemon coconut or other cakes in advance of your arrival.

quickie cook-out for K, her bf, and three friends who drove up from NC this afternoon for an early (7 pm) show at Dirty Bar in Dupont --a DJ named Omar S. Her friends are couch surfing here tonight, and heading back to Chapel Hill tomorrow on the bus. Ah youth, when it's fun to do a ten-hour round trip to go to a bar to listen to a DJ play recorded music. charcoal grilled bison burgers and Nathan's hot dogs on brioche buns grilled sweet onion Number One Son sauerkraut tomato avocado Next Step Lettuce fresh pineapple coleslaw potato and egg salad craft beer selection halawa dahinyya coffee

Found today at Balducci's in McLean: Talenti brand Alphonso mango sorbet. I tasted this legendary mango for the first time last year in New York, after searching in vain in Indian markets here in DC since it was allowed to be imported from India. Somehow, this company is getting enough of them to make sorbet to sell to retailers. Part of the appeal of the Alphonso is the silky texture, which you can't really appreciate when it is turned into sorbet, but the beautiful flavor is there. J. thought it was too sweet, but that's what happens when a very sweet fruit is turned into sorbet, which requires sugar syrup to prevent it from turning into a solid block of ice.

"The Trouble With Rice" by Deborah Blum on well.blogs.nytimes.com Ironic, that after years of being admonished to eat brown rice, which was supposed to be a much healthier alternative to white rice, nutrition experts are being forced to eat their words. Now it seems that dry-farmed rice avoids the high concentrations of arsenic found in paddy grown rice, but substitutes high levels of cadmium from the soil.

Oh but your lamb shoulder was much more elegant than mine. I just had a couple of lamb shoulder blade chops that I cut into chunks and cooked along with the cleaned pieces of bone. In the finished stew, which was made in sequences in a pressure cooker, there was a little bit of lamb and a lot of beans and vegetables. Some of the cannelini beans had broken down and made the braising liquid (veal stock, dry marsala, Better Than Bouillon beef base and water) thick and creamy. It was very savory and hearty, but was a rustic, peasant stew.

eco-friendly lamb shoulder stewed with white beans, carrots, red potatoes, celery root, kohlrabi, leek, haricots verts, and lots of aromatics. garlic toast 2009 Fessy morgon

A few months ago, we went on a Tuesday evening and were told that watercress salad was not available because Tuesday was Chef Seng's night off. We've been avoiding Tuesdays since then.

sauteed shad roe with brown butter shallot and herb sauce spring strata: leftover baguette slices, butter, fresh fava puree, asparagus, parmesan and romano, custard mix roasted carrots with butter and honey 2013 Drylands sauvignon blanc

Pete Wells finally hops on the Peter Chang fan wagon.

I have seen them at Latin markets on Columbia Pike. I imagine other Latin markets in the 'burbs will have them, as well. Guatemalan and Salvadoran tamales are similar, in that the masa is cooked on a stovetop prior to assembling the tamale in the wrapper, which is then steamed, as opposed to Mexican style, where the masa is steamed in the wrapper, and is not pre-cooked. The consistency is quite different.

I stopped going to Mixtec years ago, after they served me a chile relleno filled with spoiled cheese.

pan-roasted duck breast with sour cherry sauce mushroom risotto (cremini, oyster, porcini) braised lacinato kale chocolate-orange cake with Trickling Springs salted caramel ice cream 2012 Curlew Vineyards RRV pinot noir

It is a by-product of making cultured butter. First, it means making yogurt, but with heavy cream--creme fraiche. (Heat cream to 90 degrees F. and mix in 3-4 Tbsps of yogurt. Let sit at warm room temp. for 24-48 hours.) Then, whip the thickened, soured cream in a mixer with a whisk attachment until it turns to butter, and drain out the buttermilk.

yeast-risen blueberry buttermilk pancakes (made with homemade cultured buttermilk) benton's bacon Vermont maple syrup oj Peet's cappuccini

dinner for K., her bf, and a friend visiting from out of town: at the table out in the yard a very nice dry chinon rosé from last season Lyon baguette slices fresh fava marro sheepmilk gouda Cashel blue capricho de cabra homemade cultured butter with Maldon salt homemade membrillo marinated roasted red peppers spiced olives moving indoors as it grew darker: mache and mesclun salad with lemon vinaigrette mixed grill: applewood smoked, charcoal-grilled herb brined chicken thighs with ZQ sauce hanger steak spicy Italian sausage asparagus 2011 Felino malbec homemade chocolate-orange loaf cake Trickling Springs salted caramel ice cream Peet's coffee, Aeropressed

chilaquiles verdes made with leftover posole broth and refried beans, roasted poblano chile and tomatillos, with fresh epazote, tortilla chips, scrambled eggs, cilantro and jalapeí±o. Cholula. oj Peet's cappuccini

Is Everona making goat cheese now? I haven't paid that much attention to what's going on with them since Pat Elliott died, but they were 100% sheepmilk cheese. Or was it Fire Fly goat cheese? I presume the cheese was "sourced" at the Dupont market, along with the mache and the duck eggs...

an offaly ironic Mexican dish for dinner last night: tongue and cheek posole verde made with eco-friendly pork tongue and Organic Butcher of McLean pork cheeks, both herb-brined frijoles refritos corn tortillas Victory lager