sandynva

They were one of my special treats in high school too! I used to get (and still do, on the rare occasions i see a houlihan's) the 'shrooms--giant mushroom caps filled with some sort of horserashishy/cheesy cream cheese, battered and fried, and then served with creamy horserashishy sauce. heaven, and totally worth the calories.

In case you're willing to do mail order, seeds of change also sells heirloom vegetable plants. At the FONA sale at the arboretum this weekend there was a vendor who sold exclusively heirloom vegetable plants (about $3 each, i think). I don't remember their name, unfortunately, but you might want to check the list of vendors coming to green spring's garden day this year to see if it looks like one of the vendors will sell heirloom vegetables. (the garden day is much, much larger than the weekly garden market plant sales)

How lucky you were! (though i know you don't think so). I've actually had some really good loquats--they were mostly sweet, as you say, but they also had a lovely acidity to them too. The ones i got this weekend though sound exactly like what you had though--juicy bland sweetness, with a teeny bit of tannic pucker like you get from not-perfectly-ripe persimmons.

I got some at the pentagon city harris teeter yesterday, a pack of 4 for $10. unfortunately the 2 i had really weren't great. the inner sections were beginning to brown, and they just tasted sort of sweet and close to spoiling, none of that fabulous sweet/tart flavor. I'm really hoping the other two are better. i will say that these were clearly sort of old--their skins were hard to cut-so i wonder how long they'd been at the store. maybe if i got them the day the delivery came in they'd be better?

I was at the pentagon city store yesterday and got really excited--they had mangosteen and loquats! sadly the 2 mangosteens I ate ( melissa's brand, a pack of 4 for $10) were past their prime, beginning to brown inside and just tasted sweet and slightly spoiled. the loquats were ok though. not fully ripe, so didn't have full flavor, but ok nonetheless.

I only had a snack at the bar, but the artichoke fritters were very good. amazing amount of artichoke flavor, but no texture/fiber issues.

I have to admit that i have a fondness for the frechetta three cheese. i like the crust--it's like garlic breadsticks. i also got a rick bayless one from whole foods once--it had cilantro and ginger in the sauce, which i love as that's how my mom always made "indianized" pizza at home. I don't actually compare frozen pizza to "real" pizza. i think it's sort of its own thing, and when you come home at 9 pm after working a very long day, you begin to appreciate it more. especially if you don't have great delivery options. I do agree though that carry out from your favorite place is the best option, luckily i live by bebo, and used to work near the alexandria faccia luna, which i think is notably better than the others....

So, the small bunches of ramps are $6 at the dupont market? i like ramps, but that's pricey! does anyone have any tips for less expensive sources of ramps, or whether they're available at any of the other markets? thanks!

I second that. at first i liked Z, i thought her perfectionism was perhaps an indicator of talent, but i really haven't seen anything impressive from her. and her rant this time was pure defensiveness. For whatever reason, i'm not that inspired by the chefs this season. usually by now i'd have a favorite, but i don't yet (except maybe stephanie) and have seen something i thought was really amazing, but i haven't. is anyone else feeling the same way? also, any predictions on who will be in the final 3? i'm guessing stephanie, dale, and richard (though he really needs to pull some new tricks out of his hat, IMHO).

what i meant was that i just wasn't impressed with the herbs, not that there was anything wrong with them. they were disease free and healthy, and definitely better than those you'd find at say home depot. its just that the plants are expensive and from a place that sells only herbs, so i thought they'd be better than the ones from, say, merrifield, and they weren't. specifically, i grow a number of scented geraniums and the ones i have at home (mostly from logees, the arboretum and green spring) are intensely fragrant--for some of them, like skeleton rose, a single lightly bruised leaf scents a whole room. the ones at de baggios were comparatively weak-scented. to be clear though--this isn't a cultural or health problem, it just means that whatever plant they're using as their cutting stock isn't as strongly scented as the ones i have. also, i was looking for a number of less popular spearmint varieties, and they didn't have them. and finally, the couple plants i did buy from them weren't as vigorous as the green spring ones, they never grew as rapidly, or got as big. so, my experience with debaggios wasn't bad at all, i just think the other herb sources are better.

I think the best place to get potted herbs (or most plants, really) is at the garden day sale at green spring --this year it's on may 17th. they bring in tons of vendors and the plants are of much better quality than those usually found around here. www.greenspring.org. another good place is at the spring friends of the national arboretum plant sale, the herb society usually has a tent where they sell herbs. both of these sources offer a large variety of culinary herbs, at quite reasonable prices. i've never been impressed by debaggios plants (except their rosemary, which is quite nice) and the plants are overpriced.

I was at the botanic garden and saw their lovely tree all full of fruit and was reminded of how much i like loquats. Has anyone seen them (the fruits, not the trees) sold in the area, and if so where? they should be coming into season soon i think. thank you!

i am a big fan of the chilaquiles there. not as good as the ones i've had in mexico of course, but almost as good as the ones in riverdale and much easier to get to! and it's a very generous portion, ideal for sharing. my only complaint is that when oyamel moved to dc it lost my favorite cocktail in the world, the passionfruit/ginger/jalepeno one they had. they have similar ones at ceiba and chicha, but they're not as good.....

Am i the only one dissapointed in Ben's chili? I've only had the veggie kind, but don't care for it or their fries. That being said, i do love going to the place, for the atmosphere, and their yellow cake with choc. icing isn't bad. But given how much i like the look and feel of the place, i wish the food was better so i could go there more often!

I too love tots and am dumbfounded when i hear that there are people who don't like them, just as i am when i hear there are people who genuinely dislike chocolate or pizza. I also love shredded hashbrowns and patties (but not the cubed hashbrowns, which are so clearly inferior to the other kinds they shouldn't be allowed to share the same name ) and think tonic's are like the platonic ideal of tots. On a separate but related note, has anyone here tried the mccain smiles? the shape weirds me out a little, but man are those good!

A colleague of mine (totally lucked out) and gets to spend a week in Hong Kong. Does anyone have any reccomendations or advice for him? he's particularly interested in the more "street food" type dishes and the boats where they catch seafood and cook it for you. Thanks!

Does anyone know if the tots at the foggy bottom location are as good as those at the original? And what do they do to those tots anyway to make them so good?!

Thank you all for your help and advice! and those drinks, particularly the cuke, sound delicious. as for the shots of pickle juice....i can sort of see that, i guess it's like a dirty martini (and i love those!)

As people on the Post website have commented, Gina's loss is a real blow. She was definitely a big part of the reason i enjoyed going to Rasika. I can't wait to hear where she turns up next.

I have to admit that since a horrible experience in college i've avoided gin (and anything that smells of juniper!) and am pretty ignorant of it--so i have a very basic question about it--i'd heard tht henricks is a cucumber-flavored gin. are cucumber gin and cucumber vodka the same thing with different names? the cucumber gin doen't taste like juniper and cucumber? if so that's great, because i've definitely seen henrick's! thanks for your help!

Has anyone run across cucumber vodka here? A friend had it in london and fell in love with it (along with cherry marnier). I'd love to get him some but haven't seen it anywhere. thanks!

for kohlrabi, the way i've always done it is this: peel and cut into fairly thin slices, roughly 1/4 inch thick. if you have about 2-3 softball sized ones, put about a teaspoon of oil in a pot, heat on medum, add about 1/2 tsp each of black mustard seeds and cumin seeds. wait till seeds pop. add 1/4-1/2tsp turmeric powder to oil (depending on taste) and then add kohlrabi pieces. stir, add salt to taste, and cook till kohlrabi is done--it should be slighty translucent and soft, not at all crunchy. if you'd like you can add a jalapeno or serrano pepper while it's cooking too. I'm sorry that this isnt a proper recipe, it's one of those things i've done so long i've gotten to the point where i never measure anything. I hope you like it!

I went to a saturday brunch buffet about 2 months ago with a group of south asians. We were all pretty happy with the food,it definitely was like what many of us had grown up eating. and i remember that the ragda patties were pretty good. In general, i think their street foods and guajrati foods (try the aloo paratha, dal, or puran puri) are excellent, i haven't been happy with the paneer dishes and the south indian dishes aren't as good as those elsewhere, like amma.

I just got my seed savers exchange seed catalog and they are apparently selling heirloom beans for cooking now too. 12 oz for $4.75, about 20 varieties. www.seedsavers.org

My friend ordered mint juleps at Hudson this weekend and they were great. I had rather nontraditional drinks--a cucumber collins and something with pomegranate, and those were excellent too.