Heather

spaghetti and meatballs green salad garlic bread sour cherry/almond oatmeal cookies

McCann's "quick cooking" steel cut oats, with brown sugar, a lump of Plugra, and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Tastes like salty caramel oatmeal, mmmm. Cafe au lait

Can I get a bumper sticker of this?

I thought that #5 might interest this audience. http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-develop-growing-up-poor/

I skipped out of a webinar yesterday and walked over to Freddy's for a leisurely lunch. Clam strip platter, Yankee iced tea, and some 90's grunge rock comprised the menu. Clams were crisp and sweet. Fries were good - I like their matchstick much better than thicker cut frites - and the slaw was tart and not drowning in mayo. Portions appear to have grown since the last time I was there, even the cole slaw. $15, including tip.

I got nothing against you, Ms. or Mr. Bacon. Please consider my rant as anti-Yelp. I should be yelling at those damn kids to get off my lawn before too long.

"Soulless?" I assume you are speaking of the look, and not the people. I've been kicking around the internets since 1995 or so, and have participated in many, many message boards, food listservs, etc. This website has the most passionate, knowledgable, and creative collection of cooks and diners that I've ever had the privilidge of hanging out with, both in the cyber and the literal sense of that term. And some of the best food writing on the web. Not everything here is 100% wonderful, but the depth of knowledge and sincerity of the posters here have kept me around since April 16, 2005, and will probably keep me reading for another 7 years. I would pay to keep this site going if Don would let me. And I BY FAR trust the opinions here over the random bullshit I see posted on Yelp. So, yeah, soulless. Love, Member #25

I've ordered twice. Pizza is not very good and is overpriced - and in Bethesda, that's saying something. Also, their name is very cute, but our firewall blocks it thereby discouraging our business. I'd rather walk an extra block and get Mia's.

For those of following along, this is the list of foods I will not be able to eat: iodized salt or sea salt Dairy products (milk, butter, yogurt, ice cream, cheese) Vitamins (most multis add iodine) Food and meds that contain Red dye FD&C #3 Egg yolks, whole eggs, or food containing them Seafood (fish, shellfish, seaweed, kelp) Foods that contain the additives: carragen, agar-agar, algin, algin= ates Cured and corned meats Breads with iodate dough conditioners Chocolate (milk added) Soy and soy products (soy sauce, tofu, soy milk) Potato skins Some beans (pinto, navy beans, lima beans, red kidney beans,) Restaurant food Processed foods, since there is no reliable way of knowing what kind of salt is used I'm going to spend the time until my doctor calls with the scan date compiling recipes.

Thank you! I really appreciate that. :-) It's better than having cancer, is what I remind myself. I've thought about self-publishing as an e-book, but hadn't really looked into it closely. Finding time to write is a real challenge these days.

Don, THANK YOU for saying this. It's exactly why I dislike "tasting menus."

Yes, thank you, Matt! We had a great meal. The food was very good (lamb and braised pork especially) and the atmosphere was \festive, but as with all of these events, the company is what made it really special.

It's that time again! Docs let me take a year off after a few negative scans, but new irregular lymph nodes in my neck mean back to stricter monitoring and regular scans. A Thyrogen shortage means that I'm waitlisted for the next available not earmarked for someone with active cancer. I could get the call from my radiation doc at any time, and will have to start the low-iodine diet immediately. Job one is cleaning out my fridge/freezer, and looking up all my recipes. I'll be keeping track here, and on my website, In Good Thyme. The cookbook idea is sounding better and better.

Beautiful. I've been hoarding old Gourmet magazines myself. I too would assume that "larding fat" is fatback. I looked at my recipe again, and the gravy calls for either gingersnaps or crumbled homemade honey cake - that recipe is highly spiced, includes ground almonds and chopped citron. It's baked in a jelly roll pan. I might have to make the cake and try that variation.

Green salad Shrimp & fish tacos with guacamole & onions Huge glass of milk

Crispin natural hard apple cider. I'll be buying more of this from Rodman's

Worst. Diet. Ever. And horrendous when put out by a hospital kitchen. When I was in isolation at Shady Grove Hospital, the low-iodine food was so bad that I actively dreaded mealtimes. I don't remember the food when I had my kids, and I was in hospital for 4 days after each. I don't remember caring. Euphoria does a lot for one's appetite.

I've made a lot of sauerbraten, but never seared the meat before marinating. Three days sounds about right - my recipe is from the Time-Life Cooking of Germany book & is reasonably "authentic" Looking at AB's recipe, I see he calls for nothing but vinegar. My recipe uses vinegar, and red wine. I might have to get some beef & gingersnaps and make it this week.

Steel-cut oatmeal with walnuts & dried sour cherries Sausage Toast Coffee Snow shoveling & car scraping

This made me laugh. Props to Mrs. B for sending it to me: http://youtu.be/EB2aVzmPxxM

Is there room for one more?

We had dinner at Nava tonight. No quibbles with flavor (good amount of fresh herbs, no skimping on fish sauce, etc.), but despite ordering everything "medium," there was really no heat to any of our dishes. I do like the little containers on the table that allow you to add spice as needed. Drunken noodles are probably the tastiest rendition I've tried anywhere.

I've been for lunch and dinner several times recently, and the food and service are about the same, i.e., decent and hit-or-miss. My issue is with the gigantic television in the downstairs dining room. It's probably OK if you're there to watch a game of some sort, but the last thing I need when trying to have a relaxing meal is CNN's Casey Anthony update in my face.

I've seen "Mignardises" listed as a course on some menus, and would assume petits fours could be part of that.

I don't mind bringing bags for most things, but I learned first hand this week that carryout in a cloth bag leaks and can leave an ugly stain where the bag brushes against one's "dry clean only" coat.