mhberk

It was pretty interesting. I'm glad that they showed the interview with Michael Landrum. I also enjoyed the segment with Cathal Armstrong. I had no idea that Patrick O'Connell didn't have any formal culinary training when before he opened the IaLW.

I LOVE the relay Quickfire - fun to watch good/bad/uncertain technique on display.

Same her. Last year's relay was easily my favorite quickfire done in any of the four seasons!

This last episode was probably my favorite of the season so far. My favorite line was when one of the judges told Spike that they liked his fish and Dale chimed in with a "You should have, it took him three and a half hours to make it!"

Linky to Article

According to the article, the Harris Teeter in Columbia will open on May 20th.

FINALLY!!

What makes these tasty sandwiches so great is that they slice them to order. I take mine medium rare and sliced paper thin with horseradish and mayo.

Just bring cash because they don't accept credit cards. They have one of those no-name portable ATMs there. But to save on the service charges, come prepared.

BTW, Marmite? It tastes like burning.

Didn't Rocco think it was vegamite?

Step four: Use two-thirds all-purpose flour to one-third cake flour. Ordinary all-purpose flour is all right, but it isn't milled finely enough to be fully absorbed into the potato crumbles. Plus, it has too much protein: High-protein wheat results in chewy gnocchi. If you want to be truly Italian, look for imported Italian flour marked 00 TENERO, which is milled from soft wheat with a low protein content.

I know chef Trabocchi calls for this flour when making his lasagna. Where can I find this flour?

Not local, but Fireworks Popcorn (popcornlovers.com) is a great mail source for unusual types of corn. Their varieties

Have you tried any of these?

That's interesting

I remember reading something similar to this in Business 2.0 sometime last year.

Go now and get a bar table.

We thought about that, but this is our first time back out and we wanted something a little more intimate

Our neighbors have offered to babysit, so we are off to RTC tonight for our first time dining out since our daughter's birth (11/11).

ETA: It looks like they don't have anything available until 9:45 , so I guess it's off to Lebanese Taverna in Woodly Park

For those who have the pasta attachement, how does that work (I'm not asking technically)? Are there tasks that the attachement doesn't perform that a regular pasta roller does?

My sister tells me that my 6 year old nephew is showing an interest in cooking and I would like to get him something cooking related for the holiday. Do any of you have any recommendations for kids knives, cooking classes, or other gifts?

Thanks in advance!

Used Su-mei Yu's book: Asian Grilling to make chicken and shrimp satay over the weekend. EASILY the best satay I've ever had! If you want to ruin yourself for 99% of the satay you get in restaurants, try making the recipes in this book. These recipes, however, are NOT for those who like the abridged versions of recipes. Su-mei has you cut the chicken as thin as possible (10th of an inch) to increase the surface to volume ratio and it took 4 hours alone just to skewer the 6 lbs of chicken breast. The peanut dipping sauce for the chicken was FAR superior to what you get in jars or in restaurants. It only had one tablespoon of peanut butter for each one cup of sauce made. The rest (off the top of my head) was fresh lemongrass, galangal, shallots, garlic, red miso, red chilies, veggie oil, salt, tamarind juice, coconut milk, and maybe a few other ingredients. It was UNBELIEVABLY good!

The shrimp satay was even better. The marinade for the shrimp was very simple (off the top of my head): veggie oil, thai basil, ginger, garlic, shallots, arbol chilies, salt, soy sauce, and maybe a few other ingredients. It recommended a Thai Sweet Pepper sauce that had white peppercorns (dry roasted and crushed), coriander (dry roasted and crushed), sugar, arbol chilies, cider, white vinegar, cayenne, and a few other ingredients. You boil the this down to a syrup and let cool. The shrimp had just the right amount of heat that builds up a few seconds after you bite into it.

Here's the chicken satay:

I had to cook it on my brother's gas grill

Thanks for the feedback!

I broke down and drove down to Sur la Table on Wisconsin Ave and bought this granite one today. The woman who sold it to me (though she didn't really sound too familiar with mortar and pestles) said that she wouldn't suggest using soap on it. I know that Banco uses soap to clean it. Does anyone else?

Thanks for the replies!

I have a marble mortar and pestle now and I like how the rough interior is able to hold onto the spices (fennel seeds, black pepper, star anise, etc) and really grind and tear them (not just crush them). I would like to get another one, but they don't seem to make marble ones as big as they make granite ones. Does anyone here, that uses a granite one, have favorable experiences or similar experiences to the one I described with marble? For some reason, I just picture the granite ones being too porous.

Any feedback would be great!

I have one now, but I feel that I am out growing it an need a bigger one. Are there any stores in the MD/DC area where I can pick one up at?

IndeBleu is a good bet. We often have dinner somewhere in Penn Quarter and then have dessert at IndeBleu. But the single BEST dessert in ALL of Penn Quarter has to be the Turkish Coffee Chocolate at Zaytinya!

Yeah, these are all very established chefs who are already at the top of their game. Since these are some of the top chefs in the country, most of them already know (or know of) each other and aren't trying to back-stab to move ahead. Whereas a show like Top Chef, where they are pretty much nobodies, are picked based on their personalities.

They must be in a hurry to name the next Iron Chef. They've had three episodes and now they're already down to the final four.

I don't think there's any excuse for poor customer service!

...And head over to Piccolo's (RIP ) and had a great meal and seated in just 5 minutes.

That almost brought tears to my eyes. I do miss Piccolo's! I used to order a quart of there marinara sauce and fresh pasta (uncooked) all the time and make it at my house on a regular basis.

It looks like I'll need to sit this one out . It will be a week and a half before my wife's due date and I don't think she'll have the energy for this.

Chris, I hope this is something that you might offer in the winter or spring.

Asparagus risotto with shrimp and drizzled brown butter.

Good catch!! I would've never noticed that. I even went as far as to "Simpsonize" myself for my avatar.