Hannah

Wegman's has Maldon, Williams-Sonoma has various French fleurs de sel. And isn't the Balducci's in Mclean still open?

Yep. The one area that had been completely cleaned out at Wegmans yesterday was the sour cream/dip section.

From the Telegraph I find it a little scary that he needed that boiled egg to tide him over on the way out.

If there's anyone still looking, one of Heritage Foods USA's producers is offering haggis for sale this year.

Well, "this coming" is always the closest instance of the thing referred to, so "this coming spring" would be March/April this year. "Next fall" could be this year or next in this case; there's not enough context to tell which.

You're not too far from the Spotted Pig there - it's at 314 W. 11th (cross st. is Greenwich), and it's a much more laid-back experience at lunchtime. They only serve the utterly fantastic smoked haddock chowder at lunchtime, so it's worth going just for that, but you can't really go wrong with anything on the menu.

I don't think I've ever gotten shrimp at Thai Luang, except maybe in pad thai. The duck dishes, on the other hand, are excellent, and they had a whole fish with ginger and garlic as a special a couple of months ago that was nice as well.

Ugh. I hate the overly perky, overly corporate-speak-laden 5-minute explanation of the menu that ensues if you answer no to "have you dined with us before?" in a casual restaurant so much that I will always lie and say yes when it's asked. I've had some really painful experiences with staff in newish restaurants who not only did the uber-detailed intro spiel including a full recitation of the menu, but also kept coming back every 2 minutes to make sure we hadn't somehow gotten confused because we were new to the restaurant. On the other hand, I don't find the question annoying in a fine dining context, because it's asked politely and with (at least on the surface) a genuine desire to be helpful, rather than as a corporate requirement to push the Signature Chicken Toenail Appetizer .

Luau Garden's pu pu platter is acceptable, but it's been years since I've gotten anything but carryout there, so can't speak to the hibachi-ness. Another very solid alternative is Cheng's in Sterling - they don't have quite as much indoor tiki stuff as Luau Garden, so they may lose a few points on the authentic atmosphere, but their food is generally better than Luau Garden's, and I can personally vouch for the pu pu platter. (No mother-of-pearl, though they do have the carved wooden tray and the hibachi.)

Virginia Kitchen and Amphora in Herndon both have it on the menu, and neither version appears to be from a can - the chunks are different sizes, and there are carrots and things. My dad liked Virginia Kitchen's version, so that's a pretty good sign; count me among the traumatized.

I had the House side version (same recipe as the Senate side, they're just not going to call it Senate bean soup 'cause they're funny like that) for lunch yesterday. If I'd had to guess at the recipe based on what I ate, I would have gone with a stock base instead of water and guessed it had at least half again as much ham. There's a LOT of ham in it, not that this is a bad thing. Whoever makes it in Longworth also has a pretty heavy hand with the pepper and garlic, so it's not bland, either - good for a cold day. The mashed potato is an interesting twist; I assumed the texture was from squashed/blended beans, but that's a much quicker way of getting the desired texture without having to cook the beans into mush.

This really is spectacular - thank you leleboo and mktye!

The ones I'm most familiar with around here (Glasgow Uni) are always at some hotel or other, but we of course supply our own haggis and piper. I'd check with the Royal Mile first - if they aren't able to provide, they should know who can.

While I won't be able to attend this year (sorry Monica!) I can definitely vouch for how fantastic the Press Club book fairs are - they really are wonderful events, and a great place to get early holiday shopping done because of the variety of authors they invite.

Yep, US delivery is available from the main site. There has apparently been some recent change in UK export law, because a whole bunch of UK firms that did not previously ship directly to the US or anywhere else outside the EU have started doing so within the past 2-3 months. Marks and Spencer are shipping some stuff, but it doesn't appear that they've expanded to include much if any of their food range yet.

Yes, but the menus at NGA were, up until last Sunday, featuring Spanish food in conjunction with the Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain exhibit. So basically it was a temporary mini-Jaleo with the nice waterfall and bouncy moving sidewalks.

Earl Grey and Armagnac is particularly nice on a chilly evening. There's also the Penicillin, which, while it was originally intended to be cold, can be made as a hot drink and is really good.

The rack of Kurobuta pork is as good as one would expect, but lurking under the innocent looking cocotte of grits served alongside is a particularly fantastic boudin noir, which is good enough that I'd go back and order the pork again just so that I could have the combo of grits and boudin. I am not normally a big fan of boudin noir, but this was seriously excellent; I do note for the record that it's not mentioned on the menu, and our server didn't mention its presence either, so it might have been a real shock to an offalophobe - it only really came up when I was discussing wine pairings.

Ben's Chili Bowl is also open late - per their web site, 2am Mon-Thurs, 4am Fri-Sat, 11pm Sun, full menu available until closing. <homer>Mmm, late night chili dogs.</homer>

That kind of charitable gift is generally routed through a foundation, so the direct tax liability isn't an issue. And it's good practice to keep your donors happy until you've deposited the check.

He hasn't stopped at all - the radio spots on WTOP over the weekend featured him proclaiming it the best Indian restaurant in the US. Granted, Rasika's very good, but even assuming that you choose to limit the comparison to fine-dining Indian, I'd happily argue the toss with Tabla, and Devi's in there as a strong contender as well.

I remember seeing in one of their emails that one of the chefs or managers bought the Ashburn location, which is why it's no longer part of the chain.

It's readable, but the mains, sides, and desserts and the last paragraph are offset a half inch and an inch further left than everything else, which is doing very strange things to the rest of the page.

Yeah, I bet the Capitol Police are just gonna love that idea.

Update: straight out of the jar, unrefrigerated, it is definitely more like a fruit spread than jam, but is also pretty juicy. Flavor's good though - very nice concentrated peach with a little undertone of the prosecco. I assume it'll firm up a little in the fridge, so I'll give it another try tonight and see how it goes.