Barbara

The World Market at Friendship Heights has California Ranch Olive Oil on sale for $6.99 a liter! I would have bought more than one, but couldn't carry all that on the subway.

I'm going with snakebit when facing the Braves.

Can we please ban that awful "chopping and chanting" they do in Atlanta? It's a least a bad as the name of the Washington Football team.

After spending the afternoon watching the Masters, I turned the radio on to find a rather perplexing pre-game interview with Matt Williams, who was talking about moving Harper to Center field. WTF? A little bit of Googling found the info that Span maybe has a concussion and is on the 7-day DL and Werth has "groin pain" and will be on the bench if needed. This game is going to be very, very interesting; especially since Rendon started the first inning with a homer.

In other words, not folding like a cheap suit--which was the case last year.

Not a Grand Slam, but Zimmerman hit a 3-run homer to tie the game. Last year, they would have just gotten demoralized and folded. This is making me very, very hopeful for this season.

What lacakdaisi said!

They're a great team.

The one team the Nats just can't figure out. They are snake-bit.

Riffing with the theme of this thread, I wonder how to use the Old Bay seasoning as paint.  For a large white platter.  Kind of like glitter shapes.  Not meant to be edible, only pretty, interesting designs between lettuce leaves for a cheese platter or something.  Or paint clam or oyster shells with Old Bay to create a raised area at the center or top of a vegetable appetizer plate; since she is vegetarian.

You would have to find a substance that made the seasoning stick to the plate/shells without running orange or red rivers all over the place.

Simple. Dip a brush in egg whites and outline whatever shape you want. Sprinkle Old Bay on and shake off the excess. The same principle goes for making sugared rose petals.

To integrate our Thomas Boswell thread into this Natitude thread:

"Mets, Braves Series Could Set The Tone For The Washington Nationals' Season" by Thomas Boswell on washingtonpost.com

Yeah, except it didn't. Why OH Why do they fall apart in the face of the Braves? THREE base-running errors. Never mind the inside-the-park homerun by Desmond that was thrown out. Feh.

Well, it looks like the lawsuit took some kind of toll.  Paula Deen shut down Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House yesterday. [Washington Post link]

She stayed real Klassy to the end. Thus ensuring that she will never see a single cent from me.

The only sad thing about this is that Brooks played before free agency. He never made the kind of money that mid-level players make today. I don't know what he might have done with all that cash; but, I'll bet it would have been more edifying than squiring Madonna around town.

The Braves have pitching problems. Lots of injuries early in the season. Dear Dog, I've been waiting for the season to start since the last one ended. I've been listening to the games on the radio--a couple of them on my portable from Radio Shack (which I take to Nats Park and listen with the ear buds) while working on my garden on the patio. Pure BLISS.

Can I drink to me?, because I think I need it.

OH, why not?

I love a good Caesar Salad. In fact, I am likely to order it if it's on the menu and not in a chain restaurant. The one I had this evening at Baby Wale was one that I will be longing for a good long time. It was a classic, non-grilled  , perfectly fresh salad with little croutons and generous shavings of cheese. Perfect, in other words and in my opinion. It wasn't comped, either. I don't remember ever seeing a Caesar Salad on the menu at Corduroy. I wonder why not?

For well under $20, one could have a bowl of soup and that salad and be very, very content--unless you hadn't eaten in a week or so.

Yes, plus one--as I told you at Amoo's. Lovely to meet you and this is really something I am looking forward to.

I was just in the new TJ's on 14th St. this afternoon and found pine nuts from Korea. They weren't expensive, as such things go, but they also didn't look anything like those Spanish ones I got from Whole Paycheck a couple of years ago. So, I passed them up.

This was what the best of what the former DR.com dinners (that I have attended) were supposed to be. Wonderful food, wonderful friends, and didn't break the bank, either. The only problem I could see was that several people wandered in, not knowing that this was a private event, and had to be turned away. At Zora's suggestion, I told Chef Seb's sister (who apparently runs the place) that she might want to consider shutting off the big neon "OPEN" sign--which she promptly did--and very graciously, too, I might add.

Thanks to the entire staff of the restaurant for doing this and being so very accommodating to all of us.  Needless to say, I didn't leave there hungry and even wished I had a second stomach. The folks out that way are very lucky to have this place.

Also thanks to DanielK for the transportation and the company.

The "America's Test Kitchen" folks have come up with a gluten-free cookbook.  Julia Collin-Davison and Jack Bishop were on "Fresh Air" this afternoon:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Can-Gluten-Free-Cookbook/dp/1936493616/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395368812&sr=1-2&keywords=gluten+free+cookbook

You can listen to the whole (fascinating to me) show here:

http://www.npr.org/2014/03/20/291873792/test-kitchen-have-your-gluten-free-cake-and-love-eating-it-too

They explain all the problems with making the non-wheat stuff act like it is supposed to.

 The domaine de canton and St. Germain greatly increase the cost of the cocktail, clocking in around $35 each per bottle, but definitely worth the tariff.

My local liquor store had both of these on sale for under $30 at the time I bought them. I was interested in both after reading an article in the WaPo about the Cooper brothers. Their father, apparently, owned the company that makes Chambord raspberry liqueuer and they went their separate ways to make the two other items. Somebody came up with the Cooper Brothers Cocktail which, BTW includes an ORANGE--not lemon--twist, as I originally posted.

I'm in + 1, possibly 2, since DanielK will be driving. 

My sister makes them and keeps them double-bagged in the freezer.  They bake up in minutes and taste great.  Here is the recipe. 

OK, then. I printed out the recipe and will find the ingredients. Most likely, I will make them and freeze before baking. This is because, at some point when the weather cooperates, I have promised to have a "meet and greet" for DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and can see myself passing these around to a bunch of strangers. Might help; couldn't hurt.

The Weller Antique 107 has started showing up on the shelves a lot more in the Richmond ABC stores, so I'm ready to make it the every day under $25 house drinker that I've been waiting for.  My only real problem, and it's hardly a problem, is that I find it has to be neat for me to enjoy it.  The few times I've put in an ice cube, the flavors and any bourbon intensity seem to disappear.  It doesn't happen instantly, but as soon as any of the ice melts the water washes away everything I like about it.

Does anyone else find this happening with this or other whiskies?  Is this also a sign to steer clear of throwing this into a cocktail for fear of losing the flavor?

Derek Brown himself suggested using this particular bourbon to make bourbon-based cocktails, which I did. My sense of taste isn't refined enough to answer your question, but I certainly enjoy the "Cooper's Brothers" cocktail: 1 oz. Bourbon (Weller Antique 107), 1/2 oz. St. Germain Elderflower Liqueuer, 1/2 oz. Domaine de Canton ginger liqueuer, shaken in a cocktail shaker filled with ice, strained into a cocktail glass with a twist of lemon.

So don what should we do, equal votes on last 2 dates..

Apparently, voting is still open and you need to check the count.

The second shad was butterflied through the stomach and entirely deboned.  Deboning shad is an enterprise in another reality of fish butchering and the handful of old timers that still know how to do it cleanly and efficiently deserve a comfy repose somewhere between the Smithsonian's American History and Folk Art Department. 

A few years ago, in an annual WaPo article about Shad Roe, there was a doctor who was interested in the bone structure of the fish--being notoriously bony and all. Having access to an X-ray machine, he put the whole fish under the "lights" so to speak and discovered the bone structure so that he would know how to bone it.

My question is: assuming that you weren't able to X-ray the specimen, how did you manage to bone it without utterly destroying the flesh?

Shrimp stock for tomorrow night's Shrimp and Grits in celebration of Mardi Gras (or Carnivale or Fasching or whatever it is called).