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deangold

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Everything posted by deangold

  1. Banh Mi So 1 is tucked in a corner of Eden Center and as far as I know, been there for years. It serves up a pretty damned good Banh Mi. Their strong point is the bread which is dangerously flaky if you eat your sandwich in the car {this is a hypothetical bases on studies, not actual practice.}The veggies and spice levels re nice and they use a mayo that is addictive. Their fillings are a touch behind Banh Mi DC and Le Bledo. But the bread is the best by far. So in a ranking, i'd put them tied or just behind Banh Mi DC, and both behind Le Bledo. Of course the convenience of grabbing a Banh Mi on the way home fro Good Fortune market is hard to beat {Good Fortune is now as good as any Asian grocery as I discover the store more and more.}
  2. Stopped off at Eden Center on our way back from Westover Farmer's Market. Bought a Banh Mi & Iced Coffee with Condensed milk from Banh Mi So 1. Everything about it was outstanding from the bread to the cold cuts to the mayo & veggies. But it lacked the funky pate spread of the one last week from Banh Mi DC. Iced coffee was super. Bought 1/2# Roast rib and a plastic container's worth of spicy tripe and stewed gizzards which were both fabulous and quite funky, Kay was less impressed. When we came back home we rushed to check on spot. He was excited to see us. Well not exactly excited. Let's face it, he was asleep and gave a short meow to let us know he was greatly inconvenienced at our disturbing his nap. He then stretches and yawned to show off his claws of death and his 14" long fangs. I am not quite sure how he can open his mouth to 4 times the size of his head and hide those fangs in his dainty-sized head when not intimidating Cat Mom and Cat Dad.
  3. When I went to Greek town, it was for Greek food! I was part of a group of grad students with one actual greek member {sometimes 2} who went to Greek town every other Saturday. Having Greek guys who could say hi and curse in Greek made for already large portions seem endless. And we never seemed to pay for more than one shot of ouzo even as they put 2 or 3 bottles down for the 8 of us.
  4. Local cucumbers w/ume paste, crudite, tuna salad.
  5. An all veggie meal. Grilled asparagus w/lemon & olive oil; grilled purple spring onion, Mr Stripey tomato & red onion salad w/basil, oregano & Thai mint from our herb garden, balsamico & olive oil; Grilled ball zucchini, green & grey, rosemary, thyme. oregano from the herb garden; zucchini & golden zucchini grilled w/ green onion, chive, epazote & cilantro from the garden. No t pictured: sweet potato baked w/ramp pesto. drinks: Soju, yogurt drink, strawberry syrup Korean cocktails, lightly blended. Spot polished off his pizza and then his chow. I predict he will walk all over Kay to get greenies and an early breakfast. I might get shown his butt hole.
  6. I bet there are a lot of restaurants that aren't as careful as the one you were at least night. I have seen shocking pictures of lack of social distancing and mask wearing from customers. I know the guy who was in the parties. I mean not know as is Hi Mike, how ya hanging? But it was Mike Pence.
  7. I lived in Chicago almost a decade and spent many a night at Pizzeria Due. But I would never order one frozen just as I cannot eat frozen soft shells or pasteurized MD crab. Some things are best left to memory: Cassel's Hamburgers and Madelines as examples.
  8. Left over Federalist Pig BBQ. Mostly chopped shoulder which may have been better cold, one rib tip and 2 slices of brisket.
  9. Just a question. Given what we are dealing with, what is the joy of ordering pizza from Chicago at outrageously high prices {I have seen the Lou Malnati's pizzas being cooked and eaten on YouTube: they were tiny and not appetizing looking at all} when you could support miltiple meals at a locally owned small restaurant in financial danger?
  10. I cannot imagine dining indoors. It is an extreme risk activity. I feel for the bunsiness who because there is not real rescue going on. I lament the workers who are trying to survive on unemployment and $1200 and must go back to work or lose the unemployment. I seee the pictures of restaurants over crowded, with people not wearing masks {vp pence for esample} not we ring masks and am thinking how we came to this. We are putting businesses and workers in an untenable position because the gutless politicians won't actually prvide relief.
  11. Had our first meal from here as Kay had an errand to run in DC. We sat down an hour after the meal was ready for pickup. Did not seem worse for the wear. We had 6 "wings" which were not full wings but sections. If they were labeled 6 pieces, that would be more descriptive. Amazing flavor, good chew, the meat dried in a very good way. Super if pricey. We then had a Pitmaster combo of 4 meats and 3 sides. Chopped pork shoulder: great bark, juicy, good flavor but a touch fatty. Very good. Strong B Ribs: a little dry, nice bark, good chew. BBQ is not suposed to be fall off the bone tender unless ist is a wet style. These were close to on point, a tetch to the dry side. Good flavor, heavy smoke B Brisket: nicely moist, good chew, incredible bark. The bark was crunchy after an hour in transit. B+ Rib Tips: these were a straight out winner. Tender but with an al dente chew. Great smoke. not as much bark as the rest, but that was from their moistness. A- The real overall knock is there was no mop sauce. The meat should not be drowned in mop, but great BBQ to me as a moist sheen of mop sauce to even a small sheen of mop at the bottom of the plate. With a bit of a juicy mop, every one of these would go up a half grade. I don't think this is a matter of style, all the meats skewed dry and a good mop takes care of that. I like my meats cooked with a mop sauce but I don't like any sauce added to the meats. However, I do like to dip the meats in sauce. The sauces were really good. Kay picked out a bunch of types but there was no marking as to which was which. 2 erally good hot sauces, one sweet sauce, also really good, a mustard, a galrlic and a vinegar sauce that were distinct but showed the same hand made them. Solid A. The sides: mac n cheese: tasted bready and chewy. C Green beans: frozen, ok spice, the liquid wasn't a sauce of a pot likker. C+ Slaw. I get better from most grocery store deli's. D pickles and onion on the side of the meat: salty, briney, tart, bracins, delicious. A Overall, really good. Not crazy expensive. My 3 way sampler at Texas Jacks was almost as much money and had nothing to reccoment it. I will be back but for ala carte meats. Final grade a B that should have been an A
  12. Kay had to go to DC so we ate some takeout from Federalist Pig. Our first time. Best BBQ by a good margin inside the beltway. Does not begin to compare to run of the mill BBQ or the best old school in LA like Dr Hoggly Wogleys Tyler Texas BBQ. More detailed description on their thread. Detailed description A late addition: the last of out strawberry sorbetti. That was a good batch! We tried a sour IPA from Norfolk Va's O'Conner Brewing Sour Batch Kids IPA. Sour as advertised but not much more. I am not a sour beer kinda guy I guess. Solace Partly Cloudy hazy IPA. Really good but it is $14.99 for a 4 pack at Trader Joe's. Sun's Out Hops out is 18.99 for 18 at Harris Teeter. I like the Suns Out more. Spot? What do you think. Complaints! Complaints! Complaints! He IS a cat, after all. Kay and Spot are cuddled up on Spot's bed taking a nap. I am posting to DonRockwell.com. Sorry Don, but Spot has me beat!
  13. Late night snack last night, or early one this morning, was some of my strawberry rum gelato. OMG good! Dinner tonight was more of the same with some steamed potatoes with ramp pesto instead of the pork. The purple cauliflower was much better cold but still not going to wind up in our rotation. The cahrd and broccoli were great. We finished off the squash earlier in the day Kay got out her Martini chops and did a great job: 4 Brokers to 3 Dolin dry, stirred until the can is frosty, Peychaud's aromatic & Angostura Orange bitters. Strained perfectly into chilled glasses, served with huge cocktail olives from Spain. She done good! Strawberry Sorbetti.
  14. When I lived in Chicago, there was a burgeoning Thai community. A Thai mom opened a restaurant called Little Thai Home cafe with about 4 tables. She got on in years and turned things over to the kids who put in another dining room and it sat maybe 40. Mom owned the building and she was willing to give it to her kids but they had to work one night a week each in the restaurant {I think there were 8 of them or so} And they couldn't sell the building for a number of years. By the time I started going regularly, two of the kids mostly ran the place and the others popped in more out of love for the business than actually working. There was a son running the front, and his sister, a former MD, was in the kitchen. I learned to come in very late or at odd hours of the afternoon so avoid the lines and the bro and I struck up a friendship. He finally gave into to my questions and let me know about the dishes listed in Thai on the wall. I got the "you won't like them" routine but each one was better than the next. These were dishes from Issan where they were from. And he was impressed with my spice abilities. But there was one dish he refused to tell me about. His sister would only shake her head no if I asked her. But one late night, I brought him some beers and he finally relented. "It's called Jungle Curry. No coconut milk and really hot! It is my favorite!" So I got to order it and he said if I couldn't handle it, he would eat it but I'd still have to pay. He figures he was getting $6 and a free curry. He was wrong. His eyes popped. Soon our meals together were 2 jungle curries with a larb Thai hot. Any Thai customer or family member would be brought over to see me eat this incredibly hot dish. One day, he brought out the chili tray and added some red chili and some chili in vinegar. I was honor bound to add some. As we ate, he was clearly impressed as he could barely handle the extra heat and I added a second spoon of each. This went on and each time I added more and more chili to get my chili high. One day I was up to about 8 spoons of the toasted red chili and 2 or 3 of the peppers in vinegar. he stopped talking and said "You'e fudging crazy! My Uncle in Thailand doesn't even eat it that hot." Just to make sure, he dipped his spoon in my bowl and he howled when he tasted it. Then his mind went to work. I need to take you to Thailand and get you into a chili eating contest. You begin to drop out, we bet a lot more money on you! Then you go back to eating and we clean up! We will pay for the trip in no time!" Alas, it never happened. And, apparently, betting money on who could eat the hottest food in his hometown was a well honored profession, and his uncle was a top gun chili-shark. I no longer can eat food that hot, but many here will tell you I can put chilies away with the best, even now. Or more likely, they will say I am "fudging crazy!"
  15. Cold leftover Valentino's Pizza: a Valentino's special, well done. Gosh was that good. One observation: red chili flakes on a cooked pizza are an inefficient means to heat. You experience far fewer percieved Scovilles on the way in as compared to the way out.
  16. Leftovers. Mostly. Slow roasted pork crisped in a very hot oven, served cold w/wasabi & soy. Sauteed zucchini & yellow squash w/garlic & mint, sauteed chard, purple broccoli, and a new dish, steamed purple caulifower from Linda Vista farms. We were supposed to get white but they ran out so they gave us a bunch of the purple. I steamed it and then doused it in lemon juice, simichi pepper and sancho. . Raw it was quite tasty. Cooked it was slightly bland cauliflower, but very pretty The drink is makkoli draft. Very tasty and super easy. Spot had pizza. Very easy and very tasty. Especially as I did all the work from opening the can, to avoiding stepping on him, to almost getting eaten as I placed the bowl on the dining mat, to cleaning the bowl. And the thanks I got? He slept the rest of the night in his bed on the side he sometimes lets me sleep on. But at least this week the bedroom use bill goes to Kay.
  17. What I love about gelato making is how I have gone from needing to follow recipes exactly, to then modisying a recipe using calculations to make sure of fat & liquid content to now just being able to riff. My latest riff is a strawberry gelato. We have some of last year's vintage in the freezer and used some forour sorbet. SO I took a cup of what amounts to local strawberry simple syrup, 1 cup mixed of heavy cream and regular milk, and 2 cups of heavy cream, and half the sugar I would normally use in the hot mix, 6 egg yolks {one extra} and 1/2 cup sugar in the cold. I flavored the hot mix with black pepper, salt, two vanilla beans. After scalding the hot mix to 190 degrees I let it cool slowly to 140 degrees and then tempered the beanted egg yolks and sugar on slow. Then everything went back on the stove for heating to just 190 degrees {I originally cooked the custard to 200 then 195 and each time I would get a little eggy solids which I would strain out}. At 140 degrees I added 1 TBSP of vanilla double fold, 2 oz of Smith & Cross pot still Jamaican rum, a sprig of Thai mint and let it sit until at room temp. A run through the Conical fine mesh strainer and refrigerated overnight. I spun it yesterday. The traditional licking of the beaters and bowl were particularly delightful. Kay thinks I used too much rum, but I am not sure what this "too much rum" means. Sometimes I think she slips and speaks in Spot or some other unintelligible language. As always, we had egg whites left over and since I hate meringues and other typical uses, I decided to try something a little wacky. I lightly beat the whites, added hon dashi powder, soy, & mirin. I took some metal bowls and, coated them with sesame oil and put a couple of shrimp, some spring onion, a couple of seafood mushrooms. Then I steamed them in my presto cooker. My mistake was to use too much water and it overflowed the bowls and made everything a little soggy. I added a few drops of soy on top.We let them cook to warm and ate. I refrigerates one overnight and ate it cold the next morening for breakfast. The result was not quite a egg white chawan mushi as that would be made from fully beaten eggs and dashi stock instead of powder would have been used. I used too much soy as the dish was distinctly salty. The overnight one was far better. This is a work in progress but I have my game plan for the next batch, but our next gelato making is going to result in a batch of coconut maroons: plain, chocolate chip and cocoa powder flavored.
  18. A wonderful Valentino's Special Pizza. It was a stuff our faces with carbs kind of day. Champion Missile IPA and Solace Hops out suns out IPA. Spot sang "Someday my pizza will come" for about an hour leading up to dinner. Pizza was served. He avoided getting stepped on as I brought him his pizza, as he likes to get underfoot from the moment I grab his can to the moment I put his bowl down. He particularly loves to dance on his foot mat, where we put the bowl, as we try and set it down on the food mat. He slept soundly to show his appreciation of the pizza. He had a particularly generous late night snack of dry chow as we had a communication failure and overfed him. He not only did not appreciate the mistake in his favor, but weighed out his nightly portion and said I better get this fudging amount tomorrow or someone will get shredded with the claws of doom, that is if I have the energy to do so. We are not afraid. And he doesn't even eat fudge! Overnight he climbed onto my nightstand and pulled over my insulin pen needles thinking they were greenies. He was so upset that he failed to clean up after himself. I might have been lucky, as who needs pen needles well covered in kitty litter. I have to take this on faith from what Kay describes and the tell tale sealed pen needles on the floor. She claims I woke up and trid to clean them up but I have no memory of this. Nor of spot standing on me as he did his dirty work. Of of him showing me his butt hole.
  19. Last call/ Thursday or Friday. Whales. $10 each. $15 cleaned. I am awaiting on confirmation of availability but this was the situation yesterday. The guy from Cold Country Salmon goes to the waterman, picks up the softies and drops them off to me.
  20. The Castelmagno being all gone, we turned to the freezer and steamed some shrimp. I love the quality of the sustainable shrimp I get at Restaurant Depot. The other day, my usual brand was out of stock so they had another brand that was BAP certified which is very good certification for farmed fish. When I got home, I noticed that the bag has TSP added. TSP is a cleaning agent, banned in California, that is allowed in some fish as it causes the fish to absorb water. The chemical is flused with all the water, supposedly, as you cook it. Since I steam the shrimp in a steamer basket, I am sort of OK with the TSP from a health point of view, but the water gain is rediculous as you lost it all in cooking. So these shrimp, 10/13 raw size cook up like 25/30s. What a rip off. At least they taste good. Steamed shrimp with Kikoman ponzu {It is a lazy day when I use bottled ponzu for dipping fish!} Wasabi. There will be raw Kohlrabi, radish and such later. I finally have it figured out: lunch ends with the first cocktail, wine, makkoli, soju or sake of the night. Then it is dinner. Any food put out before the booze and finished with the booze is just a snack.
  21. Atwater bread, toasted, spread wit a thin veneer of butter, crumbled Castelmagno and toasted a second time.
  22. Broker's packs a great bang for the buks for martinis and corpse revivers. Gordon's London dry makes superb negroni and other drinks where the gin is not as prominent. My favorite for drinks like the corpse reviver with lots los citrus and clear gin flavors is Bombay Sapphire. My issue with sapphire is it doesn't play well with vermouth so it is not a favorite for martinez, negroni and martinis. My first bottle to buy would definitely be brokers as it is under $20 on sale this month at the VABC.
  23. Try it in a corpse reviver instead of the absinthe rinse. Use about 1/2 oz if it is St Germain or something gentle and aromatic.
  24. The other day I completed the low and slow potion of cooking a small pork shoulder end of the ribs roast. Last night I put in the shoulder at 450 {the highest setting on our Brevillle as our main oven heats the apartment as much as it cooks food} WHen the pork reached 145, we took it out and let is sit for a few minutes. The pork was deeply brown, very tasty but I think a bit lower final cook temp would ahve made it better. On the other hands, the rib bones we cut off were amazing! We dipped the meat into soy and wasabi. Our side was a overnight salt pickle of cucumber, Asian pear, Chinese cabbage outer leaves. All in all, a simple but very tasty dinner. Dessert was a couple of chocolate cookies from Atwater. The cookies are obviously defective as we bought 6 on Sunday and they disappeared by Monday night. I do not know how that possibly could have happened. The wine was the rest of the Cenatiempo Bianco.
  25. Monday and the fight to atoning for our over shopping of last week is nearing the end. Today's lunch was garbage salad. In other words, we put stuff in there to clear it out. Our salad contained lump crab, a red tomato & a Mr Stripey both from Spring Valley but from different weeks. cukes spring valley, snap peas from Barajas, spring onion, cherry belle & french breakfast radish & asparagus from Linda Vista, with a dressing of homemade ramp pesto, homemade roasted garlic mayo, sherry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, home made sichuan peppercorn, mint & garlic spiced olive oil. Amazingly delicious and quite filling. A slice of Atwater wheat to sop up the dressing and an Atwater double chocolate chunk cookie fill it out. The cookies are truly amazing. Spot, still a little worse for the wear after his catnip debauchery yesterday came out to join us, nibbling on his dwindling supply of chow. Hw complained loudly and was rewarded with greenies. He has been having a lot of trouble keeping his comestibles in his mouth, dropping them and then leaning down to recover and eat them again. It seems like he counts each try as separate food so it works for us. He seems to think he is eating 50% more food that he is. I will charitably assign it to the 'nip rather and intimate in any way our cat child is not brilliant.
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