Venerable Bede

i guess the one that annoyed me today was the guy posting from alexandria who wanted to go to a steakhouse in tyson's, but not to one "downtown," including the ray's downtown. i didn't know there was a ray's outpost in downtown.

my first question is did you test the cake before putting the topping on and letting it bake more? that should have allowed you to test the cake itself for done-ness before adding the topping.

i also agree with zora, if you wanted to throw it back in to keep cooking, i'd increase the temp to probably 350 (250 won't do anything except re-heat it/keep it warm).

i have 75 within 5 miles of my work (washington circle) with the closest being in my building. 47 within 2 miles.

and 59 within 5 miles of my house (cap. hill-ne).

man, i think the last starbucks i've actually been in was the original one at pike place market in seattle (wife wanted to pick up some beans to take back to her mom). i hate coffee (taste and smell), so i avoid coffee places.

Them there are serious fighting words.  Fried Cheese Curds are Wisconsin's gift to the world other than beer, custard, and other cheeses.  :-)

yeah, i love me some fried cheese curds. but, johnsonville brats? come on, surely they could have ordered up some usingers for the occasion.

If you go to the Delano, go out by the pool, it is beautiful.  Though, the drinks we had there were terrible.  We had some small plates of food, which was good (better then our drinks) though expensive.

i don't think i said the drinks were good, but my goodness, the interior of that hotel is beautiful that i think it's worth just walking around. plus, the hotel is in this book.

i've had equally fantastic dinners at etta's and palace kitchen (both tom douglas). if you were to make me choose which one was better, i'd take palace kitchen (although, dahlia does have the bakery on-site). there are a bunch of other restaurants that i've wanted to try, but i'll have to wait until next time.

i bought a bottle of the de loach when i was out there in august. it was quite tasty.

don't know about food, but a stop at the delano is a must, even for an over-priced drink.

Rumors ... so many rumors that I hear ....

they're gonna stop serving chilean sea bass, nee patagonian toothfish???

i didn't realize there was a difference. to me, they were always shaved ice, cause when i think of sno-balls, i think of hostess sno-balls (mmmm, devils food cake surrounded by processed pink colouring and coconut shavings)

Of course, the Feds have said that in order to use Napa in the name of a wine you have to make sure the grapes are from Napa, so why should Korbel be able to use Champagne.

and bourbon can only come from kentucky. it just seems to me that europe is far more prevalent is assigning naming rights, course, they've been making (insert product name) for far longer than the u.s. as been around. i mean, champagne houses have been around since, what, the 1400's? not to defend the eu, cause while they have gone out of their way to regulate and protect "name brands," they are also going out of their way to destroy local food customs and techniques that have been around for centuries, if not longer.

Word of advice on Nat's games-- don't ever bother sitting in a Skybox at RFK. It's a long walk and elevator ride to get a damn beer, and the only perk is free peanuts and chips. I'm glad we were given free tickets. They ain't worth the $82.50 ticket price by a looooong shot.

indeed, i only sit in the 500 section. the $10 outfield line ticket is a bargain and a great view of the game.

don't forget about gates! and i agree about bryant's, wasn't overly impressed when i visited.

also, for steaks, go to plaza III.

well, i'm not up on the finer dining establishments in milwaukee, but i will say that i enjoyed a nice bowl of chili at real chili. also, they have george webb's, a "historic" local diner chain. oh, and the $3 brats at miller park. mmmmm, brats.

When I was in school many years ago, the drinking age was still 18 for beer and wine, so the ID thing was no hassle.  And Mr. Henry's had folk singers -- if that didn't make it high class, I don't know what does.

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't that where tori amos got started?

I go even simpler than that.

1 Avacado mashed (or half mashed, half diced)

1 tbs diced onion, red or white

juice from 1/2 lime

salt and hot sauce to taste

And sometimes I'll leave out the onion and hot sauce.

sounds like mine, except i add tomatoes and cilantro, but no hot sauce.

a friend of mine and i had a guacamole competition one night with a bunch of friends. the result ended up in a tie simply because each one's guacamole taste was so varied. mine- i overload with cilantro and onion (i hate tomatoes, so i tend to go light on the tomatoes, much to my wife's chagrin), my friend overloads her's with cumin. personally, i don't much care for the smokiness of the cumin (not to mention that it darkens the guacamole and doesn't look tasty), but much prefer the light freshness of the cilantro.

and rosa mexicano does make a good guacamole.

My friends liked their food. They also love Maggiano's and Outback, and couldn't understand my devotion to China Star or Ruan Thai. I need new dining companions. Sigh.

according to washingtonpost.com's best bets, maggiano's is the area's best italian.

Sister & Brother-in-Law are heading to Chicago this weekend for a quick getaway from parenthood.  They're looking for a nice place to eat that 1) won't break the bank, and 2) doesn't require a "nice" outfit!

Any suggestions of "hidden gem" type neighborhood places?  Preferably near downtown or Wrigley Field.  Thanks!

most of wrigleyville is pretty much dominated by sports bars, and if the cubs are in town, expect to wait a while.

wish i had something better to add, but the wife's family all live in arlington heights (past o'hare), and, shall i say, don't have an adventurous palate (for that matter, they don't even have a mildly entertaining palate either). as such, the extent of my restaurant adventures in chicago have been limited to lou malnati's and portillo's sausage (course, i love lou's and portillo's).

It will take more time, but I have full confidence that wine-makers will realize that grapes of not well known names such as Seyval will thrive and flourish, and that reds can not be cabernet, but cab Franc.

i couldn't agree more. course, they'll have to convince people to drink varietals they've never heard of.

(i was gonna post a link to the wash. post's results of their reader's choice for best italian, but i just can't bring myself to do it.)

just have to concur with several already listed- tune inn and millie and al's (oh, how i love the $1 jello shots). . .i liked the common share much better when everything was the same price ($2 or something like that, if i remember). my new favorite is dc9 (although, for "dive," velvet lounge would take the cake), i just love their juke box, and schlitz. plus, i love going there when 930 has some mainstream-type artist there and i start playing sisters of mercy, bauhaus and the beta band just to mess with people waiting.

I haven't been to the wine festival in years because you're absolutely right, too much crap.  The one VA winery that I truly believe does good things, Linden, doesn't even bother going to the festival.  In fact, I've preferred going to Linden on VA Wine Festval day because it keeps Linden relatively quiet!

last year for my birthday, i was treated to an afternoon of tasting at linden. personally, i wasn't that impressed with what i was given. the rest of my group enjoyed it, but i thought their reds showed too much alcohol, and their whites were a overoaked a tad. that being said, the winery is beautiful- we sat on their deck eating cheese plate after cheese plate. and of course, i'm always willing to give wineries another shot.

last night, made a pork chop with garlic-white wine pan fried sauce for the missus; i had baked mahi-mahi. we shared pan-roasted red potatoes (with thyme and rosemary), green beans and rice pilaf. washed it down with a chateau ste. michelle semillon.

I wonder if your little party girl would try to fit all 11 of her sorority sisters into a mini-van that seats 8? Where would she stash the other 3 - the roof rack?

hopefully on each others' laps. oh, and there would be pillows involved.

When we ordered our drinks we asked for recommendations from the cocktail menu and our server said "I don't drink those, I'm a bourbon girl"

bourbon girl, eh? now there's a woman with her priorities in order.