lizzie

Multi-day business trip to Salt Lake City in a few weeks - any recent recommendations?

I spent my junior year in college in Medellin, Colombia, and had a number of side trips to the coast (Cartegena and Santa Marta) and islands off the coast. Lots of experience with green coconuts - you take a huge, probably rusty, machete, lop off an oval slice from the top, exposing the water and jelly, drink the water and scoop out the jelly with the sliced top. If you are lucky, local acquaintances will also teach you how to climb the trees to gather the coconuts. Another way to acquire one is from the women on the beach, holding said machetes, asking you if you want to buy a coconut or pineapple slice. Hard to say no to someone with a machete.

adding to the "what not to bring" stories, a school in PA sent home this note: "Due to the increased number of students with severe food allergies," it reads, "treats for birthdays need to be limited to food items that are commercially prepared and individually wrapped and sealed with ingredients listed on the package." "Homemade treats are not permitted for distribution and will be returned."

Brownies and other baked goods made in a Girl Scout box oven!

Hey Everyone, I wanted to let you know about Ari Weinzweig's Book Party happening at Perrys this Thursday, September 30th, at 6pm. Perrys Executive Chef Mark Furstenberg will be serving some amazing bacon appetizers in honor of the Zingerman's Guide to Better Bacon and I hope you can stop by! Please send this along to your friends, thanks! Details below... The impressario of Zingerman's, Ari Weinzweig, is going to have a book party at Perry's, 1811 Columbia Rd NW WDC 20009, on Thursday evening. Politics & Prose http://www.politics-prose.com/ari-weinzweig-zingermans-guide-better-bacon will have copies of his bacon book and we hope to have copies of the not-quite-yet-published book about the Zingerman business style, the ruminations of a lapsed anarchist. Thursday, September 30, 6 p.m. Perry's Restaurant 1811 Columbia Road, NW ARI WEINZWEIG ZINGERMAN'S GUIDE TO BETTER BACON (Zingerman's Press, $29.99) James Beard award-winner Ari Weinzweig guides you on a personal tour of bacon's long and curious history. Rebecca Powers of Hour Detroit Magazine says, "Some books whet a thirst for knowledge. This one stirs a gnawing hunger for meat … Weinzweig's ode to bacon offers . . . folksy writing, food lore, trivia, and 42 recipes," so you can put your new-found bacon expertise to use right away! Ari will also talk about his forthcoming book, Zingerman's Guide to Good Leading, Part 1: A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to Building a Great Business. Here are some blurbs and cover art for bacon book is attached as is the cover of the new book: "A real bible of all things smoked pig, an engrossing, affably rambling, borderline obsessive one-stop swine seminar." —Chicago Tribune “ The book is lovingly crafted in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Ari's famous shops, Zingerman's Community of Businesses, are a local institution. The book [has] old-school style foil stamping on the front, beautiful paper, all done locally. It's chock-full of history, guides to bacon from Pancetta to Hungarian Double-Smoked, and recipes that demand good bacon.... Clearly an essential guide-book for any bacon-enthusiast. ” —Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan, TheKitchn, Apartment Therapy "Some books whet a thirst for knowledge. This one stirs a gnawing hunger for meat. Zingerman's Guide to Better Bacon makes the case for pigging out. Folksy writing, food lore, trivia, and 42 recipes, combine for 240 pages of engaging reading... Weinzweig's ode to bacon offers an explanation for the term 'bringing home the bacon,' and provides a bacon glossary that defines rasher, pancetta, and Canadian Peameal Bacon, among others."—Rebecca Powers, Hour Detroit Magazine "The definitive scripture of streaky meat." —www.thetastingtable.com "Weinzweig has put together a comprehensive history of all things pork belly-related. Curious about the history of eating cured pork? Check. Interested in pig drovers in North America? He's got you covered. Want to get up close and personal with artisanal bacon makers? You'll feel like old friends. Have you ever fantasized about going to a magical place called Camp Bacon? Well, you get the picture." —www.seriouseats.com Praise the Lard at www.zingermans.com

After seeing several references to rice balls, does anyone have recipes that they use that have held up well for packing in a lunch box? I am not sure if people are talking more about Japanese style rice balls or fried Italian style ones (like the risotto balls at Dean and DeLuca)?

Not DC, but the Italian Store on Spout Run stocks a lot of pasta shapes not found elsewhere. Bonus, if you go you can pick up a great sandwich, frozen ravioli that actually has enough in the box to feed more than 2 or 3 people, and a $75 jar of Nutella that will last forever.

We recently added a puppy to our menagerie (two other dogs, a cat and a fish; gone are the spring peeper, numerous hamsters, guinea pig and hermit crabs - we have an interesting animal burial ground near our house!). I should clarify - my teenage daughter brought home a 4 week old puppy, apparently being abandoned somewhere in NC on the route home from the beach; she has now gone back to college and the rest of us are dealing with the now 4 month old, undetermined breed of tasmanian devil-like energy. Anyway, for food, we have the puppy on Blue brand puppy food, mixing a small amount of canned with dry, and have also switched our other dogs (and cat) to Blue and other no bad grains/filler foods and all seem to be doing nicely. We have always used a better brand of food since our 12 year old golden mix has skin issues, but there are so many more available now and at easier to find shops. I would try several different foods, over a few weeks, to see what your dogs like best. Also, sign up for coupons - Blue is expensive, but i have found $3 and $5 dollar coupons on line and through the company website. Zora - Madison is our home dog park as well, although it is my husband who usually takes the dogs there. I am more inclined to a walk around the neighborhood or along the canal.

While I am not a huge fan of Georgetown Cupcake, I do not know why you have to say "sadly." I am involved with a locally owned restaurant and friends own many more, and I am happy to see any locally owned and operated or small business succeed in this current market. You can disparage Georgetown Cupcake all you want, but its success has added many jobs to that shop, allowed it to open a second location, and paved the way for Baked and Wired (I would bet) to increase its sales of cupcakes, and other cupcake/macaroon/whoopie pie shops to take the plunge in this area. I know Red Hook is a NY based company, but its success will add jobs here and may lead to a storefront, just like Pupatella did. I cannot go to Tackle Box or Liberty Tavern for lunch, and food trucks make few stops in SW DC, so when Red Hook is there, and I have time to stand in line, I will.

Prince of Petworth reporting that H Mart may be coming to the former Safeway location at 1800 20th Street.

today they were in the great food desert that is SW DC. Colleague and I waited about an hour - I go the $15 lobster roll, he added the chips and soda for the $18 lobster meal. The sandwich was really good - lots of lobster,not overcooked at all, if there is any mayo, you cannot taste it, and the roll is nicely toasted and just buttery enough. I doubt that I have an hour many work days (fridays in SW) to stand in line that long, but I would do it as an occasional treat and departure from my standard lunch of last night's leftovers. It does motivate me to make these at home again.

I found making (some of) my own baby food was much easier than I expected (and I do work 40 hours +/week), freezing food into ice scream scoop size lumps or in ice cube trays, then storing in freezer bags. I also bought one of the baby food mills and put most vegetables and carbs that we were eating through the mill, adding broth or water if needed to thin; as my kids got older I also put fish and some meats through the mill. I found that this little plastic, non-electric mill was one of the best baby items I owned. I followed generally widely available guidelines for when to introduce various fruits and vegetables, but experimented a lot, with things like adding mild spices and herbs, for example. I would cook things together, such as potatoes and carrots (red bets and potatoes, while colorful, were not a hit). One resource I found informative for introducing new foods and ideas for different foods, is a book called something like Mommy Made and Daddy Too, but not sure if it is still available. My kids have never been picky, so that may have helped - I think I even put pad thai through the food mill (made minus peanuts and shrimp).

I like to slice into individual cookies and freeze them in a freezer ziploc, so my kids can bake a few at a time after school, without having to thaw the entire log.

casual options would be Teaism (especially for the Bento boxes) or Vapiano. Table service I would opt for Oyamel, Kanlaya, or PS7.

really, who thinks of these things.. http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/07/19/portable-watermelon-cooler/

yes - I have not been to any of the other locations.

We have gone several times (at least 4.) While I like the burgers (especailly the tuna), the sweet potato fries and the lunch box deal, the service issues are just too much and I doubt I will go back. We have never had an order processed correctly and the staff has never taken it upon themselves to correct anything. On Friday, two orders were totally mixed up (cheese not on the right one, toppings wrong on both) and the burgers were really salty, and one order never came and then our friend got some attitude from the staff when this was pointed out (the burger was prepared then but the sides were never put out even thought everyone else was getting their order of the same things and our friend stood at the counter waiting and explaining.) He did get his money back but had to take the initiative himself. While many of the tables were taken, it was not packed and there was no line to order. The table beside ours had many of the same issues and our discussion evolved into the fact that we had each considered going to Ray's and next time that will be our choice.

Kushi today on Living Social, $25 for $50.

on the actual Pot Pie theme, though, I really enjoyed the vegetable pie with mashed potato crust I had recently at Liberty Tavern.

The PA Dutch dish is originally Bott Boi, but has morphed into being called pot pie. I still make the homemade noodles the way my grandmothers did - pile the flour on the counter and make a hole in the middle, break egg into middle, add ice water, mix, roll dough, cut into squares, let dry "awhile", then add to broth. The "let dry awhile" goes along with the instruction in many of their recipes that call for quantities such as "flour to stiffen."

We will definitely try this really soon, but I looked at their menu online to confirm they had a vegetarian option fo rmy veggie teen, and I had to laugh the one of the options with the Veggie Burger is bacon.

decided to try sette on friday night after wandering the DuPont area with no intended restaurant target. perhaps we should have tried the pizza since our meals were disappointing. My husband had the Veal Scallopine special - when it came I commented that the potatoes looked perfectly and lightly roasted but he found them to have something of an offtaste, and said the veal was just ok, and somewhat mushy. I had gnocchi, which would have been ok but it was served lukewarm. Too indifferent to send anything back, so I probably should not be commenting. The most unusual part of the evening though, was that the tv screens over the bar were both showing an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) match - just what one wants with a nice dinner - bloody men wrestling. We asked if maybe something else was on, like a Caps game, and were told only that the Caps had played the night before. Owners - if you are going to have TVs in a restaurant think about what is on the screen...

Here is a link from the Arlington Now website - it includes a phone number at the end of the article.

I made a seafood pot pie with a mashed potato crust in celebration of Pi Day. I used a variation of the recipe for Haddock Pot Pie on epicurious (used several different types of fish/shell fish and added other vegetables, and clam juice in place of broth). Did anyone else honor the day? If not, put a reminder on your calendar for next year!

Walmart is also the global leader in purchasing organic cotton and supplying organic apparel. Not many places you can buy an organic cotton t-shirt for less than $10.