thistle

Looks like it's going to be a gorgeous day! I'm tempted to not bring the EZUp, but I bet if I did that, the heavens would open up. We're (over)loading the car right now...Linda/Thistle

Right now, I just have grey poupon. My favorite is Plochman's, but I can't seem to find it at the commissary anymore. My son asked me to pick up bologna today, " & get the YELLOW mustard!"-I'm assuming this is French's? Not a mustard, but a great addition to sandwiches (& other stuff, too)-Dietz & Watson's muffuletta mix; since discovering it,we've gone through so much, I'm thinking about stockpiling it, in case it disappears...

Yay! picnic is on!-this is the only weekend in Oct. I'll have support (&I'm sure my lacrosse player will want to skip her games). I'll be there early to help out, can bring stove, canopy, asstd. stuff-I plan on cooking some pulled pork, & some sort of veggie side dish. Thank you, Leigh, for stepping up to the plate...(&I LOVE pickled shrimp-another reason to be there early!)...Thistle/Linda

Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle, Marian Morash's Victory Garden Cookbook, Judith Olney's The Farm Market Cookbook (not sure if the last 2 are still in print, but the library should have them) & a strong second for the Deborah Madison book (& all of her others, too).

So much for certainty-now, thanks to fall sports-lacrosse, the only Sunday I'm free is the 11th, & that's not a great date, either. But I still hope there's a fall picnic, & I'd still like to help as much as I can....

Time for another picnic?-I'm in! Right now,I'm free for Oct., so I'd be happy to volunteer to assist anyone who wants to take charge-I live pretty close, & can bring a canopy, tables, a propane stove/grill, water cooler, asstd. picnic gear... I don't know if anyone is obsessively watching Top Chef like I am, but one of the quickfire challenges might work as a secondary theme-cook something that represents your vice or a potato dish that's out of this world....

Bit of a knife-nerd thing here-since I've expanded my kitchen knife collection, I've also expanded my sharpening tools-I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker, lots of Japanese waterstones-Shapton glasstones, Chocera, Suehiro, & asstd. strops & hones. I'm also planning on taking a class w/ Dave Martell of Japanese Knife Sharpening- JKS this fall, to improve my skills-I'm really looking forward to it...

I just got back from dropping my son off at Navy lacrosse camp. Didn't really explore the town too much, but thanks to rbh's post above, we had a late lunch at Giolitti's Deli-it was great! Really good sandwiches, & my son & I both got soup (crab veggie & lentil, respectively) w/ very good bread (focaccia & tuscan) on the side. I wish we had a deli like this close to us....

Lots of local, low-key dining this week, w/ kids in tow. Last Thursday (last day of school), lunch at Thai Cafe in Springfield-I had the gai kapow, definitely one to work into a regular rotation. It was excellent. On Sunday, for Father's Day, we hit the Cosmopolitan Grill (near the Gold's Gym on Rt. 1) for lunch. I have mixed feelings about this one-my husband did several tours in Bosnia, so it was a sentimental choice for him (& he ended up getting the best meal). I had the grilled tilapia salad, fish was topped w/ a ton of chopped garlic (I felt slightly toxic for the rest of the day) & swimming in a little too much butter/oil (which may have been the dressing for the salad). My daughter got the mixed grill (steak, chicken, cevapcici) & carried most of it home, my son's chicken piccata looked like it had been fried too long & was a bit dried out. My husband got the cevapcici (Bosnian sausage) sandwich & 3 of us got the goulash, which was good, but nothing amazing. My favorite part of the meal was the bread & the sour cream/ feta mix that was served with it. Service was excellent, space was very nice, but I guess I've been eating more highly spiced food recently, because it struck me as being a bit bland. Today, after finally getting the tire on my bike fixed, the kids & I hit Delia's (on Backlick) for lunch. Chicken souvlaki sandwich for me(w/ excellent fries), pizza for DD, & lentil soup & chicken salad sandwich for DS-all delish! The chicken souvlaki sandwich reminded me of my favorite sandwich from college days (Mariakakis-Chapel Hill, NC)-greek grilled cheese, pita w/ provolone, tatziki, lettuce, tomato, marinated cukes. Tomorrow, I promise I will get up early & run...

I have 4 - Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table-Mai Pham, 2001 Into the Vietnamese Kitchen-Andrea Nguyen, 2006 The Little Saigon Cookbook-Ann Le, 2006 Wild, Wild East-Bobby Chinn, 2008 They're all good, most are available in your local library, probably the most used & well-rounded is Mai Pham's Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table-I have made a kicking pho ga from her recipe...

My 2 recommendations, both on (or just off) Rt. 1, slightly north of Ft. Belvoir- El Paso (Cooper Rd.)-this used to be a (really bad) Chinese restaurant, now it's our goto Mexican, since El Puerto shut down. Standard Mexican combos, friendly service, inexpensive...I had a friend visit recently from Arizona & I was surprised when she wanted Mexican, but she said in AZ, it's mostly 'TexMex' & different... Taco Jalisco (Lukens Lane, nr GameStop)-more of a hole in the wall, but good food...

I've eaten here twice recently-yesterday, I took my kids (& one of their friends) there to celebrate the last day of school. So, 2 10 yr. olds & a teenager, & my daughter is not fun to go out with (very picky eater)-lunch was a success! The younger kids both got gai pad pak (chicken w/ veg) & I asked if it could be mostly broccoli -served w/ big bowls of rice & they scarfed it down. My son got the pad see ew w/ chicken & also cleaned his plate. We split an order of chicken gyoza w/ dipping sauce, kind of bland but hot & not greasy, perfect for the kids. Now, I like things with a bit more spice, both times I've eaten here, I've ordered gai kapow-nice kick to it (I'm eating the few leftover bites now), & I love that they put eggplant in it. Last time, I also got the yum woon sen (spicy, chicken/bean thread noodle salad) & it was delicious. If I can ever bring myself to break away from my favorite dish, I'd like to try some of the other seafood dishes or the larb. I have to give this place an edge to my 2 (closer) Thai restaurants-Thai Herbs & Thai Na-Korn (which are both good, in different ways).

My tomatoes are not moldy, but kind of floppy (too much nitrogen, maybe?) & one of my green tomatoes has blossom endrot-I'm not giving up hope yet. All of the herbs look ok, aside from some pineapple mint, which died so fast, that if I hadn't stuck in the plant tag, I wouldn't have known what was in that spot. Tha planting season kind of got away from me (no lettuce, put in bush cukes late), but maybe if we dry out a little, I'll be able to salvage the summer-all my peppers look pretty good...

Well, it's been only 2 days w/my new netbook (Asus EEE 1000HE) & I love it! I can't get over how fast I set it up, basically charge & go-screen is a good size for me, wireless is excellent, the only problem is that my kids are trying to wrestle it away from me & begging for one of their own-my daughter has some bday money, so I may chip in a little & get her the 900HA-basically the same specs w/ a slightly smaller screen. Early days, but definitely one of my better purchases...

Thanks, Daniel, for bringing the soccer goals for the kids-I think they were surprised that it was such a nice day today. It was fun to see them put on their pinnies & try to play it out....I had to kick my kids (who were a little older than most kids)out there -they had alot of fun...

Trying to post, before I fall asleep in a food-induced coma...what a great picnic! Super weather & company, & the food...I ate WAY too much, at the end, I was just walking up & down the tables, looking at the food, w/ no room left. Thank you to everyone who participated, w/ a special shoutout to Antonio & his better half, who provided the chicken-it was amazing! But so much of the food was amazing, which is why I ate too much-the BonChon chicken, the pickled daikon, the corn/blk bean/mango salad, the mac n' cheese w/ bacon, kibbee, brownies, gazpacho, peruvian mashed potatoes w/ chicken, blueberry cake (was it just eggs to make it yellow or saffron?)-I ate alot of other stuff, too, which is why I'm going to rest now. An epic picnic...I'm looking forward to a fall repeat....

OK, I went w/ the Asus EEE 1000HE, w/ a 2g upgrade. I'll let you guys know how it performs when I receive it (not that I don't like viewing this site on the humonguous desktop screen, but the idea of lying in bed, web-surfing, is so tempting & decadent)....

Yes, I just need something basic, so the kids can kick me off the main computer (Dell w/WVista), & I can relax in bed or a comfy chair, & read my favorite sites. I'm hoping to do some traveling this summer, so something where the wifi has no problems would be a plus...I thought an Ipod touch would do it for me, UNTIL I saw the size of the screen...

I'm still planning on bringing pulled pork, chicken salad, & the Campchef stove for anyone who wants to cook onsite. I can bring a grill box (which covers 2 burners & leaves 1 free) &/or the griddle (which covers all 3 burners). We'll bring the pop-up, tables, a big cooler w/ water, & some beer (also odds & ends-plastic tablecloths, napkins, extra plates). As a longtime DR member who doesn't make it to alot of other gatherings, this is an occasion not to be missed. Great food & great company, even if you don't know anyone, you won't feel out of place...

I couldn't figure out where to put this query-I want to get a small netbook, mostly for email & online reading-does anyone have one that they can recommend? The 2 models that I'm looking at are the Asus EEE 1000HE & the MSI Wind U100-432. Any & all comments welcomed...

Unfortunately, I don't have any catering suggestions, but I thought this was a really good explanation of onsite BBQ pricing- I think the page on the website on how to plan your own party is quite helpful, too...

If I get my smoker fixed before the picnic, I'll bring smoked pork butt (because it goes w/ everything)-I'd rather bring the stove & let someone else try to cook fried chicken on site, because I'm not sure of my chicken frying skills-I would rather assist, & deal w/ oil cleanup/disposal, than try to do it in front of an audience. That said, I have a recipe for a Vietnamese style chicken salad, w/ cabbage & lots of fresh herbs, that's great at room temp...

The jjampong, packed to go, was a big container (like a Chinese restaurant eggdrop soup), spicy w/ shrimp & octopus, napa cabbage, zucchini (maybe other seafood, but I've only eaten less than half), & a lg. styrofoam container of noodles. At home, I mixed them up. It was very hot, temperature-wise, & I kept my hand on it, on the drive home, fearing it would spill, which it didn't (it was packed quite securely). A lunchtime bargain at $7.95, they had about 12-15 lunch specials, & some Chinese dishes, I guess this would be considered a Chinese-Korean lunch spot. The fried rice bowl I saw one guy eating was HUGE!

On my way back from the library today, I stopped to pickup a lunch special from Hunan Deli, which despite it's name, serves Korean food. It's in a small strip mall on Telegraph Rd., near Rt. 1. I ordered the jjampong, a spicy seafood soup, & it is delicious. I've had a bit of a cold & congestion, & the taste of this will clear your throat right up! It's a small place w/ just a few tables, but most of them were full with folks happily eating big bowls of yummy looking food. I look forward to going back & trying something else...

I called at 11 a.m. yesterday to try & snag a lunch reservation, but the person I spoke to said they were fully booked all day. So I had to make do w/ Mexican food for Mother's Day, instead of the Vietnamese I was craving, will definitely try again, on a less busy day...