Pool Boy

Great idea. There is a great recipe from Il Gaidelo in the In Nonna's Kitchen cookbook. I had the good fortune to eat them at the source. Heh heh heh

Almost anything. One thing I love that they do there very well in general is a delicate and deft treatment of things fried.

I picked 5 more cherry-grape tomatoes last night. Happy days!

BAHAHA! That's a hoot!

Thanks for the info. I've always wanted to make a long weekend trip to check out several areas of Virginia wineries to see if Virginia wines are indeed the best of the east coast outside of NY and the Niagara bench. They should be able to easily squash anything Maryland wineries have to offer. But, I have to admit, medals and awards mean nothing to me. Tastes matters. As a side note, this operation appears to have invested a significant portion of their operating budget on event planning. I imagine they think this is where a lot of revenue will come in...Curious....

I love screwcaps, even if they are somewhat difficult to deal with at times. One thing that I am somewhat concerned about is the longevity of these closures and their affect on wine, particularly of wines that you want to age 5, 10, 15 years. Corks are not wonder-closures either, as we all know, but they are often a known quantity (say 5% of your aged wine will be corked). What are other folks' thoughts on aging wine with screwcap closures?

Porcupine, I now hate you. Well despise really. No, not really, I am just envious of your current haul out of your garden. I got such a terribly late start this year that I am largely still waiting for stuff to start rolling in. So far, I have harvested a variety of lettuces, some radishes (woeful compared to last year), a couple of beets, some lousy looking spinach, a boatload of herbs (one success story!) and exactly one cherry tomato. I have more beets in the final stretch (way late, I know), a pretty good looking crop of various tomatoes, 4 different kinds of peppers, but not in any large quantities, and several squash and cucumber plants that have decided to stay beautiful looking with their flowers instead of producing any fruit. BAH! There's always next year.

I can't help really, but I am glad I am microwave-free at home. I do admit it is nice to have one at work to reheat leftovers I bring to work. Today will be leftover from scratch macaroni & cheese. MMMm-mm!

They have jar openers that could help here. It's some sticky sort of thing to help you get a better grip of a jar lid and I am sure it'd work on a screw cap just as easily. I often get these sorts of things for free while attending trade shows, but I am sure you could buy something from any half decent kitchen shop.

My Mrs. made a sublime peach upside down cake. Delicious! We're thinking of grilling some peaches tonight on the grill for dessert.

Was there last Sunday for a very late lunch/early dinner. This after an 'Oriental Harmony' massage there at the spa (highly recommended!). Shared a sushi roll with my wife and it was quite good (the one with 'red beet' rice) and very pretty, too. I moved on to the chef's bento box and was pleased with the selection (the scallop was particularly nice).My wife had a sea urchin pasta that was quite good. She went back this week for lunch as she works very near there and was raving about her lunch there. The soup in particular won her over. I wished I could remember what else she told me she had. As for service, we've had nothing but good service there. I do not understand, though, why they choose to seat folks at tables right next to each other if/when there are plenty of other tables available (even plenty of directly in front of the window tables, too!).

What is the cost to the restaurant per reservation made via Open Table? Not trying to pry just curious. Also, from the comments here, it seems like the restaurants save money with OpenTable if the customers make their reservations via the restaurant's website (that links in with Open Table? Yes? No?) instead of the main opentable site. Is that true? And why is that? I have to admit, one of the ways to 'game the system' of opentable, is to make multiple reservations either at the same restaurant for multiple time slots or over several restaurants for the same time slot. The main reason I have done this in the past is when I want to TEMPORARILY make sure I have a likely reservation in hand when I still need to hear back from someone in my party to either confirm the count of people or the time and day of the reservation (or where you want to eat, even). Also, I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS try to get whatever the delay issue is and resolve it and cancel any duplicate reservations ASAP...

It was obvious almost from the start which team was going to lose on last night's episode. And so it came to pass. It's also no surprise that Howie was associated with another losing team (he's never under the radar, either winning it or more often being near the bottom of the barrel). After watching the episode as edited unravel, it also became obvious that either Sara or Howie were going to get whacked. Howie is more 'entertaining' if you can call it that and this is likely why he avoided being ejected..... And why the heck weren't there more fried foods? The falafel idea was a great idea that never got made.

I generally expect free refills on sodas, iced teas and coffee (and water, duh). Hot tea? No. Specialty coffee drinks (espresso, etc)? No. Bottled water (who needs it?)? No.

Ditto. I have not used it as much as I thought I would over the years, but I do use it with some regularity.

Nope. Too nerdy for me so far. I can only presently afford to be a nerd about one thing so far -- wine. Maybe some day. I am told it brings your coffee tasting to a whole new level.

I thought it was refreshing to see a male contestant actually showing some real emotion when he got kicked off....I still think Joey was destined to not last into the top half of the competition, though. I actually expected him off a while ago.

Thanks very much for the link to Julius Meinl coffee. I had no idea it was available online. I have a good friend who would take on a pack of pitbulls armed only with a toothpick in order to satisfy his craving. By the way, if any of you are true coffee nuts, meaning you roast your own beans, then you may want to check out Sweet Maria's.... I know a true coffee nut and he swears by them.

Ahhhhhhh! Now I see. OK, I have then, most likely, an interior blower model myself that blows it all outside. Thanks for the clarification. As you can see, I really despise the 'blow the smoke in your face' veriety, as would, I imagine, most people.

Interior blower...I take it this means it is a blower that just blows the air inside the house? Well, if it is, I think that is plain nuts. If you have the opportunity to get a hood that can move all of the air you need to vent to the outside, do it. I do not think you'll be sorry. We lived with a really cheap and old cooktop hood blower that vented, you guessed it, to the inside of the house. To be mors specific, all of that air it was blowing, it blew in to our faces (my wife and I are both tall). So after experiencing a few times with grasy glasses, we gave up trying to use the infernal thing and vowed that whenever we pulled the trigger to update the kitchen, we'd get it vented externally. We are a thousand times happy we did it. I mean, think about it, if the hood is just blowing stuff around the house, inside the house and your living area, where do you think it's gonna go? Nowhere but the rest of your house, more or less. What's the point?

I am 99% sure that is what I read, too, with Mr. Ruta categorically denying the rumored move.

With as small a kitchen as they have, my guess is that that will probably never happen.

I prefer the freezer on the bottom refrigerator/freezer method. Actually the refrigerator part on top has side by side doors, which helps when you just want to grab something quick you can open only that side's door. Also, it's great to have everything you use every day extensively (ie the fridge) at eye level. The freezer on the bottom does require a stoop (I am 6' 4") but it really doesn't bother me. And I too have a 2nd refrigerator in the garage. As for wall ovens...it depends on how you use them. We went a bit crazy to get what we really wanted as my wife is a great baker and we do entertain from time to time and two larger ovens are helpful to have. We opted for a Dacor range hood. It is loud, and big, but really it's not TOOOO loud considering how powerful it is. And it has excellent filters to catch grease and stuff before it heads up the flue and are pop out easy and washable in the dishwasher -- no fuss no muss. As for GE.....well, I can't say I would recommend them from bad experiences from various family and friends, but some folks are happy with their GE appliances. I'd opt to decide, of the appliances you plan to replace, spend the most 'extra' money on the appliances you want to be happiest with and/or last the longest. You really do get what you pay for.

I don't care about the website. I wish they were still using OpenTable....

I was hoping this would still be on the menu, but alas, it was gone. Here's what we had Friday night between my wife and I... Lime Marinated Seviche of Wild Striped Bass and Alaskan King Salmon with roasted and raw heirloom beets, horseradish, cumin and Sicilian orange -- This was great. Very fresh light and delicious. A great opening course. Heirloom Beet Ravioli With caramelized sablefish, smoked sablefish and little onions -- this was my wife's first course and it was wonderful. She suggested that the ravioli was the best ravioli she's ever had anywhere and anywhen. It was that good. I think he must have had tiny caraelized onions as part of the mash that went in as the filing. And the sablefish, especially the caramelized sort, was extraordinary. Locally Raised Farmer's Quail Braised on the bone with fig leaves and grappa with creamy tomato riotto and frisee & herb salad -- whoa. I thought that the quail was super when I tasted it, but the tomato risotto is what really blew me away about this dish. I swear they must have 3 or 4 layers or tomato goodness in that risotto, most likely a tomato broth used in part to cook the risotto, tiny, and I mean TINY chunks of tomato in the risotto, as probably tomato powder, too. It was so good it inspired us to make a tomato risott at home last night which was very good, but fell far short of this dish. And the combination of the quail with the risotto was wonderful. Toasted Corn Blini and Basil Studded Wild Alaskan King Salmon with Tomato, romanesco zucchini and corn emulsion -- My wife's second course. It is hard to believe that much could top my wife's first course, but this one did I think. The salmon alone was worth the ride. A perfect dish. California Squab and Artisan Foie Gras Pan roasted with special spices and figs with braised local arrowhead cabbage -- Very nice. A nice duo of lean and delicious meat with deftly prepared foie gras. The jus and the figs were delicious and the best flavors, as usual, were when I got a little bit of everything on to each forkful. Deliscious. A Duo of Snake River Farms Beef Grilled sirloin and the shoulder braised 'klopse' with parmentier sauce, roasted potato and bok choy -- At first, my wife wasn't sure about the klopse (aka meatballs), but realized how good it all was when she got a bit of meatball with a bit of the sirloin together and it was great. The play in textures alone was wonderful, but the layers of flavor together was amazing. A triumph! Plus, the 98 Brunello we brought with us was singing by this time (an Augustino Pieri we'd lugged back from Italy). Crespelle Romana Sweet crepe filled with basil scented Roman ricotta cheesecake served with local cherries in red wine -- Whoa. Superb and not at all as filling as I thought it might be. I ordered it anyway even considering it might be filling because it sounded so good. And it was. I really liked the basil addition and the cherries were amazing. Yum. Ginger and Mango Ginger ice cream with blueberry and mango salad with almond tuille -- Light, refreshing and delicious. A great way to wap up a fine meal. Needless to say, we're still serious fans of Palena to say the least.