JPW

I am watching my pickled turnips become pinker every day, and the target day for serving is Sunday (I pickled them Monday). I boiled water, white vinegar, sugar and salt to dissolve everything. In the jars with the turnips, cut like french fries, I put a slice of beet for color, dried cayene peppers and whole garlic cloves. Trying to recreate turnips served at a local Middle Eastern restaurant. They won't keep past a few weeks, so I am going to get creative after serving them in Sunday's appetizer tray.

Sounds delicious!

You're neglecting the possibility that what you're seeing upon return are the locally cached version of the pages.

Just recently had that happen to me as I was waiting to find out my presentation slot at a conference. The "updated" agenda had me presenting on the wrong day and I was starting to schedule meetings for the time when I am actually presenting.

I got my first email address in 1994, and in a dazzling burst of creativity, used my initials. I've been using agm ever since (except that damn gmail).

Ditto, but I got my first email address in 1993. Except gmail where I use my full name.

And those damn sites where they require screen names to have at least 4 characters. On those I combine the dazzling creativity that I share with Adam and my love of 80s hip hop to go by "TheRealJPW".

In 19XX I got a Quebec bus pass with my photo and a birth date that made me 21 a couple of years early. When questioned by bouncers in the states, I claimed it was an identity card because I didn't have a license. If questioned further, I started babbling in Quebecois. Never turned down. A truly great fake ID.

to Peanut! For (too aggressively) getting in the face of a boy who was bullying other kids and got shoved to the ground before the teacher could step in. We need to work on your technique, but your instincts did the JPW family proud!

Don't know if taking the express lanes yesterday from 66 to the end near Maryland saved me any time, but it certainly saved on the stress that playing Jimmie Johnson in the ultimate all series race that is the beltway at the end of a holiday weekend which typically turns me into a combination of Bruce Banner, Dr. Jeckyl, and Howard Beale behind the wheel of a Volvo SUV.

Bells is available at the Chevy Chase Magruder's. That's close enough to Maryland for me.

Consider it done. Incidentally, some people on this board might find it interesting what their counterparts on the LTH forum in Chicago have to say about DC dining spots. http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=283

I thought that lth had shut down. Great to see it still up and running.

I just got alerted that Columbia Room includes tax and tip in their prices. Is this true?

Yes

Wanted to write something snarky about the Parker review, but I just don't care enough.

I made a lot of uncharacteristic moves during that time, including reaching out to a bunch of strangers on the internet (am I a modern day Blanche DuBois?), and I will never forget the kindness so many of you showed me and that wonderful kitchen flea-market event we put on.

Like bookluvingbabe, I can't say she was the best mom ever. But she was mine and I loved her dearly and miss her terribly.

The Cuisinart and stock pot remain in frequent use and continue to help make delicious food.

It also takes years and thousands of dollars.

I should be well on my way then.

Very good article by Tomdd Kliman.

Toddm Sietsema

Lynchburg

(I am looking at you, Dish)

The one time I ate at dish a few years ago I ended up getting into an argument with the owner after I mentioned that my pork chop was overcooked (as in medium well). His position was that it was the proper temperature for a pork chop.

The discussion is up to 9 pages on DC Urban Moms. I haven't read it so I don't know which way the wind is blowing there.

I just scanned through it and it's surprisingly positive. Usually the mom boards are filled with vitriol against anyone who doesn't see children as being the center of all life.

I wish him the best, but I think that this is a massive misreading of the population of Del Ray.

A decent beer, but I found it to be somewhat unbalanced. For me the malt overwhelmed the other flavors. I'd gladly take a higher ABV in place of the sweetness. If I'm drinking saison this summer, I think that I'll stick with the peppercorn saison that Three Stars is brewing.

I came across a post in Bethesda Magazine that Chef Pedro Matamoros is now at Golden Flame (link here). (Also announcement on Golden Flame's Facebook page.)

Confirmed by several sources at 8407.

A protein shake to Joe Weider

Clarence Earl Gideon and the right to counsel

Dave M weighed in on this in todays' WaPo Food Section:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/voltaggios-range-makes-its-wine-interesting-and-affordable/2013/03/11/28b86314-8615-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394_story.html

My eyes nearly fell out at the Horton Viognier price. It's about $14 a bottle at the AdMo HT and $22 at Range. Some of you with more "refined" wine tastes might turn your nose up at a white that is a sweet as that one is, but it is right in my wheelhouse. I plan on ordering a bottle just for myself, when and if I ever get to go there.

Au contraire. Horton makes a viognier that I'd put up against any. Tremendously food friendly. I've always found the main challenge to be getting ones that haven't yet received a mailing from AARP.

At the Brewers Ball, I tasted Sam Adam's entry into the Hard Cider market. It's called Angry Orchard. Without knowing the Sam Adams connection I took a taste and almost did an involuntary spit take. But haveing kept squid fermented int eh smog of LA under a layer of miso atop a downtown shopping center once, this was easy to keep in my mouth. Not pleasant, but easy.

All the guy repping it cold talk about was the sales numbers on cider growth. At least he was honest because if he had to talk about his cider, he would have has to say "flavorless swill tasting of being artificially carbonated and thoroughly insipid bordering on downright nasty"

I can see why the orchard is so angry: its poor defenseless apples turned into this swill.

Had the exact same reaction. Although I tasted a second bottle of the six that I bought to double check. The other 4 have been sitting in the beer fridge for a while now.

This one's for you, Don --> FIRED!

-The Frenchman's Corner: This is actually two stores. One is for kitchenwares, with a wine and cheese store in the back, and the other is all gourmet food items with hopelessly tasty chocolate selections. The father runs the food store, the son runs the other one. All top notch merchandise and worth a long browse.

-Knakals Bakery: The ham biscuits available here will make you praise the Commonwealth at the top of your lungs--so quintessentially Virginian! The ham is from the Calhoun Ham company, another Culpeper-based food business. The Calhoun storefront is worth a browse, but it's not on the main street. It's two blocks over, and there is nothing else over there. So if anyone you know is a huge fan of Virginia ham, check the stores hours and drive by on your way out of town to save the walk. Their website: http://www.calhounhams.com/

While small, the wine selection at Frenchmen's Corner is excellent and fairly priced.

And a second recommendation to make a stop by Calhoun's

Or to put it another way, in a last-gasp effort to spark a discussion:

food = emperor

chef = tailors

people who post glowing reports on donrockwell.com = subjects

me = child in crowd

I could have chosen a dozen different meals I've had in the past few years to illustrate this point; I just chose the most recent one. If I said which restaurant, that would lead to a discussion over the merits of that particular place. It isn't about the restaurant.

I'm with you porcupine. My last few high end dining experiences have left me feeling ambivalent at best about the whole experience of high end dining.

Maybe I could best put it this way -- I enjoyed the meal that I shared recently with mdt at Little Serow vastly more than I enjoyed my last meal at Komi.

And at half the price.