Aphioni

The first time I heard about Let's Dish, I honestly had to have the concept explained about 4 times before I understood what the deal was and why on earth one would want to do this. It seems to me that the real value here is for people who don't like to grocery shop and who need to work from a recipe in order to assemble a meal. If you are an intuitive cook and can create a quick meal from pantry staples and refrigerator dregs, you will probably not find this service useful.

the other people who benefit are those who don't have TIME during the week to prepare good healthy meals for their families- it's great to throw somethng balanced, healhty and delicious in the oven, not worry about dishes since the entreevous dishes come in a disposable pan, and eat as a family. i can help my son with his homework while it cooks and enjoy quality family time instead of cleaning up my mess after.

also- we can ry specialty meals that call for a small quanity of something you may never use again or not use befor it goes bad. there are many lifestyles this fits for. we cook intuitive recipe-less meals on the weekend, when there is more time. for the record- i never cook with a recipe!

I'm not a flavored vodka fan, but Charbay is my exception to the rule, FWIW.

what are your thoughts on Effen Vdka? it's the only flavored vodka I've ever tried- before that, I've always been a fan of Vox...

soemtimes I just don't want to think about whether beef adobo pairs better with Merlot or Shiraz- I just want to open the bottle, pick up a fork and enjoy! any fave sites out there that do the work for you...? I know of these two but would be interested if there are better ones out there:

http://www.winewebcentral.com/winepairing/

http://www.geerwade.com/Shop-by-Food-Pairing-C239.aspx

Looking for a good carribean/jamaican place. Good rice and peas, jerk, and oxtails. Am willing to drive to MD.

Thanks in advance.

Soup

are you willing to drive to Ashburn? Callaloo is great- curried goat that melts in your mouth, tasty peas and rice, huge sticky flavorful jamiaca jerk wings, and the best "dark & stormy" cocktail i've ever had outside of my own bar. they have a steel drum combo the first friday of each month. the Festival bread is really tasty as well

http://www.callaloocuisine.com/

if you go- please mention Aphioni sent ya!

a cup of hot chai and a packet of 100 calorie Lorna Doone cookies... not the breakfast of champs but boy, i love Lorna Doones...

So while recovering from major ankle surgery i had to become creative on how to keep my husband from feeding my son out of a box every night- be it Kid Cuisine or Coco Puffs! So we tried Entree Vous- where you go and put together meals with their fresh ingredients, then freeze them til we need them. you defrost the night before, then dinner is easy without me hopping around the kitchen, and my kid actually eating healthy varieties of food.

how do YOU folks feel about this- have any of you tried any of them: dream dinners, Let's Dish, etc?

I am a huge fan of Entreevous especially since the menu goes from comfort food like lasagne to gorgonzola stuffed flank steak, which i would never attempt myself.

i think it's a great time saving trend... your thoughts...?

A potato "Crochhe" could be considered a tater tot?

Tots could be good or bad..depends on; how you define them, who made them, where you eat them, and how hungry you are.

Ore Ida needs to stop messing with them and leave the original recipe ALONE. those onion tots are gross. give me a traditional tot- sprinkle on a little Season All Season Salt, and eeeenjoy with a grilled cheese and tomato soup. given tonight's weather- we may forego beef adobo i planned for tomorrow night and hit the tot trail in front of the tv! lol

I use allrecipes, but I can't figure out how to take from my private recipe box to add to a shopping list automatically.

in your recipe box, check the recipes you want, then at the bottom click on COPY checked items to "My Shopping List", hit go. click the Shopping list tab, then view and print. it's not automatic, but it works...

Is there a recipe website that will allow you to download not only their recipes but also to add your own and then from those it will make a shopping list for you?

yes! www.allrecipes.com

it is wonderful- i typed in the words "chicken quick" and got the most amazing parmesan crusted chicken recipe ever- though i DID cut the butter it called for in half. lots of helpful reviews and suggestions to improve recipes as well. hope you like it!

there doesn't seem to be a huge number of Ashburn folks here, but if you DO find yourself in ashburn craving Thai- THIS is THE place to try. they've received rave reviews in the washingtonpost and for good reason- such high quality ingredients and an authenticity to the spices and dishes that I haven't tasted in other local Thai joints.

if you want a truly satisfying pairing, try the Pork in the Garden with the Thai white wine- Monsoon- i think it's called- it is heaven. google the anothai coupons- you'll find a coupon for a free appetizer. (the clipper coupon has expired, fwiw)

Maybe the best in Ashburn/Sterling, but I can name at least a dozen places in the DC area that have better fries, and none of them will leave you smelling like you just rolled around in a grease trap.

fair enough- but yes i AM talking Ashburn. I'm also a Nebraskan, so any fries that remind me of Stella's Bar n Grill where your to-go burger is wrapped in Reynolds wrap foil and placed in a paper bag- like you had to take to school if you lost your lunch box and your parent's refused to buy you a new one, AND the fries are dumped straight from the basket into in the same kind of bag lined with papaer towel to soak up the grease before you get home...

5 guys fries make me home sick, so i have a special place in my heart for them.

I love the name. I think Belushi was a genius on SNL. I wanted to like Cheeburger Cheeburger...but I couldn't.

I was stuck out at Carmax in Ashburn (Sterling?) on Sunday and desperately needed food after forgetting to have breakfast and going through the car purchase process. My immediate options looked like Wegman's, California Tortilla or Cheeburger. Wegman's would have been the easy normal choice, but since I was ravenously hungry, the thought of a burger immediately trumped any other option.

Upon our arrival, we were way-too-happily greeted by a guy that escorted us to our table and proceeded to ask us if we'd ever been there before. After a dumb and costly mistake (I said "No."), my wife and I were then guided through the menu as if we were flying a plane in an emergency situation and reading the airplane manual for the first time with a coked-up Joe Dirt as our only guide. Our plane was crashing and we were the flight's only hope to land it!! It was a mile-a-minute speech that included dramatic pauses, page-flipping, SAUCE CHOICES!!, combo meals, descriptions of their flavored sodas made tableside, SAUCE CHOICES!!, countless examples of upselling, DID I MENTION THE DEAL YOU GET IF YOU GET THREE SAUCES?! and mentions of having our picture taken and put on their "Wall of Fame" if we eat their 20 ounce burger. Phew! (I'm sure not the best descriptive writer, but please understand that it was a weird and oddly stressful menu walkthrough.)

Anyway, we each got a burger (NOT the 20 ouncer), onion rings and fries. My wife got a banana milkshake. The shake was pretty top notch, to be honest. The burgers were standard fare (decent bread but the burgers tasted like they lacked in fat content and seasoning), with 78 million toppings to choose from as well as 5 different sauces to accompany them. The sauces ranged from nacho cheese to chili jelly. The toppings went from lettuce and tomato to Heinz 57 and pepperoni. Onion rings were batter dipped and not terrible. They, like the fries, needed salt and possibly to be fried at a higher temperature to get crispier, but they only benefitted in flavor from being fried in peanut oil. They didn't taste like they were previously frozen and weren't too greasy.

I wouldn't head back to this place any time soon, but if I were out that way with any age of children, I'd stop by. They seemed incredibly kid-friendly and well-intentioned enough. The food wasn't good enough to prompt a return trip, but certainly not bad enough to keep me away. At least now, if I return, when the host asks me if I've been there before, I can say "Yes".

the place to get a burger if you are stuck in Ashburn is Foster's Grille! I loved Cheeburger Cheeburger when i discovered it in Ft Lauderdale, the menu is fun and amazing, but the execution here in Ashburn stinks. shakes- fabulous. fries, overcooked and flavorless. burger i say medium so i can count on medium well, but they still gave me well done. couldn't even chew it- shoe leather. blech. i will give the one more try, to be fair.

but Fosters have never let me down- thick juicy hand made Patties... oh my. cold yuengling on tap- i'm so happy every time i go there. 5 guys IS great- the BEST fries around no doubt. but Fosters Fries are great as well and i am there for a burger first.

after all- it's not chip-cheeburger-cheeburger!

My first foray into Afghan cooking was a very pleasant one- if you are a fan of this type of food, I would love your opinion on Silk Road. there is a full review of my family's experience on my website (in my sig block) but in a nutshell I was truly delighted with the entire experience- from ambience to service, & the quality and presentation of the meals.

what impressed me most was the individual character of each dish- no two tasted alike. you can tell fresh herbs are used in the cooking, and the lamb stew- you had to scoop the meat of the triangular plate because it flaked apart at the touch of a fork.

I hope to hear from some of you who know this cuisine well, and can recommend other places to try superior Afghan cuisine.

My name is Renee- my pen name on my website is Aphioni. I review a wide variety of services in Ashburn VA and nearby, but i'm just getting started so my site may look a bit narrow...

I've been eating all my life so i feel pretty qualified to judge what i like and don't like, hence, the reviews. Lima beans and liver- DON'T LIKE. Steak and cheese- LIKE! See- it's that easy, and that's the only qualification i think one needs to review meals. I think the key is making other people taste your words and go to make the decision for themselves on whether they agree.

I've lurked for awhile and found thqat you folks take dining- not food-but the whole experience- as seriously as i do, so i feel at home! I'm looking forward to agreeing and disagreeing with you... thanks for letting me in.

ciao,

Renee aka Aphioni

www.aphioni.com