giant shrimp

looks like they are going to have to pull an animal farm on the list of unacceptable food ingredients before sarah lee makes it into their freezer cases. (is this libelous, because i know nobody does it better?)

to end this little melodrama, i suggest that the restaurant invite the poor, young, thoughtless, inexperienced, perhaps homophobic, wonderfully kind and harmless hostess back in the winter to stand outside its doors and play the little matchbox girl.

i would not recommend le grand bouffe, which i have not seen since it was first released, but recall being a depressing account of perverse gluttony that will put a viewer down in the dumps. it comes from the same place as a vengeful vincent price feeding robert morley his pet poodle or bette davis as baby jane cooking blanche's parakeet after she lied to her sister that it flew out the window. (my memory might be slightly out of whack on these, so many incredible crimes have been committed in the movies over the years.)

a salad nicoise with heirloom tomatoes, haricot vert and small potatoes from the farmers market. the oritz tuna works well, but i mix in the oil rather than draining it off, otherwise it is too dry. with a good dressing buried in a recipe from deborah madison: crush two garlic cloves with two anchovies and half a teaspoon of salt with a mortar and pestel, whisk in a teaspoon of dijon mustard, and then two to three tablespoons of aged red vinegar and one-third cup of olive oil.

daughters of the dust, for its sumptuous picnic, although this movie really puts me to sleep. nothing specific comes to mind, but the french excel at putting food and drink in the cinema, especially champagne and picnics. you can get fed really well in a film by renoir. is it "grand illusion" where the little boy wants to eat the baby jesus? with the picnics, (a day in the country, le bonheur) the food brings everyone together, and then something unexpected happens, like the wife with the adulterous husband jumping in the lake. peter greenaway is more interested in decomposition, and i don't think his movies have much good to say about food, the stench of death is just too loud. we go to greenaway to see things rotting. jean luc godard is always good for cafes and cups of coffee with the cream swirling in them like the universe. weekend is a great movie, but again its reference to food is murder, mayhem and cannibalism and the decline of capitalism. the mother's murder is depicted by her blood splashing on a skinnned rabbit, and a young woman's preparation for the table begins with breaking an egg and stuffing her with a fish -- tres droll. actually, poisoning is something they do fairly well, and often,` in the movies. after notorious, maybe something by chabrol? my memory has grown dim about movies i loved decades ago and haven't had the chance to see since (since they tore down the circle theatre). and slapstick food fights are a cinematic tradition, though you usually wouldn't have wanted to eat the food in the first place. (around my mother in law's dinner table, they used to joke about who had the ground cat's whiskers in their mashed potatoes.)

(after riding around arlington on buses a bit aimlessly late sunday afternoon trying to make sense out of life after watching "urinetown" at signature theatre and wishing we had listened to the music first because that seemed to be stronger than the humor, and foolishly discovering that willow is closed on sundays, we eventually found ourselves in the clare and don area, and i had always wanted to try tallula, which was a bit hard to find when you think you know where it is and it isn't there, you don't trust the directions of a customer at the wine cellar, you don't have the address, you run out of quarters calling information, you have to get more change by sending your wife into a vietnamese store to purchase thread and you keep flashing back to a korean restaurant on a spot that is now most likely buried under a condominium.) the first thing we liked about tallula is that it is around the bend and at least three long blocks away from a booming area where life is calculated on a cost per square foot basis. the second thing we liked was that the people were nice, and the third thing was the martinis, around which time we began to lose track of our likes and dislikes, feeling simply relieved and lucky that we had finally discovered this oasis, which was not very much like what i had thought it would be from reading about it, which is often the case. we were seated beneath a skylight, sandiwched between a semi-open kitchen and a semi-gurgling fountain, and at about 70% capacity, i would say the noise in the dining room was well within tolerable levels. the food: we skipped the two bites because it just seemed too many decisions, but the ham and cheese ravioli was worth ordering, perfectly prepared fava beans the best thing about this buttery sauced dish, and served with asparagus that made me wonder just a bit about what it means to be committed to locally grown produce. (should i also have been wondering about the beans?) fried oysters were also quite decent, although one of them was accompanied by bits of shell. the niman ranch pork chop, ordered medium rare, was thick and juicy and flavorable enough on its own that it didn't really need the pepper jelly accompaniment. unlike a diner two tables down, who left it virtually untouched, i at least played with my jelly and discovered a rendering of true pepper flavor once i got past the sugar. the pork came with admirable spinach and a small cast iron pot of macaroni and cheese, which we all love, but this really is becoming a trite food and if it were my kitchen i would at least try to figure out something new to do with it or forget it. i will also someday try to get directions to the niman ranch so i can get a feel for these critters on the hoof. my wife didn't complain about her hangar steak, and she can complain, so i suppose it was alright. however, the one forkful i had suggested some sort of fusion (chinese?) and i didn't feel like chewing any more to try and figure out what was in it, though i believe it was more than syrah reduction and pepper. there is an impressive wine by the glass list and big goblets for swirling, and i don't remember stems but there must have been bottoms to keep the glasses in place. i had a hewitson miss harry, as it is described on my check, which was delicious, a syrah-ish blend(?). our server suggested it, and she knew what she was doing. anyway, this is another place that gives wine its due, and after dinner you can go around the restaurant wall where bottles are stored and it turns into a store. you don't have to leave too much room for dessert to enjoy the banana cream pie, which is actually a layer of whipped cream, then banana substance, some crumbs and a dollop of chocolate served in a drink glass. i suppose you could say it was deconstructed. it certainly wasn't pie, didn't come with a warning, but was satisfying without knocking anyone's socks off. the peaches in the peach shortcake were cooked, served with biscuits and mascarpone. again, i was glad my wife had ordered this, though ended up eating more of it than she did, for the road. bottom line: this is a a nice neighborhood restaurant, there are lots of things on the menu i would still like to try and i will give them a shot next time. the bar feels almost as large as the restaurant, and is truly beautiful to behold, but sunday night, at least, it was going almost entirely to waste. i can't believe that everybody was at home watching the emmy's. on the way out there is a sign on the door asking you to be respectful of the neighbors. i can't imagine what this is all about. not to be disrespectful, but maybe they are just pricks?

i don't think there was enough space in the print edition for the seating incident, or should i have had more coffee before looking for it? i guess i am out of it, but i would assume that quite a few people go to charleston for other than romantic reasons. I'm not in favor of saving the best tables for those who are more interested in each other than the food.

they look like small bananas, a bit rounder. here's a picture i quickly found on the net: http://www.gwf.org/pawpaw.htm i know they grow along the upper potomac on the maryland side. ask a c+o ranger at great falls? there is quite a bit of literature available on "edible" wild plants at the library, books stores, the net etc.

it was amazing to me the amount of controversy that was generated by one phooey about palena a week or so ago, as if the restaurant were incapable on its own of standing up to the criticism. this is one place you can be sure the food will rise to special occasions, but we had never tried the cafe until saturday night, and everything glowing that has been posted on don rockwell is spot on. i never imagined the pomodoro would be so good. i thought the postings here were probably exaggerations, but if anything they were understatements simply because you can't really put it into words. you have to eat it. babies should eat it, too, and if i had one i would make sure to carry some home. the whole street food thing that is going on here -- hamburgers, fries, cinammon scented chicken -- takes some favorite american foods to places they have seldom gone before. a crab blini was excellent, and, i just noticed, not on the bill. for dessert, we only had room for an apple cream tart with cranberries. there were still a couple of open tables in the cafe area when we departed around 7:30, asking ourselves how can it be?

It just ain't particularly Italian. it's getting more italian than it used to be, and branching out a bit, judging from your experience there and a report from my wife. i agree about the marketing and wonder to what extent it is a straitjacket.

yes, i found them for a couple of weeks last autumn at the dupont farmers market. the first week they were great, custardy definitely. the second week, not so good, maybe because they are more perishable than you would expect. i would love to try cooking with them, but am unsure of what would work and would be hesitant in substituting them for banana. several years ago, hiking along the c+o canal above white's ferry, we found them growing in profusion, and black racers slumbering in the sun.

i am glad to hear that poste gets the gold medal. our son was gone from the table for so long that we suspected he had started smoking again.

i will have to take back what i said earlier about not getting anything for free from whole foods. i had been making the mistake of handling problems at the register instead of going to the manager's desk. of course, in my experience, you have to go ape to get anywhere with them. yesterday, for the umpteenth time at the p street store just over the summer, a sale item, coffee, rang up for the full amount at the cash register. the cashier didn't know exactly what to do, so i went back to the shelves and returned with the label for the item showing that it was normally priced for $10.99 and on sale for $8.99. i would have been happy, i guess, to see $2 deducted from the bill, but the person who was called over to discuss the adjustment ticked me off by his attitude and a comment along the lines of "okay, give him the $2." at the manager's desk, in exchange for practically having a stroke, i was rewarded with $11 in cash. was it worth it? not really. i tend to lose it in situations like this. for whatever the reason, you can count on running into these sorts of price discrepancies at whole foods. the coffee i bought was the last one on the shelf, so either this pricing problem had already been brought to the store's attention, or the people who bought it on sale and paid full price for it didn't really care. i don't trust them. at best, they are profiting from their indifference toward addressing this ongoing issue. by the way, i knocked the produce at p street last week, and just want to say that it was much better at their store on wisconsin down from calvert.

sandwich cookie #2, the chocolate mascarpone, will appeal to the cookie monster in everyone, but is a runner up to the more nutritious peanut butter version. Moist, crumbly and chocolate chunky, the cookie uses the cheese more to hold itself together than anything else; the mascarpone would have to be slathered on more thickly to hold its own against the chocolate, though its best attributes are not entirely lost. in the battle of the sandwiches, the blt and toast tite were running neck and neck when we tasted them recently. the former really brings home the bacon, mayonnaised on one side, with good tomatoes that will be on their way out by the time the squirrels are gathering their acorns. cut on the diagonal, the ends of the sandwich are a bit floppy and the ingredients tend to hop around. does not toasting the bread for the sake of keeping the lines moving deprive this variation of classic stature? i don't know, but was fouled recently at home for the same purported infraction, as well as reaching too high with the variety of lettuce. there are differences between the toast tite and the one grilled cheese i sampled weeks ago, but i'm unsure of exactly what they are so can't say why i prefer the toast tite, with tomato. they are both on the same fluffy bread. was there some emulsion going on to moisten things up in the toast tite, and a tang of bluish cheese amalgamation that's was missing in my earlier sandwich? technically speaking, this is not a toast tite from your youth, if you have lived that long. i still have the utensil to make them buried in a cabinet someplace. the bread is crimped by the round tool, sealing cheese wiz and butter inside the bread, and toasted over an open frame. you end up with a thick saucer with a hot ooze that will take off the top of your mouth when the contents are released. this is not what they are serving at breadline. the water with orange peels and other things was fine, but the infusion provided only a hint of flavor so i still don't understand what all the excitement was about. the french fries were a success. after saving boudu from drowning, i would recommend that he visit this establishment daily to fill up on them as a worthy investment of his alms. (a bit of nostalgia: that son of a sausage maker, michel simon, once deplored the demise of a reliable technique for indicating the ripeness of le fromage -- worms.) again, our visit to breadline was late, when the operation was winding down, which seems to be a good time here.

although we have not been there for about five years, i would go to paris. you can find some amazing things even just sticking to some of the best bistros, i.e., i will never forget a dish containing every part of the pig -- the ultimate porcine experience. i can't think of another city where food is taken more seriously. this is the birthplace, after all, isn't it? and there are no better streets for walking off your meals. in this country, taking into consideration the destination itself, i would choose san francisco hands down.

i think squash blossoms are usually more trouble than they are worth and, like cucumbers, they can be bitter. however, the squash blossom grilled cheese sandwiches i ran into earlier this summer at jaleo provided pleasing company, although the treatment somewhat obscured the main ingredient. how about watermelon? it has been popping up all over the place, mostly frozen, and is borderline trite. i have no first-hand experience of what happens when you pair up a watermelon with a juicy tomato. personally, i like to encounter the orange seedless variety alone by itself. winter is a better time to judge if artichokes have become trite, but i order them whenever i can because there is nothing i would rather avoid than trimming them in the early summer, i am grateful for cherry tomatoes. once the big tomatoes roll in, it is only natural to spurn them and call them trite in front of your friends.

actually, they had run out of po boys before 1:30, but still had water.

i get the feeling that the days of this establishment are numbered, even if the rumors aren't true. at the same time as it is charging up the area for further redevelopment expansion, the boom around chinatown and the mci center, i suspect, is siphoning off some business from a v. attendance was definitely down last saturday night. which is maybe too bad. what better place is there to take your schizophrenic brother or boss(es) or self? next time you visit, it would be a good idea to stare long and hard at the mortadella-design floor tiles and burn them into your memory.

mama desta's restaurant on georgia avenue is the first taste of ethiopian cuisine i recall a couple of decades ago, and we had some favorites in adams morgan for a while before eventually tiring of the food. but reading todd kliman has rekindled our interest, and our initial return to ethiopian revealed that there are once again some new things happening in these kichens, whose origins in washington were full of novelty. we thought we would be eating at his favorite ethiopian restaurant in the area last night, sodere. finding it closed, we turned the corner of ninth and u to find etete just a couple of doors down. this is a narrow restaurant, with eight tables for two and a few tables with bar stools and a small bar. its furnishings are surprisingly contemporary, and it has the appearance of wanting to be half a bar hangout, although the selections, which include alcohol, are a bit limited. i had a harrar beer, which was very mellow and i would say it had a note of honey. it was a good accompaniment to the food. we ordered a fasten vegetable sampler that included good renditions of greens, lentils, potatoes and carrots, and a small lettuce and tomato salad that was a bit out of place. the centerpiece of our meal was tikul, a mound of ground (whipped) beef, and it stole the show. soft, buttery, (my wife thinks cheesy) and with a mysterious (to us) spice, with a great, unique flavor. lentil sambusas were soft and slow-burn spicy, and the injera had a more interesting, tripe-ish texture than the smoother versions served in the old days. the waitresses here are glamorous and nice, although they may not have enough command of the english language to tell you what's in your beef. for that, you might attempt to get the answer from the chef herself, who was totally engrossed in her preparations from what we could see through the swinging door to the kitchen at the end of the room. i'm not sure who's allowed to invade the kitchen, but one customer did, probably a regular or friend or relative, dressed up as some sort of chieftain, and he exited back through the restaurant a bit later with a big plastic bag of carry out. the disappearing into the kitchen for extended periods includes the waitresses, who are apologetic about their long absences without really having to be. we were well aware that we had entered another time zone, and appreciated the leisurely pace. a solitary diner, on the other hand, was in and out quickly. on a sunday night, there were about a dozen customers over an hour-and-a-half span. outside and after dark, this may not be the safest neighborhood to be strolling around in, but there is a metro station just one block away if you're worried.

displaying an assured hand and some inventive recipes, the food at a recent late-summer dinner here was outstanding, starting with a sublimely peppery soup of julienned barbecued duck, chives and a silt of polenta. the soup provides a constantly changing play of flavors, including flashes of sweetness from the sauce. you are left with small golden nuggets of polenta at the bottom of your bowl. fried oysters and steak were perfect. equally delicious was pork scalloppine stacked with scalloped potatoes and wilted greens. a number of years ago i remember trying to conquer a recipe for a pine nut nougat from marcella hazan, and exploring various degrees of bitterness before concluding that you might have to acquire a taste for this confection. a serving of scorched peaches here presented a similar dilemma, setting the stage for a contest between sweet ice cream and syrup and late-stage caramel. it's hard to tell the extent to which the pursuit of bitterness was deliberate, though the execution of this dessert might have gone slightly out of control. in any event, i left no evidence that the experiment might not have been entirely successful, including the fruit itself, which was definitely harder than it should have been. a refreshing melon soup provided the best rendition of watermelon -- in small balls of sorbet -- that we have encountered at any washington restaurant this summer. as with the menu, the wine list is packed with possibilities, many by the glass, and displays an affection for roses. echoing the inventiveness of the kitchen, the dining room evokes excitement with white birch halves attached to the wall and the wide girth of a tree trunk reaching up into the dining room. this looks like the kind of tree that could start throwing things at you, if it had the mind to, or something sprung from the mind of marcel dzama. this can be a noisy restaurant, although a room at the back can provide some respite.

before i impress my guests from out of town, will someone please tell me how to pronounce htipiti, kilokithokefteses, midye and mavrofassola me loucaniko?

if you can budget for $400-$500 a month, i think you are doing pretty good. a toddler shouldn't be adding too much to the food expenses, but wait until they start growing up. people who talk about their teenagers aren't kidding. of course, there are a lot of factors here that need to be considered, such as how often you are eating out (if it hasn't been slowed down by your child, then your baby sitting expenses are going up?) and where you are shopping. also, how much time do you have to spend in the kitchen? you can save a lot of money by baking, etc. and you will probably have much better meals, but that is a luxury for us. we stay away from most frozen and canned foods, which tend to be expensive, but could live fairly comfortably on good canned tomatoes, dried pasta, olive oil, parmesan and bread. for two adults who eat out a few times a week, we spend roughly $80 a week on produce at the farmers market (less in the winter, when apples and root vegetables about sum up what's available locally) and another $80 at grocery stores, but we pretty much stay in the neighborhoods in the city where we live and work, so you may have better alternatives. fresh produce at the grocery stores we frequent, including whole foods on p street, can be fairly grim all year round no matter what price you are willing to pay. i had trouble finding one decent head of lettuce there on monday. though i haven't checked lately, the marvelous market at dupont circle has a decent but small selection of produce, although often at twice the price as the farmers will sell to you, i.e., heirloom tomatoes have been running $3 a pound this summer, so you can get them here for $5-6. i have seen whole foods selling them also (at a high price), but they seem to have problems with anything that is halfway perishable, i.e., their tomatoes were picked too early or they are rotting. your child should be eating just about the same things as you are, and that helps control costs. we don't really budget each month for food, but we follow a routine that provides a fairly accurate idea of what the costs will add up to. buying whatever suits your fancy can be dangerous in a store like whole foods, which is booby trapped all over the place with lures for impulse buyers. half a pound of spanish almonds here, some irish cheese, a couple bottles of pomegranate juice, jars of portugese tuna and anchovies -- and before you know it, you are walking out of the store with one or two bags of groceries that just cost you $200 with only enough food to last for half a week. at least in the cooking department, our philosophy is to eat fairly simply, but even that doesn't necessarily come cheap.

i didn't know whole foods hired managers with sherwood forest on their resumes. maybe this can become an urban legend. i've never experienced anything remotely like it and i'm at that store constantly, though seldom in virginia.

don't forget the nutmeg on the spinach. julia child would have approved. i had forgotten how serious this place was about steak till we returned over the weekend, and i had no problem wolfing down a medium-rare onglet. a recommended bottle of california red wine was affordable and a good accompaniment. i wish i could remember the name -- not gropers, but something like that. we were told it flies out of there, it is just that popular. visually, i think the dining room has much more character than some people give it credit for, especially when the sun starts going down. there's a really nice milk chocolate paint treatment on the bottom part of the walls, and it looked like they were flying the skull and bones in the kitchen. if you don't have a reservation, and they allow you to, i think it is worth waiting outside, but you better stay out until they tell you that it's time to come back in, even if your carnivorous instincts are raging out of control.

in the downtown mall area, c&o and oxo were good the last time we were there in the late autumn. service at the latter was definitely bent, but didn't detract too much from the food. this is still a college town. i would recommend metropolitan, but it's gone. bizou used to be a reliable, unpretentious offshoot, and maybe still is, at least for lunch. have never made it to the more expensive places frequented by the horse-riding crowd strewn over the countryside. would like to visit kluge; it was closed on the mondays when we were in the area.