crackers

Does that orange dress come with it too? That might make me want it. [but what's up with putting an avocado in the photo?]

For my money, I rather buy a lot of $6.99 trowels at Lowe's that would do the job well enough .

Anybody and everybody, at any time, is free to post and suggest a place for getting together for a mid-week cheap dinner (Cheap. As in you know that last $20 bill you have in your wallet? That is all you're gonna need. Really. And you may even get change back. That kind of cheap.) Hillvalley's got plenty on her plate at the moment, so to speak, (and DanielK deserves a big thanks for his great job of keeping track of the recent outings) so if anybody else has any suggestions, let's hear them!

Happy Birthday RaisaB! [bumping this thread up and out of obscurity from the bottom of the Shopping forum!]

I really don't want (or need) one of these , but it would have made a great stocking stuffer for some of my friends.

That was fun! Not at all what I expected! If only you could guarantee 72 degrees and sunny next weekend too. Thanks for organizing this Porcupine, and thanks to Zora for the many tasty snacks and hospitality afterward. The towpath works well for walking or jogging, but all those bikers had the funniest mud splatter patterns on their backsides!

Todd Kliman did a short mention in his weekly "chog" on Dec. 19th: Last week Tom Siestsema did the same in his weekly chat. At the risk of this all being removed to the Criticizing Restaurants thread, I think we can all agree that the active presence of and monitoring by restauranteurs of their own threads of course influences the tenor of the posts on that thread, and silences more than a few criticisms. Having said that...please report back!

Same time, same place, new year. I am pleased to report that the cakes were immensely better than last year! Instead of Lemon Swirl there was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. The two cakes I sampled (raspberry and chocolate) were quite nice. The buttercream was just about perfect, and the cake layers were moist and flavorful. Better than the bouche de noel I had purchased from a local patisserie in Paris for Christmas dinner the week before.

70 degrees, sunny and a snack chez Zora? I'm so there. Then I'm going to get my jaw wired shut.

FWIW, according to the press release in the Columbia Heights News and the report in the Common Denominator the place is now owned and run by Romeo Morgan and his sons, who bought it from his uncle, Morris Morgan.

From Wikipedia's description of the Rockwell scale: You couldn't make this stuff up.

Here is a map of the canal from Georgetown to Swains Lock.

Foodniks was the affectionate term used in my family for foodies in our circle of friends and family. Food Nuts was the equally affectionate term for all the other foodies in Berkeley (essentially the entire population, except for the "real" gourmets: serious types who existed on a different plane and made complicated recipes using a lot of French ingredients).

My favorite ratings are from the SF Chronicle, which gives an overall rating, and also breaks it down. It also includes a noise rating. Here is how a typical rating looks:

If y'all go, please tell the jolly old elf who usually hangs about, that I was very good this year and would like to have the baked olives stay on the menu as my Christmas gift. thank you.

Asean Bistro's menu is eclectic, but most things I have had have been done well. A former colleague was addicted to the hot and sour soup,** and I have liked the jade dumplings, lettuce wraps, and the tea smoked duck. Most nights there is someone playing showtunes on the baby grand piano near the entry. They also have coupons worth up to 10% off the meal on weeknights. **second hand info to be sure, but I can report that the look of delight when eating the soup appeared to be genuine.

trying to do the math... - + - =

A group effort with a French flair: oysters, foie gras, bûche de Noël, and the rest tbd. And champagne.

Not just stars but rankings?! oooph - a star smackdown. This is going to be fun! With either Palena or Vidalia ranking #4, methinks (at least) one of Sietsema's four four-stars will not fare too well in this ranking.

HOW DO I POST PHOTOS INTO THE BODY OF MY POST? It's not as simple as copying and pasting. For Windows users, there are actually two ways to get a photo to show up in your post: the "thumbnail" style and the "big picture" style. Method One - the "Thumbnail" style. This changed recently with the so-called "upgrade" for Invision. Thumbnails are the easier of the two methods. First, save the photo somewhere you can easily find it on your hard drive. It should be saved as a .jpg file or something similar. If possible, condense it down before saving it onto your hard drive so that when someone opens up the thumbnail it isn't the size of your head. Start a new post or a new topic. 1. Look right below the box where you post to locate the "Attachments" box. 2. Locate and click on the "Browse" button. Another box will open up that allows you to locate your photo that is stored on your system. 3. After locating the photo that you want, click on it, and then click on the "Open" button. This will cause the link to appear in the box next to the "browse" button. 4. Locate and click on the "Upload" box. (it is green on my screen, ymmv) 5. Locate and click on the "Manage Current Attachments" box, located directly above the "Upload" box. You will get a pulldown menu. Select the image you want to insert. Make sure you have your cursor in the correct post in your post first. Click on the image you want to insert and the link should appear in your post box. Repeat for additional photos that you want in the same post. Before posting, you can add any text before or after the photos. 6. Always proofread your work by locating and clicking on the "Preview Post" button at the very bottom of the screen. This will allow you to see if the link worked and if you need to move things around in the post before you hit the "Add Reply" button and allow the world to see your photo. To delete a thumbnail: In the old "Invision" program, one must hit the "Remove" button as well as the link in the actual post. Haven't tried it yet in the new version. Method Two - the "Big Picture" style... stay tuned... comments and corrections gladly welcome (but beware, you may get tagged as "it" for doing the "Big Picture" post). Anybody have suggestions for Mac users?

A recent post on another thread reminded me that restaurants are used to being asked to comp a birthday dessert. Not too long ago, knowing I would be dining in the company of Birthday Person, and not wanting anything gratis, I had quietly made arrangements ahead, and when dessert orders were being taken, I reminded the waiter about the special dessert, and asked him to be sure to put it on my tab. So out came the dessert, complete with candle, placed in front of Birthday Person with a flourish accompanied by singing of "the song." Unfortunately, it was not the dessert that had been requested. (Rather than a piece of fruit tart, it was an ice cream and whipped cream type of thing . . . whatcha gonna do??) Birthday Person blew out the candle and conversation resumed as the candle smoke wafted toward the ceiling. Just as Birthday Person was about to pick up spoon and insert into dessert, something most unbelievable occurred: the waiter came back and stealthily reached around and whisked the dessert away and placed it in front of another person at the table who had ordered this dessert (albeit without blown candle spittle all over it!) This left poor Birthday Person holding a spoon, staring down with mute astonishment at an empty plate. Minute upon minute went by – no waiter in sight. When it became apparent that no replacement dessert would be forthcoming for Birthday Person, the (owner? maitre’d?) was hunted down, and eventually a piece of fruit tart was unceremoniously plunked down for Birthday Person. No apology, no explanation, certainly no comp, and apparently no clue. Never again.

Unfortunately, as of last week, Firefly no longer had valet parking. The hotel still has it, but I think it's something like $17.00.

It should have been no surprise to anybody, front or back, that Sietsema was there one month to the day after it opened.

Here is the link that MeMc mentions to Metrocurean's review of the latte frother. Here are some more nifty contraptions! I particularly like the vegiforms which gives a new meaning to playing with your vegetables.

Probably too soon to be opening this one. Give it a millenium or so and it'll be a knockout.