clayrae

Alfajores

(After discovering that only the El Pollo Rico in VA serves them, and not the El Pollo Rico in MD. So sad.)

(What is also sad is how much weight I will gain upon discovering how freakin easy it is to make these, especially since dulce de leche is readily available in a can in all the grocery stores around here...)

me too.

Don't know if any of these would be easier to find (or translate), but here is a list of substitutes for butternut from the Cook's Thesaurus

"Substitutes: buttercup squash (not as sweet and moist; harder to peel when raw; consider baking with skin on) OR acorn squash (not as sweet; harder to peel when raw, consider baking with skin on) OR calabaza OR delicata squash OR kabocha squash OR Hubbard squash (harder to peel when raw, consider baking with skin on) OR green papaya"

Butternut Squash Soup with Brown Butter, Sage, and Nutmeg Creme Fraiche from Keller's Bouchon cookbook with a side of parmesan pita crisps.

Ahhh, fall...

I have an idea for a small food shop, but have no experience in the retail food business. I have read a few books and scoured the internet and have started to write a business plan. But I still have questions about some of the nitty-gritty start-up things.

Do you have experience in small retail food businesses? Would you be willing to sit and talk with me? I’ll pay for dinner!

Thank you in advance.

Rachel

Where do you go when you want a classic?

i just became an opentable vip member. anyone know what being vip gets u? it seems like not a whole lot

Thank you for the suggestions! I'll call around...

Please excuse this bit of absurdity...I need to get my hands on a miniature bottle of Suntory Midori Melon Liquor.

I'm not planning on actually drinking it...but does anyone know where I might be able to pick up such a thing?

I’ve been making my own butter for a few months now. It is really easy to do. You do need to make sure you wash the butter to get out the whey or it will go rancid fairly quickly. Salting the butter also helps preserve it.

As for cream, I have used the fresh local organic stuff from the TPSS Co-op and Whole Foods but have also used the ultra-pasteurized stuff from Safeway. I’ve gotten fine buttery results from every kind of cream I’ve used.

The butter from fresh local organic cream is richer and has a more unique flavor, as you would expect, and the Safeway cream ends up tasting pretty much like Safeway butter.

Has anyone tried the gelato at

Lilit Cafe?

I had an appointment in “downtown” Vienna this morning, so I went into the Whole Foods store while I was there. They had the non-ultrapasteurized goat milk that I use to make chevre

Have you ever used the powdered/canned goat milk they sell in the TPSS Co-op to make your chevre? In my reading about cheese making I often see references to making certain cheeses with powdered (cows) milk. I haven't tried this myself, but from what I have read, it seems to give good results. Do you think you could do the same thing with goat's milk/cheese?

These are great (and even better topped with crème fraîche and smoked salmon):

Mashed-Potato Cakes with Onions and Kale

Had lunch at Beck this afternoon. I could eat lots and lots of the warm (hot actually) french loaf and butter they brought to the table. I had the steak tartare which was good, but the dressing overpowered the meat, and the frites, which were also good along with the dipping sauces, but what is the point of the boatload of frites? They must throw away pounds of cold dead frites every day. My friend had the trout, which was cooked well from the piece I was able to snag.

But I've run into this twice in a week now (on Saturday at Comet Ping Pong also):

I scoped out the menu before ordering, took note of the desserts, think there is something I might like, and then, the entrée plates are cleared and the check is unceremoniously dropped on the table. No offer of dessert, no offer of coffee. No nothing. Both times I have been so put off by this, as I was ready and willing to order dessert, padding both the tab and the tip, that I just paid and left. What's up with service? Some of you have met me, it's not like I look like I don't eat dessert!

Thankfully this afternoon we just marched across the street to Corduroy and had some of Tom Power's strawberry tart and wonderful sorbet, but that's for another thread!

I have recently started experimenting with cheese making, also with help from the The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company and milk from the Takoma Park Co-op. I recently tried my hand at mozzarella, ricotta, and cream cheese, with varying degrees of success

I blogged about it if you wanna read more (link in my signature line.)

Ok. The rise in temperature has motivated me to make a decision.

I will make cold fruit soup (nectarine and cantaloupe probably) which, besides the fruit, will probably have some honey and yogurt in it.

Ill also bring some cups/bowls to eat it out of (and a ladle...)

I saw a few different kinds of bacon at Trader Joes last week, I'll pick up one of each.

Cloax and I had dinner at Hook last night. First off I will echo (sorry) the comments above about the space being loud. Really loud. Ridiculously loud. We had a 7pm reservation and realized that we were literally screaming to hear each other by the time dessert arrived. The space is lovely, clean and sleek, but when will restaurant owners/designers realize that a hard floor, hard walls, and a hard (domed no less) ceiling is a recipe for auditory disaster?

The service wasn’t bad exactly, but it wasn’t exactly good either. Too attentive at the beginning, and then oddly dragging. And I’m not sure if it was something in the air or what, but the staff were falling all over each other. Literally. No fewer than three separate occurrences of shattering glass during our dinner.

The food was fine, if mostly unremarkable. We each got a flight of three crudo. I honestly don’t remember which we got, and the server failed to tell us which was which when they arrived at the table. It was good, fresh, fish but left no impression.

I had the Black-Fin Tuna with basil, fennel, and red onion salad, butter potato puree. I was not asked how I wanted the tuna cooked, and assumed it would be done rare, but it arrived over-cooked. The basil, fennel, and red onion salad was fresh and crisp and the best part of the plate. The potatoes were very very highly salted (and I am a salt fiend) and were pureed to the point of being a sticky paste.

Cloax had the Bluefish with potato-parsnip cake, basil walnut pesto, grilled lemon which was the highlight of the evening. The fish was cooked perfectly and very flavorful. The potato cake was light and the pesto and lemon complimented both the fish and the potato well.

We had high hopes for dessert, but were disappointed. He had the walnut cake, with halva ice cream and mascarpone stuffed dates. The dates were cold and paled in comparison to the heavenly version served at Komi. The ice cream was interesting, but the cake was dry to the point of being inedible. I had the almond cake, which was lacking in almond flavor (but I did like the crispy crust), with rhubarb sorbet, which was delicious.

Overall, nothing horribly terribly wrong, but enough minor missteps to prevent us from running back to Hook anytime soon.

Bacon Exotic Candy Bar

Applewood smoked bacon + Alder smoked salt + deep milk chocolate

Deep milk chocolate coats your mouth and leads to the crunch of smoked bacon pieces. Surprise your mouth with the smoked salt and sweet milk chocolate combination.

Link

I'm still coming, and still don't know what I'm bringing...

I WILL bring some bacon and I'll work on something to satisfy the chocolate/cheese/fruit/roasted bird requests (not all in one dish!)

(Although I could do mole chicken, that could cover the bird and chocolate...hrm...)

I have no intention of giving up my omnivorous lifestyle, but have recently come across some "raw food" recipes that sounded kinda interesting. And more fruits and vegetables couldn't hurt, right?

What could hurt is spending $400 on a Vitamix high speed blender and then discovering that I'm not actually interested in more fruits and vegetables.

Anyone have thoughts about these? Is a "high speed' blender necessary? Is it possible to get a used one for cheap(er)?

Well, I have lost 8 pounds. But that was after gaining 4 in March and April.

So actually down 4. But I have been going to the gym regularly, the scale is moving in the right direction again, and I generally just feel better.

I will turn 30 in January and have restated my goal to be fit before I hit that milestone...

I wouldn't know a cocktail from a glass of apple juice and a good friend is coming to town this weekend and has asked about "martinis in dc."

We are having dinner at Dino on Sat night, I know Chris does interesting drinks there which I am sure we will partake of, but does anyone have a lounge-y location for afterward where we could fulfill his martini request? Close to Dino would be nice, but we have no problem wandering around town either.

i believe the reference is for piment d'esplette, a dried ground pepper from southern france

Thank you!

Can someone tell me what "esplenette" is?

(I get 7 google hits, half of them the Hook menu...)

ETA: some kind of pepper maybe?

There are very few things which I find too repulsive to eat. Sea urchin is one of them. Softshell crab is another. I know, I know, but I just can't get the image of biting into a hardshell crab and munching away out of my mind. Ugh.