Choirgirl21

Thanks! The roasted chicken has been at the forefront of my list recently, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I am on a peach pie making kick so if I can get some good ones this week, maybe I will make the crostada next week.

Thanks for the heads up. I was thinking I might try a new market, but Silver Spring is the most convenient if I abandon that plan. Glad to hear there's an abudance of cukes elsewhere. There were none at my farmers market last Sunday, which the exception of 1 1/2 lbs of lemon cukes at the orchard, which I bought in pretty much their entirety except for a few funky stragglers. But not a single pickling cuke to be found.

I work in MD so I feel left out since I'm unable to try all of the food carts popping up in DC and VA now. So I'm wondering, would it be possible to do a food truck tour one day when I'm not feeling well enough to go into the office? I know it might be tricky given that many tweet their locations with little advance notice and given that they probably don't stay much beyond the lunch hour, but maybe it's possible??? I'd want a variety of cuisines, I like the idea of a banh mi truck and was just reading about the lobster roll truck (although that sounds tricky given teh long waits), but don't even know what else is out there right now. I know one of the first carts around was a bulgogi cart and I'd be happy to add that to the list. Really, as long as it's good food, I don't care. Being able to metro b/c locations would be ideal.

Leftover spaghetti squash carbonara with brined pan roasted chicken from my Down Home Down Town cookbook. Suprisingly good leftover. Exactly what I've been craving. Hoping I can find some at a market this weekend. Which Zuni recipe exactly? I got that cookbook months ago and have yet to make anything from it.

It's the 2007 Sipp Mack Reserve Pinot Gris, distributed by Bacchus. No idea if anyone carries it in this area and even having trouble finding prices online, but if the few I'm seeing are correct, it's an absolute bargain at under $20 per bottle. ETA: Just ordered a few bottles at Corridor in Laurel today. Wholesale was $15 and change, they are charging me $19.99/bottle. Really good QPR in my opinion.

Three Springs has had outstanding peaches this year, including yellow donut peaches for the first time. They also grow some delicious heirloom tomatoes and lemon cukes. I've had good corn from the Greenbelt market as well, but the 2 watermelons I got in my CSA were incredibly disappointing, not sweet at all. But that's really been my only major disappointment this year.

It has to be Saturday, but thanks anyway.

Now see, that is smart thinking. Thanks for that, I will be sure to do it that way next time.

So where do you all buy your Saveur? Or do you all have subscriptions? I have now looked at Balducci's, Whole Foods, any other random grocery store I go into, and Border's with no luck. Although honestly, at the issue price I am paying with each magazine I buy to check it out I could have just bought a subscription or two. But I like to be methodical and do my research. Since I couldn't find Saveur, I picked up Eating Well instead today. At first glance, doesn't look as promising, but I figured I should give it a chance since it was also recommended to me by a fellow wine lover. I continue to like Fine Cooking though and the fact that it's bimonthly appeals as well. Not that I have to narrow down to one choice, there's room for more than one magazine subscription in my life.

Yeah, when I turned them, then only the tips stuck out. I figured I would store one way for a while, then flip. Thanks.

Greenbelt's farmers market is taking this weekend off b/c of a Greenbelt Festival so I was thinking I might use it as an opportunity to visit a market in MD or DC that I don't typically visit on Saturday. In particular, I would really like to get some cranberry beans since the vendor at our market hasn't had them yet, as well as small pickling cukes that I can ferment or pickle whole. Other than that, I'm just looking for a market that has a good variety or might offer some interesting or unusual things that I haven't been to before (that rules out any Baltimore markets), producer only (or mostly) please. Any suggestions? I might even venture into VA, but that's probably unlikely unless there's some REALLY good reason (or something else in the area to attract me). Thanks!

Question: I pickled my okra last night and for my first time canning, I think things went smoothly. I do have one concern though, which is that given the size/shape of my okra, I wasn't able to pack the jars completely and in several of them, I may have had just a little too little liquid. So basically, the okra floats to the top, meaning a little bit sticks out of the liquid near the cap. Is this dangerous in any way? I actually ended up with 4 pint jars and I was concerned that I had overfilled one of them, but of course that one is perfect and the other 3 are slightly underfilled.

I am planning on attending. Have no idea yet what I will bring. I don't have any cookbooks I want to give away, but I will happily take some off of your hands.

I had an outstanding Alsatian pinot gris last night at my blind tasting group. Of course I neglected to write the name of the winemaker down, but I need to find out and can share with you if you're interested once I do. It was incredibly aromatic and we all just sat around the table oohing and aahing as we continued to inhale it.

I am going to make bread and butter pickles tonight with some lemon cukes I got at the market, along with some pickled okra and some fermented long beans. I had trouble finding any good pickling cukes (or really any cukes at all) at the market this week. Am I too late, is the season over? I'd like to do some whole dills before the end of the summer.

A vinegar based potato salad? The most recent issue of Fine Cooking had quite a few ideas for variations on the same old boring potato salad, including many using vinegar instead of mayo (for your temperature stability issue). Can't seem to find a reproduction of the article itself online, but they have this wacky "create your own" interface: http://www.finecooking.com/articles/cyor/potato-salad.aspx.

I meant to post earlier. I had a really nice extended RW dinner at Bibiana last week. I felt that everything from the service to the food to the ambience was outstanding and would definitely go back again/recommend it to others. Friends (there were 4 of us) wanted to start with raw oysters, which I'm not a huge fan of, so I ordered the squash blossoms stuffed with salt cod separate from the RW menu to have while they had their oysters. The dish was tasty, but not mind blowing in any way. Still a nice way to start the meal for only $5. My first course off of the RW menu was the calamari. Excellent dish, lovely smoky flavor. I almost didn't get the RW menu b/c I really wanted the veal tortellini, but I had read some really good reviews of a few of the fish dishes on the RW menu and in the end, they had sold out of the tortellini so my decision was easy - stick with the RW menu and have the cod with fennel and tomato puree for my entree. The tomato puree on this dish was excellent, the cod was cooked perfectly and all of the flavors went well together. I will admit I'm a sucker for some nicely roasted fennel, but I do think this was a well executed and delicious dish, if not particularly inventive. I got the Greco to pair with both of these on the server's recommendation, which was a good choice. For dessert I again went with the server's recommendation and got the panna cotta, despite generally not being a fan of panna cotta. But the server was so enthusiastic about it that I felt I should take a chance and I'm glad that I did. The panna cotta was really creamy and delicious with a lovely fresh fig on top, but the star was the fig puree (or jam? something along those lines) on the bottom. I didn't find the panna cotta itself to be as firm as I've found it in the past, which was what always turned me off (that and I think it tends to be somewhat bland). Not sure if I just haven't had good panna cotta, or this was in a different style. Anyway, it paired perfectly with the dessert wine the server recommended - I believe it was the Zibibbo. My only complaint would be the alcohol prices. Given the reasonable prices for their food, I think the drink prices are out of balance. I can swallow that a bit more easily with the wine because I felt the wines were of good quality, but my pre-dinner cocktail was $14! I don't think I even paid that much at Restaurant Eve. I know cocktail prices have gone up, but I think $14 given the menu here is outrageous. With only that, the glass of dessert wine, and the glass and a half portion of the greco, I spent $110 w/tax and tip, $40 of which was food. A couple of my friends were also disappointed with how long it took to get drinks. That is always a huge pet peeve of mine, but simply b/c of the way I ordered mine it didn't end up being a problem for me personally. Our server was outstanding so I think this may have been a function of the bartenders more so than the servers. All in all a really lovely meal. Oh, and I love the design of the bar. A wall of shelves lined with liquor and wine bottles, but with small square windows cut out that let you see into the kitchen, really neat design.

Wow, are people observing a period of sobriety? 2007 Glen Manor Cabernet Franc - rich red fruits, lots of earth, and a good bit of tannin, so good. Not the typical vegetal cab franc I've come to expect from VA, and surprisingly full bodied.

Thanks, your mention of ratatouille reminded me of a dish I made last year of ratatouille topped with goat cheese and a pesto vinaigrette. Decided to just make something along the lines of ratatouille, the veal patties and tehn a basil walnut pesto (didn't have pine nuts). Not my best work, but it's tasty enough. But man, this veal is gamey.

Went with Juliusc91 for lunch today. I had the Tonshio. Good, but I liked his Miso SO much better. He also got the fatty pork and I didn't (major fail on my part), but at least I was smart enough to get the egg. It's a damn good egg. I do think it's expensive when you consider the pork and egg add ons (is it really $2 for an egg?!), but it was enough for 2 meals for me, which makes it fine in my book.

I was looking for a recipe to use up eggplant and peppers, of which I have a ton and came across this recipe. The only problem is I'm not a big fan of lamb. Thinking of using the ground rose veal I have in my freezer instead, does that make sense? Would you change or adjust any of the seasonings in the meat if you did that?

Yeah, I was really upset when they discontinued it. I was going to try to write an article on Black Ankle for it shortly beforehand, not that I expect it would have been accepted as I'm not a journalist. Anyway, I wasn't aware of Flavor - I will definitely get a subscription to that. I intended on picking up a copy of Saveur at Balducci's today, but they didn't have it. Instead I found a single row of issues of Fine Cooking . So far, I think it looks pretty good. I haven't read much, but flipped through to get a feel and it seems to me already like there are a lot more general technique tips worked into the articles and recipes (sort of like you'd expect from CI, but very scaled down).

Art & Soul made it onto my short list of places to go this week since I was out of town last week. I looked at the Examiner and DC Foodies, then at individual menus once I shortened my list to 4 places and had no trouble finding out that Art & Soul was only extending for dinner. I don't understand why you'd expect your server to apologize for a mistake you made and it seems like an overreaction to say you won't go back when you've enjoyed your meals on multiple occasions, including today. Perhaps when you reflect on the situation in a day or two when you've gotten over your disappointment, you'll feel differently.

Thanks for all of the feedback! I think I will start by picking up the latest issues of a few of the more heavily recommended ones and see if one jumps out at me. I have glanced over Saveur once or twice but have never bought one - Balducci's is the only place where I've seen a much larger selection of cooking magazines at the checkouts and I am usually in a hurry b/c I stop there before my weekly meeting.

A "stew" I made last night in preparation for going out of town, which turned out to be ideal for this craptastic rainy day. Leftover Italian Field Roast veggie sausage, potatoes, sweet potato greens and fresh black-eyed peas, onions and garlic, some herbs, chicken stock and white wine. Simple and hearty.