porcupine

Even that is prohibited. I checked. <sigh>

It just cracks me up that this thread was started mere hours after I saw Wallace and Gromit: Attack of the Were-Rabbit". No Lady Tottington am I... as I said on another thread, if only I could (legally) discharge a firearm in my backyard, I'd be feasting on venison and rabbit all winter.

yep - cooking a birthday dinner for my mom. Y'all have fun and report back!

I've had lunch there several times with a friend. The food is always very good (sorry, I can't remember details at the moment), but my one quibble is that there's no natural light in the main dining room. I hate being cooped up indoors on a beautiful day. And the other room, while light-filled, is full of smoke from the bar. yuck. Never been for dinner, though I'm only fifteen minutes from Il Pizzico (sister restaurant).

If there's anyone not going to the U2 concert tonight, look for me and husband and friend at Dino.

Great, now you tell me. (seriously, though - thanks!)

Pork Shoulder About once every four weeks or so I'm in the greater Dupont area getting my hair done, and always looking for something new for lunch, so I was quite pleased to learn that finally I'd be around when the Grill is open. Appointment was at 10:30, so should be plenty of time after. Around 11:30 I'm getting ansty, because although the colorist said my hair was almost done, he meant that only the first part was almost done. Fine, so long as they don't run out of pork shoulder "What's the big hurry? Do you have an appointment somewhere else?" he asks. Well, no, I explain, it's just that on certain days you can get a five buck sandwhich from Galileo... "No way! From Galileo?!" You bet! ...and they'd better not run out of pork shoulder . It's 12:15 before anyone's free to dry my hair. "How do you want it styled today?" I don't care, so long as it's done fast. "Where do you want the part?" Anywhere. "Do you use product?" No, not usually I don't care about freakin' product! I just want a pork shoulder sandwhich! At 12:49 I'm finally out, with seven blocks between me and pork shoulder. Jog, jog, jog...pause, jaywalk... run... I hope they don't run out of pork shoulder shortcut across plaza, fly down stairs, busy intersection, jaywalking looks good 'bout now... they'd better not run out of pork shoulder At 12:56 walk casually into restaurant (trying to regain some dignity), quietly inquire if grill is still open. "Yes, it is!" Huzzah! "Go straight back and turn right." please let there be pork shoulder Turn the corner and there is Chef Donna himself, and in front of him on the counter... a small pile of pork shoulder! One sandwhich, please. Five bucks in the box (well, more, as I grabbed a cannoli, too), and I'm out the door and looking for a place to sit. The pork shoulder sandwhich is huge: twice as much as I ever eat for lunch, and three times more than I should eat. It came with peppers, onions, one big leaf of lettuce, and something deliciously green smeared on the bread. The pork itself? Plain, but perfect. Some pieces unctuously fatty, some beautifully browned, some tastily charred. It tasted like pork, and nothin' but pork. It tasted like heaven. If you were at the grill around one o'clock today, you may have seen me: I was the woman (now fabulously brunette!) perched on a brick planter, picking pork off a roll, trying not to make yummy noises too loudly. Worth the run? Oh yeah. Sometimes plain honest food is best.

Not sure if it's still in print, but check out Practical Thai Cooking by Puangkram C. Schmitz and Michael J. Worman (pub. Kondansha International).

Indeed, I've been meaning to pm Don and ask if we can have a blowout dinner at Ray's Classic once it's open. ...Don?

Now this could be interesting. Am I alone in finding Cook's Illustrated one of the most irritating periodicals out there? I mean, really, imitation vanilla wins the taste test? sheesh. They should change the slogan "America's Test Kitchen" to "Re-inventing the Wheel". Thanks for passing along the info, CrescentFresh.

I am nuts about the following dishes: spicy beef noodle soup with wide noodles; steamed pork buns; peanut, bean curd, and cilantro salad; wontons in hot and sour sauce; sweet red bean pastry. Heck, even the wonton soup will make you sit up and take notice. The broth is nice and light and clear with a mild chicken flavor, not too oniony, with a little whiff of sesame oil. The menu doesn't state this, but you can get the noodle dishes with wide or thin noodles. The thin are merely good, but the wide are extraordinary - wonderful chewy texture and not-too-mild flavor. They remind me of the handmade pasta my ma used to make. Dinner there last night: $9.90. For two of us (before tip).

Okay, weekend planned: Lankford Farm Saturday, Dupont market Sunday. Thanks for the tip!

I should be able to make it one day or the other. If anyone wants to share a ride from the greater Potomac area, pm me.

oh, yeah.

Jill, if you're reading this, I'm up for the challenge: find me some of that sheep's milk you were talking about and I'll turn it into ice cream for you.

And I used Pecorino Toscano on tonight's pasta with autumn veggies. Seems a lot of us were inspired last night.

Dean, I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I've always been curious what factors into the decision to take reservations, or limited reservations, or not take them... Would you mind sharing with us how you made this decision? Although I suppose I can already jump to the conclusion that the decision is always based on financial considerations.

A big thank you to Jill for a very enlightening and tasty evening - not to mention generous (eleven cheeses!), and to hillvalley for organizing. It was nice to meet more Rockwellians.

yah, I wish they'd eat the fruits then gag and die. But they eat the tender new growth...and flowers. Sure do wish I could legally discharge a firearm in my neighborhood; then I'd stock the freezer with venison.

The one time I did that I used turkey parts to make mole poblano de guajolote (Diana Kennedy's recipe, The Cuisines of Mexico ). My theme was foodstuffs that originated in the new world: squash, corn, potatoes, chili peppers, tomatoes, chocolate... I don't remember the menu exactly, though, sorry. But it was a great meal.

Likewise, if I'm going to go through the effort of cleaning, frying, rehydrating and grinding chiles anchos/pasilla/negro/whatever, I do a lot, and freeze the puree. Oh, and I like to grow and dry my own poblanos/anchos and habaneros. They're easy to dry in a warm convection oven. But this year f***ing dear got into the garden. No fresh peppers for me.

Is there still room for the cheese tasting?

Hangar One Buddha's Hand (citrus vodka). Just the thing to warm me up after spending all freakin' day in the rain.

I like a well-stocked freezer. I like to make at least a dozen batches of pesto every summer (up to the point of adding cheese and butter; from Marcella Hazan's recipe). There's nothing like having a dinner party in February with pesto-tossed roasted potatoes or a pasta to impress friends. In January there's the previously mentioned Meyer lemon curd, again at least a dozen batches. A few times a year I get 10 lbs of chicken backs and necks from WF, and make stock. Some of the stock gets reduced by half and stored in 20-oz jars as soup base; the rest gets all the way reduced to syrup consistency, frozen in ice cube trays, and stored in plastic bags for whenever a dish needs a savory hit. Same with beef stock. And sometimes vegetable stock. And there are always bags of meat trimmings for stock making, too. Sometimes a few whole pies (cherry, peach...chicken) go in, before being baked. There are always many jars of tomato sauce. Last January I made a batch of chili for a party - 20 pounds of sirloin tip - and a snowstorm kept most of my guests away. Individual portions of frozen chili went to work with me for months after. You get the idea. A well-stocked freezer is a thing of joy. PS I've done the lemon vodka thing, too. Though currently there are four different commercial vodkas taking up space in there, two of them lemon-flavored.

Looks like the Meyer lemon tree I bought this spring is about two present me with two ripe fruits. Do any of you have any brilliant ideas how best to showcase their enticing flavor? I don't want to just substitute them for regular lemons where the unique flavor might be lost. In the winter when they're available in the grocery stores I use them for lemon curd, which freezes really well and forms a great base for icings or sauce for cakes. I also just like lemon curd on hot fresh biscuits. And then there's Meyer lemon ice cream (my favorite ice cream flavor). How about panna cotta...? Any other ideas?