LowellR

And people wonder why Americans are so overweight, especially the kids:http://worldmysteries9.blogspot.com/2010/05/harmful-drinks-in-america.html

I'd like to know just who on earth consumes the Cold Stone PB&C at 2,010 calories and survives.

While I can't say that I'm volunteering to try the Cold Stone PB&C, I do plan to return to one of my favorites, their "worst beer" - Sierra Nevada Bigfoot. Mmmmmm. . . . .

+1

I agree on all counts - I'll be out of town this weekend, so unable to attend the picnic, but would love to participate and think Don leading the first one (at least) is a great idea.

I think two bottles of closely related wines might work well for this format - it could be over the course of several days (i.e. not a live chat), although ideally you'd want to taste the wines side-by-side at some point.

I'd be interested.

this leaves you with 16 big egg yolks,

The Washington Post has ideas on what to do with the extra yolks!

You could also do a fancy riff on mashed potatoes - like Pommes Anna or Potatoes Dauphin.

Really? I'm wondering what I have in my yard that you all don't have in yours. I didn't have to water my tomatoes at all last year. The only things I watered were the pumpkins, and they had about ten meters of vines running around. For the tomatoes, I let them get leggy in the six-packs then did the "horizontal" planting to let them have a nice area for rooting, covered the rooting area with mulch, and off they went. My two plots (soon to be three if I can get myself in gear) are on the lower edge of a gentle slope down from the house, so I'm wondering if I just happened to choose a wetter area by accident when I surveyed the yard for the best sun exposure.

That's quite likely - I picked a spot in full sun smack down in the middle of the yeard and the tomatoes there like to be watered once a day during the peak of summer heat.

Chocolate chip cookies using a recipe from America's Test Kitchen. One might criticize their academic approach to recipe creation, but it's hard to be critical of the results - browned butter, a higher ratio of brown to white sugar, and letting the sugar and liquid rest to aid its dissolution (and subsequent browning during baking) makes for a pretty amazing cookie.

Possibly swimming upstream against the tide of public opinion, I had a good meal here on Saturday. The free salsa/chips were darn good - the salsa had a nice smokiness and a bit of heat and the chips were thin, warm and crispy. I had the chicken mole enchiladas. The mole was very good - deep, rich and complex, without the sweetness some folks who don't know how to make a mole throw in to hide the fact that they don't know how to make a mole. The repasado margarita, only $1 more than the traditional, was very good, mixed with a home sour mix made from fresh lemon and lime juice. I won't again order the banana empanada for dessert - it was too small, throwing of the banana/pastry ratio, and it could have used a drizzle of chocolate. But it was only a $3 failure. I also agree that the guacamole is no great shakes - it needed a bit more zing - lime juice, garlic, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, or something. . . All in all, however, I'll be back.

Sorry for such the late response on this but I have Earthboxes, which are the same concept. I absolutely love them, especially for my tomatoes. I did a side by side experiment with tomato plants last year and the Earthbox tomatoes did lots better than the ground ones (which died because i didn't keep up with watering them). We don't have great soil in the one sunny area of my yard so the Earthboxes were a lot cheaper than building a raised bed and filling with good soil.

Great! (and perfectly timed for tomato planting season.)

[i'll change the title, but boy oh boy is it funnier the way you wrote it at first.]

It definitely was

For those that missed it, I'd written "Sneaking into Kids' Food not an original, copywriteable idea."

Hot off the presses. I'm glad the courts have finally paved the way for Landrum's "Guess where I've hidden your vegetables" tome.

Edited to add: That should be "Sneaking veggies into Kids' Food not an original, copywriteable idea."

Presuming it's got some fat in it (whole milk is best), make farmer's cheese - heat the milk, add acid (vinegar or lemon juice) and let it curdle. Drain it through a cheese cloth or fine strainer, and set aside to firm up, then refrigerate.

http://www.vinography.com/archives/2010/04/the_coming_carnage_in_the_cali.html is the link to a really interesting blog's discussion about the excess of unsold wine and some of the problems that the CA wine industry is facing related to this. Midway through the article is a link to a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle which is equally revealing. Near the end of the article are linked two closeout specialists who sell unsold wine at 50-70% or more off. These are those two:

http://winestilsoldout.com/

http://cinderellawine.com/ is owned by the Wine library.

On Cindarella check out the previous months sales-some incredible stuff! '03 Dal Forno Valpolicella was $69 in one of these-yes it sold out!

I've ordered several times from Cinderella - it works as advertised. One big plus is that usually, with a "large enough" purchase, shipping (usually two-day overnight) is free. "Large enough" is rarely more than three bottles (and that was for some $13.99 wine), and can be as low as one bottle for more expensive stuff.

Ramps, from the forests of West Virginia, sauteed and used like garlic

8 of 10; As I haven't had 6 of them, I must read/watch too much food advertising. . .

Bread pudding; serve it with maple syrup. And forks.

As posted on the "Inexpensive but Tasty Sparkling Wines" thread -

I just got back from a trip to/through New Jersey and stopped at Wine Library, about 4 miles off the Turnpike in Springfield. The Gruet was a startling $10.98 and the Riondo a ridonkulous $8.98. The store has a wide selection, fantastic prices, and lots of tasty cheese samples for free nibbling in their gourmet shop. Next time your driving by, it's probably worth the 20 minute detour off the highway.

Riondo Prosecco Veneto gets very high ratings from the type of organizations that rate prosecco professionally (90 pts from the Wine Advocate), it costs 13 bucks a bottle and makes my amateur palate quite happy.

It's $11.99 at the AM HT.

I second the Gruet advice. I see it everywhere around here. I just attended a 40th birthday party in Southern California. I recommended Greut to a co-host who knows more about wine than I do. He bought a case and it went over very well. People thought it was great. I think it was $12.99 per bottle out there at BevMo which is like Total Beverage.

I just got back from a trip to/through New Jersey and stopped at Wine Library, about 4 miles off the Turnpike in Springfield. The Gruet was a startling $10.98 and the Riondo a ridonkulous $8.98. The store has a wide selection, fantastic prices, and lots of tasty cheese samples for free nibbling in their gourmet shop. This probably isn't the best place to put this, but it didn't seem to fit into the "Intrepid Traveler" or "My Favorite Wine Shop" threads. Either way, next time your driving by, it's probably worth the 20 minute detour off the highway.

I really like Cristalino, a Spanish cava. It's light and inexpensive ($7-$9/bottle). I've made belllinis with it for a couple of brunches, and it's been a big hit. I also like Italian Zardetto Prosecco, which is fruitier and fuller, and a bit pricier ($12-$14/bottle).

I second the Cristalino recommendation.

A fabulous idea. Encourage the kitchen to add enough salt to every dishes so that every customer is happy and no one needs a salt shaker. That way all diners can have high-sodium dishes, not just those who want them.

Glad they're in a closer location to my place than 7 corners, but the parking there is atrocious.

I agree; in fact, in my view it would have to improve considerably to be atrocious. I believe the closest descrrition of the current situation was offered in the Screwtop Wine Bar thread -

full scale Pentagon City Costco Parking lot.

New location in the center of Falls Church - Where the old Duron paint store was, by the Original Pancake House. Supposedly opening in June

Science will save us all

Looks like good ole Yelp needs to defend itself against extortion in a court of law!

And more.

Are we taking over the job of these giants of food reviewing, and do we besmirch their very exsistance with our subjective (and at times passionate) commentary? Are we, in effect, impugning their authority?

No.

But I do agree in part with

the linchpin of Ozerski's argument. . . that aside from the reviews generated by a small pantheon of revered food critics. . . there is no perspective in restaurant critiquing anymore.

I agree with him as it pertains to a food board in general, like Chow, where you have a myriad of one-off (or two- or five- or ten-off) reviews, from which you are trying to glean what a reatuarnt experience will be based on a description by someone you barely know. In contrast, when you read a restuarant critic week in and week out, you slowly garner a modicum of understanding of his or her individual likes, dislikes, peeves and quirks. So when you read his or her review, you have enough of a basis of him or her to know whether or not you (will) agree with some or all of her opinions. As Ozereski (sort of) says

But I think Ozerski's wrong in his conclusion that only long-lived food critics can provide that background, that trust. I can get that same depth of knowledge from individual bloggers or members on this (or other) boards IF I've read them enough. Maybe Ozerski hasn't spent enough time reading Don's reviews, but I think there's more than enough there from which to "get" him.