Ilaine

On the way home from work I swung by the H Mart on Heritage and picked up a couple of packages of premade japchae noodles from the prepared food section. Meatless, and I have been craving dangmyeon stir fried in sesame oil with vegetables and meat, so I also got a pack of thin-sliced rib eye (bulgogi). Also a pricey little bottle of wild sesame oil.When I got home, remembered I had some brisket in the fridge, so shredded some of that instead of the bulgogi, and heated it with the HMart japchae and wild sesame oil. It comes close to what I have been craving. That wild sesame oil is something different, it has so much umami it reminds me of fish sauce. I will return to Jang Wong and try the japchae that has the noodles. They call the noodles vermicelli but HMart calls their japchae noodles, which are indisputably dangmyeon, "vermicelli" so I hope that's what Jang Wong means, as well.

Ordered the buchu japchae at Jang Wong. It was tasty but . . . . Who knew that there was japchae without, not just glass noodles, but any noodles at all? That's like a pasta dish without pasta . . . . Stomach is actually growling now.

Craving, seriously jonesing, for japchae. Recommendations?

Sorry, can't make it after all. I am not feeling well. It is a beautiful day and I hope everybody has a good time!

Husband and I are coming. No idea what we'll bring. Can't bring the grill anymore, #1 son totaled the truck. Not to worry, he's fine, but the front passenger side wheel axle was knocked into a 90 degree angle. Should have seen the look in his eyes. Poor baby. Husband wants to bring chicken thighs braised with daikon in a soy-ginger-five spice braise. I think that's way too heavy for June, and should be saved for the fall picnic. I am leaning towards devilled eggs with anchovies, which Thomas Jefferson enjoyed at Monticello. Perhaps a nice Greek salad with sheep feta and Greek extra virgin olive oil. Whatever food we bring, we shall also bring beer, in an ice chest, with ice.

I drove by the place on the way home. The lights are on, there is a neon "open" sign in the window, the door was open, and I could see inside that the premises are the same as when I was there Wednesday. I did not actually go in.

I just called the number on the menu, 703-354-5488, and asked if it was Juk Story and I think the lady said "that's right." Will drive by on my way home.

Jeonbokjuk is juk with abalone slices. Tasty. Juk is called congee in China. Rice porridge. Good for breakfast or when you are feeling under the weather. I had the juk with chicken and ginseng. I thought it was pretty tasty but I do like rice porridge. They also have bibimbap, which is ordinary rice with toppings. No way to do a $20 Tuesday, maybe seating for 12 or so.

I just ate at Juk Story this Wednesday, May 9, 2012! Address 4231-N Markham Drive, Annandale, VA. Nothing on the outside of the store is in English but the menu is bilingual. I just scanned it but don't know how to add it to this post.

Woot, indeed. Beautiful.

I liked the duck. I got a meaty piece, very succulent.

On Tyler Cowen's favorites list, he mentions Dduk Sarang, specializing in the Korean version of congee, which I have been completely unable to find, and have told him that as a message to his review. I would love to try it. Is it still there, mysteriously hidden in plain sight? Has it moved? Am I missing the obvious?

If there is room for me+1 we would like to join in.

Earth Sangha is having a native plant sale on Sunday, May 6, 2012. http://www.earthsang...pnsale0512.html Rather than go to a big box store for native plants, I recommend Nature by Design. This is a wonderful, ecologically responsible, native plant nursery in Alexandria. The grounds are shady and pleasant, the employees knowlegeable and helpful, and the plants are beautiful. If you go soon you can smell the native azaleas - heavenly. http://www.nature-by-design.com/ I have a butterfly garden, and butterflies really love native plants. So do hummingbirds and bees. If you are growing vegetables that need to be pollinated, say, tomatoes, or fruit, say, blueberries, you will benefit by attracting pollinators. Nature by Design has quite a few suitable cultivars but Earth Sangha may have even more, if only for the one day.

Tyler Cowen is the real deal. I've been reading him for years and years -- my impression is that his guide to ethnic cuisine in DC was, is, and shall remain oriented towards grad students at George Mason. It's a mitzva (benevolent gift). I share his bemusement with how to explain why good food in the DC metro area is more likely than not to be found in strip malls. I am not, unlike him, a world traveller. My food world is small -- I grew up in South Louisiana, eating what seems to me to be the world's best food, often to be found in strip malls and gas stations and convenience stores. I guess low overhead and low complication is the name of the game. Just food, forget the frills. I don't share his enthusiasm for Korean chow in Annandale -- but that's just me. He lives in Annandale, I work in (almost) Annandale, I feel like it's a food desert, although there are Korean restaurants everywhere, I don't really care for bulgogi. But if he says try the tofu soup, or the seafood pancake, whatever, I will try it. Any place that Tyler Cowen raves about, I will try at least once. Never, ever felt like he steered me wrong. Haven't read the book yet, but my own theory on ethnic food in DC is to look for food from a country currently undergoing a bad civil war and a lot of refugees -- who come to DC and cook their own food as a way of making do. Anybody who cooks for their native Embassy's special events is golden. Trust me on this.

Joe, not saying you are wrong to feel the way you do. Feelings are personal, there's no arguing with feelings. Just saying to someone who has a good sense of taste that, if you are going to eat a crab, it tastes best freshly killed. Which you already knew. I am from South Louisiana, Cajun country. Some of my fondest memories are going out in the Gulf of Mexico on my father's boat, catching fish, throwing them in the ice chest, and bringing them back to the camp, prepping them, cooking them, and eating them within hours of catching them. Catching crabs and catfish on my grandmother's pier, bringing them back to the house, cooking them and eating them within minutes of catching them. Catching crawfish in the swamp, bringing them back to the house, and having a big old crawfish boil. If the critter is dead already, you throw it away, it's no good. That's just what you do. Fresh meat tastes better than frozen meat. If you are going to eat the meat anyway, why not honor the animal, treat it with respect, kill it as humanely as possible, and eat it fresh? That said, I am not sure that keeping a crab half alive in a restaurant is humane. Depends on how it is done. Places like Cantlers, in Annapolis, they keep the live crabs in crates in the river, and I am fine with that. If it was in a tank and they killed it right away after they took it out, that seems OK to me. There is a steak house in DC where they put the poor lobsters on a platter in the restaurant, not in a tank, for show, and that seems cruel. I don't think they can breath out of water. But I may be wrong. At Great Wall, they do keep the fish and lobsters in tanks. The poor blue crabs are in baskets, half alive. Nobody seems to care about the feelings of blue crabs. I'll drive all the way from Fairfax to Annapolis for blue crabs at Cantlers but not to Merrifield.

Well, yeah, it does, if you start with live ones, which you should, otherwise you are taking a huge risk for food poisoning.People seem to care more about the feelings of lobsters than crabs or crawfish, maybe because they are big and it's not that hard to put them in the freezer until they are sleepy and then stab them in the brain before you toss them in the water. Crabs and crawfish, I never heard of anybody killing them humanely before boiling them. Oysters and mussels, nobody seems to worry about their feelings either, but oysters are alive when you shuck them, and mussels are alive when you steam them. I can't think of anything else that gets killed in the home kitchen these days, but shellfish. But there are live fish markets, live poultry markets, even live rabbit markets, all over the country. Pick your animal and they'll kill it and dress it out. I've done this for our Thanksgiving turkey more than once. It is also my understanding that you can pick your live ruminant (lamb, goat) at some halal markets, especially for Eid. So not sure why Great Wall is under fire here. I remember when there was a live turtle market in the French Market in New Orleans back in the day before it was a tourist trap. Shoppers would go in and pick their turtle and it would be killed and dressed while they waited. I never went in there, just remember that the plate glass window in that shop was always covered with bright red blood. When you kill certain animals, there will be blood. Such is life when you are a carnivore.

Am I to understand from your post that you never cook lobsters or crabs at home? Fascinating.From my point of view, if you are going to eat an animal, you should be willing to kill it -- it you don't kill it, it will be killed for you -- unless you intend to eat it live. Which does not seem any more humane.

This sounds as if it might be a Good Thing except that I have no idea how to order a duck breast or leg to order?

Finally made it to Ray's to the Third tonight -- must admit, I intended to go to Retro Ray's but for some reason today I could not brain. I intended to be good and have the salmon but instead opted for maximum decadence, the filet with foie gras, porcini with truffles, and bordelaise. So good. Husband had the onglet with bone marrow. Son had onglet with frites. They wolfed it down. Husband very generously gave me half his marrow bone, which made mine even more decadent. I could only finish half, and took the rest home for tomorrow. Also, first time trying the Devlishly Good Eggs, which husband called celestial, and I call a platonic dish. All in all, a typically wonderful meal at Ray's which I would not even bother to mention except to complement our server, Jerome, who was perfect.

This is probably OT -- I am lactose intolerant but willing to suffer much for Michael Landrum's creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, and crab bisque. Sometimes you have to be willing to hoist the Jolly Roger, say "what the hell", and accept the consequences. Not on a daily basis, if that needs saying.

That review brought back happy memories!But you don't really need Tsing Tao if you order a large tureen of one of the light soups. A spoonful of soup makes the burning go away better than beer does, just as a mango lassie will, or a dough (yogurt drink), but less filling, and besides you can't get a mango lassie or a dough at a Chinese restaurant. I think it's the fat in the soup or the milk drink that dissolves the pepper oil. Beer won't do that, although it does taste very refreshing when you are eating hot food, whether peppery hot or heat hot. But Peter Chang did not have his ABC license yet when we were there Saturday, and anyway you need to be sober to drive I-95 all the way home.

Husband and I met Number Two Son, who lives in Richmond, at Peter Chang's Saturday for an early dinner. We got there about 4:45, not all that crowded. Asked to seat at a large table as we expected to order many dishes. Scallion bubble pancakes, this is a dish only Peter Chang (probably actually his wife) makes right, and it was exactly as they always make it. The beauty is the texture, light and airy, unlike ordinary scallion pancakes. Baby wonton soup in hot chili oil, ethereal, as only they (again, probably Mrs. Chang) can make them. Gossamer. Dry fried duck, sliced duck dry fried in chili and Szechuah pepper, dry on the surface, juice and fatty inside, chili coated duck bacon. Need I say more? Shan City chicken, more slices of dried red pepper than chicken. An excellent rendition. A proper Chinese meal balances yang and yin, which means a dish of green vegetables for the table, for us bok choy with mushrooms, mostly shiitake but some enoki, earthy but restrained. Chinese people do not drink tea with their meals, they have a light soup. We had a tureen of light, clear pork rib and wild mushroom soup (king, shiitake, and enoki), This soup has a cleaning effect on the palate, clearing away the burning red peppers and leaving the tongue ready (and eager) to taste more. Interestingly, a couple of the dishes we ordered never arrived, but were not on the check, either. I ordered crispy pork belly and (more important) bamboo fish, which is the actual name of the well beloved cumin fish, which is served in a woven basket reminiscent of a woven cane chair seat. After sating ourselves on the dishes which had already arrived, I was not inclined to remonstrate with the kitchen, but willing to leave well enough alone until our next, invitable trip to Richmond to feast at Peter Chang's. I do recommend that this type of food is better enjoyed with a little yin with your yang, and a tureen of light broth to clean the palate. An hour later we were ready to leave, and the line of eager diners hoping for a table was out the door. I would very much like to taste again one of Mrs. Chang's specialties, a cold steamed eggplant dish with a dipping sauce of sesame, star anise, and magic.

How does this distort the conversation?It's a fact that many people with type 2 diabetes practice massive denial. It's a fact that people who hold themselves out as spokespersons for a lifestyle will be accused of hypocrisy, at best, and cynical manipulation, at worst, when they are seen in public doing what they said don't do. You can say, "do what I say, not what I do," and it may be the truth, but let someone who's consistent be the spokesperson, and you can be the horrible example of what happens if you don't.

Looking at the title, Whack a Mole, reminded me that my father's second wife, an American who spent many years in Mexico in some mountains north of Mexico City, made a wonderful chicken with mole sauce containing unsweetened chocolate which she called "chicken molly." Her family lived on a ranch in a place they called the El Naranjo Valley, but I don't know enough about Mexico to tell you where that was. I was young when we visited. As we drove up and down the mountain, the streams and waterfalls were the most amazing blue and there were many brightly colored parrots. It did not seem to me that the dish was hard to make but she was a very efficient woman, who made everything she did look easy. At any rate, as you know, mole sauce is pronounced more like molly than the animal mole.