Ilaine

Reasonably priced non stick pans that can take a lot of abuse can be found at Quality Restaurant Supply, a very well equipped Chinese restaurant supply store in a little industrial area off Edsall Road. From 395 take Edwall Road East exit, right at the light onto Bren Mar (look for Panera Bread) right onto General Washington, left onto General Green, they're behind the Duron Paint store. http://maps.google.c...652485193395228 If you are coming from 95 or 495, take 395 north and stay in the right lane, that's the Edsall Road East exit. No food, just everything else you need to run a Chinese restaurant. The prices are amazing, like wholesale, but they sell to everybody. One quirky thing, the clerk will keep an eye on you as if she suspected you of shoplifting. Don't let it get to you, it's nothing personal. You can buy any size of non stick skillet for fractions of brand name prices, but make sure you get an insulating handle thingie to slide over the handle for home use, those restaurant style handles get really hot.

By Grace Young, Breath of a Wok is essential, it explains everything. Her Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge takes you further. Fuchsia Dunlop. Website and books. She is a treasure. Red Cook. There are other excellent Chinese cookbooks but not so heavily wok oriented. Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking. Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen. Asian Grandmothers Cookbook. China Moon Cookbook.

Barbara, I really agree with you. I think the obesity epidemic got started when half the population got computers and pretty much everybody got cable and big screen TVs.I am looking for a workout buddy to help me get motivated. I live near Braddock Road in Fairfax if there are any takers.

It was quite a night. They took out all the four tops and every table was a round eight-ten top. We all sat at one and there were seven or eight other tables with one very large party of 70 or so people from Transamerica, a finance company, Chinese investment advisors, all very happy, as you might expect from Chinese people who advise Chinese investors these days. A full house of people of all ages, including many, many giddy and excited children. The laughter and glee made me feel really good inside. The food, at its best, was spectacular. Best roast duck I ever had. Never had sea cucumber before and really liked it. I like gelatinous textures, and sea cucumber is that, and so are the rice balls in the rice ball soup, made from sweet, sticky rice flour, filled with sesame and peanuts, and a pleasant sensation. Either you like the chewy gummy texture, or you don't, apparently, and I do. Husband is hovering over the keyboard saying "the lobster was spectacular, too, and the pork!". Personally, I ate a lot less of the meat and filled up on the seafood soup. That soup was good. Texture almost Iike congee, lots of minced seafood, probably shrimp, very savory. Husband says crawfish. I say shrimp. But the duck was the best, on this we both agree. We've had their duck before but it wasn't like this. We want more of that duck. We had a lovely time and enjoyed seeing our DR friends and hope to do it again. Thank you, Matt.

We had to put the full New Year's Eve celebration on hold as #2 son in Richmond had to work late Friday, and then the weather got bad,and Sunday going to the DR Dinner at 100 Degree Centigrade but went ahead and made Buddha's Delight tonight. It's Chinese New Year's Eve in China. Hoping that #1 Son will get a raise this year. He deserves one. I did the shopping and put together the recipes. I bought the ingredients mostly at Super H in Fairfax. I found fresh gingko nuts and fresh tree ear mushrooms, but no fresh bamboo shoots to be found. In retrospect should have looked for frozen bamboo shoots. Did not buy fresh ginger because I thought we had fresh galangal but it was no good. Husband did the washing and chopping, #1 son did the stir fry. We use a big and deep cast iron Lodge frying pan intended for frying chicken. Son turns up the heat on the old GE electric stove to max and gets a very impressive wok hay. Husband is convinced that son will catch the house on fire but so far, so good. For the Buddha's Delight, five mushrooms: fresh shiitake, fresh Chinese black mushrooms, fresh wood ear, fresh Portobello, fresh baby oyster mushrooms, Five green vegetables: bok choy, Napa cabbage, snow peas, pea shoots, Chinese garlic chives. Five other ingredients: mung bean sprouts, carrots cut into matchsticks, bean thread noodles, sliced water chestnuts, tiger lily buds. We would have had sixteen ingredients, double eight, but wound up not using the fresh gingko nuts. They smelled remarkably like toe cheese and were very bitter. Toss! I also had some frozen ones from China, which when thawed smelled remarkably like wood preservative. Toss! We made rice which was the sixteenth ingredient, if you don't count the sesame oil, the grapeseed oil, the soy sauce, and the mushroom broth. Tomorrow during the day I will cook a whole wild rockfish, and eat half, and save half for New Years Day. The nice man at Super H left it almost intact after he cleaned it and gutted it, but he did cut off the tail. Not sure how that will affect my luck but there it is. Tomorrow evening is the Don Rockwell dinner at 100 Degrees Centigrade. Next weekend, #2 Son will make his appearance, weather permitting, and we will kill the fatted whole chicken and make some kind of sweet rice dessert. He has requested Chinese fried chicken as well. I am starting to get the hang of this thing. Day zero is the New Moon. We have decorated with red lanterns, pomelos, oranges, and tacky gold plastic hangy things shaped like old Chinese coins and other wall decor that we got from Great Wall and a store in Chinatown in DC. Apparently the hangy things and wall decor are intended to bring money, or as the nice man at Great Wall who got them down from the display told me, "money, money, money!!!!!" Not that there's anything wrong with that. But also apparently the best decor is to be found in Chinatown in New York and otherwise not in DC. Well, there's always next year. It won't be the Year of the Water Dragon but still, there's always another year.

Schadenfreude can be a very ugly thing. It is only really satisfying when the person who got the bad news really deserved it. In which case, it feels like justice. Still not nice, but satisfying. That said, there is a lot of disagreement and debate about what causes Type 2 diabetes, and what diet is best to prevent it, and what diet is best to control it. I have Type 2 diabetes myself, and the way to get my blood sugar under control is low carb, not low fat. A lot of very healthy people with Type 2 diabetes eat high protein, high fat, low carb, primal, paleo and got their diabetes under control. Not that Paula Deen is primal or paleo. I have never watched one of her shows but I know that for certain. My impression is that she grew up in a traditional way and promoted traditional food ways that she learned growing up, that please people, and that she values pleasing people. Trying to please others rather than take care of yourself is not an unusual way to wind up doing unhealthy things. My image/metaphor for the discussion/debate is that I feel as if I were in a large stadium, say, the Superdome, and every seat is occupied by expert with an expert opinion, and they are all shouting at once at the top of their voices, and they are all saying different things. Who to believe? I agree with everybody who says that you can't eat an unhealthy diet and fix it with a pill.

I wonder if it is just a very strange coincidence that Society Fair is across the street from the United States Bankruptcy Court, while Virtue Feed and Grain is across the street from the United States Bankruptcy Trustee's office? (I notice these things because I am a bankruptcy lawyer. One of the growth industries of the recession.)

No, you can do that, or Don can do it via email.

Ok done. Round table for eight people six pm Sunday January 22 for the special Chinese New Year Dinner. Under the name Rockwell. No credit card required. Person answering the phone said that Mr. Ming was not there.

Ilaine plus one is a definite, not a maybe.

If they need a credit card to guarantee the table I can do it.

My husband and I will do this if we can get it together. Prefer Sunday to Saturday.

Chinese New Year Festival at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, January 21, 2012.

Hi guys, what is up with 100 Degree dinner? Also, wanted to note that title, "Yang Water Dragon", is somewhat superfluous. Turns out all Dragon years are yang years. No such thing as a yin dragon. Those of you who know me well, please no comments.

Drove past Society Fair this afternoon and noticed that the windows were no longer covered in paper so parked and wandered in to see what was going on. I may have actually snuck in under the radar, as they were getting ready for a soft opening for the friends and family of the owner. They let me look around but I could not buy anything, and when I left they locked the doors behind me. They won't be open until this weekend. Impression -- on the left side an appealing place to sit and eat and drink, I did not linger there; on the right side an upscale market with meats and cheeses and baked goods and spices and other gourmet groceries and goodies. Of all the places around here I have wandered into it reminds me most of Market Salamander in Middleburg.

Another fine meal at 100 Degrees Centigrade. We had Superior Baby Cabbage Soup, Cumin Lamb, Preserved Pork with Leeks, Steamed Flounder, Spicy Cucumber Salad, Yu Choy, and dumplings. I was delighted with the Superior Baby Cabbage Soup, served in a tureen to be ladled into individual soup bowls, packed with Chinese cabbage and many other green vegetables, slices of black mushroom, slices of Thousand Year Old egg, and slices of pork belly. If you are a fan of greens you need to try this soup. Plenty to share around the table, a meal in itself for at least two greens lovers. Ambrosial. The coolness of the Cucumber Salad is offset by the heat of the pepper sauce. The Cumin Lamb is more gently flavored than the Szechuan version, the meat more tender, with a velvety texture, and the cumin less intense, more subtle, balanced by Chinese celery. The Preserved Pork is chewy on the outside and unctuous on the inside, with a smoky rich flavor, almost like bacon jerky but with a higher water content than jerky, full of porky goodness, punctuated by shredded leeks. The Steamed Flounder is served whole, covered in a thick layer of shredded aromatics, in a generous pool of soy and ginger broth to be ladled over the fish as it is consumed. Tender crisp Yu Choy for the table added the essential note of yin to balance the yang of the meat, as well as lots of garlic. The balance of flavors at 100 Degrees Centrigrade is intelligent and thoughtful. I also made little yumming noises as I ate.

We just had an excellent dinner there, and queried Mr. Ming about the New Year's Dinner. He suggested that a good number of people for one table is at least six, up to ten. Eight to ten per table is optimum. When we informed him that we did not have enough family here for a table he said it does not need to be a family, can be friends. He also said that the dinner would be available for the next week or two. Reservations suggested. He speaks very good English, I would ask for him.If we do it, put me in for two. If we get a lot of interest maybe two tables?

I wonder how many people are in a "table"? The menu looks like something my husband and I would enjoy but the kids don't really like seafood. One won't eat seafood at all, and the other one will eat sushi but will walk out if a whole fish is served head-on. Maybe a Don Rockwell outing?

I have yet to find any place that exceeds Old Ebbitt's and Clyde's raw bar, and believe me, I keep an open mind on this. I will always order raw oysters whereever I go, if they are on the menu. Clyde's/Old Ebbit's always has an impressive selection of raw oysters, properly shucked, served properly, on crushed ice, with mignonette sauce if you want it (which we do) and as many slices of lemon as you desire. Examples of major flaws at allegedly good restaurants -- served on a platter that does not have crushed ice, egregious bits of shell in the oyster, not properly loosening the oyster from the shell, no mignonette sauce, serving with a dinner fork or a salad fork rather than the little fork used for raw oysters, and even, God help me, serving the oyster on the top shell rather than the bottom. If the oysters are no good you can send them back. But nothing can make up for being served an oyster on the top shell. If you try to loosen an oyster on the top shell, all you do is scramble it into bits. Serving a mangled oyster on the top shell full of broken shell with a dinner fork on a naked platter and only cocktail sauce is a clear sign of total incompetence in the kitchen. I shall name no names. If you are not a raw oyster maven, then your mileage will obviously differ. For example, last night we had a couple dozen mostly excellent oysters at Old Ebbit's to start, then DH had a smoked salmon sandwich, which he loved, and I had "jambalaya", which was a seafood soup served over rice. Wrong! Anybody else would have called it bouillabaisse, and treating it as bouillabaisse, it was OK, not awful. The Starr Hill Double Platinum IPA on draft was good. We would never go there except for the oysters. (I say mostly excellent because six were American raised Ostrea edulis, a European variety which we find inferior to the American East Coast Crassostrea virginica. They were healthy and fresh but we just did not like them.)

Well, we can guess that neither of the two ingredients were chuck roast. Just as well, considering.

Oil cured black olives WITH pits. Dino's has them and they are beyond lovely. A Platonic dish, I would say.

A friend of mine in Hong Kong wrote me this: hello ilaine, i must plead partial ignorance re chinese new year 'Traditions' (capitalized). i have never and do not know anyone who practices the full set of too many to-do's over the thankfully very long holiday period. i do know some (admitted very few) of the more practical but traditional acts by direct experience, and they (modernized by me) are (the specific days are ostensibly important, but not to me as that would require memory i cannot spare): (i) cleaning the house (not just dusting, but perhaps just imo, clear away all that accumulated in the house but is otherwise senseless, i.e. kids toys outgrown but holding no particular sentimental value, etc). modernized should incl the automobile and whatever else one may 'reside in' on daily basis, i.e. office, and the computer (ii) fix n mend everything incl clothing, and say, that side view mirror's servo motor (iii) protect n store, i.e. new book covers, knick knacks not covered in above (i), and filing, both personal and business - accounts, records, etc (iv) pay off all short term debt and iou's before festivities (tradition doesn't dictate the collection of debt / iou as the debtor is supposed to take the initiative, else a bad debtor) (v) promote staff before onset of festivities, handout bonuses, and generally bestow good news (and hold off on the bad news) (vi) settle disputes, arguments, family hassles, parental-kids debates, whatever (vii) reach agreements on starting of new projects n initiatives (viii) visit family / relationship seniors, and the more important of the biz counter-parties. hand out 'little red packets' of new / crisp cash to unmarried family n relationship juniors (ix) receive visits from family / relationship juniors, and more important of biz counter-parties. receive 'little red packets' on behalf of one's little kids from their family seniors (make sure taking the kids to visit grand parents, uncles, aunts, as many as possible :0) (x) rest.

2012 is not just the Year of the Dragon, it is the Year of the Yang Water Dragon. The cycle takes 60 years to go full circle. Each year is named after one sign of the Chinese Zodiac, as well as one element, wood, fire, earth, metal and water, as well as yin and yang. I was born in the last Year of the Yang Water Dragon, 1952, but in August, so I did not get to celebrate the New Year and would like to do it right this time. When do we do what? And where can we go to celebrate? So far I know that 100 Degrees Centrigrade is having a special dinner January 22, 2012. Reservations are recommended. The Chinatown parade in DC's Chinatown is January 29, 2012. http://www.washingto...ZEZP_story.html

Hmmm. Well, maybe one reason you should go to the Inn at Little Washington is that you have never been there, and there is less reason to believe you can ever go there in the future than reason to believe you can go to Eve in the future. For me, the desire to go to the Inn at Little Washington was quenched by reading Patrick O'Connell's cookbooks. At this point in life I am very, very adept at reading cookbooks and imagining what the recipes would taste like. They just did not do it for me. Not because there was anything lacking, but because I grew up in New Orleans and have tasted the ambrosia served there. Over many years in exile in the Greater Washington environs I have grown to love cooks who focus on ingredients rather than technique, although of course both are essential. Truth be told, if you never eat at the Inn at Little Washington, will you regret it forever? I would not, but if you would, go there. Go to Eve, go to all of them, but the odds are that the Inn at Little Washington will not be there forever.

In terms of size, and certainly not quality, I would have suggested Brion's Grille (University Mall) or Old Country Buffet (Fair City Mall). Probably first I would ask the funeral home. They've been here forever. No reason to reinvent the wheel.