qwertyy

Prince of Petworth:

Silky-smooth carrot ginger soup*

Hunks of aged gouda

Melba toast

Goose Island IPA

*Three guesses as to what appliance I used to make this, and the first two don't count

"Pesto" pasta

Greek yogurt with local blueberries macerated in local honey (my new favorite snack)

I'm still obsessed with my Vitamix, and needing to move on from slushies, I decided to make a pesto. But my basil plant is pretty puny, though, and I haven't had the courage to buy pine nuts since the pine-nut mouth debacle of 2011, so in addition to the (Vitamix-grated!) parm, olive oil, garlic, and a few basil leaves, I added sun-dried tomatoes and peanuts. Pretty good, actually, though I used WAY too much oil. I'll need to strain some off the leftover sauce before I use it.

The orgy of Vitamix concoctions continues: lime-mint slushy. (A nostalgic drink from my time in Khartoum.)

I'm surprised and impressed by the creativity of the recipes in the Vitamix cookbook. So many appliance "cookbooks" are just so dull, and many of the recipes disgusting. Going to try its cherry-mint limeade tomorrow.

To the firefighters, doing some of the bravest, hardest, most thankless, most important work I can imagine

My first Vitamix concoction: cold coffee, milk, sugar, ice. (Despite the fact that I'm lucky enough to be in air conditioning today, it seemed appropriate.) Vitalicious!

I agree, but I think the point's been made. Let's avoid indulging one imperfection of this site: piling on.

Loving Hut

Best. Restaurant name. Ever.

SF Gate did a long article on beet sugar in 1999, which makes up more than half of domestically produced sugar.

Simmering wheatberries that I'll toss with the succotash and chicken sausage leftover from Mintwood Place to make lunch for the next couple of days

Macerating blueberries from the Adams Morgan farmers' market in honey for stirring into the week's breakfast yogurt

Throwing away cherries from the Adams Morgan farmers' market because less than one in ten was edible (I'd say that's a bit beyond "last of the season," friends )

Cooling a big pot of coffee in prep for a week of iced coffees that will beat the heck out of anything I could buy on the way to work

Yes, the base of 1000 Island dressing, the usual sauce on a Reuben, is mayo, but that's clearly not what we were referring to. The base of deli mustard is vinegar, and nobody is suggesting splashing vinegar all over the bread on a corned beef sandwich.

Well, sure, when you're ordering a fresh corned beef, you wouldn't need any mayo because the meat itself provides all the moisture necessary. But if you are--que horror!--ordering a sandwich made from deli cold cuts, I could see using mayo as a replacement for the fat, oil, and juices you'd get from a freshly sliced, freshly cooked slab. Going way outside my realm of expertise here, but I'd bet that's why thousand island got slapped on the reuben in the first place. And if you don't like relish, then, hey, just go back to basics and get straight mayo. It's all good. Ya like what ya like, and this seems to fall into the realm of reasonableness.

I am enamored with sour cherries. How have I not discovered these sooner? Today I finally got around to pickling some of them for cocktails, which was the reason I bought them

How are you pickling your cherries? I've steeped them in cognac before and was not enamored with the results, but I never thought of pickling them. (In my head I keep picturing cherries+dill pickles, which I know isn't what you're doing but which still grosses me out anyway.)

You can also make sorbet with frozen fruit, like mango--available in bags from Trader Joe's. It really works! Great for making mayo and aioli, vinaigrette, red or green enchilada sauce, molé, adobo, fresh pea soup or any pureed soup, hummous, tzaziki, jeez louise. I have heard that people buy them just to make smoothies...

Oh lord no--not just to make smoothies. That's just aspirational. I love smoothies, but my current blender can't handle ice (or even, like, a grumpy apple), so I never make them. But I make blended soups all the time, and the idea of not having to turn on the stove is almost fantastical to me, as is the idea that I can add any ingredient to them, no matter the texture. And there's ice cream. And there's peanut butter. SO MUCH STUFF. Basically, I am excited to have a blender that works, and doubly excited to explore how much awesomer it is than any previous blender I've had.

Time for me to come clean: I had the first Big Mac of my life about a year ago, and I kind of loved it. No kidding. And now I'm addicted to it as 2am post-bar food. I know I should be going to the Falafelshop but I keep going back there. I don't even like the french fries, just the special-saucy/sugar-laden/limp-lettuce/grey-meat burgerness of it. Chalk it up to a Happy Meal being a special treat out when I was a kid and eating bland home-cooked meals was dull. That damn watery orange drink and syrupy-sweet cheeseburger had me at hello. Help me.

You won't regret it. My Vitamix is my #1 favorite kitchen machine, followed by my Cuisinart food processor, Rancilio coffee grinder and Saeco espresso maker. Those get used every day and reside on my crowded counter. The 35 year-old Kitchen-Aid mixer and its attachments live in a cupboard, since they are used only occasionally. Don't ask me to part with any of them. I sure would love to have a bigger kitchen, though.

I'm stoked, especially, having just stepped outside, for making ice cream and fruit smoothies. I may even leave it on the counter to spur more regular use. (I've got a lot of counter space, but it's an open kitchen, so I try to keep the clutter to a minimum.) (But I still really wish these things weren't so ugly.) My blender was a cheap-o when I bought it 10 years ago, and I can't believe it's sputtered on for so long, though with some things I swear a potato masher would do just as well.

Mintwood Place. The puppy would incidentally be welcome on the patio.

PERFECT. Thanks--I didn't realize they were open for Saturday lunch. (But no, puppy would not yet be welcome. At three months, she's still a bit of a monster [albeit a damn cute one]. But I expect to have her table manners established by the time the lovely autumn weather arrives!)

I've got to drop off the puppy for her first haircut at noon on Saturday and will have three hours to kill before I can pick her up. I'll be on foot, at the south end of Adams Morgan; a friend may join but maybe not. Can anyone recommend a good brunch/lunch place in the area for a very leisurely meal? No food or price preferences, just somewhere casual I can kill a couple of hours and not be jostled about or hussled out.

Food poisoning can be a miserable sickness to endure, but it does pass. Hydrating yourself is important not only to replace fluids, but to get your kidneys moving to hasten the release of toxins, but often, your best friend is the passage of time.

This is why you shouldn't ever take Immodium or Pepto when you've got something like this unless you have to (travel that can't be rescheduled, for instance). Without being too graphic, your body needs to get the gunk out of your system, and temporary fixes like these just keep it in and makes you sicker, longer.

Signed,

Someone who has eaten a lot of ill-advised food in developing countries

Screw it. It's mine!

Home sick. Lusting after the $399 Vitamix on QVC. Homina.

Do I take the plunge or is it the cold medicine talking?

NPR: Is the Coconut Water Craze All It's Cracked up to Be?

Bottom line: If you like the taste of coconut water and can afford it, enjoy, says Reinagel. But coconut water isn't cheap, running around $2 to $3 a serving, and it's no miracle drink.

Okay, so it's raison d'être isn't to be a restaurant, but many people don't know that HR-57 has a $3 corkage policy, and that's good enough to get my attention.

They STILL do that?? Wow--that's awesome. When I was a young, broke gal, new to the city, I'd grab a six-pack, pay my three bucks, and listen to often awesome music until late in the night. On weeks where I was particularly flush, I'd supplement with some of their fried fish and greens. Meeeeeeemmmories...

My $0.02, but I certainly don't think it gets that much buzz on this board, and you rarely hear about it in the press or food blogs. It's not that inconvenient of a location, sure not a place that many people are going to be strolling by, but as it is an easy drive and has plenty of parking and there are always cabs.

I imagine that many restaurants would envy having 27 posts since May, all positive. And I don't have a car and the new cab fares would add about $35 to my dinner tab.

But listen, I'm not criticizing the restaurant in any way--I had a perfectly pleasant lunch there after a meeting next door and trust the excellent reviews it's getting here. I guess I'm just wondering, not just in regards to Sou'Wester, what folks mean when they say a place should get more buzz. Especially when it seems like a place already gets a fair amount.

I am sure that I have said this before, but this place should certainly get more buzz from the local community.

No disrespect to Sou'Wester intended, but how should it be getting more buzz? I keep hearing this lament, but the restaurant is posted about on this board glowingly and very regularly. I suppose Sietsema could plug it more in his chats (a welcome departure from the litany of Ethiopic/Source/Rasika West End/Central/701* [fine restaurants all, I'm sure, but you'd think they were the only ones in the city]), but it's pretty much not convenient to anything--I would never just "find" myself in that neighborhood--and walking to the Metro from there at night is creepy. Where should that additional buzz be coming from and what should it be saying?

Hulling strawberries

You know, those little ones are SO good, but a serious pain in the butt to prep.