ktmoomau

Going over the July 4th weekend. Last time we were there ate at R&G, trip to Golden Gate Bakery, ate at French Laundry, Market Bar. This time we have a couple more days. Day one I think we are going to drive to Monterey and Caramel, where my husband decided without me that we are retiring, hopefully it is still nice in 30+ years. Sat morn ferry market bldg for the market. We are also doing a short trip to Muir Woods and Sausalito. Last day we will probably eat Chinese food at some whole in the wall in Chinatown. I am a little tired of tacos, but that's about it. Have plugged in a ton of recs from here and an old chow thread I had for my honeymoon on my google map. Anything we really need that we can get into at this point?

I will really miss that spicy calamari... that was addictive.

Had a lovely dinner at Ray's the Steaks tonight. The service, including Mr. Landrum himself were downright charming and all smiles. It was almost eerily great. Not that I have ever had anything but very professional service. But so many people complain about it that it made tonight seem well so well magical. We even lingered for a short time without stares. I also like that there are black canvasses on the wall. Is that so there is art on the walls ? It was my BIL's quarter century birthday, he wanted steak. Nothing more needed to be said. SIL isn't a big meat eater but was quite happy with crabcake, mashed potatoes and salad. BIL was really happy that Hubby told him to get the crab bisque. I had a hanger steak, I really enjoy the flavorful cut. I thought about going aged, but I love the hanger steak. It may not be butter tender but mmm good. Had a bottle of pinotage that Mark had suggested before on another visit. It was quite tasty. Great sides of potatoes, garlic potatoes and spinach. Had dark chocolate mousse for dessert a huge portion, dense, dense, but very good. The strawberries were a nice touch. But I still love the kay lime pie, I had some of Hubby's and I just love it. Everything is right. The crust, the color, the flavor, the tanginess, it is just one of the best key lime pies out of Key West, I really mean that.

I find the parking attendant at Clarendon very helpful, sometimes I have to wait a few minutes, but it normally doesn't bother me. I have never had any problems in Alexandria, but I normally go for lunch. It would infuriate my Hubby to no end probably, but I am pretty peace loving, chill about parking.

Just had a lemon rosemary ice pop- mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Oh man that hit the spot.

But is anybody going anyway? Was thinking about it...

Went here the other night, they actually have a fantastic turkey burger. I got mine with bbq sauce, mushrooms, lettuce and tomato. And a side of fries. The burger was nice and moist with lots of flavor. BBQ sauce was not overwhelming. They had a great selection of toppings. And I liked the fries, crispy, seemed fresh. And you can get everything on a salad like at Big Buns in the bowl. I was really very happy with it.

We rented an apartment from friendlyrentals.com and were very happy with that. It was clean, comfortable, centrally located and a good deal. Also had lots of room for food and wine storage and consumption. I would go that way again. It was super easy to arrange, and get the key and find the place. The only downfall was getting the luggage in and out without help, but that was my fault for packing a heavy suitcase.

You @$$ (Did I just say that?) MCDONALDS!!!!! Not locally sourced, but staffed by locals, with a deep significance when you were little, and located all over the place! There you go, problem solved.

What about Passionfish? Not sure exactly how local all their ingredients are, but the servers and bar staff are really nice. I always seem to be able to get a table. Nice local wines on their wine list. They seem to be rather local??? It was a nice refreshing place for me to hang after a meeting in Reston.

I would think Irish Nachos would be potato of some sort and Cashel Blue Cheese and maybe some lamb and gravy of some sort, at least that sounds like a good version of Irish nachos to me.

If I don't have vertigo and am not feeling sick tomorrow I think I going to walk on over, so if others are thinking about it... PM me.

I am so happy that District Taco seems to be very busy and has turned a once location of death into success. It seems no matter when we go there are at least a couple people in line. That is very heartening, especially since we love the place!

Thank you bunches! Unfortunately it must have been the half they need for cooking, as there was lights, music and A/C. Good thing they have a food truck!

To the engagement party happening Saturday night- I'm sorry for any off color language you might have heard emanating from the corner table. I had my normal order of lettuce wraps with duck bbq which were as usual quite tasty. BUT I saw the meatloaf and the ribeye and knew right away I ordered wrong. They looked delicious. Now I can't get them out of my mind!

Does anyone know what happened to them yesterday afternoon? We stopped by and ordered from the food truck as the restaurant was not open. Power seemed to be on as we sat inside, but I assume something wasn't working. Good thing they had the truck as there was still a line. We had a couple tacos from the truck. I was a little bummed that I couldn't get chips as that is what I was really craving, on the way over after a trip to the auto parts store I was licking my lips for some fresh chips with some of their chips and salsa, but the tacos were still good, limited options in terms of meat and sides. I had the barbacoa, I had never had it before, it was flavorful, but a little soupy (this may have been due to the truck not sure haven't had it at the storefront). I would order it again though as it tasted good, but I still favor the steak as my favorite. Just wondering what happened, hope they recovered quickly.

So the Romas I have are doing really well, the Abe Lincoln's are ok, but seem to be recovering after we put on the neem oil. We just fertilized most of the garden with Garden-Tone and hopefully that will help the yellowing peppers. Since we inherited the spot I am not sure of the conditions yet. Our beans are growing quickly, as well as zucchini and eggplants which are quite happy. I am a little dismayed the bugs are eating some of the pepper flowers before they can bloom and produce fruit, but put more neem on so we will see how that goes. Caged a bunch of tomatoes, but had to go out and get more cages. Put some asian veggies in this past weekend, mulched paths, pulled up a ton of grass. Harvested a bunch of kale which we ate last night. The latter part of last week was great, not too hot, not too wet, just perfect. Sunday luckily we got out there before the sun came out and had a nice cool morning to work. The things people yell at us or discuss while on the WOD trail is rather interesting, just saying...

I am so glad you found that thread! It continues to amaze me when it pops back up on the top of Chowhound as I started it years ago, and it seems to continue to be a resource for people. I used to live in Annapolis and work in the state house, during session we had long hours and ordered from pretty much every place within walking distance of the state house. I thought it would be useful to post, although of course things come and go so quickly. All I would see day in day out on Chowhound were people griping about Annapolis and I wanted to keep it positive, so that was my way of trying to spread some positive Annapolis vibes. My Mom still lives in the area, so I am back there quite a bit, but she cooks more again now, so less eating out when we go. I should add onto it, but other people are doing a good job. My new favorites in Annapolis are Punk's which I love, love, love!, Taqueria Jugulita (sp?) over by the Hillsmere Shopping Plaza, next to the entrance of Quiet Waters, Eggsellence for breakfast. There is supposed to be a great natural market in Severna Park I want to check out. And I don't know if I put Regina's in West Annapolis on that thread, but it is great too. I don't eat much on the high end there anymore, I did go to O'Leary's recently and it was still very good. Bob is the guy at Sammy's (Sammy is his Grandson) he used to be in the Markethouse before they screwed that place all up. I used to go there for lunch when I worked for the Historic Annapolis Foundation in college. He would spot me a sandwich if I didn't have cash because the ATM fees in the market house were normally about half a sandwich, and he was beloved by all the Johnny's. They actually had a good veggie sandwich there too. I signed the petition to keep those original vendors in the marketplace, luckily he and his Wife could afford to stay close by, the other vendors not so lucky. His wife is really nice too. They always gave so much back to the community. I think Annapolis is a hard area for restaurants to survive so I like giving credit to the Mom and Pop places that manage to make it work.

All this is just so upsetting. It just kills me to see some place with really truly fantastic food have to close their doors.

This is the first year we have a community garden plot in Arlington. We didn't get it until Mid-April so we couldn't do a spring crop. We have planted peppers, which are yellowing and I need to treat them (going to try epson salt) but if I don't water them as much then they wilt some so I am damned if I do, damned if I don't. Zuchinni and eggplants are really taking off, leeks in the shady part of the garden doing well, the hotter bed ones are goners at this point. Squash are there, hanging out. We have abe lincoln, roma and a type of cherry tomato planted, all are doing well, had a few aphids, but are taking care of those guys with some neem oil. Beans are coming up now at a pretty good growth rate. We have some space left in our hot bed, between some other things so we need to get a few more things. The cukes are growing slowly, but growing. Herbs are all going nutso. We had some volunteer potatoes. We turned the old beds and created a new one in a space that had grassed over from neglect. We have a fig tree that has figs on it. But it's been a fun project.

I have heard Kellari Tavern is pretty reasonable for arranging private events, although I haven't done so personally? I would think it would be very handicap accessible.

After gardening on Saturday I felt very depleted and like I needed some carbs. So we headed to get some rice noodle dishes at Thai Square because they have homemade (or someone else makes them homemade for them frequently) wide rice noodles. I got the Pad Lard Na Palay, essentially seafood, noodles, Chinese broccoli and gravy. Very homey and comforting. Hubby got Pad See Ew, which was tastier than mine, so I ate a lot of his. It was the grilled bits that really made his shine, although mine wasn't bad at all. I love the Chinese broccoli, I am going to have to grow this in my garden next year, as I have heard it does well in these parts and you can eat it like green and you have the broccoli heads. I also got Han Kuen which is like sausage in a wrapper, in a good way. Nicely fried and crisp (I was hungry didn't eat before I went gardening and spent too long there so we didn't eat until like 3:00 pm) Anyway cheap and tasty and hit the spot. I think Thai Square is the one of the better Thai places in the area for noodles and stews. and if I spelled anything wrong above, sorry I didn't want to have to look up anything.

My husband loves, loves, loves this type of food. And after reading all the reviews I am looking forward to getting up there sometime soon (DR Night?)! Would not travel all the way for burgers or pizza or even steak frites!

Well the blackberry gives it some tartness and the pineapple some sweetness and it did get it rather pinkish in color, so don't feel too bad

Congrats!