ktmoomau

Hello Everyone, I would like to have a forum where someone could post an idea for a small format cooking class in their home. By cooking class- I mean someone has an idea of something they would like to learn how to make and are willing to do some trial and error with people to help in that process; or someone is good at something and wouldn't mind showing other people how to do it; or a combination of the two. I really learn better when I am interacting in a class and not just watching YouTube or etc, and making the item helps me build my confidence that I can do it on my own. I often find that many cooking classes are either (1) for couples (2) for kids (3) for people below my skill level or (4) a series in which I can't commit to the time and number of classes. I know there are people on this site that can make a lot of things I would like to learn to make. I am also willing to offer up my own skills if there is something I can make someone else would like to learn. For instance, I have never made homemade Bao Buns. It doesn't look incredibly hard, and I wouldn't mind doing it, but I feel like it would be more fun with a few people. I also would LOVE to learn how to make Saltenas, and feel that this is maybe a little above my skill level until I see, interact in doing it once or twice, but I likely need someone with more skill than me who has made it before. There are all sorts of things like this. And I have a decent size kitchen, and would be willing to host a few classes if people could make it to Alexandria, and would be willing to go somewhere else if someone else wanted to host. Anyway, I wanted to have a forum for this sort of thing, so here it is, if there are any like minded soles, speak up and we can figure out what we want to make and when.

Caribbean Grill continues to maybe be the place Hubby and I miss the most from Arlington. On the way home last night from C-ville, we were driving 66 and decided to swing through Arlington to get it to go. The chicken may not be as good as Crisp & Juicy or El Pollo Rico. But the saltenas- oh the saltenas, are so good, and the sides continue to be some of the best. We get the family meal and get fried yuca, cuban rice (last night it was especially fresh and good), steamed veggies (because I insist on some veggies) and plantains. There were only three saltenas left last night. I bought two, and the last one was sold to the gentleman behind me. It is a good deal, the staff is really nice, and the food is good.

I will say, generally carrying a lot of cash and in small bills just isn't easy for me. One as a woman, I don't like to carry a lot of cash on me in general for safety, the size of my purse, etc, and two, I don't use cash a lot, so I generally have 20s and a whole horde of change not small bills. When I am going to go on vacation though, I do have a habit of getting cash for tips. I REALLY appreciate that my nail women now take Venmo for tips, that makes it super easy. I use Uber, and I generally tip when service is very good, but I don't just tip regularly, I do in a cab. I always tip 20% in restaurants, if not more (when in a small business with a small tab like a $6 lunch or something). I always tip my hairdresser 20%, extra for the hair washer. If you are in the service industry and a small business, for instance you are a tour guide, hairdresser, nail person, etc, etc. I would highly suggest having Venmo and having your Venmo name somewhere visible, but discreet, or on a business card or your website or linked to your main phone number. There are a lot of younger people who just don't carry cash regularly, but would be more than happy to Venmo a tip. I wish hotels would have a Venmo account for housekeeping/valet, yes, they would then have to distribute (and likely pool the tips as they wouldn't know who did what room unless you leave a note), but I think they would likely get more tips in general. And in Venmo you can leave a small note regarding the payment which is handy. This wouldn't work likely for restaurant service industry, but it is really nice, and I think if you want to adapt to the style that younger people are used to using, more people will want to do this. Anyway, my two cents from an elder millennial.

Mark- if you see this post, best wishes on all your treatments. Thinking about you and sending positive thoughts your way.

I personally would support such a tax, but seeing what is happening when I go home to a more rural area, and seeing what my Mom who is retired is dealing with, I don't think the country on a whole can afford it.

I can't make that one, so I hope it sells out super quickly and you add another

I defrosted some mustard greens, and sauteed squash and onion, and made a casserole/Shepard's pie with: mustard greens, chopped ham, squash and onion, diced tomatoes, a few leftover green beans thrown in, topped with mashed potatoes and cheese.

Last night was salad with kale, spinach and leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes and green peppers from the garden, corn that Hubby grilled with a lime, cayenne butter baste the other night, that I sliced off the cobb, shredded muenster cheese and sliced bratwurst. I made a salsa, balsamic vinagrette with a little hot sauce in it.

Last night was chicken, okra and tomato enchiladas with mole sauce. I didn't reconstitute the paste enough, it was still decent, but could be better, lesson learned for next time.

There is a little place right by the Penzoil and Mr. Wash in Arlandria/Del Ray called Silpancho's House. They have a small Bolivian menu- the menu on facebook has their daily specials, but then they also have some other dishes, including saltenas, pupusas, wings and cheesesteaks, chicken cheese steaks, and about 5 other entrees- that I just can't remember the names of, but there are pictures and etc here: https://www.facebook.com/silpanchoshouse/ We got a beef and a chicken Saltena. It was good, although the pastry seemed just a tad over baked. I would rate Pan American Bakery above Silpancho's House, but when jonesing for a saltena in Alexandria, this is a good local spot. Matt got a dish with chicken cutlets, rice, potatoes, salad and fried eggs. I had some of this and it was a nice dish, we added some green sauce for some spice. They also have a few desserts, drinks including some beer. The woman working- who I think may have an ownership interest was truly nice. I will go back to try some other items.

Friday night was bacon cheeseburgers with melon on the side (and some crab chips for Hubby). Last night I cut apart a ham, we used a third for Hubby to slice for sandwich meat, 1/3 was frozen, and I baked the 1/3 with the bone. I put on a glaze of maple syrup, grainy mustard, garlic salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne. That turned out well. I also made some green beans from the farmer's market- I thought they were a little dry so I just boiled them. And skin on mashed potatoes with red potatoes (they were ok, but I think they got too gloppy, the leftovers I am making into potato pancakes. Tonight I roasted a whole turkey (but that is to vacuum seal and freeze the breasts for later for lunch meat) and the rest of the turkey is going to get turned into tamales with tomatillos from the garden. I am thinking I might take all the gizzards and etc though and make pate. Although we might eat some of the turkey if the grill doesn't light. If the grill lights we are going to have brats and corn on the cobb.

That is an interesting thought, and I like that it doesn't require using a range or oven, as range and oven space is at a premium at our family reunion, and you have to be a very important dish to really get priority.

Ok, so an odd question- I was maybe a bit, uhh, ambitious in my purchase of frozen Bao Buns at the Lotte. I now have quite a number. And I have found, when I put them in the instant pot for the number of minutes they say to steam them- that when they come out, they are of course annihilate your mouth hot, but when they cool to the point you can eat them, I feel they have lost some of their texture and the skin becomes too firm on the outside due to drying, and I feel like there should be some way to temper this. I am looking for a solution as I would like to make the rest of them for my family reunion, but will need to be able to serve a number of them at a somewhat correct eating temperature. In China, as I recall when we got them on the street to go, they put them in plastic baggies- I assume coated in some oil because they didn't stick? I have about two weeks to run some tests, but would love advice if anyone has figured out a solution for this quandry. I have tried googling and it seems pretty pointless as all the recipes for making bao dough call for plastic wrap so it skews the search results.

Say hi next time! I was at Dino's upstairs with a friend, we split the grilled nectarines, I just loved these, might have to make them at home, meatballs, spinach canneloni- the crispy cheese on top is almost reminiscent of pizza in a good way, soft shell crab pasta- plump soft shells, garlicky pasta with almond, very good, and a bottle of wine on Wine Madness (not sure which one, the one we wanted was out, so they brought something similar we liked). It was nice to see Dean, and just a nice meal with a friend that I could spend hours with, which wasn't rushed and just great.

Yes, good luck in Baltimore! I miss the DC location, and hope to eat here in Charmtown sometime.

I didn't see a thread on this restaurant. https://teddyandthebullybar.com/ This is a sister restaurant to Lincoln. I can't for the life of me remember what this was before, was it a Jos A Banks??? We went for the bottomless brunch for a friend's birthday. I generally dislike bottomless brunches as (1) too much food, (2) not very good food and (3) not enough vegetable choices. It was better than many bottomless brunches I have been drug through for some occasion or another. I will say the menu is a bit misleading as it says all dishes are included in the bottomless brunch, but actually bacon and sausage are still a la carte (why??? I have no idea.). We had bloody marys and mimosas. The Good: biscuits, benedict was good, croquettes, kale salad, char sui chicken, chicken and waffle, collard pizza. Fine, not good or bad: pimento slider, pork belly hash, deviled eggs, beet toast (could have been good if it had more beats, white beans pureed and spread), watermelon salad. Bad: scrambled eggs with summer vegetables- the only vegetable was corn, and this just tasted odd, I assumed it would be like squash and zucchini, corn is a starch not a vegetable, biscuits and gravy- had a sweet taste to them, fish tacos- really fishy, peach pancakes- just pancakes topped with too much butter and a peach puree with a few peaches not well composed and could have used syrup but there was no where to put this, peach cobbler- not a cobbler pound cake with the same peaches and peach puree. Service was very nice. They also had am omlette and waffle station that I didn't eat from, but things looked fine from those stations. If I had to do a bottomless brunch, this isn't a bad one. But it also just isn't my thing.

So- they are now carrying two types of Vassen sours at the Belle Haven Beer and Wine store- Lime Otter, and Triple Berry Sour. I like them both, Triple Berry is much more sour, Lime Otter more balanced in my view, but still sour. I also had a Gose from Trader Joes, that was in an dark orange can that was delightful, I went back and they didn't have it, I will recheck and stock up before it all goes away and pumpkin takes over- I need to see if I have a can left, I can't google it easily. The SeaQuench is a really interesting, briny flavor that I kind of dig, it really makes me think of being on the water while drinking. I also like the Super8 Gose by Dogfish too. There is a Passionfruit New Belgium which isn't I think in their terms a sour, but on the line in my book. A friend gave me a couple cans from Seven Oaks I am excited about trying. In the BAD category the sour Gose at District Atlas was not to my liking at all, nor anyone else that I went with, we all disliked it. I hope sour beers stay in style for a little time. I am a huge lover of sour flavor. I used to eat those super sour candies as a child, or just whole lemon pieces (while my Mom was not looking as I got yelled at because it would hurt my teeth enamel).

Last night was TJs frozen Kung Pao Chicken, with the remains of beef and broccoli and rice. I also made myself egg cups for breakfast and I made my office blueberry banana muffins. The night before we had tacos. Now the fridge is mostly empty of remains and I can start again.

Happy Birthday Don! All the best people are born in August 😉

We have been boring this week, just eating left overs as we had so much from the weekend- pulled pork, potato salad, coleslaw, etc. But last night I slow roasted cherry tomatoes from the garden, onion and pepper (also from the garden). I also made taco meat with ground beef, and thawed some frozen guac and made myself tacos.

It doesn't open until the end of August. Too bad Eric... I cannot even try to tell you how cool that museum was to 7?? year old me. I still vividly remember it, and I only went once- there was a place where you could ride a bike and they had a skeleton that rode the bike at the same speed and you could see how your bones worked/interacted. There was a bubble station where you could make giant bubbles. They had a giant stuffed person, with organs you could pull out and look at. They really did it all in a non-creepy way, that you just learned in a cool interactive way.

Do they still have that amazing kids museum? I spent hours there as a child, it was so cool.

Last night was leftovers- calico beans (with hot dog added in, a slightly upscale weenie beenie), green beans and a leftover Georgetown Cupcake.

I think the collective "we" are very fed up, but also don't see a real way out politically either. I think you would have to have a constitutional amendment, and I just don't think that is likely to happen, but sure would be happy about it. So I think "we" just don't really know what to do that would be effective.

Last week was chicken breasts with a bbq esque marinade, and a big skillet of succotash, topped with feta. Leftover chicken breasts then made slider sandwiches. Hubby smoked about 8 pounds of pork butt this weekend, it had Corky's rub on it, and it was delicious, I think he has really gotten his smoker technique down (it includes start smoking before one thinks they need to, and use smoker robot). I made a slaw, and doctored up some Shoppers redskin potato salad. I really just haven't had a lot of time to cook recently, will get back into it here soon.