Demetrius

BLT's with Nueske's applewood smoked bacon

Steamed shrimp

Slow roasted pork loin in apple brandy and ginger

Green beans

Driving to Staunton, Virginia to celebrate with my father-in-law. After putting our girls down, we will open a couple of bottles of wine and relax at the home.

Happy New Year everyone!

You can pick up a great sandwich and a few sides at Food of All Nations. Just a short walk from the UVA campus.

Tuesday:

Lamb Loin

Reduced equal parts Merlot and Pomegranate by one-half, dropped in a bayleaf and added arrowroot for thickening

Deglazed onions

Roasted red potatoes

Wednesday:

Seared sea scallops

Angel Hair pasta with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

*leftover reduction from Tuesday night dinner

I would like to duplicate a recipe for seared lamb loin. Is the process essentially heating a non stick skillet with a little oil to a high temperature, and then placing the meat on the skillet for a couple of minutes - flipping the meat and then finishing in the oven?

Wegmans was having a terrific sale on their turkeys earlier this week, and was able to grab a frozen twenty pound bird for $4.60.

The beauty is currently living in my garage freezer, however, I am looking forward to a successful roasted turkey.

I assume that some of the directions are written on the packaging, and assume that defrosting my frozen bird will take a few days. Should I brine the bird, and if so, other than water and salt what other ingredients should I include? Twelve or twenty four hours?

Do I preheat the oven, or place the bird in the oven and set the temperature? For best results, do you start at a high of say 450, and then reduce the temperature two or three hours into the process?

I too would be interested in purchasing a couple of tubs of butter if enough people are interested in placing a bulk order. At the moment, I purchase the Kerrygold Butter at Wegmans.

I have a defrosted pork loin in the refrigerator at home, and am curious if anyone has any quick and easy suggestions for how to prepare it. Should I put it in the oven, or grill?

I think that the Nathan's Restaurant Blog mentioned that the owners are intending on reopening.

My wife and I traveled down to Virginia Beach this past weekend to drop off our girls at camp grandparents, and to also celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary.

For the past couple of years, we have celebrated by having dinner at a restaurant called: The Lucky Star. Each visit has been memorable, and immediately begin the countdown to our next meal the following year.

If you are ever in the area, please reward yourself and loved ones by visiting. Personally, I recommend the Pomegranate Pinot Lamb.

http://www.theluckystarrestaurant.net/

Out and about on Saturday afternoon around Ashburn, and saw a sign that BBQ Galore is closing all of its stores and everything is ten to forty percent off. If you are still interest, I would highly suggest that you stop by and see whether the discount falls within your budget.

Oops... That was a bad typo, esp for a foodie message board. I too agree that it is funny.

If you are brining a camera, please record this cool opportunity with photographs of the dinner, fellow participants, etc... Any idea if the Outstanding In The Field team are going to venture nearby to sign copies of their cookbook?

Coastal Living magazine had a great article about this in the current or last month's issue.

I know two people that own a Green Egg, and they both absolutely love theirs. The initial investment is high, but the payoff is that you will never have to purchase another smoker/grill again if you take care of it.

You may want to check out the Dizzy Pig BBQ (local group of guys) that cook on the Green Egg and are also sponsored by the company.

No joke...

I initially posted the question because I was interested in purchasing a lobster pot 'kit' and after doing a search on Google, found that there are dozens of options available. I know that locally there is: Tackle Box, Legal Seafood, etc... but figure that purchasing the items individually from Wegmans creates move savings for items such as flowers, wine, etc...

Thank you.

Her birthday is July 3rd, but thought that yesterday was the first. In lieu of that, I called Wegmans and was told that they have plenty of 2 lb lobsters, and littleneck clams available. Combined with fresh white corn and red potatoes, I should be in good shape for putting everything together.

I am going to run by a hardware store tomorrow, and then visit the grocery store mid day Thursday to pick up the ingredients, etc...

Thanks everyone!

My wife's birthday is Wednesday, and am thinking of putting together a nice New England feast for dinner. I know that Tackle Box sells a lobster pot kit, but wanted to throw this out there and ask if anyone knew of other options to compare?

Thank you.

My wife and I recently purchased, closed and moved into our first house and decided to splure this past weekend and buy ourselves dry aged steak from Wegmans.

We were both excited at the opportunity of paying a little extra money for something new and instead of seasoning threw on the grill until it was medium rare. After letting the steak rest for about five or ten minutes we sat down for dinner and ate dinner.

Our immediate reaction after taking our first bite was that the steak didn't taste any better than a 'regular' steak that was not dry aged. Actually, our opinion of the non-dry aged steaks were that they were better.

Should I have seasoned the dry aged steaks before grilling? Or, is there something that I/we should look for when purchasing a dry aged steak in the future.

Thank you.

I saw some at the new Wegman's in Woodbridge this past weekend.

I bet a lot of folks in the Don Rockwell community would be interested in taking a class with Michael Landrum. I too missed the class last year.

I have collected wine labels off of empty bottles for many years with the intention of one day forming a collage of sorts and then framing and hanging on a wall.

An early thought was to send a message to Mark Kuller and Mark Slater, but upon advise from Don, agreed that such a request onto itself would only add to an already hectic day for both businessmen.

Is it too cumbersome for a restaurant to set aside empty bottles, or is there any suggestion anyone may have towards gathering approximately seventy-five to one hundred empty bottles?

Thank you,

Demetrius

My family and I drove to Belvedere Plantation on Saturday afternoon and picked twenty-nine pounds of strawberries. http://www.belvedereplantation.com/

Purcellville

You may want to consider stopping at Magnolias at the Mill in nearby Purcellville. http://www.magnoliasmill.com/