LauraB

Made 'The Ultimate Winter Couscous' (pg 262) a few nights ago for dinner. It calls for roasting carrots, parsnips and shallots and mixing them with cooked couscous. It was fantastic! Also very pretty and colorful. I'm normally not a big fan of couscous, but this was a good use of it. Like many of the recipes in this book, it had a LONG list of ingredients, but many of them were spices which, if you cook a lot, you probably already have on hand. (Cinnamon sticks, star anise, bay leaves, ginger, turmeric, hot paprika, chile flakes, saffron). As you might imagine, it was very aromatic and flavorful. Also, as with many of the recipes in this book, the fat content is fairly high -- for example, it calls for adding 3 TBS of butter to the cooked couscous. I think you could easily decrease that or even eliminate the butter. The only 2 changes I made were to sub dried cranberries for the dried apricots and, because I did not have preserved lemon, I simply squeezed the juice from 1/2 a lemon over the finished product. I'd make this again.

We were there for lunch on Saturday 2 weeks ago and the chips are still made with flour tortillas. That's the only real complaint I have about the place. This was our second visit, the first was in August, and we thought the food -- we both ordered the Taco Combo plate with Asada, Carnitas, and Al Pastor -- was as good as on our first visit. They are now serving FISH tacos made with tilapia on the weekends -- saw the sign AFTER ordering, so we didn't sample them. When we arrived at noon the place was completely empty; however, when we left about 40 minutes later it was totally packed. I was glad to see that -- I really want this place to succeed.

Just curious, did your friends make a decision about a location?

After all of the positive buzz about this book on this site, I finally bought the book. Beautiful photos! Anyway, I also made the 'Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes with Caper Vinaigrette' recipe last week. I made it as written, although you could easily substitute many different root vegetables. I did cut back by 1/2 on the amount of oil used in tossing with the cut vegetables. Also, while I did add the vinaigrette, in the future, I would probably skip it and just add the capers on their own. I can say that, as written, the recipe is delicious!

Beale Street Grill closed last week.

Don, this post is really timely for me. Several weeks ago I removed myself from all email mailing lists for discount coupons including: Groupon, Living Social, Specialious, et al. I've had it with the coupons. The small amount that I might save is not worth the damage that I see it doing to the businesses that participate. Also, as a consumer, the coupons start to feel like an albatross around your neck -- OMG, I've GOT to get to this restaurant/candy shop TODAY or it's going to expire! Let's start a movement: Say NO to the Coupon!

I cannot say enough good things about The Ashby Inn. We have been there 4 times in the last year. Our first visit was for Thanksgiving 2010, which was so spectacular that we decided to repeat the experience this year. Just returned home from another incredible Thanksgiving at the Ashby Inn. For each of those 2 Thanksgivings we stayed overnight in the Glascock Room in the School House -- a separate building less than 50 yards up the road from the main Inn. Each of the 4 rooms in the School House has its own wood-burning fireplace and covered porch on the backside of the building, overlooking the grounds and the surrounding rolling hillsides. It just couldn't be more comfortable or romantic. With regard to the food served at the Ashby Inn: Their chef, Tarver King, is one of the best chefs in the greater DC area. I'd rank him up there with the very best. The food here is simply spectacular. Even on a holiday, when you don't expect spectacular, it still is. Our dinner yesterday, frankly, we'd rate above the disappointing dinner we had at Komi 2 weeks ago. In addition to Tarver King, Neal Wavra, the sommelier is outstanding. I had the wine pairings with our dinner yesterday and, if I could find them, I'd buy a case of every one of them. Since our first visit last Thanksgiving, we have been out there twice for Sunday brunches on their really lovely patio -- this is one of the best outdoor venues in the greater DC area. One doesn't necessarily expect great food at brunch, and yet, once again, The Ashby Inn delivers. Last spring we had the most incredible Copper River Salmon appetizer -- if this were our last meal, we would die happy. In fact, I asked if I could have it for dessert. The drive to the Inn from DC is not that long and really pleasant on Rte 50 through the villages of Middleburg and Upperville. From our home in Rockville, it took us an hour and 10 minutes yesterday morning. (Granted, there was no traffic.) We learned this morning from Star Wavra (Neal's wife and the other half of the great management team), that they will be closing for about a month in late February for renovations. They will be enlarging the kitchen. Imagine what Tarver could do with an even bigger kitchen!

I have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, Architect, 6 Qt. Bowl-Lift that I purchased last December. It has NEVER been used. It retails for $499.00 It appears to be on sale at Macy's for $399.00 I will sell it for $300. The link below provides the details for its features. If you are interested, please PM me. Thanks. http://www.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=393916&cm_mmc=Google_Feed-_-6-_-77-_-MP677

Thorpewood in the Catoctin Mountains near Thurmont, MD is also an ideal wedding venue for those who seek a rustic/elegant natural setting. While I have not personally attended a wedding here, I have heard wonderful feedback from those who have.

Ostertag Vistas can be as rustic or elegant as you wish. It's surrounded by acres and acres of forest and creeks. A beautiful, bucolic setting mid-way between Frederick and Hagerstown. Several caterers serve the property. I used to live near there and I've attended several weddings there. They were all unique in their own way and each was perfect.

This summer I needed to repair my dented rear bumper, for which I must thank the absolutely awful Fallsgrove shopping center parking lot. (If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about.) I found GLS thanks to the many positive reviews on the Washington Consumer Checkbook and I could not have been happier. Everyone I had contact with was very friendly and helpful. Their excellent work was completed in the time they estimated and the price was very reasonable -- much less than I was expecting. If I ever need body work in the future, I won't even think of going anywhere else. Ask for Lee or Carlos. GLS Auto Body 1627 E Gude Dr Rockville, MD 20850 Phone: 301-279-2410 Laura Belden

Second this. We had our wedding reception and honeymoon here and the views are breathtaking.

Just received email notification that the Sunday Bethesda Central Farm Market on Elm Street will be CLOSED.

Funny, I was unloading laundry from the dryer on the 3rd floor just as the quake hit. The whole house was swaying and I thought, wow, this feels like LA. As a native of Los Angeles, and someone who experienced the 1971 quake there, where I was actually thrown out of my bed in the early morning hours, only to run into the bathroom and see the water being tossed from the toilet bowl, to run into the living room and see everything crashing down, this wasn't anything, except that it occured in an area where we don't expect these things. So, it was something. My husband is in Richmond, so he definitely wins the disaster contest today. He has sent a message that it was 'scary.'

Apparently it was a 5.9, centered between Richmond and Charlottesville.

Homemade gazpacho with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions and peppers procured from the Bethesda Central Farm Market this very morning. Recipe is from Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. I've tried a lot of gazpacho recipes and this is the one I return to again and again, although I do cut back on the amount of EVOO.

This may not be all that convenient for you, but I do know that Penzeys in Rockville sells lavender for culinary use.

This piece strikes me as the work of someone who's scrambling to come up with *any topic* and a tendency toward whining. What an empty piece. I park regularly in the Tenleytown WF lot and I've never encountered any of the 'problems' mentioned. Also, many of the things described are hardly unique to WF lots -- you can find these kinds of issues in virtually any parking garage in the DC area.

My thoughts, exactly.

We also have had ridiculously bad service at the Bethesda location. We've made 3 visits over a wide span of time. Each time, the service was unbelievably bad. We finally decided: 3 tries and we're out.

Scrambled eggs topped with Betty's Picante Fresh Salsa Atwater's sunflower/flax bread, toasted, with Kerrygold butter Organic Golden Yunnan tea from Zen Tara Tea in Bethesda (this tea is really delicious) The Atwater's bread and Betty's salsa were both bought yesterday at the Bethesda Central Farm Market. This is Betty's first year at the market and I hope she sticks around -- her salsas are fantastic! I've almost finished off the entire 16 oz container that I bought yesterday morning.

Bethesda Patch says mid-June.

I have made this Goat Cheese, Artichoke, and Smoked Ham Strata numerous times for holiday brunches and it always gets rave reviews. You assemble it the day before and bake just before serving .

Made my first visit to the new Rockville Pike location today. It's a really nice store with some great features -- the bulk foods are what I'm most excited about: a very large and wide assortment of foods available in bulk. And while many of these kinds of foods are available in bulk elsewhere, the sheer number and variety available at this store was impressive. Dried beans: Many, many varieties of hard-to-find types of beans. Some beans I've never even heard of. Guess I can close my account at Rancho Gordo now. Salts Oils Syrups and honeys Wheats Rices: many kinds Legumes of all varieties Dried mushrooms: many different kinds Spices Dried fruits Seeds and nuts Teas: Rishi brand: organic and fair trade They have 4 mills available so you can grind your own wheat, bean and rice flours. Two mills are wheat-dedicated; two are for beans and rices only. A bit of orientation: the entrance to the store is actually on Woodglen, which runs parallel to the Pike, one block west. The entrance to the parking garage is also on Woodglen. There are several parking garage entrances on the 4 sides of that new complex, but only the one on Woodglen is for WF shoppers. Parking right now is free -- don't know how long that will last. After that, it will be 2 hours free with validation.

A REALLY good orange that I just bought at the new Whole Foods in Rockville this afternoon. I haven't had a decent orange this entire winter, so this seems spectacular. (I grew up in southern California, so I'm pretty picky about oranges.) And while this certainly isn't the best orange I've ever eaten, it's the best orange I've eaten in the Mid-Atlantic in quite some time. They had samples and it was so juicy and tasty that I had to take a chance on the 13-lb box for $9.99 (regularly $12.99). They're Sequoia brand from California.