LauraB

Did anyone go to the first brunch service at the Cafe yesterday?

Balducci on Old Georgetown Rd. and Democracy Blvd.

I was hoping someone would say Balducci's as that is very convenient. Thanks!

Does anyone know where I could buy some carnaroli rice locally? Preferably, MoCo, but willing to drive if necessary.

Bethesda Magazine wrote it about it here.

GOG Post here.

Beef and barley soup with lots of vegetables -- using my homemade beef stock -- the house smells delicious right now!

I will also admit, my MIL made a funfetti cake with funfetti icing (the round beads, not the sprinkles kind very different) from a box, and I did really enjoy it, I don't know what it is about funfetti, but I liked it.

Funfetti, wow! This brings back memories. I made Funfetti cake (with the icing) for my son's birthday one year when he was in elementary school and from then on this was the only cake he wanted! I had to make it for him for years, even though by then I would have preferred to make something from scratch. He did eventually outgrow it. Yeah, he way outgrew it. Now he wants Komi or Palena for his birthday -- no Funfetti involved!

Back in the 1990s we lived mid-way between Frederick and Hagerstown and, having lived in Germany, we loved Schmankerl Stube. We went there at least once a month. The whole place was like a set-piece, a throwback to a different era. The owner, Charlie Sekula, is a wonderful guy. And their beer, especially the Hacker Pschorr Hell lager, was great. The best time to go, IMO, is on a lovely spring, summer, or early fall day/evening when you can sit outside in the 'Bier Garten' at the rear of the restaurant. It's so reminiscent of outdoor dining venues in Germany from yesteryear. Of course, it's been quite a few years since I've been to S.S., but I can't imagine much has changed. Glad to hear that it's still going strong and that you enjoyed it so much. You've inspired me to arrange a return visit!

Did anyone else grill tonight? With this weather, I just had to. Wow, it felt really good to be back at the grill. So, our dinner was really early, since I wanted to finish before it got dark -- don't have great lighting on the deck. Also, since we are both trying to shed a few pounds after the indulgences of the holiday season, meal was very simple.

Grilled butterflied leg of lamb rubbed with middle eastern/mediterranean spices

Sauteed kale with garlic

Steamed broccoli

[Agree. No harm done at all, but it would indeed waste peoples' time coming into this thread to find non-restaurant postings.]

Exactly.

Great deal for the ladies today on Eversave - $49 for a 60 minute massage... yes please!

http://www.eversave.com/washington-dc/le-studio-massage

I would like to request that posts in this thread be confined to restaurant and food-related coupon deals, since that is the focus of DR.com.

I see you have Poste on your list of good Bloody Marys. The one I had there was so full of black pepper that it was undrinkable. Maybe it was an anomaly, but I would never order a Bloody Mary there again.

Chicken stir-fried with carrots, onions, savoy cabbage, kale, edamame, mung bean sprouts, honey, tamari

Served over brown basmati rice

Unsweetened flaked coconut? Not the grated frozen kind. Sometimes it's available dried - that would work too. I've got a whole coconut for this attempt with the recipe I'm trying, but sometimes you just don't want to do the whole coconut thing.

Bob's Red Mill Shredded Coconut (Unsweetened) is available at Whole Foods. I just bought some yesterday.

Pan-roasted halibut steaks with chermoula

Salad of fennel, oranges and kalamata olives, lemon vinaigrette

Jasmine rice with scallions, lemon zest, parsley

Just an update on locations - Shady Grove is closed as they are concentrating on the one location in Potomac.

Hmm, sorry to hear that they've closed the Travilah Square location as it's less than 5 minutes from our house and the food was better there. We only ever got carry-out because the seating was crowded, but the sandwiches were quite good. Back in December we decided to go to the new location in Potomac because we knew they had a better sit-down situation than the Travilah location. We both ordered Reubens and a side of potato salad. The potato 'salad' was a joke, it was basically a pile of cooked potato chunks with virtually no dressing or anything else. We each took one bite and put it aside. The Reubens weren't much better. From the meat to the sauerkraut to the dressing, it was very mediocre. We would never order this again. This was a very disappointing experience as we had liked the sandwich at the original Brooklyns.

Anyone have a good estimate as to how long it would take to go from Bethesda to Trummer's on a Saturday night? Never beeen to Clifton. Google maps estimates 44 minutes door-to-door but I don't always believe those estimates. If it's around 45 minutes, we could go here in a few weeks; it can take us 45 minutes to get to DC restaurants depending on weekend traffic and/or metroing. Thanks for the advice.

Pax,

Brian

We drove there from Rockville in early December on a Saturday night (perfect weather evening i.e., no rain, no snow) and it took us slightly over an hour. However, because of the nature of the roads, it *seemed* much longer. And, sadly, we did not have a good experience there, so the drive added salt to the wound.

Note to Gillian: don't pit the olives.

Whatever you do, don't serve that to Dennis Kucinich!

Which, btw, the Vitamix should come with head gear to protect against hearing loss!

I *hear* ya!

Well, our vitamix had its maiden voyage this morning and it was a huge success. I should say that my husband wasn't too thrilled that I spent so much on a 'blender.' However, after he made his daily protein shake in the Vitamix this morning, he's singing a different tune. He said it was lightyears better in texture and flavor than the shakes he's been making for years in the KitchenAid. Now, it looks like I'm going to have to stand in line to use it!

Always start with it on the "variable" setting and with the number set low. Then turn up the speed with the number dial. I don't use the "high" setting that often. Once you switch it to "high" there's no variability to the speed, and you don't want to start with it set on high, because stuff will fly out of the top.

Thanks, Zora. After reading a bit more deeply into the directions, I see that I started in 5th gear instead of first. Won't make that mistake again!

So, I finally took my new Vitamix 5200 out of the box today. Following directions, I cleaned it by filling it halfway with water and a couple of drops of dish detergent and then turned it on High. Woah! The thing was so powerful that I actually jumped back from the counter. It makes my KitchenAid Blender seem like a child's toy. Hopefully, I'll get used to it and won't have a near-heart attack every time I fire it up.

I'm curious as to whether anyone has made any of the dozens of recipes that are included in the 3-ring binder that comes with the Vitamix 5200? If so, I'd be interested in your reviews. Thanks!

Early dinner tonight, focused on using up leftover horseradish

Seared New York strip steaks with horseradish-mint glaze (steaks from Bruce at Westover Market: excellent!)

Mashed potatoes with horseradish and scallions

Sauteed Russian kale with garlic

Used the snow time to replenish my supplies of homemade vegetable and chicken stock.

Also made the best Minestrone I've had in a long time. Recipe can be found on the Mrs. Wheelbarrow blog. I made a couple of modifications to the recipe: used my homemade veal stock instead of the chicken stock and used borlotti beans from Rancho Gordo in place of the lima beans. Delicious! A perfect winter soup on a snowy day.

Sweet potato and pinto bean chili with fire-roasted tomatoes and cilantro

Mixed greens with lemon vinaigrette

I made both beef and chicken stock over the weekend as well. Followed Molly Stevens's directions in 'All About Braising.' So, basically spent much of the weekend in my kitchen. The beef stock calls for painting the bones with tomato paste, then roasting, before adding to the stock pot. The chicken stock calls for removing the skin and roasting the pieces for 35 mins before adding to the stock pot. As usual, I'm really happy with the results. My freezer over-floweth.

QUESTION -- when folks opt for the Cafe seating, are you typically given the choice for the 'new' space, the 'old' space or one of the two bars? Just curious.

I had dinner in the Cafe a couple of weeks ago. When we arrived we requested to sit in the 'old' space and were readily accommodated. We arrived fairly early, so the space was still relatively empty. We were extremely pleased with our experience, both with the food and the service. Of course, I never got around to dining in the Cafe before the new section opened, so I can't compare our recent experience with a pre-expansion experience.