smokey

I tried that recipe a few years ago (did the cinnamon raisin bagels). although I enjoyed the experiment a lot, I decided it was more fun to keep shopping around, looking for a good bagel to buy and kvetching about the crappy bagels I buy in the process!

I agree with bilrus on this. Not terribly formal, but more so than frontera grill. And, I think the good is exceptional. I've also tried some of the places that opened up from folks who worked in his kitchen, and I didn't like any as much as topolobampo. I think it's great and highly recommend it.

Oh, well, to each their own. I tried it yesterday and thought the bagels at Neals and Bagel City are better. The cinnamon raisin didn't taste very cinnamony, the crust was the same consistency as the insides and it was all a bit too cottony (for me). Let us know what you think if you give it a try, BLB.

note to self--must checkdr.com BEFORE noon. duh. sorry I missed you all,

Joe, It's nice to see you posting such a complimentary piece on the restaurant (not the cafe). I've long thought it was an excellent restaurant, and is the favorite restaurant to me and the +1 for celebrating special occasions. I know on your first visit you weren't overwhelmed. I'm glad you gave it another chance.

BLB--I used to really like Neal's, but I think that they often pull them out too fast on Sat. and Sun mornings and they don't have an adequately crusty exterior. In recent memory, I've preferred Bagel City. The other place you might want to try (haven't been personally, hope to try it for the first time tomorrow morning) is Royal Bagel Bakery in Germantown (http://www.royalbagelbakery.com/). I've heard it's good on Chowhound and am willing to give it a try.

They often have that flavor, and I agree, it is top notch. Very little will make me NOT order custard at a custard place, but that grapefruit and campari (bitters?) sorbet is fantastic.

Thanks, Scott, for sharing the good news, and for the well wishes I received here and through PM. Life is good with two, even if sleep feels like an elusive ideal...

You know, I used to be one of those folks who thought cilantro tasted identically to soap. Then I went with this technique, and now I happily throw cilantro into loads of different dishes.

If available, I would be into this. My biggest concern is parking. I can't quite figure out where is legal to park near there. Anybody whose been have any advice?

I don't use the WW website (erm, too cheap), but, I do do the point out individual ingredients, measuring everything before it goes into the pot. I'll usually do a bit of guesstimating on point size when it comes out, but I try to figure things conservatively.There's no doubt about it, at the beginning, it's tedious and time-consuming. But through doing it regularly, you both start to remember basic items (e.g. an onion is X number of points, a Tb of butter is Y number of points) and you grow to learn techniques for decreasing points but increasing how filling something will be (cut back on fat and increase the veggies/serving). I would never say that I hated the process, because I saw it as integral to my success in losing weight. Initially, however, I did find it tiresome. Now, it's pretty straightforward. Like Bill said, I definitely go on instinct, but there are things i measure every day (e.g my cup of Total cereal) because of portion size creep (which happens to everybody).

Count me as a definite maybe.

I had avoided posting in this thread about kids and eating out, because I find the topic one where there is very little middle ground and a lot of grumpy folks (myself included). But, I've gotten sort of intrigued by some of the stuff about 'being in somebody's home and following their rules' (to paraphrase) and my own thoughts when I go into a restaurant. So, just consider this my musings (worth every penny, and all). I don't normally think of a restaurant as an extension of somebody's living/dining room, and I don't normally think of myself as the guest of an owner. When I am a guest, I'm usually not paying for something (in my mind). I am pretty comfortable being described as a customer, not a guest. I probably haven't taken enough hospitality coursework or something! In most of my restaurant-going, there only rarely is an owner obviously present--a person who I can see and talk to about anything going on in the restaurant. And, I swear to you, McDonalds is not the restaurant I eat out in most. Even at a place like Blacks (just as an example of a place where most DR.com folks know there is an actual, local owner), I wouldn't know what Jeff and Barbara Black look like and probably wouldn't approach them to talk about something I particularly liked or disliked. Nonetheless, when I go to a restaurant, I usually follow what I consider to be pretty conventional rules of etiquette--I don't stand on sofas or chairs, I don't lick knives (and more importantly, I don't lick knives and then stick them into a condiment jar ), my kids don't run around like wild banshees (unless my hosts kids are doing it!). Just because, in my mind, I'm not a guest in somebody's house, doesn't mean that I treat the dining area like a free-for-all zone without rules. Although there are some items in my home that are on display that I would be crushed if somebody broke, that's not the usual state of my house. It's hard for me to imagine putting out things that I would be so upset if people broke. Particularly in a situation where the people coming in to 'my house, my foru walls' aren't my friends, but a series of strangers. So, I guess I find it a bit odd that somebody would place beloved salt and pepper shakers on a table. Of course, I recognize that that is part of what gives CO Kitchen its charm. The selection of chairs, drinks, salt and pepper shakers isn't something corporate or distant, but intensely personal. I guess I feel like there needs to be some balance between that intensely personal nature and taking the loss of one of those items *so* personally. Finally, I do subscribe to the rule that while I may have rules in my house for my children, I don't hold the children of my guests to those rules (with a few exceptions, e.g. biting a person is never ok!). And, if necessary, I explain the relative nature of rules to my child after my guests leave (yes, you were allowed to do X when Janie was here, but you know that the rules in our house are that you can't do X). Ultimately, my goal is that my guests be comfortable in my home. If that means that Janie needs to be fed the one dish she will eat and that my guests are going to bring it and need to use my microwave to heat it up before we all sit down to the meal I've prepared, that's fine by me. It might not be the way I run things, but it's still ok.

Ewwww.

Went there with three others on Saturday night and had a meal that was, generally, disappointing (in part, I'm afraid, because of my built up expectations). Two people had a soup a piece, and I don't remember their responses to the soups. So, can't comment there. Tried curry puffs, fried watercress and som tum appetizers and wasn't really crazy about any of them. The fried watercress was well fried (I'll give them that) and had a reasonable flavor, but I'm kind of the school that if you fry well, you can batter and deep fry anything and it'll be good. They can fry well. I thought the som tum was incredibly weak. Two pitiful looking tomato slices, presentation overall just blah, the green papaya SOAKING in dressing, not much zing to the dressing. We had three entrees--a whole flounder fried with '3 flavors sauce.' The staff described this as a sweet and sour sort of sauce. While I know that would turn many off, a well-executed sweet and sour sauce is a thing of beauty. I'll concede, the dish suffered because the +1 wanted this dish to compare it to a favorite Thai restaurant in a different city that made an amazing sweet and sour sauce whole fish dish. This was just eh. The sauce wasn't very complex, definitely too sweet with almost no zing to counterbalance the sweetness. I didn't try the other two entrees ordered, so these are the descriptions provided by my +1. He felt the flavors in the sauce for the basil chicken were good, but that the chicken was dry and overcooked. He felt that the beef in the red curry beef dish was poor quality. The service was good, attentive, brought regular water refills. We had originally ordered another entree which didn't come out. The wait staff was apologetic when asked about it. We simply cancelled the order. In the end, I don't think it was a big loss because we had more than enough food and I, at least, just wasn't interested in pad thai. 2 soups, 3 appetizers, 3 entrees (including the fried fish), 4 beers and two sodas later (plus tax and tip), came to $105.00 total for a party of 4. Not a bad price, but not commensurate with my enjoyment of the restaurant.

While I sometimes enjoyed her blog, I didn't think much of the book Julie and Julia... I don't think she gives much insights into the food in her book, she seems, instead, focused on presenting the quirky exploits of her friends and discussing without discussing her boring job.But, I wholeheartedly second the general recommendation of trying a cookbook from the library before you buy it. Even if the checkout period is, only, say 2w, if you can renew it two or three times, you should be able to get a sense for whether you're going to enjoy the cookbook and cook from it. I've done it many times and have saved myself loads of money learning that an author's tone drove my around the bend, regardless of how reliable his/her recipes are or aren't.

cha_charoni Thanks for posting your opinion (and welcome!) Interestingly, it was the comparison to Lighthouse Tofu (which I've heard others make before) that made me want to give this place a try. So, the RPLC met for lunch there today. I was, all in all, pretty disappointed. I think the prices were slightly higher than Lighthouse Tofu (by a dollar or two on a $10 item), and I liked the food slightly less. I had a mushroom tofu soup. I thought it was spicier at Lighthouse (where they give you a range of 5 or 6 different spiciness levels) and the broth was more complex and more flavorful. The panchan wasn't as good or plentiful as at Lighthouse. I wouldn't tell somebody to stay away from Arirang, nor would i tell them to run to it. With another Soondooboo place I prefer in the neighborhood, I probably won't be returning.

I'm still in as well. With JPW out, do you think we could move it to noon, or is it too late to make changes to the schedule? Smokey

Go, cucas, go! Go, cucas, go!

http://www.donrockwell.com/index.php?showt...&hl=arirangau contraire!

Next Monday, March 12, 2007, DanielK and I were thinking that the RPLC should meet at Arirang (if I were more smarter, I would link you to the thread on it, but I'm not very smart). The address is: Arirang 1326 E. Gude Drive Rockville, MD 20847 (301) 279-0023 Time TBD by those attending!

I think the issue is, then, whether you have agreed that you're splitting the check evenly among X number of people (which gives preference to big eating carnivorous alcoholics) or if everybody is estimating what they owe (which gives preference to vegetarian tee-totalling cheapskates). Neither is optimal, as my skewed perspectives show. As a vegetarian (non-cheapskate) who doesn't drink much, I'll admit to resenting it when a group has a large variation in the total food/drink bill between individuals, but the big drinking, lobster eating, 4 course ordering folks don't think they should step up and say, "you know, I owe more than everybody else, let me pick up X". It's just another form of being a cheapskate (instead of pushing off your tightfistedness on the server, you're asking your friends to pick up a portion of your bill).

Although I really like vinegary heat, that lack of vinegary heat is just what I like about the one at PC. It's just different. It's nice to have the different options.

IMO, this has always been the case with JNH. It's a large menu, and there are some good dishes and some ok, but I've never had anything there that I thought was flat out bad.

Interesting take, bilrus, thanks. I made it in part because I'm participating in a cookbook of the month type thing with chowhound and HSSS was the February book (yeah, I'm working behind a bit) and I feel as though everybody's postings have been pretty positive. Many folks tried this specific dish and so far nobody has said anything negative. The recipe also calls for pork, which I didn't add, but I really don't think that's the problem (they state specifically in the ingredients that it's optional). I've already been trying to sort out how I'm going to serve this eggplant in a way that I can get anybody besides myself to eat it. One of the tofu dishes you posted earlier (whose name escapes me at the moment, the tofu with oyster sauce and...) was on my short list.