ol_ironstomach
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Everything posted by ol_ironstomach
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With many attendees from out-of-town, which hotel will they be based in? Convenient transit is an issue, especially in Metro-less Georgetown. On a Saturday. Borrowing a page from my youngest brother, who set up base in Georgetown's Latham Hotel for his wedding, you might find a suitable space in one of the back rooms at the Sea Catch Restaurant. It's not haute cuisine but it's not bad, and appeals to a wide audience. Additional geek bonus: the building is the little-known birthplace of IBM's computing heritage, being where Herman Hollerith originally established his automatic card tabulating company in the 1890s. IBM's slightly older progenitors were punch-clock manufacturers. And welcome to the boards, Dan!
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WaPo reports Wegmans expanding to Largo, Crofton. Also, construction on the Darnestown Harris Teeter continues with a structural addition that appears to add maybe 40-50% to the original volume.
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On My Meat You should feel a little guilty With a fork, a knife in hand Tucking into the Bistro Special (a steal) Not because of its value (a steal) But because slowly, Surely, It distracts you from the witty banter of your companions - except They too have fallen wordless From the succulence Calling from their plate Uniting brothers in crime The Guelbenzu Evo (Cab, Merlot, Tempranillo) is brilliant with steak, even to this untrained palate, and if two or three of your party are contemplating glasses of red, you should consider springing for a bottle of this spicy elixir. Recently prized from the family secrets of one of Landrum's foreign intrigues, the sherried mushroom cream sauce is a knockout. Sure, it's simple, but the mushroom flavor is so well-developed that I'd be tempted to have a cup as a soup, if I weren't certain that it carries one jillion calories per tablespoon. On a personal note, the presence of other Rockwellians (Friendly and Charming™) turned a very nice dinner into a completely delightful evening. You guys Rock! -
Geez, now I need a smoke. And I don't even smoke. ich heisse superfantastische
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They'll also usually provide a pencil and a paper copy, so you can simply circle the items you'd like, instead of resorting to ordering by number or by hard-to-pronounce name. A&J is the local outpost of a popular chain with locations in Taiwan and (if I'm not mistaken) China as well. It's all small plates, quite tasty, and ridiculously inexpensive...my go-to place for non-fancy Chinese comfort food. [edit: silly me, all details that PandaHugga has already covered!]
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Important safety tip: Breathe in before bringing beignet anywhere near face. Do not accidentally inhale confectioners' sugar. Repeat, do not inhale sugar. Injury to dignity may result.
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Negative. "Fat Girls in Des Moines" (my favorite piece from the old Granta travel volume) was by Bill Bryson, and reappears later as a chapter in one of his novels about the US...probably I'm A Stranger Here Myself. Yeah, I also thought about finding and riding the escalator at Merle Hay Mall.
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Met some friends for brunch at Hank's two Saturdays ago. It's a bright metal kind of space, and service was cheerful. I have to say though, while our table of 4 enjoyed plenty of convivial conversation, there seemed to be a lot of quiet faces about at midday. Their cones of popcorn shrimp and squid were nicely fried - crisp and not overly greasy - and served with a spicy remoulade. I had a lobster roll which was nicely meaty, but not quite as good as the last one I had on the Maine coast...perhaps this meat was a bit mild in lobster flavor, and (sacrilege) I would have liked a tad more mayo. Gubeen's oyster po' boy was excellent.
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dr.com 2nd Annual Spring Picnic
ol_ironstomach replied to hillvalley's topic in Events and Gatherings
Food TBD, but I'm also planning to bring my medium 2-burner camp stove and at least one or two butane cassette burners (everybody should have a few of these about the house; you won't pay more than $15-20 in any Asian grocery) in case a couple of folks need to finish a dish onsite. Useful or not? -
dr.com Fundraiser @ L'Academie de Cuisine
ol_ironstomach replied to hillvalley's topic in Events and Gatherings
My bad. Guess which dish was so scrumptious that any thoughts of photography were trumped by the urgent need to reach for knife and fork? -
The name 1789 should have been a tip-off. Although I've always found it to be old-school yet warm.
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Frozen cannoli? Perish the thought! Peperonata Pasta (Kentlands, Gaithersburg) serves up a good cannoli. No, he doesn't make either the cannoli nor the filling in-house. What he DOES do is pipe in the filling at the last minute, so the moisture doesn't have a chance to permeate the shell, and the temperatures are right. I think this is far preferable to ruining a top-grade housemade cannoli by premaking the batch and holding them for hours. And welcome to DR, cheapie!
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Well, scratch that plan. Not only does River Falls no longer offer the crabcake sandwich lunch, but they've also switched to some name-brand supplier for their crabcakes. Feh.
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Caipirinha Beleza Pura. Selection of cheeses from last night's Nat'l Geo tasting. Tomato salad with onions and bell peppers, in a vinaigrette of Jake Parrott's remarkable Rozendal vinegar. Potatoes au gratin. Grilled leg-of-lamb, thinly sliced. Watermelon slices. G'night!
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Assuming you're sharpening ubiquitous high-carbon stainless European-style knives, no serious downsides, as steel knives can nearly always be reshaped by removing more material. I have a CC EdgeSelect 120 that I run my Wusthof blades through when they need sharpening and I'm feeling lazy. Note that if your knives have a bolster that blends from spine to edge at the handle, it will interfere with the very first few mm of the sharpening stroke. However, I wouldn't use it on a carbon steel knife or a good Japanese blade. The CC is effective, but crude. There is a visible frequency to the grind pattern even after using the finishing wheels, which is fine for hard-to-sharpen stainless, but which will never achieve the razor-sharp, mirror-smooth edge that full carbon steel is capable of. It also only cuts a symmetrical, multi-angle edge grind, and would ruin the asymmetrical edge on Japanese knives. For these, you must hand sharpen. It's really eye-opening to see what even a Wusthof is capable of after someone like Chiharu Sugai has sharpened it by hand, compared to what it did out-of-the-box.
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On a side note, at last night's Steve Jenkins cheese tasting, somebody from the audience asked his opinion of Cowgirl Creamery, and for any comments on their upcoming retail store here. Never one to hold back an opinion (nor miss an opportunity to plug Fairway Markets), he thought their cheeses were pretty good but very overpriced - a figure of $28/lb retail was mentioned.
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If your definition of "reasonable" includes Annapolis and environs, there's the ever-popular Cantler's just south of Annapolis, which offers a bit of that crab shack atmosphere without having to venture out to the Eastern Shore. A little farther away, I'm fond of the Fisherman's Crab Deck across the Bay Bridge (and Kent Island), which is more of a pavilion with picnic seating. Either one will serve you on unrolled brown kraft paper, with a roll of paper towels handy, and plenty of Old Bay and vinegar. Both also have docks, if you're arriving by boat. Dunno about closer-in. Some folks like the Bethesda Crab House, but to me there's just something about eating crabs right on the water. (please post followups to crackers' response in the Crabs thread)
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Don't Try This At Home? Recreate Restaurant Favs?
ol_ironstomach replied to tfbrennan's topic in Shopping and Cooking
For those of us with meager kitchen skills, Jaleo's endive "salad" is both simple to approximate, and popular with most non-foodie friends. Break apart and wash medium-to-large Belgian endives, then into each leafy boat add pieces of goat cheese, some orange or tangerine suprêmes, and slivers or slices of almond. Season with a bit of pepper and balsamico, and maybe a light drizzle of EVOO. Lure your guests into trying their hand at assembly (since each piece is a bit labor intensive) while you extoll the virtues of endives to the McDonalds-and-Olive Garden crowd. Also fun for kidlets (aka nieces) to assist with. -
Looks like my hopes for chiral sugars have been temporarily dashed again, as Arla Foods announces the shutdown of their Tagatose plant in Germany, the only production facility in the world. D'oh. I can't stand most artificial sweeteners, and don't like the aftertaste of Sucralose, so it's been a long wait for chiral and left-handed sugars to come to market. In this case, D-tagatose, which is identical to lactose except for the shape of the molecule. Looks, tastes, cooks like sugar, but with one-third the calories, reduced impact on diabetics, and none at all on the lactose-intolerant. Sigh.
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This thread is not at all what I expected, what with first misreading the topic as "an indecent proposal" instead of "an immodest proposal". Really, I thought it would be something like offering Nadya half-ownership in exchange for nightly pole dancing. Her, not you. But having read your novel proposal, I further move that every member of the society should adopt the honorary title of Don, men and women alike (as we are a progressive group), but optional for those who are already named Don. con rispetto, Don Potato
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Battle Vinegar! Allez cuisine! I think Jake will find homes for all five bottles easily, especially if anybody opens theirs to share a whiff or a taste, as we did during the l'Academie dinner yesterday. It's tremendous stuff...a bit too acetic and fluid to substitute for balsamico, but with a nose and flavor that put many to shame. Let me add that I simply asked Jake last night to sell me two bottles, long before he posted anything about bringing only five tonight. I have a feeling I'll be picking the second one up at the picnic
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Sudden brainstorm: lobby Comcast/Discovery Networks/Time-Warner/Disney/whomever to create an all-pork channel. Swinevision. HogTV. Something like that. For starters, they could program Two Fat Ladies reruns. And just about any self-respecting BBQ show. Ancillary thought: the Umami Network. 'nuff said. FFS, it's gotta be better than CSPAN2...
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If one toasts the halves separately (as most people and most delis do), the interior is ruined, I completely agree. It seems to me that degree-of-crustiness is a matter of preference; after all, a fresh bagel last leaves the oven, not the boiler. In any case, there's a better way to toast a bagel, if one likes theirs warm and not microwaved. I slice them, then lightly toast the whole bagel keeping both halves together. The interior stays moist and chewy, the exterior picks up just a bit of crunch, and the whole assembly is warm. Works even better if you choose bagels that are a tad on the light-colored side to begin with. Made a huge difference in my enjoyment of bagels when somebody showed me this trick...give it a try!
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How so? Welcome to DR!
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Good lord, the main thing Durgin Park is known for (besides its longevity) is the legendary brusqueness of its waitresses. Have they become kinder and gentler as well?! p.s. Tosci's ginger ice cream rules. But that vanilla at Emack & Bolio's is pretty darned good too.