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weezy

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Everything posted by weezy

  1. weezy
    The heading given is a bit misleading re the noise level. It wasn't so much that the music was loud, it was just incredibly bad (think Korean SNL style satire of Olivia Newton John disco tunes), but the volume was just enough that you couldn't possibly ignore it. Easy enough to converse over but every second sans conversation, this earache inserted itself. The only good thing about it is that none of it was hooky enough to become an earworm.
  2. weezy
    Got a late start on Saturday night and places were either closed or packed with no tables available until midnight, and we were circling around and ended up at Blue Sand for dinner around 10:00 or so. The menu isn't particularly easy to navigate for non Korean customers, but with some help from the server, we ended up with a double order of pork belly (double order required), and squid tempura. The good: about a half dozen banchan -- seaweed salad, kimchi, pickled eggplant, mung bean salad, spinach, a couple of other things I didn't recognize -- and two different soups came with the meal, a tofu soup/stew and an egg soup that eventually cooked into a soft custard. The squid tempura was very nicely fried, not greasy, tender with just a little chewiness, a good sized order, and came with soy sauce & onion to dip into. The pork belly was cooked at the table grill and was not seasoned or marinaded at all that I could discern, so a little bland. Definitely needed the gochuchang and lettuce wrappers to give it some oomph. For two people, the bill came to $50. The bad: the music. incessant 90s Korean disco pop, loud enough that it was impossible to ignore and we so wanted to ignore it. Also, this is not one of the 24-hour restaurants, and so we closed the place down at 11:00, but the tables that were remaining when we came in were all male and all 50+ in age, so not a hipster joint by any stretch of the imagination. The place was clean but the decor was tired looking.
  3. weezy
    Eric wins this week! Good for him, a $10k reward for his efforts. And Sara must be getting some really nasty editing because I'm not seeing the other chefs, overall, being lukewarm to her and her 2nd-place finish this week. They all seemed genuine in their hearty congratulations to her.
  4. weezy
    Sister and I stopped in for lunch on Sunday mid-day at this little Peruvian chicken joint in the strip mall adjoining the Wal-Mart in Burke (before engaging the huddled masses in said Wal-Mart). It's a clean but tired looking little place, friendly service, so-so- food. We each got a 1/4 chicken plate, dark meat, with 2 sides @ ~$10 each. I had the plantains and black beans, she had the mixed veg and plantains. No yucca on the menu, but they do have fries. Mixed veg were very evidently frozen bag stuff that was heated through, black beans were very watery and barely seasoned at all. Plantains were quite good and there is a $1.50 upcharge for those that the cashier told us about but isn't listed on the menu board. Chicken itself was a small portion but tasty, good skin and moist, properly done meat, nice charcoal flavor but less evident was any marinade. There was also a list of other typical Peruvian dishes, such as lomo saltado, huincaina, etc. Didn't see anyone ordering anything but the chicken. A few small orders of carryout while we were there and one other person eating in. My gut instinct is this is mostly a mid-week carryout dinner sort of place.
  5. weezy
    Well, she didn't brag about her waffles, just the chicken, and the judges all agreed it was great fried chicken. But I, too, hope she has to pack her knives and go soon. Really happy to see our hometown guy, Eric, doing so well.
  6. weezy
    Nuts.com NutsInBulk.com GustiAmo.com I've found Mediterranean pine nuts at Giant, sometimes in the nut & dried fruit area in the produce section, and sometimes the jars of Cento pine nuts in the international food aisle with the other Cento products.
  7. weezy
    I believe that lower capital gains tax rates should be eliminated and a limit on how much money should pass free of inheritance taxes (say $1M per individual) and no avoidance of taxes based solely on trust ownership of assets. And in counter to an argument that estate money has already been taxed, it's mostly not true in large estates. The money was invested, wealth grew untaxed because there was no sale and there was dividend reinvestment and splits, etc.,, and then rolls over to the next generation at the current purchase price and not the original purchase price. So Granddad's $1k purchase of a stock that has grown to $100k moves to the next generation with no tax paid on that $99k gain. Interesting article on distribution of wealth worldwide: "Are 26 Billionaires Worth More than Half the Planet? The Debate, Explained." by Dylan Matthews on vox.com
  8. weezy
    But the good news is it's about half a block away from the Crate & Barrel outlet store, so it can be a two-fer destination.
  9. weezy
    This is something I would like to do as well.
  10. weezy
    Agreed on Sara. Her luck won't hold much longer. As for Kelsey, she was very smart in how she approached the challenge -- something cold and refreshing on a hot day, familiar but with a tasty twist, and she didn't try to oversell it, so her dish stood out. In a sit-down restaurant with A/C, maybe she wouldn't have won.
  11. weezy
    Friends treated me to dinner here last night and it was fabulous. We shared about 2/3rds of the menu between the three of us. This place does wonderful things with vegetables and breads. farro sourdough, benne seed + aji dulce yogurt, roasted + fermented carrots, daikon, flax seed -- we were amazed there was no meat in this dish, so much umami! Sunchokes were good but overshadowed by other menu items. Cheese course was served as more of a shaved cheese salad; also good but maybe would have been better ordered as a dessert/final course than in the early rounds. I was evenly split on which was the better of the two pastas we ordered, both excellent IMO. One friend didn't like the funk of the taleggio & mustard greens and so preferred the gorro, the other was into the funk and found the gorro too mild. taleggio ravioli, smoky mushrooms, mustard greens, mustardy breadcrumbs -- gorro de bruja, pistachio pesto, goat feta, confit onion, olives, nutmeg breadcrumb seared halibut, acqua pazza, fermented + roasted fennel, salsa verde, calabrian chilies -- the only miss of the night. The fish was a bit overdone and cool so it spent too much time at the pass and suffered for it. However, the sauce was wonderfully balanced, and if the fish had been on point, this would have been outstanding. caramelized sweet potato, butter lettuce, smoked apple butter, parm, yogurt, apple + candied olive -- done well but the sauce was not as interesting as that on the halibut and because of the sweet potato as the center of the dish, a little sweet to my palate for a main dish. We got all of the desserts. The turmeric sorbet would make a great palate cleanser between courses; I didn't find its tartness and flavor balance compelling as a finish to the meal. The rainwater madiera custard w/ pistachio was perfectly balanced between silky smooth and buttery-nutty crunch. The brioche bread pudding was miles above any bread pudding I've ever had, somewhat deconstructed, every bite having layers of flavors, there was a spoon battle going on with everyone trying to get another bite and another bite. We also had an interesting rose with the meal, very spice forward with a lovely fennel-y finish, Etna Rosato, “Rosso Relativo,” Alice Bonaccorsi, Sicily, Italy, 2013 And very early on a cold, blustery Sunday evening in the middle of the shutdown, the place was packed and I can easily imagine they turned all the tables twice, so good on them. And if I was going back on my own limited budget, I would have a glass of wine at the bar and the farro sourdough, then pack up & go and pride myself on my restraint.
  12. weezy
    I've found them in the smaller, Latin spices section of the Giant where I shop (at the end of the rice-and-dried bean aisle), as opposed to the main spice racks in the baking aisle. I've also gotten them at Penzey's.
  13. weezy
    Chinese pagodas have been studied because of their ability to withstand earthquake forces
  14. weezy
    My sister and I stopped here for lunch on Saturday as we were in the area and both had been wondering about it. Each of us got a 1/4 dark meat chicken plate. I got steamed veggies and plantains for sides, she got yucca and black beans. The chicken skin was flabby, chicken itself was overcooked, stringy and no hint of marinade or charcoal flavor to it. Decidedly meh chicken. The sides, however, were perfection. Yucca was greaseless, hot, puffy, light and crispy, beans were smokey and creamy tender, plantains were caramelized evenly to a rich medium brown, the steamed veggies were surely a frozen mix reheated, but still hot and steamy and not mushy and made a nice hot salad when topped with a mix of the white & green sauces. If the yucca would travel well, I would get that and other sides, and then head up to Annandale to Chicken Pollo for the bird.
  15. weezy
    meatballs in a crockpot are always good, and easy to do ahead, plus you can decide if you want to make Italian, Swedish, etc.
  16. weezy
    Happy New Year! I wholeheartedly agree with the effort to reduce plastic waste. I am totally behind this.
  17. weezy
    Winter hours starting this Saturday, opening is at 9:00 a.m. (rather than 8:00)
  18. weezy
    The Fairfax location is open at University Mall. It's next door to the Halal Guys and a couple of storefronts down from Brion's Grille. I went there today to check it out while GMU students are still on their break, because I imagine it will be overflowing once the students return. The layout of this location is similar to the Falls Church store -- order near the back, pick up at the front, a bit of ledge seating squeezed around the edges. Each store has a few variations on the menu, and this one seems to have a few different offerings, plus different names for some of the same tacos you can get at other stores "Mick Nugget" for the fried chicken taco, "Chilly Willy" for the fish taco (I got this one -- nice & crisp & tasty), "Papa Juans" for a cheesy/tomatoey/sausage taco. I also got a Nature Boy, which is a BBQ bacon taco that is really tasty. This store also has the posole roja in reg & large sizes ($6/$10) that I don't think is carried in the other stores anymore. At any rate, long line that moves pretty quickly, very crowded, very loud, good food. I live about halfway between the Springfield and Fairfax locations, but will probably go to Springfield more often simply due to a much more pleasant seating configuration.
  19. weezy
    I watched the 60 Minutes piece as well on Sunday, and the amount of plastic waste generated is disheartening. I wish there could be a big push for completely standardized, re-usable metal screw-top containers that could be returned anywhere for a deposit, like the old nickel-a-bottle glass soda bottles were. Something like this: https://elephantbox.co.uk/products/small-screw-top-canister Of course, there would have to be some sort of incentive for the plastic manufacturers to move into the metal container production, to help keep jobs and speed the cross-over, a hard deadline to use up the final plastic inventory, and carrot-and-stick incentives and penalties for businesses to switch to using the containers for takeout, fast casual, etc. In the meantime, I'll keep using my reusable grocery sacks, washable mesh & string bags for bagging up my produce, etc.
  20. weezy
    I am sure that lovehockey can give a better breakdown of the strengths and weaknesses of individual players. I simply do not have that depth of experience. https://novacapsfans.com/ This website has a series of articles focusing on individual players as well as other general Caps news Also, Russian Machine Never Breaks https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/ has a lot of good articles but I don't know if they have a player-by-player series of posts.
  21. weezy
    Folks, we have a winner! I'll DM you the forms
  22. weezy
    Hey DR folks -- fortune smiled on me and I won 2 tickets to the Caps-Sabres game on Friday night the 21st. Fortune then frowned on me and none of my go-to peeps are able to take advantage of the extra ticket. So, does anyone want to join me at the game? You'll have to sign the sponsor's waiver. I don't know exact seats, but judging from the approximate retail value, they're either going to be in 100 level or, perhaps, 200 level center-ish ice.
  23. weezy
    There's a Bojangles at South Hill.
  24. weezy
    I'm into the heart of Xmas nosh & gift baking. Last night was cinnamon-walnut banana bread mini loaves, night before was a butter cookie with cardamom/cherries/pistachios/candied ginger where a fresh package of cardamom has ended up overpowering the other flavors. Oh well. They look pretty. Tonight will be orange-rosemary-parmesan palmiers. And then I think over the weekend I'll do some snickerdoodles
  25. weezy
    Forgot a couple that I really liked, but haven't seen in ages so don't know if they hold up. What's Eating Gilbert Grape? A break-out film for both Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. Depp (Gilbert of the title) a teenager in a nowhere town with a nothing job trying to hold together a family straining under the loads of grief and poverty, with a brother (DiCaprio) with developmental disabilities and morbidly obese housebound mother. Bagdad Cafe -- an isolated desert gas station/diner/motel whose inhabitants/regulars are changed by the arrival of a German tourist after she leaves/is dumped by her husband nearby.
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