ctay122

My husband and I are going to take a 2 week trip out to the northwest and want to spend a week touring wineries in Oregon. There are 217 of them on one website I visited. Looking for some help here from a person who knows or sells wines. Would like recommendations of places/wines we shouldn't miss. I am totally lost! We love pinots and cabs.

Attended another Laboratorio cooking class with my husband on Monday. I had never seen my husband in an apron, so that was worth the price alone. The subject was a five course dinner from Naples. What we prepared (we ate our own): braciola (stuffed thin sliced pork loin braised in tomato sauce). What we helped prepare: insalata di rinforzo (pickled type of salad with cauliflower, peppers, olives , anchovy, hard boiled eggs), minestra maritata (escarole, chicory, fennel and celery, pancetta, chicken stock) - it was simple but delicious, soft Almalfi coast lemon cream, and the main course was a Neopolitan macaroni timbale. Ever since seeing "Big Night" I have wanted to try one of these. Chef Donna did the brunt of this, we simply rolled the minced veal into little tiny meatballs and rolled them in flour, and sauteed mushrooms and sausage. Chef Donna made marsala pastry. He put this whole thing together ( I don't know if I could attempt it on my own). It also had chicken livers, chicken breasts, ham, hard boiled eggs, pasta ,meat sauce, and mozzarella cheese. A springform pan was lined with the pastry dough, everything layered in, and then covered with more pasta dough and baked. It was the most incredible thing I have ever ate! But...I desperately need to learn dining etiquette. I guess at one point while taking a break (the timbale is so filling) I must have laid my fork and knife in whatever configuration that told the server I was done. Before I had a chance to even open my mouth to protest, it was whisked away! I still had about half to go, I was so bummed out. The class was preceeded by prosecco, cheese, sausage, breads, and breadsticks and during the class and dinner the wine glasses were never empty. Another wonderful experience. I wish Chef Donna had stuck around a bit longer , the last dinner he stayed around near the end to sign aprons and the recipe book you get with the class. There is a Risotto 101 class coming up I am considering but for $110 I think it may be a little pricey. If anyone is interested in the Timbale recipe, PM me and I'll scan it and email to you.

Marcel's may also be a good choice. They have a private room in the back. The food is wonderful and the wine list of mainly french wines won't disappoint. I don't know anyone who hasn't enjoyed it there. There is a website:

http://www.marcelsdc.com/

milk

Last Friday of the month is next week, but good idea anyway.

Don't you think everyone else will have the same idea in mind? It's going to be too crowded!!

If I get to HH right at 4, should have time to get back home by gametime!

I'm ready for a Happy Hour tomorrow, if I can figure out where the general consensus is, if any, I'll be there with my better half.

oops, I forget George Mason is playing tomorrow night. I'm not sure better half will allow me to TiVo it. I might have to go solo.

My better half and I are going to sign up....

Was wondering if anyone is interested in meeting after work on Friday and I don't even care if it's Irish or not. Just looking for an excuse to get together. Unfortunately for some obscene reason, I cannot access this website from my government computer during working hours (perhaps Big Brother is watching me), so I can't do anything on the spur of the moment.

I am curious as to how many attend this function. It sounds like fun, and am wondering if it is worthwhile to purchase a VIP ticket to get in early. Ilove to eat and it seems like a great cause especially when most of the proceeds go to charities.

Had a great meal on Tuesday.  It was good to start matching some names w/ faces and it was good to get to know biotech and Billy DeLion and their wives.  Thanks to mdt for organizing everything; thanks to Chef Power and his staff for the outstanding meal and all the work that must have gone into it; thanks to Rissa and her staff for keeping everything in order and making sure everyone was happy. 

The pork cheek was just so good.... it almost melts in your mouth, it was so tender.  I liked the soup and was mopping up some of it w/ the bread.  The shrimp was tasty - the only dish that made me think I should have gotten the wine tasting... a riesling would have gone real well with that dish.  loved the venison also.  I too thought the syrah sauce was great and was trying to douse every bite of venison or chestnut with it.  In some ways, for dessert, I wanted chocolate, in others, after all the creations, I just wanted something simple.  The cookies and the candied orange peel satisfied that quite nicely.  mmmm, to have had a bowl of the ginger ice cream with the cookies to dip into it.

I didn't care for the shrimp (the texture thing) but it was served with a German Reisling (Donnhoff) and let me tell you, the wine was absolutely amazing with the shrimp! It tasted totally different than by itself. Somehow the shrimp brought out the sweetness in the wine, it was really one of my favorites.

All I can say is I'm fulll!

Thank you mdt for all your hard work.

Thank you Rissa for being such a gracious hostess.

Thank you to the servers for your impecable service.

Thank you Chef for an amazing dinner.

Thank you tablemates (Pat, Barry and Steve) for your wonderful company.

Going to bed now, very content ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz......

I got a Enclume dutch crown round brass plated pot rack on Ebay (worth about $400-600 depending on what website you go to) for $25. It was being sold by a Kitchen store and was used as a display. It was in perfect condition. I was estatic when I got it. You can really find some bargains on Ebay if you're patient (and lucky)!

You guys have fun tonight, I have to wait till tomorrow!

All of the discussion regarding cupcakes is making me crave them (tasty ones, not dry, cold ones) and since I have a bunch of very ripe bananas languishing on my table, I'm going to make some banana cupcakes this afternoon using this recipe.  The recipe does not specify what kind of flour, but I've made cakes with it using both bleached AP and cake and I like the cake flour version the best.  And I find that the 1 cup of sour cream does an excellent job of producing a moist cake.

I plan to frost the cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting (recipe TBD and dependent on if I make it to the grocery store today to buy cream cheese) or some vanilla buttercream (recipe from Fribergs's "The Professional Pastry Chef") that is in my freezer.

So what are your favorite recipes for cupcakes?

My favorite is from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook...the traditional vanilla birthday cake. They always turn out perfect with the buttercream frosting. Maybe sounds boring to some, but I never get tired of them. I also have a recipe for something that tastes like the Hostess chocolate cupcakes that is really rich and decadent. if you are interested PM me and I'll send you the recipe.

I wanted to say what a fun time my husband and I had here Fri night. It was our first DR HH...nice to put faces with online names. Everyone made us feel welcome. The wine selection was wonderul. We took the advice of several folks and stayed for dinner..it did not disappoint. Danny, thank you for being a gracious "host" and also thanks to Tom, who is an awesome bartender. We are looking forward to meeting other DR members at Corduroy on Wed night.

Just got home (Woodbridge) Wondering if we can make it up there on time!

I just got called today for a job interview in Reston at 2pm, but I plan on meeting my husband at the Pentagon afterwards (have no idea what the traffic will be like) and will make our way via the metro. Looking forward to it.

Folks usually wander in anywhere between 5 and 7.  If you haven't been to NB yet, it's a great chance to check it out.  If you haven't been to a DR event yet, it's a great chance to check it out.

Sounds like fun. Would like a chance to meet anyone we may potentially see at the 2nd Corduroy night dinner.

i will happily close down the bar for a dr.com happy hour if there are at least 20 people committed to coming.  even if it is not a private dr.com crowd, the last friday of the month will still be legacy libations night in the bar.

What time is HH? I am a newbie working in DC, perhaps I could be pursuaded to partake and drag my husband along.

For your Seventh anniversary, consider L'Initiale:

http://www.relaischateaux.com/en/search-bo...urant/initiale/

This is the restaurant's website:

http://www.restaurantinitiale.com/en/00.html

Arguably this is the best restaurant in Quebec City but there is some serious competition. This is one of the "hottest" restaurant towns in North America right now. Also consider (and research) Laurie Raphael, L'Utopie and Panache. Whichever you choose you should make the reservation right now.

For lunch I would suggest going to the "Lower Town" which is the Old Town at the bottom of the hill that the Chateau sits on. Quebec City is known for a really incredible spaghetti that is the stuff of dreams for someone who wants to gain as much weight as possible at one seating: spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs which is also covered by several layers of mozzarella cheese, put in the oven and it all melts into one gloriously, fattening glop. Several of the places in Lower Town feature this; they're touristy but the dish, when done right, is outrageously and disgustingly edible. Note, I didn't say "good." But throw in some garlic bread and you won't stop eating.

If you haven't been to Quebec City it is fantastic and feels very much like a smaller town in France. Prettier than most for that matter. It's also been my experience that fewer people speak English there than in, say, Paris. Perhaps a point of pride and years of contention with English speaking Canada.

Joe thank you so much for your recommendations. I will check them all out. As far as the spaghetti, I think it would be good to stock up on the carbs to burn for the skiing. But perhaps after eating it, all I'll want to do is nap!

I am glad you had a good time, and never thought about bringing my camera. How did you manage to cook and shoot at the same time? I think I'll take mine along next time also. The gentleman next to Chef Donna in the pasta holding picture is his Exec Chef. He cooked us and 6 other couples a wonderful dinner on Valentine's Day in the Laboratorio (see my post). The classes are so much fun, and I am looking forward to my husband coming with me next month for class as he is not much of a cook. I am hoping that he will be inspired enough to start sharing in the cooking or at least surprise me once in a while!

Change of plans, we've decided to go to Mont Ste Anne skiing instead of Tremblant in 2 weeks. We are staying a brief drive away to Quebec City. Looking for somewhere special to dine to celebrate our 7th anniversary. We are spending the day/evening there so will also be looking for somewhere to eat lunch. Any recommendations appreciated!

Thanks for sharing your great experience ctay!  After reading it, it inspired me to sign up for a class.  The one that was most appealing to me was the "Let's Make Spaghetti Sauce, But Not Meatballs".  So I signed up a few weeks ago, but there was a long waiting list (I was told that this was one of the more popular classes being offered.

Well, I got a call today letting me know that there were two spots that opened up and asked if I still wanted them.  Of course I took them!  So, it looks like my wife and I will finally get a chance to experience this!

Here's what we're going over:

FRITTATA DI SPAGHETTI

SPAGHETTI ALLA CHITARRA WITH ZUCCHINI

BIGOLI IN SALSA

CALAMARI SAUCE

LEMON PASTA SAUCE

Sounds wonderful! Please let me know how you liked the class. Don't do like I did and forget to take home the recipes!

Joe H's 2005 Lab blowout dinner here.

My celebration seems so much smaller after reading this! I would never have lasted through 14 courses!