Sundae in the Park

I'm not sure I'd return fruits if they were suboptimal, say sour cherries (of which I have a bag at home right now), but for bad fruits, like unexpected rot/mold/bruises I'd probably try, if I could remember them on my next trip to the store. At Costco I definitely would, both because of the large portions and their easy return policy (I've returned soured cream before). I don't know if you have to bring the bad fruit back, or just a receipt.  Worth an ask! At Costco, they just asked for the clean, empty carton and receipt as proof of purchase for the cream "return."
 

On 6/8/2019 at 4:59 AM, Ericandblueboy said:

Long long line at the Gallows Rd. DMV this (Saturday) morning.

I had to present my identifications to a lady whose job is to hand out a numbered ticket.  She looked at my social security card and my passport and said they don't match (because my middle-name is spelled out in my passport but only my initial is on the social security card).  She told me I have to go home and find another form of I.D.

On my way out, I looked at a print-out of the ID requirements, which states "If your middle name is not displayed, or only your middle initial appears on some of your documents, they may still be accepted."

So I went back in the DMV.  The security guard then told me there's no point for me to argue with the clerk - the person I need to see is the Manager.  So the Manager looks at my IDs and says I'm okay, I just need to go back to the clerk and get a ticket - and tell her that the Manager has approved my IDs.  

So in total, I spent 2 hrs at the DMV for my real ID.

Ugh, those front ticket folks can be the worst!! Especially since they guard the gates to get to the next step and often have wrong/incomplete information.  Once, back in the day the VA DMV ticket person wouldn't let me through because I didn't have a green card, which they insisted was the form of ID I must present to get my license. They wouldn't accept that I'm a Boston-born U.S. citizen and DON'T HAVE A GREEN CARD.  I actually had to leave to go get my passport because I didn't think to take up the issue with a manager like you did.  Still get mad thinking about it!!

So, my kids won't eat roasted potatoes when I chunk or slice potato rounds, but they will devour homemade french fries when I roast potatoes cut into a fry shape and refer to them as such.  Gotta see if this will work with sweet potatoes...

The other night we had blackened cod with roasted garlic, green beans, and potatoes.

Yesterday we baked cherry-apple oatmeal and pecan sticky rolls in the morning, then roasted a trip-tip and more potatoes for dinner.  Served with sauteed green peas and store-bakery rolls.  I also made a batch of chicken congee for our scratchy throats.

On 6/8/2019 at 11:27 AM, DanielK said:

Click

Seems to me like they had a number of chances to make this right, including settling, and going to court is a mistake. Even if they win, the publicity is going to suck.

Oooof, yeah.

We were young, poor, and clueless, but still had access to great steak, because we fortunate enough to work in Rosslyn at just the right time. I learned about my love of the hanger; he, for Chateaubriand. Some have noted over the years that RTS & co. didn't appeal to everyone.  Since we cut our baby steak teeth at the original RTS, we didn't see the appeal in stuffier, more expensive places that dominated pre-food-renaissance DC (and if you want something a bit nicer, just go to the RTClassics!).  Thank you, Michael, for a great run. Since we moved away years ago, we've been missing the Rays restaurants forever, and now everyone else can too.

I did it in CA.  It's more or less just renewing your license in person with a few extra documents (in my case, a certified birth certificate, SS card, a W-2 form, and an insurance card; the last two for documenting residency).  The DMV will have a list of acceptable documents for proving residency and even with electronic bills most people have a lot of documents that will qualify.  You do have to submit paper copies for them to photocpy and keep on file,and  can absolutely print out bills, etc., to bring in.  Went to the DMV to get in line before it opened and was out in less than an hour (since an appointments had to be made months in advance) even with getting a photo taken.

I was glad to get it, since I don't want to haul out my passport for domestic travel next year! Also, I had to get my license renewed anyway so it wasn't much more trouble.

Fajitas! Sauteed vegetables and beef and chicken with a bunch of spices served over cheese quesadillas with guac.

We've also gobbled down a very delicious, very heavy eggplant parm.  Should probably lighten up with something like Tweaked's vegetable tian above.

Also at Vons/Safeway (in CA, though...)!

Pizza rolls and strawberries - both foods, both kids. I'll take it.

Oooooh, I saw this vegetable galette on Serious Eats yesterday.  That would definitely be delicious and wow, though it would be a bit messy to serve.

11 hours ago, smithhemb said:

Bottom line — all your ideas are good ones.  So, how to decide?  To whom do you want to say “yeah, I can cook” — neighborhood at large (cake) or other people who cook (awesome dip or spread)?  And/or what do you want to be asked to bring in the future, lol?!

Haha, yeah what do you want to be known for? And not mind making over and over, if necessary?  My parents brought freshly fried wontons to our neighborhood block party decades ago and were asked to make them every year thereafter.

Also, a cheesecake with pretty toppings always wows.

Chicken satay with peanut sauce

Pavlova topped with whipped cream and fruit 

Homemade bread with some fixings

Pizza rolls (my favorite filling is pesto with chicken and mushrooms)

Deviled eggs are always a crowd pleaser

Mini quiches (muffin-sized) are actually super easy, or even easier, one big quiche

Stuffed mushroom caps (a little pesto and goat cheese plus parm, et voila!)

On 3/1/2019 at 5:30 PM, Sundae in the Park said:

Ventura

Tasty China is in a weird location in outer Ventura and I really hope it survives because it's currently our favorite Chinese food in the county.  The house-made XLB can be excellent (though I did get one tray with a few that broke) with plenty of soup, satin-y dough and thin skins (including the twist top), and actual well-seasoned meat.  Honestly, I liked them better than some of my Ding Tai Fung XLB experiences.  The beef onion pancake is a great version of a classic beef roll - not too sweet, plenty of fresh herbs, flaky pastry, tender beef, and tight rolling that doesn't fall apart.  The potstickers are also house-made, juicy with crispy bottoms and absolutely worth getting.  The beef noodle soup is good and the dan dan noodles are perfectly balanced - nutty, spicy,  just oily enough, and with a smattering of flavorful pork.  If it were closer to our house we'd be there constantly.

Ooooh, Tasty China has a few new dishes that haven't made it onto their online menu, but they are GREAT! Their dry-fried chili eggplant "fries" takes me back to the early days of Peter Chang's China Star (from which I lived down the street and visited many, many times).  The eggplant is better than the fish version of the same dish (I think it is called chili fried fish or something like that, and the batter is a touch thick for my taste, though my husband loves that), and both taste like a cross between old China Star's cumin fish and the szechuan chili fried chicken (two of my all-time favorite foods). So happy to have these options in the county, since we haven't had anything like them since Szechaun Place in Newbury Park closed.  They are now on the picture menu on the wall; when they were menu-testing the dishes, we used to order them based on pictures off the owner's phone 😉

Also, they have good fried pumpkin dumplings and red bean paste buns (basically desserts), as well as big pork soft buns (not the char siu BBQ kind), none of which are super-common menu items, especially way up here. 

The owner and workers here are super sweet and helpful.  Yes, they definitely recognize me/my family at this point, but I've never seen them be less than pleasant/helpful to anyone who comes in.

The last couple times we went in I debated ordering a fresher vegetable (they have a nice sauteed bok choi and decent green beans) to round out our meal of dumplings, noodles, and fried stuff.  Luckily I've been overruled so we can order more snacky food and the group always feels guiltily, gleefully full and happy.

Interesting article from the LA Times on the changing tastes for Chinese food in LA: The vanishing old-school Chinese restaurants of the San Gabriel Valley.  It seems that we are losing many of the larger, banquet hall-style places, including, according to the article, Ocean Star, Empress Harbor Seafood Restaurant and Lincoln Seafood in Monterey Park, Embassy Kitchen in San Gabriel, and East Gourmet Seafood in Rosemead, which all closed within the last year.  These are also among the places that you could get the dim sum on carts, which also seem to be going the way of the dodo (anecdotal experience only). 

David Chan (basically THE nonprofessional guy eating and writing about Chinese food in mostly LA but also throughout the US for the past decade) weighs in for the article.  Incidentally, his writings on Chinese and possibly other food can be found here, on his blog, and here, through Menuism.

Over the weekend we made a batch of gochujang rice cakes.  Note, julienned snow peas are a delicious sauteed vegetable but they really don't work in this particular noodle dish (it would have been better, though still not ideal with long noodles); it really needs a leafy green like kale or baby bok choi. I also made a batch of brown rice chicken congee for the unseasonably cold weather, and a big pan of sausages and peppers and eggplant (that basically melted into a seedy sauce from the long cooking).

For Memorial day we grilled some chicken thighs and hot dogs, made smashed cucumber salad, sauteed mushrooms, sauteed sweet potato leaves frown in my uncle's garden, rice, fruit salad, and then had marshmallows roasted on the firepit.  

For the cucumbers - I didn't love the proportions of the dressing - too much salt and not enough sugar, even with on-the-fly adjustments - anyone have a favorite recipe for asian pickly cucumbers? I mostly used an AllRecipes post: tossed 2 smashed, chopped, English cukes with 1 teaspoon white sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, and drained for 1/2 hr, then mixed in 2 cloves chopped garlic, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, a smattering of red pepper flakes, 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds, and a bunch more sugar to taste.  I feel like I added a ton of sugar at the end, and still didn't get a sweet enough taste to match the restaurant dishes in my mind. I've tried before with slightly different proportions of basically these ingredients, but didn't quite get where I wanted to be. My family actually really liked them but I was dissatisfied. Any ideas? Thnx!

We've made potstickers several times in the past week, as well as another batch of basil eggplant.  One night we had fresh spring rolls with marinated chicken, herbs, spinach, cucumber, carrots, vermicelli noodles (the really thin and clear, fun se kind), and hoisin-peanut butter sauce.  Finally, I made a double batch of giant shells, one set stuffed with 4 cheese and another stuffed with ground turkey, spinach, and cheese. 

Chinese sticky rice is a big hit! They kids are even asking for it.  Now, they usually leave behind most if not all the good filling ingredients (mushrooms, chicken, sausage, veg, etc.), but it's a start, and then my portion has double fillings...

They are also obsessed with the Costco cod fillets.  No matter how many you make, they will eat their share and then stare/whine at yours until you fork it over. 

Finally, right now they will eat whichever yogurt is NOT currently open.  Not the whole milk with jam, not the maple Greek (both of which they ordinarily love, which is why we have them and they are open!!); they must have the individually wrapped Chobanis, which come in particularly magical flavors such as strawberry and blueberry.  If I say they have to have one of the open options, they'll pass altogether. WTF??

On 4/26/2019 at 11:02 PM, DonRocks said:

As long as we're on the subject, look what I got as a gift, just yesterday:

(Kind of ironic that it's wrapped in paper and plastic, but what are you gonna do?)

Don Rockwell,
donrockwell.com
"Paper- and plastic-free since 2005!"

Real question - are these for carrying around and using at restaurants, or just at home?  Do guys carry them around and, if so, where?  Presumably a woman with a bag can carry them there, perhaps with a cleaning rod and/or holder so your bag doesn't get wet, but they don't seem super pocket-friendly.  Maybe they are a reason to carry a man-purse? 

Paper straws have made it out to the 'burbs in Ventura County, as I've noticed their use a few times in the past month.

They have beef XLBs!!!!!  I actually don't favor the XLB here, as they have thicker skins and are blander than many other places, but we spotted these on the menu and ordered them for my folks, who avoid pork and shellfish.  While the execution was only decent (I mean, DTF is right across the street), it's an odd ingredient that I haven't seen anywhere else and they turned out to be a special treat (because SOUP DUMPLINGS!!!).  Lamb and pork pan-fried dumplings, as well as the beef rolls, were excellent per usual.  Their cold cucumber plate is simple and not spicy at all, but just tangy and sweet enough to cut through the richness of all the snacks. 

Woohoo, Asian market trip week!  We made another date-walnut cake and had bacon and hash browns for Mother's Day, but otherwise this week will be dedicated to using up all the goodies we grabbed at the market over the weekend.

Monday night was pad se ew with a side of smashed, marinated cucumbers and last night we made sauteed king trumpet mushrooms, basil eggplant (finally made with enough Thai basil to taste right!!), and stir-fried green beans eaten on top of brown rice.  Yesterday morning I seared some fresh rice noodle rolls, served them with a simple brown sauce (hoisin, oyster, sriracha, pepper, and sugar), and they were GOOD, nearly as tasty (though the texture was not quite as good as truly fresh) as decent dim sum.  Tonight will be another stir-fried noodle dish with lots of baby bok choy.

Leigh, you speak truth 😉

My kids had cake for dinner last night and there was still some (mangled) cake left on their plates when they were done.

West Lake soup is an easy, brothy, high-protein soup made with mostly pantry ingredients with virtually zero carbs.  I wanted to punch up my egg drop soup and have been playing with this and similar recipes to recreate several restaurant experiences. I like to add chopped shitake mushrooms (can use rehydrated dried mushrooms), sometimes silken tofu, and always a bit of sesame or chili-sesame oil.  Ground beef works nearly as well as minced beef and is a lot easier if you're pressed for time/ingredients.

5 hours ago, smithhemb said:

A jar of sesame paste lodged in the toebox of each shoe, lol!  For once, my wide feet paid off.  I resented having to check a bag at all, but was unwilling to risk confiscation.

Ha, excellent use of shoes! My most delicate jars always went in my steel-toed boots. Nothing would break in there! 

Monday night I made a big batch of bourbon chicken to be eaten with rice.

Yesterday we made that limey eggplant/pepper/garlic/basil dish from America's Test Kitchen, sauteed green beans with egg, and roasted vegetables to add to the leftover chicken and rice (it's a great combination!), plus a batch of tuna mac for the kiddos.