Xochitl10

I took the last seat at the bar here for a quick dinner before last nights Caps/Habs game. The lamb burger (harissa aioli, Greek yogurt, roasted tomato, pita bread; also seemed to have alfalfa sprouts and a falafel) was tasty, if messy, and came with a bunch of glorious, warm, crisp fries. The "Dickel and Berries" happy hour cocktail (cinnamon infused Dickel, lemon juice, blackberry) tasted, rather hilariously, like Newman's Own Strawberries 'n' Flakes breakfast cereal. I enjoyed it well enough, but I think I would've enjoyed it more if I didn't have the cereal impression.

I wouldn't call it eleven secret herbs and spices, but I also wouldn't call it bland. I didn't need to reach for the S&P or the hot sauce to give it flavor. The meat itself tasted like chicken, and was very moist.

I met up with some Southern friends here last weekend. None of us had ever been before. Between the four of us, we had crab cakes, fried chicken (me), fried pork chops, fried catfish, broccoli, fries, collards, and mac and cheese. The frying was *so* well done -- nothing was greasy, and everyone at the table went "Whoa" as they heard the crunch of my first bite of chicken. Perfectly cooked, moist breast, held up well and was still crunchy after I gave it a quick warm up in the oven the next day. So good. I enjoyed the collards, the Southerners *really* enjoyed the collards, saying they had gotten them right. The mac and cheese was not great, as another commenter noted. But -- great chicken and delicious collards.

In Charleston for work a couple of weeks ago, I ate way better than I did while there for the half-marathon in 2014. Post-run sweet potato pancakes with candied pecans and a side of bacon at Eli's Table, the caramel cake at High Cotton, and the pulled pork, collards, and smoked Gruyere/country ham mac-n-cheese that I grabbed for the plane were particular highlights. High Cotton was not my choice -- that was the location for the Board dinner -- but I was pleasantly surprised by how good the shrimp and grits on the set menu was. My Manhattan was also very good. And that cake; one of those wonderful ten-layer affairs, like a Smith Island cake. I'm still thinking about it. . .

We had friends over for a lunch of New Mexican food on NYD: posole (red chile, pork, hominy), calabacitas (squash and corn), pinto beans, corn tortillas, and Azami's homemade flour tortillas. I intended to make fideos (vermicelli in a light tomatoey broth) as well, but didn't get to them. It was still delicious.

Azami and I decorated the tree last night while grazing on: Godfathers (Johnnie Walker Red and Amaretto) Crackers and English cheeses: Stilton, Farmhouse Cheddar, Sharpham Rustic Oil-cured olives Pepperoni Carrot sticks TJ's shrimp and grits tartlets Tonight will be filets, corn pudding, and roasted brussels sprouts. Cocktails TBD. Hokushika, our beloved rescued Akita, got turkey and yams for his special Christmas treat. Santa brought him a box of chicken and cheese Zillabonez from Baked and Wired, too. Merry Christmas, all!

Getting a Rail Pass is a great idea if you're going to be traveling by train a lot. Train is a wonderful way to see Japan. Plus, eki-ben (駅å¼, or station bento boxes) and the bento you can get on the high-speed trains are worth experiencing. Does anyone in your party speak Japanese? I am not terribly familiar with the Kanto/Kansai (Tokyo/Kyoto-Osaka) regions because I lived in the far north, so I don't know whether there are rural areas in those regions. The greater Tokyo area is *huge*; I think it's at least an hour northeast of of Tokyo on the bullet train before you get to anything approximating rural. The part of Japan I lived in was quite rural and beautiful, but also very difficult to navigate if you don't speak Japanese. There were far fewer English speakers and less English signage than in Tokyo and, I would imagine, Kyoto and Osaka. We even had that experience when we traveled to Nagano a few years ago, and Nagano is a decent-sized city. I love rural Japan because it's so incredibly beautiful, and the people are amazing. My experience of living in Japan is that much of the traditional culture has essentially disappeared from the cities and was dying out in the urban centers of the rural prefectures. For example, between the time we moved to Kitakami in 2007 and our return visit in 2012, the city either had or was going to combine all of the neighborhoods' dance festivals for Obon (August holiday) into one festival because of low participation rates. Places like Asakusa in Tokyo and Gion in Kyoto are more connected to the "old ways" than other neighborhoods in those cities are. To the extent you/your cousin is interested in the traditional culture, it will be easier to find in the rural areas. Also, the food is amazing. I still cook things I cooked or ate in restaurants there that you can't find in restaurants here. And I would still give my eyeteeth to find McVitie's Mini Banana Black sandwich cookies!

^^I also cooked a ton for just two of us (plus Hoku, our newish rescue Akita who doesn't like bread, but really loves liver). It was all simple and classic so the leftovers can get smothered in red chile before being eaten in front of the TV. Roast turkey and gravy out of CI's "The New Best Recipe" Baguette stuffing with sauteed mushrooms Mashed potatoes Potato-chive monkey bread Orange-cranberry relish Pumpkin bread pudding Skipped -- brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes

I just bought my mother the 2016 Washington Capitals player/dog calendar for her Christmas gift. All proceeds go to Homeward Trails, which I recalled reading about here!

I had a couple of fantastic drinks and a delicious burger at Q&C Bar (344 Camp St.) just a couple of weeks ago.

The completely inefficient security at New Orleans made me 15 minutes too late to get a breakfast biscuit sandwich at Copeland's Gourmet in the C gates. I did, however, get two HUGE, fresh, fluffy biscuits, a truly lackluster fruit cup, and decent dark roast coffee for the plane. The biscuits were delicious. MSY

I also hit up Pie Sisters last week for an apple caramel crunch cuppie. Tons of delicious crumble on top of not-too-sweet-but-delightfully-tart chunky apple filling. Yum.

Thanks for the rec! They ended up going to Yuzu, which worked for this trip. Not sure whether they're going to rotate among a few places before settling on a regular place. Azami thought the sushi was better than Matuba's. He brought me an order of inari-zushi (like he always does, because he's the best ). They were fine, but not the best inari I've had.

With Matuba closing, Azami's Japanese model railroad club is looking for a new place to hold their monthly sushi lunch. They've had an occasional lunch at Satsuma, but Satsuma won't work as a long-term solution. The most important criteria are a) reasonably priced (i.e. like Matuba); b ) good at handling large groups; and c) in Bethesda. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Azami and I are doing a rather unexpected mini kitchen remodel. After we had to Sawzall away 1/3 of the kitchen doorframe to get the new fridge through, we figured: why not? :-P We are looking to replace the countertops as part of the project -- does anyone have experience with Paperstone, Richlite, or any of the other recycled paper composite counter materials? I'd like to do as much eco-friendly remodeling as possible and am intrigued by the paper composites, but haven't read many reviews by serious home cooks about how they hold up. Any thoughts on these, or other eco-friendly options, would be greatly appreciated.

Black bean and chorizo burgers Red cabbage slaw

I was able to eat at only one place in Minneapolis that wasn't the conference hotel, the airport, or the lobby of the St. Thomas Law School (a scarfed post-run Clif Bar), and that was Hell's Kitchen. I went very MN: cheese curds appetizer, fried walleye BLT, and a Summit Oatmeal Stout on tap. Everything was delicious.

I took advantage of the Surdyk's recommendation to have a prosciutto and young pecorino sammich with beet salad and a glass of prosecco while waiting for my flight home from Minneapolis. Both were delicious, and I wished I had more time to simply sit and enjoy them. But I took my giant (fudgy, not too sweet, wonderful) brownie to go. It was, predictably, the best part of a Delta flight. MSP

I stopped in for an ice cream sandwich this afternoon, the "Boy Blue." Described as oatmeal cookies and vanilla ice cream with a blueberry swirl, it was really more like oatmeal cookies around blueberry ice cream with big old fat blueberries scattered throughout. The cookies were wonderful, slightly chewy and buttery, and the ice cream was tasty, if not amazing. It was probably at least 1-1/2" thick; I was able to carry it from B&W back to my office at 34th and K with hardly any melting. At $6 a pop, it was a pretty special treat. And inspiration to make ice cream sandwiches with homemade oatmeal cookies and ice cream both. PS: My office has taken to celebrating occasions (which we define loosely as new hires, birthdays, pregnancies, bar passings, really impressing the President and/or our board of directors, etc.) with cupcakes from B&W. They're getting business from us at least once a month.

Salt-grilled salmon Ingen no kurogoma-ae: green beans boiled until crisp-tender; tossed with a dressing of freshly ground black sesame, soy sauce, and mirin Hiyayakko tofu: chilled extra-firm tofu served with soy sauce, minced chives, grated ginger, hachimitsu umeboshi (honey pickled plum) paste, and benishouga (red pickled ginger) Steamed hitomebore rice

I work in Georgetown, so I'll take a swing by next week and let you know. I think I had Beard Papa's once when we lived in Japan. They were fine, but they were no match for the taiyaki (fish-shaped pastry with fillings like red bean paste, various flavors of custard, or red bean paste and cream cheese) stall across the way.

One of my favorite places is Theodore Roosevelt Island. 66 runs across the southern point; the path onto the island is about a quarter of a mile from the Key Bridge. It's got a wonderful little path around the perimeter, and the memorial to Teddy is in the middle. July might be kind of an icky time to be on the island, but it's very peaceful and not very well known among out-of-towners. Also a little off the beaten path is the GPO Museum in the GPO Building (732 North Capitol Street). It is very cool, if you or your guest are interested in government materials or old-school printing.

Toasted sharp cheddar sandwich Snifter of Camus Ile de Re cognac It's been a looooooong weekend.

I agree with goodeats. Shabu shabu is fun, but sukiyaki is more special. And tasty, in my mind.

We ended up here for dinner last night after a planned trip to Ren's Ramen was thwarted by "technical problems" and a closed ramen shop. I've been battling a sore throat for a couple of days and hoped the P10 (spicy pho with well-done brisket and sliced flank steak, I think) would send it packing. It didn't, sadly, but it was a wonderfully hot soup with plenty of tasty beef and noodles. I kept sipping at the broth well after the other stuff was gone. Mostly, I wanted to give Mi La Cay a shout out for being super accommodating about my peanut allergy. Not only did they take care to make sure I got nuoc mam instead of peanut sauce with my summer rolls (which were delightful), but our waiter came back by the table to warn me that Azami's order came with peanuts and was therefore unsafe for my consumption.