Malawry

It's a long road to the last trimester. Only now am I starting to get uncomfortable in my own body. (My EDD is 10 April.) My baby demands lots of FRUIT, especially grapefruit. I've been trying to limit my juice intake (I think juice is mostly empty calories), but can't resist the lure of pineapple and cranberry. Yesterday I got a craving for Corn Pops of all things. I also crave and eat a lot of red meat--I guess it's the iron or something. I made a rack of lamb last weekend for some friends and it tasted amazing. Resisting a big fat medium-rare cheeseburger has been difficult, but I'm still avoiding things like ground beef done less than medium-well (and who wants a medium-well burger??). One thing about being pregnant: food tastes REALLY good once you get past the nausea. At least in my experience! It's like somebody sharpened my taste buds on a diamond steel or something. A good thing too, since eating is about the only acceptable vice during pregnancy.

I'm having visions of Eat Drink Man Woman even as I read this. I look forward to the menu post--though really, if there's langue d'canard, is there anything NOT on the menu? Question...Bob's has a liquor license? (You mentioned beer.) And participants will all be dividing the check completely equally?

I have found that the spindle gunks up more quickly if you try to run a lot of silverskin through the grinder attachment. Cutting as much silverskin as humanly possible off your meat before you try to grind it makes a big difference to how quickly the blade gets clogged. I hate that raw meat paste, too.

I've also heard first courses referred to as "Friday" and mains as "Saturday." So you might ask the expo what table 23 wanted for Saturday, or you might ask for an "all day"--what are all the orders I've got waiting--and then the expo will respond with "Friday you got two foie and one riblet, Saturday three steak, a veal, and four pork, two SOS" (SOS = sauce on side). The worst is when all that food is "on the fly"--they're pissed off or in a big hurry and you better push that food out ASAP.

Every time I've had a fruit fly problem, I've dealt with it by keeping everything scrupulously clean and refrigerating absolutely all fruits and vegetables (even onions and potatoes, which I normally wouldn't put in the fridge). Take out the trash, recycling, and compost religiously. Within a week, they've always vanished.

I could swear I've seen cardoons at Whole Paycheck once or twice. I'd try calling them, Balduccis and Dean & Deluca to see if any of them have them in stock. I believe cardoons are more of a fall vegetable than anything else, so you may be a little late for them, but it's worth calling around in any case. Just about any fine dining restaurant in the area is going to source something like cardoons from one of the produce suppliers...Keany, L&M, etc. There are some restaurants that use small local growers like Eco Farm , Toigo Orchards and Sunnyside Farms directly (some local growers do sell directly to the public, via farm markets and stores like the TPSS Co-op), but somehow I find it hard to believe these local growers currently have cardoons available. Unusual produce, in my experience, is one of the hardest things for the DC-area home consumer to source, unless it's available in the farmers market.

Yeah, Matchbox has a great happy hour--lots of house-infused vodka martinis at $5 or so a pop, plus you can order the miniburgers or a pizza to share. There are some great places to grab drinks and snacks in that area that don't necessarily offer special happy hour deals. Zaytinya comes to mind, as do Cafe Atlantico and Zengo. Poste has great cocktails and some reasonably inexpensive bar snax on their menu as well.

Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be able to take the trip this time--I've been engaged to teach a class one of the nights I was expecting to spend in Charleston. Still, hopefully next time I'll make it, and then I'll have these recommendations at hand ready to go! re: John's--I passed it Thanksgiving Weekend for the first time. It's along Berryville Pike. Have not had a chance to eat there yet, but I'm sure I'll get there sooner or later.

I like to use it to make a coconut pudding or a coconut-rice pudding--just sub coconut millk for the other dairy in any recipe. Especially nice with a bitter chocolate sauce on top. My other go-to coconut milk recipe is a curry--but you already have that!

Thanks for posting, Chef Vinod. That looks like quite a steal, what with all the accompaniments (rice, bread, dal, raita).

Which reminds me, what did your interview consist of? Did you have to cook something(s), and if so what did you make?

So how do you feed your kids, then? Do you have a kitchen in your unit where you live? Do you bring them leftovers?

This is a fascinating thread, Timh. It reminds me a lot of when I worked as chef for a sorority for a year and a half (a job I left only last May)...some of the same challenges, some of the same sorts of benefits--though you are undoubtedly better-compensated than I was. I, too, trailed in restaurants periodically to keep my feet wet. What do you do with your mornings? Are the kids in day care all day?

Yes. The non-wet kind of mustard that you keep in the spice cabinet. I like to add it to things like mac n cheese to sharpen the cheese flavor.

I finally had time and inclination to make my mac n cheese with leftover schmancy ingredients from New Year's Eve for today's lunch. I made a thin bechamel and worked in about 2/3lb 6 year old Grafton Village cheddar, shredded. I also added about 1/3 of a tub of mascarpone I had laying about. Result: extra thick and cheesy sauce. I added a little powdered mustard, nutmeg and a dash of cayenne. The sauce needed only a tiny amount of salt with all that cheese in there. Boiled some Barilla macaroni (on sale), mixed it with sauce, and layered it with extra shredded cheese in a casserole. I topped it with panko and dotted it with some Irish Kerrygold butter I had laying about. (Everybody should have leftovers like this hanging around the fridge, I swear.) I baked it at a hot 425 degrees for about 20 minutes until it was all bubbly and the panko was browned. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Excellent lunchies with some peas on the side. The cheese melted just fine and didn't turn stringy or oily, btw.

Folks, we're starting to get into the general politics of the smoking ban and away from topical discussions, like its impact on local restaurants and bars. Let's keep things focused on DC and its restaurant/bar scene. Thanks.

I prefer cultured butters for eating on toast, but I like sweet cream butter best for most baking applications. This begs the question, how does one make cultured butter? If nobody on eG knows, surely somebody has a butter-maker at their local farmer's market that they can ask. CRUZMISL, thanks for helping us explore the nuances of making butter.

Really, Snowangel? I mean, heavy whipping cream is usually 36% fat, but butter is 80% fat. You mean finding 38 or 40% cream results in a fattier butter? I am very curious about this. I wonder how you push up the fat in butter if that doesn't work--is it merely a matter of pushing out more buttermilk from the separated butter? Can you "evaporate" some of the water in the finished butter? Is homemade butter really 80% fat most of the time? I think Plugra is sweet cream butter; it lacks the cheesiness I identify with cultured butters.

OK, I finally picked up a copy of this thing today, so I feel I can weigh in. Do the regular reviews in an average issue carry star ratings? I found myself wondering what ranks a 1-star or a no-star. There are only two 1 1/2 stars in the guide: Jackie's and A La Lucia. Yes, it's supposed to be the "Very Best Restaurants," but if that's the case then why are there any 1 1/2 stars listed anyway? I loved the pastry sidebar, featuring seveal illuminating quotes from our own Steve Klc, and the Rocks wine piece packs a lot of info into a small amount of space. I'd rather see a "dream dinners" fluff piece than a cheat sheet of who raised or lowered their ranking. Plus, I was pleased as punch to see a nod to the fromage blanc tart at 1789 in Ann Limpert's dream menu--my L'academie classmate Zoe Behrens appears to be handling her promotion to pastry chef with characteristic zest. This guide overall is a massive improvement over what Washingtonian has printed in the past. I actually don't feel ripped off for buying this off the newsstand, and am now considering subscribing for the first time. I appreciate fresh writing about local food and this smells way less stale than what I've seen in previous years.

I used it in a grilled cheese sammich on brioche with thin sliced Granny Smith apples this weekend, and it seemed to melt okay. I guess I may have to find out on my own...I didn't get to making the mac n cheese today but I might tomorrow.

I like to serve kumquats on cheese platters. Nice change from the cliched sliced apples/grapes/pears you normally see on those things. Plus they're colorful.

bump So I have some nice leftovers from a party I catered on NYE. They include about 1/2 lb Grafton Village 6yo cheddar, 3/4 of a tub of mascarpone, 1/2 of a tub of creme fraiche, and some parm-regg. I have 1lb of macaroni, whole organic milk, flour and butter, onions, panko. I also have tons of the Cracker Barrel cheddar they sell at Costco (my spouse's favorite snack). Help me turn this into something unbelievably rich and cheesy and wonderful. I like the baked sort of mac n cheese (I usually make it pretty saucy so it's still creamy post-baking) and would like to make some tomorrow. Ideas on proportions?

I made some latkes last night for the NYE party I catered. I forgot to bring eggs and the hosts didn't seem to have any, so I made them with just grated potato and onion, s&p and a little matzo meal to soak up any excess fluids. Shallow-fried small pancakes in EVOO. Topped with chive-spiked quark and smoked salmon. They were in high demand, though my server and I ended up eating a bunch of them in the kitchen before they went out.

I catered a private party for 8 people last night. Here's what I served: Amuses while guests gather: Rosemary and sea salt cashews Parmesan cheese straws Marinated olives Hot passed hors d’oeuvres Miniature potato pancakes with smoked salmon and chive quark Chicken satays with peanut sauce Pissaladiere (Provencal pizza with pesto, anchovies and olives) Course 1: Soup and sandwich Jean-Louis Palladin’s roasted shallot soup Toasted brioche and farmhouse cheddar sandwich with tart apples Course 2: Appetizer Jumbo five-spice shrimp with warm Asian slaw and lemongrass-ginger beurre blanc (Bonus course: Seared diver scallop with red pepper coulis and frizzled leeks) Course 3: Entrée Duck two ways: Duck confit and cabbage strudel Seared duck breast with prune-calvados sauce and seared Sonoma foie gras Haricots verts with lemon zest Mushroom risotto cake Course 4: Cheese (provided by hosts) Pecan-raisin bread, fig jam Course 5: Dessert Chocolate terrine with spicy caramel sauce and crème fraiche Petit fours and coffee: chocolate cookies sandwiched with mascarpone, caramel popcorn, candied almonds coated in chocolate and unsweetened cocoa powder (Bonus: Coffeecake to take home)

I use the USDA's Nutrient Data Labaratory to get values for all the ingredients in a given recipe. Then I just add up all the caloric values for the recipe and divide by the number of servings to figure out cal/serving. Works just fine for me, though it is somewhat tedious--I don't do it often enough to get software dedicated to this task.