Malawry

After peeling and deveining the shrimpies, I put them in a small bowl. I added a couple of tablespoons of Thai fish sauce and then covered them with water. Let them sit in the fridge for about 3 hours. Pulled them out of the brine, patted them dry. Heated some peanut oil, added the shrimp, sauteed. Added a dash of tamari (I had a feeling they weren't quite salty enough), squeeze of lime juice, microplaned lime zest. Served with a little lime zest on top (I wanted the aroma of lime to hit the nose first) and a lime wedge on the side. Did not suck. At the Pig Picking, Dave the Cook brined the shrimp for the Friday "staff meal" of shrimp and grits. He was nosing around looking for something interesting and found the apple cider I was using to cook down some fried apples. He shrugged, glugged some into a container, added the shrimp and I think some salt and water, and let them rest for a couple of hours. Later I sauteed them with garlic, parsley, white wine and some other stuff I don't remember. They, too, didn't suck.

Dinner for my spouse and my esteemed mother-in-law Friday night: Lettuce rolls with pork-ginger-scallion filling A fuzzy image of Thai-inspired shrimp--brined with fish sauce and topped with plenty of lime zest Five-spice duck breast over mixed greens with matchstick vegetables and plum vinaigrette Berries and whipped cream for dessert.

I would be much more amenable to a gathering that did not center on a non-food-related cultural event that requires purchasing a ticket. I'm on a strict budget and almost all my cultural event bucks go to things at UMD, since my husband is a student there and we can get $5 tickets to anything at the Clarice Smith Center. Besides which there is always so much enjoyable gabbing at these eGullet things, it seems a shame to have to spend the whole time focusing on the performance instead of each other and the food. Not that I'd stand in your way if ya'll planned something at WolfTrap/CarterBarron, but just a thought. Busboy did say he was thinking of those of us on a budget after all...

I intend to attend.

Huh, that's funny. I always heard the 17th and Corcoran Safeway called the "Soviet Safeway." I bought almost all my groceries there for years; I'd Metro to Tenleytown once a month to shop at Fresh Fields but other than that everything we ate came from the 17th Street Safeway. I now shop at the Giant on Arliss in Silver Spring, the Takoma Park-Silver Spring Natural Foods Co-op, the Takoma Farm Market. I used to shop at Snider's Super Foods in Silver Spring but haven't the time to make it there lately. I sometimes hit the Whole Foods in Silver Spring (despite the lack of fennel that vexes JPW and the lack of frisee that vexes me). I do visit the Safeway on University in the Hampshire Langley shopping center to pick up foods for work (usually buttermilk and bread). They have a good selection of Hispanic specialty foods which is displayed front-and-center. I think the exterior of the store is completely unwelcoming, but inside it's nice and clean and the produce looks decent. (Never really looked at the meat.)

Takomabaker, I hit the TPSS Co-op for produce when I miss the Sunday Takoma and Dupont farm markets. I find the co-op is a pleasant shopping atmoshpere, clean and easy to navigate. Their produce selection has improved dramatically over the past year since they hired a new produce manager, who has done a great job of shifting the inventory to reflect seasonal changes and who has found inventive and attractive produce displays. I was shocked at the state of DC's supermarkets when I moved here from North Carolina, where Harris Teeter sets the standard. Unfortunately, Montgomery County is not benefitting from the Wegman's/Harris's phenomena, possibly partly because of county liquor laws (ie, you can't sell beer and wine in a supermarket). Over time I've come to not mind my local Giant so much...the store on Arliss Street has decent produce, acceptable meats, and the usual suspects of other groceries. Still I'd rather be in the co-op, at the farm market, at Whole Paycheck, or sometimes at Han Ah Reum in Wheaton for cheap seafood, produce, whole ducks and all the 80s music you can tolerate.

Varmint, next time I come down, I'ma showing you how to fabricate a fish beginning to end. The kids can watch too.

Gumbo, featuring tasso ham and file purchased on recent jaunt to NOLA Salad with blue cheese dressing Mint-chocolate-chip low-carb ice cream for dessert.

Slices of apple with smoked trout or matjes herring attached with a dab of mustard Curried apple soup, in demitasse cups Waldorf salad, diced down tiny, served in belgian endive boats

Saturday night, had a couple of friends over for some red-checker-tablecloth Italian food. (My tablecloth was way too classy for this kinda stuff, but we made do.) Antipasto, including meats from Giacomo's in Greensboro, NC A saltylicious sausage soup. Sausage also from Giacomo's. Salad, woo. Pork and turkey meatballs in a slow-simmered tomato sauce, roasted asparagus, sauteed cremini mushrooms, balasmic glaze. Berries and whipped cream. This meal was almost completely devoid of any carbs. My guests do not consume dairy; they avoided the provolone on the antipasto and sampled the not-horrific Hip Whip with their berries and declared it satisfying. My spouse and I avoided the balsamic glaze. All were happy.

Mark's, JPW? Really? I think Mark's is a good value, and hell it's the closest place to where I live (I won't set foot in Savory or Talliano's). I'm curious why it made your short list. Not trying to challenge, just wanting to know more.

Ooh yes, Waterpenny has fabulous produce. Unfortunately their selection is almost identical to that of Wheatland...they grow more tomato variety but less cucumber variety. So I have to decide which farm to give my business to every week, except when I want tomatoes or cucumbers.

Another slow-cook variation, when you have time: Put some sliced lemons in a shallow pan. Top with seasoned chicken breasts and lace with fresh oregano. Top with more lemons. Pour in olive oil to mostly cover breasts. (Don't bother with the expensive stuff, this is where you use the Costco type oil that's not extra-virgin.) Poach slowly in cool oven. Num.

Rice. *hides* I can usually cook it but only by specifically following a printed recipe from Joy of Cooking. I never mastered the pilau in culinary school, but I better bone up 'cause I put rice pilau on the menu for tomorrow night. Maybe I'll cop out and make pommes duchesse. (It's a French menu.)

Greaaaaaat. I cry easily when onions are cut, which makes me look like a chump-ass at work. Last night I cried three rooms away when my roommate was cutting onions in the kitchen! Didja make it in a food processor? That's how my grandmother used to do it.

Did the fumes bother you, or is that factor mitigated by the fact that your specimen was frozen?

Silentbob, I think it was covered in the original Washington Post story. I know I saw it in print somewhere from a reliable source, I'm not just talking out of my ass. (Though I have been known to do that on occasion )

I make my own jams, but not any other condiments. I hope you will all inspire me to try some of these other items though. I plan to start with horseradish, which is why I started that thread.

No more cookie and caramel plate???

You could try using the stock for a bisque...a lobster-crab or lobster-shrimp bisque would be terrific. As for the tomalley/roe mixture...not sure how long it would last, but if I had it laying about I'd use it to make a lobster beurre blanc. Just make a regular beurre blanc reduction, add butter, and then swirl in the goodies at the last moment. Should turn the beurre blanc an astonishing coral color, perfect napped over whatever fish you find at the local store.

Last night, I attended a Passover seder at a friend's house. Some of the guests had never attended a seder before. When the gefilte fish went around, they gamely sampled it, but they were more interested in the beet-colored chrain (horseradish condiment) that accompanied it. One of them muttered about how much she loves wasabi as she helped herself to a big spoonful, which got the others excited. Seven of us managed to put away about half a jar. I love the hot-bitter flavor of horseradish and especially love the beet-enhanced horseradish condiment that shows up on Passover tables around America. The wasabi comment got me wondering if there are other horseradish-like roots that I just don't think about which I can incorporate into my cookery. Also the chrain condiment is quite different from the British horseradish-cream sauce for roasted meats, and I'm sure there are other beloved condiments made from horseradish native to the European and American regions where the root is grown. What are they? What do you like to do with horseradish?

It's clear from what Ann has said herself, and from my experiences in the bakery, that walk-in business is only a small part of her (and her employees') income. Indeed, I imagine walk-in business takes more employee time and energy than it tends to garner, given that few people go buy a big assortment of pastries...it's a cupcake here, a few caramels there. There never seems to be a single employee devoted to retrieving items and running the cash register; there always seems to be a person working on something in the back who comes up to the front when a customer walks in. As Don pointed out, signage is minimal, and that chalkboard doesn't really describe much of what appears in the cases. At Amernick, they produce all the desserts for Palena, they stock the cases in front of the bakery, and then there's the wedding and special-occasion cake business which is substantial. It doesn't surprise me at all that the cases are squarely at the bottom of the cash engine, and therefore squarely at the bottom of the priority list. Not that I have much sympathy for her attitude towards the hapless walk-in donut buyer...but I'm more willing to put up with it than I am from somebody whose entire business is selling donuts.

Didja get it? I'm salivating just thinking about it. Knocked back with a glass of their homemade lemonade. I thought their breakfast pastries, or at least those I sampled, were not very good. The blueberry muffin wasn't as tender as I'd like, and the cream-filled donut had a tasty filling (tasted of egg and milk), but the receptacle was a little tough and chewy and stale-tasting. I did like their chocolate sandwich cookies with mascarpone filling though.

Sometimes on Fridays they used to have this fried fish sandwich on a massive brioche roll, with this awesome slaw that had pickly red onions in it. Edemuth and I would almost always get it if we went there together. It was massive. I haven't been to Breadline in about 2 years but this item stuck around on the menu for quite a while, so it might still be showing up. Best to try now while it's still Lent and there's higher fish demand as a result.

I'm in.