Malawry

I think what you propose sounds fun and like it would be a good challenge. Let us know how it goes. I bet you could focus your bread-baking to one day a week and make one or two kinds each time to keep your family ready for sammiches and such. I hope you don't get too dogmatic about it though, with two little ones running about it's hard to even make tuna fish without getting distracted! I try hard to only keep the single best sort of every type of condiment around these days, which cuts down on fridge clutter. It certainly made life easier during the multiple days without power, I didn't lose much of note. And it makes it easier to fit actual food into the fridge. But I buy my breads, we eat mostly commercially-made pasta, and I keep some convenience foods on hand for when I don't feel like cooking or I go out of town without my partner...he doesn't usually cook in my absence.

I knew you'd eventually see this thread and come to my rescue, Joler. We will be reserving no matter where we go. One thing I've felt is lacking in a lot of the better Greensboro restaurants is ambience. Chairs especially seem to be inexpensive stackable metal-frame sorts in a lot of restaurants, which can detract from the experience. I don't expect plush wing-type overstuffed armchairs at every table but when I eat in an upscale restaurant I don't want my skin touching bare metal. It doesn't feel welcoming. Can anybody describe the dining rooms at South Elm and Bistro Sofia? (I did see pics of both dining rooms on the linked websites.) Also do these places have their own pastry chefs...does such an animal exist outside of Ganache Bakery in Greensboro? I'll talk these over with the folks and see where we may end up. Thanks everybody for the suggestions!

Yesterday morning, Dupont Circle market, DC, with Foodgeek in tow: Spaghetti squash Young ginger Butterhead lettuce Broccoli raab Two dozen eggs, one brown one white

Did anybody try the meuniere with thin fillets of fish? Thin fish never bothered me, or seems to overcook when I make it. Do J&J recommend that you not use very thin fish fillets? Everybody seems to have rejected them. The coating should protect the fish from overcooking. I've never overcooked a meuniere type dish and I've made this a number of times, sometimes with very thin fillets. Next time try brown butter sauce on choux buns. (or not.) If ya'll do profiteroles I highly recommend a coconut pastry cream instead of a standard one. (Unless you want to make ice-cream-filled profiteroles, which are even more glorious than pastry-cream ones.) Use coconut milk instead of cow's milk and add a dash of coconut-infused rum. Mmmmm.

Mmm, pie.

Last night: Spinach and bibb lettuce salad with goat cheese, reconstituted dried cherries and red onion A slice of leftover pound cake from the other night Popcorn, while watching a DVD.

I've heard the beer is much better than the food at RFD. I'd be up for something next week.

Just a note...this is contrary to my own experience. I always make it with cold butter. And I do get my pan smoking-hot. If I swirl the pan all the butter melts before any of it burns. You can always cool it down with a squirt of lemon juice. I don't like adding room-temp butter to sauces because it splits rather than staying mostly-emulsified. Please don't move to NoVa and leave me here all alone in Montgomery County!

I agree. I ate there once. I think my partner and I were the only ones in the room for a reason.

Tonight: Butternut squash-filled raviolis with brown butter and fried sage Wilted spinach salad, red bell pepper and purple onion, balsamic vinaigrette Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible pound cake with sauteed apples, vanilla ice cream, and dark caramel sauce. Thanks, Heather, for loaning me the book, if the rest of the cakes are half as good as the pound cake I think it's a worthwhile resource to have around.

At L'academie, we made flounder meuniere. It's not bad. Flat fish fabrication is a useful skill. We got a Dover sole in once. Chef Peter prepared it and then we all dove in. It rocked. But we never handled it ourselves. *sigh*

Welcome to eGullet Salivate. I look forward to your posts on some of those other 199 places you'vre dined in town!

Last night: Seared ginger-glazed pak choy Stir-fried shrimp and assorted veg over rice Gyoza I tried brining the shrimp. Worked well, but then I didn't back off on the soy sauce to offset the brine so the finished dish was a little oversalted. Better luck next time.

Nalgene is a brand name. I assume that the plastic they use to manufacture their water bottles is lexan. It looks, feels, tastes, smells and acts like Lexan. But I have no solid evidence of this other than my senses. It may be some other type of plastic, I don't know. Other Nalgene products are made from other plastics, including the disappointing travel toiletry bottles I mentioned earlier. Edit: they are Lexan according to REI's website. Click here to see and purchase water bottles, including the one Hillbill just referenced.

I was carless and on foot so I didn't actually face the parking situation personally. However there are meters on Blair Mill Road where you can probably park most of the time. There were also signs up indicating that they had an arrangement with a nearby parking lot, and to be sure to get your ticket validated so your parking would be free. Try calling the store and asking where the lot is and how long you can stay in it.

Pan-fried catfish rubbed with homemade cajun seasoning, per my school final Grits cooked in roasted veg stock, spiked with Tabasco and smoothed with a little cream cheese Tomato beurre blanc Dessert: sauteed pink lady apples drizzled with dark caramel sauce

I'd love to come, but I'm not heading Southward until a little closer to Thanksgiving. Have fun though!

By the way, I once picked up some small plastic Nalgene brand vials for taking stuff like my shampoo and conditioner with me on weekend trips. They leaked. I can recommend the water bottles but buyer beware on their other products. If I have to buy bottled water I often find myself selecting Evian because I think the plastic they use for bottling their water tastes better than most. I also like that their bottles are crushable for easy recycling. I'd still rather refill my Nalgene bottles with filtered tap water though.

Reasons why Nalgene bottles rock my world: 1. They're unbreakable. (Lexan!) 2. They don't leak if you screw the cap on tightly. 3. The loop keeps the cap on the bottle neck at all times, so you will never lose the cap. 4. They're dishwasher-safe and therefore easily cleaned. 5. Lexan does not leach into my drinking water noticeably. I can taste most plastic bottles. If I can't drink from Lexan I try to drink only from glass. (Actually I prefer glass, but the Nalgene bottles are portable.) 6. That loop holding the cap on is unbelievably sturdy. If I'm hiking I can attach the bottles to my daypack with a D-ring by that loop and it won't weaken. 7. All three of my bottles hold 1L of water, making it easy to track how much water I've consumed. Here's what I dislike about Nalgene bottles: 1. They rarely fit into cupholders in cars. 2. Almost everybody around my age in this town seems to have them, including my roommate who has one that is identical to one of my 3 bottles. We can only tell them apart because the Nalgene logo on hers is more scratched-out than mine. Yes, Nalgene bottles are sold at most outdoor supply stores. LL Bean and REI both carry them. (I usually buy them at REI.) You may be able to find them at some more mainstream "outdoorsy" stores like Eddie Bauer, I don't know...I don't buy them more often than I might visit my closest REI store. Are they overpriced? I found that regular plastic water bottles from the store and bicycle-type sports bottles were not nearly so sturdy and they made my water taste like plastic. I'm willing to spend $12 for a bottle that will last me years and that I can put through the dishwasher rather than pitching and buying a new bottle on a regular basis.

I torched a million brulees at Ortanique, and gradually I got reasonably good at it. It is a skill. First I'd coat the top with too much sugar. I'd shake all the excess sugar back and forth until the all wet surface had sugar sticking to it. Then I'd dump out the excess sugar. (If you're doing multiple brulees you can dump the excess onto the next ramekin.) I held the ramekin in my left hand and the torch in my right. (I'm right-handed.) Start the flame. Hold the ramekin up at a 35-40 degree angle and train the flame so its tip is about 1" away from the creme surface, right at the top of the creme edge against the ramekin surface. DO NOT BE AFRAID. If there is excess sugar you may experience one or two hot crystals jumping onto your hand but these will barely be noticeable as they are tiny, and you will not burn yourself at all unless you stop paying attention to where the flame is. As soon as the sugar starts to melt at the edge, BEFORE it is browned, start rotating the ramekin with your left hand. The idea is to use the angle to get the melted sugar flowing down towards the center of the ramekin, and to get most of the sugar melted but not yet browned. (There will be a few light brown spots, which is fine.) Then rotate and burn a second time to color the melted sugar. Usually two rotations is enough for me, but I rotate the ramekin really slowly. You may need to move the flame around a little on the second rotation to keep the color even. Remember, you want the colored sugar always flowing towards the center, so maintain the angle and keep the flame mostly towards the edge of the creme against the ramekin. If you see the creme bubble at all you're too close, back off with the flame a little. You can stop and add more sugar after the first rotation if you insist on a thick caramel crust but assuming your ramekins are broad and shallow you won't need more crust on it. This method was the fastest, most consistent one for me.

I am obsessive about drinking enough water. I know I am feeling sick if I am not in the mood to drink water. Asthmatics (like myself) have an especial tendency to dehydrate since we tend to breathe shallower, faster breaths. My allergies have gotten much much better since I started knocking back a minimum of 2L of water a day. Makes it easier for my body to rid itself of irritants like dust and molds that enter my system through the course of everyday living and breathing. I keep 1L Nalgene lexan bottles around for refilling. I love the wide mouth and the fact that they never ever leak if closed properly. I own three of these bottles and I rotate them through the dishwasher regularly. My mom gave me a really cool purple one with a black lid for Hanukkah last year. Mom rocks. I am not obsessive about drinking water during meals though. I usually drink one or two glasses if they're 10oz or larger, even if I'm enjoying cocktails or wine with my meal. I sip most of my water during the day and while at the gym.

I stopped into the Silver Spring location after dropping my car at the mechanic's this morning. Enjoyed a respectable cup of drip coffee and a blueberry muffin with very large bluebs and a thick sugary topping. The environment is very pleasant, especially if you can snag one of the lounge-type chairs with a low table nearby. They have a full bar and serve all sorts of classic and contemporary coffee-based cocktails (keoke coffee, B-52 coffee, banana split, toasted almond, etc). And they are open late. It's really quite nice in there, and I'm pleased that there's a place to go near home for post-theatre cocktails and snacks or coffee and dessert or whatever.

Vegetarian sausage subs with a tangle of winy julienned onion, mushroom, red bell pepper Big butterleaf salad with nubbins of goat cheese and soaked dried cherries

I keep meaning to take my camera to the market but forgetting to do so. What are the other two rules of the eGullet Club?

Takoma Park, MD: Pink lady apples are finally in. Ahhh. Some Braeburns Red-leaf butterhead lettuce Hothouse cucumbers Two smallish butternut squash Two small red bell peppers On the way home I stopped by my friend's place for some fresh sage off of her plant.