hillvalley

And Cherry Hill, MD. I went to sleep away camp on Cherry Hill Road in Street, Maryland.

Absolutely beautiful! I would add that they are also eaten raw, yummmmmmmmmmmm

Thanks for all the kind words. I have pictures of the eggs I'll post later. I explained to the kids that they eat pomegranites in Egypt and the syrup was made out of pomegranite juice. Frankly I think the whole pomegranite thing went over their heads, but it impressed my head teacher, principal, etc. I left out the part where I was showing off one of my stupid human tricks by tying cherry stems with my tounge. They thought this was the coolest thing they had seen in a couple of hours. In the middle of my demonstration of how to do it, the assisstant director walked in with a few "important visitors". It took some talking to get myself out of that one

That is during the end of Passover and Easter weekend. Might not work for a lot of people. Count me in if I can go with someone in the DC area.

And a recipe?

Actually the ribs are from Illinois, Chicago if I remember correctly. Where ever the Deerborne station is

Thank you all for your help. Our Egyptian Feast is officially added to the growing list of "Guess what my students eat?" I would say this is second only to the sushi making. I should mention that between the full moon earlier in the week, Valentine's Day and my birthday, the room was pretty hyper. It was also the first five day week we have had in a month so by the time Friday came around it felt like we were about to burst. This is all the most stressful time of the year for teachers. We have two separate reports to write on each kid that run between 10 and 30 pages each, so there is not a lot of teaching going on right now either. It had literally been over a week since I spent all day actually teaching and not working on paper work. I actually missed teaching, even though I work as a teacher. Friday is my day to run the room. I do morning meeting, Social Studies, Science and the classroom store. The day before I wrote up Daily News in red marker and redesigned the daily star charts that each kid has. They were in red, covered with hearts and teddy bears. On everyone's desk was a Valentine's Day mailbox they had decorated the day before. I was decked from head to toe in different heart jewelry and wearing a bright red sweater. I looked like Valentine's Day. (Did I mention that it was my birthday? ) Exactly the kind of stuff you would expect from an elementary school teacher whose birthday was a holiday. I play my role very well, from the heart pendant my great grandfather gave me great grandmother for her birthday to the tiny heart ring I wear on my pinkie that was my first piece of good everyday jewelry from my grandparents. If you are going to do it, do it right. I kept our menu simpler than I planned. Friday was a very food centered day. The Egyptian Feast in the morning, icing cupcakes an hour later, pizza for lunch, candy necklace making at our party finished with birthday cupcakes and cookies for me. A few of my kids are very picky eaters. The physically do not like to eat. It hurts or is uncomfortable. Different textures are also a problem. If I pushed them too far early in the day it could get ugly later on. Tears and screams and hitting and spitting do not make for a fun Valentine-Birthday party. We had 11 hour eggs, lavash, foul and Shirley Temple's. For those of you who read my blog, I had also bought a cucumber to bribe Eric with. I knew he would taste anything for some cucumber and was well prepared to use that information against him in the name of food exploration. I introduced the eggs, canned foul and lavash right away. I started with the eggs and upon immediate viewing the "I ain't eating that you crazy women" looks started coming from the other side of the desks. "That crazy teacher was making them eat crazy food again." I let a little about the "surprise ending" included soda. Everyone settled down a little bit. I told them they were going to eat a food called fool. They got a little excited again. Everyone received an egg and a bowl. I left them peeled so that the kids would have to do it. Any time I can throw in a kitchen skill, or fine motor activity such as cracking and peeling I jump at the chance. Throw in a little Daily Living and Occupational Therapy without the little buggars knowing! Three for the planning of one, if you will. Once the kids saw that the yolk were yellow and started resembling the eggs they recognized, they were more willing to eat. I did the obligatory first bite and proved that I really liked it. This would be a good time to mention that I hate the yolk in hard boiled eggs. I also knew that I didn't eat it, there was not way my students were ever going to try it. Oh the sacrifices you make in the name of education. They all tried the egg, and the ones who liked them in real life enjoyed them. Once the salt came out a few others were happy. We talked about how in Russia and other countries they dye easter eggs using brown onion peel. I impressed the hell out of one of my co-teachers (who is also a foodie) with the 'oil on top of the water so it doesn't evaporate' trick. Next was foul. I found a canned version at the local grocery store that was imported from Lebanon. Close enough. Frankly, it looked less than appetizing to me. But many of my students grew up eating southern and Jamaican versions of this dish so for most it was not a big deal. We passed out the lavash and encouraged this kids to use the bread as a scope with the egg and foul. Again I snuck in some OT without their even knowing. I wasn't very impressed with the foul, but that's probably because it was canned. Other foul I have eaten has tasted much better, but then again I am a food snob. I am interested in trying it out on my own. The kids each ate a small spoon full, which was good enough for me. We ended with the Shirley Temples. This went over pretty well. Syrup and soda with candied fruit. Kids heaven. Especially when I talked about how this is the drink I order when I eat out in restaurants. Sure I add some vodka but they don't need to know that. The promise of more later at the party kept them happy enough to try and do some real work. Yet another success, thanks to you. I truly I could not have done it without you. My kids know that I have many friends who helped me learn so I could teach them. They want to know what we are eating next.

To me that's crudites with shrimp. What's the difference. What's the sauce?

That's so sad

Great post GG. Now that I have a new love in my life, and I used up my virgin container, I am ready to committ to a larger size. How long does this stuff last in the fridge?

Where do you live and what do you drink? I live in Washington, DC and drink soda.

No, I'm done with all that nonsense. Last year I got my Valentine what I thought was a perfectly decent gift certificate to Jenny Craig, and I could just see it didn't go over that well. So I returned it and got this really, really nice dust mop, and I mean this thing was seriously high-tech and even came with its own cover, but I never heard from the person again. Maybe what she really wanted was a vacuum

Has anyone been to the new sushi place across from Two Amy's? I think it's called Sushi Sushi.

After reading this thread I just went shopping and bought a whole bunch o' bread. Petite pan, bagels, wheat and some pate to go with it

Here's a craving story from the inside While pregnant with me my mother craved oinions sauteed in lots of butter. She would slice the onion whole so thy were rings. Cooked until just the last bit of sharpness was detectable. She ate this throughout the entire pregnancy. Stopped eating cooked onions after the pregnancy. Fast forward about ten years. I have discovered food. I have discovered cooking. I have discovered how much fun it is to chop an onion. Especially into rings. I have discovered the perfect way to cook onions: lots of butter until they are just the tinies bit sharp.

I knew my parents and their friends were getting old when they began sneaking in their own popped corn

I finished mini-bar less than an hour ago. It was one of my top 5 eating experiences, and I don't need to do it again for another year or so. I am also a bit tipsy, well a lot tipsy, so bare with me. Throughout the whole meal I kept thinking how great it would be to be dining with other Egulleteers. It would be an amazing night. First, my hats of to Josh, our chef. (The chef who is pictured above is Ed. He got stuck with a poor schmuck and his unappreciative wife. A manager had to come and explain that it was okay to eat with your fingers. My group was licking our fingers at the time. They left "bites" unfinished.) Interacting with him was a major part of the experience. I impressed the hell out of him when he presented Eggs 147 (oh my god that was good) and asked if we knew what the 147 stood for. "That's the temperature you cooked the eggs to" I replied as if he had asked what 2+2 is. (5, right?) Little did he know I had egullet on my side. I agree that the Foie Gras truffle, Conch fritter and cauliflower in textures were the highlights. The cauliflower is presented as three layers in a large shot glass. The first layer was steamed cauliflower that is pureed to a thick soup consistency. Next is basically a truffle jello. I'm sure if I was sober I could think of the right word, but oh well. It is topped with "cauliflower couscous". California couscous is bullshit for cauliflower flowerets shaved with a vegetable peeler. Damned tasty bullshit though. The other stand out was Deconstructed white wine. This time it was wine jello topped with tiny flavorings" grated lemon zest, orange zest, pear?, fig, pomegranate juice, Parmesan cheese?, and the piece de resistance, freshly scraped vanilla beans. You eat a spoonful of the jello with one of the flavorings, all of which are often found in white wine. The final bite of vanilla beans is one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted. Tartness of wine balanced with the sweet of pure vanilla. Perfect. No one has mentioned the plate. I am kicking myself for not having a decent picture. It is a big metal coil, that boings, with a plastic white modern plate. I don't get why the plate was plastic? It cheapened the meal, especially since they only needed a limited number of settings. The small plates each course was served on were fine, but could be better. I felt there was too much white throughout the meal. A definite absence of color. I don't get the chocolate corn nuts. Frankly, there was too much corn. Nuts, chips, popped, baby, stalk. Enough already. And the trout row. Now don't get me wrong. I love caviar. All caviar. I buy salmon roe and eat the entire container in one sitting. But it got boring. Oh look, more trout caviar. Whoop-de-doo. Not. I also am not going to shave for a long time. Thank heavens it is winter. All that f'***ing foam. It was cool once. Fun two or three times. Overdone after that. I don't want to see anything foamy for a while. I hadn't read the whole thread in a while so it was interesting remembering what I had read as I was served it. Many of the platings have changed since Vengroff took his photos in October. The Cesar salad, guacamole, mango soup, and corn nuts were all presented differently. The nuts now come with passion fruit marshmallow kisses (oh my god that was good too) and a tiny cube of raspberry jello (like those jelly fruit candies you eat at Passover) with some kind of liquid in it. Other changes: No potato/vanilla foam which I was looking forward to. The popcorn is now topped with cumin, which is fantastic. Mango soup looks different and had a lot of mint. The pop rocks were the same brand that I buy for my students at CVS. The Listerine pop is now a Halls pop. Gross. For those of you who are still reading, here is info I got out of Josh: *Jose is looking to expand to 12 seats with the chefs in the middle. *Jose is opening two new restaurants in Virginia: a Jaleo, I think in Crystal City and a high end Mexican restaurant. *I am pretty sure they are going through menu shifts right now. There was a third chef, I think the name was Ruben on his jacket, who kept butting in and changing things. There was a beet and scallop dish he changed the plating of a few times before it was served. They were also trying out different flavor combinations toward the end of the meal. I kept hoping the would try it out with us, but they didn't. *Last, but certainly not least, Jose wants to install cameras so you can watch the chefs over the web!!!!!!!!. Can you imagine??????? All in all, well worth every penny, calory and moment of foam. We were celebrating a special occassion and the staff made sure we were as happy as could be. They even printed a special message at the top of the menu. I'm having it framed. I apologize for the lack of pictures. I couldn't figure out how to turn off the flash and only one of the pictures turned out. If it's worth posting, I'll do so later. I got info on vegetarian meals, but it can wait until I sober up in a day or two. Edited because I accidental sent it before I was done. That's what happens after a mojito and three glasses of wine

Having grown up in DC where almost everything is free, paying to go somewhere is very painful. The gardens were cheap enough that it wasn't a splurge and fit into our modest budget. Then again, that was a few years ago.

Thanks for the advice. I think they are headed to either Paolo's or Paper Moon.

What a great piece Pan! If only I could hop on a plane I do have to put out one warning about one of your recommendations. I was last in Florence about three and a half years ago. My sister and I wanted to take a picnic in Boboli gardens. Unfortunately they no longer allow food and they check your bags before entering. The closest you can get is the cafe in the courtyard before you enter the main gardens. And yes, there is now a fee.

What a perfect place for A Cook's Tour. I'd love to see Jeff Smith on again

I'm betting there is no room service What are the love hotels? Anything similiar to Motels in the states?

I wonder what military food is like in other countries? Torakris, gsquared, anyone?

Here's to women's lib!!! Happy Valentine's Day

The Georgetown branch closed years ago, which is no small loss. The one on the Hill is still open, although I have no idea why.