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sxfan, thanks for the ideas!

My sister owns a business in the Phoenix area (Ahwatukee) with a commercial kitchen. She'd like to rent it out in their off hours. If you have suggestions beyond Craig's List for how to advertise that opportunity we'd love the input. Cheers!

By the way, we have Restaurant Week in August. Not sure if you'll be in town for it (August 6-12) but great deals are to be had ($20.07 for a three course lunch and $30.07 for a three course dinner). The list of participating restaurants hasn't yet been released.

I signed up for this free book ages ago and it finally arrived! I totally didn't think it would actually happen so I was very very pleased. Thanks so much for telling us about this. I'm very much looking forward to the read.

I'm in Alexandria and I am CSA with this farm: http://www.olinfoxfarms.com/

We went to The Majestic Cafe last Thursday. They didn't have a separate RW menu; we got to order off of their normal menu. We'd been there once before for brunch on a Sunday so hadn't tried their dinner food. It was delicious. I had house smoked trout tart, soft shelled crab with black beans and greens, and blueberries & raspberries with raspberry sauce. Hubby had the picnic starter (cole slaw, potato salad, fried chicken patty...), steak with okra fritters (those are yummy!) and German Choc cake. No special prices on wines but we figured we were getting a pretty good deal on the food.

In yesterday's Washington Post there was an article about them too. I did wonder why they decided to open up shop all the way across the country... Some Old Friends Say 'Cheese'

As far as I know, you can get wonton wrappers in almost every grocery store in the area. For the more exotic stuff, have you looked at Great Wall or one of the other big Asian groceries out in the suburbs? ← I've looked for wonton wrappers in about half a dozen grocery stores in my area (I'm in Rose Hill area of Alexandria.) In which section have you found them; maybe I'm looking in the wrong spot. TIA

I have that cookbook Flatbreads and Flavors. It's a very enjoyable read as well as cookbook. I like that they have local dishes to go with the bread recipes. Yummy.

Oooh, thanks for the update. Can't wait to get there!

Along the same lines as dominic77, I'm looking for gyoza wrappers or even wonton wrappers.

I'll chime in here. I grew chillis and tomatillos in Melbourne when I was living there. I did actually bring seeds in from the US. I declared them and customs let them through just fine. They were commercial packets. I figured if they confiscated them I'd only be out a little bit of cash. Having said that I bought chilli seeds and tomatillo seeds at Garden World (going toward Frankston). There's also a heritage seed company, I think out of Tasmania? I can't remember the name of the company but their seeds were all sold in manilla yellow packages with drawings of the plant on the front. Happy dreaming of spring!

Yeah! Wonderful! brioboy, please report back! I won't be able to get into DC to check it out until the latter part of July, I think. I'm hungry...

Actually, saw it again today... it was in the "England" aisle even though it is Australian (Maggie Beer).

I too recommend Teasim.

I saw some verjuice in the olive oil and vinegar aisle of Wegmans in Sterling. Perhaps give your closest Wegmans a call.

I'm loving all the wonderful suggestions on ham brands. Thanks! Don't worry about my ham just sitting there not getting eaten, we've been nibblin' away. I'll wrap it up ASAP.

Well, well, well. I got to the Alexandria market on Saturday and managed to get the last Calhoun half ham. It is delicious and definitely reminds me of proscuitto. It is salty like procuitto So, another question. We're just keeping it raw in the fridge. I've got the cut side down on a chopping board but haven't covered it. Should I? and if so, with what? cloth? plastic? foil?

thanks, Crackers. Gotta get me some but it might be a couple of weeks!

thanks for the info everyone. I must admit to never having a country ham but really wanting to try one. Doug, thanks for the tips in that regard. Still hungry... :-)

Ooh, thanks Doug. I think I'll give them a call. Any idea of price per pound?

Since I recently moved to VA I've been thinking "mmmmm, ham" but I don't know where to find the yummiest ones. Can you order decent ones through a supermarket? Can you suggest better places where I could order and have it home delivered? (I don't have a car.) Gosh I'm hungry! Answer quick! (and if there's already a thread on this, please point the way)

Some excellent suggestions, and I've been thinking how much I miss the wonderful selection of chocolate bars. Cadbury does loads of different flavour combos. Also there's Milo: http://www.nestle.com/Our_Brands/Beverages/Milo/

That looks fabulous and just my sort of thing. I hopefully will be trying this soon!

Though I haven't been there for awhile, I have enjoyed going to Buff's Bistro in Apollo Bay several times. Nice atmosphere and pretty decent food. I've love http://www.rhcl.com.au/ (Stephanie's place). I most especially love their cheese room, their brunch and their special dinners. Yering Station is a nice spot for a meal in the Yarra Valley. Have fun!