JPW

It'll be a zoo anyways, as it was just done up in this month's Washingtonian.

Cj, My thyme did pretty well last year in our 100 % clay Montgomery county soil in a bed with about 4 inches of store bought soil on top. Generally herbs do best with a stem trimming as it encourages further growth. For your thyme, I would say that the use of the tender stem is fine. It may not add as much as the leaves, but it can't hurt. This would especially be the case if your using the thyme in a thick red sauce or as part of an herb crust on a roast. For lighter sauces/dressings I try to be more careful about not getting stems in.

Dinner Friday at Grapeseed. Unfortunately, I didn't take notes and the dishes are not listed in the sample menu on their website, so my descriptions are somewhat incomplete. Perhaps they should rename it "SALT" For a small space they do a fairly decent job of squeezing a lot of seats in without making it feel too crowded. About 8 seats at the bar just inside the front door and an open kitchen with about 4 seats at the counter. Opened with just an aperatif. I had seen on the wine list a sparkler from New Mexico of all places! Intrigued, I had to investigate. So I decided to prep my gullet with a taste. Gruet Blanc de Noirs. Surprisingly inoffensive. Not great mind you, but pretty good. It gave me the proper frame of mind, mouth and stomach to enjoy my repast. For openers, my wife had a potato gnocchi dish and I had ravioli stuffed with porcini off of the day's specials. The ravioli were perfectly luscious and had the exact right texture in both the pasta and the filling. The gnocchi were incredibly creamy. However, in both cases the quality of texture of the main ingredients and their natural taste were completely overwhelmed by the incredible saltiness of the sauces. Since I have recently cut back on the amount of sodium in my diet, I thought it might just be me, but my reaction was confirmed by Mrs. JPW. The porcini were accompanied by a more than adequate Chianti Classico that complemented the porcini perfectly. For entree, Mrs. JPW had a risotto with guanciale (I may be a little wrong here) and winter squash . It was by far the most successful dish of the evening. Excellently prepared rice. Scrumption squash. Salivating sausage. A good take on a classic dish. My entree was pork tenderloin and crispy pulled pork on horseradish mashed potatoes. Ordered medium rare, the first pork was absolutely gray and sent back. Being a fairly low maintenance restaurant customer, I am generally reluctant to send dishes back, but this was completely unacceptably tough. The second go round was closer to rare, but good enough. The pulled pork was indeed verycrispy -- inside and outside. I'm a huge fan of pulled pork, and this didn't quite make it. I can't tell you about the potatoes because, again, any of their flavor was dominated by the salt screaming out of the sauce. The wine accompanying the pork was an truly unusual and tasty California Syrah (again I can't recall the vineyard -DAMN - it was really original). A texture like velvet and when swallowed, the resulting lingering taste was as if there were a slice of perfectly fresh and ripe plum on your tongue. Dessert for Mrs JPW was a very well-executed apple crisp. I drank my dessert. Fairly good coffee and a very pleasant Rozes vintage port. The savior of the meal was some of the best service I've experienced in DC. Our waitor, who mercifully in terms of JPW's restaurant pet peeve #24, did not introduce himself by name but from the credit card slip is "FULLER G". The true highlight of the meal. He saw me take one bite from the end of the first (overdone) tenderloin and grimace. He saw me take a second from the middle hoping that the interior was more correct and chew for about 30 seconds and was at our table asking if the pork was OK. When I could finally swallow my dry mouthful, I mentioned that it was "somewhat overcooked", he immediately and without question asked if I wanted it replaced. He also asked if I wanted anything else as the pork would take 10-15 minutes. A glass of that lovely syrah on the house and my fork in Mrs. JPW's plate made me more than happy. He struck the perfect balance of familiarity and properness that the general atmosphere of the restaurant implies and was greatly knowledgeable about the dishes and extensive wine list. Any chefs/owners out there would do well to poach this gentleman. Grapeseed is the best I've had in Bethesda, but I believe that your gullet would be better served to jump on the Red Line, go a few stops South to Dupont Circle, and look for that other modern American restaurant. At the very least, until Chef keeps a closer eye on whomever is acting as saucier and his closeness to the salt box.

Phaelon, I spent many years in exile in Binghamton, just down the road. How much snow on the ground right now? Perhaps you'll favor us with spiedies, upstate NY's culinary donation to the world. How about a stop by Dinosaur BBQ for us? PS - I wish my kitchen had that much space.

And don't forget when Homer climbs the "Murderhorn" fueled by "POWERSAUCE" bars. After he's made it about halfway up, the two PR guys from the company try to get him to come down by telling him that they're mainly made up of old Chinese newspapers. Homer looks at the bar he's eating and exclaims "Deng Xiaopeng died!!!"

Let me check with the BossLady. (see above)

Just one last bit of clarification. We are talking about Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary. Joseph of Arimathea (the guy in whose tomb Jesus was buried following the crucifixion) is forced to share his day with Saint Patrick. Happy Saint's Day to me!!! JoePW edit for fat fingers

Perhaps my favorite of all time is the "Death by Chocolate" pastry the french chef makes to kill Homer in the episode where he is the restaurant critic and all the chefs want to kill him. "It has 1 million calories"

Sorry JU, next week's party budget has already been claimed for a boys night out with a buddy of mine at Ray's. He lives in one of the towers nearby and it's a favorite of his. Let me check the calendar with the boss (aka Mrs. JPW) and maybe we can schedule something at Sette before it gets too warm and everyone starts crawling out of their caves. After dinner we can head down to Firefly and terrorize John! Any word on when the patio is opening? Anyone? When we lived in Shirlington, 4 PM - whenever snacks/dinner and drinks at the patio of Cap City was a regular Saturday date for me and Mrs. JPW. Perhaps we'll find a nice weekend day before too long and can monopolize a corner of Sette's patio.

welcome mhberk. We generally avoid those places for that very reason! Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Mrs. JPW and I have reservations for Grapeseed on Friday. Anyone been recently?

Exactly! I had forgotten about this, but one of my favorite moments from my year in France was when our "Madame", who was putting up 7 students in her house, took us to a local vineyard in the Loire outside Tours to get her yearly "fill up" in 2 5 gallon plastic bladders. Once we got back to the maison, we spent the rest of the day bottling. Great Great stuff

AMEN. But also... Knowing what's in your food. Learning why your food tastes the way it does. Being able to attempt new unusual fusions of foods that have no good reason to be unified (frying the ground beef for my tacos in Thai chili paste instead of using more tradditional taco spices)

My nomination is for Whole Foods, aka Whole Paycheck, aka Whore Foods. Even the non-special, non-organic items are ridiculously priced, esp. produce.

With apologies to the Bard, and under fair use standards of parody..... Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to digest Caesar, not to praise it. The evil that salad does lives after it; The good is oft consumed with the dressing; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Romaine Hath told you Caesar had anchovies: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. Here, under leaves of Romaine and the rest-- For Romaine is an honourable green; So are they all, all honourable greens-- Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. He was my lunch, faithful and just to me: But Romaine says he had anchovies; And Romaine is an honourable green. He hath brought many eggs home to salad. Whose gullets did the general recipe fill: Did this in Caesar taste anchovies? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Anchovies should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Romaine says it was anchovies; And Romaine is an honourable green. You all did see that on Alton Brown I thrice presented it a kingly crown, Which it did thrice refuse: was this anchovies? Yet Romaine says it was anchovies; And, sure, he is an honourable green. I speak not to disprove what Romaine spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love it once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for it? O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; My heartburn is in my stomach with Caesar, And I must pause till Tums does relieve me.

Alacarte, I'll be interested to follow the adventures of a kosher kitchen. Growing up I can't recall any of my (admitedly rather secular) Jewish friends keeping a kosher kitchen. My direct experience with kosher kitchens is limited to the rather amusing adventures of a (Italian) grad school girlfriend who lived in campus housing with two orthodox Jewish suitemates who were strictly kosher. She was lost all year about what she could and could not do in their kitchen. It is amusing to compare the sleep habits of 2 "workaholic" cities, DC (where I live) and NYC. I always saw NYC as a "later" city. In DC it is by no means as unusual for people to do what I do -- wake at 6 am, at work by 7:30 -- as it seems to be in NYC. In the summer I often show up even earlier, say 6:30, so I can leave early to play a round of golf.

I actually found a use for the wire glass racks that the previous owners of my house put up underneath some upper cabinets. They work great for hanging pasta.

Larry, Sounds like a great party! Don't know if you could call the dish exactly Australian, but since you have to have Shiraz if you're doing Aussie wine, how about some lamb meatballs?

K, I don't think it's stupid at all. Mrs. JPW and I both get a little testy if we miss our workouts. Of course, if you miss enough workouts the feeling goes away, but the pounds come flying onto you. Which brings up 2 questions. 1) How does the "missing workout" feeling affect how you eat? 2) Perhaps more importantly for you, does it have an effect on your singing?

You don't say exactly when this happened, but it doesn't sound like Jenny is having the best of weeks. My heart goes out to you. I've been there too. Believe it or not, I actually kind of prefer to have all the crappy stuff happen at once. That way you get it out of the way. Also, that there's always someone whose got it worse. My last turn in being the dumpee (pre Mrs. JPW) happened just before Christmas when I was in grad school. I came home for the holidays and went out to the local dive with some friends to cry in my beer. I saw a guy there I hadn't seen since about 7th grade. I said "Harris, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Baltimore?" He looked at me and in a perfectly level tone, replied "I lost my job, my wife, and my house." All of a sudden my life didn't look so bad!

I am not sure how to use the quote function, so I am trying. I actually found Chipotle in Washington DC (I travel quite a bit for work and have over the years). At first, I attempted to dismiss it as a "Subway for burritos," but have since seen the error of my ways. I actually enjoy Chipotle quite a bit. I am partial to the Chicken Fajita Burrito, but can do barbacoa or their Niman Ranch Pork as well. I actually LOVE the rice in the burrito (and it's got a kick of cilantro and lime). I opt for the "hot" sauce. Their ingredients are pretty fresh and the quality is yummy. They are BIG. I can eat a whole one though. On the subject of burritos and Washington DC, Washington also has another chain Tex-Met/burrito place I like - Baja Fresh. Have any of you been to one. They have NO freezers and everything is very, very fresh. I generally perferred Chipotle to Baja Fresh. I use the past tense due to watching sodium attached to moderate hypertension. A typical Chipotle burrito has about 2500 mg of Sodium (pretty much 100% RDA) I had to e-mail them for the nutrition info as it was not on web site. However, they were quite nice electronically. The reply (with attached nutritional info) said straight out "We use a lot of sodium. Sorry, Our burritos are not for you"

Don't forget that John gets a cut if it works out!

Like Al_Dente, I generally avoid the big ones downtown due to crowds and my intensifying misanthropy, but some of the smaller suburban ones actually provide some value and less of a stockyard atmosphere. For example, when I lived in the area I really enjoyed the Shirlington fest.

Someone please tell me if I am wrong here. I was under the impression that one of the reasons to start in room temp water, boil, and dump, then start again for the long simmer, was that some of the bad things you don't want in your broth (blood, other proteins, etc.)will not dissolve in boiling water. That's why you need to bring the water up through the range of temps to boiling point. And not just dump boiling water over the chicken.

Hubby and I too! Add yet another one, as Mrs. JPW and I share an employer. However, we keep different schedules by about an hour and our offices are about 150 yards and 2 floors apart, so we rarely see each other out side of the occasional lunch.