JPW

My method- 1)Toss with peanut oil, salt, paprika and whatever else you want 2) Place on sheet pan lined with tin foil with a coating of oil (tin foil for easy clean up extra oil to reduce sticking) 3)Place in oven at high temp (actual temp depends on whether or not I am cooking something else, but is usually 375-400) 4)Turn potatoes after 10-15 minutes. Cook until done.

To me, this would be a fine way to show your appreciation. Or take them to a movie. Or babysit for them (where applicable). Or do a picnic. Or share a special bottle of wine. Or... It's about the company, not the specific activity.

Call me old-fashioned, even though I too am officially a Gen X'er I find the above idea repulsive. It's as if you expect people to pay for coming to your house for dinner.

There are several Richmond threads in the Southeast forum

Just a few blocks from my house. Good bar food. According to the owner, their business (mainly drinking) was badly hurt by the smoking ban. They've laid a couple of employees off and may soon go out of business.

I've been on a Victory kick. Just made the seasonal switchover from the Hop Devil IPA to the Prima pils. Everyone must try the pils at least once. You'll see what I mean by "WOW" when you do.

Saw the first ads for this last night. My initial reaction was, "Oh no! Gordon!"

I ate at Cafe Spice last week and totally agree with Sietsema's review. While it doesn't completely suck ventworm nut, it is not very good. For Indian in Rockville, follow Heather's advice and go to Bombay Bistro.

Yep. I've enjoyed the 5 or 6 dishes that I've made from it. I made the Bangkok style Padd Thai for the cook-off, but never got around to posting pictures. The larb recipe makes for an interesting contrast when you compare it to Snowangel's (which is my mainstay). Some truly excellent salads. It's best use though, IMHO, is as an instructional manual in home-style Thai cooking. How to make ingredients (for example, chili water) and dressings. THe only drawback is that most of the recipes are VERY involved. Definitely for weekend cooking, especially at first.

If you could PM me the name, that would be great so that I know to avoid it. edit to add -- I vote for the Malaysian chicken.

Bacon.

What he said. Wow!

Herndon. 701 Elden Street.

I've been to the one in Gaithersburg and it was pretty standard fare. Absolutely average in every way shape and form. Save a couple of bucks and go to Anita's, you'll get better food to boot.

AMEN Failing that, there is a Starbucks and an Einstein Bros bagel shop just south of the Metro (as in almost under) on the west side of Colesville Rd.

John, Glad the recs worked out. Just read all of your reports and have to say WOW, that's a lot of food. I'm impressed. How much weight did you gain this weekend?

Chalk up another one for bare hand on hot pan handle. Saturday night. Remembered to use towel to take it out of oven and put on stove. Turned away. Put towel down. Turn back to stove. Grab pan. Ouch. Managed not to drop dinner. Ate dinner with hand in pitcher of cold water. Went to emergency room. Second degree burns. Two Percosets. Felt MUCH better. No pain Sunday morning, just some nice blisters. Feel very lucky. PS - Dinner was very good.

While I have no problem with this on an ethical level, from what I've heard from others and from what I've experienced, it has a tendency to lead to a decline in quality at the restaurants owned by these chefs. How many places can a chef be at any one time? What's the max number of restaurants one chef can run without neglecting one? I don't know. But more power to these guys - they want to get paid and some of them are being quite successful. It's just that sometimes their success seems to have an unfortuanate impact on the diner. I'm in the list of people who think that Jaleo is not as good as it once was before Jose became a corporation. I think there's a big quality difference in what you could get at Olives in Boston when Todd English was manning the pass and what you get at Olives downtown now. I'm sure there are counter-examples (Mario perhaps?) where expansion does not harm quality of meals, but my instinct tells me that these are the exception to the rule.

What are "half smokes"? ← Perhaps the only DC home town food. Quick summary here Basically the bastard child of a hotdog and an Italian sausage.

In addition to being a fan, are you also affiliated? Not accusatory, just suspicious and paranoid. ← Nope, she's not affiliated. I know because... she's my momma. I grew up in Buffalo, where my family still lives, & we just love wegmans in my family, especially my mom. she REALLY loves wegmans. hi mom! ← Hope I did not offend. Just sensitive to having people shill around here. For the record, I spent seven years in Binghamton and was also a huge Wegman's fan. Now if only the efing MoCo government would get out of their way so they could open up somewhere near me. PS - bakezoid, your daughter's a lovely person. I just wish I could enjoy the hospitality of her employer more often.

In addition to being a fan, are you also affiliated? Not accusatory, just suspicious and paranoid.

J, is that the Fallsgrove location? ← Yep. PS - Damnit, I want the ninja smilie!

It's a bit of a hike. Montgomery County just sucks for groceries. And wine. ← That's why I generally break the law and make a run for the border. Seriously though, that MoCo liquor store next to the Safeway on Shady Grove just South of Rt 28 is by far the best one that I've been in.

The steak was to die for. The kit kat bars were divine. The spring rolls were, as always, heavenly. But the mushroom soup, the mushroom soup was absolutely orgasmic.

I rehydrated one of the morels last night and I think I came to the same conclusion - it seemed too rubbery and the nibble I took was pretty tasteless for a morel. It had a slightly more earthy taste than a plain button or even porcini, but not all that great. I know Wegman's usually has a pretty good variety of mushrooms (they do often have morels, but not this week), so I think I'll pick out something fresh. We'll see what they have tomorrow night or Saturday morning. As for the wines that wattacetti asked about above - I'm still not there yet. My selection of reds is almost non-existent. We drink mostly whites at home, as jenrus is not a red fan. I'm planning on drinking the one below with the first two courses and finding something at a wine shop tomorrow - a red, but not too red, if you know what I mean, that would work with duck. ← BIll, I think that a red Burgundy would set the theme nicely for the duck and tie into the Puligny-Montrachet. I'm sure the estimable Mr. Rocks or Mark Slater (Burgundy experts both) would be happy to suggest a few labels for you.