bavila

Plum Street. That's what I'm talking about. No one knows a damned thing about shaved ice up here. Makes for long summers drooling over Jason's pictures.

Yep. The dining hall is cavernous. Watch out for the muffins. The firsties have a nasty habit of cutting the top off, taking the crumb out, and filling it with travesties, then replacing the top. ← While cadets scare me no more than mids (which is not at all--dated a ROTC mid in college then married him, so I know all about their foolishness), I think I'll steer clear of the dining hall unless we happen to get invited to an event by the Sup or something.

Yay! More grits for me! And you haven't really lived in the South unless you've lived south of I-10. I'd also nominate French andouille -- to be put in the organ meats category. Ick.

While my dad went to Japan and Korea in the Korean War, I can't say I can tell how that impacted his palate, if at all. Both parents grew up with their own vegetable gardens -- largely a necessity during the War due to rationing, and just a way of being frugal. So most of the year we had fresh veggies (which I didn't really appreciate until I left home for insipid college cafeteria veggies). As for "ethnic" at home, I think we were pretty limited to La Choy and spaghetti sauce made with a McCormick seasoning pack. Cajun standards like gumbo and etoufee were on our table, but weren't considered exotic in Louisiana. I hear my grandmother's crepes were legendary, but she died when I was an infant. Eating out, there was watered down Mexican, Italian and Chinese. For many decades there has been a significant Lebanese population in my hometown (Lafayette, Louisiana), but for some reason middle Eastern restuarants have only popped up in the last 10 years or so. There's a nice variety now -- Colombian, Japanese, Greek, etc. I'll have to ask Dad about his food experiences overseas, keeping in mind that he's not much of a foodie. When I told him I liked a squeeze of lime in my ginger ale, he said, "Or you could just mix ginger ale and Sprite." Sheesh.

Note fiddlehead warning posted in general topics.

Thanks all, keep 'em coming. Academy chow tasty? Are all cadets served at once as the mids are (all 4000 of them) at the Naval Academy?

The roast duck was probably my favorite from the "Taste of New Orleans" menu a few weeks ago. I will soon try to reproduce the fried green toms with shrimp remoulade. Oh, and we had a crawfish boil here weekend before last. I'll post a synopsis of that soon for anyone thinking of doing a boil outside of crawfish country. I wrote up the boil for the food section of the Capital (Annapolis daily paper), and my editor just asked me if the proper spelling was "crawfish" or "crayfish" . I remained calm and told her that dictionaries will say that both or acceptable, though in my experience, the only people who use "crayfish" or those who don't eat "crawfish". Hmph.

I bought some Eastern Shore asparagus at Graul's the other day. I also roasted it with oo, salt, and pepper. I swear, it was the best asparagus I've ever had. My tough ends went into the freezer for stock. I plan to go strawberry picking soon and will make summer pudding -- anyone have recommendations to make a summer pudding that presents nicely? Mine usually look like purple blobs.

LOL! Another country? No, Brooks, another PLANET! Here's my take on the CP question: Get off the streetcar and walk (all the while not believing there could be a prestigious restaurant in such a sketchy neighborhood) down to where Newcomb College used to be. Follow the scent of turtle and cloves. As for cab ride to Elizabeth's, maybe ours was just pricier than usual since traffic was heavy for Jazz Fest. I liked the praline bacon and cheese grits. The strawberry french toast was yummy but HUGE -- kind of an amorphous strawberry bread pudding, really.

I was just at Elizabeth's a couple of weeks ago during Jazz Fest, and it was great. However, given that you won't have a car and you're trying to squeeze it in between two other restaurants, I'd say skip it this trip. It's in the Bywater District which was a significant cab ride for us coming from Downtown, and the scenery is not the best, especially compared to going from the Quarter through the Garden District to get to CP. This is New Orleans. You do not rush. It is just not done. Give yourself time to do some strolling and discovering between meals.

I'm glad I came across this thread as I will be hosting my Bunco group next month. I like the Polynesian theme -- it would go well with my maternity Hawaiian shirt. Yup, also preggers here. No mai tais for me. We generally go more for a snacking level of food rather than food, and guests bring beverages. Someone tried to start the potluck thing this month, to which I said "Grrrrr...." since part of the fun of Bunco is just showing up to have fun and only having to do the work when you host. Let us know how it goes.

I admit to an element of showing off for potlucks or my own parties. But I think more than the kudos, which I DO thoroughly enjoy, I like to compete with myself. I love when friends cook smashingly for me -- in fact, I'll be picking up a dish of a friend's spanakopita with homemade phyllo tomorrow evening. I also sometimes get annoyed with the Velveeta set. I mean it REALLY isn't that hard to offer something of high quality. Buying a hunk of nice cheese is much less work than opening a can of refried beans (and olives, etc.) for 7-layer-dip. It reminds me of another foodie friend who said incredulously of a neighbor once "She's forty years old and she's never baked a cake from scratch!"

I'll be accompanying my husband on a business trip of his in West Point at the end of June. I plan to visit the CIA campus one day, but otherwise don't have any knowledge of Orange County. Does anyone have recs for restaurants or other sites in the area? We'll also have our 2.5-year-old with us. She's usually pretty well-behaved in restaurants, but we won't be opting for the super high-end romantic dinner for two sort of thing. Thanks!

If you're dinner plans aren't working, try Bayona. I personally like it more than Commander's Palace, perhaps for the atmosphere. Jason -- do you prefer Mr. B's BBQ shrimp over Pascal's Manale?

I got a copy of the Encyclopedia, autographed, while in Lafayette. While I missed the signing event, signed books were still available at the Lily's for Books II section of Bella Luna in the Oil Center. Price $49.95. I've only read bits and pieces so far, but I can tell this is a must-have volume for anyone interested in Louisiana foods or food history in general. I particularly enjoyed reading about my ancestor, Jean Lafitte, and his scoundrel ways.

With lines like these, Uggie's was most definitely off my list for a weekend trip for the Fest. However, while I was at Upperline last Friday, Joann speculated to my table that Uggie's may just streamline instead of closing -- doing just appetizers or a pared down menu.

I'm bumping this up after an observation I made last weekend of a friend and her daughter. We were doing a simple grilled steak and salad dinner for the grownups of our two families, and I was putting together hot dogs and mac-n-cheese for my 2yo and the visiting 3yo. (If it were just us, I would have served my daughter the steak, but we cut slack to guests.) As I was prepping thetoddler plates, I asked the 3yo if she liked strawberries, and she said, "No!" Well, her mom hauled her off and yelled at her to say "No, thank you," nicely (which of course she never did). Thus began the death spiral which included threats for the 3yo to finish two bites of hot dog (which she loves, by the way), or she would go in a time out. Talk about unpleasant for everyone. So it occurred to me just how important it can be NOT to make mountains out of molehills with kids -- lest they resist eating even their favorite foods AND ruin everyone's meal.

Aha -- who can resist the urge to evade taxes? Very few of us, I'm afraid. I, too, reported as little as I thought I could when I waited tables, so I count myself in this number. That said, I do try to tip in cash because some servers are charged for the CC fee.

Thanks y'all for keeping my appetite whet for the Fest. We're packing up tomorrow and heading out Wednesday. Can't wait. Just gotta meet a couple of deadlines before then. Grrr... So what's good to eat at the Fairgrounds this year?

If you go to Jalapeno's, make a reservation, or be prepared to wait a LONG time. I'd also give them a vote in general, though I've never brought kids there myself. Nice ceviche and posole. Some other Mexican (or Salvadoran, maybe?) places that usually fly under the average gringo Annapolitan's radar are Los Nortenas and Taqueria Serrano. Try the pupusas... yum. Of the Irish places mentioned, I like Galway Bay best.

Not entirely. At 90mg sodium per serving in their Heart To Heart cereal, that's too much by my way of thinking. Kashi's ingredients seem to be very good otherwise, but I can't fathom why they need to put that much salt into the mix. ← I believe the USRDA for sodium intake is about 2400mg (for healthy individuals over age 2, of course), so 90mg wouldn't even be 10% of that. Right now we usually eat either Kashi Heart to Heart or Lean Crunch. My toddler scarfs the Heart to Heart like junk food. I also like TJ's ginger granola. But a nice bowl of slow-cooked grits beats all of these any day. If nutrition weren't a concern, I'd be all over childhood favorites like Peanut Butter Cap'n'Crunch or Apple Jacks. It's amusing to me that my mom would buy these but not Cocoa Puffs or Fruit Loops. I'm guessing they're all pretty equivalent in the empty calorie category.

Oh Brooks, you're such a populist. You must be from Louisiana...

Check out previous Annapolis thread. I'd add to my previous post places I haven't been but are at the top of my list: Lewnes' Steaks Harry Browne's Sputnik Cafe And though I think Eunny Jang's criticism of Yin Yankee is fair (the fusion thing can go too far), I still like it. For as much money and as close as Annapolis is to two major cosmopolitan cities, I'm amazed at how uninteresting the restaurant scene is. I think that's why places like O'Leary's and Lewnes' and Harry Browne's get so many raves -- that they do basically standard stuff, but do it really really well. The buzz I get is that Sputnik Cafe is the most creative kitchen in town (well, it's sort of in town, anyway -- in Crownsville).

To answer the original question, my vote is: 1-tax evasion 2-poor business acumen

Uh, Dave, wouldn't some of the "local hicks" be potential customers of yours?