Chufi

My husband and I (together for 16 years) go on a date every other friday or so (not set in stone but we try to make this happen). We take turns in surprising the other with something - a movie, concert, sauna, but mostly, it's a restaurant. The other person doesn't know where we're going until we actually get there. The dinner can be really casual or very fancy (because of budget contraints, it's usually on the casual side of the spectrum) and the person who picked it, pays. The bike or car rides are always a lot of fun, when one of us is tryng to figure out where the hell we're going! We each end up at places we would not have picked ourselves. This works great for us.. I love the element of surprise, and it takes away the so very un-romantic discussions we used to have: "let's go out to dinner tomorrow" "great idea. where?" "Let's try that new Korean place." "I don't feel like Korean." "What do you feel like?" "I don't know.. but it has to be cheap.." etc.......

devilled eggs. potato chips, any kind. real ragu bolognese (even without the pasta). good cornbread with good butter. custard. chocolate pudding. meatballs. ("I'll have just one more. After all, they're so tiny.") and the most demonic of all: roquamole. Don't make this, please. No matter how much you make, you'll eat it all before the guests arrive. (I should add that I never made the recipe as written - I usually just mix avocado, blue cheese, some chili flakes and a bit of lemon juice.)

Time for a little write up! We had a fabulous time on our trip. Most of it was spent in Virginia and North Carolina, but we did spend some time in Philly and PA. We loved Philadelphia, what a great city to just wander around in. The first day we went to the museum for hours, and had lunch in the cafetaria there. Nothing special but not bad. That night we had dinner at Amada, which was fantastic. We had a Spanish Viognier that was the best wine we tasted on the whole trip, and a wonderful dinner of little dishes that were all equally delicious. After dinner we went to the brewpub next door (sorry, the name escapes me) for a nightcap.. we always love going to American brewpubs, seems they always have a nice atmospehere and pretty good beer (and often, pretty good food too). The next day we went to Reading Terminal market. It was a Tuesday so the Amish stands were closed, but we had a sandwich at Di Nic's (rooast pork/cheddar/provolone - it's so nice when you don't have to think about what to order because people on eGullet told you what to do!) and loved it. We also bought some cookies from the Famous 4th street Cookie Co. Late in the afternoon we met Katie Loeb for drinks and spirited conversation at Tria, which was a very nice place with a terrific beer selection. The food looked good too but we had plans for Oyster House! Katie delivered us to OH in time for dinner. We had oysters, raw and fried, mussels with chorizo, shoestring fries, a cocktail too many and a really good time! The next day we drove trhough PA Dutch country which was beautiful, and a very relaxing drive after 3 days in the city. We stayed in York, PA that night and a a nice, if a bit underwhelming, pub dinner at the White Rose bar and Gille there. The next day we had lunch at eGulleter Lori in PA's house.. tomatoes from the garden, chicken salad, ice tea, and a lovely pound cake with raspberry coulis and cream! It was wonderful to sit at a kitchen table, in a real home, and meet Lori and her sons. That wraps up the Pennsylvania part of the trip.. more to come in other regional forums, soon.

thanks all! we found Whole Foods.. ah what a pleasure it is to browse there! we we just came back from a delightful dinner at Vermilion. Busy, great vibe, excellent service, superb comfort food (corn mussel chowder, fried soft chell crab with beans and celery salad, boudin sausage with corn bread, a great cheese plate of Virginia and Wisconsin cheeses). we're ging to try to make it to Eve's for lunch on Friday or Saturday...

We'll be staying in Old Town Alexandria for a couple of days (starting today.. I know, short notice!) and am looking for some suggestions for dinner and foodshopping. We're staying near King Street Metro. Is there a good store/ supermarket nearby (we have a kitchen so can make our own breakfasts)? also, would love some dinner options within walking distance. Preferably casual and not too expensive seeing as this is the end of our 3 week trip.. thanks!

and where in Lancaster, or vicinity, is the best place to get that Amish fix?

I'm contemplating visiting Amada next week. Seeing that the last post is almost a year old, I'd love to hear about any recent experiences/recommendations.

I did the ´smoke your own tempeh´ experiment this weekend with my little stovetop smoker. It was a great success.. details here!

on average we spend 300 euros a month for 2, this includes ´normal´ alcohol (regular beer and wine - but liquor and expensive bottles of wine are not in this budget), and non food items such laundry detergent and personal hygiene stuff, and it also includes entertaining. It does not include eating out.. the funny thing is that when we eat out more, we have money left over from the 300 euros at the end of the month We´re in Amsterdam , The Netherlands.

Just thought of another thing.. I haven't used my stovetop smoker in a while. I'm thinking smoked tempeh would be pretty good.

By some weird coincedence, I was looking at this recipe about 15 minutes ago. I realize it's no answer to your question because in that recipe, the tempeh is also fried. I just feel that it needs to be mentioned here because 'chipotle marinated tempeh' sounds so good. Anyway, on topic: would roasting cubes of tempeh in a very hot oven work?

I don´t think we´ll be frustrated.. we tend to take things as they come when we´re on vacation. Intrigued is probably a better word! But I can see it would be more frustrating if it´s something you deal with all the time! But, there are restaurants who sell liquor, right? so you just have to know in advance what the deal is?

I've been seen this BYOB thing mentioned a lot. How does it work? For instance, I'm planning dinner at Matyson which is also BYO I understand. Is there a liquor store nearby? Do people bring several bottles, because they won't know in adance what they will be eating and what wine will go with it? Do you then take the half full bottles home with you?

I can´t seem to find info on opening hours.. any chance OH is open on September 7 and or September 8? I´ll be in Philadelphia on those dates and would love some oysters and a Katie-cocktail

Well, we were supposed to head to the German Alps this fall, but one night last week we looked at eachother and said ´don´t we really want to take another US trip instead?´ and before we knew it, had booked plane tickets to Washington, DC. A some of you may know, eGullet and eGulleters played a major part in 2 of our previous US trips (see here for the Southwest trip report and here for British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest). So I need your help again.. especially because, while I usually take about 4 months to plan a trip like this, I now only have 8 weeks . I´ll ask questions about the Washington DC/Virginia/South part of the trip on the appropriate boards, but here I´d like your help for the Pennsylvania part. We´ll be arriving in Philadelphia late on Sunday September 6, and will leave on Wednesday. From Philadelphia we´ll head west through Pennsylvania Dutch Country, probably pass through Lancaster, York and Gettysburg, before heading south towards Shenandoah. I will be perusing the boards.. but I´d love to hear suggestions from you. What´s uniquely Philadelphian that foodloving Europeans have to try? Cheesesteak, I guess? Where´s the best? What´s absolutely not to miss in the 2 days we will be there? Any thoughts on food on route from Philadelphia to Shenandoah? We´re willing to make detours for great food and must-sees. All your help is greatly appreciated. edited, because apparently, it´s very hard to type 'Philadelphia'

woohoo! We just booked our tickets. We´ll be flying to Washington but we´ll be visiting Philly too! I´m so excited.. Katie and Kim, I´ll be PM-ing you for sure!

Oh yeah, it will be bliss when all the families with small kids retreat to Italy and the south of France.. and leave the city to us (and the tourists ) Ever since we moved to the Westerpark area, I've been slow to warm to the Westerpark (I was so very very fond of the Vondelpark), but recently, I like the terrace of the Westergasterras a lot. Friendly service, nice food, it's quiet and relaxed.. perfect for spending a morning in the sun with the paper and coffee. had a very nice dinner outside at Op de Tuin last week. Portions were a bit small, but everything was tasty, fresh and nicely done and the cheese plate we shared was one of the best I ever had in Amsterdam (with the cheese actually at room temp - something you seldom get here) and a scoop of delicious Epoisses as the star.

I'm planning another trip to the US for September, and we're debating wether to fly to Washington and go South from there, or to fly to Philadelphia and go south from there. In the last scenario, we could add Philadelphia and Baltimore to the trip, although I'm not sure if we will have time for all three (we'll want to spend a considerable amount of time in the Smoky Mountains) So I guess my question is.. if you had to choose between the 3 cities, which would you say is the most interesting to visit foodwise.. and why? Thanks.. as always, I'm looking forward to lots of great eG advice

Time to buy some fresh cardamom pods. I hate to tell you how old mine are and, like many ideas which do not come to pass, they were never used. Thanks. ← I find they keep really well.. crack them open and crush the seeds, and if they´re fragrant and citrusy smelling, you´re good to go!

something I used to make a lot: make a caramel syrup flavored with crushed cardamom ( I think cardamom and orange go really well together) and orange liqueur. Slice your oranges (pith removed) and put them in a shallow dish, pour the warm syrup over and leave to cool. Good as it is, better with something creamy like creme fraiche or mascarpone, divine with ice cream.

tracey, as a courtesy to my English and American readers I now have many blogposts in English I'll try and put more restaurant reviewsup!

that would probably be Forno Communale, mentioned upthread. Recommended!

another nice find recently was Pont 13. Report with pictures can be found here

I don't know if someone mentioned it on this thread or on another board (and am too lazy to look) but I remember someone being VERY enthusiastic about the burgers at Cafe Gruter. An America foodie claiming it was the best he/she ever had in Amsterdam.. Might be worth checking that out.. Gruter is a nice bar anyway. Cafe Gruter Willemsparkweg 73 (on the south side of Vondelpark)

I found two new pizzerias that I really like: Pizzabakkers Haarlemmerdijk 128 and Forno Communale Both have a woodburning oven, excellent crusts with great flavor, they go easy on the toppings (too much topping is my main complaint about Da Portare Via)