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bookluvingbabe

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Posts posted by bookluvingbabe

  1. I think the beauty of lockshen and cheese (what we call this recipe in my family) is the simplicity. The addition we make to the egg noodles, butter, salt and cottage cheese is sour cream. Adds some creaminess and tang.

    I haven't been able to recreate my grandmother's lockshen and cheese and I've been trying for close to 30 years. I wonder if there was sour cream in it. I also think she may have baked it because the noodles were sometimes a little crispy.

    I'd love to try a traditional recipe if you feel like sharing! Thanks1

  2. Discovered that the turkey thighs were too freezer burned to be edible, after I cooked them.

    The 2.5 year old had leftover pasta with salmon and artichoke hearts last night along with milk, cauliflower and clementines.

    I ended up with cauliflower and mini veal burgers. I think my husband had chocolate--he didn't get home from work until after 10.

    Today-- 2.5 year old had the last frozen waffle for breakfast along with milk, O's and cheese. He takes his lunch to school and asked for a sunflower seed butter and jam sandwich. I added a peach yogurt, sauteed mushrooms and clementines. The clementines and mushrooms came home uneaten. (They have a microwave in his classroom.)

    I had milk and a Trader Joe's Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Caramel for breakfast followed by tea and chicken soup. For lunch I had the rest of the mini veal burgers and roasted cauliflower.

    Dinner--the little guy asked for rice and a wrap so he had a frozen Amy's Veggie Pie and rice, along with oj and milk. I'm going to pull out frozen sweet potato gnocchi in a few minutes. He's allergic to eggs so we will different dinners some nights.

    I am down to half an onion. Other than that, I don't think I'm seriously low on any staples. And I may have some of those frozen onion cubes from Trader Joe's in the freezer with my cilantro and basil stash.

    In digging around the freezer, I counted three frozen pie crusts. I have everything to make apple pie so I think I will do that tomorrow. I took out ground goat and smoked ham steaks to defrost. I think I'll some sort of red sauce with the ground goat and will use the ham steaks as lunches for me.

    The little guy out of the blue asked for fresh blueberries and blackberries tonight. I haven't seen any at the market in a while, which I reminded him. I hope he doesn't keep asking--he's kind of hard to resist!

  3. I am going to try. I'm going to have to bend a bit with a tyrannical 2 year old in the house--fortunately we have a full box of O's in the house but I'm in deep trouble if we run out of bananas!

    I need to get stuff cleared out of the freezer--there isn't room to freeze extra soup or chili right now.

    To that end, I took out boneless turkey thighs to defrost last night. I will bake them tonight in a ginger soy sauce with brown rice and serve with roasted purple and orange cauliflower.

    Wondering about alternatives to olive oil if I run out.

    Looking forward to this!

  4. Now that we're in the thick of the season, does anyone have any current recommendations for Stratford dining? I'll be headed there for a show in a week and a half, and I'm complete newbie to the local restaurant scene. A lot of the recommendations on this thread are old, so I'd love to hear what's still worth visiting. Thanks!

    How was it?
  5. I'm sorry we missed Zee's for lunch. While our dinner was very good, the lunch menu looks so much better!

    We had dinner before theater there last week and it was lovely. They have wonderfully whimisal presentations. The mushroom and goat cheese app is terrific and the duck entree was very nice. My friends tried the quail, the pork and the sirloin and all were happy with their choices.

    The night before was less successful with a decision to "wing it" once we got to the Falls. After seeing LOTR-the Musical and driving back from Toronto we were in no condition to make good choices. We ended up at the Happy Wanderer for German food. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't very good and the service was downright lousy. I know there aren't a lot of good choices at the Falls but this was pretty impressively disappointing.

  6. Another visit to Stratford has come and gone. The food scene has some wonderful highlights but the overall impression is that service continues to go downhill.

    The decent, but nothing special to write home about spots:

    We had breakfast at Madelyn's and it was disappointing for the first time. The fruit cup was canned and the eggs were way overcooked.

    Breakfast at Feature's was the same as ever. Worth a visit once during the trip...

    Dinner at the Boar's Head--we were there over 2 hours. They ran out of shepherd's pie and didn't mention to us that they were making them from scratch until we had been waiting for over an hour. They did comp us dessert --burnt, awful fruit pie.

    (A visit later in the week for lunch was much better but still not the fun experience we used to have there.)

    Bentley's--they lost our appetizer order, the Guiness stew was underseasoned and my basil parmeson chicken had the nastiest tasting basil. Again we were comped dessert and for the first time in six years they actually had the caramel apple cheesecake! It was very good at least.

    The Olde English Parlour--We had a nice lunch, the portions were reasonable and tasty. The food just didn't sing.

    The very nice spots:

    I'm not sure how we missed Foster's the first few years we went. It is good food at very good prices with very good service. The seasonal salad with heirloom tomatoes and goat cheese was fabulous and the pasta special I had was very nice. The real winner of the evening was the roasted chicken though.

    We went back to Down the Street after skipping a year in protest of extraordinarly rude service. We had good service and tasty food. The angus burger is pretty wonderful.

    Boomer's--really, I could eat there every day but we went twice. The fish on a bun is just about perfect and the poutine makes me very happy. I switch to sweet potato fries for the second visit and was almost as happy. The burger was reportedly quite good and the black bean chili is a big hit as well.

    And the best places:

    My friends were a bit reluctant to go the Globe. The sticker shock mentioned in many posts, the odd combinations of flavors, etc., were all mentioned. I was pretty insistent and everyone was glad we went.

    We didn't order enough dishes--my intermission of South Pacific we were all hungry. (We had plenty of time--the price tag escalation was the primary concern I think.)

    We had the shoestring fries (how do they get them that thin?), the mushroom risotto, the spinach lady bird, lobster bisque, the bbqed chicken (a real winner for me), the pork schnitzel and two specials off the board--a beef tenderloin dish and the roast lamb loin. Both were excellent. I loved how the flavors mixed together and how different it was from anything else in Stratford. If we had gone earlier in the week or had a longer stay, we would have gone back.

    For our final night we went to the Church which was just about perfect. I had:

    King Oyster Mushroom Velouté

    Chanterelle and Summer Savory Stuffed Chicken Wing

    Watercress Purée

    A roast veal that is no longer on the menu

    Classic Kobe Beef Striploin and Sautéed Marrow

    Caramelized Salsify, Pickled Chanterelles and ‘pommes boulangere’

    Thyme Infused Red Wine Jus (Where has salsify been all my life?)

    and the Chocolate Espresso Marquis with Summer Fruits

    Port Wine Reduction

    Bay Scented Ice Cream

    Service was perfect as always. Two of had the wine pairings and one skipped it. We always go on Saturday night after the theater rush is over and it is simply a wonderful time--not rushed at all.

    We peeked at the Schnitzel House and it looked fine but we had terrible german food in Niagara Falls so skipped it. Garlics is now Gilt and the menu looks the same. Our innkeeper reported that there was a split between the owners that resulted in the name change. I completely failed to ask about dim sum but wonder if it was the new place on Ontario near the King Family Buffet. I think it is called Hong Kong.

    Completely skipped Bijou, Sapori and Pazzo. We were there fewer days this year so our choices were more limited.

    Still it was a good trip and I look forward to my next jaunt eagerly.

    Jennifer

  7. Breakfasts at the Court itself aren't bad--Angie makes a mean eggs and cheese sandwich. Plus employees get a discount.

    Don't eat at the Senate (or the House.)

    Cheap eats for breakfast and lunch can be had at Jimmy T's--East Capitol and 5th Street SE.

    There isn't a lot of good grocery shopping right near the Court--Eastern Market can be pricey.

    Sonoma on Pennsylvania Avenue can be done for a reasonable price if you order carefully.

    Good luck!

  8. Getting ready for the annual Stratford feeding frenzy.

    I have heard that Garlic's is closed as is Falstaff's. Never made it to Garlic but I liked Falstaff's.

    New in town are Cafe Ten at 10 Downie Street (trying to imagine which store it took over...) and The Schnitzel House at 107 Downie Street (ditto).

    Anyone heard anything about either? Will ask our innkeeper when we get there.

    We have decided to take our chances and try the Belfry for lunch after boycotting it for years. We love the Church so much but had truly awful service upstairs.

    We may try the Old Prune and Pazzo for lunch for their prixe-fixe options.

    Deeply disappointed by Sapori last go round so not sure if we're going back.

    Definitely will try the Globe and am intrigued by Avoca.

    Plus the many trips to Boomers.

    Can't wait!

  9. All opinions/ideas welcome.

    What goodies/specialties would you like to see or do you already enjoy at your local tea room like for lunch???

    What would you like to see for Afternoon Tea?? Afternoon Tea being the one person serving on a little three tier tray with one tray of tea sandwiches, one tray of scones, cream & jam and one tray of desserts.

    We can Americanize this a bit of course.  I'm more into shabby chic and whimsy as opposed to tradition & formal. :biggrin: But tea parties for sure!

    Nothing weird in the scones. No currents or raisens or lemon zest. Give a good honest scone.

    Offer full-size tea sandwiches with something other than white bread.

    Offer just cream tea as an option.

  10. :sad: Boo hoo. I miss Le Rivage. It was on the waterfront, above the DC Yacht Club. Lovely French food and wine with lovely service. Then the Yacht Club decided to expand and booted them out.  :sad:

    And the only consistently good food near the Arena Stage.

    Come to think of it, I haven't been back to the Arena since it closed...

  11. The hot dogs and buns tend to be wrapped up together at most Costcos, but this has no impact on one's ability to use the oven trick. What they do is unwrap the foil and put the whole thing through the oven: foil, hot dog and bun together. It works really well.

    The lobster rolls they sell in New England and the Maritimes are good. They have much bigger, more identifiable chunks of lobster. That one from Winnipeg looks terrible.

    The Kitchener Costco has lobster rolls during the summer. Tasty but small for the price. And since its next to East Side Mario's and I only have so many calories to spend on vacation, I've been skipping it the last few visits.
  12. OK.. I having never been to a Trader Joes, I just know its bad.  I would like a Pros and Cons list of the two. I know that Trader Joes is known for there branded products.. I would like a head to head contest between NY'S finest and this Trader Label.. I will spot Trader Joes five places..

    Whats your favorite Trade Joes product?  I think collectively we can find at least five places where NYC makes it better..

    But how many boroughs would you have to go to and how long would it take?

    I love Trader Joes. I love the convience and I love the 100% satisfaction gurantee. So when the clementines grow moldy in 12 hours or the mushrooms are slimey in 6, I take them back.

    What do I usually buy?

    1) Cauliflower--the season in DC is incredibly short. I think the farmers market had cauliflower for 2 weeks this past year. I can get heads for roasting for $2. Whole Foods has them for $4.

    2) Decent olive oil that I use for everything at a better price than I can find anywhere.

    3) Meatless meatballs--total convience food and I admit it.

    4) Yogurt--rumored to be made by Stonyfield, sure tastes the same as Stonyfield and ten cents cheaper to boot.

    5) dried pasta--sixty-nine cents a pound. Another convience food I adore.

    I do most of my shopping at the local farmers market, Whole Foods and TJs. I don't have time to do more than an occasional run to Cheesetique or other specialty purveryors and I really can't imagine living in NY and having time for that.

    I guess I'll just keep selling my soul to the chain demon.

  13. For those who don't follow the DC-area food scene (I do since I have family down there), CG is known for her, um, shall we say, ATTITUDE.  I've yet to eat in her restaurant because I don't like what I've read about her (i.e. many rules in her restaurant, lack of flexibility), but I've also read that her food is good.  Despite all of this, she does manage to stay in business.

    She's also on her 4th place in 10-12 years. (The place on K Street; then the one on CT where Palena is now; then Greenwood on CT which is now Buck's...)

    There are too many good places in DC to spend my money to deal with her attitude and overpriced food.

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