Lori in PA

To be a bit more on-topic: I share all recipes. I am certainly not a professional, but most of my friends consider me a cooking "expert" -- kwim? The only thing that bugs me is when I share the recipe for one of my "signature" dishes and a friend starts bringing it to potlucks or serving it at dinner parties within our same circle of friends. That seems thoughtless to me.

Wendy, I don't spend a huge amount of time on the pastry/baking threads but whenever I've encountered you I've been impressed with your balance of professionalism and the welcoming attitude you display to casual participants and beginning bakers. Thanks for all you do as host! Now, I need to bake a wedding cake for 1500 guests. The wedding is tomorrow. I've never done any baking except for using my Easy Bake Oven when I was a kid, and the dog refused to eat my cupcake that time. Anybody got a recipe for me?

STAFF -- so that's how you are able to have a life beyond guest house-keeping! How many employees altogether? Do they stay with you long or do you get a lot of transient help? Food-related: What was the side dish on the chef's choice plate -- it looked like mango salad?

As a person who nurtured a secret desire to be a B&B owner for a few years but has since returned to her senses, I look forward to hearing the wonderful, the mundane, and the awful about your life! Questions: 1. Did you have previous experience? How did you learn how to do this? 2. Do you find it difficult to have a sense of privacy and a life apart from meeting the needs of your guests? 3. Have you always been a morning person? At what time must you start your day? Do you have days when you'd like to just hand all the guests a glass of milk and a Poptart and call it good? 4. What do most of your guests prefer, culinarily speaking: familiar food or the new and the daring? 5. Could you tell us about your best ever guest and also your too-awful-to-be-believed guest? 6. How do you procure your ingredients? Do you grow anything yourself? Does your climate have distinct seasons, and therefore seasonal foods? 7. Have I asked enough questions?

After all of your very kind advice, our plans changed a bit. We ended up staying in downtown DC for an early supper at Jaleo's -- the Spanish tapas place. It was perfect for us. Then we made the pilgrimage to Ikea. So, my culinary experiences in that area consisted of a Starbucks coffee and a cinnamon roll eaten in the van after Ikea. The roll (just baked from Ikea) wasn't bad, but it had a weird marshmallow-flavored glaze I wasn't wild about.

My Day and How I Spent It (and What I Ate): I was in DC from 7 am until 3:30 pm while dh worked. I met the co-workers, then headed to Teaism. I had the tea-smoked salmon with raita and naan -- very good and a pleasant place to read -- they weren't busy so I lingered. I looked in on Olson's Books. I headed to the National Gallery of Art to see the Cezanne en Provence exhibit. I'd planned to wait for dh to eat a late lunch/early supper, but got peckish so I had a bow of tomato soup at the cafe in the museum, a good decision because dh was stuck in a late meeting. We went to Jaleo together and had a great time. We had the apple and manchego cheese salad, chicken and ham fritters, calamari with alioli, and the quail with honey alioli and rosemary sauce. I enjoyed all. We shared the basque cake for dessert -- yum! Thanks to all for patient recommendations -- you helped make my day a treat!

Thank you everyone. Busboy, I realized I probably sounded snippy with my "hardly creative" comment and didn't mean it that way at all. I really appreciate everyone taking time to respond so specifically. I'm sure you get a lot of these requests and it is kind of you to use your time to help. There are so many possibilities here I think I'll just have to come back several times to try them. I'll report back on what happens this time.

Thanks very much, Melissa. That sounds like a great method for getting a nice meal for the tapas novice. Do you mind me asking how much you wanted to spend?

I think I'll be able to have lunch at Jaleo in a few days. I'll be alone and I've never eaten tapas before. Can somebody give me a primer/etiquette advice? Is it ok to order one dish at a time? Can I bring my book and stay awhile? Is a reservation important? What's the single best high-protein dish I MUST order?

Jaleo may be "hardly creative" to you but I've never had tapas before, so I'd like to go there. How does one order in such a place? Is it ok to order one thing at a time? (I have weird digestion, must eat slowly, and don't always know how much I can "hold" at a given meal.) Is this the sort of place where no one will mind if I bring a book and take my time?

I just found this thread. Thank you! I know nothing more about Mexican food than what I've learned from my little local restaurant that caters to the migrant population, so you are opening up a new world for me.

Thank you very much for the recs AND discussion -- it helps a lot.

I'll be spending the day alone in the mall area of DC in a few days while dh is at work. Where could I eat lunch that is: --inexpensive-ish? --focuses more on protein than starch? --will let me take my time?

Dh and I will be exploring IKEA for the first time in a few days. Where can we go for dinner that is: --inexpensive - moderate? --focuses more on protein than starch (dietary need)? The second requirement eliminates a lot of ethnic restaurants. We love adventuresome food, though. Ideas?

Coffee, oh yeah. I just don't feel right if I haven't had at least one sweet thing during the day, but candy doesn't count. I'm not much of a candy person. I prefer home-baked things, but in a pinch a slice of cinnamon toast before bed will do.

Fast reply: My little rural area is sooooo an innie. Hog maw, chicken and waffles, potpie, pickled beets/eggs, and other Pennsylvania Dutch delights. (Unless you count embracing McDonalds, I guess.) Being an innie isn't a bad thing, though. I'm grateful I can travel to an area and find people staunchly continuing the local food traditions -- how else would I experience them so well?

Oh, dear, Jamie -- I never pictured you for a guy who owns a chicken-shaped egg cooker!

You've given some lovely bean soup ideas here, everyone. I decided to chime in to balance that picture. I had to be gone all day yesterday, knew the whole family would be eating late, and wanted an instant dinner. I had about 3 servings of pureed white bean soup with venison sausage languishing in the freezer. I thawed that in the microwave and dumped it into the crockpot with 2 cans of canellini beans (drained, 1 big and 1 little can), one chopped yellow onion (not even sauteed first), a heaping spoon of bottled, minced garlic, 1 qt. of Swanson's Natural Goodness "boxed" chicken broth, some dried sage and grinds of black pepper. I cut up a package of "lite" kielbasa and threw that in, too. The crockpot did its thing all day on low, since everything but the onion was already cooked. It was good. Not ethereal, but satisfying and provender for the hungry hoard. Dinner should always be so easy -- yay for beans, even canned!

I went to a Trader Joe's for the first time yesterday -- the one in Silver Spring, MD. After perusing this thread first, I had a list of recommended items to watch for. I had 45 minutes to shop. I came away with $65.43 worth of: frozen french green beans prosciutto Total Greek yogurt cornichons cashew/macadamia butter Cheese: brie, Red Dragon cheddar with ale and mustard (for dh, who loves to try a new cheese), Montchevre goat cheese 3-pack of crottins, Dubliner Almond Patisserie cookie twists garlic mustard aioli sauce triple ginger cookies Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon sliced almonds panko breadcrumbs Savory Thin rice crackers and a few other goodies I'm not remembering. I picnicked in the car as I drove home on procuitto-wrapped brie (assembled at traffic lights!), Savory Thins, and a bottle of Mango juice drink. The crackers are very good. At home, we had the cookie twisty things for dessert and thought they were nice. I'm anxious to try the bacon -- I've never had anything finer than typical grocery store stuff.

Venison stroganoff -- is this cooked quickly or long and slow? I love stroganoff-like things -- tell me more.

Lovely photo documentation, Lynette. I made my first duck confit several weeks ago and am gearing up for a cassoulet session with most of the meat.

What kind of pots and pans are you using? Do you love them? That's a very nice looking dinner, btw.

But has anybody from here tried this??? Somebody get out there in the name of research and taste one of these things for the rest of us too-icked-out folks, ok?

Enough talk about kitties and their dishes! You work in a cookware store???? Oh boy! Any chance your blog readers can get a discount this week? (Sorry, did I say that?) Really, though, are we going to get to see pictures of the store and the merchandise? Are you willing to give product recs? Could we get a top ten list of your most-used/loved kitchen tools?

As a fan of crab quiche myself, I'm imagining the tantalizing smell, Susan. Me and you and Travolta -- who knew?