V.H.

I asked the Vietnamese woman in line ahead of me what she was planning on doing with her tofu (she bought about 9 pounds of it, assorted) and she said that she loves it in with meaty braises. I think she was talking about caramel sauce baised braises, which I never would have thought to do but sounds great.

I bought five chunks of a savory tofu (for a dollar!) that had mushrooms, green onions, and mung bean noodles mixed throughout the tofu. The tofu is deep fried so that the outside is a little crispy and the inside is incredibly smooth and delicious. My tofu hating 20 month old ate two of the chunks for a snack and loved them. I was there last Friday at around 2pm and the place was jumping. Good turnover.

I took a cooking class last night at 2941 and thought it was one of the most fun food experiences I've had in a long while. The class was a demonstration of different techniques and recipes in chocolate. Chef Krinn and his pastry chef Chris did the class a room with a long table set up at the front and rectangular tables for the 30 participants set up in rows. The class started with Chris demonstrating a molded chocolate while Chef Krinn provided the commentary. Chef Krinn's discussion of the technique was educational but also punctuated with plenty of humor and some anectdotes about his apprenticeships in France. Dinner is provided in the cost of the class and started with a glass of wine and bread baskets. This was my first time at 2941 and the bread is as amazing as everyone has been saying. There was pumpernickel raisin, french baguette, cherry almond, garlic chive, and another fruit studded that had yellow and white chunks. I enjoyed a piece of each except for the pumpernickel as I'm not a raisin fan. The bread was followed by a great salad with a Citrus Coriander vinagrette and an entree of Chilean sea bass with black bean sauce and shitake mushrooms. Dessert was spread over at least an hour, maybe 1 1/2 hours since we were eating things prepared in the class, and served with a glass of sparkling wine. In addition to the molded chocolates, Chef Krinn and Chris demonstrated the chocolate caramel filling for the chocolates, a chocolate mousse, chocolate-coffee truffles coated with candied hazelnuts, chocolate brownie cookies, chocolate ganache, tempering chocolate, and a glossy chocolate glaze for cake. The things that struck me the most about this class was just how NICE Chef Krinn is. He obviously loves what he does and loves sharing that knowledge with others. He was so at ease keeping up a running commentary as he and Chris went through each of the dishes. He also made sure to get the participants as involved as he could. He walked around the room with bowls and pots of things to show each person what they should be looking for in each step of his recipes. Chris broke off a chunk of good tempered chocolate so that everyone could look at it and feel it while he discussed the characteristics of tempered chocolate. At the end of the class, some folks were asking about the vinagrette recipe and the cake recipe. Chef Krinn invited anyone who wanted a recipe to come back into the kitchen where he could pull it up and print it out for them. That completely floored me. He had about 15 people (each holding a complimentary loaf of bread) crowded around his computer station while he pulled up the recipes. All in all, it was an experience that lasted just under 4 hours. Quite the bargain, if you ask me. I broke into the bread this morning for breakfast and found that it was studded with chunks of figs. Yum!

My husband ordered the "sidekick" on Friday, which is supposed to be a half cowboy cut. It was over an inch thick, and huge. No way it was 14 oz. I finally ordered those blackened scallops, and wished that I had ordered two double portions of those scallops for my dinner. Those were the most fantastic scallops I have eaten in a long time.

-Vietnamese sandwich and Iced Coffee at Song Que $5 -Lebanese food at Aladdin's Eatery in Shirlington, where most apps are $5 and most entrees are under $8 -second the recs for Huong Viet. Two coworkers took me there for my birthday lunch, we shared three dishes, and the total was $30 including tax and tip. -Full Kee -a caesar salad and a bowl of lobster bisque at Carlyle for $10. I could go on but I'm making myself hungry now

You are so right on that statement. I dream about their brisket. Mmmm... For a date, I would suggest going right on down to Capital Q, which is right there at the MCI Center/Chinatown Metro stop. After some luscious Q, take a walk down to Jaleo and get some killer dessert at the bar.

I'm signing up for the chocolate cooking class on May 16. Dinner is served with wine during the class, and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what to expect for the meal.