C. sapidus

Pork ribs rubbed with "magic dust" and baked in the oven. Coleslaw with onion, yellow mustard, rice vinegar, a little sugar, and mayo to balance. Canned beans gussied up with mustard, smoked paprika, ancho powder, and sauteed onion, garlic, and bird chiles.

Blue crabs are not unique to Maryland but I have never had good steamed blue crabs or crab cakes outside Maryland, Delaware, or coastal Northern Virginia. Steamed with Old Bay, piled on brown paper-covered tables, wooden hammers to crack the claws, a bowl of Maryland crab soup (clear, red), and a bucket for the shells, gills (“devil’s fingers”), and whatnot. The mindset is that picking crabs is an excuse to spend time with people whose company you enjoy. Oh, and drink beer. For the brave, slurping the crab “mustard” (you don’t want to know) is a special treat. “Pit beef” is a Baltimore thing. Beef, usually top round, cooked rare or medium rare over charcoal, sliced thinly, and served on a kaiser roll with sliced raw onion and “Tiger sauce” (1 part horseradish and 2 parts mayonnaise). Probably my least favorite form of BBQ but pretty tasty. “Half-smokes” are a DC thing, traditionally half beef and half pork sausages with a closely-guarded mix of spices. Another thing the DC area is known for is Ethiopian food. I expect that this can also be found in Ethiopia 😉 but the DC area has one of the largest expatriate Ethiopian communities and the food is uh-may-zing. Best enjoyed with tej, an Ethiopian honey wine.

I am a fairly adventurous eater, and not everything has been a favorite. A Russian grandma once loaded my plate with cold slabs of lard doused with her homemade hot sauce. Cold lard was not great, but the hot sauce was flavorful and I cleaned my plate. The only two things that I consistently do not like are honeydew and cantaloupe. Most folks seem to love them, and I try them every few years just to confirm, but there is a sickly-sweet taste that puts me off.

I never liked mac and cheese until we went to a friend's wedding in South Carolina. Host family prepared all of the food, and the mac and cheese was a revelation. Great BBQ also. I was the wedding photographer, for better or worse. This was my favorite picture from the reception.

Green eggs and roasted Poblano chiles. Sauce was onion, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, flat-leaf parsley, and spinach, cooked down and pureed with coconut milk. Solids were scrambled eggs and roasted/cubed chile Poblano. Not everyone finds this color . . . appealing . . . but for me, it means flavors that I love. Also, we have way less stuff in the fridge.

Clean-out-the-fridge fried rice, with chorizo, ginger, shallots, jalapeno, roasted chile Poblano, fermented black beans, garlic, shrimp, cilantro, and soy sauce.

"Five-flavored" shrimp with toasted sesame seeds (gkoong hab roet). The five flavors are hot (roasted dry chiles), sour (tamarind, rice vinegar), salty (fish sauce), sweet (sugar), and bitter (fried garlic and shallots). A whole head of garlic sacrificed its life for this meal. Jasmine rice to go with. Mrs. C air-fried carrots with chipotle and whatnot. Nice texture and flavor. This was a wing-it meal on a snowy day. I always have shrimp in the freezer, and we get carrots for the dogs.

Thank you so much for taking us along on a spectacular trip, @KennethT! You have inspired me to cook some food that I love. Your last meal looked scrumptious. I would have had a hard time not ordering rendang. 😃

Scalloped chayote and corn (chayotes y elotes gratinados): Alternating layers of chayote (peeled and thinly sliced) with corn kernels and grated pepperjack cheese. Sauce was sauteed white onion, garlic, and chile jalapeno, mixed with flour, whisked with milk, and seasoned with chopped cilantro and Mexican oregano. Topping was panko and parmesan with melted butter. Would you consider that "hot dish"? A friend stopped by so, short on time, Mrs. C tossed air-fried meatballs with Costco pesto.

Dinner from 'Cradle of Flavor': Sambal udang (stir-fried shrimp sambal): make a paste of toasted shrimp paste, Holland chiles, garlic, shallots, macadamia nuts (sub for candlenuts), and palm sugar. Fry the paste slowly, and then stir-fry with the shrimp. Lots of flavor and sneaky-hot. Tumis sayur (stir-fried baby bok choy with smashed garlic and Holland chiles) and nasi udak (lemongrass-scented coconut rice) to go with Edit: Inspired by @KennethT's delicious travelogue

'Indian Home Cooking' by Aiken Coleman. I checked other recipes and found the same problems - mismatches between the ingredients list and instructions, absence of measurements, etc. Still, a thoughtful gift.

Lamb kofta with saag: Saute chopped onion and sliced garlic, fry with cumin seed, black mustard seed, turmeric, and ground coriander, and then simmer with chicken stock. Make lamb meatballs with salt and pepper, then fry. Simmer meatballs, spinach, and cilantro in the soup until done. Pilaf-style cumin rice with black cardamom, bay leaves, and cinnamon stick to go with. Mrs. C said it was the best Italian wedding soup she ever had. 😆 This was a new cookbook, a gift from a friend. Lets just say it needs editing. The soup was supposed to include potatoes, but none were listed in the ingredients so I didn't get any. After frying the onion and garlic, it says to remove half, but never tells you what to do with them (I added back into the soup, but maybe it was supposed to go in the meatballs). Coconut milk "if needed" is listed in the ingredients, but never mentioned again. Etc, etc. Glad this was not my first time cooking Indian food.

Sounds like a remarkable woman

After watching 'Landman' I have been craving Mexican food. So, chileatole rojo de pollo with potato, zucchini, and shiitake mushrooms. The broth was sauteed white onion and garlic, blended with ancho chile powder, masa harina, and chicken stock. Would have been better with epazote but none at the international market so I used a few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley. Topped with feta cheese.

DC has one - Makan (clicky) - but if I have eaten there it would have been way back when I lived closer. I do cook Malaysian recipes, but I've never been within thousands of miles of the country itself.

Went out for a rare fancy meal tonight at the newly-opened Wye Oak Tavern, the latest from the hometown celebrity chef Voltaggio brothers. Dessert looked good so we saved room by splitting several appetizers and sides. Apologies, but no food pics - my bad, the food was very visually appealing. The building dates to 1845, when the Visitation Academy was established, including a convent and girls' school. Like most churches in Frederick, it was converted to a hospital in 1862 after the Battle of Antietam. The convent closed in 2005, the Academy closed in 2016, and the Visitation Chapel was deconsecrated in 2024. We sat up on the mezzanine, near the pipe organ with a view to the bar. Drinks: Hat Trick for me (Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon, Spiced Rum, Urfa Chile-Infused Honey, Grapefruit, Lemon, Rosemary). St. Agrestis Phony Negroni for Mrs. C. Drinks were excellent. Fluke crudo: benne seed chili crunch, blood orange, salt and vinegar sweet potato chips. Fluke was sliced very thin, lots of flavor in the topping, and the thinnest and most delicate sweet potato chips I have ever seen. Maryland crab cake: shishito emulsion, blue corn tortilla, buttermilk lime crema. This was the highlight for me, with the sauce wonderfully complementing the gleaming hunks of jumbo lump crab Cheese ravioli: robiola bosina, black winter truffle, pecorino. Delicious Rigatoni: arrabbiata sauce, smoked parmesan, brown butter. Flavors grew nicely Savory pumpkin pie: honeynut squash, whipped ricotta, pumpkin seed pesto. Interesting - looked like it should be super sweet but it was not. Flavors were a bit muted, but the pumpkin seed pesto was Mrs. C's highlight. Young broccoli: broccoli chimichurri, crushed red pepper, crispy garlic. Very good Saved room for dessert: sticky toffee pudding. Worth it

We installed a Rev-A-Shelf pull-out trash can thingie 20 years ago, and it is holding up just fine. Yes, I realize this is only tangentially related to your question. Good luck!

Scrambled eggs with bay scallops, adapted from 'Zarela's Veracruz': Saute shallot and garlic, then add sliced jalapeno, pickled jalapeno, Kalamata olives, capers, crushed tomato, and cilantro with the scallops. When that is about cooked, scramble in the eggs. Spicy, with an interesting mix of pickly flavors.

One of our absolute favorite meals, especially with ripe summer tomatoes! Lunch concoction, lots of must-go's: Sequentially saute crumbled Mexican chorizo with cumin seed and sliced onion, jalapenos, bird chiles, and cabbage. Add a roasted chile Poblano and season with cayenne, pepper, fish sauce, and lemon juice. Yes, I was going for spicy. 😉 Toss in leftover salmon patties to warm, and top with feta. Sliced avocado to go with.

I have found bugs in dried Mexican chiles once or twice over many years. A spell in the freezer seemed to cure the problem. The only time we had a more widespread infestation was from fresh fruit stored ambient. But that was human error on our end.

Thai eggplant curry is one of my favorite things in the universe, but some dislike the texture. Or just cross-hatch a halved eggplant, stuff the cuts with fresh rosemary, garlic, and copious olive oil, and broil it under high heat. Delish. Anyway. Stir-fried shrimp with aromatic tomato-cream sauce: Stir-fry black mustard seeds until they pop, add garlic, and then stir-fry shrimp until partly done. Add a sauce of tomato paste, garam masala, cumin seed, cayenne, cilantro, minced jalapeno, bay leaves (sub for curry leaves), lemon juice, and coconut milk. Super easy. Stir-fried cabbage with fennel seeds: Stir-fry cumin seed, fennel seed, and sesame seeds, add sliced onion and stir-fry until browned, and then add sliced cabbage. Cook down the cabbage until browned, add cayenne, and finish with lemon juice and garam masala. A long-time favorite.

Dry-fried beef slivers: NY strip steak, de-stringed celery, ginger, and scallion whites, all cut into slivers. Stir-fry the beef until beginning to crisp, then mix in Shaoxing wine, Pixian dou ban jian, ginger, scallions, Sichuan peppercorns, and soy sauce. Finish with sesame oil off the heat. Lotsa flavor. Stir-fried rainbow chard with er jing tiao chiles, Sichuan peppercorns, and smashed garlic, also finished with sesame oil. Leftover rice to go with.

Let's call this "Mexican" fried rice: dinner leftovers (catfish, zucchini, and roasted chile Poblano in garlic-cilantro-lime sauce), plus chorizo, fish sauce, and an egg, topped with avocado.

Catfish al mojo de ajo con calabacitas: Garlic cloves sauteed and then blended with gelled chicken stock from a previous Mexican meal. Catfish fillets fried in the garlic-rich oil and then finished in the oven. Zucchini cubes, seared and then cooked down with roasted chile Poblano, the garlic sauce, and lots of cilantro. Lime wedges at the table. Arroz blanco: jasmine rice fried with white onion and garlic, and then steamed with chicken stock.

I remember HWOE. Welcome back!