seawakim

see you all at Square One

Is anyone going to this year's Taste Washington event at the Exhibition Center? (did anyone go last year?) I was just on Ticketmaster and saw this event. I read a little more about it here. I'm wondering if it's worth just going for the food as I'm not a serious wine drinker at all. Do any members have input?

I love steak tartare and used to eat it quite often at home (in Europe). The best I've had was prepared with Argentinian beefsteak. Locally, El Gaucho really serves up a nice steak tartare. I would highly recommend it. Canlis is also featuring Wasyugyu Steak Tartare made from KOBE style beef. YUM. Sounds great, but I haven't tried it yet. I do remember trying the Kobe-style beef at 727 Pine and I really liking it.

At our last meeting for the buffet lunch we had casually mentioned doing it again this week. Since Valentine's Day falls on this Friday I'm wondering if this plan will still work out for people. What do you guys think? Should we still meet for buffet lunch?

Gravy on pizza? Chocolate? I wonder what else we could come up with?

Did you find the staff to be knowledgable about the dishes?

I haven't seen the magazine yet but would be interested in taking a look at it given the opportunity. I think Martha Stewart usually has an edge when it comes to these sort of things.

My eating habits and times have changed so many times in the last few years that I'm not sure I have truly established a pattern that works. I grew up eating larger lunches and smaller dinners during the week and opposite on the weekends. Dinner was usually around 6pm. When I worked a 9-5 schedule I started with breakfast around 7am, lunch at 12pm and dinner at 7pm. Now, hubby and I have everchanging schedules and I eat whenever I feel like it. I don't stick to any sort of schedule because my lifestyle doesn't allow it. When we decide to start a family I will try to keep the 6pm dinner schedule that seems to be quite popular.

Those must be the most elite Peeps around, lucky little suckers....getting to sit on the edge of a pietart filled with ganache..........makes me want to be a peep for a day Night, your pictures are hilarious!

I use epicurious mostly for recipes. I like that some of them contain pictures and I appreciate searching by ingredient. Sometimes I read the reviews or pay attention to the "number of forks" a recipe has been given by the users, but I often have found myself to disagree with their assessment. I find the site in general to be not easily navigated and loaded with too many pop-up advertisements.

Which is the best wine to use in a tomato based red pasta sauce and why?

Tonight I'll be making Spaghetti with Mario Batali's Bolognese sauce for my hubby. I will serve it with a Classic Caesar Salad. Recipe for the sauce is here: Mario Batali's Bolognese Sauce

Thank you, my husband appreciates it. Hopes he makes use of them

Dinner last night was fun and eclectic: Salmon wrapped in Pesto Phyllo Vegetable Cake with fennel

Does anyone know if they are serving a Coconut Gelato?

Love that link Nightscotsman. Very nice resource. Thank you.

Oh boy.....the things one does when nothing else is in the house. Caramel syrup right out of the jar, saltines with just about anything, condiments always come in handy for a variety of cravings, and those emergency semi sweet chocolate chips have satisfied many chocolate cravings. I remember a couple of times when I tried to make a dinner with ramen and condiments

I'm looking for reliable sources of reputable mail order gourmet chocolates. Something other than Godiva, Bernard C., Neuhaus and the usual suspects. Can anyone help?

Jacques made it all worth it. He made a marbled chocolate box, a beautiful white chocolate bow to top it, chocolate balloon cage, chocolate flowers and confections to fill the box with. It was a pleasure to watch him create his artful pieces, as I believe the chocolate just obeys his every wish. Nightscotsman, you're chocolate cake sounds awesome!

I'm one hour into the Chocolate Obsession Week on FoodTV and cannot believe what they are doing to my favorite food. Words like sinful and death are overused and shouldn't even be used in reference to chocolate anyways IMHO. After watching Emeril make a mockery of chocolate by burning it into a fallen souffle and topping it with what looked like chocolate syrup along with his usual array of words like "bam", "kick it up" I didn't think it could get any worse. But I was wrong. Next up was the Best of show which started out their chocolate episode by showing some guy using Baker's and Hershey's to make a variety of things. Why do I keep watching? Well I have great hope that my knight Jacque Torres will ride up on a chocolate horse and rescue me or at least share some of his skill and recipes Anyone else out there watching this?

Chicken Oporto, a wonderful chicken served with a white port cream based sauce (infused with fresh nutmeg) and loaded with any type of mushroom preferred.

Aaaaaaahh! Now that's an idea! Actually it's similar to what I ended up doing with it. I made a champagne ganache torte and a champagne turkey dish I found in an old recipe book. We had 2 different bottles of 1/4 and 1/3 full of good champagne left ( can't even begin to explain ) Although I doubt I'll ever be in this predicament again I appreciate all the ideas. Thank you!

I love that idea and will try it next time I eat egg rolls. Best egg roll I ever had contained lobster meat, cream cheese, chives, chili flakes and some other interesting ingredients that don't come to mind at this hour.

There was nothing edible that I wouldn't at least try even as a young child. I remember the only thing I didn't like were brussel sprouts. However, when served I had to eat at least one before being allowed to leave the table. I think I've actually become more selective with age as I became more informed on the origin, preparation and on health effects of certain foods.

My goodness.....when will this insanity STOP? I am glad I saw your post, because it sparks one of the biggest reasons why a TV show is less enjoyable for me. I don't understand why the camera movements have to be shaking all over the screen and cuts/editing causing the quick jumping around of angles, the constant use of filters and adjustment of the speed......why? why? why? Why is almost EVERYTHING filmed like an MTV Video. I am truly tired of this filming style used in too many pieces. I thought this was supposed to be a food "documentary". Anyways, I think the content of this program was good and it was especially interesting to see someone like Mario Batali, whom I consider to seem quite genuine, in a training position.