hjshorter

Joe, that post put a lump in my throat. Marcel's is now on my short list for our once-yearly fine dining experience. It sounds lovely.

Ham, gratin dauphinoise, asparagus, and Cotes du Rhone rose. Expected family cancelled so we will have mountains of ham leftover. Almond buttercream cake for dessert.

Gruyere, thickly sliced tomato, Dijon mustard on sourdough brushed with olive oil. Sprinkle of kosher salt after grilling.

I have a gratin in the oven of leftover roast lamb, thinly sliced potato & tomato, thyme, and gruyere - to be served with a green salad and crusty bread. My goodness it smells delicious. Cotes du Rhone to drink.

I cracked up when I saw that quote. Of course I wish Ms. Leeds, and especially her sous chef the lovely Tess Moseley (a local legend) the best of luck. But you could not have a more neighborhood restaurant than Trio's Subs. They've been there for like a hundred years! And there aren't too many places where those who put together their change for a steak and cheese; drag queens from across the street, college students and drunk/hungover locals mixed in a fun (but admittedly shabby) hole-in-the-wall. Their neon sign is a classic. But as long as Trio's coffee shop is still there, along with Fox and Hounds for happy hour, I guess we'll be all right. ← Well put. And yes we still have the coffee shop with the turkey and bacon club and chocolate milkshakes.

Scott and I had a delightful meal at Palena with the Busboys tonight. Special mention to our server Nathan, who handled our rowdy table with aplomb. We all shared the cafe salad, pate, Palena fries, minestrone, the sole with sea urchin sauce from the regular menu, and a large cheese plate. Charles, Scott and I had a glass of Macon before dinner, then split a bottle of Spanish grenache. Mrs Busboy had the ibitini (sp?), then a Gewurtztraminer, and a delicious espresso martini to finish. Finished with the cookie plate. Mm-hm.

Saturday I will be making hot cross buns with diced candied orange peel inside, and an orange zest icing for the cross. And of course tiny baking powder biscuits to go with our Easter Ham. My sister-in-law makes Greek Easter bread, Tsoureki, but we will have to wait for that since Greek Easter isn't until May 1 this year.

Sycophant! ← That might cross over into Toady! but I'm not sure.

Currently Emma is "Pumpkin Pie" and Ian is either "Chunky Monkey" or "Chunk-style".

We're serving a Cotes du Rhone rose with our ham this year. Beaujolais is a good choice too - I usually look for a Fleurie.

I look at the the pictures, find the ones that look interesting, make a copy, then put the giant book on the shelf. I have the memory of the dish, but don't have to splatter food all over my books.

Exactly. My beautiful cookbooks take up space. I cook from a ring binder of clippings and photocopies in plastic sleeves. If a recipe is particularly complicated I make a copy of the copy and tape it on the cupboards at eye level for reference while I'm cooking.

We have 2 kids and a limited budget. I make three meals a day, almost every day. Our last 3 meals were: Breakfast Toasted bagels with salmon spread, scrambled eggs, bacon, orange juice. Lunch Tuna salad with celery and shredded carrots, clementines. Dinner Roast boneless leg of lamb - rubbed with dijon mustard, garlic & honey, and rolled up with rosemary inside. Steamed asparagus with butter. Plain rice.

I'd like my eGullet without extra snark, please.

Ahhhhh, OK. The point must have been made too subtlely for me to comprehend. That makes more sense. I appreciate the heroic effort.

So the earlier reservations have different rules than the later ones? I have to agree with Joe - it would probably bug me to have a time limit on my dinner even if i finished within 90 minutes. It's as if the people with the 7PM reservations are more important somehow.

The best part of having little children is getting to do the holidays all over again. Black jelly beans, milk chocolate eggs with the crunchy outer shell, malted milk eggs, and a big chocolate bunny were always in our Easter baskets. Now I give my kids a little candy supplemented with crayons and stickers. No peeps though - hated those. My mother taught cake decorating when I was little for extra money, and had the Wilton eggs molds. I wonder if she still does? She made the sugar eggs for my brother and sister and me. Mine was pink with rabbits inside. It lasted a long time before getting broken in one of our many moves. I'd love to make them for my kids.

Two surprise c-sections here, and neither hospital allowed me to eat after surgery until after they were sure my system had resumed functioning - and then it was clear liquids for 24 hours after that. Torture! With my daughter, breakfast on Friday was the last meal until Saturday night when they brought me a tray of jello and apple juice. I made them bring me another and was still ready to eat the tray. If this happens to your wife, stop and pick up a BLT for her as soon as she's allowed to eat.

I am currently hooked on Lay's Natural Potato chips. I hate their regular product, but these are great, thick cut, very potatoey (if that's a word ) and just the right amount of salt. They have to be kept on the refrigerator and portioned out so that I don't scarf the whole damn bag in one sitting.

Very well put Joe. Unfortunately, fine dining in MoCo is likely to be a pipe dream, just because of the restrictive liquor laws, taxes, etc. But what we can't manage in the way of fine dining we more than make up for in the ethnic department.

I have to agree with Raisa. In our case, it's a matter of economics. We have 2 kids and one income. When you're paying $10 plus/hour for the babysitter, you tend not to pick restaurants that will add another 1-2 hours to your drive time.

You been reading Finnegan's Wake again Don?

Sure it will. with "the city" being the preferred location, and the suburbs reduced to "gly buildings, ugly roads, no sidewalks, no public transportation, and cookie cutter McMansions." None of which describe the area that I live in.

Good point Joe. Addie's in Rockville is not kid-friendly and has managed to stay open, despite MoCo's restaurant-unfriendly ambiance.

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. And potato chips. And Mike, maybe you could do my ironing while you're at it? Thanks sweetie.