hjshorter

As Margo just said - get your hands on a copy of the Fannie Farmer cookbook (AKA Boston Cooking School). Every New Englander is issued a copy at birth. Boston Baked beans?

If the timing is right, I'm in too. Maybe even with the family.

Both sound lovely. Her peach-raspberry with cardamom sounds fabulous too. I'm gonna taste how this batch turns out first before I post it. I tweak the seasonings each time.

Really? I'd be more inclined to cut a toddler some slack on that behaviour, but it's completely out of line for an adult, to the point that maybe the authorities might need to step in.

OK, I'll bite. What was so shocking? How were you able to hear him over the music?Forewarned and all...I'm taking my daughter to Artisinal on 8/7. Those of you who might be offended by the sight of an eight-year-old scarfing fondue would be advised to make reservations elsewhere that night.

I brought home a crate of peaches today from the farmer's market and went to it. I have a dozen half pints of jam, and eight pints of peach-habanero chutney. Does anyone have a favorite peach recipe to suggest? I've still got half a crate left. Some will inevitably spoil as they are very ripe seconds (paid $12 for the whole crate), but I'd like to use as many as possible before that happens.

Casual, or more upscale? We liked Le Criquet, a little place not too far from the amphitheatre. A little info. 21, Rue Porte de l'Aude. Tel : 04 90 96 80 51.

I picked up some this morning from one of the vendors at the Silver Spring market and they are getting pretty good this year. Only one vendor in SS had field tomatoes, so I'll be schlepping to Dupont tomorrow.

If we're out that way again I'd stick to a burger, and a gin & tonic. It's definitely a slice of life.

Like the layered kind made from a loaf sliced horizontally and filled with ham salad and the like? Or cream cheese and chutney? I'm with you.

Thanks Robin! It's getting tough to decide which market to go to these days.

And right over the border is one of the stupidest, most restrictive jusridictions in the US: Montgomery County, MD. All wine must be purchased from the county at inflated prices, by consumers, restaurants, and retailers. The selection is awful, and most stores closed on Sundays. I buy my wine in DC and sneak it over the border.ETA: we can't have anything shipped to us either.

The 4th of July forecast called for rain up north, so we scrapped our trip to Cunningham Falls State Park and instead drove east on Rt. 4 until we hit water in Calvert County and spent the day digging for fossils on the beach at Calvert Cliffs and working up a ferocious appetite. We had planned on dinner at home, but Scott spotted a sign for fried chicken and immediately pulled over and backed up into the driveway of Adam's Ribs, a freaky, faux log-cabin 1960's time-warp of a restaurant complete with log ceiling beams, white curtains, and a deer head over the fireplace. Decor was awesome, and we were the only people there that the waitress didn't know. We almost succumbed to the fried chicken, but that close to the water means seafood (although I'd bet that 99% of the stuff isn't local), so we opted for the grilled rockfish sandwich and the fried oyster sandwich. The oysters were very fresh, meaty and sweet. My fish was a touch overcooked, but also very fresh, and served with a slice of real tomato and sweet onion. The kid's burgers were respectable and cooked to the requested degree of doneness. The beers on tap were fairly pedestrian and we didn't even bother asking about wine. The iced tea is excellent. All in all not a stellar dining experience, but satisfying after hiking two miles to the beach and then back again. Adam's Ribs Prince Frederick 2200 Solomon's Island Road Prince Frederick, MD 20678 Tel: 410-586-0001 They have five other locations: Edgewater, Annapolis, Severna Park, and Fruitland. (We took an unexpected detour on the way home to follow a sign to a local winery; Friday's Creek Winery is on Chaneyville Road, past a beautiful painted barn and Northern High School (a rival of my alma mater Thomas Stone in Waldorf), but it was of course closed because of the holiday so we couldn't sample anything. I want to go back soon and check it out.)

The Vidalia Onion relish is super.

But, but, you're messing with the artistic vision that created that sandwich! I agree, refusing to leave off an ingredient it retarded.I had some fairly decent premade egg & cress on whole grain in London, but on the whole premade sandwiches are disgusting. Soggy & stale.

Ours is similar to Fat Guy's: lettuce, cukes, either field tomatoes (in season) or grape tomatoes, sliced red orange or yellow pepper, scallions on the side. Sometimes I grate a carrot and throw it in. Simple dijon vinaigrette, or Newman's Own olive oil vinaigrette if we're out of homemade.

Thank you!! I'll be heading over today. A few stands at the Dupont market had peaches. None knocked my socks off. I'm willing to wait a week or two for the good stuff. Same with the tomatoes.

Amen, brother. I was too self-destructive to stay in the life, but this is the part of it that made the biggest impression on me, and that I've tried to cultivate in myself over the last 20 years. Unthinking generosity, without an "you scratch my back..." calculation, although of course your back ends up getting scratched just because you're willing to give so much.Satifying as home cooking can be, there's a rush to the weeds that cannot be duplicated.

Thanks for the Twin Springs tip. The sour cherries kindly procured for me by Busboy did not measure enough for a batch of jam, so I'll be out looking again this week. And unless I'm mistaken, which is always possible, I will have to wait until at least Thursday this week to get back to a market, unless anyone here knows of a Monday or Tuesday location.

It was a gorgeous morning at the Dupont Circle market. My daughter and I wandered around for a while and came home with: blueberries and baby squash from Tree & Leaf cucumbers and bing cherries from Toigo fresh chicken and pork chops from Eco-Friendly a bone-in leg of lamb from Virginia Lamb eggs beets tarragon mesclun with edible flowers Bonaparte baguette and some apricot tart Sungold cherry tomatoes from New Morning and a sunflower Mark Toigo says that they will have sour cherries this week at Penn Qtr. Yay!

We went last night, our first time in almost a year, and spent three delicious hours there. Twenty courses with wine pairings are the road to ruin (at least for me) so we chose the dinner rather than the degustazione, and drank a Greek sparkler with the mezzethakia, a glass to match our pastas, and a bottle for the main course. I can't possibly recite every course, but highlights were: cauliflower with caviar and sea urchin essence a kiss on the back of the neck. I wanted to run my finger around the inside of the little shot glass and lick off every last drop. peekytoe crab with daikon, cucumber, edible flower petals, and a chili sauce Crab, cucumber, and daikon very clean and sweet, earthy (pasilla?) chili sauce, and intense floral aroma from the petals fava agnolotti, garlic scapes, house cured chorizo, curry emulsion brilliantly paired with a bone dry Gewurtztraminer spit-roasted goat, with 1996 Pommard "Grands Epenots," 1er cru, Domaine Michel Gaunoux. Roasted meat with Burgundy. Really, does it get any better than that? The pacing had a few slight bumps, with a some uneven gaps between the little courses at the start, but on the whole the rewards were worth waiting for. Service had the mix of formality and approachability that enchanted me last summer. It was lovely to meet Johnny ("What a nice young man," my 38-year-old husband said ) and it's always a pleasure to see Derek. Thank you Komi, and a bigger thank you to our special chauffeurs, who enabled us to enjoy that lovely Burgundy without having to drive afterwards. Oh, and the 80's music is back. Psychedelic Furs and the Smiths last night ("Keats and Yeats are on your side, while Wilde is on mine")

We finally got around to checking out La Casita, a pupuseria and carryout in a tiny little strip near the corner of Piney Branch Road and Dale Drive in Silver Spring. The menu is small and seems very traditional. The pupusas mixtas had a nice little crunch to the outside, creamy beans, and good curtido. Carne Asada was respectable and the grilled shell-on jumbo shrimp, Camarones a la Plancha, were much better than expected. All Platos de La Casita come with yellow rice studded with carrot, and either pureed and rather soupy refried red beans or a surprisingly fresh salad. We ordered Enchiladas Salvadorenas (corn tortillas fried until very crisp and topped with beans, queso seco, and curtido) on a whim and we wouldn't get them again; they were greasy and dull. The store has an extensive selection of frescos tropicales and liquidos that bears exploring, and they offer Atol de Elote, a hot corn drink that has me curious. Two platos, two pupusas, and two enchiladas came to $21.00. La Casita 8214 Piney Branch Road Silver Spring, MD 20910 301-588-6656 (They offer the usual beans, cheese, pork and combination pupusas but next time I'd like to try loroco.)

I've been three times so far and sampled the salad with grapefruit and buttermilk dressing, gravlax with melon, lamb carpaccio, risotto, black bean rillettes, soft shells with vindaloo oil, and the crazy "chicken fried" steak. Not a loser in the bunch. The Chateau Coupe Roses '03 Cuvee Granaxa remains my favorite by-the glass tipple. ETA: cheese highlights are the Livarot, and the Ossau au Piment d’Espelette.

I would assume 1 lb. dried = 1 lb. fresh, but I am certainly no authority. Whatever you do, don't use the recipe from Batali's Molto Italiano. It's an artery-hardening, unbalanced grease bomb.

Meh. There's always one of the little darlings in every group that won't eat anything but a hamburger. And while my only Five Guys experience was decidedly so-so, I would still put it above Phillips.