hjshorter

Even Bobby Flay? Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Bobby Flay have two restaurants in New York? Would that not make him a chef? If he's not a chef, why not?

You and me both! Although, it is kinda funny.

I joined WW in 2001. The advantage of joining WW was the weekly weigh-in. The disadvantage was paying $15 a week for membership and materials. Once you have the diet info, why pay so much? The meeting were boring; I would get weighed and then leave. I had nothing in common with the other members and found that very few were interested in food. If we form an eGullet program I'm in.

We'd take a large and an extra large.

Steve, we ordered the Basque cake, flan, white chocolate mousse, apple charlotte, the chocolate mousse cake, and the gelee. All were delicious but the standout for me was absolutely the Basque cake. Homey and very sophisticated all at once, and the ice cream served alongside had a wonderful airy texture. The gelee was wonderful, very refreshing - the lemon granite explodes in your mouth and provides a nice contrast to the fruit and the mellow flavor of the gelee. The waiter tried to talk us out of ordering it - he told us there were more interesting desserts on the menu. I had to insist that he bring it. I'm not sure whether it was because he doesn't like it personally, or whether he's had feedback from other customers. It is very different from the other desserts. Cookie garnishes are a wee bit trite, but it would be nice to have a little crunchy something alongside. The rest of our meal was outstanding. Will make a full report with photos later. Right now I'm almost too full to type. Edit: Scott got the explanation from the waiter - he doesn't recommend it because it has no fat in it and he thinks it's uninteresting.

They sound delicious! With a party of six we should be able to try at least four. And I will definitely report back. Thank you.

We are off to Jaleo Bethesda tonight for the first time. I love the downtown location and have high hopes for this one as well. We're going with three other couples so we should cut quite a swath through the tapas menu. Steve, if you read this, are your desserts featured there also? If so, we will save some room.

Just in case you all feel like slumming... Grilled hot dogs barbecue beans carrot and celery sticks with blue cheese dip vanilla ice cream and lemon sorbet beer for Scott, milk for the rest of us

i'm more of an alternative guy. how bout lollapiglooza.

Coffee Crunch Sundae? Kristin, is this stuff any good? It sounds pretty wierd.

Have you eye-witnessed this, FG? Companies like Proctor & Gamble have whole divisions devoted to optimizing frying media for restaurant use, and these products (like Frymax and PriMax) are almost invariably in liquid form. Imagine cleaning shortening out of a, what, 30-quart? fryer and it's easy to see that dispensing and disposal are much more efficient this way. Also remember that KFC is not using regular deep fryers -- their process for Original Recipe uses pressure frying. I would think that this presents a spearate category of challenges, especially when it comes to usable life. I worked at KFC for a short time in college. As of 1986, they used shortening that came in gigantic blocks.

Can I just say how much I love this description? What an image. I'm looking forward to your report, Vengroff. We're trying Jaleo in Bethesda for the first time on Sat night. We've only ever been to the downtown location. It will be interesting to compare them.

Can you tell me what vitamins she takes? But her kids are both in school and she works and so gets out of the house daily. That makes a huge difference. My kids are (almost) 4 and 1...not really of an age to be into shopping all the time. I do take Emma to the farmer's market weekly and have her help me choose our veggies for the week. Seriously, I try to buy and serve fresh as often as possible. But we use canned tomatoes and beans, frozen peas and corn, and I have been known to serve the occasional fish stick.

Do you have kids? I would love to shop every day, and used to before we had kids. Now I try to keep it to once a week because dragging toddlers to the store every day is torture. Hence the use of more convenience foods than I would care to admit to. Edit: emphasis mine.

It's on New Hampshire Ave, NW, about two blocks from the Watergate and Kennedy Center.

Scott discovered a conflict that weekend, but I have badgered him into going. Can you believe he was actually going to turn down the pig-pickin to attend the world Diplomacy championship here in DC? What a dweeb. For those of you who don't know already, Diplomacy is a game. Here's a short description: "The game of international intrigue. May your wit be as sharp as your sword, because Avalon Hill's DIPLOMACY game has captured the true spirit of the legendary board game. You'll start as one of the seven pre-WWI superpowers, England, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Turkey, and Austria-Hungary. These political boundaries will become your prey as you negotiate your way to the top. Beg, threaten, plead and argue your way past nations where friends become pawns and enemies become allies. You'll have to be cunning, smooth, and deceitful. This is a game that can't be left to chance. A detailed map takes you back to the dawn of the Twentieth Century!" He plays over the internet. I love him...but jeez.

Wow! What a score! Two more for me.

I would add the Washington DC area to that list, due to our very large Asian population, and well-traveled general population. Most of the dishes named in the previous post are nowhere to be found in most of the restaurants around here, except for the cheapo carry-out type places. We were pleasantly surprised to find a new Taiwanese restaurant (previously underrepresented in our area of Maryland) near us, and I can say without exaggeration that there was nothing on the menu that I recognized. The owner came to speak with us and commented that most "Europeans" (his description ) don't come there because they don't know the food.

We used to eat together every night. Now Scott gets home after the kids's dinner time, so I feed them, then eat with him when he gets home. We read at the table occasionally. Sometimes we eat and watch TV, but not often. TV trays are hazardous with a one year old cruising around the room. We have breakfast together every morning too.

Wash DC suburbs. Usually water, sometimes wine, sometimes milk. My husband drinks beer with spicy food, but I can't drink beer with food.

Trip to the farmer's market yesterday. Frittata with peppers, parmeggiano and lovely fresh arugula Greek salad with wonderful tomatoes, cucumber and local feta, evoo and red wine vinegar Cherry and blackberry clafouti

We never go to CF, because with small children a three hour wait is torture, plain and simple. However, even before we had kids we had a rule that we never wait more than 30 minutes - enough time to have one drink at the bar.

You would think so, but you would be wrong. I worked at the Kennedy Center here in Washington for years, and in this age of entitlement, ticketholders think nothing of calling up and explaining that they "missed their performance - could they get another ticket?" for free, of course. Some had legit excuses, but many just plain forgot. Others would attend the ballet and if a particular dance wasn't performed that evening would demand their money back. I'm sure they're the same people asking for rare steak but with no redness. Edit: emphasis added

Waitin' for Awbrig's schedule. Maybe we should flood him with PMs.

Charcoal grilled ribeye steak Mixed baby greens with EVOO and sherry vinegar Bread and Plugra butter (mmmmm butter) Tuppers Hop Pocket beer for Scott, water for me Lemon sorbet and vanilla ice cream