hjshorter

Yum! Someone submitted a recipe for that while I was compiling recipes for the cookbook my daughter's preschool is putting out. I kept it.

Oh man, I just laughed so hard I got an asthma attack. Several years ago we went to a lovely Mediterranean restaurant in Berkeley, and as our waiter was describing the cheese course he obviously blanked on one. "It's, (loooooong pause) a cheese." We had consumed a lot of wine at this point and couldn't stop laughing at the poor guy. We left him a nice tip.

Pineapple-Rhubarb upside down cake, the kind with marshmallows. My grandmother used to make it all the time. Lady Baltimore cake. Real Devil's Food cake. My mother's one bowl spice cake. German Chocolate cake. Anything homemade, really. I seem to be the only person I know who bakes from scratch anymore. I'm sick of going to birthday parties and getting cake mix with canned frosting. Or even worse - supermarket bakery cakes with shortening in the frosting. Blech!

Very nice article about chef Jose Andres in today's food section of the Washington Post.. Click

TrishCT, do you know if Sure Gel is a national brand? I will have to hunt it down. And does the freezer jam recipe work with other fruits?

I forgot to mention one thing I realy liked - the recipe newsletter that comes with your delivery, tailored to that week's offerings. Several of our family favorites have come from it.

JAZ, would you mind posting it? That sounds great.

If anyone is in the Dupont area I'd be interested to know if Thai Chef is still any good. That was the closest Thai place to our apartment when we lived downtown and had decent food. I noticed the last time I drove by that they have expanded and added a sushi bar.

Whole foods bought Fresh Fields. They kept the Fresh Fields name in the DC area for a few years, but now are moving everything to the Whole Foods name.

McD's Filet of Fish used to be the only fast food sandwich I liked. A few years ago, I stopped ordering them because they stopped tasting as good - not as fresh. Interesting to know that the sauce was put together in-house. The geniuses who stopped steaming the buns probably oversaw the reformulation of the "shakes" from actual dairy products to chemical goo around the same time. Kentucky Fried Chicken (before they morphed into KFC to avoid the toxic word "fried" in the title ) used to make their biscuits by using a biscuit mix and fresh buttermilk. Their coleslaw was also made in house by chopping cabbage, carrots and onions. I wonder if they have moved to prepackaged product too.

I was on bed rest for months when pregnant with my son. My best friend hosted a baby shower for me at my house, because I wasn't allowed to go anywhere. It was a little wierd but it worked under the circumstances - it was catered, so I didn't have to sit while someone else cooked in my kitchen.

We were at Disneyworld last October for a week at the Boardwalk Inn. I would recommend the Coral Reef, California Grill, and the Flying Fish for dinner. For lunch, Spoodles or the Bistro in Epcot Center were OK.

The Trader Joe's near me sells something called skim deluxe. It does taste a little richer. They add calcium to it and if you don't shake the carton every time it all settles to the bottom.

In about mid-May the market should be in full swing. We should plan another outing then if Malawry is up for it. What is it with you and ramps?

They've changed that now. It's whole milk until age two, then switch to lowfat. I prefer skim, but Ian is being weaned to whole milk, Emma drinks 1%, and I'll be damned if I'm going to buy three kinds of milk every week, so Scott and I drink the 1% too. The organic skim tastes much better than the regular supermarket stuff.

In DC, I would guess boring power lunches with lobbyists. Out here in the 'burbs, I would guess Chinese, with Indian, Thai, and Vietnamese close behind.

Wow, NeroW. How did you keep from killing him? Every single guy I dated up until Scott, my husband, was a picky eater. One hated tomatoes. One hated mayonnnaise. Mushrooms, vegetables, fruit, chocolate, fish, seafood...seen it all. I even dated a man who hated ice cream, for pete's sake. But your story beats all.

Katie, it's the red, and thanks for the advice. It's been all I could do to keep from drinking it for this long. It was terrific at the tasting.

I tasted this CNDP in 1991 or thereabouts and bought it then. It has been cellared, in slightly higher than ideal temps, but hasn't been mistreated. Should we drink it or let it be for a while longer? At one time I had notes, but the computer that housed my wine info died a horrible death a few years ago.

That was a low moment on a show with many of them. Every time Emeril says he's going to "Julie-anne" something it makes me want to throw things at the TV.

Um, I think Alton Brown is kinda sexy. Of course, he looks a lot like my husband. Does he blind you with science? Only when I ask him to. And yes, Thomas Dolby does come to mind when I'm watching good eats. Actually, he and Alton looked more alike before Alton put on 30 pounds.

Thanks Dierdre for the recommendation. We went last month with a few fellow e-gulleteers - vengroff posted a link to the thread - and had a great dinner. Haven't had time to go back but it's definitely on our list.

Big thanks to Malawry and her partner for joining me at the market and for coffee afterwards. There's not a whole lot there yet, but I did score some baby kale to saute for dinner, radishes, baby greens for salad, excellent butter and two dozen eggs. I was thwarted in my quest for beets - none to be had anywhere. There are far more vendors selling things other than produce this year - soap, flowers, cheese, jam, baked goods, etc. Good as those things are, I look forward to seeing more green stuff as the season progresses.

We thoroughly chill the dough for several hours before baking it - it makes a huge difference in the chewiness. Will try the freezing next time.

Is this the chili with beef cubes or the one with ground beef? Both are really good, but the one with beef cubes and roasted chiles takes all day and every pan in my house - at least when my husband makes it. We made the ground beef version for supper on Wed with corn tortillas and a salad.