butterfly

Steve-- Are you are the man responsible for the roasted medjool dates with orange shortbread and olive oil ice cream at Zaytinya? If so, I count this among the very best (and most mind expanding) desserts I've every had. I'm also a big fan of the basque cake and turkish coffee chocolate with cardamom foam desserts. I can't imagine how you are putting these desserts together at such an insanely reasonable price. For the tres leches lover-- If you are looking for a very traditional and excellent tres leches cake, try El Comalito on 14th Street. It's a few blocks north of U St. in the 2200 block, east side. The owner's aunt is a baker and makes excellent cakes, pies, etc. that are for sale, whole or by the piece, in the glass case. The tres leches cake is a real standout, perhaps also on my top ten best desserts (under the roasted dates and olive oil ice cream).

I love mango powder with okra (there's a restaurant here in DC called Heritage India that does a nice version). I found a recipe on the web that works quite well. Though I do a variation where I slit the okra and stuff a bit of mango powder/spice mixture inside before I cook it. The trick to keeping the okra from getting mushy is to make sure it is absolute dry and to refrain from adding any additional liquid; cooking it only in a bit of oil. Here's the link to the recipe that I use (though I probably use more spices, but it gives you a general idea): http://mvf.neurophys.wisc.edu/ravi/recipes...s/recipe11.html