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eG Foodblog: hillvalley - Back to normal eating.....


hillvalley

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Yum! Last night's dinner looks great :smile:

Hmmm....I wonder what Mel thinks about the Joe Gibbs redux--betting he's thrilled. :wink:

=R=

All is once again right in his world. In fact, people are smiling a lot more the past few days around here. It's as if we opened the shower curtain and and there was Bobby, showering. The past 11 years never happened. At least on the football field.......

I half expect to see traffic on the way back to RFK next fall.....

For those of you outside of the DC metro area click here.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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Dinner was so bad that I am not going to bother posting the picture. I picked up ribs, greens, black eyed peas and rice, and cornbread from a local place. They were awful. Everything was over salted and the ribs were full of fat. I am so pissed.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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Such a let down to the end of a good week. Now, to top it off, I think my cold is coming back. At least I have a chicken for soup. I should jazz my recipe up at bit.

It is 18 outside, which is absurd. Congress should pass a bill making it illegal to be this cold.

By the way, my favorite way to end the week used to include watching A Cook's tour Friday night but.....oh well. I'm listening to Beth Orton's The Other Side of Daybreak. Tracks 1 and 3 are my favorite.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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Oh yeah, I forgot. The Godiva thread reminded me that I forgot to mention two more truffles. One was a coconut and the other is described on the Godiva thread.

I'll probably have another tonight. I'll probably eat some Valentine M&M's too.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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I forgot to talk about the Pom.

Last night I had about 1/4 of the bottled. It tasted like very intense pure cranberry juice. It was fine, but not worth the money. I was dissappointed.

Tonight, it's a whole new story. Combine with some Vanilla Stoli and Sprite. The vanilla compliments the pomergranate beautifully. It would look great in a martini glass, if I had one.

i was going to say try it with grand marnier and vodka for a pom cosmo

Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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Yum!  Last night's dinner looks great :smile:

Hmmm....I wonder what Mel thinks about the Joe Gibbs redux--betting he's thrilled. :wink:

=R=

All is once again right in his world. In fact, people are smiling a lot more the past few days around here. It's as if we opened the shower curtain and and there was Bobby, showering. The past 11 years never happened. At least on the football field.......

I half expect to see traffic on the way back to RFK next fall.....

For those of you outside of the DC metro area click here.

joe has made his mark in nascar - something most people above the mason dixon line have no idea about- sucessfully for the last few years. it is soooo cool he is back (though i am a die hard pats fan) i can apprecate a worthy opponent and the better they are the harder we work

Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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One of the local stations followed his Nascar career pretty closely of the last decade. Football is one of the few things that brings people together, and this city could use something good right about now.

By the way, it's 10 outside. My only comfort is that it seems like it is cold all across the country!

Last night's truffle was white chocolate peppermint. The filling was pure peppermint and the white chocolate also had peppermint in it. Tasted like a fancy, creamier Peppermint Patty. yummmmmm

I had hoped to get to market this morning to pick up some carrotts and onions for my soup tomorrow, but that never happened. It's just too cold. I'll swing by on my way to work and see if there is anything left.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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All is once again right in his world. In fact, people are smiling a lot more the past few days around here. It's as if we opened the shower curtain and and there was Bobby, showering. The past 11 years never happened. At least on the football field.......

Hilarious! There have been company-wide e-mails about this hire. Insane.

The cold weather is making it hard to motivate, right hillvalley? I'm supposed to go to a birthday party at Cafe Saint Ex and perhaps dinner at Kuna prior, but...oh, the cold!!

Hillvalley, for when you don't cook, what are your favorite cheap eats?

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Hey, we are up to a balmy 17 degrees!

Never made it to market, which is annyoing.I just realized all I have eaten today were a grande-decaf-extra foam-whole milk vanilla latte and two piece of chocolate. No wonder I am so cranky and unmotivated to go out tonight!

Most weekends I work at camp fairs all afternoon and this morning I was too nausaus to eat. Nausea is a regular part of my daily life, but combined with the cold and the fact that it is the middle of January makes it worse.

Stopped at Fresh Fields on my home to pick up a bunch of things. There are three different things I want to cook tomorrow and needed some last minute supplies. One of the best parts of my job is that I can hit the grocerys tores on my way home from work before anyone else does. I am not used to crowded stores.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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By the way, it's 10 outside. My only comfort is that it seems like it is cold all across the country!

Hey it is 10 in Yokohama too!

Well that is 10 C (not F), so actually it is 50F :raz:

and I thought it was cold...........

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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The cold hit here Wednesday. Three days before it was 70! Go figure.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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This post is dedicated to my friend Emme-lou (if she can find it!). I love ya bubbie, no matter what! Some day while lounging in St. Martin we'll tell our daughters about when we were single and poor.

We braved the arctic air for dinner tonight. There are very few people in the world I would do that for, and Emme is one.

Before heading out we had a variety of stinky cheeses and a glass of chablis. A peppercorn pecorino, a blue cheese, camambert and a tripple cream hard cheese. I liked the tripple cream best, which is odd since it had the simplest flavor. It just tasted like cheese. When I think of a good, hard cheese, this is the taste I think of. But after a day of eating chocolate, it was perfect.

We ate an organic Italian restaurant on U street called Coppi's. It is a small restaurant, with only about 40 seats. Everything that is cooked is done so by a wood oven. There is no gas oven and I think no stove. The menu is mainly pasta and pizza. Most dishes have organic ingredients. Emme grew their vegetables and stacks their wood.

There is nothing like eating great food that was grown by a friend.

We started with friend (how Freudian, I meant to type fried) parsnips. Now normally I'm not such a fan of parsnips. Sure, they are great for stock, but I never would just eat them. But Emme had grown the parsnips and she wanted to try it. When a farmer tells you to eat their vegetables, you listen.

They were unbelievable. One of the best vegetable dishes I have ever eaten. The parshnips were sliced lengthwise and fried in olive oil. They were sweet and salty and crisp. The flavor of the olive oil lingered after the parsnip was gone. Every few pites had fresh cracked pepper which was just enough. I would have prefered that they were crispier, but you can't have everything.

The pizza we split was fine, but no where near the pasnips. It was a pancetta, red onion and mozerrella cheese with rosemary and olive oil. The red onion and pancetta played off each other nicely, although the pancetta was much stronger than the onion. The panchetta was sliced thin which left big slices on the pizza. Personally I would have prefered that the pancetta was julienned or diced. It would have been easier to eat. There was not nearly enough rosemary, which I could barely taste. I added cracked group pepper, which added a little bite. The crust was good enough to finish, which I don't normally do.

Since we were eating on a budget, which we sort of forgot about while ordering, we skipped dessert. My M&M's await!

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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So when Emme found out I was doing this blog her reply was "But you never eat!" :smile:

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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I forgot to mention that I picked up some basil this afternoon. I love the smell of basil, and this smelled like sad basil.

At dinner tonight I came clean to Emme. She said it was okay, as long I don't make it a habit. :smile:

Edited by hillvalley (log)

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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You really are dedicated to go out in this cold. I was out this morning in 4-degree temperatures (or whatever) with my super-hot winter clothes, but tonight, I've ordered delivery. And I'm wearing my long johns indoors!

Edited by Pan (log)

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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My daughter lives in the district as well. She also ordered in. She had to trek the few blocks to her office today and that was ok but she just couldn't make it to the grocery, got home and didn't have the groceries to persevere. We laughed about the poor guys doing delivery tonight. :laugh:

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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I'm actually worried about a couple of my kids. Keeping warm is expensive the month after Christmas.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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Yep!

I am craving powdered mini donughts. I'm not going to go outside to get some tomorrow either! Going to go eat some chocolate instead.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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Wow, the upgrade is great!

We have hit 22 degrees! I am sipping a cup of raspberry tea as I get ready for a day of cooking. I am planning to make chicken stock, meatballs and some polenta. Before I got sick I realized I have never made meatballs before, and this is the first chance I have had. Any tips?

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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I've asked someone to take over tomorrow, but is there anyone who wants to blog if she doesn't?

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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Ahhhhhhh, I forgot to add the basil to the meatballs. Oh well.

My apartment smells amazing! It started with the chicken soup. Then it was the meatballs frying. Now it is the meatballs cooking in the tomato sauce.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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Forgot to mention, thanks to the Field Trip Gods, my Japanese feast has been moved up to tomorrow.  I am very excited and spent the day teasing Eric that his snack was going to be seaweed.  Eric would respond by pretending to gag and throw up all over my desk with a huge grin on his face.  The kids are all bragging to the rest of our hallway that they like seaweed and sushi.  They feel very grown up right now. It's an absolute riot!  (Did I mention that I have a classroom full of drama kings and queens!)

The Japanese feast will include:

Seaweed             

Rice Crackers with seaweed around them

Three types of oshinko (Japanese Pickles)

Gari (pickled ginger)

Tofu

Nori furikake (rice topping made of seaweed)

Soy sauce

Hard candy that tastes like cola and looks like a thin long cigarette (Don't think I'll mention that during my lesson)

Decided not to do raw fish.  Some of the kids have delicate systems and it isn't worth the risk.  I wanted to do udon (noodles) so they could slurp them, but I don't have the time to cook them. :hmmm:

I wish I could show you the pics. from out Japanese feast! It was great. While the kids were in library I got a huge piece of red paper, about six feet long. I put it on the floor and set it with plates, chopsticks and a soy sauce holder. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture! (I remembered the camera half way through.) The chopsticks and soy sauce set are part of a set I got at Zabars. THey are plastic and bright red, yellow, black or blue. When imagegullet is back up I'll post pics of them.

I have very long hair so I pulled it back in a bun and took off my shoes. I had a Kimono on, but took it off when we sat down.

When the kids came in they found a place at the table. I explained that in Japan you bow instead of shaking hands, so we all bowed to each other. Two kids had to sit in chairs because of thier physical condition, but the others all sat like a pretzel on the floor with me. (Sitting like a pretzel is what most of know as Indian style. You can't say that anymore.)

I showed them everything we were going to eat and then started with the pickles. The pickles were all cucmber, but one was yellow, one was purple and the last one looked like cucmbers. No one thought very highly of the pickles. The kids all eat American pickles so I tried to convince them that this was the same thing, but they weren't buying it. As I often say, they may be special ed. but they aren't stupid.

Next were the seaweed wrapped crackers. I wanted to give them something bland to get rid of the pickle taste. Plus, they all wanted to eat more seaweed and kept asking when they would get some more. This would appease them for a while. Eric took the seaweed off the cracker, but everyone else ate it. Most kids asked for more, but for one boy it was pure torture. Let's call him Donnel. He is very sensitive is cruncy foods which he hates! Donnell started yelling after the second bite, but at least he took a second bite!

Our last course was tofu. I opened the package and slid it out, made it jiggle, showed how it crumbles, smushed it a little. Everyone got two pieces. I poured soy sauce into their dishes and brought out the furikake (rice topping). Everyone tried using the chopsticks to pick up the tofu. I will never forget the look on Eric's face when he tried it. It was exactly the face you would expect on a 10 year old kids who grew up eating Mc D's and lunchables. He hated it. He spit out his tounge and wiped his mouth. Then he apologized very sheepishly for spitting it out, but you could tell he really wasn't. When I stopped laughing I reassured him that it was okay and that I was proud of him for just trying. Which I really was.

Next the kids who were willing dipped the tofu into the soy sauce and furikake. This was a big hit. Salty is familiar and salty is good for these kids. I let them use their fingers and they had a grand old time. I also brought out some ginger and nori, which they gobbled up. Most of the kids had tried ginger before when the teachers brought in sushi so they were excited to have some again. One kid made a tofu ginger sandwich. Miraculously the soy suace did not end up on the carpet.

When I was growing up Dave Barry wrote an article where he called tofu whale snot. My father thought this was brilliant. From there on in he called tofu whale snot whenever we ate it, which was about once a week. Eventually we all started calling it whale snot. For the last decade or so, when ever anyone in my family eats tofu we reffer to it as whale snot. Sentances like "I had the best whale snot at Sushi-Ko last night" were not uncommon in my house. The whole time my kids were eating whale snot all I wanted to tell them what I call it. My coteacher would have freaked though. Sometimes being the grownup isn't fun.

We ended with the candy sticks. We tried grapefruit, grape, soda and caripori cola. They were all a hit. I think the candy might be called Kabaya, but I am not sure. Maybe torakris could take a look and tell us more when I post the pic?

The kids all did a great job. They want to know what we are eating next. Donnell came up to me and said "Bad Ms. Hillvalley, Bad! Go away." He was mad at me all day and the next. I let him play with my clock that has fish floating in it Friday afternoon and we made up. Eric thinks I am crazy. But this is not the first time he thought that, and I am sure it won't be the last! There is just too much out there to show him.

Edited by hillvalley (log)

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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