zoramargolis

Well, Scott, done is better than perfectly 100% authentic, in my world. Get yourself some Walkerswood Jerk Seasoning paste and enjoy some jerk chicken instead of feeling regretful that you haven't made it yet.

A Chinese man I met some years ago, told me that he had eaten dog (he pronounced it "delicious") and cat, which he said was not so tasty. It all boils down to various cultural traditions that developed around the protein sources available to them. I don't know that too many cultures choose to eat carnivorous animals, though, if tastier ruminants, birds and rodents are available in adequate supply. The French developed a tradition of eating frogs and snails (and horsemeat); the indigenous peoples of Mexico raised dogs for food and grew fond of crickets, certain worms, iguanas and ant eggs, most still considered to be delicacies, even though more familiar and conventional animal proteins are widely available.

Stopped in at BlackSalt and Bassin's today:

Linguine with alfredo sauce and Blackpearl salmon

Gulf brown shrimp scampi

Roasted asparagus with Meyer lemon oil

Mango buttermilk panna cotta with blackberry coulis (the buttermilk was from Adam, the milk seller at Dupont market. This was real buttermilk, the by-product of making butter, not cultured like commercial buttermilk you get in a grocery store. Very sweet, and had not had all the cream separated out.)

With the meal, we drank a 2004 Gobelsburger Gruner Veltliner--OMG it was good (incredibly reasonable, too, at $10.99) and this was the very last bottle. They can't get more--the vintage is completely sold out, according to Mike the new German-Austrian consultant at Bassin's.

I saw Mt. Tam a while back at the Organic Butcher of McLean.

More cartilage and connective tissue than in round bones, perhaps? To provide more gelatine to the stock? Just a guess.

And Zora has given you a flavour of what happens when people interpret good-natured tomfoolery the wrong way. 

That wasn't an interpretation, Tom, merely an observation. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, I just don't have the energy for it like I used to--when I was your age, I did improv comedy in New York. I just wanted to let the newby know that it wasn't a requirement for participation.

Hey, welcome friend. You have just experienced a whiff of the smart-alec side of DR.com. But there are also lots of folks who don't have the energy or inclination to be snarky, who just like to talk about food. Plan to come to the picnic, where you'll have a chance to meet and put faces to the screen names, eat some great food and decide whether you want to start hanging out with the folks who meet for happy hours, or $20 Tuesdays or Dim Sum Sundays, or any of the special organized dinners at favorite restaurants, or just be part of the food chat scene on-line.

Pasta with fiddlehead ferns*, wild oyster mushrooms**, favas*** and Pecorino

Spice-crusted, charcoal grilled sirloin

Green salad

Sugared strawberries from Heinz's stand at Dupont market

2004 Seghesio Zinfandel, Sonoma County

*fiddleheads from Maine, purchased at Trader Joe's in Bailey's Crossroad

**Gathered in Battery Kemble, while walking the dog.

***favas were purchased at Super H yesterday, the nicest ones I've seen this year.

Kudos to Chef Seth and Monica. They and their spouses and the staff at Passage to India couldn't have been more welcoming, warm and attentive, a real sense of caring for us as their guests.

This was a truly ambitious menu, and having made a few Indian meals from scratch, I have a sense of how hard the staff must have worked to prep, finish and plate so many complex dishes to serve to a large group. I hope they can take the day off today to recuperate.

There was the equivalent of four respectably-sized dinners served to each person over the course of three hours - an almost overwhelming amount of food. I followed Monica's exhortation to "pace yourself" by eating only a taste or two of the rice and bread served with each course. In a couple of cases, notably the dhansak rice in the Parsi course (amazingly fragrant with cinnamon and star anise) and the lemon rice in the Kerala round, this was really hard to do because they were so delectable.

Understandably, with so many dishes there were hits and misses for me. The most successful, I thought, were the braised or stewed meats in their complex yet subtle sauces: The Punjabi Shalgam goat curry with turnip and turnip greens, Parsi murgi dhansak - chicken, vegetable and lentil stew, the Bengali kosha mangsho - lamb with cumin, coriander and cardamom. Other than the garlic-chili chutney that came with the first Punjabi course, there was surprisingly little heat until we got to the final, Kerala round. Many sweet spices like cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and star anise, and savory spices like cumin, black cumin, fennel, fenugreek, mustard, asafoeteda. There were two or three different chutneys from each of the four regions. The garlic-chili was a standout. My other favorites were the Bengali date chutney and the Kerala ginger-tamarind chutney. The two fish dishes didn't work as well for me. The concept of the cilantro-napped filet steamed in banana leaf brought thoughts of the Yucatan, but not very much flavor, unfortunately. And it was unfortunately overcooked. As Sudhir Seth's charming wife explained to us, the fish used in India for these dishes has so much more flavor, so it is almost impossible to recreate the authentic taste. The final Kerala course was my overall favorite--I'm completely gonzo about the various textures, crispy, soupy, chewy, hot, cold and so many intense flavors of the South of India. Love that sambar and coconut shrimp. And perhaps my favorite of all Indian desserts -- ras malai -- was the irresistable conclusion.

After studying the wine list, we and our delightful tablemates, Lydia and Daryl, decided that the best choice was the Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale, which was a perfect accompaniment.

Charcoal-grilled yellowfin tuna burgers with wasabi-lime mayonnaise and grilled onion

Jicama slaw

Pan-crisped potato wedges*

2004 Glatzer Gruner Veltliner

*I've done this a few times recently, and it satisfies the family's craving for fries without lots of oil being poured and heated up. I microwave a russet potato or two until just soft. Then cut in quarters, lengthwise, leaving the skin on. I dust the cut sides of the potato wedges with my pre-made spice rub (Spanish paprika, ancho powder, garlic powder, ground cumin, ground oregano, salt and black pepper) and fry them in a little bit of olive oil until brown and crisp on all sides.

I didn't see most of the usual early birds at Dupont this morning between 9 and 10, but I did encounter Giant Shrimp as he was buying a large bunch of cardoons from Heinz at Next Step. I'll be intetrested to know how they taste, since I have requested some for next week.

I bought a couple of pounds of slender young rhubarb from New Morning--their first week at the market this year. Their story is included in a new book, Organic, Inc.:Natural Foods and how they grew by Samuel Fromartz, who met them at the market a few years ago. Sam will apparently be at the market later this month doing a book signing. I heard him interviewed on NPR, and the book sounds quite interesting.

Organic, Inc.

In recognition of Cinco de Mayo:

Jicama with lime juice and pasilla chile powder

Guacamole

Pico de Gallo

Sopes with frijoles refritos and feta cheese

Chorizo

Rajas de poblanos

2005 Akakies Kir Yianni Rose (beer/wine, beer/wine, beer/wine? Wine won--this worked).

Sugared strawberries with whipped cream

If you are going to Costco for party food, pick up some Panarroz Jumilla 2004, a rich, Spanish red quaffer which is an amazing bargain for $6.79 (Parker gave it 90 points). I was just at the Pentagon City store early this week, and they have refreshed their supply. There's lots of it.

Zora--Why don't you bring the bag, someone else can bring some baggies and we can hand it out there?  That way you don't have to deal with bagging all of it or keep track of who wants some of your generous offering. 

I was planning to put it into small baggies (not a major expense) in advance--that way, it will be fairly apportioned, and anyone who wants it can grab a bag. No need to tell me in advance who will want some.

Seared NY strip steak, with broccoli and cubed, roasted butternut squash sprinkled with salt, pepper and rosemary. I don't have a grill so I used the cast iron grill pan. I need to work on my indoor steak grilling, or perhaps buy thinner strip steaks. This was 2 inches thick (maybe a little more!) and in a 500 degree oven, after searing it on the stove-top for 4 minutes a side, it was still really rare after 10 minutes. I'm fine with rare steak (my preference!) but the +1 is more a medium rare guy. Any tips?

Make sure that the meat is at room temperature before you cook it.

I haven't yet decided what I am going to cook, but I am going to give away to anyone who would like some French culinary-quality dried lavender blossoms. I bought a pound of it at Surfa's when I was in L.A. A pound of dried lavender is a huge amount--it's much more than I can possibly use in the next year, and I will be back in L.A. and able to get more, in December. It can be difficult to find here, and very expensive when you do find it. I couldn't believe how inexpensive this huge bag was, so I bought it. Did my suitcase ever smell good!

Charcoal-grilled boneless leg of lamb, marinated for seven days in yogurt, lemon, onion and herbs (I had planned to cook it Friday, but it turned out we had to go early to the chorus concert at school and then we went away for the weekend.) The texture of the outer edge of the meat may have suffered a bit from the long marination, but it was really delicious.

Veggie-teen's main was charcoal roasted crimini mushrooms drizzled with Meyer lemon oil and stuffed with Nicoise olive, roasted garlic and feta cheese.

Israeli cous-cous with duxelle of oyster mushrooms

Haricots verts with roasted garlic and Meyer lemon oil

Salad of mache, baby romaine, and Middle Eastern cucumber

2000 Domaine la Soumade Rasteau, Cuvee Confiance (a bottle recently discovered in the bargain bin at Calvert Woodley--an extraordinary find). Gorgeous fragrant, mouth-filling fruit with a spine of sweet tannin that was a perfect foil for the grilled lamb. Too bad there was only one bottle there.

Now, I understand that my local coffee shop does not have an official policy about squating but come on people R-E-S-P-E-C-T.  I really think they need a policy. 

This situation has similarities to the early days of Borders, when they provided lots of comfy upholstered armchairs, in the hopes that their paying customers would sit briefly to peruse a book that they would then purchase. The unintended outcome of this largesse was that college students, homeless people and other assorted schnorrers would come in when the stores opened, park themselves in the chairs to study, sleep, and read best-sellers all day, leaving no place for paying customers to sit down for a few minutes. Barnes and Noble was pretty much the same. You don't see many, if any comfortable chairs in bookstores anymore, or many places to sit except in their cafes.

I ate at quality sushi bars in Los Angeles for a number of years before coming to DC. Even in a neighborhood place in Santa Monica, there was a chef who took great pride in making special rolls-- who used his knife to turn a cucumber into a single long, thin sheet and use that as a wrapper for a beautiful sweet shrimp roll that looked like a stained glass window when it was cut. Here in DC, even at Sushi-Ko, I have yet to find a chef who will make unique rolls like this. The response I usually get is that it takes too much time. It seems to me that at least part of the problem is that they are too busy cranking out platters of California rolls and such for the tables, instead of focusing on the folks at the sushi bar, who are ordering a piece or two at a time. Is that really all it is? Even if they had the time, do they have the skill?

The person complaining that the fiddleheads she ate were bitter probably picked the wrong fern variety. True ostrich fern fiddleheads, dark green with papery coverings, IIRC, grow only in the Northeast. There is an edible fiddlehead in the West, although I have never tasted it--"bracken" fern, I think. I have eaten NE fiddleheads many times, and was an enthusiastic fiddlehead forager when I lived in Vermont. I have to say, that even with years of eating experience since my Vermont years, I have never tasted a more delicious vegetable. Steamed until just tender and served with hollandaise or just tossed in butter, they taste like a slightly sweet, nutty cross between asparagus and artichoke heart. To pickle fiddleheads IMO, is wanton mischief, bordering on the criminal. They taste of nothing but the pickling liquid. Pickling as a means of preserving and transforming, is fine for cucumbers, cabbage and other ordinary vegetables. Fiddleheads should be eaten fresh, in the early Spring, when they are sublime, and then not until the next year.

I did have another type of fern, picked inadvertently along with some ostrich fiddleheads, and tasted it cooked, just to see. It was indeed, very bitter.

I did takeout of three different seafood stews from BlackSalt, when I was having a serious craving for something I had not cooked myself, my husband refused to go out, and I could not bear the thought of Listrani's pizza or carry-out Chinese. The meal was expensive, considering that I had to pick it up, bring it home, set the table and wash the dishes afterward. But the food travelled well, and the folks at BlackSalt were very accomodating.

Question:  what brands of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate do you use for chocolate baked goods, mousses, and icings?  And where do you buy it?

I tend to buy Weiss from La Cuisine, or Callebaut Chocolate from Whole Foods.

After using Scharffenberger a couple of times, which I got at Sur la Table, I decided I was not that crazy about it. It has a fruity aftertaste, and I much prefer the nutty/caramelly finish I get from Valrhona. When using Valrhona, though, it can get really expensive when you need a lot of it. Trader Joe's Belgian chocolate is decent quality and the price is right. For special meals, I still like to use Valrhona, though. Callebaut works well, too. I have used El Rey discs a couple of time for flourless chocolate cake, and I like the convenience of weighing and melting the discs, as opposed to struggling to chop up a thick bar. I got those at Whole Foods, though last time I looked, they were sold out.

This message is for people who buy all of their food in supermarkets: Get your lazy butt out of bed on Saturday morning and go to the Arlington Market, or Sunday morning go to Dupont or Takoma Park markets. Support local farmers!!!

Charcoal grilled spice crusted pork tenderloin

Sauteed beet greens

Semolina egg pasta ribbons* with green garlic, fava beans and basil

Pear and blackberry crisp with vanilla ice cream

2000 Domaine de Montpezat Prestige Languedoc (60% cab 40% syrah)

*thin sliced leftover semolina crepes that I made on Saturday for mushroom manicotti

I found a couple of white morels yesterday while walking my dog in the park near my home in DC. Not enough to turn cartwheels over, but there are probably more there if I can spend some more time searching. Didn't see any ramps. though.