zoramargolis

I think this is a very smart move. Remember how the front room at Palena used to be pretty much deserted until Frank Ruta conceived Palena Cafe as an affordable venue? Now look at THAT space. I'll certainly want to visit Gerard's, especially on a free corkage night!

Pit the dates and stuff them with mascarpone and sprinkle with fleur de sel.

Make a white bean (canned are ok) spread with roasted garlic, olive oil and a little lemon juice and zest for crostini or crusty bread. If you pre-spread on toasts, add some roasted red pepper strips and chiffonade of fresh basil on top.

Consider making a bagna cauda as a dip for crudites.

She does, however, follow the "Henry Miller" rule:

Henry Miller wrote a brilliant rant on American bread in his book _The Air Conditioned Nightmare_-- it was written in the early 40's after his return from Paris. The fluffy, tasteless and textureless bread that was ubiquitous at the time was emblematic of everything wrong with American food and culture, to him.

And that it appears to spend a lot of time talking about relationships -- one of the key warning signs of chick lit.

So, I suppose this means that the key warning signs of culinary "dude lit" would be: out in the wild, chasing after terrified critters who are running away, disemboweling and incinerating them, then thumping your hairy chest and bellowing in self-congratulation. Sounds like a great read.

I strain out the herbs and spices from the cooled brine before I pour it on the meat. I always do a brief rinse after brining, and then dry with paper towels.

I took a little bit of everything from the thread and made short ribs tonight.  I bought more than I would need for a full meal so that I could taste along the way. 

I picked up bone-in from Canales yesterday.  I think next time I will get the boneless.  They are more expensive but you aren't paying for the bone which are sometimes the bulk of the rib.  I seared the meat in shmaltz (chicken fat) in a couple of batches and then browned not enough shallots and three cloves of smashed garlic.  Once the meat was back in I poured in enough beef broth to cover about 3/4 of the way up.  At first I was worried it was too much liquid, but now there isn't a whole lot left.  I added some tomato and anchovy paste ala Al.

I brought the mixture to a boil, covered, and put it in a 250 oven.  45 minutes in I checked it and the liquid wasn't simmering so I raised the oven to 275.  1 1/2 hours into the braise I had my first rib.  Good flavor but not there yet.  I realized that I forgot the balsamic vinegar so I added that in.

An hour later I pulled it out.  There was a lot of fat but not a whole lot of liquid left.  The next rib's texture was great.  Meltingly soft and tender without falling apart.  I could taste the vinegar but it needed to be added sooner.  Now the whole concoction is out on my balcony cooling down. 

I am going to make every attempt I can not to go out and eat more.  I really do want to see that they are better the next day.  I envision emulsifing the shallots and onion into the sauce.  Polenta would be the perfect cushion for my endeavor.  We'll see how long I last.

Next time you make it, pour off most of the fat after you've browned the meat, and deglaze the pan with the vinegar and some wine, if you haven't marinated the meat in wine before cooking. If you have, add the marinade and reduce a bit before putting the meat back in and adding broth. You didn't mention herbs--thyme, parsley and bay leaf?

Also, I'd stick with the bone-in ribs. The bone and connective tissue add a lot of flavor and texture to the dish. You can remove the bone before serving. I tie the ribs with twine or dental floss in a couple of places to keep the bone from falling off while it cooks because I like to serve it on the bone.

Be sure to degrease the cooking liquid completely so you don't get an unpleasant greasy mouthfeel and taste to your sauce. Polenta sounds perfect with it.

Merguez meatballs with minted yogurt sauce

Vegetable tagine (roasted eggplant, tomato, roasted red pepper, fennel, chickpeas and dried apricots, spiced with ras al hanout, spicy paprika, cumin, dried lemon and fenugreek)

Cous-cous

Roasted asparagus

2003 Altos de Luzon Jumilla

Dessert: the last of a Meyer lemon bundt cake I made a few days ago

I ate there with a large group during the summer, and they have an amazing mega dessert. It is a massive volcano of shaved ice filled, covered and surrounded by various fresh, candied and canned fruits and their syrups. Like a snow-cone on steroids. It might not sound too appealing at the moment, but when it's 95 degrees and humid out, it's da bomb.

We also ordered a Taiwanese delicacy--aptly named smelly tofu, which I do not recommend. Bob himself encouraged us to think of it as analogous to a ripe, washed rind cheese. Well, that dish ended up spinning around on the lazy susan as everyone at the table sought to move it away from themselves. Those of us at the table who had cared for babies found the aroma distressingly familiar, one that was not a bit appetizing.

The rest of the food was great, and the price was definitely right. If only Bob's were closer to where I live!

Fine wine's not the only thing that improves with a little age on it...

I always go for the Leonidas Belgian Chocolates. They have a store in Gtwn... Or click here to order online.

The Georgetown store is called Les Delices de Isabel --1531 Wisconsin Av. NW (202)944-1898. They fly in fresh chocolates from Belgium every week. I can vouch for their deliciousness.

Was it an "ah-HAH" moment or simply an "aaaahh"? Not sure. But a friend of mine bought a case of Heitz Angelica, which was available only at the tasting room in Napa Valley, and gave us a couple of bottles. It was a solera method dessert wine. Un-freaking incredible stuff. Caramel, orange blossom, honey, figs, apricots and spices. Thick and syrupy and went down like warm velvet. The nose, by itself made you swoon. We doled it out by the thimbleful to make it last. A few years later, we were in Napa and stopped by the Heitz tasting room. They had stopped making it. Quel domage!

Sore loser here. I still think someone with math skills should devise a formula so that length of membership (ie. member number) combined with activity as a poster (ie. number of boxes) provides an advantage over lurkers and newbies in these lotteries. Too many stalwarts and active participants get excluded in this system, and ultimately I think it effects the comaraderie at the dinner, if there is a large number of people present who aren't known on the board, but just get involved in order to take advantage of a special dinner.

This is not to say that I do not appreciate all of the effort involved in organizing these get togethers. I do! And I'm glad that Barbara will get to go to this one.

just across the American Legion bridge.

Um... I have only lived in this area for10 years, so my locating skills are not like a native's. But isn't the American Legion Bridge the one on 495? That goes from Montgomery County via Cabin John to Mclean/Tyson's Corner? Wouldn't it be faster to just stay on 495 and go to Fairfax?

Go with a Ridge.

I'm not sure that I agree. The currently available vintage of Ridge zins that're on the shelf are often too young and tannic for immediate enjoyment. Same with some of the Rosenblum individual vineyards. Unless you're buying something for your friend's wine cellar, you want to get him something that's drinkable now.

If you want authentic, inexpensive regional Mexican food, you've got to go to Guelaguetza, a Oaxacan cantina-type place in West L.A. which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's at the corner of Sepulveda and Palms Blvds., facing Palms. It shares a parking lot with Trader Joe's. Get a chicken tamal with mole negro, barbacoa de chivo (goat stew--really good) or an "empanada" (really an enchilada) with mole amarillo, chicken, mushrooms and squash blossoms. Also try some of the Oaxacan chorizo on some of the thick, handmade tortillas called memelas. If you eat there, you will know why I am so underwhelmed by the Mexican places in Hyattsville.

One of the most unique, creative traditional Japanese restaurants in West L.A. is called Mori--it's a favorite hang-out for the best young chefs in L.A. It's on Pico Blvd. at Gateway, just a couple of blocks west of the 405 freeway. Mori grows his own shiso leaves and has a pottery wheel and kiln out back [Note: Mori sold his restaurant to an employee in 2011], where he makes, glazes and fires all of the plates, bowls and other serving pieces in the restaurant. He is completely obsessed about quality. It's the best sushi you'll ever eat. Go in and do omakase there--be prepared to shell out some bucks (not like NYC, mind you), but you will be very glad you did.

Hartford Russian River Valley Zinfandel is around $25 (maybe a little more depending on where you buy it) or an Elyse zin or Storybook Mountain or Seghesio Old Vines are all going to be around that same price point. Any would be good ambassadors for a fine quality, very American wine.

When my husband and I moved to Los Angeles in 1976, we took a trip up to Napa Valley. We had been living in Vermont, in a group house with others in their early and mid-twenties, and pretty much all we could afford to drink was Gallo Hearty Burgundy and Narragansett Porter. And we drank a lot of both.

In Napa Valley, we got a recommendation for a restaurant in Yountville, from the owner of the motel we were staying in. It was in an old stone building, we were just about the only diners in there. We were told that it had once been a French laundry... this was many years before Thomas Keller.

They had a prix fixe dinner that we ordered--split pea soup, some roast pork and sauteed cherry tomatoes, as I recall. Don't remember what the dessert was. We asked for a wine recommendation, since they didn't have Lancer's, Mateus or Blue Nun on the wine list. The waiter brought us a bottle of 1973 Stag's Leap Petite Sirah, a grape I'd never heard of. It was rich and intense and I felt as if I had been kicked between the eyes. Suddenly, I understood what all the fuss was about--why people were passionate about wine. When we went home to Los Angeles, I immediately tracked down a case of the 73 SL PS (it was about $3.50 a bottle IIRC). And I signed up for a subscription to Connoisseur's Guide to California Wines.

[quote name=Joe Riley' date='Jan 30 2006, 02:33

My post previous to yours was asking an honest question of Zora, I'd truly like to know the answer to it.

If that system works for you, more power to you. I think that there's room for everybody. I've shopped online before, and if you know precisely what you're looking for, it can be quite a boon.[/quote]

Mr. Riley-- I have bought wine on the Internet exactly twice. First, from Premier Cru I bought a case of Torbreck Woodcutter's Shiraz, paying for it in October (prior to its arrival in the US) and waiting until March to receive it, so that there would be no risk of it freezing en route. The second time was last week, when I bought one case from Wine Library. I have not had to deal with any bad bottles, but if I were to, it's likely that the wines in question are not so expensive that it would justify all of the trouble of returning one bottle, if it were an entire case I would ship it back. That is sometimes my attitude with the occasional bad bottle here--sometimes it is not worth the time and gas money to take it back to the store, because it was a cheap bottle to begin with. I have read online about heat damaged cases being sent back to out of state shippers, and any business that wants to keep customers and avoid having their name spread all over the internet wine boards as bad actors will take damaged wine back and issue refunds.

In recent weeks, I have bought bottles of wine where I usually buy wine: at Paul's, MacArthur's, The Vineyard, Rodman's, Balducci, P Street and Vienna Whole Foods, and Magruder's. I also shop occasionally at Arrowine, Rick's, Wide World of Wine and Total. I don't have a wine cellar or off-site storage. I almost never buy by the case, though I have about 200 bottles stashed in cool closets and cupboards in my house. I realize that you are trying to challenge me to make a point. Someone who buys as much wine as Joe H moving all of his wine purchasing to an Internet company might represent your worst nightmare and a harbinger of a major trend you must try to quash with persuasive rhetoric. But I am no threat to you, or local winesellers, since I don't shop in your store. I buy wines I am interested in for a variety of reasons, not just Parker scores, and I try to find them at the best price I can. I almost never buy any wine over $25 a bottle and I rarely go that high. Once in a while, if I taste a wine I really like, and decide that it is something I want to have multiple bottles of, AND I see it on the web at a price I doubt any local wine merchant can match--when you add $2 a bottle in shipping to an inexpensive wine, it's not always such a great deal--then I might buy on the Internet again.

Terry Thiese's remarks about connoisseurship and your badinage with JParrott about wines that few others have the sophisticated palates to appreciate remind me of the "high-fi" snobs of my youth--my brother was one. I'm sure they are more invested than ever in their audio snobbery, with all the high end home electronics around, but I'm not living with it anymore. My brother and his buddies would get together and listen to special recordings designed to highlight minute and subtle sound distinctions that only their very sensitive equipment could evoke. They were listening to sounds, not music... Me, I have a decent receiver and very good JBL speakers that allow me to have a pleasurable experience, listening to music I enjoy. It's probably not one that a sound geek could live with--it's about fifteen years old now. But I remember with great distaste how they used to congratulate each other on their superior auditory acuity and heap scorn on those who didn't have their superior ability to know good equipment from bad.

Those of us who enjoy good wine that gives pleasure, and enhances the experience of dining do not need to be derided for valuing the opinions of Robert Parker, or enjoying "international-style' wines that might not have enough terroir of the Jura to suit your superior palates. Snobbery is not at all appealing when viewed from outside the inner circle, fellas. Do it on PM instead.

    Kids and their perverse appetites....

I'm always having to figure out how to create two versions of dinner to satisfy my kid's vegetarian thing. Although, from the sound of it, she would love the oricchiete with ricotta, peas, parmesan and mint that you made. Can I send her to you the next time you make it? That way, you will have a kid who appreciates your culinary effort, and Jonathan and I can eat meat and I won't have to make a second main dish for her.

I have been to Guajillo many times. I wish I could say that I love it. It's one of the better Mexican restaurants in the area, but as most of you know how I feel about the quality of Mexican restaurant food around here, that's not saying much. And I won't say much. Except that Guajillo has been very inconsistent. Sometimes good and sometimes awful. I don't order chicken there, because it's usually way overcooked. And they are too stingy with the frijoles refritos. But I like their mole poblano and the ceviche is usually good. I like the fact that they make tortillas there. I jsut wish they would use fresh masa instead of Maseca.

Just a note to add here-- I ordered a case of wine via the website on a Thursday. No tax charged (I'm in the District). No follow-up phone call to confirm the order, but did receive e-mails regarding acceptance of the order and shipping info. Delivered by UPS on the following Tuesday. Shipped in an unmarked box with a custom-fitted, two piece styrofoam insert to hold the bottles securely, in an upright position. Bottle temp was quite cool but not ice cold. Count me as a satisfied customer.

Have you had the mascarpone-stuffed dates at Komi?

Nope. But reading about them provided the inspiration for doing what I did. The visiting cousin was the one who got me turned on to the idea of making my own chevre--she makes chevre with fresh raw goat milk she gets from a neighbor in Aptos. She and her daughters all loved the added lavender flowers.

Do you know if they hit other markets in the area?  Good to know they're making tasty cheddar.  That Keswick Creamery stuff at Dupont is inedible.  I think it's like eating clay.

That is a question I didn't ask. I agree with you about Keswick cheddar. Nice folks, though. And I sometimes buy veal bones and veal liver from them.

I can't go to Dupont tomorrow because of a commitment at my daughter's school. Since I go into withdrawal without a FM foray, I went to Arlington this morning--many purveyors are at both markets. New to me, though, were cheesemakers from Fields of Grace Farm in Remington, VA, there just for the winter market, offering tastes of their farmstead cows milk cheeses. Seriously good, is a raw milk cheddar, aging since September. $10.50 a pound. Having lived in Vermont for a number of years, I am hard to please when it comes to cheddar, and this is impressive--smooth textured with a complex, subtle flavor. Their cows are a Jersey-Holstein cross and the milk goes straight from the milking barn to the cheesemaking facility, which they recently built on their farm. Husband tends the cows, wife makes the cheese. They also have a lot of gimmicky stuff like herbed cheese curds and caraway cheddar--all made with pasteurized milk. I didn't even bother to taste anything except the aged cheddar, and I wasn't expecting much, but I was so pleasantly surprised by it, that I bought a nice chunk home. It's already almost gone...

SCORE!!!! Visiting cousins from Santa Cruz came to dinner last night and brought me a large shopping bag full of Meyer lemons from their tree. No carnauba wax! No pesticides! Really fresh!!

I added zest and juice to almost every dish I served...

Hors d'euvres: guacamole and chips (cousin's daughter's boyfriend from Oaxaca was along-- he heartily approved--which she reported has never before happened in a gringo's home--he really liked my roasted chile adobo salsa, too.)

Medjool dates stuffed with homemade lavender chevre, sprinkled with Maldon salt

Petit Basque sheepmilk cheese with homemade membrillo

Alfonso olives, roasted red peppers, Genoa pepper salami

First course: roasted squash, celeriac and quince bisque, 2005 Yalumba Y Viognier

Main: Charcoal roasted chicken, herb-brined and rubbed with garlic and smoked paprika

Mushroom-barley pilaf

Roasted fennel and fig slaw

2003 Torbreck Woodcutter's Shiraz

Salad: Mixed greens with EVOO, Meyer lemon juice and a splash of sherry vinegar

Dessert: Forelle pear upside-down cake with fresh blackberries, B&J's vanilla i.c. and whipped cream

I don't think they were just being polite when they said it was the best chicken they'd ever eaten-- the thirteen year-old said she usually didn't like chicken, because it was always dry, but she loved this. They didn't know about brining, obviously, though now they do. And they've never eaten chicken at Palena Cafe... Luckily, I made three large chickens, and I've got leftovers--it's really good cold.