ScotteeM

HSUS doesn't want us to eat, wear, or own animals. Anything that has to do with that organization, or with PeTA or ASPCA, is suspect in my mind for those reasons. They are the catalyst behind the enactment of mandatory spay/neuter laws in many areas (thank Heaven not in Virginia yet, allthough next year might be different), as well as the bans on Foie Gras. We should be opposing them at every turn. IMO.

Joe, I take your point, and I wanted to LOVE Bebo Tratoria! But my two experiences there: a week-day lunch and a Sunday brunch, were so awful that I did not post about them and will not return. The Sunday brunch felt like a skit on Saturday Night Live, it was so bad. I don't tend to post my negative experiences on DR.COM, but focus on the positives. I think many folks post this way, so I wouldn't interpret the number or proportion of positive remarks about Bebo Tratoria as being representative of patrons' experiences there. There is no doubt in my mind that Roberto is a great chef. But something is standing in between his talent and his clientele. I have no idea what that is. For their part, the wait staff that I encountered on my Sunday brunch foray were absolutely awful. The bartender who waited on me when I went for lunch on a weekday was just as bad. There were certainly problems with the front-of-house, but I'm sure there were problems in the kitchen as well. What I do know is that after two visits, I won't return. There are too many restaurants that are better than Bebo Tratoria, IMO.

The very best website for information on feeding dogs, whether home-prepared or commercial foods, is Dog Aware, by Mary Straus. She provides a tremendous amount of information, backed by research and including citations. In addition to general diet recommendations, she also provides extensive information on feeding dogs with certain health problems. I relied heavily on her Kidney Disease section a couple of years ago when I had a little Boston in acute renal failure. He lived almost a year longer than the conventional vets predicted, in due in no small part to Mary's advice. In the mean time, Crackpot, please do consider adding lightly cooked meat to your stew pot, rather than tofu. Meat is a more natural protein source for dogs, who are opportunistic carnivores, which means that they're primarily carnivores but will eat other foods in a pinch. Overcooking meat in a stew risks reducing the nutrition available to dogs. Regardless of our own dietary choices, we really have an obligation to feed our carnivorous companions a meat-based diet. In particular, although a need for taurine has been established in cats, it hast not yet been established for dogs. It is not unreasonable to expect that it will be established for dogs in the future. Taurine is availble from meat. There are several good holistic pet supply stores in the area. These can be good sources for information on home-prepared diets for dogs and cats. The store I patronize and recommend is PetSage in Alexandria. They carry many wonderful commercial foods (none of which was involved in the recall) and books on preparing diets at home.

Does this affect the flavor of the cheese?

Any recent reports on this place? My husband wants to try it, but based on comments above by people I actually know, I'm reluctant. Anyone care to persuade me?

I used to get my lobster fix at Slavins, but now I go to the Great Wall in Merrifield. Great price, very lively, and I'd guess a pretty high turnover. I've gotten consistently better tasting lobsters there than from my previous source.

Count me in the cilantro-hating camp. It tastes like soap to me. I've learned to tolerate it in small amounts in some dishes, but why should I have to do that? I vote for cilantro as a trite food. Enough already! Eyeballs would creep me out, and I steadfastly avoid looking closely at the toads and eels in the Great Wall. Very hot chili peppers are also a problem for me. I learned to appreciate some spicy-hot foods from Peter Chang, and I try them now, but I'm still very cautious. As a child, my mother tried to force me to eat curry--wouldn't let me leave the table, and I sat there for a very long time, until she gave up (my brother did, too). Today I was thrilled at the buffet at Bombay Curry Company--not every bad childhood experience makes a phobia.

But it is any two or any three or any four (although they prefer that you don't order all entrees). We had a glorious dinner in the dining room Saturday night. We arrived just before they opened at 5:30 (our ressy was for 5:30) and there was a line of people waiting to get in to the bar and cafe. Busy place!

This doesn't seem to me to be so much about the food itself, which may be wonderful, and may even travel well, as it is about the company saying, "Look at the lengths to which we will go to take care of our artists." I'm not saying that's right, and I kind of agree with Hillvalley. This seems to be simply a demonstration of excess.

I saw shad roe today at the Duke St. WF. I LOVE shad roe, and so does my husband, but at $14.99 per set it took my breath away!

Chateau St. Jean Alexander Valley Johannisberg Riesling 1980. Dark brown color (this was a white wine once), very sweet, very nice.

My husband and I made our first visit to Dino tonight. We had put it off because it seemed like such a long trek from Burke, but I looked at the map and decided that we could cut through Rock Creek Park and we were there in no time at all. We arrived covered in snow from our 1-block walk from the car in the brief blizzard that hit Connecticut Avenue just before 6:00. We shook off the snow and warmed up quickly at our table by the window (nice baseboard heating system). I thought the dining room was nicely designed, feeling comfortable and warm. At the height of things, when just about every table was full, the noise level was high but not impossible. We could still carry on a conversation. I loved the Antipasti della Casa, and the Bruschetta were wonderful and about twice as big as I expected. My husband's polenta with roasted wild mushrooms was rich and satisfying (and he let me have a little nibble). He had the wonderful lasanette and I the braised beef shortribs--both were delightful, and I have the best leftovers to take to work for lunch tomorrow! The gelatos and sorbetto we had for dessert were fabulous. The bottle of Terre Nere "Guardiola" (Nero Mascalese) Etna, Sicilia 2004 that our server recommended was right on target as an accompaniament, and a steal at 1/3 off! I was happy to finally meet both Dean and Kay in the flesh, and was glad to see some familiar faces in the dining room (Hi XCanuck & "fThe Porcupines"!). It's always a good sign when my husband talks about what he wants to order "next time," before we've even finished our meal!

My hat is off to MKTYE! She IS a wonderful human being. And this index is amazing! Thank you, Sweetie!

I was totally charmed last night by PS7s. The space is really lovely: light and open but not cavernous or noisy. We had the 5-course tasting menu with wine pairings. The amuse was a seeded cracker with a fluffy prosecco cream that held a stripe of American caviar. I liked all of the flavors, but the cracker and the sweet cream drowned out the flavor of the caviar, for the most part. It was fun to try, but not my favorite. Soup and Salad was a salad of pea tendrils with mache, dressed in a lavender-pomegranate vinaigrette, and topped with pomegranate seeds and pine nuts, a cup of spiced apple veloute, and tiny pine nut & Tasmanian pepper biscotti. The salad was refreshing, the seeds and nuts providing a refreshing punctuation. The soup was served too hot to taste, and I had to wait a while, dipping the biscotti, until it was cool enough to drink. I suspect the soup and salad were meant to be consumed together, but that was impossible with the heat of the soup. The wine pairing was 2005 Kuhl "Way Kuhl" Riesling. The next three courses were wonderful and unique, and I don't think I can pick a true favorite. Black sea bass was a perfectly cooked square resting on a bed of smoked-salt braised leeks and lobster essence. The rich fish flesh stood up well to the flavorful leeks and sauce. We appreciated the spoons the server provided, and used pieces of the delicious, tiny rolls to sop up the sauce. The wine pairing was 2005 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Viognier, from Napa Valley. Korobuta pork belly with white balsamic vinegar, roasted cipollini onions, and a rosemary-huckleberry sauce was paired with 2005 Tyrrell's Lost Block pinot noir from Australia. The pork and sauce balanced perfectly. After those wonderful courses, the "Duck Pho" was a surprising show-stopper. All of the presentations had been great but this one was my favorite: thin slices of cured duck breast laid on one side, reminding me of sashimi, next to a bowl of rich roasted duck broth full of sliced seared duck breast and somen noodles. All of this played very nicely with a glass of 2004 Glatzer Zweigelt, from Austria. This dish was playful and fun, and totally delicious to the last drop. I've never had "pho" in a white-tablecloth restaurant, and I managed to not end up wearing it, but it was touch and go. No matter, I loved this dish! I'm not much for desserts, and neither is my husband, but we enjoyed the "Toasted Brown Butter Financier" with white coffee gelato, cardamom-milk chocolate mouse, pinenut and cocoa streusel and grapefruit fluid gel. This was served with a "Fig Royale," prosecco, fig-infused vodka, and tonka bean syrup--an interesting dessert cocktail. I finished up with French-press decaf coffee, and left feeling just full enough and very happy. I will happily go back, and try the a la carte menu, which looked very good. The lounge menu looks really tempting, too.

This article came to me in the context of an email list dedicated to fighting legislation proposed by Animal Rights groups with the goal of eliminating pet ownership. It certainly puts Whole Foods in a very interesting position--not in a good way. They actually found a lobster purveyor that complies with their ideas of "humane" treatment for crustaceans destined for a pot of boiling water, so that they can sell live lobsters in their store in Maine. But the purveyor is in New Hampshire. While I support some of Whole Foods' policies, and I have been a loyal customer since before they were Whole Foods, I am very concerned that they are buying into the crazy ideas of the PeTA and HSUS fanatics, who don't want us to have any contact with animals or animal products in any way, shape, or form. Whole Foods has, IMO, made a very serious error in trying to obtain validation from these nut jobs. Please understand, I am not maligning anyone's choice to be vegan themselves, only those who want to force that lifestyle on me through legislation and public pressure. Veganism is not healthy for everyone. I guess I need to work on new places to buy my groceries.

I've never been before, but my husband and I have reservations for this Saturday at 6:00. I'm looking forward to it. He's been there once during RW, and couldn't say enough good things about the place or the food!

After repeatedly ordering lunch delivery only to find that drivers weren't carrying change, my coworkers and I now charge our lunch deliveries, unless we can come up with exact change, which doesn't happen often. For the business I work in (veterinary hospital), credit card transaction fees vary by company (and vary greatly sometimes) and even by the amount of money in question. We recently changed from one bank to another, and cut our fees dramatically, maybe in half.

If you don't have your card, you can usually enter your phone number and the computer will find you. A few years ago I found myself in a Safeway in Edmunton, Alberta, without my Safeway card. My phone number worked even there. Also, after my wallet was stolen a few years later, a supermarket employee told me it was much easier to just enter a phone number each time than to replace those cards. So I don't even carry cards anymore.

Maybe we need an admissions test for DR.com: anyone who can solve that sort of problem can't be a member, lest they tie us all up in knots. And, Don, don't blame yourself for asking the question, when I'm sure you thought no one could answer it.

Billrus, For muscle soreness: Go to your local health food store or Whole Foods and pick up a little blue tube of Arnica Montana 30c. Pop a couple of pellets in your mouth when you haven't had food for about 15-20 minutes, and wait the same amount of time after before eating or drinking. That should help with the muscle soreness. They're sugar pellets, but it's not that much sugar. You can also get Arnica gel or cream to rub on sore muscles. Works like a charm. You Go!

Next time I see you, I'll buy you some! ETA: I was right to be afraid of all those numbers and letters!

Is that what shut the site down?

They already do package dried beans that way, not to mention nuts and trail mix. In theory, they are heat sealed to stay closed, but my trail mix broke open in my car on Thursday, and spilled a little. I think the nuts and trail mixes go stale or rancid more easily in that packaging. And they do take up too much space.

I made a field trip out to the new WF in Fair Lakes today. It's big and shiny, and even a tad overwhelming, but I liked it more than I expected to. I circled all of the eateries and finally landed in a seat at the smoke house (?). I tasted the brisket, pulled pork, spare ribs, and chicken, as well as the mashed potatoes, greens, and beans. Oh yeah, the regular cornbread, too. That was the "Kitchen Sink" option. For $15 I got a huge amount of food (brought half of it home) and a nice glass of lemonade. I really liked the smoked meats just plain. They were moist and smoky, and I could tell one from another. I wasn't crazy about their barbecue sauces, which were either too sweet (the maple, which should have been my favorite) or too spicy (the North Carolina--it's just me, I think), or too something (sweet again?) (the Texas mustard). The mashed potatoes were good enough, but not great (not enough salt, potato flavor, cream?). The greens were lost in a sweet-hot sauce that obliterated the flavor of the collards themselves. I'm not a baked bean connosieur, but I thought the beans were good. Of the three, I liked the potatoes best. The service was excellent, and I was surprised that they don't allow tipping. When the server heard from another customer that the lemonade was really tart, she asked me to taste the glass she had just given me. I agreed, and she took it back and made it sweeter--just right, in fact. The store itself is huge, with service counters spanning almost the whole periphery, for cut up fruit, seafood, meats, cheese, smoked meats . . . on and on for miles (or so thought my feet). I scored a nice-looking piece of hanger steak for dinner tonight, along with some good deals on fresh fruit. The salad bars and hot-food bars look about the same as those at the Old Town Alexandria store--also the soup bars and dessert bar. The cooked seafood bar seems larger, although the shrimp looked mostly very overcooked. The seafood section has an attractive display of whole fish on ice that aren't behind glass, to evoke the feel of a fish market. I'm not going to make the special trip out there very often, mainly because I have no other reason to go out there, but I will go occasionally, and I will send my husband to check out the wine department. Oh, the staff were all very nice, and seemed happy to be there. ETA: The above was written as soon as I got home, before I unpacked my groceries. The check-out staff probably just needs a little more experience. They packed my seafood bar container in the same bag as my instant oatmeal. The shrimp leaked and saturated the oatmeal box, but I think I saved all but one packet from the box. The container of trail mix that I thought was sealed (they usually are) came open in the plastic grocery bag which tipped and spilled trail mix in my car. The containers that the individual eggs are placed in for transport home are amazingly flimsy and the clerk managed to smash the little interlocking bumps so they wouldn't stay closed. They're different containers than I've gotten in the past at the Alexandria WF, which is why this surprised me. At least the eggs made it home intact.

I just got my "Bits" yesterday. It's bound--hard-bound, actually. Didn't know what to expect for the price.