ScotteeM

I had a rare Wednesday off and went to the market at the Wakefield Rec Center in Annandale (Braddock Road just outside the Beltway) for the first time today. It was very small, but I now have a pitcher of sangria chilling in the fridge loaded with fresh strawberries, sweet cherries, blueberries, and raspberries. The peas I just shelled are so fresh I'm tempted to not cook them at all. The tomatoes were picked this morning and look fabulous, and I can't wait to try the strawberry/rhubarb pie. From the pie baker I also scored some Delmonico steaks to round out our Summer Solstice dinner. Yum!

All of the above (but not the microwaving)! I prefer a metal baking pan to glass, for browning. I also like to toss some smashed garlic cloves in and sometimes some shallots or onions. I tend to season after roasting.

One of the treasures I saved to remember my mother-in-law was her bacon grease canister. It's probably older than I am, with a removable strainer. It now resides happily in my fridge. I don't tend to save other fats, although once I made a beautiful roast goose and I did save the fat from that. Too bad I'm not fond of goose, because the fat from it was wonderful.

The key lime pie is great! On my "next time" list for Ray's: Onion soup. The tiny taste I got of my husband's last time almost made me swoon (as if being with my husband wasn't already enough for that ).

It's today, at 9:00.

I just saw the promo a few minutes ago. Fabio Trabocchi will be profiled on Fox Channel 5 news tomorrow, Monday, June 19, at 10:00 pm. Set your recorders!

Nah, just drink more coffee. I worked so hard to cut my (coffee) consumption from 8 cups a day down to 2. Now I have to undo that!

Whole Foods' policy on this is insane, and I doubt it will improve their bottom line. I think quite the opposite may be true. It's all well and good for us to talk about this here. We should really be letting WF management know what we think. What is the best way to do this? I asked at the Springfield store and the cashier told me to "call Regional." What the heck is that? Meanwhile, my husband--ever the intrepid hunter/gatherer--found beautiful live soft-shells at Wegmans a couple of weeks ago, for $3.99 each. They were wonderful!

Fishers Hardware in Springfield has a wonderful array of canning supplies.

Well, it sounds like your day was saved by Ray's. Good on you! And good for Ray's! And, as for why you moved beyond a reasonable commute to Ray's, I think you answered that. Yummy, right? Then day saved. If I didn't live all the way out in Burke-e-licious (not), I'd find solace in Ray's myself more often.

Chateaubriand . . . only if you trust your dining partner to quit eating at half. Otherwise, each of you should order your own steaks. The onion soup was very delicious when my husband let me have a taste a few weeks ago. Whatever you get will be excellent. And, whatever you do, don't let it slip that you're Rockweilers. . . that leads to "second class treatment."

Loin lamb chops, marinated in maple syrup and soy sauce and grilled rare. Grilled asparagus topped with shaved parmesan and lemon zest. Rombi pasta with browned butter, pine nuts, buttercup squash, sage, onion, arugula and sage.

Last time I ordered a venti latte at $tarbuck$ it had 2 shots of espresso. I asked them to make it a Quad (4 shots). Granted, that was a couple of months ago. Cariobou Coffee's large latte contains 3 shots, and I usually upgrade to 4.

Sometimes they do that at lunchtime, too. Today's salad du jour was a beautifully seared piece of tuna loin on spring greens with tiny baby potato wedges, pitted nicoise olives, and other lovelies, with a nicoise-style dressing. It was heavenly! I ordered it medium-rare, and it was wonderful, but if I had another shot at it, I'd ask for rare. The clams were wonderful, as usual. I can't wait till July 1, when my beloved and I have a reservation in the Tasting Room again.

Married to someone for several decades who played soccer for several decades, I would have to argue otherwise. I love you, Don!

Great story, JPW, thanks for the laughs! So now I have to check "The List: Are You On It?" weekly to make sure I'm not.

Could someone enlighten those of us in the dark about this "list", and whether it is a good or bad thing to be "on"?

Um, no. Just looking forward to the DR.com Annual Fall Picnic . . . like we had last year, only for this year.

I'm so sorry that I missed the picnic, but I've thought of a new item for someone to bring next time: disposable containers for spiriting away leftovers. The picnic area looks wonderful in the pictures. Will we have it again for our fall gala?

--> QUOTE(Mrs. B @ Jun 5 2006, 12:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Did the heat wave last week kill the spring peas or did the damn pea shoot/leaf eaters? I don't know. There were peas at the Burke market, and I think I saw pea shoots there (or was that at H Mart?).

18 liters = 4.755 gallons

Last night: batter-fried squash blossoms Traugott's Sauteed Soft-Shelled Crabs sauteed fava beans, baby carrots, and baby pattypan squash squash blossom risotto The crabs were from Wegmans: big, juicy, live when sold, $3.99 each. The recipe was from Whitey Schmidt's Crabbiest cookbook.

I went to the Burke farmers market for the first time in a couple of years, yesterday. In addition to the familiar produce vendors, I was very glad to see Cibola Farm, and a couple of cheese/dairy farmers. I went resolved to only by one or two things, and had to make two trips back to the car to unload my purchases. In the past 24 hours, I've learned all kinds of things to make with squash blossoms. We'll be eating our first Cibola pork roast tonight. I also came home with wonderful salad greens, onions, potatoes, turnips, and baby carrots. We'll enjoy some of Cibola's pork sausages later this week. Next Saturday I'm enrolled in Maestro's cooking class, so I'll probably have to send my husband to the market with a list.

My husband surprised me a couple of weekends ago with dinner at Indebleu. He had been there one night after work with a friend, and really enjoyed it, so he made a reservation for us. I did enjoy the "Holy Basil" cocktail that he ordered for me at the bar before dinner, although the barstools at Indebleu deserve at least an Honorable Mention in the Most Uncomfortable Barstool category--all steel and sharp corners. The dining room is pretty, although the background music was kind of jarring. We both loved the bread, which has been described previously, but we didn't love how difficult it was to get refills. The menu offered three- and four-course prix fixe options, as well as a tasting menu and optional wine pairings. On my menu, the four-course price was around $62 and the five-course tasting menu was $75, with a $50 or $75 add-on for wine pairings (I don't remember the price, but it was at least $50). I didn't realize it at the time, but my husband's menu was different from mine, showing a six-course tasting menu for a higher cost, and including a foie gras course. In either case, it seemed like a nice way to explore the offerings of the kitchen, so we ordered it. The food was good, especially the lobster with vanilla sauce. It just wasn't enough. Everyone around us seemed to have ordered the 3- or 4-course option, and we soon realized that we should have done so as well. For instance, my husband had enjoyed the amuse geulle on his first visit and was looking forward to it. Everyone around us received it, but we did not. Then I noticed that our tartare portions were significantly smaller, by about 1/3, than those being served at tables around us (that was ok, though, because I didn't really want more of that). Where we received two scallops on our plates for the next course, everyone else had three. Where everyone else who ordered the lamb received two double chops, ours were singles. And when the foie gras didn't arrive as my husband expected, he asked the server who explained that the foie gras course is only offered on weeknights; on weekends the tasting menu is shorter and omits that course. When she brought back a menu to show him, he realized he'd been given the wrong menu at the start of the meal. The menu he saw first is also the menu posted outside the front door. But, the bottom line is that our courses, while the same ingredients and essentially the same platings as those of our fellow diners, were a third to half the size of theirs, except for dessert. So, for a somewhat higher price, we were served significantly less food than diners who didn't order the tasting menu. The wine pairings were OK, but not great. The glasses were brought to the table already poured, so we didn't really know what we were drinking, and the pours were about half the amount we had received when we ordered a glass of wine before the meal. So we had four half-glasses of wine and an espresso each (I would have preferred decaf, but wasn't offered the option) for $50-$75. Aside from asking about the missing foie gras and being told it wasn't on the menu, and having to hunt down the servers with the bread trays a few times, we didn't make a complaint at the time. I'm not sure what we would have said--"Excuse me, but where is my third scallop?" Our complaints were more with the policies of the restaurant than with aberrations in service or cooking. To their credit, the restaurant calls diners a day or two after the dinner to ask how things were. After a couple of rounds of phone tag, my husband did get to speak to a representative of the restaurant on the phone and mentioned our dissatisfaction. The person on the phone simply promised a drink each on the house on our next visit. I do think the food is good, and most of the service is, too. But I do not recommend the tasting menu option. If we go back, we'd order the four-course option instead. There are so many other restaurants I want to try before we do that.

If you're pouring.