ktmoomau

I made skillet cornbread- not sure I loved the recipe, it was ok, but not spectacular, it could also be that I used powdered buttermilk.

I also made cheddar biscuits this weekend, both for a chili cook-off.  I think the biscuits needed more milk- although I added 1/4 cup for than the recipe called for, to me they were a little crumbly, which was fine with chili, and they tasted good, but next time more milk.

I wasn't going to make nachos, which seems like such an unhealthy dinner, but I had the nacho cheese, the chips, a wee bit of chili left, a wee bit of shredded chicken left, a wee bit of salsa left, a wee bit of olive paste, banana peppers and greek yogurt.  And I hate waste, and I like nachos (so I really try to limit my consumption), so alas last night was not the greatest or worst of nachos, but I think with the processed nacho cheese it was saltier and not as good as my normal nachos with pepperjack and american cheese combo.  I also could have grilled some pepper and onion which I often do, but I didn't... oh well, it was one dinner.

Dinner the other evening with a friend, we had a nice evening, were not rushed and all the sushi we ordered was good- I would say above average for American sushi.  I still want to try their pork cutlet, need to do that.

That looks delightful!

Last night I used the shredded chicken I had and stuffed it into a baguette that I toasted in the oven with olive spread and Duke's mayo.  I then stuffed it with fennel and carrots that I pickled this past week with coriander seed and fennel seed and baby spinach.

I have gone twice.  I got noodles once, rice once.  This was Hubby's daily/weekly lunch spot when he worked for Edelman.  I really like the forbidden rice, spicy chicken and then load up all the veggies you want.  If you don't pick a sauce, they do have some you can add yourself by the drinks.  The noodles were more confusing on the ordering.  I really love the food and it is very fresh.  I wish they had an ordering system like HoneyGrow/Sheetz where you went to a computer stand and it walked you through the steps and you could only choose what you were supposed to choose, and had a few specials that you could just hit and that was it, decision done.  I REALLY wish they would pair up with Uber Eats too.  

I have a jar of tostitos cheese dip that someone brought over.  Any good way to use it besides nachos?  

22 hours ago, rhefter said:

Do you just extend the cook time (double the time?) for the frozen steaks? Been interested in this aspect of the sous vide but haven't gone from freezer directly to the water.

When I did this- normally the frozen steak would lower the cooking temperature and would be thawed when the water stays at the desired temperature, so I would use that as an indication.  But I normally do this more often with short ribs or super long cooking time items and you didn't really have to worry about an absolutely exact time period.

Went to Evening Star on Saturday night with the in-laws and had a much nicer meal than the last time we were there.  Again had the cauliflower- I already stated I am a real sucker for fried cauliflower.  I had the duck two ways, the duck breast was cooked perfectly at medium rare and the "risotto" was very good and earthy, balanced.  Hubby and MIL had pork chops which they liked.  FIL had a pimento burger and gumbo.  He really loved the gumbo, he said it wasn't the best ever, but it was really good.  He also liked the pimento burger a lot.  We got there very early as my in-laws hadn't eaten lunch, and service was very nice

We took our in laws to brunch at Mia's.  It is "small plates" but I think the dishes are of medium size, I would say 1.5 for an average person.  We got an order of doughnuts for the table, which Hubby and his Dad really enjoyed.  They were good, but it wasn't write home about good.  We also got a few salads- mine was arugula with fennel and orange, which I thought made a good breakfast salad.  FIL had the spinach and he really enjoyed it, forget which one MIL had.  I got the pepperoni strata with vegetable marinara- I loved this dish.  It was egg and vegetables (I am a big fan of a at least a few veggies with breakfast), but with bread and pepperoni in a strata in a cast iron bowl with marinara.  I liked this so much I want to make it at home- and that is the second ultimate compliment for me (the best compliment is I really like it, but it is too complex for me to replicate).  Hubby and his Dad had the meatball benedict, which was one big meatball on a big english muffin (homemade)- I can't give it justice on description, but it was really good.  I would also replicate this at home for a brunch.  Hubby also got the breakfast pizza for the table, which was good, but not as good as our other dishes.  And MIL got baked eggs which she really liked, but I don't think were quite as good as the strata or benedict. Service was very nice, refills on coffee came easily.  The price for the four of us (no alcohol) was about $75.  We all agreed that this would be a good place to bring other people for brunch.  It was just a little different from a normal brunch menu and not too pricey, but nice.

This weekend we had leftover chili Friday night with cheese and chips, and last night I roasted fennel, carrot and onion, and served it over mashed potatoes, and topped with shredded chicken that I had made in the instant pot previously.  That is also my lunch today.

On 11/7/2018 at 8:56 AM, NolaCaine said:

I'm wondering how judgemental this thread is? I see very beautiful lunches for M-F, my lunches are usually embarrassing. Ya'll interested in my sh1**y lunch choices? Today it might be a soup run. I'm having some trouble swallowing and am short of time today. If we are reserving this thread for "fancy lunches" I fully understand. 

I would say since in the what am I eating thread- I got three laughs at admitting I was eating cheetos, you are good!  Yesterday and today I have a slightly glamorous lunch of tamales only because I remembered to pack my lunch from home.  As I just bought groceries and we need to use up the leftovers so I can cook new things!

Hey All,

My volunteer group- the Junior Friends of the Campagna Center, puts on the Scottish Christmas Walk Weekend every year to benefit the Campagna Center, a local non-profit in Alexandria.  This year the Taste of Scotland is on Friday, Nov 30 at The Atrium Building (where Society Fair is), and the Greenery sales (at The Campagna Center), amazing Grand Feature Parade (downtown Alexandria), and Home Tours (around Old Town Alexandria) will be Saturday, December 1.  

We still need sponsors, and if you are even a single person sponsor or couple sponsor- you get a nice little package of tickets to everything and you get an invite to the dignitaries breakfast.  The event tickets are also live!  This is a really fun event, and if you want to really have a blow-out that day, that evening in the boat parade in Old Town.  There is WAY more information here, plus pictures and etc, etc.  https://www.campagnacenter.org/scottishwalkweekend  So come stop by and buy your Christmas wreath or greenery, watch the parade, drink scotch and eat some good food at a big party with some Scottish revelers, and snoop in peoples fancy houses, come on out!  (We also normally need volunteers for the Home Tours as docents, so if you would like to volunteer, I might captain a house even, send me a message.)

My in-laws are coming into town this weekend- and I was trying to plan something fun.  It is colonial market weekend down at Mount Vernon, but we might Mount Vernon them out.  Any other ideas?  I saw the Czech Christmas Market- anyone ever been to that?  Is it crazy busy, claustrophobic?  Trying to search event-brite, but there is just so much stuff.

18 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

I tried both. The flour were ok, but the corn were not very good at all. Little flavor, fell apart immediately and reminded me of cardboard.

Agreed.  I do like their fish tacos and I can make this in my mind an exception to the need corn tortillas rule- not sure why.  We got it catered in my building and I just did a plate without tortillas and then grabbed a bag of chips and it was a make my own nacho/salad experience.

5 hours ago, curiouskitkatt said:

Watching election results had me in a state of anxiety last night to where dinner was a bit anti-climatic to all of the provisions I happen to shove in my mouth throughout the day. Dinner was composed of grocery store bought  kelbasa & fried eggs. The role of carb was filled by Lao sticky rice. In Pa Dutch County we lovingly refer to softly fried eggs as dippy.  And 'Im not  referring to the quaintly softly boiled eggs that are cracked to which you dipped toasted brioche soldiers. Just a fried egg.  The state of the yolk served as the perfect dipping sauce for my sticky rice. And instead of salt , I drizzled Maggi judiciously over my eggs. The combination of that salty sauce and yolk is such a distinctive flavor in our household, I am surprised Maggi is not a condiment at Viet restaurants. Breakfast idea, y'all. 

As a kid I would only eat scrambled or dippy eggs!   I made chili, but the beans despite being soaked and then cooked for a long time (kidneys) were still fairly al dente (not bad just chewier than I like).  Not sure what their deal were, but I didn't need the added stress of not perfect chili while watching election returns, hahahaha!

2 hours ago, DaveO said:

that sounds intriguing and tasty.  How was it?  I'm salivating. 

It was good!  A little reminiscent of bananas foster, sweet, but good as a waffle topping!

The website for this place says closed for renovations, and Yelp appears to says that, as well.  Not sure about any details.

Yesterday I did a brunch for my Mom and brother's family.  I made waffles, which Mom made a topping with bananas cooked in brown sugar and butter.  I also made bacon, scrambled eggs, and english muffin as one of the boys will eat waffles, the other will eat egg and bread, but not waffle.  We had a successful breakfast were the boys actually ate mostly the meal served to everyone (although I did tailor it somewhat to their tastes).

On 11/3/2018 at 5:52 PM, Pool Boy said:

My company bought everyone lunch (it happens a lot) and District Taco was brought in. The meats and accoutrements were all good, but I was very underwhelmed by the tortillas. 

Flour or corn?  I am not sure that either are homemade, at the restaurant you used to have to ask for corn, the default was flour, which I found a bit odd.  I think their corn fall apart easily, but I only really like flour tortillas for fajitas or quesadillas.  Their website says all their ingredients are made from scratch, but I would be surprised to find out their tortillas were not bought, they just don't taste like they are.

Roots 657 Market and Cafe is right outside of Lucketts, VA and on the weekend, does a fair business with the vintage crowd and etc.  We stopped in for a snack and split the roots salad with feta and sweet potatoes topped with turkey (big chunks, but seemed freshly roasted then chilled a bit).  The salad was lightly, but thoroughly dressed and was nice.  Mom and I also got some potato chips and glasses of chardonnay.  All the food coming out around us (burgers, sandwiches) looked pretty good, and the fries looked fresh cut.  They had a small but decent selection of wine, beer and cider and they had some desserts that looked good.  We didn't check out the market side, but it seemed to have pottery, wine, candies, etc.

Anyway, if you are doing the vintage loop and don't want to go into downtown Leesburg, this is an option, it is order at the counter, find a table and your food comes out.  It was pretty busy when we came in, but we had no problem getting a table, and the food came out quickly (of course all our items were cold).

Souvlaki Bar has multiple locations in the DMV, I couldn't find a thread, if there is one, please merge.

We have gone to Souvlaki Bar a few times now as it is super close to the house.  We took Mom there the other night as it has really good salads that are a pretty generous portion that you can top with lamb, chicken, pork or falafel.  Last time I went I had a greek salad with chicken.  I thought the chicken was a nice texture of juicy, flavorful and crispy.  So the other night I got the kale and spinach salad with chicken, and I enjoyed it as well.  The kale was nice and tender, the salad greens were very fresh, again the chicken was good.  A girl had a wrap beside us that looked good too.  I don't think they are per se better than like Plaka, and they don't have as big of a menu, BUT they have really nice salads and at least the chicken has been delicious, I will try a wrap with gyro meat next time to see.

This weekend, I had a woefully understocked fridge, but then my Mom showed up with an assortment of leftover items from her fridge.  This to me is just a challenge, so... I made chicken breasts rubbed with mural of flavor Penzey's, that we had with sauteed spinach, miso cauliflower (needed an extra veg for Mom who is low carbing), and a rice pilaf with peas and carrots I made in the instant pot Saturday night.

Last night I made a stir-fry with onions, peppers, carrots and leftover chicken, steak and shrimp.  I added a sichuan stir-fry sauce that was an impulse buy at HT.  It was fine, it had a slight spice, but no real heat.  I could have made a better one homemade, but you know, sometimes you just want to see what the sauce packet is like.  I also made fried rice with the leftover pilaf.  Mom had her stir-fry over broccoli.

Last week I made flank steak, with roasted carrots, onion and cherry tomato, mashed cauliflower and gravy.  I have been in court a lot, so there have been a lot of take out and delivery nights.

On 11/2/2018 at 1:16 PM, Pat said:

Sichuan Spicy Wonton in Red Oil (红油抄手) from the Omnivore's Cookbook blog that I found when i was looking for an egg crepe recipe. The crepes were great so I decided to make these. I haven't made wontons in probably a few years and they are always easier than I expect, so long as I don't overfill them.

I had been meaning to make this for weeks now and had bought the pork for it at least three separate times. I think I was just anticipating the time expenditure for filling the wontons. I put the tv on, remembered not to overfill them, and everything came out well. Not a single one burst open in the water! The red chili oil sauce was very hot, very very hot. I had used commercial chili oil I'd had in the pantry for quite a while instead of making my own and i added a sprinkling of crushed chili flakes instead of the 4 tsp. that are supposed to be added to the homemade version. Whoa, was it hot. Not bad, mind you, but scorching. The aromatic water that goes into the filling is worth the 20 minutes it takes to steep it. The aromatics soak up some of the water, so it's not a full 1/4 cup of water going into the filling. It seemed like just the right amount. I used ground pork, which may or may not be equal to minced pork.

We also had cole slaw dressed with Annie's shiitake sesame dressing and fried white rice with scallions and broccoli.

Pat, that is a lovely blog, thanks for posting that recipe.  

On 10/31/2018 at 8:41 AM, NolaCaine said:

Squash soup (I made it vegan style). OMG fall squash soup is one of my favorite things. Tastes creamy yet has no cream!

I love this soup!!!

We went this summer to the Montgomery County location- as it was close to people we were meeting who were traveling with kiddo.  I think they have a nice selection of vegetarian items and items for picky eaters, I do think lunch is their strongest meal.  And that location in the little shopping center just lacks any charisma that the Arlington location has inside, but on the plus there are outdoor areas to walk and play for a bit for the kiddo.  Again with picky eaters of different types, they do a nice job on their dinner menu of being accommodating and having a nice selection, and being pretty kid friendly, we ended up having a nice dinner, and stuff came pretty quick for the kiddo which was good.  And they had some really nice fresh cocktails in the summer.  But over the course of multiple visits throughout the years with friends, and Hubby for different meals, we have found it to be very different at different locations and meals, and lunch to me is by far the strongest.