ktmoomau

3 hours ago, dracisk said:

Sososo sad. I went to the Post website to read about the Caps and found this.

I loved when he and Obama ate on tiny stools in Vietnam.

I saw a tweet, and it had pictures from the restaurant they ate at, it said they were so honored they framed the table and chairs, too cool.   It is very bittersweet to read all the posts on twitter about him.

That article is weird, Virginia General District Court has a $25,000 limit, so why would they sue in FFX GDC?  And I don't think it is possible to get that award out of that court, there must be some error in that article.  Circuit Court where they are suing now would be the only place they could get that high of an award (the 600-700k amount). Or I am somehow losing my mind?  

I was really shocked by this, and sad for his family.  I do feel terrible for Eric Ripert too, (who I joke to my husband is one of my if he was ever interested, I might have to get divorced list (his includes Marissa Tomei)).  I had read some of his books, went to a couple talks and watched his shows devotedly.  For those that like to travel, there aren't a lot of good travel shows, and I liked the feel you got from many of his shows.  I just also liked episodes like the one with Sean Brock and Bill Murray.  I could tell he had his own issues, but it is really hard to see someone with so much going for them, and who admitted publicly had a very lucky life, have such depression.  My heart hurts a little.

Speaking of closings, it seems there is another rash of closings in the DC area, or is it just me?

I had always wanted to go to Linda's and just went recently, and was looking forward to more visits- I think it is better than Metro 29 for certain things, I also just liked the atmosphere.

Oh, I hope Tomanetti's moves their mac and cheese to their diner style restaurant.  I don't think it goes on the current menu, but I thought it was good when I had a bite warmed up the next day.

Sad- Linda's is way better than Bob and Ediths.  I would venture to guess B&E might not make it in that location, unless they transition to a heavier carryout/delivery business.

Well I made a haphazard attempt at shakshuka tonight and emptying the fridge- I thawed some mildly spicy peppers and spinach in the microwave, added white beans, some prego, diced cherry tomatoes, cumin, oregano, chili pepper, paprika and a little cinnamon.  Cracked in four eggs and baked it in the oven.  Pretty darn good.

3 minutes ago, Bob Wells said:

White sauce on barbecue is definitely a thing in Alabama. (Like yellow in SC and clear in eastern NC).

Oh, I know that, but if you are a bbq, and this is the picture you post, I just don't know what to think about your actual bbq: 

Last week Hubby did a good deed and brought home subs from the Italian Store one night I had meetings.  He either got me one from the bin, or he has no idea which sandwich I normally order despite ALWAYS ordering the Napoli.  But whatever it was, he is partial to the Capri so maybe that was it, it was good, it seemed stuffed to the gills with meat.  I warmed up the extra half in the oven the next day for lunch and had it toasty which was good too.

Garrett County

I have been up in GC two weekends in a row for birthday/bridal related activities.  The bridal related activity was at Lucas Farms which was beautiful, a little warm on a bright sunny day, but given all this rain, at least it was sunny.  We had dinners both weekends at Tomanetti's in Oakland because it was either convenient to where we live, or wouldn't be as crowded as lake places.  It is mostly American-Italian.  What they call fresh pizza dough (more pan style than their thin crust) has gotten better IMHO.  I still like Brenda's a little better, but it isn't bad.  They have big entrees, and you are likely to go home with leftovers.  We also had wings, not the best wings I have ever had, but they may be some of the best in GC.  We also had a greek salad, that was chopped salad style, which isn't what I had last time I was there.  I thought it had a tad bit too much dressing- I normally ask for it on the side and I forgot- but otherwise good.  We also had mozarella sticks, which I thought were a pretty good darn rendition of mozz sticks and didn't seem to be just Sysco to me.  They have a nice little side patio, if the weather isn't bad.  Their wine selection is not broad, but we found something that we could drink.  For the birthday celebration we bought out all their champagne and prosecco.  

We needed a quick lunch so we stopped at the Casselman Deli at the lake at the intersection with Glendale road.  It is Amish run.  They have salad bar (but actually a very fresh and pretty decent salad bar), soups, and a few sandwiches/specials daily. They also have a few baked goods.  It is limited selection, but everything is fresh and good for take out.  I had salad bar (romaine salad with lots of veggies and grilled chicken that was not just pre-bought chicken strips) and Maryland crab soup- this isn't like Chick and Ruth's MD crab soup, but it really was a decent rendition (it's hard because I make really good MD crab soup, so does my Mom, it's not their fault).  I am just picky.  They also had two other types of fresh soups, they all looked good.  Mom raved about the chili, I just wasn't in a chili mood.  We had a potato doughnut we split 4 ways for dessert and it was pretty tasty- might have to see how you make those.  And they sell the Amish cinnamon rolls with a combination of the four toppings (white icing, caramel icing, pecan sticky bun style and how am I forgetting the other one?), which I was really excited about because that would be a real pain in the butt to make if you aren't a commercial baker.

We also went to Wendy's Town Restaurant in Oakland for breakfast.  Huge plates of breakfast, very much a hometown diner style breakfast with huge pancakes and omelettes.  Mom asked for and got one sweet potato pancake and one blueberry pancake.  Their blueberry aren't as good as others in the area, I think they need more blueberries.  But the sweet potato are very good, and together they made a really good combo, I ate way more of my Mom's pancakes than I would like to admit.  I got an omlette with ham, bacon, peppers, onions and tomatoes.  It is a big omelette that comes with toast and home fries (I think they are pretty darn good home fries too).  The omelette had a lot of fillings, so it was a smaller egg ratio to a lot of filling, but I thought it was good, not exemplary, but even better while eaten with bites of home fries, and it hit the spot as I was very hungry.  They were serving turkey dinners on Sunday and had it not been brunch time it would have been really tempting.  There is no ambiance in this place, it is a regulars spot that has been there for years although under different owners/managers/etc.  But it is certainly acceptable for breakfast.

There are supposed to be a bunch of new places opening in Oakland, just FYI, a diner on Alder St, and two other restaurants (two by the owner of Tomanetti's, one by Brenda of Ace's and Brenda's Pizzeria).  Supposedly, the Cornish Manor opened with new owners and is now a steak house they just had the soft opening.  I am hoping they have a little different variety for Oakland, but am excited to see how they pan out.  We also I think are getting a record shop/wine bar in Oakland which has the potential to be cool.

That looks good.  A bunch of their social media posts have been a bit odd- sandwiches with like a white sauce on top of some sort and others just didn't make me say serious bbq, but that looks like it might be worth a try.

Last week was hectic, and I went to the Farmer's Market, but still haven't been to the grocery since China.  In good news, the fridge and freezer are getting cleared out.  Mom gave me a whole bag of cans of beans, as they don't work on her new diet, so contemplating what do with them.  We had: Steak pan fried in cast iron with Adam's Steak seasoning (my favorite) with squash sauteed with peppers and onions in olive oil that I had frozen.  We also had penne with marinara and meatballs. 

Last night I made penne with a sauce of Italian sausage browned (it's from a butcher in Garrett County and very saucy so then I just tossed the rest of the stuff in), garlic and broccoli, oregano, fennel, white wine, lemon and olive oil.  I tossed the leftover squash and red peppers in too because, why not.  

On 6/1/2018 at 12:35 PM, NolaCaine said:

but what about the side of sushi...

Doesn't that seem too far?

That's why I said I hope they focus- essentially cut the sushi and other stuff that isn't seafood boil.  It seems odd to have both, yes.

I sew, although I hate it (although not as much as ironing).  No help though on the quilt sorry.

14 minutes ago, Josh said:

It has been my (nearly weekly) experience that Vietnamese and Cajun are 2 foods that absolutely SHOULD be paired.  

Yes, not sure Asiatique is quite doing what I was hoping for as to Viet Cajun, but maybe they will focus... or not.

Ok, I am going to try my best to dive into the food we had in China and what we saw, etc.

Chengdu

We landed in Chengdu late in the evening and checked into the JW Marriott in Chairman Mao Square.  It was very nice.  The next morning we woke up and wandered the nearby area- off Zongfu Road on the right and then into the neighborhood and had breakfast of spicy noodle with intestine, and non-spicy noodle bowl with intestine, beef meat pie.  Outside was a vendor selling buns and dumplings- Hubby and I tried this later and they were delicious too.  We then headed out to see Pandas- and this is a little corny, but, ok, ok they are cute!  We especially had fun in the Red Panda area, as the red pandas can go between the different enclosures so you can be in fairly close proximity to them.  We then came back and had a traditional pig foot stew (and way too much other food, pork belly with leeks, thick noodles in a spicy sauce, gelatin with molasses, etc etc).  We then went to the People's Park and spent the afternoon drinking tea, getting our ears cleaned and chilling.  It was fun to wander People's Park and see the ballroom dancing, semi zumba like dancing, etc, etc.  We laughed at people trying to row the row boats on the pond while drinking tea.  That night we went to the Wide and Narrow alley streets.  We did a little shopping and had fun- we blew candy animals, ground peppers- there was just all sorts of interactive but fun things going on in the street.  We were going to get a nice dinner there, but my stomach was not happy about all the spicy food and neither was Chang's so Hubby and Maya got some street snacks.  They also got some KFC 4th meal.  

The next day they had a visa appointment, so Matt and I wandered Zongfu Road to New Guanghua St, as there are a couple blocks that in the morning have lots of breakfast items- dumplings, buns, glutinous rice with fillings cooked in banana leaf, pastries and noodle bowls.  We got a couple pastries- wife biscuits- and dumplings.  We then found the shopping street and just wandered a bit and got some juice with bubbles. (Lizhi/Liangsheng Alleys)  We then met back up with them and went to the Sichuan history museum in Chairman Mao square and the Puppet museum there too- that was really cool, and the museums were well done, it was a nice little history for us.  They don't have tons of artifacts (most they say are in Taiwan now), but it was still well done and they had some very neat things, and they had layouts of town and etc which were cool.  The puppet museum was on the top floor and was so much cooler than we expected, we really liked that part.  We also giggled at an American animal exhibit, in which they had put an orange hunters vest and gun on the squirrel.  We then went out a ways to a dinner with Maya's family in more suburban Chengdu.  We went to this restaurant off of the 2nd Ring Road by Yulin S. Road and Fancoa E St that you walked along a square of uncooked items and took numbers for what you wanted and then gave those to the waiter, inside the square was an open kitchen cooking the items, very cool.  We had plates and plates of spicy sichuan food that seemed to never end- cold chengdu noodles, purple noodles that I think were made with yam perhaps in spicy sauce, mapo tofu, twice cooked pork, sichuan style green beans (Maya knows this is one of my favorites) I need to find pictures from Matt to discuss more dishes. Oh yes, we had mashed potatoes and American style vegetables to cool our tongues down a bit (a crowd favorite with our Chinese companions, we pretended it wasn't what we wanted, but with all the other types of pepper floating around a little coolant was good).  There was a great fish dish with lots of fresh ginger and green thai peppers and udon noodles.  So much good stuff.  So much spicy food.  That night we went drinking along the Jinjiang River where the Anshun Bridge is located and we got late night BBQ at one of the restaurants (we went fancy to avoid stomach issues early on in the trip, so we avoided the outside stand bbqs).  This was a decently fun area, despite being touristy- although all the live music there that night was just appallingly bad, it was choosing which I could stand for a few minutes while we got drinks.  The bridge is really neat, this would be another good area to stay, lots of nice hotels. 

The next day we took the bullet train to LeShan to see the Giant Buddha and Temple.  Note if stairs aren't your thing, you might take the river boat, it is a lot of stairs up the mountain, then down the side of the buddha and then back up.  But if you don't go to the temple, it's a lot less stairs.  We then had Maya's friends take us to a hot pot restaurant called I think- Niuweixuan Hot Pot- it was a little ways a way from LeShan in a more rural area known for this type of hot pot with beef and cilantro called QiaoJiao Beef- the traditional isn't spicy, but you can get it spicy if you want.

The next day we were going to go out of the city on another train to see some sights, but after significant hiking and drinking the day before, we decided to play it cool.  We saw the University Maya went to, had bubble tea at Coco! (it's a chain, but they have a menu with English) and we had Boboji (skewers dipped in spicy cold sauce) at a place that looked popular with students.  We then went to another old village looking shopping area with old tombs (I think Wuhou Temple and Jinlin Street) so we could pick up souvenirs.  We then went to a Sichuan opera at Shenfengya Yun- they are totally hawking touristy things to upgrade you (we got costumes because I mean- why not, only in China once and Maya wanted to), but it was fun to see.  We had some Dicos a Chinese chain similar to KFC (also out of one of their main menu items- how is this possible), below the dicos was someone selling buns with beef and sichuan peppers that were so good, not traditional, but so good.  That day we also went to the Chinese Eastern Memory Park- a big factory they are turning into an area with art studios, bars, restaurants.  It was neat to see what "factory" life might have been a little like, Maya had grown up in a "factory" town so it was cool to hear her talk about it.

And that my friends, was our whirlwind tour of Chengdu.

It got better for a short period of time, and then the head chef left, and it went back to....   It now has a new chef/director, but that person is in charge of all the food service of all of Mt Vernon, they are working on revamping stuff, but the food court included and special events is a big project, as I eat there from time to time, crossing my fingers.  But they do serve a huge amount of people in a day.

On 5/25/2018 at 5:12 PM, NolaCaine said:

Now my curiosity is all activated..

Did you see the Ugly Delicious episode on VietCajun Crawfish?

I grew up with a family that listed to Dylan.  We had inside jokes about songs.  We saw him in a very small space at the Calvert Marine Museum once, which was amazing and other times in big venues.  I missed a lot of the prior discussion, but I think my favorite songs are more poetry than songs: Desolation Row, Hurricane, and Last Thoughts on Woodie Guthrie.  Maybe Boots of Spanish Leather, too.  Certain lyrics would just last with me a while.

A small freeverse to Chinese KFC and Chinese Walmart respectively:

Chinese KFC- while you inexplicably are allowed to be out of basic menu items, I applaud your 24/7 delivery of a light, crispy less greasy battered fried chicken which is better than your product in the USA.  The fact that you racially profile me and don't give me the spicy sauce aside, I do believe a meal side of two drummettes, egg tart and drink are better than fries in every way.  And while I am on the subject of egg tarts- your egg tarts are a modern marvel, they are crisp and soft and custard filing is like a dense pillow of goodness.  Yes, I could likely after searching and searching bakeries find a comparable egg tart, but this is an amazing marvel of Chinese goodness that should be bestowed on the American people as "pie".  We would eat it up.  I am impressed with your charging outlets so frequent and your sink with soap.  I am baffled by your lack of toilets in some locations. I am hypnotically fascinated by your bright blue sea salt ice cream in black cone.  I have not eaten it, but I have watched someone eat fascinated by the mutated food color.  Why is non-dairy creamer non-existent for coffee when soya milk is a menu, option.  Yes, I know I ate an egg tart yesterday, but today I want the only coffee I can find this side of Jianshui with creamer without ingesting a lactose pill.  You hipster Colonel with California Cool wardrobe and goatee makes you seem so modern.

Chinese Walmart- I didn't know that Walmart could be something exciting or interesting until I found you.  I now will order a bug zapper mosquito racket for my nephews so they can run around zapping zealous mosquitoes by the pool. The amount of chicken feet found in one grocery store was compelling.  The smell of dumplings and buns wafting by the register from the prepared food section, so tempting.  The whole aisle of jerky- whether individually packaged, bite size or whole package spiced in all flavors and heat levels is a marvel of the consumer world.  I applaud gift hams and gift ducks so nicely packaged.  The pay by the pound candy section provides such a vast array of jelly candy that I am overwhelmed by sheer choice and flavor options in all colors and sizes.  The fact that your obviously Asian styled clothing still rocks the "Faded Glory" logo is interesting.  Your chopstick selection needs work. I am sure the Lipton tea feels quite silly among all the other local, vastly superior options, I hope your facial recognition cameras publicly shame those who buy it. 

Yeah, I saw that on Google, hoping there was something closer, but glad to know it is potentially a good option.

Anyone know of anywhere local- DMV- that has a selection of water plants?  Our friends who took us to China really were interested in some water pot plants, and I was trying to see if anywhere local had any selection.

So we ordered again- Hubby got chicken saag which looked good, but I didn't try it.  I got the chicken kadai based on how much I liked it last time.  This time it was gloppy and oily.  We also ordered samosas chaat, which were spicier again than expected.  So not as good of an experience as last time.  Bread was the same as last time, although I could notice a slight difference between garlic kulcha and the naan of the pieces of garlic.  

When out of the country and having eaten pretty much solely Chinese food (a visit to Chinese KFC aside), coming home Lost Dog Cafe was a nice little welcome home.  I got Chulita's madness pizza, Hubby got a bow wow sandwich and fries.  Considering how much we both ate, it couldn't have been bad.  I think the larger the size of pizza you get here, the better it is in terms of ratios, just mho.  Last time I was here I got the chicken parm- it comes with sliced chicken pieces, but I kind of liked that, the chicken was very tender and it was easier to eat with spaghetti and the garlic bread- which was texas toast style in a good way.  Anyway, when you are craving a good sandwich, sub or pizza that isn't Papa John's but isn't fancy either, you could do worse than Lost Dog.