Out and About DC Metropolitan Style

I love going back to MD, because I get to see old friends, and they've always got interesting places to see and eat at!

First up, Poetry Night at Busboys and Poets. Normally links in this blog are direct lines to the menu. But you should check out the establishment's main website. It's combination bookstore-restaurant, and it's where Langston Hughes used to work! Could there be more appropriate places to go to a poetry night?

Did I mention I got crab cakes? SO MUCH MEAT!

For Smash- my bites consisted of crab cake, some veggies, sauce, and the grits. Every single bite, yes. It just wasn't the same without all 4 components!

My friend from high school got up and performed a piece, and we got to hear from her friend who performed by the host's request! I loved the broad range of topics and presentation styles, and am so proud of my friend for getting up there!

Later in the week I met with another friend. His wife had to work so we dropped her off at work and went to Eggspectation nearby.

Half Boca Raton benedict, and half Smoked Salmon. I was too indecisive. I meant the other half to be the California benedict.

They're all so good! I was surprised that it's such a large chain, but apparently it's only an East Coast chain. Both for the U.S., Canada, and I bet you for India (I didn't look extensively at where their Indian locations were. I just wanted to see if there were any near me!) Answer is no.

Went down to VA to watch the Alamo bowl with nephew & Co. (To be honest, he was well in bed before the game started, but I can pretend he was cheering in his dreams).

We had sandwiches from one cousin's local favorites, ....[insert name & link here]. I got a pastrami sandwhich on rye with lettuce, dijon, tomatoes and a side of HORSERADISH - WHAT!

I stopped expanding my pictures. It just makes them blurry and less yummy looking. Move your face closer to the screen.

They had pretzel chips. I put them in the sandwich.

It was as good as it looks.

XMAS - Dad in charge of the kitchen!!!

At Thanksgiving Dad turned to my uncle and said, "I want to make prime rib for Christmas dinner. Any advice?" Uncle said, "Go to a butcher shop and have them season and prep it for you. So all you have to do is cook it and you get ribs left over for later eating!" He got into more detail of what you can do with the ribs, and the food coma set in, so Dad said I was in charge of remembering how to cook Christmas dinner.

December comes. Dad says "So you're cooking Christmas dinner, right?"

"What? All he said was, go to the butcher shop. Ask them to prep everything for you. Cook. Done. Right?"

Uncle and I sent Dad recipes.

Dad: "I think I want to prepare the meat the way it says in this recipe, but cook it the other way. Will that work?"

"No. The second way cooks faster because it's a different cut of meat."

Dad: "......ooooookaaaaaaay." *defeated tone*

Christmas Day- Mom steals the oven and makes her ribs. Dad preps the prime rib:

He doesn't like mustard, so he didn't follow the recipe completely. He substituted with other seasoning I bought from Colorado. Also, lots of garlic.

12pm: "Dad, if people are coming over to eat dinner at 3, shouldn't you be cooking the meat by now?"

Dad: "No, why? It says 2.5 hrs for every 5 lbs. That's 3 hours."

"How many lbs is the prime rib?"

Dad: "8 - 10? IIIIII don't knoooooowwwww."

********We had to send Mom elsewhere in the house, because she had already been stressed throughout the day about this. Luckily, we had the NJ clan (who are EXCELLENT cooks) to help with dessert and side dishes. To be honest, they did most of the work. I just moved stuff around.*********

Timing turned out to be JUUUUUST fine. Our guests got sucked into learning how to play Mah Jong, so we had dinner after 4pm.

Eh? Not too shabby for scary Dad comments, right?

The perfect medium rare.... mmmm. No horseradish. Sorry.

NJ Crew + Cousin + Myself made mushrooms and green beans with sage, mashed potatoes, boiled sweet potatoes, gluten free pumpkin/cornbread, and kale salad.

Mom's ribs!!! They are famous and she'll always try to get you to take some home with you.

Corn bread and kale. (Turns out, there's Asian kale. It does NOT cook the same way non-Asian kale cooks. It was.... bitter).

I made Mar's pumpkin walnut crunch cake:

Alternately, we had Maria's bakery Asian cakes! (Apparently quite a few family members don't like pumpkin. Every day's a school day!)

These are a few of my favorite things! Part III

The last go-to restaurant is A&J. Admittedly, the dumplings at Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐are better, but I just haven't been impressed with their side dishes. These are what I REALLY miss:

What's that? Close up pictures? Ok, if you insist. Starting from the top left:

Um... I don't know what this is. I think it's beef tendon, but the only beef tendon on the menu has garlic. Don't recall heartburn, so .... ????

Tofu rolls with assorted mushrooms -#5206.

Most of these side dishes are cold. This one has a slight sweet soy sauce flavor. Usually known as what I call, "cow fu." Which is also the term for your uncle from your mother's side. The parental generation insists that what I call the food is incorrect, but when I ask them to repeat the name it sounds EXACTLY the same to me. SO..... oh well. I'll worry about it more once I've learned the Cantonese tones. (Even though this is Mandarin-style dim sum).

Sliced pork ears with spicy seasongs -#5205.

I don't always get this, but once in a blue moon I crave it. Kind of the satisfaction you get from eating jerky. Not at all like jerky.

Bean curd with 1000 year old egg -#5201.

My uncle used to love this type of egg (can't eat it much anymore for health reasons). First time eating this was in middle school with them. My parents don't actually like it, so I was mostly on my own with this dish. The sesame oil is different from what my aunt makes, and is great!!!

This place also makes the best smoked chicken ever, and this salad thing which you think you find in Asian grocery stores, but it's salty and is crap!

Except when you get the salad thing at A&J. Then it's freaking awesome.

Bean curd skin with soybeans and mustard greens -#5207.

Mom said what ruins it in the grocery stores is the preservatives they have to use to get it there in the first place. I've seen it in the pre-made food sections (where you might find the korean style sushi rolls or kimchi) and even in cans.

The pre-made section stuff is horrible and is supposedly made "fresh," so I fear and avoid trying the canned kind. I guess it's the magic of A&J. Just like how they make this:

Szechuan spicy beef and tendon noodle soup -#1110.

Again, not so great elsewhere, but here there's that special ingredient of yum. And yes, you bet your butt those are hand-pulled noodles. Want to see it again?

You're welcome.

The following will probably horrify those of you who are familiar with this cuisine. I only assume so because it upsets my parents everytime they watch me do this. (Don't worry, they'll be desensitized eventually. Just like they are now when I put egg noodles in my congee or put vinegar in).

The broth is so good I use it as sauce for everything else. Not pictured is jiaozi (we didn't get any this time but it usually is the big sidewise kind - so over stuffed it's more like a taco instead of a dumpling). I also dip scallion pancakes!

Mom: "What are you doing?! You ruin the pancake - it's not going to be crispy anymore!"

Ah, but you gain all that FLAVOR! And if you time it right you still get some crispy. Muahahaha. Also she doesn't like soup noodles, so pfth on that. She's biased.

Ironically, the xiao long bao #4202, is probably my least favorite here. I know I know, it's my favorite dumpling. Raved about it in previous posts, etc. But lately what they've served here the dumpling skin is thick and there's hardly any broth. Those are the parts of the dumpling that make it so unique!

Still good with the noodle soup broth though. That's right. Even the dumpling gets dipped.

These are a few of my favorite things! Part II

While I've been slowly collecting my go-to Chinese restaurants in Seattle, they still don't hold a candle to the Chinese food you can get in the DC area. Besides Full Key (in part I) the family hit up my parents' weekly dim sum place, Silver Fountain. One of my favorites is gao choi gao (no pic, sorry). It's a steamed dumpling that's then pan fried at Silver Fountain.

***Can we pause for a second? What the heck is Wikia and why does it have a dim sum page!?!?! Cousin - you need to click on the Wikia home page. Love the picture, you will. I now know what Wikia is, you should learn what it is too. Also, maybe explore the dim sum page some more. /***unpause***

Oh and the steamed beef balls! Most people call them "meatballs" but there's other versions made from other types of meat, like shrimp. For some reason when I have it out here it tastes old and re-heated. Maybe because I'm not part of the "in-crowd" --> a status my parents earn through their weekly patronage to this restaurant. So they get good seats during crowded times and therefore avoid most of the reheated leftovers that come out.

My parents are actually building up good repertoire at Maria's Bakery. Did you know that besides baked goods they also serve this:

Macaroni noodles with peas, carrots, and ham in chicken broth. Eggs and a hot dog. Simple, delicious, and I don't know why this is what transferred from the British culture to the English. I actually make the soup when I feel sick and add bok choy and mushrooms. What can I say? I like my soups more complicated and with vegetables.

1000 year old egg and salty pork congee, lo mein, English toast with butter, condensed milk, and peanut butter. ALSO! Ying-yeung. (That's Cantonese for Ying-yang). It's black tea and coffee with milk.

I didn't! It's Hong Kong style breakfast. They usually come in "sets." My cousins and I, of course ordered both sets and just split them all. The tea and toast are all included in your sets.

The peanut butter toast stood out the most. The toast is thicker than normal bread, and I completely forgot that they do that!!!! (sometimes you just get condensed milk, no pb). Next mission is to find a place that makes this stuff. It's not the same when you make it yourself. Believe me, I've tried. It's that whole some things taste better when some one else makes it for you deal.

These are a few of my favorite things! Part I

For some reason "Sound of Music" is big during Christmas time. My cousins learned picked up English (or diction?) from this movie, and since they ate with me I felt this was appropriate as a title.

Also it's true.

On the East Coast there exists a little town in PA that makes beer that is only good because you can't get it on the west coast. Also it is good with food.

Also comes in "Black and Tan," folks!

Like this food:

Apparently all Asian grocery stores have always had these peanuts, but the parental generation has been holding out on this 99¢ gem until now. It's different from the chili/spicy peanuts you get in American stores. This flavor is more like the chili you get in the little jars at the restaurant table.

Be careful... it is horribly addicting and you will want beer.

The other thing the East coast has that the West does not, is Full Key -MD. Don't be fooled. The one in Gallery Place-Chinatown is okay. But it's not as good as the one in Wheaton. For some reason when I order these dishes elsewhere it's just... not. good. Even relatives from LA and NYC want to eat here when they're in town. Cantonese-crack!

You've seen this before, but this time it was something I ate: steamed egg and shrimp on rice

For future ordering reference: "Wat dan ha yun fan"

We also go roast chicken, black bean clams, and stir fried beef/rice noodles:

Close ups you say? But of course!

The sauce is so good on rice. There's jalapenos and onions slow simmered with these bad boys.

Ingredients are simple, but it's actually harder to make at home than you think!

Oh yea, we also got some other noodles, but I forget what it's called. Pork strips and snow peas. The noodles are crunchy but get soft as they absorb the sauce.

Bacon stuffed Etta's

My friend had a genius idea for her birthday: everybody must bring something stuffed, and bacon must be one of the ingredients. I was going to cheat and make jalapeno deviled eggs (see Thanksgiving) and just add bacon.

Turns out, when you try to plan in advance and boil the eggs ahead of time, but don't remove the shell you're going to just have a bunch of yolks. My co-workers said that eggs have a membrane inside that kind of dips up on the wider end. If you poke a hole or make a tiny crack on that end before you boil it you should be good.

Experiment for next time. Instead I made stuffed mushrooms:

The biggest appeal was that it had all 4 food groups! Veggies (spinach, onion, mushroom), Carbs (bread), Meat (duh. bacon!) and BLUE CHEESE! (used Saga).

Mmm. So melty. Actually, I would have preferred a lighter cheese. The blue cheese over powered everything else (or I used too much). Goat cheese would be my substitution, and I used turkey bacon so you can pretend to be less fat.

Went to brunch with B and Mar at Etta's! I've been waiting to try that place for forever! Unfortunately I wasn't in a breakfast mood. So I got crab cakes!!

Mar got the special of the day - which I forget the name of.... let's just say slow cooked ham.

Are you drooling? Because I am.

Market house corned beef hash: sister in-law needs to try this. It comes with habanero ketchup! (Did you know habenero is not spelled with the ñ?)

Yummy crab cake with buttered kale and fries. (Green thing is tomatillo sauce). Most of the time I find crab cakes to be too breaded and takes away the flavor of the crab. I don't know what was holding this thing together, but it was all crab meat! mmm

Next Etta's goal: Make it for "crabby hour" --> how can you resist a name like that?!

♫ Tis the Season for Clogging Arteries ♫

November is Dine Around Seattle month. Good chance to sample some fancy (or the not as fancy, but questionably priced) restaurants for $30.

Smash and I went to Nishino's - which my work used to hire out the chefs for our Holiday parties back in the times of plenty. Pricey, but fresh fish and they have inventive rolls. Plus the Central district just doesn't get explored as much as it should.

I got the wine pairing option, which meant dessert came with sake! I haven't been much a fan of it in the past, but sake is definitely growing on me.

I think it's the sourness. I'm not sure. Anyway, they had yummy cakes made by Hiroki’s Specialty Desserts, because what's the point of the title of this post if I didn't shove heart clogging food into each meal??

Green tea tiramisu and pumpkin something cheesecake.

Sorry, I should update more often. I'm beginning to forget what I ate!!

I re-visited my favorite lasagna recipe to test out my new deep dish ceramic cooker! The scraper is not designed for lasagna I don't think. I probably should have cooked something else the first time I used it to get that "base." The premise is like a wok or the grills you would use camping. You grease it up, and don't wash it. As you keep using the dish it'll develop its own non-stick layer.

I don't know why lasagna's always runny. I think maybe because I shove more spinach and mushrooms than the recipe calls for. (it cooks down... so why not? besides the runny-ness). That's what makes it "lean" right?

This meal re-affirmed how much of a foodie my friend is. We geeked out over my recipe books and planned a feast that is probably not going to happen. But it'd be so good if we actually made it...

Speaking of which, the Stranger had an article about fried foods. I'm not much of a fried food person in general (in fact, feeling a little nauseated as I type this) BUT! they also said corn dog! I have soft spots for certain types of fried food that come and go. And after reading about their interesting spin on corn dogs how can you not want to try out the Unicorn?

Start out with your basic chili cheese corn dog -

Ok it looks a little bit like poop, but it was good! Not very wow-good. Just more like -hm. Why haven't I thought of this before? It's good.- good.

What I really loved was the cat-dog!

That's right! catfish! On a stick! Deep fried in corn dog breading with orange sauce! I have no idea what the sauce is. Website says "frank's red hot aioli." Anybody else thinking of a buffalo wing spin off from the red hot?

They also had deep fried burger (bleh. kind of like a mini Big Mac).

and Mac and Cheese (I have out grown you, plain cheddar mac&cheese. I prefer sharper cheeses like Dubliner and Gruyure).

Seriously, it was like part American cheese part plain cheddar.... yich to American cheese.

And what would a blog post these days be like without a contribution from my Ladies' Dinner Club?

Psych it's brunch. (Remember when it used to be spelled "sike" or was I just illiterate back in the day?)

I was an hour late but they saved me a plate. Cousin met the host for this meal right before the event so I had a couple of days of anticipation after hearing the cooking process.

Top: pumpkin cake, poached eggs with spinach and tomatoes and short rib hash.

The hash was rubbed with kona and cooked ahead the day prior. You know what that means? A tender piece of meat. With caramelized onions, peppers, asparagus, and potatoes. Savory goodness.

But there was more!! I just couldn't fit it all on one plate.

Pumpkin scones with home made maple icing, chocolate-peanut butter dipped oreos, peanut butter cookie with a Reese's mini

Yes, you see seconds of the hash and the pumpkin cake.