Mitsisam, Washington, D.C.

Sunday afternoon we walked down towards the Capitol where the Washington National Opera simulcast was taking place and stood in the rain long enough to hear the Humming Chorus and the end of act two. Then the guys were getting peckish from lack of food, so we popped into the National Museum of the American Indian and headed to Mitsisam, their cafeteria specializing in American Indian foods from across the continent.

Jon just had a bag of chips and I just had a little pecan tart and a glass of sassafras tea. I was disappointed that they were out of fry bread! Because, I guess, it was so late in the day and attendance was way down due to the weather, more than half of the food lines were closed down, most especially the ones that served my favorite kinds of Indian food. All that was open were the Plains and the Northwest Coast counters. Robert and Matt, though, both opted for pulled bison sandwiches, with shreds of roasted bison meat piled up on a big kaiser bun and topped with a cabbage slaw of a sort. I didn't taste them, but they both reported that they were good. Matt also had some thick pumpkin cookies he liked a lot.

Matt posed for his Kody Pose using sassafras tea:

Mitsisam, Washington, D.C.

Sunday afternoon we walked down towards the Capitol where the Washington National Opera simulcast was taking place and stood in the rain long enough to hear the Humming Chorus and the end of act two. Then the guys were getting peckish from lack of food, so we popped into the National Museum of the American Indian and headed to Mitsisam, their cafeteria specializing in American Indian foods from across the continent.

Jon just had a bag of chips and I just had a little pecan tart and a glass of sassafras tea. I was disappointed that they were out of fry bread! Because, I guess, it was so late in the day and attendance was way down due to the weather, more than half of the food lines were closed down, most especially the ones that served my favorite kinds of Indian food. All that was open were the Plains and the Northwest Coast counters. Robert and Matt, though, both opted for pulled bison sandwiches, with shreds of roasted bison meat piled up on a big kaiser bun and topped with a cabbage slaw of a sort. I didn't taste them, but they both reported that they were good. Matt also had some thick pumpkin cookies he liked a lot.

Matt posed for his first of three Kody Poses for the day, using sassafras tea:

Bistro Français, Georgetown, D.C.

Midnight. Hallowe'en night. A mysterious instant message rings on my computer summonning me to the dark side.

It's Ian. He wants me to come to Georgetown so we can go to a late night supper at Bistro Français. I acquiesce, not realizing the evil that awaits me.

The sidewalks of Georgetown were a throbbing, teeming mass of humanity. People of all ages, most in costumes, packed the sidewalks and the crowds surged forth at a leisurely pace. When I got to 31st and M, though, even though I was less than a half block from the restaurant, the police made us turn off M Street and go down a block to circle around and come in from the other direction.

The bistro was busy, but they still had open tables, so we were able to be seated immediately. All of the waiters were in Hallowe'en costumes, or remnants thereof. Our waiter Peter (left) started off, he said, as Uncle Sam, but the coat was too hot as much as he was running around.

Our food choices were pretty standard. Ian got his usual omelette aux fines herbs et fromage suisse avec pommes frites. The omelette looked just a touch bigger than usual. Ian always uses ketchup on his fries instead of the yummy homemade mayonnaise they serve here.

I wasn't terribly hungry (it was about one o'clock at this point), so I just ordered a salade du marché, a simple salad of greens and Bibb lettuce in a light walnut oil vinaigrette.

Ian, who usually has ice cream for dessert, decided to be experimental and ordered the crème caramel. It was interestingly presented, placed in the center of a deep soup bowl.

After all the cupcakes earlier in the evening, I didn't want anything sweet to eat, so I chose the cheese plate. I got three pieces of different cheeses with big apple slices all presented atop dark spinach leaves. Forgot to ask what the cheese were; they were all tasty, and included one bleu and two aged, firm cheeses, one of which tasted like a goat or sheep milk cheese and the other a double cow milk cheese (but I could be wrong). They have great crusty sourdough bread here, so I got a little more with my cheeses.

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Taste of India, Washington, D.C.

Most of the time, I find exploring the "authentic" side of the menu at the area's ethnic restaurants to be the most interesting and rewarding part of my culinary adventures. We've had a lot of great discoveries that way. Unfortunately, it doesn't work all the time, and yesterday was one of those times.

Since I was in the Woodley Park area with time to kill, I decided to have lunch about one o'clock (I suppose I was hungry, since I hadn't had breakfast). There was this strip of four different Indian restaurants all together, so I wandered around and read all their menus before deciding upon Taste of India for my repast.

I was immediately greeted and escorted to a nice table. There were only two other tables in the restaurant. They quickly brought water and menus, and I ordered a chai to drink. They had a list of more authentic specials, so I chose the goat curry. I actually like goat—tastes like chicken ;-) —and have had it many times at various restaurants of varying ethnicity. The meat is rather similar to mutton without the strong taste.

It took rather a little while for them to bring the food. That wasn't really a problem, since I always prefer "freshly made" food instead of things that have been sitting on a steam table all day long. What concerned me more, though, was that I never got my chai until the food arrived. The chai was okay, but it was pretty sweet; I prefer just the spiced tea with milk and no added sugar.

They brought me a plate of plain basmati rice and a bowl with the curry. The curry was tasty, but not hot or spicy at all. The goat meat was also very good, full of flavor and fork-tender.

But this is where the problem with the "authenticity" kicked in. Instead of cooking the goat, deboning it, and serving it in totally edible chunks, they cut the goat up into pieces before cooking, leaving the bone inside the chunks. And further, they left the thick goat hide on before they cut up the meat. As a result, over half of my goat curry was inedible bone and skin.

The other little issue I had was that the rice had been sitting out, probably throughout the lunch hour, and there were several crusty bits of dried out rice on the plate. Service was okay. When I got a refill on my chai, though, the assistant brought me a plain masala tea instead of a chai.

So, that was my experience at Taste of India. If ever I'm back in Woodley Park, there are three more Indian restaurants to try in that vicinity.

Austin Grill, Washington, D.C.

Brunch today was downtown in the Gallery Place neighborhood with Robert, who appeared to have only a very slight touch of hangover after his natal anniversary festivities last night. He'd picked out this place and had been wanting to come for brunch for some time, so that's how we ended up at Austin Grill.

Austin Grill is a Tex-Mex kind of place. There are about a half dozen other Austin Grills in the metropolitan area; the owners, however, originated in Austin, Tex. It's a fairly standard Tex-Mex place with the usual suspects on the menus and the expected ecclectic decor. In addition to the regular menu, they also have a special brunch menu. While we looked at our menus, we got chips and salsa.

Robert started off with some dog's hair...uh, er, hair of the dog....and ordered a bloody Mary. He ordered a steak and eggs platter from the brunch menu. There were several strips of fajita beef, a couple of over-easy eggs, and a bunch of fried potatoes. For dessert, he had a vanilla flan.





I had the Bevo salad. Now, those of you not familiar with Texas may not realize that Bevo is the name of that great big longhorn steer the University of Texas uses as a mascot. I expected the salad to be huge and topped with beef. The salad was only average sized, though, and topped with chicken (as well as guacamole, feta cheese, black beans, corn relish, and pico de gallo). A cilantro-lime dressing flavored the greens. It was a filling salad, and packed quite a bit of spice heat. For dessert, I had the orange flan. Then flan itself was intensely orange flavored and I noted an orange taste even in the caramel sauce on top of the flan.





I was an interesting place. I'll have to go back again sometime and try the various Tex-Mex entrees.

Bistrot du Coin, Washington, D.C.

It's getting close to the time for annual release parties for the beaujolais nouveau, and one of the big parties here in D.C. is held at Bistrot du Coin, just north of Dupont Circle. So, today, Kevin and I wandered over for a sneak peak.

Twas just a quick, early supper. Kevin had le steak maison avec pommes frites et sauce béarnaise (steak and French fries) and also ordered coeur de laitue à la vinaigrette (Bibb lettuce salad) as a side. He ate every morsel, so I guess it was all good.



I had the tartine Parisienne, a broiled, open face sandwich with French ham, gruyère cheese, and béchamel sauce, that came with a little pile of French salad greens.



For dessert, I sipped a cup of coffee with cream while Kevin savored a rum poundcake with bananas and pineapple, vanilla ice cream, and a berry coulis. The piece of cake was surprisingly small. He reported a definite presence of banana and pineapple in the cake batter, but he didn't really think there was much of a rum flavor to it.

Chinatown Express, Washington, D.C.

My feet hurt. We were walking around D.C. and Georgetown way too much this evening. After his Wednesday night class, Ian and I went to Chinatown for dinner at Chinatown Express. As always, Chinatown Express is a little hole in the wall type place, but I always enjoy the inexpensive food and it's fun to watch people making noodles and dumplings through the front window and to see all those special delicacies soon to be on our tables hanging in the window.

It was a simple meal. Ian had the chicken with snow peas sans carrots. It looked good. Since Ian doesn't eat mushrooms, I ate them.



I had roast duck and noodle soup. Yum. And, cheap, too—my whole meal only cost $5.50.

Thai Coast Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

This weekend, Leo and I went to dinner at Thai Coast Restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue in the far West End. It was a much better experience than our first visit on April 13 last year. The dining room has been redecorated in light, airy pastels with a contemporary feel, the food was all excellent, and the service was very attentive and efficient. Leo thinks they must have had a change in management.

Leo started with a mai tai; it was orange instead of the red we were expecting. His first course was the tom yum, a lemongrass and seafood soup, he liked, though the sweet and sour was a little sweeter than he would have liked. His main course was called pad kee mao. He drank a bottle of Yuengling beer, a Vermont local brew, with his main course. We were intrigued by the English translation for pad kee mao: "drunken noodles." Since there was no alcohol listed in the ingredients on the menu, we asked the waitress what made them "drunken," and she explained to us the story of how a guy had been out having a good time and getting very drunk, and when he got home, he went into the kitchen to make something to eat, throwing in a little of everything and making it very hot and spicy. Thus was born "drunken noodles."

I had their fried calamari to start, washed down with a bottle of Singha Thai-style beer. The calamari was excellent, and they used such huge rings of squid that they looked almost like onion rings! Even with the larger size of the squid, it was still tender and delicious. My pad see-ew main course was a big plate of rice noodles with pork and broccoli.

It was a big dinner, even with just two courses, so we had to pass on dessert.

International House of Pancakes, Arlington, Va.

Last night, Ian and I were in the mood for something gourmet, so we hopped on the Metro and journeyed all the way out in Virginia to the Ballston stop where we went to The International House of Pancakes. It's a much smaller store than I'm used to seeing out in the heartland of the country, but it was still a typical IHOP experience. We walked across the street from the station to IHOP in a light, misty rain.

Ian had never before been to an IHOP. It was taking him a while to peruse the menu and take it all it, so while he was still deciding, we had the waitress bring us an appetizer sampler. The sampler, all fried, included some good onion rings; long, thin mozzarella sticks; and chicken fingers, with both marinara and honey-mustard sauces on the side.

Once we ordered, I got the country-fried steak with sausage gravy, French fries, and steamed broccoli. Ian got a platter with big cinnamon rolls sliced and turned into French toast and accompanied by both scrambled eggs and fried potatoes.

And I loved Ian's reaction to IHOP. He was enthralled! I'm sure we'll be back soon.

Pizzaria Uno, Georgetown, D.C.

Monday night, Ian and I wandered out at 11 p.m. and went to Pizzaria Uno again. It was half price appetizer night, so we sat at the bar to be eligible for those. I'm not sure if that was legal, though, since Ian isn't quite 21 yet. I know back in Oklahoma, it wouldn't be allowed, but Ian thinks it's okay in the District. Any of you local legal eagles know the answer to that question?

Anyway, Ian had fried mozzarella sticks and I had what they claimed was nachos. After that, we split a dessert with one of those cutesie restaurant names....it was a great big chocolate chip cookie freshly baked in a small deep-dish pizza pan, then topped with a couple of scoops of ice cream and a cloud of whipped cream.

The service was much better than usual for the Georgetown Uno (where one can be abandoned for half hour stretches by waiters), but that was no doubt because we were seated at the bar and we pretty much had full-time access to the bartender's attention.

Don Lobos Mexican Grill, Georgetown, D.C.

Last night Ian wanted Mexican food. Nothing would sway his opinion. So, after reviewing a number of accessible Mexican restaurant possibilities, he picked Don Lobos Mexican Grill in east Georgetown.

Ian chose the chicken burrito for his dinner. He made the kitchen hold the sour cream, guacamole, and red sauce....he wouldn't even let them bring me his guacamole.....and he ordered an extra side of refried beans, plus more rice.


I had the enchiladas Suiza, which were some delightful chicken enchiladas covered in a green tomatillo sauce. The rice and beans I thought were rather mediocre last night.



For dessert, Ian had (and I sampled enough to say I "shared") a fried ice cream. At Don Lobos, they roll their ice cream in corn flakes before refreezing and then deep frying them, and they are served with a heavy drizzling of honey.

M Street Bar and Grill, Washington, D.C.

After going to the Mozart service at St. John's yesterday morning, my friend Max and I headed out to brunch at the M Street Bar and Grill in the St. Gregory Hotel in Washington's West End. They have a jazz-champagne brunch every Sunday for just $21.95 that includes an entree, dessert, and unlimited champagne, mimosas, or bloody Marys. While I've heard about their brunch for months, this was the first time I'd gone.

We drank bloody Marys, of course. They were all pre-mixed, and I thought they could have used a little vodka....I would have come close to swearing that we were drinking straight mixer.

The food, though, was quite tasty. Max chose the buttermilk fried chicken with sage gravy and accompanied by macaroni and cheese and a sweet potato puree studded with pecans. A sprinkling of clover garnished the dish. He reported that it was quite good.



I had the rosemary roast lamb and poached eggs on a salad of spinach, cucumber, red onion, and feta cheese. The lamb had the taste and texture of shish kebab lamb, but there was no hole in the pieces of the meat, and rested atop the vegetable salad. A creamy dressing that matched the feta was tossed in the greens. The two poached eggs on the plate were enrobed in a little hollandaise sauce. I enjoyed the dish; it was a little different than I had expected, but I particularly liked all the salad vegetables and the simplicity of the lamb.



For dessert, Max had the cheese cake with sugar-dusted raspberries and blackberries and drizzled with caramel sauce.



I had the very interesting ginger cake topped with orange segments and a light orange sauce. The cake seemed to me rather like a moist gingerbread made without the molasses.



We were seated on the mezzanine level of the restaurant, yet we still had a good view of the jazz pianist/singer during brunch. All in all, it was a fun afternoon. And, here's a picture of Max in his Kody Pose.

Eggspectation, Silver Spring, Md.

Saturday night, Robert and I Metroed up to Silver Spring, where there's a big festival shopping area with all kinds of shops, restaurants, and movie theaters. After wandering around a bit, we selected an intriguing restaurant called Eggspectation for dinner. As it turns out, Eggspectation is a chain with a small cluster of restaurants in the northeastern U.S. and a larger pool in Canada. While all-day breakfasts and egg dishes are their signature items, they have a full range of standard restaurant selections, including a full bar.

Robert started with a cocktail, pictured above. Actually, it sounded incredibly unusual and highly intriguing. It was called a Swedish fish martini, and was billed as having a little fish in the bottom. We couldn't imagine a fish-tasting martini! So, Robert ordered it.

It was, alas, not fishy. In fact, it was just the opposite: quite sweet. It reminded me a lot of a sweet cosmopolitan. It was good, if you like sweet cocktails. We couldn't find the fish in the botttom, so, thinking the bartender might have sent us the wrong drink, we had our waiter inquire. It turns out the drink is made with vanilla vodka, Chambord, and a little sweet and sour mix. They have little candy fish they usually put in the bottom of the glass, but they were out of them. They did not, however, discount the drink!

Dinner was simple. Robert ordered a maple-glazed ribeye steak that looked and smelled absolutely delicious. He remarked favorably about the maple glaze. The steak was accompanied by new potatoes and sauteed summer squashes. To wash down dinner, he drank an Otter Creek Oktoberfest beer, a micro brew from Vermont, that he thought quite good.



I ordered the Eggspectation salad. There must have been over a head of lettuce in the big bowl, with a good variety of greens including raddiccio and endive. A mound of sliced hams, turkey, and two cheeses rested on top and hard boiled egg, tomato, cucumber, ripe olives, and cherry tomatoes decorated the bowl. One of their house vinaigrettes lightly dressed the salad. It was very good, but so big I could hardly finish it.



Robert fell in love with the dessert list. They have a full assortment of cheesecakes, but what was particularly intriguing was their selection of cakes. Even with him forcing me to order a piece, too, we couldn't decide which two to get! Robert ended up with the Lemon Drop cake, a mildly lemon-scented cake with lemon buttercream icing and white chocolate fans. I had the Red Velvet cake, one of those deeply dyed red chocolate cakes in a cream cheese icing, but what made this one different was the addition of a layer of fudge sauce beneath the icing between the layers. My cake, as was Robert's, was still cold from the refrigerator; I would have preferred it be room temperature. Red velvet cake is an old Southern tradition, and this was just like every red velvet cake I've ever been made by a Southern lady—too dry. But, the icing always makes up for it, and I only wish I'd had a big glass of cold milk to wash it all down.



I enjoyed Eggspectation a lot, and I'm anxious to return so I can try some of their other items, especially breakfast foods. Their egg theme is cute, and they carry it out throughout the restaurant; even in the men's room, the mirrors were egg-shaped and the door handles were egg whisks. The nice thing about the place is that the prices are very moderate for the Washington metropolitan area, and yet the food was solid and good.

L & N Seafood Restaurant, Arlington, Va.

Another shopping trip, another dinner at L & N Seafood Restaurant in the mall at Pentagon City.

Leo always orders appetizers when he goes out, so this time he ordered the pork egg rolls. L & N, mind you, is an American chain restaurant, not Asian, so I didn't expect much. The egg rolls were typically American, deep fried and slightly greasy. They cut them on the diagonal and arranged them artfully on a bed of salad greens. A very sweet sweet-and-sour sauce was in a small bowl in the center. I suppose this is the sort of thing we're used to getting at American places, so the egg rolls were decent on that standard.

For a main course, Leo had a huge bowl of chicken fettucine. A large chicken breast was seasoned and grilled, then sliced and placed upon fettucine in an enriched alfredo-esque sauce. Leo liked it, but he couldn't quite finish the large serving.



I had the oyster po'boy sandwich with French fries. It came with tartar sauce instead of the traditional New Orleans remoulade sauce. The oysters were fairly small and slightly over cooked, but when it comes to fried oysters, I consider that a virtue.



Along with dinner, it happened to be happy hour, so our waitress (she was really great!) kept bringing us these little, cheap margaritas in little tumblers. I was pleasantly surprised that for a happy hour cheap drink, there was actually noticeable tequila in the drinks.

Bertucci's Brick Oven Ristorante, Washington, D.C.

We went to Bertucci's Brick Oven Ristorante the other night. They are a national chain with dozens of restaurants on the East Coast from Virginia up through New England; we went to the one near GWU. I had a salad, Leo had shrimp fettucine. Then he decided he wanted dessert and couldn't make up his mind what to get, so he ordered their dessert sampler trilogy. It had a cannoli and small pieces of both their chocolate torta and tiramisu. I tasted them all, thought the torta was dry, the tiramisu ordinary, and the cannoli tasty. I will say the service was better than usual (though it's not hard to improve on their usual levels of inattention) and the waiter was quite personable.

Homemade dumplings

The other day, Leo made Chinese-style dumplings. He used a mixture of ground pork, shrimp, scallions, and other things he then wrapped up in little dumpling shapes. I got conscripted into rolling out the dough into thinner, more square pieces. The fresh ones he cooked were actually quite good, though he didn't like them. Since he made a big batch, we froze the rest.

Bistro D'Oc, Washington, D.C.

My good friend Kevin works downtown in the Ford's Theater area and decided he needed to escape the office and have a decent lunch somewhere. Thus he coerced me to go along with him to a neighborhood place he likes, Bistro D'Oc. Of course, what he didn't tell me ahead of time is that it was one of his and his recently-"ex" girlfriend's favorite places. But, we had a pleasant lunch, nonetheless.

Bistro D'Oc is a fairly new place, only about two years old or so, located in one of the older, less "restored" areas of downtown, which is what I think makes it possible for them to keep their prices at moderate levels. Kevin had made reservations for us, though I don't think we would have needed them, since we we there for a late lunch. The host immediately took us up some creaky, old stairs to one of their upstairs dining rooms. The tables were adequately sized and the chairs comfortable; the tables were spaced at American distances, rather than the close French style. One of the things that immediately struck me about the dining room's decor was the Christmas decorations (I might remind everyone that this is October 12). There were silver reindeer on the mantel, a few bows and ornaments hanging from some wall art, and several ornaments hanging from the ceiling on long ribbons. Aside from being surprised to see Christmas decorations all over, the non sequitur of the thing is that some of the hanging ornaments were actually broken!

We started our meal sharing a charcuterie platter with duck paté, country paté, sausages, meats, olives, cornichons, etc. They were all quite nice, especially the country paté studded with pistachio nuts.



Next, I had a bowl of their pumpkin soup au gratin. It was a bright orange potage with a good pumpkin flavor and a slightly sweet taste, all covered in broiled cheese and garnished with chopped scallions. I loved it. Kevin sampled it, and he liked it a lot, too. The only problem? I somehow managed to catch a bit of the thick soup on my soft palate, couldn't swallow it quickly enough, and then managed to burn my soft palate painfully badly, thus making eating the rest of lunch rather awkward.



For his plat, Kevin ordered the braised veal Languedoc in a tomato, basil, olive sauce and served with mashed potatoes. He's had it before and he said it was good.



I had the Moulard duck leg confit on sautéed chopped potatoes and mushrooms. The duck was juicy and had a mild flavor; I was expecting the skin to be crispier, though, since it was a confit and not just roast duck. There was a quantity of broth/natural juices on the bottom of the plate that I thought made the potatoes a little soggy.



For dessert, we shared the raspberry pudding with bourbon vanilla ice cream. It was absolutely charming. And, it was cold! I wasn't expecting a cold dish, but it worked very well, and had a very custardy feel to it. There was what almost looked like a bourbon aspic on top of the pudding. I'm not sure what their usual presentation is, since we asked for the ice cream on the side. The raspberry pudding is good enough to make a special trip to Bistro D'Oc just for dessert and coffee.



One of the things I noticed on the menu was a great deal of Asian influence in the foods and in the saucings. It also seemed like nearly all of the waitresses were Asian. I thought that odd at first, but after getting home and researching the restaurant a bit, I discovered that the French chef/owner married a Thai woman. That's the "ah-ha!" moment.

So, that's our French Christmas experience for the day. There were a lot of intriguing dishes on the menu, so I'm looking forward to going back to sample a few more.

Bistrot Lepic, Georgetown, D.C.

This Columbus day weekend, Ian has taken a four-day holiday (he cancelled his Friday class) and run off to Pennsylvania to spend some time with his family, leaving me here all alone with no one to annoy me with constant chatter about baseball. Since he's not here to defend himself, this gives me a perfect opportunity to post about our recent luncheon.

We had planned to meet some friends downtown for lunch, joining their group a little late. But, alas, that day, Ian's class kept him later than anticipated, and, judging from the higher-than-usual traffic levels on Wisconsin Avenue, we knew we'd not likely make it downtown in time to do more than watch our other friends say goodbye. After delivering our apologies cellularly, we decided just to stay in Georgetown, and walked up the hill (it turned out to be farther than we thought it would be) to Bistrot Lepic.

It was towards the end of the lunch hour, so there were a couple of tables open in the dining room. The staff seemed a little slow and scattered, though, so we had to wait a bit for them to prepare the table. Then, judging from the service the rest of the meal, it must have been a very hard day for them.

Ian, being the culinary adventurist that he is, couldn't find anything on the menu he wanted. They didn't have chicken fingers on the menu. They didn't have pizza, either. And we asked, but the waiter said the kitchen wasn't able to make an omelette (which rather surprised me, given how often I'm there). So, while Ian pouted a bit (to quote him, he has "the dietary habits of a six-year-old"), I induced the waiter to ask the kitchen for a vegetarian creation. The end result was actually pretty interesting. He got a plate with a large rosette of mashed potatoes and a main plate with artfully arranged haricots verts (French style skinny green beans), sauteed julienned carrots and summer squash, an English pea purée, and what looked to be some ratatoille (eggplant stew, ick!), all topped with a grilled tomato. He ate the potatoes and the green beans. Oh, and the wonderful crusty French country loaf bread slices they brought us. I should have sampled the pea puree, cause it looked good.



On the other hand, I had exactly the opposite problem: there were too many wonderful-sounding things on the menu from which to choose. I wanted all of them! My final decision was the salade printanière de poissons grillés. This wasn't just a boring old grilled fish salad—it was actually quite exciting. On top of a small bed of European-style salad greens rested a large serving of crisp, crunchy seaweed. Perfectly grilled scallops, salmon, white fish, and shrimp perched upon the bright green seaweed. As the seaweed was already lightly pickled, there was no supplemental dressing. The dish was delicious.



Dessert made Ian somewhat happier. His mousse au chocolat avec des framboises came in an individual ramekin, and the rich, dark mousse was dusted with confectioner's sugar and garnished with a couple of raspberries. A ladyfinger-sized cookie accompanied the sweet.



The waiter highly recommended the mint ice cream, which he said had been freshly made that morning, so I ordered it: crême glacée de monnayage fait maison avec de la sauce à chocolat et une mûre. It was drizzled with chocolate sauce and garnished with a big, plump blackberry nestled in the midst of the three scoops of ice cream. The ice cream was pretty good, though I was much less impressed with it when I saw that it cost more than the chocolate mousse!

Legal Seafoods, Reagan National Airport, Va.

Today I saw Kody off at the airport before he flew to Tulsa and Sallisaw for the weekend. We lunched at Legal Seafoods there on the concourse at the airport, sitting "outside" in their patio-type seating area. While the ticket counters and security check-in lines were teeming with people, the restaurant was pretty quiet.

Kody didn't want an appetizer, but I started off with a very unique clam chili. It was a pretty basic chili with the standard spices and tomatoey base with brown beans and shredded cheese, but instead of ground beef in the chili, they used clams. I don't know that this is something I'm going to start fixing at home, but it was surprisingly good and almost "normal" tasting. The concept makes me curious about chili experimentation: I think I'd like to try the clams in a white chili recipe like I use for ground chicken or ground turkey, since the spicing in white chili is designed not to overpower the more delicate meats.



Kody had a grilled tuna sandwich with chipotle mayonaisse, French fries, and cabbage slaw.



I had an oyster po'boy sandwich with remoulade sauce, also with fries and slaw. Yes, the po'boy was good, but being at a top-quality seafood restaurant, the oysters were "properly" fried—more importantly, not over-fried—which means that underneath the crispy breading was a hot, gushy oyster.....a reminder to me why I don't like cooked oysters! The last couple of oyster po'boys I've had at lesser restaurants were made of overcooked oysters, so I didn't have to deal with the squishy oyster texture with those. I ate half of it before my stomach revolted; Kody ate the remaining fried oysters and liked them.

Full moon

To all my Chinese friends and readers, have a great Moon Festival tonight!

Today is a fun holiday and actually the second most important holiday in the Chinese tradition. It has been around for over 4,000 years and celebrates the harvest moon and the beginning of fall, plus it honors the woman on the moon (not the man) Chang'e.

Last weekend, Leo and I went to Chinatown to buy the traditional moon cakes for tonight. Moon cakes are interesting things, being round pastry-covered cakes about four inches in diameter filled with sweet white lotus root paste and with a whole duck egg yolk in the center. They're good, but they're very rich! They came in a beautiful decorative box with a magnetic hinge and ribbon stays that contained four decorated square tin boxes in yellow fabric-lined compartments, each box containing an individually wrapped moon cake. There was also a special red and yellow sack the box went into so we could carry them home.

Today I ran around all over D.C. and northern Virginia in quest of the traditional fruits for tonight's dinner. I found some starfruit, but I went to several stores and couldn't find any pomelos. Alas.

Tonight we had pad thai, red curry beef, green curry chicken and white rice for dinner, plus starfruit, moon cakes, and hot tea (I broke out the "good" Prince of Wales tea). Yum. We've also lit candles—the festival is also sometimes called the lantern festival.

I love celebrating holidays!