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Keith1010 "Live from...." Rare

Keith1010

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Wow WDC must have come along way since we lived there when it comes to Pizza.  For me nothing compares to New York City pizza at the right places and often they are located in neighborhoods. Thin cruse, fresh mozzarella cheese and the right amount of oil on top.  Same goes for bagels.  Still haven't found bagels better than New York and let's not forget a Knish. 

Keith

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KenzSailing

KenzSailing

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On 9/6/2021 at 6:35 AM, Keith1010 said:

Wow WDC must have come along way since we lived there when it comes to Pizza.  For me nothing compares to New York City pizza at the right places and often they are located in neighborhoods. Thin cruse, fresh mozzarella cheese and the right amount of oil on top.  Same goes for bagels.  Still haven't found bagels better than New York and let's not forget a Knish. 

Keith

 

Well, yeah, in the decades since you pulled up stakes, there've been some changes.

 

On the National Mall alone:

 

The National Museum of the American Indian

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (still the hottest ticket in town)

The WW2 Memorial 

 

And further afield: lots of places slinging good pies, and Ethiopian, and Malay, and norther Thai (not just the southern stuff) and, and...

 

But never fear, some things are just as you remember:

 

Far too many steak joints selling the same $60 ribeye and $12 baked potato

Icky, sticky summer weather

DC traffic (I've had coworkers from NYC come to town and tell me they could never live here because of the traffic!)

 

Plus ca change...

 

 

 

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Keith1010 "Live from...." Rare

Keith1010

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1 hour ago, KenzSailing said:

 

Well, yeah, in the decades since you pulled up stakes, there've been some changes.

 

On the National Mall alone:

 

The National Museum of the American Indian

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (still the hottest ticket in town)

The WW2 Memorial 

 

And further afield: lots of places slinging good pies, and Ethiopian, and Malay, and norther Thai (not just the southern stuff) and, and...

 

But never fear, some things are just as you remember:

 

Far too many steak joints selling the same $60 ribeye and $12 baked potato

Icky, sticky summer weather

DC traffic (I've had coworkers from NYC come to town and tell me they could never live here because of the traffic!)

 

Plus ca change...

 

 

 

Oh yes a lot of changes.  We went back there in 2017 since it was our 40 year anniversary and we met in Washington, DC,  and lived there for our first 10 years of marriage.  I used to go back there every couple of weeks for business with our former headquarters being there.  But it had been a few years so when we went back we saw all the changes to our University and visited the Holocaust Museum, MLK memorial, World War II memorial and a few other things not around when we were younger.  LOL.

 

What was depressing is I tried to make reservations at a few restaurants which were sentimental to us in Georgetown, on the Waterfront and in a couple of other parts of WDC.  Guess what?  None exist.  Notta.  Talk about feeling old.

 

Now we didn't go there but one of the best cakes I have ever eaten my wife got for a surprise Birthday for me and that place still exists (Watergate Bakery) but I suspect under new ownership and the cake I loved which fed 50+ people with leftovers either is not made today or probably cost $500.00.  LOL.

 

Oh those steak joints.  I remember many very well.  

 

Those were the day.  LOL.

 

Oh back then and you haven't been able to do this for years we could have lunch at any of the government buildings or even on Capitol Hill and I remember very reasonable prices.  Food might have not been great but it sure beat the meal plan at school.  

 

Keith

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rafinmd "Live from...." Rare

rafinmd

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I don't have a sunrise for September 9 so I'm going to September 14 from the 2012 Crystal Symphony transatlantic beset by storms.  It was truly stormy on September 14 but I stepped out on the sheltered aft deck for the sunrise:

 

dawn14.jpg

 

Roy

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KenzSailing

KenzSailing

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Misadventures in Cooking:  It’s Chez Kenz, not Casa Kenz (Or: Holy Moly, Guacamole)

 

So last night I made guacamole for the very first time. (TL;DR, it turned out pretty well. The getting there was another story.)  To wit:

 

The first big mystery with guac is the avocados.  They need to be very ripe, but not overly ripe.  Well, how ripe is that? They start out hard as boulders.  And you wait, and wait, and wait.  Then, after several days, they start to soften. (BTW, these things have skins of leather.  Did nature invent them to torture us?)   I ended up feeling for ripeness so often I was afraid the county police were going to knock on my door.  Eventually, on pure faith in the kitchen gods, I started making guacamole.

 

Now, there are many recipes for guacamole.  Rick Bayless (more on that guy later), master of Mexican cuisine, will tell you there’s really no way to go wrong, but there are fundamentals:

 

Avocado

Lime juice

Salt

 

He says that’s a foundational guac.  But of course there are standard embellishments:

 

Cilantro

Onion (white)

Tomato (there are as many recipes that include this as there are that omit it)

Chilies

 

Ah, the chilies.  This is where my tale gets interesting (to me , anyway.)  So good old Rick says to use two Serrano chilies.  And I watched his video slicing and dicing these babies for his guac, and having a good old time, while explaining that you could remove the ribs and seeds if you didn’t want your guac as spicey.  Sounds good to me.

 

(Parenthetical: neither OLoPP nor I have much capacity for heat in our food.)

 

Now, I should mention I know that, if you’re working with really nasty peppers, like Scotch Bonnets or others, you should use gloves.  But I’ve just watched a video of good old Rick chopping these Serranos bare handed, and no one was worse for wear.  Besides, I just got them at the local grocer.  We’re talking run of the mill here. So let’s proceed.

 

I cut into the mystery avocados.  And they are gorgeous, and scoop out as easily as all the online boys and girls told me they would.  Added the salt and lime, mashed them up good.  So much fun.  Diced the onion, then the cilantro, a little (semi-controversial) tomato, threw that in.  Time for the chilies.

 

Spoiler alert:  I should have done a little research on Serrano chilies.  Had I, I would have discovered they are similar in taste to Jalapenos, but 2X-4X hotter.  Lesson learned.  Now.

 

Bare handed, started slicing the Serranos.  Now these things aren’t avocados, but they have a tough skin.  No biggie, I have a big knife.  Slice them down the middle, then quarter them. Get out the paring knife and start to devein and deseed them.  Wow, catching some eye watering activity at this point, but that’s just cooking.  I then do the old rock and chop them into oblivion.  Add them to the mix, give it a stir and got guacamole.

 

About this time I start noticing patches of skin on my hands are, shall we say, tingly. Wash them thoroughly, try to ignore it.  Doesn’t work.  Tingly turns to mild burning, which turns to major discomfort.  Consult internet for removal of chili pepper oil.  Among other things, am told to douse the area with alcohol. Fortunately I have a bottle of Absolute on hand, for medicinal purposes exactly like this (it’s just like keeping a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.)  Pour alcohol on hands, crying copiously (it didn’t hurt, but Absolute isn’t cheap, and I’m using it externally?)

 

The alcohol helps a little, but not that much, so finally I have to explain my latest poorly conceived adventure to OLoPP and solicit her advice.  “Take two Advil” she says.  She was right, the Advil helped, and all was well by the following morning.  

 

As for Rick Bayless, well that guy can go stuff a poblano.  Bare handed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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mskatiemae

mskatiemae

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Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, KenzSailing said:

Misadventures in Cooking:  It’s Chez Kenz, not Casa Kenz (Or: Holy Moly, Guacamole)

 

So last night I made guacamole for the very first time. (TL;DR, it turned out pretty well. The getting there was another story.)  To wit:

 

The first big mystery with guac is the avocados.  They need to be very ripe, but not overly ripe.  Well, how ripe is that? They start out hard as boulders.  And you wait, and wait, and wait.  Then, after several days, they start to soften. (BTW, these things have skins of leather.  Did nature invent them to torture us?)   I ended up feeling for ripeness so often I was afraid the county police were going to knock on my door.  Eventually, on pure faith in the kitchen gods, I started making guacamole.

 

Now, there are many recipes for guacamole.  Rick Bayless (more on that guy later), master of Mexican cuisine, will tell you there’s really no way to go wrong, but there are fundamentals:

 

Avocado

Lime juice

Salt

 

He says that’s a foundational guac.  But of course there are standard embellishments:

 

Cilantro

Onion (white)

Tomato (there are as many recipes that include this as there are that omit it)

Chilies

 

Ah, the chilies.  This is where my tale gets interesting (to me , anyway.)  So good old Rick says to use two Serrano chilies.  And I watched his video slicing and dicing these babies for his guac, and having a good old time, while explaining that you could remove the ribs and seeds if you didn’t want your guac as spicey.  Sounds good to me.

 

(Parenthetical: neither OLoPP nor I have much capacity for heat in our food.)

 

Now, I should mention I know that, if you’re working with really nasty peppers, like Scotch Bonnets or others, you should use gloves.  But I’ve just watched a video of good old Rick chopping these Serranos bare handed, and no one was worse for wear.  Besides, I just got them at the local grocer.  We’re talking run of the mill here. So let’s proceed.

 

I cut into the mystery avocados.  And they are gorgeous, and scoop out as easily as all the online boys and girls told me they would.  Added the salt and lime, mashed them up good.  So much fun.  Diced the onion, then the cilantro, a little (semi-controversial) tomato, threw that in.  Time for the chilies.

 

Spoiler alert:  I should have done a little research on Serrano chilies.  Had I, I would have discovered they are similar in taste to Jalapenos, but 2X-4X hotter.  Lesson learned.  Now.

 

Bare handed, started slicing the Serranos.  Now these things aren’t avocados, but they have a tough skin.  No biggie, I have a big knife.  Slice them down the middle, then quarter them. Get out the paring knife and start to devein and deseed them.  Wow, catching some eye watering activity at this point, but that’s just cooking.  I then do the old rock and chop them into oblivion.  Add them to the mix, give it a stir and got guacamole.

 

About this time I start noticing patches of skin on my hands are, shall we say, tingly. Wash them thoroughly, try to ignore it.  Doesn’t work.  Tingly turns to mild burning, which turns to major discomfort.  Consult internet for removal of chili pepper oil.  Among other things, am told to douse the area with alcohol. Fortunately I have a bottle of Absolute on hand, for medicinal purposes exactly like this (it’s just like keeping a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.)  Pour alcohol on hands, crying copiously (it didn’t hurt, but Absolute isn’t cheap, and I’m using it externally?)

 

The alcohol helps a little, but not that much, so finally I have to explain my latest poorly conceived adventure to OLoPP and solicit her advice.  “Take two Advil” she says.  She was right, the Advil helped, and all was well by the following morning.  

 

As for Rick Bayless, well that guy can go stuff a poblano.  Bare handed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always get my hopes up when I see the K banner show up in the Bistro. You did not disappoint! Great story, happy to know that OLoPP is a bonafide first aid genius, and you survived "Serrano shingles". It can't be as scary though as my first hot pepper chopping adventure in college when I (duh) touched my tearing up eyes with chopping fingers. Lucky me there was a large bathtub spout with good water pressure in the next room for an emergency eye wash deluge.

Edited by mskatiemae
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KenzSailing

KenzSailing

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15 minutes ago, mskatiemae said:

I always get my hopes up when I see the K banner show up in the Bistro. You did not disappoint! Great story, happy to know that OLoPP is a bonafide first aid genius, and you survived "Serrano shingles". It can't be as scary though as my first hot pepper chopping adventure in college when I (duh) touched my tearing up eyes with chopping fingers. Lucky me there was a large bathtub spout with good water pressure in the next room for an emergency eye wash deluge.

 

MsKM,

 

You are very kind.  Sorry to hear about your experience, the one thing I did right was keep my hands away from my face during my little adventure.

 

Also, mortified to realize I got "Absolut" wrong.  I blame liberal use of the product.

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