central michel richard, 1001 pennsylvania avenue nw, dc

my beloved central. it's pronounced "sen 'TRAHL" just so you know. i will try to keep this on the up and up and report as unbiased as possible.

you see, it's hard to do though. having cooked there, i've sampled nearly everything on the menu at one time or another. i could go on and on and on but i need to keep this succinct.

i cooked for michel richard for nearly three years all together, a third of that time at central. i loved central the first time i went - two birthdays ago, after they'd just opened. i love the concept of this restaurant - it's open and airy with great lighting, cool seating no matter where you're placed. (i prefer the bar area.) i love that michel's big jolly face is plastered on the back wall, though if your eyes don't focus properly it just looks like a big red and white abstract painting. i think the wall of glass holding all the glorious bottles of wine is genius. i love the sculpture of stacked oversized plates greeting you at the door. and of course the view of the kitchen is probably best since i know what really goes on in there....watch next time you visit. pay attention to what's going on in there. it's not a picnic; it's not for the weak at heart. it's a crazy show and if you look carefully you'll realize you can see and hear some of the magic of cedric's kitchen. ok i might miss it a little. while all this attention to detail in the decor of central is important in creating an atmosphere, what it comes down to is the food. the food is is the central focus.

back to the food. well here i chose to spend another birthday. i know how much effort goes into each dish. i know that each menu item was designed with love and creativity and care and is executed with pride, technique, attention, top quality and then more love.

this was a birthday i didn't feel like going out at all for (i want to stop getting older for crying out loud, i just want it to stop already!) i told the girls early in the day: game off, i don't want to go out and celebrate. i didn't give them the gory details because they're ridiculous: i didn't feel pretty, didn't feel motivated to go out, didn't have anything to wear, felt fat, i didn't want my girlfriends spending a bunch of money, just got back from a week of drinking and eating in the islands, blah, blah, blah.

i had plenty of reasons not to go out. but then i realized: i am tan in february. i am so going out. so i emailed the girls: game on. i emailed my friend and chef, cedric, to tell him i'm comin' in for my birthday, hoping they'd have key space in the bar area for us.

oh the good karma (barma) we had - and help from bartender friends who tipped us off about who was leaving from the tables in the bar! yippee. there were just 6 of us. nice, manageable group (i don't like it when there's 10-12 of us and you can't talk, it's an unruly number of people to fit places, etc., probably because i'm officially a dinosaur/stick-in-the-mud).

we had at first a too-sweet bottle of sparkling (probably a prosecco or maybe it was the rose, it's a little blurry). we quickly remedied that by drinking it off and ordering a different bottle, i think the gosset brut excellence. i popped over to the kitchen to say hi to my friends and colleagues working. (while i love to work in the kitchen, i think i'm still glad i don't right now, especially because i can enjoy a night like this like it's meant to be enjoyed, stress-free, filled with good food and drinks and my dear friends in what i think is my favorite resto in town.)

the service was embarrassingly good. the waiters and bartenders (some of whom i used to get into arguments with - sorry) were doting on us - we were treated so kindly and like queens for an evening. i certainly felt more special than i had in a while. it was exactly what i needed on my birthday.

what didn't the kitchen send to us? the kitchen sink. in my head i can hear cedric yelling at the cooks - VIP!!!

we had a dozen plump oysters, served with cocktail sauce and red wine vinegar.

next - a mountain of frogs' legs that were simply wonderful. if you think you might not like frogs' legs, you should definitely try them at central. stop turning your nose up at them. they're so delicately perfect yet love a great sauce because they're fried. they have the texture of a white fish but taste more like chicken. they use a sweet and sour and spicy "bbq" sauce here. they're not just for hillbillies. try them, they're yummy.

we also had wonderful steak tartare with french fries. i always think the tartare needs a bit of salt but i love it - it is one of my all-time favorites. it's so rich but i could eat the entire large order myself. i know i could.

oh and make no mistake: the fries are the best in town. hands down. no question. stop questioning it. stop arguing it. stop voting on it in magazines. they are unequivocally the best. i was sad i only got two fries. wait, what the?

we had the salmon tart - probably an underrated appetizer - i don't know. it seemed like we sent out a lot when i worked in the kitchen. please do order it: if i was a regular here, i'd order it every time. i love love love it. crispy, salty, creamy. oh and cedric put some secret stash of caviar all over it. how indulgent. i love caviar. i need caviar. where can i get a good caviar service in town? dc coast? i digress.

i think that was it. i hope i didn't leave anything out. i feel like i'm leaving something out.

well until dessert came. holy mother of sweetness.

banana split - amazing, sinful, should be illegal; it probably is in montgomery county
"kit kat" bar - way better when someone else makes it for you and serves it to you. the hazelnut sauce is to die for. i could just eat that. like soup.
creme brulee - the creamiest most delicate creme brulee texture you could dream of. (needs more vanilla maybe?). i'd like to know what's up with that. it's definitely hard to get that perfect of a texture. it was like pudding. i'm gonna ask how it's done over there. flawless.

oh what a marvelous night it was. there was nothing missing from it. nothing at all. i don't even wish there'd be a cute guy hitting on me. it was a perfect night.

matchbox vintage pizza bistro, 521 8th street se, capitol hill, dc

so a couple saturdays ago after my birthday evening out, my dear friend and i (in rough shape much like our younger years found us on saturday mornings) decided we better check out the new matchbox location on capitol hill in hopes of curing what was ailing us. the night before was a champagne wonderland of girls being girls. girls gone wild. minus the midriff baring, beer-chugging keg-stands. our version of girls gone wild is much more civilized than it used to be but so much fun, nonetheless.

so, i picked her up saturday morning (at 1:30 pm) from undisclosed location near cap hill wearing same outfit as night before. black, sequined shirt, skinny black pants, platform pumps and all, slightly less glamorous than she looked the prior night. let me tell you this was no ordinary february 7 - it was gorgeous outside - nearly 65 degrees - so her get-up was even funnier we thought.

oh thank goodness the fine folks at matchbox had a seat for us. (rumor has it it's been jam-packed since day 1 and it's a biatch to get in to). sadly they didn't have a booth for us. isn't that all we really want in life - a nice cushy booth with lots of space and no one touching us, no one close enough to hear us, smell us, or even look at us when we're hung over? oh well we can't have it all. we were actually sitting uncomfortably snugly between two couples along the wall. and you know what? we didn't give a rat's arse - we were happy to be laughing and rehashing the night before - again, just like old times.

everyone has already been to the matchbox in chinatown, i'm sure, but i'm writing about this one, ok? i haven't been to the old location in moons as it happens so i'm talking about it like i've never been, which i haven't, to this just-opened location.

oh my brain was not functioning that day. how i went from not wanting to celebrate my birthday at all to having a full-fledged 3:30 am stumbling home blowout i don't know. what the heck happened to me? i'll tell you what happened. i never go out - i'm boring and busy and never go out. therefore when i do, it's like letting a wild, caged animal out of the zoo. he goes crazy, throws caution to the wind, finds a lampshade and puts it on his head, dances in public like michael jackson and thinks he's really funny. really really funny. that aside, back to matchbox, the new locale.

it's so incredibly big, ginormous. you think it's going to be a tiny little hole in the wall from it's downplayed location on 8th street, nestled amongst the beer pubs, and old mixed with new shops of all sorts. everything is new and shiny and clean but rustic with exposed pipes and brick. i love the look of it. they have a loft upstairs too - thank goodness they didn't make us walk those stairs though. i think it'd be fun to sit at the high-top tables at the bar too next time. note to self for future: i think there might be some hotties hanging out here on the weekends, drinking beer with their gourmet pizza. could be my type of guy.

we were so excited to get a pizza. matchbox is known for having great pizza - the kind i really love - thin, crispy crust with simple toppings. we had a hangover hankering for a tomato and mozzarella pizza with basil. simple.

well that is until we saw the mini burgers! we must order those too, we said. and we did. you should know mini burgers are all the rage now. but people call them mini burgers and they're really not that mini - they're actually the perfect size burger. (i make the smallest burgers in town - and they're mini burgers - they're tiny burgers; maybe i should call them mini sliders, because a slider is a mini burger, right?)

anyway, we get three mini burgers, ordered with bleu cheese on top. well, we think our neighbors got our burgers and ours came with smoked gouda or something. oh well, they were still really good. they come with a mountain of fried onions on top. impressive looking but they're too thin to eat. they're also not crispy. they're limp and oily. hey, limp and oily actually reminds me of another story. well, perhaps another time. i know a lot of people really go crazy for these but not me. they fall into the shoestring fry category for me. i like a little more substance in my fried onions (and my french guys, i mean fries).

we ordered our pizza and started to eat it when sadly, the crust isn't crispy at all! turns out the mozzarella and tomatoes have so much water in them they can't get the crust crispy! what??? oh no - this won't do. no gummy pizza when you're hung over.

our neighbors sitting {in our laps} next to us to us (probably annoyed with us eye-balling their pizza like starving children) inform us they too have ordered the mozzarella tomato pizza with disappointment, sent it back to be "crisped up" without luck. damn, sam. they said we could have some of their pizza if they wanted. sweet, no?

see, this is what i'm talking about: you're just too close to people in some restaurants. somedays you feel like making friends with your neighbors and some days you just don't. when i should have been a grumpasaurus rex though, i actually didn't mind - the alcohol level in my blood was still fairly high i think so i was somewhat perky and still pretty darn funny. my friend couldn't resist telling them she doesn't normally dress like this on saturday afternoons.

by the way, they don't have fresh tomatoes - we asked! darnit, they were using stewed whole tomatoes. i know tomatoes aren't in season but still, roast up some fresh ones - that's what you do when they're not in season! please for the love of all things holy!! call me for a quick and useful lesson on making fresh tomatoes taste good - roast 'em up! garlic, olive oil, herbs, salt, pepper, sugar. geez, louise!

instead, we ordered a different pizza. sausage, roasted red peppers and onions. it came out hot and crispy and perfect. i wished we'd gotten a large but we only had a medium. neighbor boy ordered the best looking bloody mary i think i've ever laid eyes on. for once i just couldn't do it though. i knew it would easily send me back into la la land and i had to get home and watch some quality lifetime television for women movies and rest. (neighbor boy was, by the way, pretty cute my friend tells me - i was too blinking close to distinguish his features - kind of like a monet.)

you know, one of the things i think is kind of strange in this today's age of restaurants shutting down all over the place because of the economy, lowering their prices, firing people, etc., when i see the amount of money that must've gone into the menus at matchbox i think what a waste. they're gorgeous, sleek and chic as can be bound with real wood on the front and back covers. the decor of this place is so cool because it's done so perfectly well - it's so clean and new but has a rustic, not trying-too-hard, casual appeal to it. then the menu goes against everything else they've done to create this feel. i don't get it. i'm sure no one else thinks of this but me. just an observation.

i was real happy with that place, i gotta tell you. i love the atmosphere. the 2nd pizza we got was perfectly done just right. we boxed up the first one and i ate it later. from the comfort of my sofa as i used the rest of my day to fully recover from the transgressions of the night before.

thank goodness for matchbox pizza.

jackson 20, hotel monaco, 480 king street, old town alexandria

jackson 20, an american tavern. walking through the king street entrance i'm greeted by a life-size bronze pig (perhaps the most charming thing about this place), said to be president andrew jackson's favorite animal, and a symbol of hospitality and abundance. i like pigs. and i know, i've dated a few. kidding. i do like pigs and all pork products.

i don't know how long it's been open - a year or maybe two? whenever holiday inn transformed into hotel monaco (thank the lord for signs of coolness coming to old town). i've been wanting to check it out, hoping that old town would start its resurrection of hipness and and stop being so bleeping old.

sadly old town alexandria is not so charming as it used to be. back in the day you could wander in and out of endless shops packed with art, furniture, italian, french gifts and antiques and whatnots. you could pop into one of many pubs to grab a beer or a bloody mary on a saturday afternoon and just enjoy relaxation and old town-iness. now old town is empty, closed down, bankrupted businesses and lame restaurants (with the exception of a couple, like restaurant eve, union street - not for their food - or maybe even vermilion).

just this past summer (as i continue to digress), 6 gorgeous ladies were walking around in the heat of summer longing to sit at one of the charming resto's lining king street for a bite to cure their horrendous hangovers - on the patio. well we happened upon landini brothers (a great place to go in the winter months - speaking of charm), whose patio was completely empty. we asked to be seated on the patio and were refused. yes, refused. but why? the patio's empty. we're told they don't have a table for 6. can you please push two together? nope, nada, not happnin. what in the world? who would rather have $0 than push two tables together - or at least offer up a 4 top and a 2 top. sorry - that shoulda been a story of it's own - perhaps i'll do a blog titled "buffoons running businesses without customer service: how do they survive in this economy?"

back to ye olde towne. it's called old town becaue it's 250-something years old and boring and dying. perhaps if you're a tourist it's doesn't seem so boring (it's rampant with tourists and browsers aimlessly meandering the streets all summer long). i can't blame them. i too bring guests down to visit charming old town. or i used to. what do you people in your cute, historic townhomes do???? what a perfect town for walking, shopping, eating, drinking. geez, i swear if i lived in the heart of old town i'd never drive anywhere; or at least i wouldn't have when all the businesses were open.

{off the subject but of important note, hotel monaco hosts doggy happy hours from 5-8 pm on tuesdays and thursdays april through october in their courtyard. i've been wanting to go to that too (in hopes of meeting a cute boy). evidently my dog philippe went once last summer when i was out of town. i hear he had a great time but he did not mention whether there were any hotties for me.}

so i met a couple of girlfriends and a guyfriend for a couple of cocktails and hors d'oeuvres president's day night; how apropos i now think, president's day, having a drink at a bar named after a former president. they wanted to start drinkin' early since everyone had had the day off (except for me, i just started nightly cooking for a family this very day so i had to meet up later, ugh, sigh, i knew this new gig would be a commitment that i didn't want to keep for fear of it cramping my social life). anyhoo, they'd gotten well into a bottle of penfold's bin # something. old reliable. jackson 20 has 20 bottles of wine for $20. way cool considering everyone's in the poorhouse now. pourhouse?

the appetizer fool that i am is always excited to see what's on the menu. what's on the appetizer menu here is disappointing though. crabcakes, fried green tomatoes and a bunch of rabbit food. nothing good for sharing. if you want some things to share - peruse the "sides" section of the menu for more options. we opted for the fried green tomatoes, a side of macaroni and cheese, asparagus - for something green and not fried and cheese fries (ok, so no one's on a diet here - but there were 4 of us - and we were sharing. besides - isn't the pig at the door supposed to give you an idea of how you're supposed to eat?). also of note - the regular dinner menu looks fantastic with lots to choose from.

the fried green tomatoes were really good actually. they needed salt, but they had a tangy little salad of arugula on the side and a buttermilk blue crab dressing which went nicely. the cheese fries were nothing to write home about (especially for me - i couldn't write anybody at home about these because it's in stillwater, oklahoma that the best cheese fries in the world are made at eskimo joes, once famously mentioned in a speech by none other than President Bush I) - clearly not homemade fries and WHERE'S the godforsaken cheese, people? how lame, how sad. what would old hickory say about these cheese fries? not much. i've already said too much. don't get 'em, they're not worth the calories.

i would like to mention, however, that the mac and cheese was heavenly!!! angels were singing. and i am not normally on the mac & cheese bandwagon like everyone else in this town. the cheese sauce had lots of earthy oregano infused in it and was just perfectly cooked - not overcooked like most mac & cheese. yum and i will use that idea - just lovely. white and creamy - i didn't think it was going to be good - the breadcrumbs on top were not properly gratineed (they weren't browned at all). surprisingly i was surprised. we were actually still hungry so we got some pretty decent little rolls with butter brought to us.

what i noticed most about this place - for somewhere that's supposed to be named after andrew jackson, in a town with lots and lots of presidential history, it was actually pretty nondescript inside. the photos online make it look pretty hip but it didn't come across in person. the service was good yet it was nondescript too.

the other thing i noticed and this is a doozy for a single girl like me (or for people who like to go where there's good people-watching) - jackson 20 drew an amazingly unattractive group of people. rarely do you look around you and find that not one person in the place is nice to look at. what gives? i asked my friend. he says to me, "well today is the equivalent of a sunday night since it was a holiday." ah, true dat. i forget from my restaurant days of not so long ago that sundays are for early birds, non-appetizer eating eaters who like to get in/get out and not fuss with the rest of the world who eat out all of the other nights of the week. rude? perhaps it is. it's a generalization! don't get angry at me. after all, we were out and we are really attractive people. i had to go look at myself in the restroom just to remember that attractive people are out and about on a holiday.

i will give jackson 20 another chance because it's so darn easy to get to from my place. plus, my friends promise that normally there's a better crowd. plus that dinner menu had a few things calling my name - and that's unusual for appetizer girl.

for all the negative things i said about old town. i'm just sad about it and venting. i'm actually a hopeless romantic for old town alexandria, praying it makes a comeback soon.

more to come this spring from doggy happy hour at hotel monaco. cheers, people!

grand cru wine, 4401 wilson boulevard, ballston

i'm a diva. i'm a new diva. a recently self-proclaimed diva. please take note: i've got a few expectations and i guess i'm a diva for insisting they be met. if i say it enough, i'll accept my new diva status after all these years of being "too laid back".

{insert cat's meow sound effect here.}

i had a date recently. i was really excited about this one. weird, i know. i really was. met a nice chap, thought he was pretty cute, gentlemanly, seemed interesting, funny, similar values, blah, blah, blah. so we set up a plan to go out. well we set up a date and rough timeframe; an uncertain plan. firstly he texted me at 5:20 pm on scheduled date evening to say he was leaving work; we were originally to meet at 6ish. "what's the plan?" i texted back.

for the record, i'm against texting except to friends you know well, who love you and accept you as you are: running late and texting that you're on the way. texting is bad news. nothing good comes from texting. texting to say, "thinking of you" is sweet. texting to say, "wanna hang out tomorrow night?" is annoying and lazy. i'm trying to be 2009 but this overuse of texting doesn't work for me.

his text response, "come over here, park in the ballston mall garage and we'll go from there."

{insert sound of my corking a bottle of wine here.}

i thought i was going out on a date i was excited about but now i see i have time to kick back and relax as this highly anticipated date just turned into a faux date.

having to park in the ballston mall parking garage detracted from the potentially magical evening ahead. there's nothing less romantic than getting a ticket, driving up a garage ramp avoiding holiday shoppers, searching at the tippy top of the garage for a spot and being lost in this vast and unfamiliar mall garage. can this place be called a mall?

actually the potential magic was already usurped by the fact that i was driving to meet my date, as opposed to being picked up. driving to a date i was initially asked out for via text, rather than by phone, i might add. kudos to those of you who are openminded about these things. if this is the future of dating, i might well stay single forever because evidently i'm a high-expectationed diva.

you see, it would be easier for me to wear my uggs out on a date, but i wore heels. it's also easier for me to not wear make-up but i did that too. it's easier to wear my juicy velour sweatpants that i've had on all day long but i wore a dress in the freezing cold. you get the picture. life's not supposed to be easy. fun but not easy.

when did people stop wanting to make a good impression?

fortunately this date turned around after i got a breath of fresh air outside the confines of that silly excuse for a mall. it seems he made up for it by choosing a quaint spot i've never visited.

grand cru.

i doubt many people have heard of it unless you work or live in ballston. you wouldn't even walk or drive by it because it's tucked away in a little courtyard behind some other joint i've never heard of, called vapiano (that's according to their website). don't let its wilson address fool you - you'll never see it from your car - you've gotta be on foot.

let me be the one to tell you this place is cute. if i could extend the word cute i would here. cuuuttte. all caps.


i love the concept of grand cru. it's a wine store, it's a trattoria or bistro. charming and sweet and rustic. you walk in and to your right there's a small bar with a couple of bar tables (sadly, a flatscreen tv hangs above the bar area, though they were showing the food network - must've been a slow sports night). to the left, dining tables. in the middle, racks of wine for sale. all this is surrounded by stone walls and each window has a striped awning overhanging. yes! awnings on the inside! how cute is that? it feels like you're dining in an outdoor bistro but you're not. it's like the courtyard is indoors. it's like sitting in a piazza (well the closest thing here). brilliant, i say.

they offer a range of wine flights here - it's a great way to sample three kinds of wine and not commit. and we all know how noncommittal i can be so i love this idea. i gently steered my date down this path (a great flight of high end wines for $30 - jordan, cakebread and the like). no cigar - he didn't see the value. so we went on our own and snagged an italian bottle of nebbiolo or something pretty decent. it went well with dinner.

we shared a couple of appetizers (i wanted to try the bread but didn't; they offer a bread basket for $3.50 - weird i thought). date suggested the mixed olives, served warm. they were yummy. also he suggested the escargot which is served with tiny puff pastry on top. i like escargot so i'm all for it. problem was the puff pastry was raw and doughy. ick. i wanted the pate and i liked it.

since i was on a date i felt compelled to commit to an entree. anytime there's a braised meat i get it. so i ordered the braised lamb shank. it came very rustically huge, looking very henry viii turkey leg. no problem, it should come right off the bone. sadly, it didn't. i won't say it was hard to eat but it could've been braised a bit longer i guess. it had good flavor; secretly i wondered if they really make it there or order it from my friends at cuisine solutions. i think date had scallops or something. for dessert we shared white chocolate bread pudding that was dry and needed more sauce. how many times have i thought i should have ordered the creme brulee?! i should have ordered the creme brulee, but you never see bread pudding on the menu so i had to try it.

i wanted to like this place so much - at first glance it seemed to be the perfect place for me. i saw its potential, was excited to try everything it offered, it could be so great if only it tried a little harder. it could've been such a delightful surprise.

similarly, the same could be said for my date. life's all about expectations.

recipe for wassail - a hot toddy for heavyweights and other holiday traditions from a single girl.

i'm not dating anyone special right now, have no kids, and yet i have an ever-growing list of holiday traditions i observe and share with friends that make me merry happy. perhaps without this structure of the-things-i-love-to-do-in-december, i'd get real grumpy this time of year. i'm not gonna test it. unless anyone has a companion ticket to escape the city for a few weeks of travel.

firstly, i have to run out as soon after thanksgiving as possible to pick out a tree. i can barely contain myself when the trees are put on display at the nursery down the street. there's something comforting to me about waking up and saying good night to a beautiful tree. i think it reminds me of home.

there are a couple of downsides to the tree decorating. unfortunately it involves my dragging it across the lawn and up the steps, mauling it while i wrench and twist it through the door by myself (save the years where there was a guy involved - always better to have help). i almost can't do anything until it's decorated. except make hot chocolate. getting the ornaments down from my cold and scary attic is the other troublesome thing - i move quickly though and close that thing right back up before i see the family of "squirrels" that has been rummaging through my stuff up there all year. i won't even go into stringing the lights because no matter how many people you have it's tough. this year i have a stepstool (thanks to last year's boyfriend; nice). lighting the tree is probably best done alone to avoid a small scuffle amongst loved ones.

once that's done, let the fun begin. opening my ornaments is as exciting as unwrapping presents. i have a thing for christmas ornaments. one of my traditions is to buy myself two new ones: the annual white house christmas ornament (regardless of who's in office - this is bipartisan), and the neiman marcus peacock ornament. what's that? well it was intro'd to me a few years ago as a gift from my dear friend nicole. who knew they designed a different one each year?! i've got three now and they're gorgeous with plumes and feathers and sparklies. they're about $42 (to me, priceless) and you have to hurry and go there to get yours - they run out. last year a poor sales associate had to grab a ladder and climb a tree in the middle of neiman's to get the last one from the very top of the tree (whew).

my other traditions include the following shows i have to watch:

christmas vacation

christmas story

love actually

listening to as much christmas music as i can on 97.1 wash-fm is yet another. to some, this is annoying because they play non-stop christmas music beginning the monday before thanksgiving. a few of my personal favorites:

george michael last christmas

mariah carey all i want for christmast is you (cheesy i know)

the waitresses christmas wrapping

i love to put eggnog in my coffee every morning instead of cream.

i have to have a gingerbread latte at starbucks.
lots of hot chocolate on hand.

a trip to barnes & noble; not sure why
a chef's tasting menu at some swank restaurant - nothing beats the winter tasting menus

i'm gonna try to add a new one this year: ice skating at the sculpture garden

last but not least, i have to make sure there's a plan in place for the annual bookclub ornament exchange. this sounds nerdy but it's not. under the guise of bookclub, it allows the marrieds and boyfriended to escape men and children for the night for some important discussions on a classic book, like east of eden or the sun also rises. perhaps i'll rename this. mainly because we're no longer an official bookclub. we just drink a lot of wine and gossip. this annual party is conducted like a white elephant gift exchange, if that's the right term - everyone brings a wrapped ornament and we draw numbers and person #1 gets screwed because someone steals her ornament. for a group of attractive and civilized chics we have on occasion, become a little catty during the exchange. you see, most people bring a fabulous ornament (it's becoming competitive - everyone wants to see her ornament as highly desirable and passed around like a trophy, not stuck in the hands of girl #1 all night). it's all in good fun though and one of my favorite things at the holidays, as i love a new ornament. i also love to gossip.

i like to host the "meeting" at my place. that way i can make sure my next holiday tradition is observed: the making of the wassail. what can i say about wassail? it makes you feel warm from the inside out. the mulling spices simmering stovetop make your house smell like the holidays.

the recipe follows and i should warn you - it is delicious and deceitful. it is alcoholic and it will sneak up on you. the next thing you know you're walking funny and slurring your words; laughing uncontrollably. (we used to have this on a weeknight, but that doesn't work out so well.) so just beware and alternate your wassail with something less potent like a glass of wine or champagne! this year's invites are out and it's at my place on friday night. i hope you enjoy and try wassail yourself.

wassail

{about 10 servings}

ingredients
5 small apples
5 teaspoons dark brown sugar
2 bottles dry sherry or dry Madeira
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cloves
3 allspice berries
several sticks of cinnamon
2 cups superfine sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup brandy

method

core the apples and fill each with a teaspoon of brown sugar. place in a baking pan with 1/8-inch of water.
bake in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes or until tender. combine the sherry or madeira, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice berries, cinnamon, sugar and water in a large, heavy saucepan and heat without letting the mixture come to a boil. leave on very low heat. add the brandy. pour into a metal punch bowl, float the apples on top and serve in 8-ounce mugs.

(note: i make it differently every year: to make it less potent, add a bottle of old-fashioned apple cider for more apple flavor and omit the water. you can use orange juice and zests as well to change up the recipe. spiced rum instead of brandy or sherry works well too. it looks nicer to dice the apples and toss with the brown sugar and a little melted butter before roasting.)

teaism at lafayette park, dc

i'm not into hot tea. i know i'm admitting to a less-than-sophisticated side of my otherwise openminded and worldly culinarian self. i'm just not - though i'm the biggest fan of coffee. i just don't understand tea and i think that's why i don't do it. wish i did, perhaps i will someday, but for now i've got all i can handle in this pea-brain before any new info can be filed. there, i admit it.

i went to teaism for lunch on the advice of the person i was meeting. i always thought it would be uber-sophisticated, dark and cozy and quiet.

shhhh, we're drinking tea.

i thought the menu would consist of scones and pastries and tea, some more tea and a side of tea. no sir-eee. it could be called teabucks. the place is deli/diner-esque, not what i thought it would be at all, aside from a shelf with silk-covered boxes of (tea?) and pretty chopsticks and paper for sale. turns out this is a lunchtime get-'em-in-and-out-asap joint. looking for relaxing tea? get your fanny over to the mayflower hotel around 4 instead.

i was late for lunch, in a hurry to get my lunch and get back to my one-hour meter before getting another godforsaken parking ticket in this town. the menu's huge. so, i quickly ordered the salmon bento box - it just popped out at me - before i even had time to review the rest of the menu (i can't tell you what else they offer but it was substantial). also, i couldn't deal with my tea-ignorance at that time (plus, doesn't tea take forever to steep and blah, blah, blah) so i ordered a diet green tea soda, which is probably one step up from the lipton green tea my parents drink by the two-liter.

bento boxes are pretty cute, i must say. they're lacquered boxes with little compartments each holding a respectable and perfect amount of food, all at a 90-degree angle, none of it touching each other (wish these were around when i was a kid who couldn't stand my mashed potatoes touching my corn). left to right included pickled cucumber salad, soy-honey glazed salmon filet (cold), edamame. then on the side was sweet and sticky brown rice with yummy green stuff sprinkled on top. i am pleasantly surprised. everything needed a little salt but it was just the perfect little lunch in a perfect and cute little box.

yes, i think teaism offered the perfect little cubicled lunch - until the clock struck 12 that is. people filed in like ants, the place became over-crowded in a matter of seconds and i could barely get out without knocking a coat off a chair or hitting someone in the head with my over-sized bag. so much for your relaxing tea time.

perhaps i'll try again sometime and actually get some tea so i can relax.

blacksalt restaurant & fish market. palisades - 4883 macarthur blvd, dc

blacksalt has been on my hitlist ever since they opened three years ago or so. combination fish market/restaurant, it may sound like you're going to be dining in a warehouse with newspapered tables, high ceilings, a captain's platter, schooners of beer, mallets and plastic bibs featuring a lobster smiling back at your date; quite the contrary. thankfully.

instead it's the perfect marriage of a cozy market to pick up fresh, fresh fish with a terrific neighborhood restaurant. you trust these people too because they know what's up. they are committed to providing fish and shellfish only from sustainable aquaculture stocks. (by the way there's a great website to check out if you want to know more about what fish to buy and why: http://www.mbayaq.org/ so you too can avoid illegally-fished or over-fished fish.)

way back when, i did visit blacksalt soon after they opened, to check out the fish market offerings and to see what the buzz was. they offer some cool and real products (my preferred brand of fleur de sel is a good sign to me), some great olive oil, truffle oil, vinegars, brining spices, condiments, etc. this, of course, in addition to a fairly well-stocked case of fresh fish, whole and filleted. the fishmonger is well-versed and explains anything you need. what a cool place to get your catch of the day from all aspects. there was a curtain drawn to separate the fish market from the dining room so i couldn't get a feel for the dining atmosphere but i think i thought it wouldn't be that cool. i was wrong.

so, last night i had dinner there. finally.

i'm always leary of ordering fish when i'm out (this is partially because i don't order entrees due to my commitment-phobia). mostly it's because i was "raised" in a kitchen where we revered fish, and cooked it impeccably. i cooked fish impeccably. (i had to, else face the wrath of a 28-year-old chef who was eager to demean, belittle, debase, humiliate, scream, throw things at you and use every four-letter word in english and french you can imagine and some you can't). i know most kitchens aren't like that so it couldn't possibly be as good a product as what i used to prepare. at blacksalt, you really have no choice but to order fish and that's a good thing.

we started with a bottle of their house cabernet (mid-priced at $52, can't recall the name, but good after breathing a bit), a couple of appetizers - fried clams, white anchovy "pizza". first, they bring you a selection of bread with olive oil for dipping. the foccacia was good, the french bread pretty good and the really yummy looking yeast rolls, not worth the calories. yes, i tried them all - research, research, people. the fried clams were well-fried and crispy served with a curried mayonnaise. i thought it needed a little lemon and while curried mayonnaise sounds flavorful, it was missing something. i love white anchovies. they're mild and delicate and yummy. not like your typical anchovy. try them if you ever see them and please stop saying, "i hate anchovies." this "pizza" has hummus on it and something really smokey, not sure what - paprika? it was good (teeny tiny) but i'm not the biggest smokey flavor fan and thought it overwhelmed those yummy little anchovies i was so looking forward to.

i wanted to try the skate wing but they were out. this plays well with they're fresh catch theme don't you think? instead i ordered the salmon (well they were out - but they did have arctic char - same difference but perhaps a little more mellow than salmon). It was served on top a delicious crisp-tender bed of shaved brussels sprouts that were cooked in lots o' butter and bacon. the sauce was a surprising orange sauce which i guess gave it an asian twist. it was sweet but absolutely delicious. i ate every bite.

i should've but didn't feel guilty about ordering dessert - a generous slice of chocolate peanut butter crunch cake with peanut brittle and chocolate sauce. no complaints there. kind of wish i'd tried the trio of creme brulee though. i might be chocolated out right now.

i incontrivertibly recommend blacksalt. its atmosphere is neighborhoody, simple and cozy and clean and unpretentious, it's the diners who bring sophistication to it. a good spot for dining with friends or a date. the maitre d' was charming and funny. people with english accents can get away with anything, can't they? he was sweet and helpful and made us feel right at home. our server was fantastic and very attentive. take my advice on this one and go, go, go fish.