making a list

The 11-day office closure that I've been looking forward to has already been interrupted by work and is expected to be interrupted by further work next week. In an effort not to succumb to bad mood bears, I've made a list of all of the fun and relaxing things to do when not working.

1. Read about Roosevelt and the Night Circus.

2. Make many cookies.

3. Practice Moroccan recipes for January's cookbook club.

4. Listen to Buble's Christmas.

5. Eat some oysters and see A Christmas Carol.

6. Taste wine. This is a separate blog post in and of itself. After spending hours of research time on tripadvisor, my Sonoma wine country itinerary is a thing of pride.

In which you find out that I am a stalker

A few weeks ago, at a brewery/beer event in Baltimore, I met Chef Teddy Folkman and his bacon-y mussels and frites recipes. Teddy is the executive chef at Granville Moore's in DC and a finalist on Food Network's "The Next Food Network Star" show. He was cooking in a tent over a hot plate, but dammit that food was good and he was a bit of a cutie. I went back for seconds.

The following week I DVR'd the Food Network Star show and have been watching it regularly. Watching him cry on the show and kind of be an ass. Yeah...um.

To me what's most maddening about the show is that you can't smell or taste the food and so have no idea who is actually doing well in the competition. Shockingly, it's not the same as watching a singing or dancing competition where you can judge for yourself the talent, or lack thereof, of the contestants. I am forced to take Bobby Flay's word for it, and having been to Bobby Flay's restaurant in Atlantic City, I don't know if we should all be trusting a man whose key lime dessert was neon goo. (But the steak was good!)

But back to Teddy. In a few weeks I will be attending his cooking demonstration at Sur La Table, where he will prepare a three-course meal and I will get to eat it.

I mean, there will be other people there, but I will be the one slipping him my phone number on a napkin.

And whether or not he calls, after visiting Granville Moore's, I will be sure to follow him to his house and sit outside his building (gotta tint the windows on the Accord first) with binoculars and a scrapbook of our two-month relationship.

Wearing this on a t-shirt:

Crazy delicious

Mental (blog) note to self. Have this food again sometime soon at Spider Kelly's in Arlington:

Hand cut fries seasoned with rosemary and garlic, dipped in fridge sauce.

Grilled Veggie P.E.T.A - Crunchy grilled veggies splashed with a savory vinaigrette, topped with crumbled feta & wrapped in a warm pita.

Don't go there for the draft beers. They don't have any. Go there for a nice glass of wine, or two, enjoy the easy-going atmosphere, and DEFINITELY order those fries again. And try not to be too devastated when the waiter takes away the bowl of fries when there are still some crumbs left on the bottom. I am going to say it again. THE FRIES.

Me Jana

Tonight Kristin, Alison, and I had dinner at Me Jana, a Lebanese restaurant at Courthouse. I've found a new neighborhood favorite. Although they serve main dishes of various kebob, the thrust of the menu is the mezza, or small plates of delicious. We sat outside on the patio, drank some Lebanese red wine, and relished the

Kafta Kebob - Ground lamb and beef mixed with onion, parsley and spices.

Chicken Shawarma - Marinated chicken in garlic, lemon juice, slowly roasted. Served with garlic whip and sumac onion.

Falafel - Chickpea and fava bean croquettes with tahini sauce, tomato, parsley and mint.

Cheese Rolls - Manchego and Feta Cheese wrapped in phylo dough and fried crispy.

Fatteh - Fried baby eggplant topped with yogurt, pine nuts, chickpeas, garlic, and olive oil.

Those are the descriptions on the menu and they make me salivate.

When I got home I may or may not have eaten some ice cream for dessert, provided by my employer as a summer gift, while watching season 3 of Weeds, loaned to me by Dana, on the flat screen TV Papa Tomarev helped me to set up in my room. I am so loved.

Mate

Last night, I was all set to have a quiet night at home. And then Kelli used the word "sushi" in a sentence. She also said the words "Georgetown" and "the waterfront", but all I needed to hear was "sushi". She, Elissa, and I went to Georgetown to Mate, a Latin fusion sushi cocktail lounge/restaurant. We should have known what to expect because Mate is owned by the same people as Gazuza, a hookah bar in Dupont where men wear white linen suits and the entire thing makes me think Eurotrash, Eurotrash, Eurotrash. Mate was more of the same. Low and uncomfortable tables, lounge music that's played a little too loudly, and a menu of sugary drinks. We wanted to check it out though and also try the Latin sushi. As it turns out, Latin sushi has the normal ingredients of salmon and/or tuna and/or yellowtail but then they also stick some plantain in there and roll it all in corn masa instead of rice. It's WEIRD. And mushy. And just WEIRD. I guess my pomegranate margarita was OK, but I would not go back there just for that. Glad we went and experienced the place, but it did not become a finer things club favorite.

Dolcezza

On an expedition to Georgetown, Kelli and I stopped at Dolcezza for some gelato refreshment and were both blown away. This tiny shop on Wisconsin Ave. serves Argentine gelatos and sorbettos as well as tea and coffee drinks. I had a scoop each of the Chocolate Classico and the Sicilian Blood Red Orange. The chocolate was good, but the orange was superb. It tasted as if the gelato artisans had mashed up an orange, stuck it in the freezer, and then served it to me in a cup. I tasted some of Kelli's Banana Split (mashed up banana in ice cream form) and Champagne Mango (mashed up mango, soaked in champagne? in ice cream form). We also saw some crazy flavors like Cilantro-Lime. I mean, that's just crazy. The website says the gelatos are hand-made every morning, and the shop uses locally-grown ingredients when it can. Hooray for supporting local farmers! I am also partial to gelaterias that have their own blogs.

Finer Club Things SUGGESTIONS

Wine flights at Wildfire in Tyson's Corner, Virginia. I especially recommend the Jazzy Reds (flight #2).

TACO BELL

FOR THE PAST THREE DAYS I HAVE BEEN WORKING ROUND THE CLOCK TO FINISH UP MASSIVE CONSOLIDATED FEDERAL AND CALIFORNIA TAX RETURNS. THIS HAS LEFT ME WITH VERY LITTLE TIME FOR THE FINER FINER THINGS.

ON SUNDAY NIGHT, WHEN CONSIDERING DINNER OPTIONS, AMANDA, JENNY, CAROLINE, AND I DETERMINED THAT MOST PLACES WOULD BE CLOSED, SAVE FOR THE FAST FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS. WE ALSO DETERMINED THAT I HAD NEVER EATEN AT TACO BELL (AT LEAST I DON'T RECALL SUCH AN EVENT).

TACO BELL ASPIRES TO FEED AMERICA WITH A FOURTH MEAL - THE MEAL BETWEEN DINNER AND BREAKFAST. I KNEW THAT IT WOULD BE TASTY, BUT MY NACHOS SUPREME AND FRESCO TACO WITH MILD SAUCE ABSOLUTELY HIT THE SPOT. SITTING AROUND THE TABLE IN A CONFERENCE ROOM ON A SUNDAY NIGHT ON A BREAK FROM TAX RETURN PURGATORY, FEASTING ON GREASY MEXICAN FOOD, GOSSIPING WITH WORK FRIENDS: NOW that IS A FINER THING.