Blogs and Recipes: A Round-Up for 9/2

• Go your own way: underground restaurants, underground drinking establishments popping up all over the place. While I’ve never been to an underground restaurant, I will say that I had some of the best drinks of my life at the “speakeasy” mentioned in the metrocurean article. [NYT, metrocurean]
• Celebrity chef invasion of DC continues, now with more Gordon Ramsay! [DCist]
• New fronts on the DC cupcake wars: Hello, Cupcake opened in Dupont Circle (right across the street from your editors office, expect a review soon), and opening with less media attention, Lavender Moon of Alexandria. [DCist, Houndstooth Gourmet]
• This week in free events: music at Eastern Market and Marilyn Monroe. [Going Out Gurus]

Eat these things this week:

• Homemade Belizean pepper sauce. [Rice and Beans]
• Tuscan pasta with Canellini beans. [the arugula files]
• Pressed chicken with yellow squash and tomatoes. [The Bitten Word]

Blog Round-Up: 8/18

One day late, but with all the blog-round-up-y goodness you’ve come to expect. I’ve tied in the recipes I liked this week as well; yes, I am too lazy to create two posts of other people’s content.

• Restaurant Week, Restaurant Week, Restaurant Week, etc etc etc. [Best Bites, et al.]
• Blogger metrocurean gets the scoop on two new restaurants in town: Beer-and-American Suisine focused Birch and Barley/ChurchKey in Logan Circle and farm-to-table Founding Farmers. [metrocurean]
• Why are there no prix fixe brunches in DC, asks t/e friend Brunch DC. Oh, go back to New York already. [Brunch DC at DC Fud]
• Organic to Go opens with requisite fanfare, block long lunchtime lines on F St. and in McPherson Square. [Penn Quarter Living]

Recipes I liked this week:

• Homemade Bulgogi [WhereInDC]
• Corn, Pepper and Feta Salad (with produce from the Adam’s Morgan Farmer’s Market!) [the arugula files]
• Curried Tofu Salad with Blueberry Tomato Dressing [Salty Girl Cooks] [As a vegetarian (expect a post on that this week), I must say that SGC is an invaluable source of interesting veggie-friendly recipies. -Ed]
• Raspeberry Sorbet [Houndstooth Gourmet]
• Blackberry Shortcake with Lavender Cream [Food Rockz]
  

Weekend Farmer’s Market Update: U St., Mt. Pleasant, Bloomingdale

Not as much to report for the U St. Mt. Pleasant and Bloomingdale markets. Dolcezza Gelato will be joining the U St. market permanently, if you can’t wait to get your artisanal (and expensive!) gelato/sorbet fix until Sundays.

At the Mt. Pleasant market, Reid Orchard will be selling a limited quantity of unsweetend peach nectar – if you’re sick of paying $6 at brunch, make your own Bellinis. Also, WIC and the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program will be hosting a Family Fun Day event. “Banjerdan” – I believe that he plays the banjo – will perform and there will be other activities.

Market Locations:

• U St.: On the sidewalk of the Reeves Plaza, at the NW corner of 14th and U Streets NW. 9am-1pm Saturdays
• Bloomingdale: In front of the Big Bear Cafe on First and R Streets NW. 10am-2pm Sundays.
• Mt. Pleasant Farmer’s Market: In the park between 17th & Mount Pleasant and Park & Lamont Streets. Saturdays, 9am – 1pm.

After the jump, the full emails from the markets, with recipe tips and more fun. Sign up for the U St./Bloomingdale market email by contacting Robin Shuster at marketsandmore@gmail.com, and the Mt. Pleasant market email by going here.

Farmer’s Market Preview: 8/14/-8/17

Today we preview the various FRESHFARM markets around the area. The highlights:

• At the Penn Quarter market (TODAY from 3:00-7:00pm), Rochelle Schaetzl of Nando’s Peri Peri, a new South African restaurant chain, will be giving a cooking demonstration. See here for more.
• The Dupont Circle market (Sunday from 9:00am-1:00pm) will have a demonstration by Frank Morales of Rustico at 11:00am.

Check back tomorrow for the U St., Bloomingdale and Mt. Pleasant Markets, depending on the promptness of their various listservs. </crosses fingers>

In other farmer’s market news, evidently a new market has opened in the King St. Garden Park. Every Wednesday from 3:00-7:00pm.

After the jump, see the weekly FRESHFARM market email. You can subscribe to that email here.

A week without cooking

Sorry there hasn’t been much in the way of bloggy goodness this week; real life has actually intruded on this little internet project. But I’m back now, and ready to bring you the regular dose of insight, wit and pure culinary genius.

Also, this has been a strange week for me – I haven’t cooked a single time. Not for others, not for myself. It’s been a little weird. In fact, not only haven’t I cooked, but other people have cooked for me. On Sunday, a friend had a “house-cooling” party: she’s leaving her place in Shaw for the wilds of Friendship Heights. In a meal that was explicitly explained to us as “cleaning out the fridge” we had lemon caper chicken, vegetable quiche, and a pear-almond-Gorgonzola salad with homemade vinaigrette. It was nice; really tasty – though for me the nicest thing was being able to enjoy a meal without having to worry about what still needed to be cooked, or cleaning up afterward!

And check out this chicken:

After the jump: more food pictures, and pictures from the other reason I haven’t been cooking this week.

Blog Round-Up: 8/10

• Jamie Leeds’ “gastropub” CommonWealth opened in Columbia Hieghts on Wednesday. Combining with the wine bar discussed earlier, Columbia Heights (“Cheights” or “CoHi” if you’re insufferable) has really come up in the world. [Best Bites Blog, metrocurean]
• The Travel Channel loves DC! First it was Anthony Bourdain, now Sam Brown (Bourdain for those who like the more attractive and less crude end of the correspondent spectrum) visits DC for her “Passport to Great Weekends series. [Apples and Bananas, The Travel Channel]
• The old Dakota Cowgirl space (14th and N) will have two new tenants: bars ChurchKey and Birch & Barley. Unless “permitting issues” strike again. [14th and You]
• 25 DC food things to do before Labor Day. I’ve accomplished three so far, and I might catch one or two more; the thriftiness cred, however, would suffer with a few of these. Nonetheless, I envy anyone who catches all 25. Good luck! [Counter Intelligence]

News You Can Eat: Weekend Farmer’s Market Update

• A starter: the WaPo’s interactive map of all DC-area farmer’s markets. [Washington Post]
• Thursday: FRESHFARM Penn Quarter has Charlie Palmer Steaks Chef Mat Hill from 5pm-6pm. The market itself runs from 3pm-7pm. [Penn Quarter FRESHFARM]
• Saturday: Annual Salsa Contest at FRESHFARM H St. Market. Final day for sign-up is today! [Rules at Food Rockz, FRESHFARM H St.]
• Saturday: IMPACT Silver Spring will be talking about community and food, 9am-11am. The market continues until 1pm. [FRESHFARM Silver Spring]
• Saturday: Vienna Farmer’s Market, 8am-12pm. Visit their blog to see what’s fresh. [Vienna’s Farmer’s Market Blog]

Weekly Blog Round-Up: 7-27

• Restaurant Week participants announced. The big question: is it really worthwhile? [Washington.org, Best Bites Blog]
• DC’s Zagat Guide for 2009 arrives. A tip: review ten restaurants, get a free guide – for next year. [DC Foodies]
• The Appletini is dead. Long live the Appletini? …no. [metrocurean]
• Columbia Heights attains another marker of creeping yuppification: a wine bar. [Prince of Petworth]
• A Mighty Appetite launches its “Eat Local Challenge.” Have you been shopping at your local farmers market? [A Mighty Appetite]
• Anthony Bourdain was in DC last week. Read about his feelings on politics and the dinner table – something that is pretty inescapable in our little corner of the world. [No Reservations Blog]