Update on Our Balcony Herb Garden

Look at this beautiful herb garden.  I'm such a proud mama.  The truth is that they haven't even grown to their full potential.  Some of them are just babies right now and I can't pluck their leaves to garnish my dishes just yet.  The mint on the upper left of the picture is a plant that we purchased last year and grew brown over the winter but has bloomed again. "Bourby" is struggling just a bit but produced enough leaves to garnish several Mint Juleps for the Cinco de Mayo/Kentucky Derby party we had.  Some new herbs that have been added to the mix are dill, purple basil and greek oregano.

This is the perfect time to head out to the farmers markets and pick up some herbs.  You can find organic herbs for under $3 and if planted well and cared for, will be great garnishes for summer dishes.  I picked up at few at the Clarendon outdoor market a couple of weeks ago and the cilantro is doing well. I am keeping my fingers crossed because my cilantro plant died in mid June last summer.  You can also find good deals at garden shops.  Home Depot had a crazy sale a few weeks back and I picked up a few plants for $1.77 each.  The true test of my gardening skills is if I can successfully grow cherry tomatoes from the TopsyTurvy contraption my parents gave me.

For a list of local farmers markets in the DC area, check FreshFarm Markets or Markets&More.

Chipotle Sponsors FreshFarm Markets

Chipotle restaurants in the DC area will be donating 50% of their sales to FreshFarm Markets tonight from 5pm to 8pm.  This is an amazing sponsorship for FreshFarm Markets who work really hard at making local farm fresh produce available to DC residents throughout the year.  FreshFarm Markets contributes so much to why I love living and working in the DC area.  Being able to walk out of my office door and have the "By the White House Farmers Market" a short walk away every Thursday is a treat.

Please head to Chipotle tonight for dinner and support this great group.

Just A Little Bit of Something Sweet

I consider this a thank you letter to Virtue, Feed, and Grain in Alexandria, VA. "Thank you for being different than most DC restaurants. Thank you for writing a menu that is thoughtful and entertaining to read. And most of all, thank you for providing dessert options that are 1/3 of what most places would charge."

Seeing the dessert menu after a good meal is normally disappointing to me. Most of the time, you can't find anything under $6 and if it is, it is a small scoop of sorbet. I can't stomach the thought of dropping that much money on dessert when I really only want that little bite of something sweet. Just a nibble will do. I have dragged Marshall to the grocery store after a dinner out to pick up a $3.50 pint of Ben and Jerry's so that I could eat one spoonful and put the rest in the freezer. I felt good that the $3.50 quenched my sweets-thirst but also was put away for future use.

We stopped by Virtue, Feed, and Grain yesterday and I am glad we did. The restaurant is fun, comfortable, and unapologetic about just wanting to serve good food with no fluff. It delighted me that a glass of whole milk was an option on the menu. Who does that? Apparently, these folks.

And here is where I want to give them my round of applause. The dessert menu listed Vanilla Ice Cream for $1.50. I was so shocked that I had to check with the waitress. "Can I really order just a scoop of vanilla ice cream and only be charged $1.50?". "Yes you can," was her reply. Respect. I felt like the owners of that restaurant placed that vanilla ice cream on the menu at that price as a symbol of their respect for the customers. I have to tell them, "I respect you for putting that $1.50 scoop of vanilla ice cream on the menu."

It doesn't end there. The "Specials" menu had a Carrot Cake Cupcake for $2. Whoa. This is beginning to be too much for me. $2?!?!? Even the local Safeway gouges at least $3.25 for their mini-bombs of glossy sugar. I ordered the cupcake and was even more pleased when I was presented with a standard-size cupcake and not a bite-size cupcake. Again, I felt it. Respect.

Marshall and I will be back soon to try out the entrees. And I am looking forward to it.

DC Food Bloggers Bake Sale - Thursday, April 26th

I love a good bake sale.  I'm sure it is because my parents never let me buy anything when I was a kid and so I spent most of my youth envying the kids who had parents that would treat them to a cupcake or a rice krispy treat.  But I also just love the spirit around bake sales.  It is ususally a group of people who want to raise some money for a good cause.

It looks like a great one has been organized to raise funds for  Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale.  Cathy Barrows, from the blog Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Kitchen, and many other great DC food blogging bakers will be selling their treats at the Washington Post Building on 15th and M Street from 2pm to 6pm (1150 15th Street NW.)  Just enter the main lobby of the building and you will be delighted by the selection of goodies. I am sure of this.  All proceeds will benefit the Share Our Strength charity.

I will show up early to ensure that I get one of One Vanilla Bean's macarons and Bon Appetit Foodie's oatmeal raisin cookie.  Bring cash (small change please) and spread the word.

Whole Foods Foggy Bottom Offers a Butchering Class

Image from Google.

When the Whole Foods in Foggy Bottom opened up months ago, I was invited to tour the market before it opened to the public. On the tour of the market, we got to meet the head of the meat department and I asked him if he would consider offering a butchering class. Someone in the group scoffed at the idea and this confused me. Who wouldn't want to know how to properly butcher?

Fast forward to the January 2012 DC Food Blogger Happy Hour at Watershed where I met Kimberly Bryden (some of the most exciting things that have happened to me in the last few years started at a DC Food Blogger Happy Hour. Great ideas come from a bunch of foodies who get together to drink.) She works at Whole Foods and we started a discussion about the new market. I mentioned that I knew a few folks who would be interested in a butchering class. Looks like Kimberly is going to make this happen for us!

The class will be held on March 13th at 6pm. Here is more information:

"Join our expert Butcher Doug as he bones out a whole bone-in pork loin. He will show how to get bone-in/boneless ribs, boneless pork chops, pork tenderloin, tenderloin medallions, baby back ribs, country style ribs, rib and loin end pork roasts, and many more. The class is limited to 15 participants and costs $10. You will get a $10 gift card in return to buy some meat to butcher at home after the class! Sign-up at the customer service booth when you pay for the class."

You can also email Whole Foods to RSVP and then pay the $10 fee on the day of the class. (Subject: Butchering Class on March 13, 2012):

community.foggybottom@wholefoods.com

Please only RSVP if you are sure that you will attend the class. There are only 15 available spots in the class.

So basically this class is free which makes it that much more awesome.

American Lamb Pro Am - March 4th - Hotel Palomar

I am shocked. I am amazed. I am touched. I still cannot believe that I my Lemongrass Lamb Stew was voted in the top four out of thirteen amazing recipes. Being up against some of the best bloggers in the DC area, I mock-trash talked for fun when we started this lamb competition. I was not serious. But I had no idea the force that was around me that would push me all the way to the top. A big thank you to my family, friends, blog readers, Twitter followers (and their families and friends) who asked people to vote for me on Facebook, on Twitter, via email and via text message. Even my co-workers got in on it, rallying their family and friends up to the very last hour of the race.

It wasn't until the clock hit 4pm that my heart calmed down and I could see on the website that I was in the top four. TOP FOUR!

What does this mean? This means that my Lemongrass Lamb Stew will be cooked by the great Chef Adam Sobel of Bourbon Steak at the DC Pro AM. Here are the details:

DATE: Sunday, March 4th, 2012

LOCATION: Hotel Palomar (2121 P Street Northwest, Washington D.C. 20037)

TIME: 3-5pm

WHAT: 4 DC food bloggers (this includes me!!!) team up with 4 DC top chefs to serve up American Lamb dishes and compete for American Lamb Pro-Am supremacy. Local fans will gather to sample the dishes created by the blogger/chef teams, sip delicious wine/beer and vote on their favorite dish.

1. Sylvie Nguyen of Thrifty DC Cook - Lemongrass Lamb Stew working with Chef Adam Sobel of Bourbon Steak

2. Mary Kong of Girl Meets Food - Chinese Roast Lamb with Rice Noodles working with Chef Anthony Lombardo of 1789 Restaurant

3. Russell Warnick of Endless Simmer - Welsh Rarebit Lamb Nachos working with Chef John Critchley of Urbana

4. Lauren DeSantis of Capital Cooking Show - Roasted Leg of Lamb with Caramelized Onions and Fig Sauce working with Chef Nick Stefanelli of Bibiana.

TICKETS: Can be purchased here.

So the competition continues and I am so grateful to be in the running (what is it that people say to sound gracious at awards shows? It is an honor to be nominated?) But lets face it, with Chef Adam Sobel, we are going to kick some ass on March 4th! Booyah!

Lamb Banh Mi

It is voting time! Please cast your vote here for my Lemongrass Lamb Stew in the American Lamb Pro Am DC competition.

If you noticed that I did not use all of the Border Springs Farm lamb in Lemongrass Lamb Stew, then you might have wondered what I did with the rest. I sliced about a pound of the leg of lamb into big, thin pieces (thank you super sharp Shun knife) and marinated them for an hour in a teaspoon of minced garlic, 3 tablespoons of Maggi, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and 3 tablespoons of canola oil. After searing the lamb in a hot cast iron skillet, I placed them in freshly baked French bread with pickled carrots and onions and fresh cilantro and cucumbers to make a Lamb Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich). The banh mi was very hearty and the seasoned lamb was balanced out by the cold pickled vegetables. I added peppered mayonnaise to the sandwich which added a spicy creaminess. I will try diced up jalapenos in the mayonnaise next time.

The French bread I used was from Trader Joes. It was the kind that is sold partially baked and that needs to be baked for 10 minutes before it is ready to eat. One of my favorite places to get French bread is at Banh Mi So 1 in Falls Church. The bread is baked fresh everyday and a nine inch loaf is only 55 cents. Gotta love delicious, fresh bread that costs less than $1.

And I have to give credit to Olga from MangoTomato for this idea. She suggested I make a lamb banh mi and I am glad she did. Yum!