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August 20, 2004

girl talk

Oh, you are so married, Chandra said to Mindy as they chatted about last weekend. I am going to be so angry if you don't invite me to the wedding. I want to be there.

But I don't know if I want to be there! Chandra retorted.

Posted by kafi at 04:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 09, 2004

Mezze 2004

Last year I wrote about Jaleos, a tapas restaurant in the Penn Quarter section of D.C. This year, it is all about Zaytinya, an eastern mediterrean restaurant. It all started with the 1999 Palivou, Nemea, Peloponessos, a gorgeous red wine with intense chocolate and dark berry flavors. Although I sampled about 10 dishes on that first visit, I only remember the wine. And the pita bread, which is served warm and puffy, accompanied by olive oil laced with pomegranate juice.

The Htipiti was also quite unforgettable. I would never think to order a dish of roasted red peppers with feta, but this dish is now one of my favorites. The amagulation of the red peppers and olive oil and feta cheese forms into this wonderful sauce-like dish that can scooped up with warm pita or simply eaten as a salad. The lightly fried cod fritters were perfectly cooked and served with a fragrant potato sauce infused with garlic.

Next to wine, my next favorite flavor would have to be garlic. I have eaten rosemary garlic french fries at many establishments. It is something I cannot resist ordering when I go to a restaurant. Zaytinya has set my new standard for fries. Perfectly cooked potatoes fried in olive oil with the strong aroma of garlic, perfectly salted and topped with greek yogurt, I found the fries of my dreams. Okay, that may sound dramatic, but these fries were unlike anything I have tasted before. I became greedy and stingy, as I wanted them all for myself. Anyway, with so many mezze offerings, it will take several more visits to try everything on the menu. Maybe next week I will try the seafood dishes.

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August 02, 2004

Noticing a Pattern

With the alert level at orange, seeing people walk the city streets toting guns does not seem unusual. As a matter of fact, it was a little bit of a relief, given that most of the info I learned about the latest news came from New York, not DC, the city where I live and work. It also seems that at this time last year, there were similar concerns.

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You call that a tomato?

My local grocery store has the the worst produce. Perhaps it is the long trip the produce takes into the city, but generally by the time I get to the store, there is either nothing there, or everything is is about 2 days from rotten. I have little reason to complain though, because my farmer's market rocks. After savouring a delicious yellow tomato gazpacho garnished with crab meat, radishes and a red tomato sorbet at Ceiba during restaurant week, I was eager to buy yellow, orange and red tomatoes. And I was not disappointed. These tomatoes were sweet, hardly acidic and bursting with fresh picked juiciness. They were unlike anything you can buy in the store. I have been eating tomato slices sprinkled with salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and a touch of olive oil, topped off with fresh chopped mint. Ahhh, summer tomatoes are the best!

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