Jungle Grille

I may not have easy access to happy hours or food trucks, but I've got a few things.  Namely, Franklin's and Jungle Grille.

I adored the homemade chicken salad on a wrap with sprouts, cucumber, lettuce, and tomato.  Pick all the crunchy toppings you want and make up your own sandwich--I did!  The chicken salad is herby and creamy, and did I mention that it's warm?  Warm (not hot) chicken salad, cool crunchy vegetables, and darn was I a happy gal.  I'm not sure if the photo does justice, but the size of this thing was pretty unbelievable.  I was preparing all day for JG, but I have to be honest--afterward I felt a little remorse for finishing.  Just tooooo full.  The pickle wasn't my favorite.  I rarely find a worth sandwich-side pickle.  Too floppy.

And that's my Nantucket Nectars (Half & Half) in the background, along with a giant cup with ice in it (soo thoughtful, a nice touch!). 

And HOMEMADE potato chips! These suckers are a cross between chip and wedge--they aren't really "crispy," but the opposite of that is NOT soggy, it's potato-ey.  Scientific word, look it up.  I loved these chips (and I'm not the only one).  One order is enough to share, so bring your buddy.

E enjoyed the chicken teriyaki with pineapple--she says it was tasty.  I can't deny or confirm because I didn't taste it, and I didn't even take a picture!  How is that possible!

Jungle Grille is a friendly place with a broad and delicious menu (and fro yo), but if you want, just go back and get the same thing every time.  It's not that they are reinventing the culinary wheel, it's just that in that area, most of the food is barely edible.  And that's why I bring my lunch 99% of the time.

The decor is a little odd, but not everything is about looks.  The soundtrack alone can woo you; we were constantly entertained by the mix of 80's and 90's pop that was played; we actually stopped our conversations and looked around, as in, "Really?  This song?"  Gooses.


Jungle Grille
8145 Baltimore Ave
College Park, MD
Metro: You can Green Line to College Park and take a bus.  Or drive.  It's in a strip mall with lots of other stuff, it took me a few minutes to find it!

Passover 2010 Wrap-Up

Heeeeeeeey bread-loving friends!  Before we join you in fluffy yet crusty carbland, I'd like to recap this year's Passover.  We dined on the bread of affliction in several states and also enjoyed some of the delectable sides going along with it.  I even got to have awesome leftovers (of which I have no photos---I can't have all my friends hate me) at J&Js on a weeknight.

I'm apologizing in advance for my photos--at our seder I had my Entertaining Hat on and forgot about my other hats--Picture-taker (not quite photographer...) and Blogger.  

Last year was the first time we really cooked our own seder.  So this year we were old pros : )


The menu was as follows (links where I have 'em):
 
-  Charoset (2 kinds--Ashkenazi with apples and walnuts and a Sephardic version with dates and almonds)  and PS I made sooo much, WAY too much, it's not normal.  And I ate it for breakfast during the week, even though it's made with wine.  Sorry?
- Roasted eggplant spread (cut 'em in half, drizzle olive oil, sprinkle garlic and salt, roast 45 mins at 400. Scoop out the goodness inside and mix it up in a bowl)
- Giant crunchy chopped salad with craisins, green beans, asparagus, and a pomegranate vinaigrette (equal-ish parts POM + balsamic + slightly less olive oil, whisk and enjoy)
- Vegetable soup w/matzah balls
- Popovers
- Vegetarian stuffed cabbage
- Grilled asparagus
- Brisket (5 lbs)
- Salmon (3.5 lbs--this was gorgeous, but I took a crappy photo so check out the Post's)
- Raspberry squares
- Matzah candy (chocolate sugary goodness)
- Macaroons
- Chocolate drop cookies OF COURSE I am obsessed ok I'll stop now sorry.  
- Mixed berries (and of course the chocolate spread I intended to serve with it, but forgot.  Of course!)

The only thing I wanted to make but forgot to was the tzimmes soufflee from Kosher by Design.  It's sweet and fluffy but still a vegetable side, because it's carrot!!!  I needed a second oven to get it all done. 

Let me also say that I had TWO friends help me cook for hours on Sunday afternoon, and that our family and friends brought almost half the things on that menu---they are the greatest!  Having everyone bring something--whether it's a dessert, a bottle of wine, or some of their family's traditional charoset--makes hosting way easier AND more fun.

At my sister's house we made another brisket, a vegetable bake with zucchini, spinach, mushroom, and onion, and again ate tons of fruit and the yummy chocolate covered coconut  morsels.  Smaller crowd, but all immediate family, including grandma :)

Our fridge, the night before the seder--can you say FULL?!  iPhone shot, gotta love that quality ; )

Mmmm juicy brisket...

Yummy plate of brisket, veggie bake, and leftover horseradish.  I freakin' love horseradish.

Elijah, we are waiting for you but you are SO SLOW.

Did I mention that our second seder was in Boston?  What a lovely resevoir on a VERY pretty day!

I hope everyone had a healthy and happy Passover/Easter/Sunny Weekend (hey, that's it's very own nonreligious holiday, right?)!!!!

Finally-Freakin'-Gorgeous-Outside Friday

Wooo!  Kites!  But that was last weekend.  On to the week:

Honest Tea is givin' stuff away.  (via We Love DC).

Brunch in the City went to Acadiana and ate delicious food, but all I can think about are 25 cent

mimosas.  What in the what?

Apparently Shalom's has THE BEST hamantaschen ever, and in her post about it, W&CP gives lots of love to an iEatDC fave--Levain.   ::Sigh::

Inkpad shared some interesting tidbits with me--she follows such awesome (and by awesome I mean sugar coma inducing just by READING them) sites.  First, these adorable chicks/cupcakes.  I can't imagine eating that little guy.  Or making it.  Who said you can't fry a Cadbury Creme Egg?  Anyone?  Because they are WRONG.  Apologies in advance to your future cardiologist. 

This week Man made Mango & Tomato's super juicy turkey meatballs in a K for P way (matzah meal instead of panko, etc), and they were a huge hit.  With the week I've had I was happy to have some reliable delicious leftovers to bring for lunch.

I don't know about you all, but I had a crazy week.  Lots of tupperware involved.  Go out and enjoy the amazing weather this weekend, and relax : )  We'll be out of town for part of it, but the only blogging I'll be doing about that is the home cooking.  Passover, you are so crazy!

A Little Taste of San Diego

I recently spent a few short days in San Diego--or, to put it more accurately, I recently spent a few days inside a hotel conference room that happened to be located in San Diego.  That said, I still managed to avoid hotel catering on a few occasions.  Unforch most of the suggestions I got and read were in La Jolla, and I didn't have a car!  Alas, next time--I'll even bring The Man with me.  Here are the highlights from this past trip, including this awesome tree:

Cafe 222: I gather this place is never really empty--it's only open for half of the day (serving breakfast and lunch from 7-1:45pm), and everybody got the memo that it's delicious.  Cafe 222 happens to be the site of Bobby Flay's favorite French toast, stuffed with peanut butter and banana.  I'd LOVE to share that with someone, but you all know I love eggs waaaay too much to trade them 100% for a sweet like that.  At this point you should be able to look at the menu and know what I got, so quiz yourself.

...
 Is it the Green Eggs and Spam?   Nah, I only eat green eggs at Belga.

...

 Pumpkin waffle?   No ya'll, that's out of season.

... 

Answer?  Eggs Italia.  Eggs scrambled with pesto, diced tomatoes, and goat cheese.  The creamiest, herbiest, zangiest eggs I've ever had.  The pesto wasn't a sauce on top of the eggs, it was IN the eggs.  Sorry for the iPhone pictures, I was on my way back from a run along the lovely bay.  I got take out, and I was able to refill my iced coffee a few times from a little help-yourself station near the patio seating while I waited.  It wasn't shady, I promise--the host told me I should!  Their coffee was really really good.  There wasn't any milk out, and I could have asked, but instead I took a taste and decided it worked for me.  If coffee is really good, I like it on ice without the milk.


Shout House:  Going to Shout House is like watching TRL if you really love music videos.  A song you might like begins, but the AM rush hour-like banter and drunk girls ruin that moment for you.  And you're left with snippets of almost-happiness.  GRANTED, it was St. Patrick's Day--no fault of LC, who sent us there. Still, it was a good time to hear talented people play and sing.  I even ruined it a little by singing along myself.

Sidenote, I went up to LA for a day and hit up Gardens of Taxco again with the fam (chicken mole, SO GOOD--like it was born in the sauce, SPICY, not hot, etc), and also had a delicious oatmeal cookie and iced coffee at Urth Cafe.

But my first night we stopped in super cute and built up Culver City (sort of Clarendon-y).  Our destination was Ford's Filling Station, the joint by Harrison Ford's chef son Benjamin.  We ordered the fish & chips, which was pretty good.  My favorite part was the fish, and I was slightly disappointed to find all these other fried things in there--veggies, shrimp (granted, the description mentions the shrimp, I just didn't read carefully.  Bad me.).  MORE FISH, less other stuff!  But this isn't Eamonn's.   The curried lentil salad was really good--I didn't get so much curry, but definitely got lots of lentil.  Halibut with mashed potatoes was okay, but didn't blow me away. Our server was super sweet, and told us we HAD to have the mashed potatoes because they were AMAZING.  I'm not the hugest potato fan (I like them, but I'm not about to do a 5K on their behalf or anything), so maybe I just didn't get it.  The mushroom flatbread that came out first was actually my favorite.  I'll take two, please!!!!  Ford's calls itself an American gastropub (how very now), so if I lived nearby I'd bet the beer list and happy hours would do a body good. 

All in all, the most favoritest deliciousest thing I ate on this trip was my Eggs Italia.  I can't help it; I'm addicted to breakfast.  Thanks to my Seester for giving me the 411 on 222.

Coming soon: Birch & Barley, PS7's (again), Rosemary's Thyme, Seder 2010, and more.

I hope you are all having a lovely week!  Apparently the weather is going to get better any second.  ::listening for when the wind stops making the windows make scary noises::

Friday Fulla Tourists

Yes, it's that time again.  You're stuffed into the Metro with your heels in your bag, balancing your newspaper while not touching anyone around you, and the group in matching t-shirts is holding everything up, throwing everyone off.  WELCOME, VISITORS.  THIS IS RUSH HOUR.  ISN'T IT GREAT?

We celebrated a birthday this week, and we had some awesome weather.  High fives all around.

I can't believe my seder is Monday--if you've never seen an Ikea table + 3 folding card tables lined up, you're missing out!

I'm planning on making these cool charoset balls, obv the chocolate drop cookies (put them in the freezer, you won't regret it), and I put out a call through Google reader for someone to make Modern Domestic's pretty chocolate/almond/orange/praline tart.  Bossiest hostess ever...

Awesome story about an Iranian seder, and the family that comes along with it. 

In other (non Kosher for Passover) news, my in-laws are super into tea, and I've got to bring them some of these Earl Gray Cookies.  If only Inkpad herself would whip them up...I'd pay!

Michel Richard is whipping up pie in the sky...or rather, airplane food (via We Love DC).

More reasons to go out for Ethiopian food--turns out the stuff injera is made of is the #1 superfood for runners (via Runners Kitchen).

And a simpler, still delicious pie, from Eat, Run, Read--the lovely D sent me the link to that blog a few weeks ago, and it talks about most of my favorite things.  And the cupcake in her header graphic is SO CUTE.  And to think I almost named this blog Eat, Jog At A Moderate Pace, Read Sometimes, But Mostly Listen To Podcasts.  Didn't really flow, though.

Lastly, can we talk for a second about the Italian Store and BGR being in the same shopping center?  For serious?  DANGEROUS!

Have a great weekend everyone!  Kite festival, cherry blossoms, or wherever else it takes you.  Hopefully to brunch!  I leave you with happy flowers...

Faryab

Sometimes I'm just in the mood for something saucey and delicious.  We go out for Indian cuisine all the time, and even make our own variations at home.  [Thank you Trader Joe's for making this possible.] But if you want something a little different than usual, try Afghan!  I was craving Ethiopian, actually, but wasn't sure what was good nearby--I spotted Faryab on Washingtonian's Cheap Eats and figured It Must Be Done.  Then we had a massive snowstorm and I needed to hold off on fulfilling that craving for several more weeks.

Pakowray Kachalu: Fried slices of sweet potato topped with yogurt and meat sauce.  You're going to start sensing a meat sauce theme...

I liked these guys!  The sweet potato was sweet, the meat was savory, yogurt has tang.  Good combo.

Sambosa-e-Goushti: spiced ground beef and chickpeas in this fried pastry.  This was my least favorite app--the dry fried outside stilted any flavor intensity the inside might have had once long long ago.  I just didn't get it.

Mantu: Steamed dumplings filled with meat and scallions, topped with meat sauce and yogurt.  I liked these little buggers, and would order a double next time. Meat on the inside AND the outside.
Yes!!!!

Faryab shiskleek:  Marinated chicken and veggies with basmati rice.  This dish was pretty good--T says that the chicken dish and the eggplant dish (not pictured: chalow badenjam) had excess oil that didn't add any flavor.  And in her words, "it's not like it's extra oil that's really really delicious flavorful olive oil.  It's just greasy."  Ouch!  I liked the eggplant dish better than the chicken, but I agree it was a little...wet.

Shalgham Goushti: Super tender braised lamb topped with "sweet and spicy" turnips that I found mostly sweet, not so spicy.  Everybody at the table thought these were pretty awesome turnips, and we didn't really consider ourselves turnip people.  Who is?  This was my favorite dish that I would definitely get again next time.  Sorry for the blur ya'll.

I'd definitely go back to Faryab.  The price is reasonable (especially when you share lots of apps, which you should), some of the food is really good--some is not AS good as others (and the bread is TERRIBLE, not at all what you want--you want Me Jana or Zaytinya bread!).  There was a little too much fried on the table for some of us, but you have to live a little and try stuff, even if it clogs your arteries.

These are yummy comforting ethnic flavors that you should be gettin' down with.  I definitely want to try something pumpkin-esque next time.  I have a feeling it will make me as pumped as the turnips did!

Skip dessert and go to BGR for the shake of the month, whatever it may be.

Faryab
4917 Cordell Avenue
Bethesda, MD

Free Cone Day: Tuesday, March 23, 2010!

Lexi says: "It's Free Cone Day, ya'll!" 

Many Ben & Jerry's will be servin' it up from 12pm-8pm.  Sometimes the line gets really long, so bring a friend and stick it out.  Last time I waited we were approached by some friendly fundraisers for a great cause.  Give 'em some bucks if you feel up to it--not like you're spending it on ice cream. 

FCD is early this year ya'll!  Check out my past coverage of Free Cone Day here and here. 

P.S., the majority of you were excited for "all of the above" when it came to Farmers' Markets, Sundresses, CSAs, or Grilling Out.  and PPS, grilling out was my idea of a little joke.  I'd never heard the phrase until a few years ago.  It must be a DC or Southern-ish thing...right?  Anyone have any insight on this?