FUD wants YOU!

The good news is, some of us are over-employed (that's good, right?). Some of us have even moved away from the DC area *gasp* to go to graduate school (not me, I didn't get voted off the island).

But the bad news is a dry spell for the FUD at the moment. So, to
counteract this terrible state of affairs, we are looking for.....

A FEW NEW WRITERS!!
Were you annoyed by a restaurant?
Do you have some random recipes to share?
Have you discovered the best wine or restaurant in DC?
Do you want to write a comparison article for a particular item or dish?
Need some hipster cred? Good, since that is how we are compensated. :)

Then we want you for DCFUD. Send any sort of writing sample to
dcfud.writers@gmail.com, along with a couple ideas you'd like to write
about. It'll be crazy!

Where To Get Your Goat

I have a friend that lives in Largo...and he often tries to get us (his friends) to come out to him. He's cool and all...but it's Largo! Ok...yell and scream at me! I should want to take an hour metro to PG County from Arlington and wait for him to pick me up there? Not so much. :)

Then we found Irie Cafe, a small Jamaican restaurant. He says "want to come to Largo?" and I respond with "curry goat?"

Can't beat curry goat (with cabbage and rice n' peas), coco bread, and a sorrel drink. the goat is flavorful, and tastes great covered in hot sauce (ok, that may just be me).

Ok, the sorrel is probably an aquired taste; it is like herbal fruit punch. They also have pine/ginger, Irish moss (really?), peanut punch (um, really?), and cucumber (well, it is in V8) drinks. ;)

My friends favor the jerk chicken and oxtail. They also have beef, veggie, or chicken patties, and various fish dishes, but I have yet to try them. The curry goat always draws me in.

Irie Cafe
881A Capital Centre Blvd
Largo, MD 20774
(301) 499-4743

Even More Free Food

This time, Hard Times Cafe is giving out some free grub. Today's National Chili Day, and anybody who makes a purchase at your friendly neighborhood Hard Times is eligible for a free bowl of chili.

While this would have been perfect on freezing Tuesday or potentially-wintry mix coming up this weekend, I'm not one to complain about free food, especially food that I'd gladly pay for anyway. I've always been a fan of their Terlingua Red and they do a fine Cincinnati-style as well. Pretty much perfect over a plate of spaghetti or a Coney hot dog.

Free Pancakes for Charity!

That's right! Tomorrow, February 24, 2004, you can get free pancakes at IHOP, and the rest of your check goes to raise money for sick kids. I mean, if that's not a great excuse to stay up all of tonight dancing and greet the sunrise by cheating on you diet, I don't know what is! There may be other ways to visit IHOP, but that's how I do. Call me nostalgic, I might not not be.

So go get you some sugar, 'cause everybody loves sick ki...err...that came out wrong. You know what I mean.

For those so inclined, you can RSVP for the Facebook event.

Bacony Apple-Celery Compote

If you're at all like me, you often find yourself with odds and ends in the kitchen - ingredients from something else which, while not needed for said something else, will indeed go bad and make you feel shamefully wasteful if they do. Also, you probably like having tasty condiments around with which you can spruce up any drab leftovers of the already-cooked variety. I had just such a situation recently, and ended up making something surprisingly delicious from it.

My odds and ends:

1 Fuji apple, still crisp but on the verge of going soft
2 stalks of celery, which I refuse to refrigerate because it kills the flavor and so they must be used ASAP
1/3 of a yellow onion, also unrefrigerated, left from making something else
3 strips bacon, and why would you waste that?

I always keep on hand, and thus had: cloves, sugar, flour, white pepper, olive oil, cider vinegar and water.

I diced the onion, and sliced the celery (not too thin!), and put these in a saute pan over medium heat to let them begin to caramelize. While that was happening, I made sauce.

I added two pinches of white pepper, a teaspoon of sugar, three cloves, and 1 tsp olive oil to a pyrex glass. I then removed a few pieces of part-cooked celery and onion from the pan, and added them to the glass as well. I covered it all with 2 tbs cider vinegar and 1 cup boiling water, beating in 1 heaping teaspoon of flour.

With that all together, I diced my apple and cut up the bacon into little bits. This I added to my pan once the onions and celery were about 2/3 done. When the apples were beginning to soften and the bacon had maybe half cooked, I upped the heat to high and stirred in my sauce mixture, mixing for about a minute.

When the mixture was all bubbling and hot, I put the heat back to medium-low, and let it reduce until nice and thick, like a compote.

I ate this plain over leftover brown rice, which was more delicious than I'd expected, and will be making it again to put on pork chops, grilled tuna, or, for that matter, more rice.

Adding raisins (sultanas?) instead of the sugar might be a good future variation, as might be adding allspice, perhaps in place of the cloves. But, just this way, it is bloody delicious!