extensive menu, and the poorer reviews on the Internet rang the
same changes - slow service, too hot and spicy (horrors) and,
(even more horrors) frequented mostly by Rthiopians. We figured
these cavils could be dealt with, the first by showing up at a
slack hour.

Not least to mention that it was only less than a two block walk from
one of the Metro garages. The garage was not at all full, but took
$2.50 worth of quarters. I read that on Saturday and Sunday, parking is free.

Checking around I found one garage that had an online
reservation available - it was $18, and if it came to
that I would have dissuaded you from your quest, and
we'd have found an attractive restaurant farther from
town. Or we could have driven just to the end of the
Metro and ridden in - the walk, as you note, between
the station and Lucy was only a quarter mile, with
possible stopping/leaning places along the way.

We had a bottle of somewhat sweet slightly oxidized tej from the
Enat winery in Oakland, which I've had before; it's not bad but
is overpriced compared to where I'd had it before.

The only Tej I have had was a fairly dry white honey wine from a nearby Maryland winery. This was quite sweet and had a color closer to honey.

I've had various brands made in various places, and there
is a range of colors from pale gold to what we had, brownish,
and sweetnesses from off-dry as you've had before to almost
desserty as here. The honey color didn't have to do with the
honey it was made of but rather came from oxidation, which
lent the aroma of what Bonnie called cheap sherry, not that
that prevented her from drinking quite a lot of it.

I really wanted to try the fried croaker served with tomato salad
and rice, so I got that. It was a moderately small whole perchlike thing, a bit under a pound with bones, fried very hard so the tail,

I have never seen a perch that large. The ones I caught when we lived
in Wisconsin probably ran closer to four ounces. Not much left after I fileted them for Gail:-}}

You're thinking of the freshwater perches, which are
not huge (I've seen only less than 1 lb), but this
was a saltwater fish, probably a weakfish from the Bay.
The perches are a big family, bigger if you include
the croakers/drums/weakfishes, which this one apparently
was. According to some sources they get up to 16 lb,
which makes ours on the small side.

fins, and many but not all the surface bones were crisp and edible.

I grabbed the tail. Did not see the fins.

Of course not. I didn't see the tail!

The meat was firm and white, not too distinctive nor too fishy.
I'm guessing that the hard frying is a result of Ethiopia being connected to the shore just by a daylong train trip, so available
fish is not of the freshest. On the side came an emulsified hot
sauce made of some kind of fat and I think jalapenos; this livened things up considerably and came in handy with the other dishes,
which we found pleasantly spiced but by no means hot.

I tasted a little bit of that sauce, and decided to do without. Glad
that you liked it.

Being green-based, jalapenos or serranos most likely,
there was a greeny taste, with a bit of oily and a
bit of sour. It improved the legumes in my estimation,
because the Internet report of overspicing was exaggerated.

On the injera came the usual dollops of thisthat, but here the
injera's metal plate was compartmented, which earned praise. I
ordered the first three thisthats; the others came.

It is the first place that I have seen where they put saucers on the
tray and then the injera -- which is how they kept the items
compartmented.

It seemed a good idea.

Kik alicha, somewhat undercooked yellow split peas in a sauce
of onion, turmeric, a little hot spice, and much garlic. The
issue was with the crunchiness of the peas. A pity, as it tasted
pretty decent otherwise, and there was a lot of it. The Shipps took
most of this home with the extra rice; I hope reheating improved it.

A lot of extra rice. That is going to be part of our dinner tomorrow

We put the yellow peas in with it - I hope a recooking
did good for them.

(Sunday). We will add a container of Ethiopian beef that we had in the freezer. I don't think that Gail or I have cooked at all this week. It
has been eating out, your cooking, eating out, and then microwaving leftovers.

Was that anything like the beef we had at the restaurant?
I rather liked that but thought it could be quite a bit
spicier.

There was more of that tomato salad as well, which we hadn't ordered, as well as two other unordered things, which though by no means bad were my least favorite. I think they might have been charged for.

I suspect not. The total bill for food alone was about $60, which for
four dishes sounds about right.

Oh - that was reasonable. Bonnie corrected me with a figure
for the wine that was within $5 a bottle of what it was last
time I had it some years ao.

Title: Domates Ke Pipriya (Meat Stuffed Peppers)
Recipe: "Sephardic Cooking" by Copeland Mark -- 600 Recipes Created
in Exotic Sephardic Kitchens from Morocco to India -- Copyright
1992 Published by Donald I. Fine, Inc., New York, N.Y.
From: D. Pileggi

It seems most cultures that have peppers have stuffed
peppers. That didn't look any more Sephardic than
pan-Mediterranean. Maybe a little less spiced. Which reminds
me, I wonder what such a recipe might be like made with
semi-hot New Mexican or equivalent peppers. I'd probably
like meat-stuffed jalapenos as well - you've recalled the
potato-stuffed jalapenos at the Indian restaurant in Laurel;
the spuds soaked up a lot of the capsaicin, and maybe a meat
filling would bring out the heat more, not a bad thing for
the likes of me.

Though I'd not stuff peppers with just anything - the
following recipe might be perfectly fine to eat, but why fix
it unless you had a vast surplus of crab. Just as well to fill
the peppers with a less precious ingredient, like potatoes
or surimi or potatoes and surimi or fish and potatoes or
chicken and potatoes ... .

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.01

Title: Crab Stuffed Jalapenos
Categories: Appetizers
Yield: 30 servings

1 lb Flaked crabmeat 1/4 ts Salt
1 cn Jalapeno peppers(1 lb, 11oz) 1/4 ts Black pepper
2 tb Green pepper; finely chopped 1/8 ts Cayenne pepper
2 tb Onions; finely chopped 1 Clove garlic; minced
1/4 c Cracker meal 1/4 c Milk
1 Egg; beaten

------------------------------BREADING
MIXTURE------------------------------
2 c Cracker meal 1/4 ts Salt
1 c Milk 1/4 ts Pepper
2 Eggs

Cut peppers in half lengthwise. Discard pulp and seeds and rinse
carefully.
In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients except breading
mixture. Stuff pepper halves with crab mixture and press stuffing around
pepper. Set peppers aside. To prepare Breading Mixture, place cracker
meal
in a flat pan, mix together milk, eggs and salt and pepper. Dip peppers
in
egg mixture, then in cracker meal. Repeat procedure. Deep fry at 365
degrees until golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper.
Source unknown

-----
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
* Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)

On 06-25-19 08:09, Michael Loo <=-
spoke to Dale Shipp about 576 MD eats <=-

Checking around I found one garage that had an online
reservation available - it was $18, and if it came to
that I would have dissuaded you from your quest, and

I also noticed that on Saturday and Sunday, parking is free at that
garage.

fins, and many but not all the surface bones were crisp and edible.

I grabbed the tail. Did not see the fins.

Of course not. I didn't see the tail!

Perhaps the server placed the head pointing at you.

Kik alicha, somewhat undercooked yellow split peas in a sauce
of onion, turmeric, a little hot spice, and much garlic. The
issue was with the crunchiness of the peas. A pity, as it tasted
pretty decent otherwise, and there was a lot of it. The Shipps took most of this home with the extra rice; I hope reheating improved it.

A lot of extra rice. That is going to be part of our dinner tomorrow

We put the yellow peas in with it - I hope a recooking
did good for them.

I liked them then, and reheating did tender them up a little bit. I
agree that they could have been cooked a bit more to start with.

(Sunday). We will add a container of Ethiopian beef that we had in the freezer. I don't think that Gail or I have cooked at all this week. It
has been eating out, your cooking, eating out, and then microwaving leftovers.

Was that anything like the beef we had at the restaurant?
I rather liked that but thought it could be quite a bit
spicier.

Any thing that you get at a restaurant could have been a bit spicier for you:-}}

Here is the recipe. It has berebere spice in it. I do not recall which
of the two versions of berebere we used (one is dry, one is wet). I'll
post both of them in another message.

I suspect that it was the dry version since there is wine in this recipe
and the dry lasts a lot longer on the shelf.


MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Beef and Cardamon
Categories: Ethiopian
Yield: 8 Servings

3 c Peeled/thinly sliced Onions
-half yellow/half red
1/2 c Spiced butter
2 lb Lean beef, cut into 3/4 inch
-cubes
1/4 c Berbere sauce
1/4 ts Ground cumin
1 ts Ground cardamon seeds
1 ts Grated fresh ginger
2 ea Cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 ts Black pepper
1/2 c Dry red wine
1 c Water
ds Salt to taste

Heat a large frying pan and saute the onion in one tablespoon of the
butter, cover and cook until very tender. Use low heat so that the
onion and butter are not browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat the pan again and brown the beef over high heat with another
tablespoon of the butter. You will probably need to do this in two
batches. Set aside.

Place the sauteed onions along with the remaining butter in a heavy 6
quart saucepan. Add the Berbere Sauce, cumin, cardamon, ginger,
garlic, black pepper and wine. Bring to a simmer and add the beef.
Bring to a simmer again and add the water. Cook covered until the
beef is very tender about 50 minutes. Stir several times.

If the sauce is not thick enough, cook uncovered for a few minutes to
reduce and thicken the sauce.

Add salt to taste and serve.

MMMMM


... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 02:33:55, 26 Jun 2019
___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30

--- Maximus/NT 3.01
* Origin: Owl's Anchor (1:261/1466)

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Berbere Sauce (moist)
Categories: Sauce, Ethiopian, D/g
Yield: 24 servings

2 ts Cumin seeds
4 Whole cloves
1/2 ts Cardamom seeds
1/2 ts Whole black peppercorns
1/4 ts Whole allspice
1 ts Whole fenugreek seeds
1/2 c Dried onion flakes
10 New Mexican Chiles,
- stemmed and seeded
3 Dried hot red chiles, seeded
1/2 ts Ground ginger
1/2 ts Ground nutmeg
1/4 ts Ground tumeric
1 ts Garlic powder
2 ts Salt
1/2 c Salad or peanut oil
1/2 c Dry red wine
1/2 ts Cayenne pepper

Mix together the cumin, cloves, cardamom, black peppercorns,
allspice, and fenugreek seeds. Place in a small frying pan over
medium heat. Stir constantly until they release their fragrance,
about 1 to 2 minutes. Do not burn or discolor the spices. Cool
completely.

Combine the toasted spices and all the other ingredients, except the
oil and the wine, in a spice grinder or electric coffee grinder.
Grind fine in batches. This may take a few minutes. Keep your face
away from the machine as it will release a very spicy aroma that may
irritate your eyes or throat.

Place the spice blend in a bowl and add the oil and wine. Add cayenne
pepper to taste. Stir until thick and store in a closed plastic
container in the refrigerator.

This is another ingredient basic to the Ethiopian kitchen. It keeps
well in the refrigerator. Once you have prepared this and the spiced
butter, you are ready to launch an Ethiopian feast.

Copied from "The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors", Jeff
Smith, ISBN 0-688-07590-8.

From Dale & Gail Shipp, Columbia Md.

MMMMM

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Berbere, Hot spice mixture(dry)
Categories: Sauce, Ethiopian, D/g
Yield: 8 servings

2 ts Cumin seeds
4 Cloves
3/4 ts Cardamom seeds
1/2 ts Black peppercorns
1/4 ts Whole allspice
1 ts Fenugreek seeds
1/2 ts Coriander seeds
8 Small dried red chiles
1/2 ts Grated fresh gingerroot
- 1 teaspoon dried
1/4 ts Tumeric
1 ts Salt
2 1/2 tb Sweet Hungarian paprika
1/8 ts Cinnamon
1/8 ts Ground cloves

In a small frying pan, on medium low heat, toast the cumin, cloves,
cardamom, peppercorns, allspice, fenugreek, and coriander for about 2
minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the pan and cool for 5
minutes.

Discard the stems from the chiles. In a spice grinder or with a
mortar and pestle, finely grind together the toasted spices and the
chiles. Mix in the remaining ingredients.

Store Berbere refrigerated in a well sealed jar or a tightly closed
plastic bag.

Comment in book: This is the hot and exotic spice mixture that give
Eritrean and Ethiopian cooking its characteristic flavor. The
traditional method of preparation is lengthy and uses some spices and
herbs not readily available here. The mixture presented is a close
adaptation, and it keeps well for months refrigerated. Berbere is
called for in the W'et recipes and can be used in other recipes that
call for a hot spice.

Copied from: "Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant", the Mooosewood
Collective, ISBN 0-671-67989-9

From Dale & Gail Shipp, Columbia Md.

MMMMM



... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 02:34:44, 26 Jun 2019
___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30

--- Maximus/NT 3.01
* Origin: Owl's Anchor (1:261/1466)