This entry was written by guest contributor PKG
A few summers ago I was a member of the Crystal City runners, and we used to meet on Wednesday evenings at a big condo across from Reagan National Airport. After the five mile runs, we would sit in front of a fountain and consume refreshments. A young Japanese couple belonged to the group; the husband was attending graduate school at GWU. The wife, Hideko, would bring a bottle of a mysterious lemon concentrate and some paper cups. She would then pour each of us a small amount of the lemon concentrate, and then she would cut it with water and hand a cup to each of us. The rest of Crystal City runners began calling it our lemon elixir.
After a few weeks, I began to get curious about this lemon elixir. I asked Hideko to tell me the recipe. Hideko had a shaky command of English, and when she told me that it consisted of only lemons and honey, I thought that I had misinterpretated her, because I could taste no honey in it. Now when I make Hideko’s Magical lemonade for guests, I always ask if anyone can guess the ingredients: no one has ever guessed honey.
Three items are needed to make HML: 3.5 lbs of lemons, one 32 ounce (2 lbs) jar of honey, and a medium sized Tupperware container (roughly 7″ in diameter and 5″ deep).

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Is there a god? Are we the only life out in the universe? Why are we here? These are all questions that humankind sturggles with every day. Here’s another – Can you improve upon a Kripy Kreme doughnut?
Paula Deen says she can, but her recipe requires that you drown said Krispy Kremes in eggs, condensed milk and fruit cocktail. That’s an improvement?
I have my own answer to that eternal question. Krispy Kreme brulée. It turns an already crazy good dessert into something that reaches foodgasmic proportions. This is an excellent way to revive a stale glazed doughnut.
In a nonstick pan put the tiniest sliver of butter you can possibly cut. Turn the burner onto low heat and spread the butter to cover the surface area of a doughnut. Place the Original Glazed Krispy Kreme on the buttered area and heat until the glaze melts. This should take 1 to two minutes. Flip over and repeat.
By the time the bottom side has melted, the top side should have hardened into a texture that resembles the hard sugar top of creme brulee. Place the doughnut on a plate hard side down. Wait a minute or so for the top to harden. Eat immediately, preferably with a glass of milk.
I would almost call this diet food because you can only eat one of these suckers at a time and you will not be able to look at another dessert for at least a month.
—This entry was written by guest contributor TCD, one of the brains behind the DC Food Blog.

I explored the new Tivoli Giant last week, and while there I called RJ to tell him he had to come by. He did.
One of the many things I bought on my trip was a jar of Jaipur Biryani paste, because well, it sounded good. The instructions on the jar involve frying chicken and tomatoes and onions, which was just not what I wanted to do this afternoon. This all in mind, I made my trip to the Soviet Safeway for more ingredients, and came home with about 1.75 pounds of chicken drumsticks and no further ideas. So, I looked around my kitchen, and found a couple of sweet potatoes. Wrc had suggested broiling chicken and potatoes with biryani to me a while back, so I decided to give it a shot.
First, I peeled and sliced the potatoes into circles, about ½ inch thick. I oiled them and spread about a total of 1.5 teaspoons of the biryani paste over them. It smelled good, but I wanted more, so I ground up about 8 allspice seeds and sprinkled that over top. I threw them in the oven at high heat for about five minutes (uncovered), as I gave approximately the same pre-treatment to the chicken. The chicken got salt and pepper instead of allspice.
I added the drumsticks to the potatoes, mixed it all around, adding some olive oil to the preparation dish to dissolve the remaining biryani, and pouring that over the chicken and potatoes. Now I switched the oven to broil, covered the dish with foil, and put it in on the top shelf. Flip the chicken and stir after 15 minutes. Cook another 20.
This turned out really tasty, but there are a couple things I’ll do differently next time: buy some naan, use better actually good quality chicken (i.e., not from the Soviet Safeway), add broccoli or cauliflower, and add more allspice and hot pepper.

When it comes to the cook v.s. baker dichotomy, I definitely fall in the “cook” category. I have nothing but disdain for this “measuring” thing people always talk about. I’m not good with things like electric mixers. I don’t own a rolling pin, and try to make pies using a Pam can instead. I don’t even like dessert.
But since I’m competent in the kitchen, there invariably comes a time when I’m asked to bring dessert to a party, bbq or other gathering. I dread it, but also tend to accept the challenge rather than showing up with a frozen pie or box of Entenmann’s.
My biggest problem is the whole appearance thing. Chalk it up to my lack of artistic talent, my klutziness or my impatience, but while my desserts usually taste reasonably good, they tend to look, well, kind of unappetizing.
The double-layer Key Lime pies I made for two friends’ bbqs last weekend were no exception. Adapting a recipe I saw once in Gourmet magazine, the pies certainly were impressive on the effort scale; there were homemade crusts, custards and cheesecake-like concoctions with which to contend. And I could tell as I tasted my progress that they were going to be yummy in the end. The problem? They were ugly.

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When I was living in New York and strapped for cash, one of the pleasures worth setting aside a little money for was brunch at Kitchenette. During the week I dreamed of fluffy scrambled eggs, perfect triangles of toast with strawberry butter, fresh squeezed orange juice and home fries. If I was feeling really indulgent, I would get dessert — like their chocolate cupcakes with the white curlicue of icing just like Hostess does, but so much better. I spend so many great weekend mornings at Kitchenette that I decided to buy their cookbook.
The little spiral-bound volume is now a kitchen veteran, covered in oil splatters, cake batter and shortening. I’ve cooked a number of recipes and all have proven to be rib-sticking good. For the hotter weather, I whipped up Kitchenette’s Chick Pea Burger with Tahini Sauce. If you have a food processor, this recipe is easy to prepare ahead of time and doesn’t require a lot of laboring over a grill. The recipe is also flexible if you want to substitute other veggies in the burger, just make sure you cook out any excess moisture. Doll up your burger with some fresh summer tomatoes, lettuce and some warm pita bread, and voila! — veggie delight. My only complaint is that the provided recipe for tahini sauce is bland. Instead, I recommend Gourmet’s souped up version which gives the extra kick this recipe needs to be truly taste-bud pleasing.
Chick Pea Burger with Tahini Sauce
From Kitchenette: Recipes From Our Kitchen
By Lisa Hall and Ann Nickinson
Makes 4 burgers
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup sliced mushrooms
4 oz. fresh spinach, cleaned and chopped
2 14 3/4 oz. cans chick peas, drained
1/2 cup tahini mixed with equal parts water plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste
4 pieces pita bread
4 large leaves red of green leaf lettuce
4 tomato slices
Place 2 tablespoons oil in medium saut

Patience is not one of my virtues. A good MJF-impression probably involves the person standing with their arms crossed and their foot tapping, glaring at a companion in the hopes they

It was a time of financial instability the likes of which this country has never seen. Analysts jumping from the rooftops, dogs running barefoot through the streets. That’s right, it was

Certain foods reach down into our central nervous system and trigger the reaction ‘hey, I’m all sophisticated and shit’. Martinis do it because of the James Bond connection. Omelet’s do it because of the ‘leisurely brunch’ connection. And anything French does it because somehow our subconscious mind is convinced that the French are classy people and not the street-spitting, drunken footballers that you might witness in Paris.
Well, outdated labels can work for you, as every chick who has ever innocently told a guy that no, she had no idea that he was into her, will know. Serve this very French peasant food the next time you wish to sprinkle some stereotypical class over your table.
Snobby scalloped potatoes

• Peel and thinly slice about 8 Yukon Gold potatoes. Grate a serious chunk of gruyere cheese and then grate extra- you’ll definitely run out.
  
• Sprinkle the bottom of a casserole dish with salt and pepper Place a layer of potato slices 1 slice thick over it.
  
• Sprinkle with salt, pepper, flour, and grated cheese. Place another layer of potatoes over. Complete until the dish is