K and I had a cupcake tree at our wedding reception (featuring Cakelove cupcakes), and ever since then, we’ve marked our anniversary by eating cupcakes. We got together with some friends at the dim sum happy hour at Red Pearl, and I decided to surprise people with cupcakes from Linda’s Bakery. One of our friends also surprised us… with cupcakes from Oh What a Cake! on Dobbin. After saving two for later, that still came to twelve cupcakes for five people. We were undeterred. The cupcake cake-off was on!

Our selection actually overlapped beautifully, which made us very excited for the cupcake cake-off. From Linda’s Bakery (on the left), we have carrot, red velvet, chocolate with chocolate buttercream, coconut, lemon with raspberry buttercream, and chocolate with raspberry buttercream. There’s also a little box with another red velvet cupcake and an almond cupcake. (We saved a red velvet and the chocolate/raspberry for later.)

From Oh What a Cake!, we have lemon, coconut, almond, carrot, chocolate, and red velvet.

We painstakingly divided each cupcake into five equal slices (I was getting really good at it by the end) and did a flavor-to-flavor comparison. The cupcakes from Oh What a Cake! were unanimously deemed more fluffy and moist, whereas the crumb of Linda’s cupcakes was more on the dry side. (The exception was the carrot cupcakes, which were closer in texture.) More tasters preferred the buttercream of Linda’s cupcakes to the flavored icing on the Oh What a Cake! cupcakes, although this was not unanimous. We joked that in an ideal world, most of us would order nude cupcakes from Oh What a Cake!, and then take them over to Linda’s to get decorated with buttercream frosting.

The flavors were very good. Both bakers seemed to use real carrot for the carrot cakes, but when it came to the almond and coconut cupcakes, the cupcakes from Linda’s had more genuine almond and coconut flavors, whereas the ones from Oh What a Cake! tasted of artificial syrups. Linda’s cupcakes were also much more lavishly decorated, whereas Oh What a Cake! went for a very plain look, sometimes adding a single colored candy on top.

In general, the cupcakes were pretty fantastic all around, and we were all very full afterward. It’s great to live in a place where fancy, delicious cupcakes are available at a moment’s notice.

In case you haven’t heard of the snakehead fish, it’s an invasive Asian species that’s gotten into Maryland and Virginia waters. It’s scary, a voracious predator with no natural enemies in these parts, and it takes very good care of its young, ensuring that large numbers of them survive to reproduce. It’s freakishly hardy, able to breathe air and survive for days out of water. US Fish and Wildlife have been trying to contain the population explosion, but the snakeheads are flourishing.

Enter Whackfactor Outdoors and the Potomac Snakehead Tournament. They set up a tournament with cash prizes for whoever could bring in the heaviest snakehead catch within a set amount of time. As a bonus (and this is what caught K’s attention), local chefs would prepare delicacies with snakehead.

K has long been saying that the cure for invasive species is for humans to eat them. Humans, after all, have hunted species to the brink of extinction time and time again. If anyone can take out a species, it’s us.

We showed up at the tournament near the end, for the Invasive Species Tasting (open to the public). I was delighted by the quality of the free snakehead delicacies.

On my plate: snakehead ceviche on a tortilla (courtesy the chef from Alewife), a snakehead crostini with microgreens (courtesy the staff of Dino DC), and fried blue catfish (apparently also an invasive species).

It was fabulous food; everything was delicious. I didn’t take notes on the flavors, but I would cheerfully go out to the restaurants if they put those dishes on the menu. People, if you see snakehead on the menu, snap it up! I’m sure we can eat these invaders right out of the Potomac, if we put our minds to it.

By the way, the tournament ended up removing over half a ton of snakeheads from the area. Kudos to the hardworking tournament contestants!

When I go to the grocery store, I disdain the shopping carts. I’ve never liked the darn things, with their giant baskets and sticky wheels. I’m part of a two-person household, I tell myself; we don’t need that much food anyway. I usually have a couple of reusable bags, so I just put my groceries in the bag and tote the bag around on my shoulder. I like to think of it as good exercise.

90% of the time, however, after I’ve picked up a ten-pound bag of cat food, a gallon of milk, and a half-gallon of orange juice, and the bag straps are cutting into my shoulder, it occurs to me that I’ve been an idiot once again and I should have just gotten a cart. But the carts are always outside and who wants to go outside to get a cart after assembling a haul of groceries?

Anyway, that was the situation I found myself in at Giant the other day — I was wandering the isles, populating my reusable bag, and my shoulder was aching from the cans of pineapple and the two(!) bags of flour that I’d somehow decided I needed… when a stack of shopping baskets caught my eye. Shopping baskets with wheels. And tall pull handles.

I immediately took a load off my aching shoulder.

It’s such a piece of brilliance. A shopping basket with wheels! Perfect for those of us who don’t feel like maneuvering a huge shopping cart around the store. I was so happy. I tugged the basket along behind me, like a helpful little puppy, and picked up a gallon of milk on my way back to the registers. Just becase I could.

We’ve passed over the Forest Diner a lot, I’m afraid. Its neighbor, the Double T diner, is so big and airy and welcoming, and behind the Double T is Honey Pig, which provides Korean bbq at all hours of the day. For a long time, the Forest Diner was a place that we drove by on our way to other places.

We did finally stop in for breakfast (I love diner breakfasts) one Saturday morning. The exterior of the diner is old and worn, and the interior pretty much matches it; lots of scratches on the wood and tiles, very faded fabrics, with a real diner car in front. You feel like you’re going back in time when you walk in there. The woman who worked there was very friendly, and brought us menus right away.

For breakfast I ordered eggs, corned beef hash, and grits. The eggs were nicely done (over easy with runny yolks, just the way I like them) and the grits were buttery and delicious, but the corned beef hash obviously came straight from the can — it was still in a circular shape, and had merely been browned on the outside. Next time I’m getting another type of protein. K, on the other hand, was delighted with his crispy home fries and his creamed chipped beef. People, you have never seen such a huge pile of creamed chipped beef.

It was tasty, too.

We went back another evening to try the fried chicken, which the sign outside proudly proclaims to be the world’s best. I had my doubts, but we ordered the four-piece meal: thighs, legs, and wings with two sides for $10.99. Incredulously, I asked the waitress if we could get any four pieces for that price: say, four thighs? She said we couldn’t get four thighs, but we could get two thighs with a leg and a wing, so we did that.

One of the thighs was a bit shriveled, but the chicken was still wonderfully delicious, with crispy, flavorful skin and moist flesh inside. The dark meat was definitely better than the white meat, which was overcooked and slightly dry. We split the meal between the two of us. It’s a pretty good deal when two people are happily fed for $10.99.

Apparently they’ll only be open for a couple more years, so definitely stop by and try the fried chicken if you can. Just be sure to get the dark meat.

K and I showed up at the new Columbia BGR on opening day. The place was pretty well-attended, both with friendly cashiers and happy diners. Since we’d already been to another BGR location, where I’d tasted (and loved) their classic burger as well as their Cuban, both of us opted for a new experience: the mushroom-and-onion Wellington, with a side of rosemary fries. (We made the cashier’s day, apparently, because he got to push the “repeat order” button.)

I like BGR’s philosophy of cooking the burgers to order, and using beef that is hormone-free and grain-fed. I was disappointed, however, in the Wellington; I can see the appeal of the caramelized onions and the mushrooms, but for me, the blue cheese was so strong that it basically took over the flavor of the meat. Oh well, I’ll try something different next time. (If you like blue cheese, though, then the Wellington is for you!)

We’ll still be back; K wants to try the lobster roll and I’m looking forward to the asparagus fries. The potato fries were delicious: hot, crispy, and fragrant with rosemary. Also, K got to play with the customize-your-own-soda machine, so I’d call it a win.

A note on doneness: BGR’s definition of medium rare was just a bit more red inside than I had been expecting. I’ll eat rare meat (I’ve had tartare), but for a burger, I prefer a bit more in the way of texture. Next time, I’m ordering medium.

We used to go to Pho Dat Thanh for the pho, but now that we have discovered the House Special Thin Egg Noodle Soup (what a mouthful), there’s no going back.

The soup is “C1″ on the menu. K was the first one to order it, and neither of us have gotten anything else since. The soup comes with “shrimp, fish balls, squid, barbecue pork and fried shrimp cake.” For the record we haven’t seen the fried shrimp cake on the dish since the first time we ordered it. That’s okay though, because what I’m really there for is not the fish balls, nor the pork, nor the shrimp, nor the (frankly kind of mushy) pieces of artificial crab. No, it’s the slender egg noodles, and the broth.

I have no idea what goes into this broth, but it tastes like my childhood. It’s exactly the type of broth that I remember from my parents’ trips to Chinatown, salty and savory and ever-so-slightly tangy (from what, I don’t know. Garlic? Green onions?). I’ve had this broth served up with Cantonese style wontons, the ones with lots of shrimp and vegetables and a thin, almost transparent skin. Wonton noodle soup is a total comfort food for me, warm and reassuring.

In Columbia, the “house special thin egg noodle soup” is as close as I’ve gotten to classic Cantonese wonton noodle soup. It makes sense that Pho Dat Thanh would offer a soup with Cantonese flavors; I’m told the owners were Cantonese who grew up in Vietnam.

The only downside to impulse soup dinner is that the place apparently does a bustling business on weeknights, and there was a bit of a wait at the door (and then, once we got a table, we had to wait even longer for the waitstaff to notice that no one had taken our orders). Next time I’m ordering carryout. At least the crowds mean that the Columbia restaurant scene is alive and well.

Pho Dat Thanh is on Snowden River Parkway in Columbia. For other menu options there, see HowChow’s review.

K has a long history with Frisco Burrito Grille Taphouse and Brewery. He remembers when they were just a burrito counter. Then they expanded into the space next door, putting in a bar full of microbrews and a lot of tables for patrons, and we started going there regularly. And now that they’ve established themselves in their newest digs just down the street, we drop by frequently for a good meal and a tasty brew.

There are drawbacks, though. The parking situation is atrocious; the side lot is far too small and it fills up quickly, so visitors at peak hours are forced to find parking on side streets and in nearby lots. Also, you used to be able to get a table almost anywhere and keep an eye on the game; now, the TVs are centralized at the bar, so you might not get a good view from your table. Speaking of the television screens, those are also where Frisco keeps their massive microbrew list — and although the list of 50 taps fills two long screens, it’s hard to read from the dining area.

(They have a solution for the smartphone-enabled, though: an electronic beer list.)

(Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale; chips, salsa, and guacamole)

The menu has changed, too. They’ve added corn dogs (good) and beer-battered catfish (not so good), among other things. Also, Frisco’s pizza oven is up and running. We tried the margherita pizza and it was delicious, with fresh tomato and big crispy leaves of basil. The chorizo pizza was good as well, though I hear it’s even more improved by adding bacon. (Well, what isn’t?) Two pizzas turned out to be not quite enough for three people, but they’re fun to share. Someday I’ll get around to trying their “taphouse steak and cheese” pizza, which apparently features bbq steak and avocado.

Returning visitors might notice that the enchiladas are no longer on the menu, but the kitchen will still make one for you if you ask — a fortunate thing, since their enchiladas are delicious. I recommend getting them with chorizo.

Anyway, we remain big fans of Frisco, no matter what they’re calling themselves, and we’ll definitely keep going for the food and the brews. I’ll just have to remember to get there early if I want a parking spot.