Showing posts with label vacation eats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation eats. Show all posts

Sunday, January 9, 2011

December in DC: Delicious Eats Part 2


Our third day in DC was our total overindulgence day.  With so many places to try in just four days it was inevitable.  When looking for close breakfast places, we were thrilled to see that Cowgirl Creamery DC was just around the corner.  We started our day at the only East Coast location of the famed California creamery.  They shop is small, but packed with treats.  They brew each cup of coffee individually for a fresh flavor.  To start my day, I chose the French roast to accompany a fresh chevre and cranberry sauce sandwich on a ciabatta roll.  The combination of tangy, sweet, and creamy was the perfect breakfast.  The guys picked caramel sticky buns but they were inhaled so quickly that I didn’t get a photo.  When in a cheese shop, you can’t leave without cheese.  Mara and I wandered back to the cheese counter to explore the selection.  The cheesemonger encouraged us to try as many cheeses as we’d like. I think we would have been sick if we tried to do that!  After sampling I picked up a beautiful orange mimolette that looked like a cantaloupe, a soft cheese with sweet and spicy peppers called Devil’s Gulch, and a nutty Californian cheese called Serena.



Our morning sightseeing was a tour of Ford’s Theater.  The tour guide was “the police chief on duty when Lincoln was shot.”  He gave an interesting perspective on the events that transpired in the theater that night.  We recently listened to Sarah Vowell’s “Assassination Vacation” on CD and many of the artifacts she mentioned were in the museum.  If you haven’t read, or listened, to her books I would highly recommend them.  They are entertaining, educating, and full of intricate historical details.

After leaving Ford’s Theater and nixing a visit to the Lincoln Waffle House across the street we headed up to the Capitol for the afternoon.  Our first stop was Good Stuff Eatery, the burger joint of Spike from Top Chef.  This was recommended by a few people.  Luckily we were late enough to miss the huge lunch rush and settled in for a greasy burger-fest. There was a fun dipping bar with assorted mayonnaise choices and sauces.  Along with ketchup we picked three flavored mayos: sriracha, chipotle, and mango.  We all ordered the basic cheeseburger, loaded with special sauce on a misshapen potato bun.  The ‘lunch bag’ came with a generous side of Sunny’s hand cut fries with sea salt. 



To wash it down the hubby ordered a toasted marshmallow milkshake (that’s a frappe to you Bostonians!).  Besides the toasty marshmallows on top there were also bits of marshmallows mixed into the vanilla shake.  If you are keeping track, this is ice cream #4.




We walked off our lunch with a tour of the Capitol.  We took the last tour of the day and couldn’t spend too much time exploring the exhibition hall.  Once we got outside the sun was starting to set, bathing the Capital in a buttery yellow light.  I love the way the building almost glows in the picture we took.




Our dinner reservation was still two hours away so we headed up to Dupont Circle to visit Kramer Books.  The independent books shop was recommended to Mara and Mark as an interesting place to browse.  I picked up a book that I’ve been looking at for a while, Mark Kurlansky’s Food of a Younger Land.  When you think about the documenting food bloggers do now about eating, it is interesting to think about what subjects food writers were covering in the 1930’s.

To cap off our day of eating we headed to the IMF building in the Foggy Bottom area for dinner at Founding Farmers.  FF had been recommended by both DC locals and visitors.  It is owned by the North Dakota Farming Union and they source their food from family farms.  FF also has an extensive cocktail menu with something for every taste, including non-alcoholic coolers.  We had a great meal, but perhaps one of the strangest service experiences any of us had every experienced!  Our server started with an enthusiastic welcome and a very easy to hear & understand rant about his disappointment that Santa had not delivered a Lexus to his living room on Christmas.  After he finished that story, he asked us if we’d like to hear about the menu.  He launched into his spiel, but he mumbled quietly through it and we had to lean in and ask to repeat every few words.  We ordered some creative cocktails and appetizers and spent a few more minutes studying the diverse choices on the menu. 



When the server came back, we had a few questions about the menu.  This is where things got really entertaining.  When asking which of two raviolis to order, he answered "neither - go with the short ribs".  When we asked about the rotisserie vs. the fried chicken, he said "don't bother with the rotisserie, it’s too salty."  And a question about a salad entrĂ©e?  “It’s good, if you like salad”.  He pretty much ruled out 50% of the items on the menu by the time he was done.  Regardless of the strange advice, we all really enjoyed our dinners.  Mark had a huge salad with roasted beets, fresh turkey, ham, beef, and assorted vegetables.  Josh rebelliously ordered a pasta dish.  Mara and I ordered the fried chicken and waffles served with rich macaroni and cheese and over-garlicky green beans.  The food was fresh, inventive, and flavorful. We would definitely go back when we are in DC again.


With the day of eating behind us we skipped dessert and headed for bed.  I will leave you with our favorite quote from our server:

Us: “What’s the popcorn of the day?”
Server: “Rosemary parmesan”
Us: Pause for contemplation
Server: “It’s only $2, so if it sucks what’s the big deal?”

Next up is another installment of Healthy Snack Wednesdays.  On Friday I’ll have Part 3 of the DC dining series.

Have you ever had a great laugh from a bizarre server comment?  The rest of the trip we kept saying, “It’s only [fill-in-the-blank], so if it sucks what’s the big deal?”


Founding Farmers on UrbanspoonGood Stuff Eatery on Urbanspoon

Saturday, January 8, 2011

December in DC: Delicious Eats Part 1

Why am I eating healthier this month? It could be a result of all of the delicious food we ate during our recent trip down to Washington, DC.  I had a few restaurants in mind before the trip, but wanted to see what recommendations my twitter friends had for me.  I put out the call and before I knew it, the lovely Shulie (@foodwanderings) had relayed my message to her DC area friends.  A few hours later I had a great list of possibilities thanks to Olga (@MangoTomato), @I_Flip_For_Food, @WalkerMarkLA, and some Bostonians like @DietitianJanel and @DovesandFigs.

I researched the suggestions and sent an edited list to our fellow vacationers, Mara and Mark.  They sent back their list of places, which were mainly spots to try their favorite food - ice cream!  With lists in hand we boarded our plane in Boston and they boarded their plane in Kansas City and we headed for DC.




Our first meal was a special delivery from South Boston.  Mark is an Aussie and I know that they don't have authentic Aussie food in KC.  A few days before the trip I called Sam at KO Catering and Pies and placed an order for some frozen pies and sausage rolls.  With a little bubble wrap and a few ice packs, the food survived the trip in our checked luggage and made for an exciting surprise.  We had two types of pies - Irish beef stew and curry vegetable.  The report from the Aussie, "That's a damn good pie mate!"



After fueling up with pie we bundled up and headed out to walk the National Mall and see the monuments.  It was the perfect day for it as most people were home celebrating Christmas.  We started at the Archives, walked to the Washington Monument and then went to see the White House Christmas tree.  Next we trekked across the mall to the FDR memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Korean War memorial and finished up at the Lincoln Memorial. A little chilled and hungry, we proceeded to the Kennedy Center for their free Christmas All Star Jazz Jam.  It turns out that the Kennedy Center hosts a free concert every night at 6 p.m. on their Millennium Stage.

We called around to a few places on our list but they were all closed for the holiday. We decided to get on the Metro back toward where we were staying and figure it out once we got there.  When we came up from the Metro at Chinatown we saw lights, people, and an open restaurant! Without checking the menu, we headed in to Rosa Mexicano. We ordered a few drinks, table side guacamole and what turned about to be a lot of food.  It was also ice cream #1 of the trip.


The guys both ordered a tuna dish that came with what the server described as "kind of a fruit salad."  That statement prompted this photo:

I don't always drink beer and eat fruit salad.
But when I do, it's Dos Equis.

On our next day, we started our touring at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The museum is filled with a lot of interesting exhibits, but there was probably one thing each of us was really excited to have seen.  There's no picture of Josh's pick - the Star Spangled Banner - none allowed.  I was able to get a shot of everyone else's favorites.  They include the Muppets, the Fonz's jacket, the "Went with the Wind" dress from The Carol Burnett show, and Julia Child's kitchen!




Our second dinner in DC was one of Mark's picks. Before moving to Australia when he was 8, he grew up in Dublin. Doing research for the trip, he had read about The Dubliner, an authentic Irish Pub near Union Station.  It was mentioned in the travel book for its excellent pints of Guinness and live Irish music every night.  The man playing during our visit played all of Mark's favorites and told us that he'd been playing at the Dubliner for 25 years.  The Guinness was indeed good and the music was great. And Mark had ice cream #2 of the trip.




Following the Dubliner, we wandered by Pitango a new-ish gelato place in Penn Quarter. We were drawn in by the warm lighting and huge list of flavors. The shop was sparkling clean and inviting. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that they used grass-fed milk for their gelato (although shouldn't it be milk from grass-fed cows?).  The flavors were inventive and included non-dairy sorbets and many fair trade ingredients.  The woman working that night (close to closing time) encouraged us to try as many flavors as we wanted. She pointed out popular flavors and suggested some combinations that worked well together.  The hubby opted for a combination of pear sorbet & quince sorbet (he always goes for pear!). I chose Chocolate Noir and Sicilian Almond.  The chocolate noir was rich and decadent. According to the website it is a combination of Venezuelan cocoa and Costa Rican couverture chocolate. Bonus? Also dairy-free and lower fat!  As we dug into our treats, the woman working offered us a sample of their Italian hot chocolate. Think thick, rich, smooth, and indulgent. It reminded us of the chocolate that you get with churros con chocolate. It was a great find and if you get to DC - make a special trip to find one of their shops. If you are keeping track, this is ice cream #3 of the trip (yes, still day 2).


I'm full just writing about our first two days. There will be two more posts to cover all that we ate in our four day trip!

Pitango Gelato on UrbanspoonDubliner Irish Pub on UrbanspoonRosa Mexicano on UrbanspoonKO Catering and Pies on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Columbus Eats

This past weekend we took a quick weekend trip to visit the hubby’s parents in Columbus, Ohio. They are frequent visitors to Boston so we haven’t been to Columbus in about 3 years. Like I do before any trip (or weekend for that matter), I did a little research on the must-not-miss food spots in our destination. In my research I learned that there are 40 taco trucks in Columbus (40!) and they have a dedicated website. There is also a website dedicated to Street Eats in Columbus. I also put out a tweet asking for suggestions. One of my sorority sisters referred me to a friend, who sent over a few great suggestions including the delicious Jeni’s Ice Cream. I tweeted back the Jeni’s was already on our list and about an hour later Jeni’s tweeted with flavor recommendations. The power of social media!

We arrived Saturday and headed straight to North Market. The market was established in the late 1800’s as the second of four public markets in Columbus. After moving to various locations around the neighborhood the market landed in its current location, an old farm equipment warehouse. Open in this location since 1995 the market is a lively home to farmers, small businesses, bakers, fishmongers, restaurateurs, and more. According to the website, more than a million visitors go through each year!


In my online scouting I checked out the merchants at the market. I knew we would be visiting Jeni’s Ice Cream’s original spot and wanted to see who else was in the market.



Taste of Belgium and Kitchen Little Poultry and Game. The result of this partnership? Chicken and waffles of course! I’ve been on a chicken and waffles kick lately, mainly a result of the Fillbelly’s Chicken and Waffle truck being parked outside of work. The liege waffle was sugary and delicious. The buttermilk marinated chicken cutlet came direct from the cast iron skillet onto my waffle. It was topped with a generous pour of maple syrup and a good dose of hot sauce (on the side so I could share). Just look at how beautiful it was:





We spent some time walking around the market after lunch. My mother in law picked up a delicious assortment of flavored olive oils and a beautiful dish in which to serve them. I stopped to pick up some black popcorn from Pam’s Market Popcorn. They had quite an assortment of kernels: purple, rainbow, red, yellow, and black. Just next to the popcorn stand was a brand new shop, North Market Spices. This sun-filled space was stocked floor to ceiling with fragrant spices and dried herbs. The woman at the stand asked me about my purse (she said her daughter in law would love it), and I asked her if she was the owner of the stand. It turns out that her son was the owner. She had always encouraged her sons to cook and they loved being in the kitchen. He had stepped out of the shop for minute, but when he came back his mom pointed out my purse and told him I was asking her about his experience. He enthusiastically told me that he opened in August and has been busy ever since. They source their spices from all over the world, but try to have some local ingredients. They were looking forward to adding local herbs during the spring.  I picked up a bag of culinary lavender from nearby Urbana, OH along with some green chili powder and a za’atar spice blend to add to my spice cabinet.

Our last stop before leaving the market was, of course, Jeni’s Ice Cream! Since we were last there, Jeni’s was named one of the best ice creams in America! Thanks to their twitter recommendation we knew we wanted to try the seasonal flavors. After mini-spoonfuls of goat cheese & fig, olive oil & sea salted pepitas, and cherry lambic we made our choice. The hubby and his dad went with sweet cream with Appalachian elderberries. I chose the sweet potato with torched handmade marshmallow in a waffle cone. If we had more time in our visit, I would have gone back to try them all!


One of the other recommendations sent my way was for the Northstar Cafe. It turns out that my in-laws love this place and we headed there for Sunday brunch. The menu was small, but offered a good variety of options.  You order at the counter and then your food is delivered to your table steaming hot from the kitchen.  They did something I wish all restaurants would do - they kept the coffee mugs on a warming plate. That meant the coffee stayed hot all the way to the last sip.  Our breakfast choices included sweet potato turkey hash with fried eggs, hearth baked wild mushroom frittata with gruyere, rosemary potatoes and a fluffy biscuit, and cloud 9 pancakes (with ricotta). It was relaxed, tasty, and filled us up until dinner.


Stay tuned for our Sunday night dinner! My mother-in-law is an expert at using Trader Joe's ingredients to make quick and flavorful meals.  She was disappointed that there are already a number of Trader Joe's cookbooks out there (she wanted to write her own!), but she's changed her proposed cookbook title to: Quick and Easy Entertaining Ideas with Trader Joe's.  You don't want to miss her first recipe - coming up this weekend!

Jeni's Ice Creams (Short North) on Urbanspoon


Taste of Belgium on Urbanspoon
Northstar Café (Easton) on UrbanspoonKitchen Little on Urbanspoon

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Kansas City Culinary Adventure

When I travel, I find that food is a great way to get immersed in the local culture. Even when you’ve been to a place more times than you can count there is always a new place to discover along with your old favorites. Growing up in St. Louis, we had family and friends in Kansas City and were frequent visitors (a 4 hour drive). On my recent trip to Kansas City, to surprise my friend of 29ish years for her big 30th birthday (our birthdays are 3 weeks apart), I ate my way through the weekend.

(We had matching surfer shirts when we were 8 too)

No trip to Kansas City is complete without barbecue. I started my visit with a trip to Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ. The original location is a true Diners Drive-Ins & Dives kind of place – inside a gas station! We hit the new non-gas station location for a Carolina style sandwich. Mine included almost a whole bird’s worth of smoked turkey, spicy coleslaw, and BBQ sauce on a soft roll. With a GIANT side of fries, I was pretty full through the next BBQ stop.

Saturday started with a trip to downtown Overland Park, Kansas. While you might not think of KC as a foodie destination, you’d be proven wrong by downtown OP. Anchored by the long-standing Culinary Center of Kansas City, this is a happening food place! The Culinary Center has been teaching Kansans how to cook since 1998! My uncle works with them on their graphic design, so he took me in to meet the owner. Owner Laura Laiben O'Rourke started her career as a lawyer before deciding to head to culinary school and open the culinary center. It was interesting to talk with her about the business and how it has grown and evolved over the years. Check out the website to see everything they are doing. They have everything from classes to lunch to cooking supplies (in the retail shop). After seeing a cookie decorating class in action we headed out to see a few other fun food spots. We were too early in the season to see the weekly farmers’ market, but there were other stops to make.

Just down the street we stopped into the local outpost of Penzey’s Spices (based out of Wisconsin). Wow! I picked up a few spices on my wish list – Mexican epazote for my Rick Bayless recipes, smoked Spanish paprika to remind me of my recent vacation, and lemongrass to add to my many Asian recipe creations. It was hard to resist buying one of everything. I could have spent hours smelling all the spices in the store, but I had a BBQ lunch date and had to keep moving.


Next up, we stopped into an olive oil shop that had just opened. You could mix and match numerous varieties of olive oils and balsamic vinegars in any combination you liked, with suggestions of course. They also offered one of my favorite things – samples! The best combination we tried was a blood orange olive oil with tangerine aged balsamic vinegar. It was tangy, citrusy, and delicious. I can imagine picking up produce at the farmers’ market and then stopping in to get some oil and vinegar to dress it up for the table.


The culinary weekend was capped off with a trip to an old favorite – Fiorella’s Jack’s Stack. You could make a meal out of the side dishes, but why skip the expertly smoked beef brisket? We started off with a few giant onion rings to keep us quiet while we waited for lunch. I had a jumbo sized beef brisket sandwich accompanied by their famous cheesy corn and baked beans. There is nothing healthy about the cheesy corn – but it is delicious. Here’s the link to try it out yourself . The beans could stand alone as a full meal – according to the Jack’s Stack website, 15% of the side dish serving of beans is hickory pit roast beef. They describe the dish as “plump beans swimming in a savory sauce with man-sized chunks of fork-tender beef brisket.” You can’t go wrong with that!

With a quick weekend trip it was hard to even make a dent in my KC Restaurant ‘To-Do List’. The next time you find yourself heading KC, let me know and you can try a few places for me. I’m already thinking about the places I am going to visit on my next trip.

Monday, March 8, 2010

La Comida de Espana

Hola! Just a quick post to highlight some of the delcious food we've been enjoying in Spain. The hubby is taking a siesta (too many churros...) so I decided to log on and share a few photos. We started our trip in Madrid and sampled many of the local specialities! On the recommendation of a friend from Madrid, we went to La Taberna de la Bola for a madrileno specialty - cocida. It's a slow cooked beef and chickpea stew.


Of course, we couldn't pass up churros with chocolate. They were fresh and hot, served with a thick, melty cup of hot chocolate.




We visited el Mercado de San Miguel a few times during our stay. We couldn't resist the aceitunas (olives) of all varieties - right next to a "queso & fromage" stand. The best were the pickled olives and mini-pickles.



And the last photo to share is the specialty of Toledo - mazapan (or, marzipan). As the hubby commented, the Spanish spelling and pronuciation is the way most Bostonians pronouce "marzipan"!


Many more photos and descriptions to follow. Hasta luego!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Quick Food Tour of LA and San Diego

I had a conference to attend in San Diego this past week and decided to extend my West Coast visit to visit my brother-in-law and sister-in-law in Los Angeles. We had a pretty low key weekend before I headed down the coast - but managed to take in some great cuisine! Here's a quick recap of my food tour of LA and San Diego.

One reason my brother-in-law was excited for my visit (besides catching up) was the opportunity to go out for sushi. We got a little excited and ordered way too much! But it was delicious. We went to Oishi Sushi - according to one review I read, it is the "least sceney spots in Beverly Hills". I agree - but the rolls were big and delicious. Whenever I'm out in California I try to order fish that we don't always see here in Boston. We had some great albacore.

For our Saturday night adventure, we trekked over to Hollywood to witness the excitement that is Thai Elvis. This man has been impersonating Elvis for 30+ years - and the food was great too! We had some pad see ew, chicken green curry, and veggie pad Thai. The Thai Iced teas were like slushies and perfect for cooling off after the spice.

After a fun weekend in LA, I hopped on the Pacific Surfliner and headed down the coast to San Diego. I never have high expectations for conference food, so I made sure to get some restaurant recommendations before I left for CA. I'm glad I did! I had three great dinners and a delicious lunch. It's fun to be solo diner sometimes - you can strike up conversations with strangers and get great recommendations from the bartenders!

I didn't get pictures from my first dinner at the Princess Pub. I had the 'best fish and chips in San Diego' at this English pub in the Little Italy neighborhood. Had a great California brew - an award winning Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA (delicious). The next night I was starving after the conference function - so I headed out into the Gaslamp Quarter looking for a place to grab some dinner. I decided on sushi - more albacore and Hawaiian yellowtail. And another local California brew.

I had almost a full day for site-seeing before getting on the red-eye flight back to the East Coast. I asked the hotel concierge for a tip on a good Mexican place that he would eat at (not a tourist destination). I knew he was pointing me in the right direction when he told me to "go to Maria's, she should be open now". I got a fish taco (when in San Diego...) and was very happy!

After spending the afternoon touring the USS Midway, I headed back to the Gaslamp Quarter for a tapas dinner at Cafe Sevilla, a recommendation from a well-travelled college friend. I pulled up a seat at the bar and found out I made it in time for half-price martinis and tapas. The bartender, Ray, recommended some albodingas in a sherry garlic sauce and I also ordered the spicy potatoes. To wash it down, I had a margarita-tini. I had never heard of Licor 43 before, but now I'm a fan! Of course no meal is complete with a cheese course, and this was no exception. I tried a creamy tronchon tres leches that was served with almonds, chutney, and preserves. A great end to my West Coast swing!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Gambling on a Good Lunch

In my family, road trip routes are planned with dining destinations in mind. We do our research and pull out our 'if we're ever in such-and such' lists and create a plan. It's fun to stop at unique local places or spots that we don't have in our neighborhoods.

Our trip home from Rye, NY this past weekend presented us with quite a few travel routes. I started thinking about the cities we'd pass through and some good lunch options. It seems like all the cooking shows recently have been featuring burger challenges - guess it's a sign of the times. Burgers are affordable (except for that $5k burger from Hubert Keller) and definitely embraced by many different cuisines.

We opted for a route up through Connecticut casino country and pulled off the highway into Mohegan Sun to visit Bobby's Burger Palace. Bobby Flay is on a lot of TV and magazines - so it's hard to miss that he has a new burger place. We placed our orders for some geographically diverse burgers and found a spot to do some great people watching. The gambling crowd is pretty interesting at 2 p.m. on a Sunday.

We went for three very different burgers plus some shakes and two types of fries. The Philly burger - peppers, onions and cheese. The Dallas burger - spice crusted with BBQ sauce, pickles, and slaw. The L.A. burger with avocado relish, jack cheese, watercress and tomato. The shakes (mango and a black&white) were tasty and the sauce with the sweet potato fries was great. It was a nice tangy horseradish mustard. I took home a take-out menu to use as inspiration for creating some new burger dishes at home. I'll have to create my own signature burger to sell for thousands!

Happy eating from Good Cook Doris, her brother (of the Indy BBQ fare fame, on the left), and the hubby (of "When He Fends for Himself", on the right).




Bobby's Burger Palace on Urbanspoon

Monday, July 27, 2009

Vacation Eats...A Lot of Them

On our travels to the western side of the country, we sampled some tasty Montana cooking. From the pictures below you'll see how much we sampled! When you vacation with my family, you don't eat when you're hungry, you eat when it's meal time. Breakfast is time to discuss "what's for dinner".

Here's a snapshot of our eats in Billings, Molt, Cooke City, and West Yellowstone, Montana. Also a shot of an unusual find in the Old Faithful cafeteria. Enjoy!



First stop, Molt, Montana for a Prairie Winds Cafe Breakfast. Housed in an old hardware store and filled with antiques, the food was full of buttery goodness (and Mrs. Butterworth kept watch). Three+ of us shared so that we could sample it all.



Next up, the first Farmer's Market of the Season in Billings. It was packed with a wide variety of people (and fluffy dogs). There were tamales, egg rolls, homemade ketchups, fresh fruits and vegetables, flavored honey, and a lot of delicious pastries.




The hubby and I took a quick trip away from the family to see the splendor of Yellowstone National Park. On the road there we stopped in Cooke City for a quick lunch before heading in to the park. The hubby dined on a bison burger (sorry to the bison we saw in the park), I had a Moose Drool brown ale, and some delicious chili. We didn't eat at the place in the photo, but what a great name (Buns N Beds Deli and Cabins)!



After a barbecue dinner and night at the Evergreen Motel in West Yellowstone, we started our day with a highly recommended breakfast spot - the Running Bear Pancake House. The special (according to the reviews) is the buckwheat pancakes. The hubby ordered his plain and I opted for the banana walnut cakes. They were plate sized and fabulous.

At one stop to view some waterfalls we met a man wearing an "I 'heart' Idaho" t-shirt. He gave us the fun Idaho potato pin in the photo. Below that is the fun find in the Old Faithful cafeteria. Not sure where the nearest source of seaweed is, but there were a lot of international tourists!



We didn't get photos of all the great eats - but this should give you a good idea! Now it's back to regular eating (and getting rid of the extra vacation pounds!)

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