Hi slowlane! I'm an occasional lurker on this forum, but have never posted here (other forums, yes, but never on the cooking forum). I live about 10 minutes from Bethesda. I don't eat out a lot but am happy to share what I know. I don't know how adventurous of an eater you are, but many of the best cheap restaurants are ethnic. Bethesda has a slew of restaurants in the downtown area, so you'll have a ton of choices. In Bethesda: My favorite downright cheap place is Moby Dick House of Kabob at 7027 Wisconsin Avenue. I could eat their chicken kabobs every night and be a happy camper. If you like Indian food, Haandi Indian Cuisine at 4904 Fairmont Avenue is excellent. Not cheap, but excellent, is Blacks Bar & Kitchen at 7750 Woodmont Avenue. If you have a car, you're also close to Silver Spring and Wheaton. Wheaton has many excellent thai restaurants (my favorite is Ruan Thai). Silver Spring has a couple of ethiopian restaurants I love -- Addis Ababa and Bete are my favorites. I've linked Washingtonian magazine's most recent Cheap Eats article. Hope that helps. Have a good visit. Here is a link that might be useful: Washingtonian Cheap Eats

MSG is bad. And it has not been used for centuries anywhere. It was lab-developed in 1907. There are natural glutamates and there is monosodium glutamate. I started looking into it a while back because I do experience bad effects from eating it - especially in hot liquid form (Chinese restaurant soups, for example). Manufacturers are hiding it now - look for: "Monosodium glutamate is one of several forms of free glutamate used in foods. Free glutamate can also be present in a wide variety of other additives, including hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate, any one of which may appear as "spices" or "natural flavorings." The food additives disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate are usually used along with with monosodium glutamate-containing ingredients, and provide a likely indicator of the presence of monosodium glutamate in a product [6]. For this reason, the FDA considers labels such as "No MSG" or "No Added MSG" to be misleading if the food contains ingredients that are sources of free glutamate, such as hydrolyzed protein.[6] In 1993, FDA proposed adding the phrase "(contains glutamate)" to the common or usual names of certain protein hydrolysates that contain substantial amounts of glutamate.[6] For example, if the proposal were adopted, hydrolyzed soy protein would have to be declared on food labels as "hydrolyzed soy protein (contains glutamate)."[citation needed]" It has been accepted and infused into our manufactured food processes for a long time, just as high-fructose corn syrup is prevalent now. Both the above are prevalent in commercial pet foods as well. They are both unnatural substances touted as natural (because they are made/isolated/tweaked from natural substances) and safe. You can find all kinds of info on it on the web now, so go for it. It's another reason not to eat processed foods if possible. And who knows what additive they'll lab-create next and how it will affect us.

LindaC, Dont get me wrong, I am not making a scientific statistical statement here that Chinese ladies dont drink. I am only saying that in the many times I have traveled throughout China, many times to Hong Kong, Macau, Toronto, at least 20 times to Vancouver, many years of eating here in NYCs Chinatown, Flushings Chinatown, and Brooklyns Chinatown, I just dont remember ever having seen a Chinese lady consuming alcohol. I am certainly not disputing your having observed the opposite situation. It is just very interesting that my observations are quite different. gina_w, I am also surprised that this alcohol topic is dragging out a little longer than I expected. I do find it an interesting topic of learning because it so different than our Western culture and as part of eating habits. This is really the first time I look up the information to confirm what I have heard all along, for my own benefit and not for the sake of argument, about alcohol sensitivity. I dont believe that I have said "all Asian" anywhere. I am not making any "assertions" other than my own may be biased observations. I am sorry that my one-time referencing Wiki seemed to offend you. Sometime people get offended if you dont cite references. I do understand you have substantial "credential" in these topics, which makes it even more curious to me, for example, your observation that the Chinese and Japanese have similar social drinking practices is very different than mine. The Chinese and the Japanese working and socializing habits are nowhere near in my experience. I ride the train here in NY Westchester back and forth regularly. The train is also known as "Train to Tokyo " because so many Japanese work late into the night. You will not see too many Chinese work that way. I have been invited a few times to Japanese nighttime "entertainment" with the guys, and I know what you mean by their drinking habits. But as Anne1992 said, " As usual, we are all kind of right" We all have different friends and travel in different circles and we all have different life experiences. No more dead horse beating. dcarch

Winding watches _______________ playing with pet rocks Ironing bell bottoms Looking like linebackers from huge shoulder pads eating quiche, cause you know, real men don't eat it