Try homemade granola & fruit salad with a ginger or herb infused simple syrup. If eggs and dairy can be used, baked french toast or a dutch baby would be good. What about goat cheese & caramelized onion tarts? Strawberry and arugula salad served in parmesan frico cups?

My question is this: regular (dark) chocolate gives me migraines, as it does for many people. Does white chocolate also contain whatever ingredient it is that brings on the headaches?

Most all of the restaurants that I mentioned are casual and inexpensive (i.e. perfect for teenagers). Not sure where you are staying in Arlington or whether you will have a car. Also not sure whether you'll be close to the museums and monuments on the National Mall during the day. All of these factors will influence recommendations.

I second all the Arlington recommendations made by DaveFaris - especially Ravi Kebob and El Pollo Rico (though both require a car). Also, the cafeteria at the Museum of the American Indian is definitely the place to eat on the mall.

In Arlington:

Pho 75 (1721 Wilson Blvd.) has the best pho ever; it is right beside Ray's the Steaks, but they have weird hours (close @ 8:00).

Bangkok 54 on Columbia Pike has excellent Thai. I highly recommend the green papaya salad. If you want to stay closer to Wilson Blvd., check out Sawatdee by the Courthouse metro.

Liberty Tavern in Clarendon has good, nice-casual American food. You can also check out Tallula on Washington Blvd (not far from Clarendon metro), though I do not recommend the attached Eat Bar.

Delhi Cafe in Clarendon is a good Indian spot.

In DC:

If you want to walk across the bridge to Georgetown, check out Amma Vegetarian Kitchen (southern Indian - amazing dosas) or Pizzeria Paradiso.

On the off chance you end up in Capitol Hill, you've gotta get the crabcakes at Market Lunch at Eastern Market. A DC institution.

Tidewater on the Halfshell is another famous Junior League cookbook from the Junior League of Norfolk-Virginia Beach. Try the tomato pie recipe!

I followed the ATK's Best Recipes turkey brining and cooking methods last year, with fantastic results.

Cute house, but it's gingerbread residents apparently have gum drops for brains - check out the grammatical error on the welcome mat.

After testing many pancake recipes, I found the one from Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen) to be the best. It calls for baking soda and powder. The recipe is very similar to the one featured here.

Hooray for Market Lunch's return - they've got the best crab cakes around. Sweet tea too!!

I'd be interested to try this version of pimento cheese (I've got the Lee Bros. book, and it is really wonderful). Leaving out the mayo might work; however, in my book, you can't make pimento cheese without at least a little mustard. It goes so well with the extra sharp cheese. Fresh roasted pepper would be good, I imagine, but my grandparents always use the diced red pepper that comes in the little pimento jars and they add part of the liquid too - gives the cheese a nice acidic kick. One more thing - we don't merely combine the ingredients. We use a fork to mash the cheese with the mayo, mustard, pimentos, etc. until it achieves a relatively smooth consistency. That was my grandfather's job.

I had Diet Coke in Iceland (there it's called Coke Light), and it was much better than US Diet Coke. Why is that?

Ah - good to see another southerner in the line up! The Southern Living Cookbook was my first. Although I have outgrown some of its recipes (e.g. mock-a-mole with mayonaise - the horror!), I still refer to it for southern basics, like banana pudding.

Similar to Chuck, I turn the dough onto a silpat for the 2nd rise and cover with plastic wrap. When it comes time to place the dough in the pot, I just turn the silpat over and dump the whole dough blob into the pot. I've had great results. Also, I use a pastry scraper to help with the step where you fold the dough over on itself (prior to the 2nd rise). Even though I use a heavy Le Creuset Dutch oven to bake the bread in, I've found that I have to watch the bottom so that it doesn't get over-browned. I usually bake for a total of 25-30 minutes, and it's always been perfectly cooked through.