pigtown pigout

The Maryland Club

2010-12-06T21:03:00.001-05:00

This post virtually guarantees that I will never be able to become a member of the Maryland Club, as does my gender, but here goes…

The Baltimore Architecture Foundation’s Groundhog Day party was held last night at The Maryland Club, despite the unexpected six inches of snow we got yesterday. We spend the day doing last minute things to get ready for the party including rolling a $995 chair carrying two Kohler faucets through the snow to the Club. The moment you enter The Maryland Club (MC), you are assaulted by whispers of old money, old traditions and a nearly extinct way of life, as well as nearly extinct animals.

The walls on the first floor of the MC are essentially papered with trophy animals, including a fully intact mountain goat. Now, I don’t want to hear from any PETA people, because I didn’t shoot these animals, I am just showing them. It is a but un-nerving to round a corner and see a nine-foot bear standing by the window! However, what is most incredible about this building is the sheer amount of workmanship that has gone into it. The building had a serious fire in 1996 and has been rebuilt and upgraded since that time. That it was rebuilt at all is a testimony to the membership and their traditions.

The main corridors are a series of enfiladed rooms, stretching the length of the building. Funnily enough, they are not symmetrical, but slightly off-center. We were greeted by a roaring fire last night, very welcome, as it was still snowing. The fireplace, and the moose above it, are both massive, and with my firebug tendencies, I longed to be able to poke at it with the huge iron tools next to it! The ceilings on the first two floors are about 14 feet, which makes for a massive grand space. The windows all have wood shutters, which both keep the cold air out and the sun from coming in. When I swung open one of the shutters, I could feel the bitter cold air! (It was 15F last night.)Each room has a large fireplace, many of them still in working condition. They are all faced in stone, most likely Maryland stone, and large wood mantelpieces.

There is a huge staircase, not a long and graceful one, but a solid masculine one. Following the staircase up to the third floor is an amazing detail – a huge stenciled and gold-leafed painting.

At the very top of the staircase, there are a number of significant flags, including the Maryland State flag, the Baltimore City flag and the club’s flag, amongst others. Behind them is a huge stained glass window with the state motto in Latin, translating as “manly deeds, womanly words”. The Governor’s Room, on the third floor of the Club was one of the most beautiful rooms. Although it didn’t have the grand proportions as other rooms, it was stunning. The ceilings were detailed with a quatrefoil pattern and there were lovely fireplaces at either end. There was a row of chandeliers down the center of the room, and at either end there were china cabinets behind leaded glass doors. While most of the other rooms had dark wood, in this room, all of the wood was painted a pale cream. It made the room more feminine.

Three of the rooms, all adjacent to each other, were the Hunting Room, the Maritime Room and the Duck Room. I loved the hunting room, as it referred to fox hunting, not the big game hunting. The Maritime Room had lots of pictures of ships and ship models, as well as the most incredible window-seat. The Duck Room had numerous duck-types mounted on the wall.

At the end of the evening, three of us snuck into one of the gentlemen’s rooms, and were stunned to find walls of the most beautiful Beaver Dam marble on the walls and stalls. Rumour has it that the MC puts ice cubes in the urinals. I did love the sinks in the Gent’s. Here are a few more details:

Door knob

Foo Dog Lamp. Notice the buzzer behind the lamp? They were all over the MC, so members could call for a servant. The hallway leading from the Members’ Dining Room Detail of a ceiling lamp Detail from a book case Push-button light switches with mother of pearl insets.

This was a great evening for a great cause, and I was so glad to be included!

Shooting Your Dinner

2010-04-07T08:13:00.001-05:00

There’s an excellent article in today’s New York Times (here) about bloggers and others taking pictures of the food that they eat. I do it sometimes, when the food is especially nicely presented, but many others document every single thing they eat.Do you do that?

I Don’t Think So!

2010-04-05T12:08:00.001-05:00

I would really have to think twice before going here to shop!

I’d like a little more green and a little less –ish!

April Food Day 2010

2010-04-01T10:47:00.000-05:00

Today is APRIL FOOD DAY!

Feeding America has provided April Food Day with a special link that will track the giving, and so we will know what an impact it’s had.

Here are some facts to use in writing about April Food Day:

• Feeding America is annually providing food to 37 million Americans, including 14 million children. This is an increase of 46 percent over 2006, when we were feeding 25 million Americans, including 9 million children, each year.

• That means one in eight Americans now rely on Feeding America for food and groceries.

• Feeding America's nationwide network of food banks is feeding 1 million more Americans each week than we did in 2006.

• Thirty-six percent of the households served have at least one person working.

• More than one-third of client households report having to choose between food and other basic necessities, such as rent, utilities and medical care.

• The number of children the Feeding America network serves has increased by 50 percent since 2006.

• Feeding America food banks provide food and groceries to 33,500 food pantries, 4,500 soup kitchens and 3,600 emergency shelters.

• 68 percent of pantries, 42 percent of soup kitchens, and 15 percent of emergency shelters rely solely on volunteers and have no paid staff.

• 55 percent, are faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious organizations; 33 percent are other types of non-profit organizations.

There are several important links to include:

• Feeding America’s website:

• The link to the April Food Day donation page:

Thanks for your support!

Woodberry Kitchen Brunch

2010-01-03T19:31:00.001-05:00

Fellow blogger and market-goer, Kitchenography and I usually do a “big” brunch on the last day of the Farmers’ Market, but since the last market day was cancelled due to the snow, we also cancelled our brunch plans.

It took another couple of weeks to make up this date, and when we decided a destination, Julie picked Woodberry Kitchen, since she’d not been there. We were joined by her husband, who’s also a lot of fun and a great eater.

Woodberry Kitchen just started serving brunch a few months ago, and I knew if the brunch was anywhere as interesting as dinners, it would be excellent. Although it was bitter cold outside, the inside of WK was bright and warm, and the hot air wafting towards our table from the wood-burning oven was welcome.We started with coffee in personal cafetière, or French Press coffee maker, which came with a small hourglass so you could time exactly when to press the plunger and pour your coffee. Since I’ve been using a cafetière for about 25+ years, I knew what to do with it, but for others, it might not have been as obvious.

Julie got a mimosa, which was garnished with a beautifully spiraled orange peel speared as a garnish. I got french toast with a honey-cinnamon butter, along with some house-made sage sausage. The sausage was a little more dense than I like, and it seemed to need more fat to give it a better mouth-feel.

Julie got Eggs Benedict, but instead of ham, it had two crabcakes and Julie had it without the eggs. Mike got shirred eggs with crab, served in a cast iron ramekin, which he said were “interesting”. I thought that shirred eggs were softer than his appeared to be. The best thing about Woodberry today was that it was not the mob scene that it usually is. You are generally packed into the restaurant like sardines, and it was a welcome change to have a little elbow room. I love the way the sun is lighting this image.

Smith Island Cake

2009-12-28T14:26:00.001-05:00

I was charged with bringing a dessert to a family party on Sunday and wanted to make something that would make an impression. As I thought about what to bring, I remembered recently seeing an article about Smith Island Cakes. I spent a lot of time on Smith Island when I was working at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation many years ago and have a lot of fond memories of these islands located in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.As I mentioned in the previous post, I looked for a recipe on Epicurious, but it was an epic fail. I searched a little more and found a recipe on Saveur’s website. It seemed pretty similar to the others I had seen, so I used that one.

Their recipe said to use Duncan Hines cake mix, but to change it to use a stick of butter, a can of evaporated milk and some additional flour. It also called for chopped peanut butter/chocolate cups, but that seemed to be too much. Instead, I used crushed peppermint candy canes on top.

The main problem with the recipe is that they say ice the cake five minutes after you cook the icing. Of course, it all just slides off the top of the cake and puddles around the bottom. Luckily, I was using a high-sided plate, so it didn’t matter. As we served the pieces of cake, we just scooped the extra icing on to it.It seemed to be a big hit with everyone and there were just two small pieces left, so they went home with two siblings.

Epicurious Fail

2009-12-25T21:50:00.001-05:00

I am thinking of making a Smith Island Cake for a family party on Sunday because I spent a lot of time on Smith Island when I worked at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. When I checked Epicurious.com for a recipe, here’s what they came up with: I can’t imagine how they came up with Thai Chicken Pasta as a recipe for Smith Island Cake!

Here’s what it looks like in real life. I will have to let you know how it turned out!

Stir-Up Sunday

2009-11-21T18:43:00.002-05:00

For as long as I can remember, my father made Christmas Cake the third Sunday in November. It’s called Stir-Up Sunday for a verse in the Book of Common Prayer which begins “Stir up our hearts O Lord…”. My father would bring out the huge yellow-ware bowls he and my mother had collected over the years and begin making the cake. Here are my two sisters taking their turns stirring. Each person is supposed to give the cake a stir for luck.As you can see by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe below, it isn’t too complicated to make, although the ingredients can take some time to find and assemble. I’ve converted the grams to cups to make it a little easier. The measures are close approximations, but should be fine.

Christmas cake

Makes one cake.

200g sultanas (7/8 cup)
200g currants (7/8 cup)
150g dried apricots, finely diced (2/3 cup)
150g prunes, diced (2/3 cup)
150g raisins (2/3 cup)
60g candied peel (¼ cup)
60g dried cherries or cranberries (¼ cup)
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon
200ml apple brandy (7/8 cup)
110g hazelnuts, roasted, papery skins removed and roughly chopped (1/2 cup)
200g unsalted butter (7/8 cup)
100g light ~~muscovado~~ brown sugar (1/2 cup)
80g dark ~~muscovado~~ brown sugar (1/3 cup)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
250g plain flour (1 1/4 cup)
1 heaped tsp mixed spice
¼ of a nutmeg, grated
¼ tsp salt
90g stem ginger, finely chopped (1/3 cup)

To decorate
300g whole dried fruits, such as figs, apricots, apple slices, cherries (1 1/3 cup)
120g nuts, such as hazelnuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, almonds (1/2 cup)
150g warm apricot jam, strained (2/3 cup)

Put the first nine ingredients in a bowl, add the brandy, stir, cover and leave for 48 hours.

Preheat the oven to 275F. Grease a round 22-24cm x 9cm, loose-bottomed cake tin, and line with parchment to come 4cm above the sides. Pulse half the hazelnuts until very fine, add a quarter of the boozy fruit and blend to a thick purée. Beat the butter and sugars till fluffy, then beat in the eggs one by one (if it begins to curdle, add a little flour). Sieve the flour, spices and salt, then stir gently into the batter. Fold in the purée, nuts, soaked fruit and ginger, spoon into the tin, smooth and bake for two to two and a quarter hours, until a skewer comes out clean. (If it browns before it's done, cover with parchment.) Leave to cool in the tin, then remove and wrap in a double layer of foil. Store in a cool, dry place, feeding it with a slug of brandy every two weeks.

A day or so before the big day, brush with warm apricot glaze, lay the fruit and nuts on top, and glaze again. If you have time, cover in marzipan and icing instead.

Store in an airtight container.

Mark Bittman’s 101 For the Fall

2009-11-18T09:24:00.001-05:00

Once again, the brilliant Mark Bittman of the New York Times has come up with 101 simple ideas for fall foods. The easy recipes are heavy on squash, apples and other seasonal goodies.

FOR cooks, most Thanksgiving problems are brought about by the sheer number of dishes competing for the stove: It’s not easy to roast a turkey and sweet potatoes for 20 at the same time. The best solution is to make food in advance, like one of the dishes that follow.

Unlike my earlier 101 compendiums, this one has some recipes that take an hour or more. Still, most are pretty quick. Almost all can be served at room temperature, although the soups should be reheated. Salting to taste is always a given. And if I don’t specify a temperature, “roast” or “bake” means a 375-degree oven.

RELISHES, CHUTNEYS AND JAMS

1. Onion-Pumpkinseed Relish: Roast thick slices of red onion with olive oil until softened and nicely browned. Chop, then toss with minced chives, toasted pumpkinseeds and a little more olive oil.

2. Apricot-Tomato Chutney: Combine chunks of dried apricot and fresh tomato, a splash of apple cider, brown sugar, ginger, cloves and a touch of curry powder; bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for about 20 minutes.

3. Red Onion Jam with Red Wine and Rosemary: Thinly slice red onions and cook them in olive oil until very soft. Add chopped rosemary and red wine, and cook until the jam thickens.

4. Onion Jam with Bacon and Bourbon: Thinly slice red onions and cook in olive oil with chopped bacon until soft. Add a little bourbon and brown sugar to taste and cook until the jam thickens.

5. Apple Chutney: Cook big chunks of peeled, cored apple with a little apple cider, Dijon or whole-grain mustard and chopped sage until the chutney thickens. Don’t cook it until it becomes apple sauce unless you want to.

6. Cranberry-Corn Sauce: Cook a bag of fresh cranberries with about a cup of corn kernels, some chopped scallions, 1/4 cup brown sugar (or to taste) and a splash of water, just until thick.

7. Cranberry-Orange Sauce: Cook a bag of fresh cranberries with orange and lemon zest, cut up (peeled) orange segments, 1/4 cup sugar (or to taste) and a bit of minced jalapeño or chipotle.

8. Cranberry-Beet Sauce: Put equal amounts shredded beets and fresh cranberries in a saucepan with a small splash of orange juice, orange zest and honey or maple syrup to taste. Cook until thick.

9. Prune Relish: Put pitted prunes, fresh mango, a little cider vinegar and sugar to taste in a saucepan. Cook for 30 minutes, adding chopped fresh ginger to taste about halfway through.

10. Ginger-Apricot Chutney: Put dried apricots in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Add lemon juice, minced fresh chili, grated ginger, a couple of cloves and a pinch of cayenne. Cook until thick.

11. Tomato-Corn Jam: In a saucepan, cook roughly chopped Roma or cherry tomatoes with fresh or frozen corn kernels, a minced chili and some sugar and lime juice to taste, until the jam thickens.

12. Garlic-Rosemary Figs: Soak dried figs, stems removed, in warm water until plump; drain and halve. Heat lightly smashed (and peeled) garlic with olive oil on medium-low heat, until softened. Add figs, along with some fresh orange juice. Cook until saucy.

SOUPS

13. Sauté sliced shallots in olive oil, then add chunks of butternut squash, some rosemary and chicken stock or water to cover. As the soup simmers, bake strips of prosciutto until crisp. Purée the soup, swirl in some cream if you like and serve topped with crumbled prosciutto.

14. Steam or poach 2 cups of pumpkin cubes until tender. Meanwhile, sauté 1 cup sliced shiitake mushroom caps in vegetable oil with a few drops of sesame oil. Boil 4 cups water and whisk some of it with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of miso. Stir miso mixture, pumpkin and mushrooms into water and heat everything through, then serve, drizzled with more sesame oil.

15. Thai Squash Soup: Simmer cubed winter squash, minced garlic, chili and ginger in coconut milk, plus stock or water to cover, until soft. Purée if you like. Just before serving, add chopped cilantro, lime juice and zest, and toasted chopped peanuts.

16. Sauté equal amounts chopped, peeled apples and onions in butter until soft. Add stock or water to cover, then simmer for 10 minutes. Cool and purée. Serve sprinkled with Stilton or other blue cheese.

17. Sauté chopped onion in butter, then chunks of sweet potato and stock or water to cover. Simmer until the sweet potatoes can be pierced with a knife, then add chopped kale and cook until wilted.

18. Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup: Sauté chopped onions and garlic in vegetable oil until soft. Add chopped or shredded carrots, cabbage, and daikon or turnip, frozen corn, chopped boxed tomatoes with their juice and stock to cover; bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes, then finish with about a tablespoon of rice wine vinegar per 2 cups of soup and loads of black pepper.

19. Sauté chopped onions, garlic, celery and carrots in olive oil, then add chopped tomatoes (boxed are fine) with their juice, lentils and stock or water to cover. When everything is soft, add a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of red wine vinegar. Garnish with parsley.

20. Sauté ground or chopped lamb in a little oil, until it begins to brown, then add chopped onion, carrot and garlic and cook until the lamb is crisp. Add split peas, a bay leaf and stock or water to cover. Cook until the peas fall apart.

21. Brown a little crumbled or sliced sausage in olive oil; a sprinkle of fennel seeds is good, too. Add chopped escarole, cooked white beans with their juice, and stock or water to cover. Simmer until the greens are tender and the beans are warmed through. Garnish with olive oil or Parmesan.

22. Trim and halve brussels sprouts (if very large, quarter them) and roast with sliced onion, lots of peeled garlic cloves, chopped fresh sage and enough olive oil to coat. When sprouts are tender, transfer to a pot, add stock or water to cover, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. You can purée this or not. In any case, serve with grated Parmesan and more chopped sage.

23. Sauté leeks in butter until soft but not browned, then add cubed waxy potatoes, a little sage and stock or water to cover. Simmer until tender, purée and finish with about a cup of cream for each 6 cups of soup. Serve hot or cold, garnished with chives (if cold, call it vichyssoise).

STUFFINGS AND GRAINS

24. Combine a little cooked wild rice with much more cooked quinoa; sauté crumbled sweet Italian sausage with onion and fresh rosemary. Toss together. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.

25. Dice fennel bulb and onions and sauté in butter or olive oil (or both) until softened. Add dried cranberries, with a hit of not-too-dry white wine or water. Stir in cooked rice, along with more butter or oil if necessary. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.

26. Chop corn bread into cubes. Sauté cherry tomatoes, scallions and corn kernels in butter or oil. Deglaze the pan with beer, then empty the pan over the corn bread. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.

27. Cranberry Polenta Cakes: Make polenta with half milk, half water; stir in chopped fresh or dried cranberries. When thick, pour onto a sheet tray and let cool. Cut into squares and sauté or broil until slightly crisp. Drizzle with honey.

28. Toss cooked Israeli couscous with toasted pecans, orange zest and juice, chopped mint, cider vinegar and honey. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.

29. Toss cooked black rice with grated sweet potatoes (raw or sautéed in butter or oil), chopped dried apricots and a vinaigrette with honey and grated ginger.

30. Cook brown rice until just shy of done. Drain and mix with an equal amount of ground turkey and a little chopped fresh sage and chopped dried cherries. Form into patties and sauté or bake, turning once, until crisp and cooked all the way through.

31. Combine cooked wild rice with caramelized onions (nearly burnt onions are almost as good, and faster), chopped figs and fresh rosemary. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.

32. Cook couscous in stock or water. With a fork, stir in cinnamon, chopped mint, lightly sautéed pine nuts and melted butter. Bake in an oiled dish or use as stuffing.

33. Cook Israeli couscous in stock or water. With a fork, stir in chopped, pitted Kalamata or other olives, chopped green onions and diced, poached or roasted sweet potatoes. Dress with a vinaigrette.

34. Combine cooked bulgur with chopped or grated apple, minced orange rind, grated ginger and chopped parsley. Bake in an oiled dish, use as stuffing or serve as a salad.

35. Pumpkin-Noodle Kugel: Cook a half-pound of egg noodles in salted water until not quite done; drain and put them into a buttered baking dish. Whisk together 4 cups milk, 4 eggs, 1 cup puréed cooked pumpkin (canned is fine), 1/4 cup melted butter and a pinch each of cinnamon and salt. Pour over the noodles and sprinkle with bread crumbs (or, for added kitsch, corn flake crumbs). Bake 45 minutes to an hour, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

36. Boil peeled sweet potatoes and purée in a food processor, thinning with cooking water or cream until saucy. Add chopped garlic and unsweetened pure peanut butter and purée until smooth. Boil soba noodles until just done and toss with the purée until the noodles are lightly coated; garnish with chopped scallions. Serve at room temperature or cold.

37. Sauté crumbled sweet Italian sausage with cubes of butternut squash in a bit of oil. Toss in cooked farro and dress with more oil and lemon juice. Serve as a salad or toss with grated Parmesan and use as a stuffing.

VEGETABLE SIDE DISHES

38. Trim cremini or portobello mushrooms and chop stems. Sauté stems in butter or olive oil with chopped prosciutto, onions, chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, parsley, etc.) and coarse fresh bread crumbs. Stuff spoonfuls of the mixture into mushroom caps; roast until tender.

39. Trim cremini or portobello mushrooms and chop stems. Cook crumbled sausage in olive oil until it begins to brown, then add stems and chopped onion and garlic. Mix with cooked rice, an egg for every 2 cups of mushrooms and enough bread crumbs and grated Parmesan to bind slightly. Spoon the stuffing into the mushroom caps and bake until tender.

40. Peel and trim pearl onions and toss them with a mixture of minced ginger, garlic, chilies and peanut oil. (A little sesame oil is good, too.) Roast until nicely caramelized, then drizzle with soy sauce.

41. Toss chunks of sweet potato and 2-inch lengths of scallion with neutral or peanut oil. (Again, a little sesame oil helps.) Roast, turning as necessary, until nicely caramelized; drizzle with soy.

42. Brussels Sprout Sliders: Trim and halve large brussels sprouts, toss with olive oil and roast at 400 degrees until tender but not mushy. Using the brussels sprout halves as you would hamburger buns, sandwich them around a piece of crispy bacon or ham, maybe a little caramelized onion, and a dab of whole grain mustard. Keep everything in place with toothpicks.

43. Toss chunks of butternut squash with butter and curry powder. Roast until half-tender, then stir in chunks of apple and some maple syrup. Cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until everything is nicely browned and tender.

44. Autumn Rolls: Shred sweet potatoes or carrots and brussels sprouts or cabbage. Roll them up with fresh sage or mint and some sprouts in rice paper. (Add sliced shrimp if you like.) Make a dipping sauce of soy, garlic, grated or minced ginger and honey.

45. Render some chopped bacon in a bit of oil, then add apple chunks; cook until nearly soft. Meanwhile, bake halved and seeded acorn, butternut or delicata squash until they start to soften. Fill squash with apple mixture and finish baking.

46. Chop and toss together equal amounts of beets and carrots; add chopped shiitakes, sesame oil and hot pepper flakes (preferably Korean). Roast until tender and sprinkle with sesame seeds and soy sauce.

47. Vegetable Torta: Roast sliced eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and onions. Stack in layers with fresh basil in a well-oiled springform or roasting pan and top with bread crumbs or Parmesan (or both); bake for 20 minutes or so.

48. Cut sweet potatoes into wedges; boil until tender. Drain and toss with olive oil. Wrap each with a prosciutto slice and a sage leaf, then roast until browned.

49. Halve and seed acorn, butternut or delicata squash and roast until squash begins to soften. Meanwhile, cook bulgur, drain and toss with coarsely chopped pine nuts and currants. Add a bit of the stuffing to each squash half and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake until squash is tender.

50. Cook chopped onions in olive oil until soft. Add chopped spinach and a handful of raisins — maybe a little port, too — and cook until wilted and almost dry. Roasted pine nuts are good on top.

51. Poach broccoli rabe or stemmed greens like collard leaves, then drain and chop. Combine with chopped water chestnuts and diced mushrooms in a skillet with sesame or peanut oil, minced garlic and hot pepper flakes. Cook until vegetables soften and dry a bit.

52. Pickled Collards: Boil 4 cups water and 1/2 cup vinegar with a tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of red chili flakes. Stem and chop or shred collard greens, pack them into a glass canning jar and pour hot liquid over the greens. Cover, cool and refrigerate at least three days.

53. Steam cauliflower florets and toss with olive oil. Roast with peeled whole garlic cloves and chopped bacon at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Chopped parsley is a worthwhile addition.

54. Cook onion, curry powder and chopped ginger in oil until onion is soft; meanwhile, steam cauliflower florets until nearly tender. Add cauliflower to onion mixture, along with raisins; cover and cook until the cauliflower softens.

55. Steam and salt edamame. Whisk soy and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Add grated ginger and a bit of cornstarch, stir until slightly thickened and pour over edamame.

56. Cook lentils, thyme sprigs and chopped carrots in a pot with water to cover until tender; drain and remove thyme. Cook chopped onions in oil until soft; add chopped kale and allow to wilt. Add lentils, stir to combine and cook until kale is tender. Add chopped parsley.

57. Zucchini and Potato Pancakes: Grate zucchini and potatoes; squeeze to drain. Combine with grated Parmesan, one beaten egg for every 2 cups of the vegetables, a little oregano and flour or fine bread crumbs until the mixture is sturdy. Shape into patties and shallow-fry until browned on both sides.

58. Pour a mixture of cooked white beans (with a little cooking or canning liquid) and grated, sautéed winter squash into an oiled baking dish. Mix together fresh bread crumbs, dots of butter and chopped fresh sage and spread over the top; broil until golden brown.

59. Blanch thinly sliced potato and leeks until tender but not mushy; drain well. Layer the vegetables in an oiled or buttered baking dish, then top with a mixture of bread crumbs and lightly sautéed chopped bacon (some cheese mixed in is pretty good, too). Broil until golden brown.

60. Marshmallow topping for adults: Roast or boil chunks of sweet potato, put them in an oiled baking dish, top with dots of cream cheese, and sprinkle with a mixture of brown sugar, chopped pecans and chopped fresh sage. Broil until lightly browned.

61. Cook a lot of chopped fennel in a skillet with butter until pretty much tender. Transfer to a baking pan and add milk, half-and-half or cream to about halfway up the fennel. Sprinkle with thyme and shaved pecorino, then bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until bubbly and thickened.

62. Spinach-Cheese Pie: Sauté chopped garlic and 2 pounds of chopped spinach in plenty of olive oil until wilted and tender. Remove from the heat and stir in 1/2 to 3/4 cup crumbled feta or firm goat cheese, and a tablespoon chopped dill or mint. Layer 5 sheets phyllo dough in a greased baking dish, brushing each one with olive oil before adding the next. Spread the spinach over the phyllo, then top with 5 more phyllo sheets, each brushed with olive oil. Tuck in the edges if they extend over the ends of the pan, slash the top of the pie diagonally in a few places and bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.

63. Slice potatoes thin and layer them in a nonstick skillet. Dot with butter and add enough half-and-half or milk to come three-quarters of the way to the top of the potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer until liquid reduces a bit, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a 400-degree oven for 10 minutes until just brown, reduce to 300 degrees and cook until tender, 10 to 20 minutes more.

64. Mushroom Bread Pudding: Put 6 cups of good bread (day-old is best) cut into 1-inch chunks into a buttered baking dish. Beat 4 eggs with 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan and pour over the bread. Sauté 4 cups of sliced mushrooms until tender with a teaspoon or two fresh thyme leaves and mix into the bread. Bake until just set, about 40 minutes.

65. Sauté garlic and pine nuts in olive oil until the garlic softens; add trimmed, blanched, chopped broccoli rabe (or broccoli). Put into a buttered baking dish, top with Parmesan and bread crumbs and bake until the topping browns.

SALADS

66. In a blender, whip olive oil, lime juice, a little red onion and a stemmed and seeded jalapeño. Toss with lots of shredded raw sweet potato, diced red bell pepper and chopped cilantro.

67. Sprinkle shelled pumpkin or squash seeds with a little chili powder; roast, shaking occasionally, until lightly browned. Combine with grated sweet potatoes (raw or lightly sautéed in butter or oil), raisins and a vinaigrette made with red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, a touch of honey and maybe a little more chili powder.

68. Peel sweet potatoes and boil until tender, drain and cool; dice. Treat carrots the same way. Make sauce of Dijon mustard, olive oil, cider vinegar and chopped scallions. Toss all together.

69. Shred carrots and cabbage (red, savoy or Napa). In a blender, whip olive oil, lemon or lime juice, a stemmed and seeded jalapeño, garlic and cilantro or parsley. Toss with the vegetables.

70. Blanch, shock in cold water, then julienne green beans, daikon and carrots; chill. Whisk soy sauce with honey and lemon to taste; pour over vegetables.

71. Add chopped scallions and chopped kalamata or other good black olives to cooked and drained white beans. Dress with white wine vinegar, olive oil and fresh thyme, marjoram or oregano.

72. Trim and shred raw brussels sprouts (the slicer on a food processor works well). Toss with lemon vinaigrette and shaved or grated Parmesan. Crumbled bacon, as usual, is a welcome visitor here.

73. Roast beets until tender, then peel and cut into chunks. Toss with olive oil, sherry vinegar, toasted chopped hazelnuts and crumbled blue cheese.

74. Trim and chop kale; salt and squeeze and knead until wilted and reduced in volume, about 5 minutes. Rinse, dry and toss with olive oil, lemon juice, chopped dried apples and toasted pine nuts.

75. Wild Rice Greek Salad: Toss cooked wild rice (or mix wild and white) with chopped tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives and crumbled feta. Dress with olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and mint.

76. Grate apples (red are nice; leave skin on), radish and celery. Roast pistachios and chop. Dress all with olive oil, shallots, grainy mustard, red wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar.

77. Trim and dice fresh tomatillos; peel and julienne jicama (or daikon or kohlrabi). For dressing, combine lemon and lime juices, olive oil and chopped cilantro. Pour over salad, top with toasted sesame seeds.

78. Slowly render cubed pork rind or turkey skin until crisp (for skin, start with a bit of oil or turkey fat). Thin sour cream with buttermilk and stir in minced parsley and garlic, black pepper and a little white wine vinegar. Arrange frisée on platter; top with dressing and cracklings.

79. Cook chopped pears in a covered saucepan with a tiny bit of water until soft. Purée, but not too fine. In your smallest pan, boil a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar with a little brown sugar; lower heat and reduce by half. Spoon the pear sauce over endive leaves and finish with toasted sliced almonds and the balsamic reduction.

80. Trim and coarsely chop chard (rainbow makes for a gorgeous salad) and combine with white beans and chopped scallions. Dressing is minced ginger, a suspicion of garlic, olive oil and cider vinegar.

BREADS AND CRACKERS

81. Tomato Pinwheels: Soak 1 cup dried tomatoes in hot water, drain and pulse in a food processor with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (add water or oil if necessary). Combine 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon baking soda with 4 tablespoons cold butter (use food processor or fingers). Stir in 3/4 cup yogurt or buttermilk and gather the dough into a ball. Roll into a large rectangle on a floured surface, spread the tomatoes all over the dough and roll it up lengthwise. Cut the log crosswise into 1-inch slices, put them on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until puffed and golden, 7 to 10 minutes.

82. Cornmeal Flatbread with Onion and Sage: Mix 1 cup cornmeal with 1 teaspoon salt; slowly whisk in 1 1/2 cups water. Cover and let sit for an hour (or up to 12 hours in the refrigerator). Put 1/4 cup olive oil in a 12-inch ovenproof skillet along with a thinly sliced red onion; stir. Heat the skillet in a 400-degree oven for a few minutes, then stir and pour in the batter. Bake at 375 degrees until the flatbread is crisp at the edges and releases easily from the pan, about 45 minutes.

83. Onion-Rosemary Skillet Bread: In a 12-inch cast iron pan, sauté half a large, thinly sliced red onion in about 1/4 cup olive oil until soft and beginning to color. Combine a cup of whole wheat flour with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon rosemary leaves; add 1 1/2 cups water and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the hot skillet and bake in a 450-degree oven until the flatbread is crisp on the edges and releases easily from the pan, about 30 to 40 minutes.

84. Sage Crackers: Pulse 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup Parmesan and 4 tablespoons cold butter in a food processor. Add 1/4 cup cream and 1 tablespoon finely chopped sage. When just combined, roll as thinly as possible, score into squares, sprinkle with salt and bake at 400 degrees until golden. Let cool, then break into pieces.

85. Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits: Combine 3 cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves. Use your fingers to rub in 1 1/2 sticks of butter until the mixture resembles small peas. Add 1 cup buttermilk and stir until just combined. Drop large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees until golden, about 15 minutes.

86. Spiced Muffins: Mix 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon each allspice and ground ginger, and a pinch of cloves. In another bowl, combine 1 egg, 1 cup milk and 3 tablespoons melted butter. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined, adding milk if the batter seems too dry. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 375 degrees or until done.

87. Combine 2 cups whole wheat with 2 cups white flour and 1 teaspoon each baking powder, baking soda and salt in a food processor. Pour in 1 1/2 cups buttermilk or thin yogurt, and pulse until a ball is formed. Knead for a minute (fold in 1/2 cup raisins or currants at this point if you like), shape into a round loaf, slash the top in a few places and bake on a greased sheet for about 45 minutes, or until the bottom sounds hollow when you thump it.

88. Dill-Cheddar Puffs: Combine 1 cup water with 1/2 stick of butter and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. When the butter melts add 1 1/2 cups flour and cook, stirring, until the dough forms a ball, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, then add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating well until the mixture is glossy. Stir in 2 cups grated Cheddar and 2 tablespoon freshly chopped dill. Drop teaspoons of the batter on greased baking sheets and bake at 425 degrees until lightly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.

89. Vegetable Crackers: Slice beets, sweet potatoes, plantains or parsnips or all of the above into 1/8-inch disks (a mandoline is helpful) and toss lightly in olive oil. Spread the slices on baking sheets, sprinkle with salt, pepper and, if you like, other seasonings and bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. When browned, flip the chips over and bake for another 10 minutes or so.

DESSERTS

90. Baked Apples: Combine chopped pecans and chopped dried fruit (raisins, dates, figs, cranberries all work) and toss with maple syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon, allspice or nutmeg or all three. Fill the cavities of cored apples with the fruits and nuts, dot each with butter, put into a baking dish and roast about 30 minutes, until tender. Better with vanilla ice cream.

91. Pears in Red Wine: Simmer 2 cups red wine with 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cloves, a cinnamon stick and a few slices of ginger in a pot for a few minutes, then gently poach peeled and cored pears (use a spoon to hollow them from bottom), until soft. Cool or chill, and serve with a bit of the poaching liquid.

92. Cranberry Truffles: Heat 1/2 cup simple syrup and 1/2 cup bourbon or water; add 2 cups dried cranberries and steep until soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid. Pulse the fruit in a food processor, adding just enough liquid so the mixture comes together. Roll spoonfuls of the cranberry filling into balls, then roll them in cocoa, mixed with pulverized nuts if you like.

93. Pumpkin-Raisin-Ginger Turnovers: Mix puréed cooked pumpkin, raisins, chopped crystallized ginger and sugar. Brush a sheet of phyllo with melted butter and cut lengthwise into thirds. Put a spoonful of the filling at the top of each strip. Fold down to make a triangle and repeat, like folding a flag. Repeat with remaining filling. Brush the tops with butter and bake 20 to 30 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar.

94. Pumpkin-Tofu Pudding: Purée a package of silken tofu, 2 cups of cooked or canned pumpkin, simple syrup to taste, a splash of brandy and a pinch each of nutmeg and salt. Refrigerate until chilled.

95. Indian Pudding: Combine 3 cups of milk and 1/3 cup of cornmeal in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; stir in 1/3 cup of molasses, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ginger and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and stir until melted. Pour pudding into a buttered baking dish and bake at 300 degrees for about 2 hours, uncovered, until golden brown and set in the middle. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

96. Sweet Autumn Gratin: Combine cubed pumpkin or sweet potato with cranberries and hazelnuts in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar and toss. Drizzle cream over all, dot with butter and bake until soft, bubbly and browned, 50 to 60 minutes. Re-warm before serving if you like.

97. Prunes With Hazelnuts: Simmer prunes in port with cloves and cinnamon until soft; remove prunes and reduce syrup. Strain over the prunes. Top them with whipped cream, and the cream with chopped toasted hazelnuts.

98. Chipotle Brittle: Cook 2 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a deep saucepan over medium heat, stirring once in a while until golden. Off heat, stir in 2 cups peanuts or pumpkinseeds and 1 or 2 mashed canned chipotle chilies with a bit of their adobo (more if you like things fiery). Quickly spread the mixture out on a buttered rimmed baking sheet and let cool before breaking into pieces.

99. Apple-Cranberry Crumble: Peel and slice 4 large tart apples. Toss with a cup of cranberries, the juice and zest of a lemon and 1/4 cup brandy, apple cider or water and put into a buttered baking dish. Pulse 1/2 cup cold butter, 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, 1/2 cup flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ginger in a food processor until crumbly — not fine. Top the fruit with this and bake until bubbly, about 45 minutes.

100. Spiced Macaroons: Mix 3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Stir in 3 lightly beaten egg whites and a teaspoon almond extract. Drop in small spoonfuls on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until golden on the edges.

101. Buy some cheese. Unwrap it and put it on a plate with some walnuts and fruit; let come to room temperature. Serve with good bread.

Caffe Falai in NYC

2009-11-11T11:15:00.001-05:00

Fellow food blogger, Kitchenography (Julie) and I, went to NYC to meet up with an ex-Baltimore food blogger, Raspberry Eggplant (Roopa) for lunch.

Roopa suggested Caffe Falai for lunch, since it was just a short jaunt from her office at City Hall and it was easily accessible by the subway. It was an inspired choice!

For starters, we all had salads, with Julie and Roopa having an avocado salad (avocado with mixed greens, radicchio, and black truffle dressing) and I had Spinach e Fragole (baby spinach, strawberries, sliced almonds ,reduced balsamic with mozzarella pearls). Isn’t that a beautiful salad? For mains, we all had different things. Julie got Gnudi, spinach and ricotta balls and a sage-infused brown butter sauce, but instead of the sauce, it had a foam on top. Roopa had Pappardelle Alle Mandelore, an almond flour flat pasta with mushrooms, cauliflower and parmigiano sauce, which was just gorgeous. I had a panini with fresh figs and gorgonzola. It was an incredible mélange of flavours. It was just great fun to see Roopa again, and to hear all about her recent wedding and appearance on Jeopardy.

After lunch, Julie and I walked through Little Italy and Chinatown. We saw a store with loads of fresh durian on display. They were cutting them open and selling them. I asked for a tiny taste, but was turned down.

Durian fruits are very forbidding in a lot of ways. Their skin is hard and spiky. Their smell is incredibly offensive to the point of being forbidden on public transport in Southeast Asia. But the taste is reportedly smooth, custardy and quite good. So I was very curious to try a bit, if only to say I’d eaten some.The vendor was opening the durian and scooping out the flesh, which was a creamy yellow. There seemed to be five sections, as well as a seed, and the pulp came out in one piece. A couple buying a durian told us that durian are high in protein and are useful in healing after surgery. The box with the dollar bill is to tip the vendor after he’s cut and boxed the durian for you.

Sunday Market – November 8

2009-11-08T14:44:00.001-05:00

This morning was just glorious. Upper 50’s and clear as a bell. It was a foreshadowing of the beautiful day to come. We arrived at the market and each found a great parking place, a sign that there weren’t too many people at the market yet.

We did our two laps – the looking and the buying – and had the chance to say hi to some friends. I got apples and some smoked chicken and bacon soup for the week.One of the oddest thing I saw was something called cardoon,a member of the aster and daisy family! It looks like gigantic celery, but not the bright green colour of celery, more of a dark dull green of some of the winter vegetables. The flower buds can be eaten like artichokes, but it’s usually the stems which are braised and seasoned for serving. After the market, we headed up to Clementine for breakfast. Clementine’s becoming one of my new favourite places. They open for breakfast at 8:00 on Sundays and had a steady stream of people coming and going. Excellent coffee from Zeke’s… a special blend called “Oh My Darling” and a delicious French Bread casserole, so big I couldn’t finish it.Let me end by saying welcome back to my Sunday morning partner in all things Market, Kitchenography. She’s finally blogging again with her lovely stories and gorgeous pictures… and amazing food!

Clementine

2009-10-29T11:19:00.001-05:00

I’ve been meaning to try Clementine for a while, but the problem, and it’s a very small one, is that it’s close to my office, and not downtown. And I didn’t think that they were open for lunch. With Connor-pup, I have to go home after work, and can’t stay uptown for dinner. Anyway… the Blonde and the Redhead took me to dinner there for my birthday last night and we had an amazing and fun dinner. I was thrilled to see that they had escargot on the menu, as you rarely see them. I ordered them as my starter. They were sauteed with shitake mushrooms in a garlic cream sauce over toast points, and were fabulous!The B&R split an order of macaroni and cheese, which is similar to the mac & cheese at Sobo Cafe, where the chef at Clementine used to cook. This is made with the traditional elbow macaroni, instead of Sobo’s penne pasta, but it was every bit as good. For my main, I had the smoked pork tenderloin with smoked gouda mashed potatoes and asparagus. The Blonde had the Baltimore Grill, a lovely piece of steak, with shredded horserashish and the same mash and mixed vegetables. The Redhead had a pork chop with mash and asparagus. Two friends of ours stopped by for drinks at Clementine and sent over a piece of coconut cake with seven-minute icing, which was perfect to end the meal!

Clementine specializes in charcuterie and makes their own sausages and smokes the meat on premise. They’ve just expanded from the original space into the space next door, more than doubling the size of the restaurant.

It was a great place for a celebration dinner in a casual setting and I am sure it will become a new favourite for all of us!

Thanks again, B&R for the lovely presents, the wonderful dinner and the exceptional friendship!!!

Sunday Market – October 25

2009-10-26T12:41:00.001-05:00

I bailed on the Market last week, since it was so rainy and dark. I know that it’s a steady downhill slide towards winter from here on out, but the time will change soon and it will be a tad lighter in the mornings.

This week, Halloween is all in evidence, from the vast number of pumpkins to the vendors in costume.

Seriously, how cute is this guy? His grandmother gave him and his father hats. One’s before and the other’s after!

Lady Liberty made an appearance. As did the Buffalo Man… Dude!!! Pumpkins from very, very large to very, very small and every shape and size between. One of the funniest things we saw was two bees on sunflowers. It was so chilly up in the country, that the bees were basically in a suspended state and were not moving.

See you next week @ The Market (if it’s not raining).

Sunday Market – October 11

2009-10-11T20:16:00.001-05:00

As soon as we started walking through the Market, I found my theme for the day. PURPLE!

A Ravens home game, combined with some of the late season fruits and vegetables prompted this choice. I was thinking that there wouldn’t be a lot of non-clothing selections, but I was wrong!

This cute little girl with her purple glasses also had on purple shoes. A fashion plate at age five!

Purple flowers with someone’s purple toes. Turnips? Rutabagas? Swede? Lovely purple and white, whatever they are…Spanish onions? They’re considered purple, no?Purple cauliflower! I am so curious how this cooks up. Anyone try it? Aubergines. Eggplants. Whatever you call them, a deep glossy purple is gorgeous.Plums! Plummy plums. Yummy plums. A green bug on some purple sage.Purple basil Pet in purple. I wish I could carry my dog like this. It would never work though. He doesn’t like purple. Romanesco broccoli, with just a hint of purple. Purple paintbrushes. See you next week @ the Market!

FTC: Bloggers Must Disclose Endorsements

2009-10-05T16:39:00.001-05:00

A few months ago, I posted about a Blogger Code of Ethics in which bloggers who receive goods or services and then write about them, should disclose this fact to their readers. It’s not an unrealistic expectation because perceptions change when you know whether the writer is benefitting from what they are writing about. Objectivity may change if a blogger thinks the pipeline of goods and services might stop.

The US Federal Trade Commission has announced that bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. If they do not, the FTC may levy a fine of up to $11,000.

Here’s more:

“The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement.”

A link to the announcement is here.

Thanks to my friend Julie for telling me about the FTC alert.

Gourmet Magazine Closing

2009-10-05T11:33:00.003-05:00

Another one bites the dust! In shocking news, it was announced today that Gourmet magazine is closing. Although I have a food blog, I don’t really cook at all (not that I can’t cook, I just don’t cook.)

I love reading recipes and looking at all of the gorgeous pictures and I have always found great insider tips on places to visit when I am travelling.

Such a shame for everyone involved in Gourmet.

Sunday Market – October 4

2009-10-04T18:09:00.001-05:00

Today was the Farm-to-Table {sponsored by Toyota} at the market and there were four tents scattered around with different chefs pairing with local farms to produce a taste of something they’ve created.

It seemed to me to be a bit less crowded between eight and nine, when we were there. The stations at that time were manned (or womanned) by Jesse Sandlin of Abacrombie + Richfields Farms/South Mt. Creamery with a broccoli soup; Bill Crouse of Sotto Sopra + Richfields Farms with a butternut squash ravioli; Rashad Edwards of Meli Patisserie & Bistro + Truck Patch Farms with a dressed salad; and Sandy Lawler of Feast @ 4 East + Jean-Michel Company/Gunpowder Bison/Martin Farms with bison burgers. (top image)

For me, it was a little early to eat like that, but my companions and fellow bloggers tried the soup and ravioli and proclaimed them delicious!

With the dramatic drop in temperatures in the last week, there are a lot more autumn fruits and vegetables on offer. Lots of pumpkins and squash. We’re careening down that slippery slope to winter.

See you next week @ the market.

Sunday Market - September 27

2009-09-28T09:55:00.003-05:00

It was a miserable morning, and my family was in town, so I bailed on the market. But by the time I met up with everyone, the sun was shining. We had brunch at Donna's in Mt. Vernon and then wandered around the Book Festival, which mostly seemed to be about food.
Hope to go to the Market again next week!

B&O American Brasserie

2009-09-22T22:48:00.001-05:00

The newly opened B&O American Brasserie at the Hotel Monaco-Baltimore has a great happy hour. It’s $3 for some of their beers, white and red wines and champagne. They have a small bar menu that you can get some little plates from, as well as burgers and flat bread pizzas.

Chef Cat and I both had been interested in seeing this place, so while Chef Dawg was working late, we went over. Valet parking is $5, so that’s a good start. The building is the old B&O Railroad headquarters and it’s amazing. (You can read more about it here.)

We started out with a glass of champagne each and got a chicken liver pate with fig jam and brioche toast as an appetizer. There were only four tiny brioche toast fingers and so we had to ask for more. I always wonder what the kitchen is thinking when you get a lot of spread or cheese or pate and only two pieces of bread. The pate was mousse-like and very light, and the brioche fingers were buttery, but the fig jam didn’t have much flavour, which was a shame. It was sweet, but didn’t have the taste of figs.

We ordered a flatbread with cheese, asparagus, arugula and a fried egg on top. It was very good and Chef Cat ate the egg. There were fava beans in there as well, but I picked them out. I don’t like beans much. We also got some meatballs, which were well-seasoned and came in a nice tomato sauce. Kinda hard to tell what they are from the picture, but they were served in a little iron pot. Since Chef Cat’s a pastry chef, we HAD to order dessert. The menu was interesting for early fall, with some non-seasonal items like a rhubarb-strawberry cobbler. There was a cheese plate, which I totally understand, but there was also a charcuterie plate, which I totally didn’t understand, especially since it wasn’t listed on the bar menu as an appetizer. Really, do you want meat for dessert?

Chef ordered the rustic apple tart and I ordered the butterscotch pudding. If you know me, you know I love sweets. But the pudding was gross. It had no discernable butterscotch taste and a really odd texture. Chef Cat said it had a raw corn-starch flavour, but I didn’t even get that. It certainly wasn’t a pudding, because it didn’t seem like it had either milk or cream in it. Maybe a pastry cream? It was served in an 8-10 oz. glass with a garnish of a ginger cookie. I ate about three bites and left the rest.

When Chef Cat cut into the steaming rustic apple tart, she realized that the apples weren’t cooked. So she took the pastry top off of the tart and looked at the apples. Not only weren’t they cooked, they were brown because someone didn’t know enough to put them in acidulated water to keep them fresh and white. The pastry top was not quite cooked through and was raw on the inside. While we liked the restaurant, and the service was very friendly and good (if a little slow), the desserts were a huge failing and really brought the meal down. They were basically inedible.

We’ll go back for happy hour though!

Sunday Market - September 20

2009-09-22T13:01:00.006-05:00

It's been a busy last few weeks and although I've been to the market, I haven't gotten too many pictures.
It's really beginning to look a lot like fall at the market with loads of varieties of apples and pumpkins and the changing light. Although I keep hearing that this has been a banner season for figs, I've yet to see any at the market. Here are some of the things we saw at Sunday's Market.

Walnuts
Pumpkins of all sorts
Teeny, tiny tomatoes
Lotus flower pods The gang at the Hummus stall were celebrating International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day. Ahoy, Captain Cook!
See you next week!

Flushing, Queens

2009-09-17T10:43:00.009-05:00

Sometime blogger, Julie, and I took the Bolt Bus to NYC yesterday and then hopped on the F Train out to Flushing, Queens to do some exploring. Ever since she saw this article about this area of the city a year ago, Julie has wanted to visit.
When we got off the train, along with a mass of humanity, we wandered around a little bit, getting our bearings along Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street, and figured out where we wanted to have lunch. We ended stopping at a noodle restaurant on Roosevelt, just around the corner from the train station. We sat for a while contemplating the menu with more than 200 dishes on it! Luckily, a chic young Chinese woman next to us offered us some guidance on what to get.
I lucked out with a dish of crispy noodles with roast pork and bok choy with a sauce and Julie had a roast pork and wide noodle soup. Both were excellent. After lunch, and at the suggestion of our lunchmate, we headed up to Honk Kong Market, a huge store with food and kitchen items. Both of us were agog at the selection of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish and more. We were a little taken aback at the tubs with huge live hardshell and soft shell turtles and LIVE FROGS! We also had a good laugh at the labeling on some of the products, including Gourmet Powder (MSG) and Indispensible Condiment (also probably MSG).
Here are some other pictures of what we saw:

Dragon Fruit or Pitaya
Seaweed knots. I am not sure why they're knotted, but the whole bin was like this and you can find recipes for seaweed knots on the intertubes. These were some sort of dried radishes. They look like... well, I'll let you think of what they look like. Flat fried duck.
Miss Bong Crab Fingers. These were 60% mackeral and 40% crab. Obviously not Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab. They were in little brown tubes. We couldn't bring ourselves to buy them. Not so sure what this is, but we thought it was funny enough to take a picture of.Conch. Tastes like rubber. Chewing rubber bands. Check my other blog for pictures of Little India.

Sunday Market - August 30

2009-08-31T10:16:00.005-05:00

Somehow, everything at the market that I wanted to photograph, just looked the same as every other week. I decided not to take pictures of the sartorial mistakes, and only shot about six pictures. Here are my two favourites.

The guy from Zeke's coffee had a portable coffee dispenser on his back. If you look at his left side, you can see the sleeve of cups, too. I guess you have to take the coffee black.
I think this little guy is adorable. His stuffed bear/rabbit is almost as big as he is. He's carrying a bag of raspberries! Yum.

RIP Brass Elephant

2009-08-30T21:33:00.001-05:00

I was shattered to find out that the Brass Elephant has closed its doors. There was a good article in the Sun today, in which I am quoted, about the high-end restaurants that are shuttering in the economy. I loved the Elephant. We spent many happy times there. Here’s a little story:

Before I moved to England, my final celebration meal was at the Elephant, and when I came back to Baltimore, one of my first outings was there again. That's the one event that stands out in my mind the most.

For several years, during the lighting of the Washington Monument, Jack Elsby, the Elephant’s manager and I would serve cocoa to all the visitors in the park. It was free to everyone and we were happy to do it. It was a little pre-Christmas, small-town celebration. Then the city decided that the vendors had to charge for their food/drinks, so Jack stopped doing it. But at the lighting, I'd always stop by the restaurant for a quick hello and a drink.

Late in 2005, I had to come back to Baltimore unexpectedly, and not many people knew I was coming home. It was right before the Monument Lighting, so I met up with the Blonde and the Redhead. We watched the lighting and then headed up to the Elephant. It was crowded, as usual, and Jack was running around.

I spotted him through a crowd of people and just grinned. He looked up and saw me and he just lit up. We made our way over to each other and hugged. He told me that he'd been thinking about me all day because of our tradition of serving cocoa, and then he looked up and I was there.

It was a tiny personal moment in hundreds of happy moments that I've spent at the Elephant, and one that I will never, ever forget.

I hope that everyone associated with the Brass Elephant can find another job. RIP.

No Market....

2009-08-24T12:35:00.004-05:00

I have in my care this week, a 10-month old puppy. We thought he was a chocolate lab, but when the DNA testing was done, it turned out he's part greyhound, part airedale and part Germand short-haired pointer. He has two speeds: zoom and zero. My dog has two speeds: slow and sleep.I was scared to leave him home with my dog, so I skipped the Farmers Market.

Here's a picture from a previous market.

Next week, though!

Sunday Market - August 16

2009-08-17T10:49:00.006-05:00

The market seemed a little more crowded this week, not really sure why, but we both noticed it. I was focusing this week on tomatoes. Not your "garden variety" tomatoes, but on the heirloom varities. I hate the look of some of these, they're all knobby and anatomical-looking. Not attractive to me at all.

I should have paid more attention to the names, but here's a sampling of what I saw.

Lovely orange cocktail tomatoes.
Next week, I think I might take pictures of people who should have looked in a mirror before they left home... Consider yourself warned!

Salt

2009-08-16T18:10:00.001-05:00

As part of Restaurant Week, four of us had dinner last night at Salt in Butcher’s Hill. I have heard loads of great things about this place, but have never managed to visit.

We started with some drinks, the men had beers and I had a strawberry mojito, and an order of Salt’s famous Duck Fat French Fries with a trio of aioli – malted vinegar, truffle and smoked pepper. We all preferred the truffle and the fries were gone in a flash.

Since they just seemed to be offering the Restaurant Week menu, that’s what we ordered from. I started with a fabulous salad of bibb lettuce, watermelon, feta and a balsamic reduction. Julie had a seafood chowder and Mike had fajitas.

For our mains, I had the Grilled Giant Prawns with roasted chickpeas, lemon, olive oil, garlic brioche, which I thought was the least successful of the four dishes. It was very hard to eat the prawns and there was very little meat in them. They had HUGE long legs that stuck out everywhere. I thought the chickpeas, lemon and olive oil would be more like hummus, and less like three separate ingredients.

Julie had a Fresh Pasta with Corn, Asparagus, Chiles, Sweet corn butter, fresh thyme, shaved Pecorino Romano, and proclaimed it a hit.

Mike had a pork shank with peanut Udon noodles, which he liked more than the pork, which was falling off the bone.

Joe had Grilled Lamb Shank with a Curried carrot fritter, watercress and bean salad, feta vinaigrette and he ate every speck of it, so it was apparently a success.

For dessert, we each had something different. I had a creme brulee, Julie had mini-donuts with lavender honey and salt, and coffee-chocolate chip ice cream, Mike had lemon sorbet and Joe had a biscuit with fresh whipped cream and berries.

The pictures above all have a very strong green cast to them due to the lighting in Salt, which you can see in the top image. I don’t think that colour does either their patrons or their food any favours.

Otherwise, we though the food and service were both excellent.

Crush

2009-08-13T20:14:00.001-05:00

In honour of my friend Jefe’s birthday, we had lunch at Crush today. Crush is located in Belvedere Square, and if you’re old Baltimore, like I am, you might remember it as the location of Hess Shoes with the sliding board. They do still have the sliding board, but it’s raised so you can’t slide down it.

I hadn’t been in the restaurant since it was Taste, and didn’t really remember what it looked like then, but this iteration is really well-decorated and interesting.

We got there right at noon, and there was only one other table taken, but by the time we left, an hour and a half later, there were about 10+ tables filled.

Since they were offering a Restaurant Week menu, I ordered off of that, but Jefe ordered from the regular lunch menu. A few weeks ago, I’d written about the amazing idea of grilled cheese croutons, and Crush had a creamy tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons. We both started with that, and it was excellent.

My next course was grilled salmon with lobster mashed potatoes(!!!), spinach and a red wine reduction. Jefe got a grilled chicken sandwich with Brie and bacon. Both were excellent. Just beautifully presented and fresh.

As we were eating, I saw the waitress walk by with a colourful timbale. I started describing it to Jefe, but then she walked back with it and I flagged her down to tell us what it was. She said it was the Uncobb salad, with layers of arugula, lobster, shrimp, avocado, crab and tomato on a pool of vinaigrette. It was just gorgeous, and the perfect thing for a summer day.

We finished by splitting a Jewish apple cake with an excellent caramel drizzle and vanilla ice cream.

The bill was quite reasonable and both of us agreed we’d go back there in a heartbeat.

Sunday Market - August 9

2009-08-10T09:02:00.006-05:00

As I mentioned in last week's market post, I am trying to find themes at the market. This week's theme is market baskets and bags. Once we started looking, we noticed that there were several varieties:

woven reed, straw or wood baskets,

pulled or pushed baskets and carts,

logo and printed bags

and collapsible market baskets.

What do you carry at the market?

Food Blogger Code of Ethics

2009-08-06T20:56:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, I wrote about ethics and sponsorships after reading an article in the New York Times, and it created quite a lively conversation. I also recently had a conversation with some friends about this topic and everyone agreed that it’s best to disclose, so as not to muddy the waters with what's been given and what's been bought.

Today, as I was reading the Guardian on-line, I found a piece about a food bloggers' code of ethics, which I thought was very interesting, and could be revised slightly to encompass bloggers who write about products and services.

The Food Blog Code of Ethics is from a blog entitled exactly Food Ethics. Here’s the Code which they’ve written.

The Code
We wrote the Food Blog Code of Ethics after many heated conversations with fellow food bloggers. Those discussions inspired us to lay down some basic guidelines for food writing on the Internet because we couldn’t find any that already existed. These aren’t laws that we expect everyone to follow. These aren’t rules you have to accept as your own. We know they don’t apply to everybody. They’re a jumping off point to start a bigger discussion.

The Code is not intended to limit anyone’s freedom of speech. We offer these pages to advocate accountability, accuracy and honesty in the world of food blogging. The Code is designed as a set of guidelines, not a punishable set of laws.

1. We will be accountable

We will write about the culinary world with the care of a professional. We will not use the power of our blog as a weapon. We will stand behind our claims. If what we say or show could potentially affect someone’s reputation or livelihood, we will post with the utmost thought and due diligence.
We understand why some bloggers choose to stay anonymous. We respect that need but will not use it as an excuse to avoid accountability. When we choose to write anonymously for our own personal or professional safety, we will not post things we wouldn’t be comfortable putting our names to.
If we review a restaurant, product or culinary resource we will consider integrating the standard set of guidelines as offered by the Association of Food Journalists.

2. We will be civil.

We wholeheartedly believe in freedom of speech, but we also acknowledge that our experiences with food are subjective. We promise to be mindful—regardless of how passionate we are—that we will be forthright, and will refrain from personal attacks.

3. We will reveal bias

If we are writing about something or someone we are emotionally or financially connected to, we will be up front about it.

4. We will disclose gifts, comps and samples

When something is given to us or offered at a deep discount because of our blog, we will disclose that information. As bloggers, most of us do not have the budgets of large publications, and we recognize the value of samples, review copies of books, donated giveaway items and culinary events. It’s important to disclose freebies to avoid be accused of conflicts of interest.

5. We will follow the rules of good journalism

We will not plagiarize. We will respect copyright on photos. We will attribute recipes and note if they are adaptations from a published original. We will research. We will attribute quotes and offer link backs to original sources whenever.

Even though this code is for food bloggers, I think that it is a good basis for most bloggers who write about products, services and the like. I am very interested in your thought on this subject.

Sunday Market - August 2

2009-08-04T12:08:00.005-05:00

When I was looking through last year's July pictures and comparing them to what's in the market now, it's very obvious that we're running behind where things usually are. It's also obvious to me that I could slap some pix from last year in this post and you'd never know, since the produce is all the same, year after year. More or less...So, I am going to try to find themes for each week. This week's theme is stripey produce.
Eggplants. Beans.Tomatoes.
See you next week!

Crabs on Sunday

2009-07-31T09:46:00.003-05:00

Last Sunday, a group of Baltimore food bloggers got together at LP Steamers in Locust Point to carry on several local traditions. We picked some crabs, drank some beers and the wandered a couple of blocks over to eat some snoballs.

Although nine people came, we know that there are lots more food bloggers in the area. It was great to see the group who came, and we missed those who didn't.

Grilled Cheese Croutons

2009-07-28T14:28:00.002-05:00

OMG!!! What a stellar idea! Make a crisp grilled cheese sandwich, with good bread and not too much good cheese. Let it cool, then cut into croutons. Put them on anything, but especially tomato and basil salad.

From the Minimalist's 100 Summer Salads.

Sunday Market - July 26

2009-07-26T09:57:00.003-05:00

I haven't written about the market for a few weeks for several reasons: 1) didn't go last week. My Sunday morning partner was out of town and I took the opportunity to sleep in; 2) the pictures I was taking were identical to the ones from last summer; 3) I forgot.
This week, when we got there at 8:00 a.m., the parking was already pretty crowded, but there didn't seem to be loads more people there. The light is beginning to change and we really seemed to notice that.

Almost every veg stand has tomatoes now, so I guess the nights have finally been warm enough to allow the tomatoes to get red.

Loads and loads of fresh flowers everywhere!

Today, I bought the fixin's for gazpacho, including tomatoes, cukes, garlic, onion and green peppers. I also bought some peaches that I will grill. YUM!

See you next week!

Julie & Julia at Wegmans

2009-07-25T16:21:00.006-05:00

Everyone's looking forward to the upcoming film, Julie & Julia, which opens in wide release on August 7th. If you'd like to be one of the first to see it, show up at Wegmans on Monday, July 27th, between 11 a.m. and 2p.m. to receive two passes to see the movie on July 30th. Click here for a preview of the movie.

As an extra incentive, Wegmans will be giving free samples at their cafe!

Are you going to go see this movie? Is it this summer's Sex & The City?

Southsides

2009-07-23T22:03:00.005-05:00

My favourite summer drink is the classic Southside, a combination of lemon, lime, mint, club soda and rum. I get the drink from Mr. George Lee, the former bartender at the Greenspring Valley Hunt Club. However, it is more readily available at grocery stores in Ruxton, Hunt Valley and Timonium, or through Lindsay's Southsides on-line.I froze some of the mix in an ice-cube tray and will whir it in the blender to make a frozen Southside. Yummmmm!What's your favourite summer libation?

Marie Louise Bistro

2009-07-13T09:29:00.005-05:00

I have eaten at Marie Louise Bistro on Charles Street in Mount Vernon a few times, but this time I went with the Chefs. If you don't know, Marie Louise is in the space that, for a number of years, was Gampies. Following its closing, the space was empty for years. It re-opened late in 2008 as Marie Louise Bistro, with a beautiful new interior and huge windows facing the hustle and bustle of Charles Street.

The last few times I've eaten at MLB, it was late winter and early spring, which was reflected by the menu, which included duck confit and some heavy beef dishes. Now, in early July, the menu is still the same, and hasn't changed to accommodate the great fresh and seasonal foods now available. That was surprising to both me and the Chefs.

Our major gripe with our experience on Friday was the absolutely sluggish service. It took about 10 minutes for anyone to even acknowledge us once we'd been seated. Then a waitress came over with two glasses of water for three of us, and took off before we could place drink orders. Ten minutes later, a waiter returned to ask for our drink orders, but without the extra water glass. It then took about seven minutes for the drinks to arrive. We ordered immediately, since we didn't know how long we'd have to wait before another waitstaff came by. Lest you think it was mobbed, there were three waitstaff for 12 tables, which is a very good ratio even for a Friday night. Cat and I ordered hamburgers with fried onions and bleu cheese, and they came with french fries, which were barely warm. Dog ordered a chopped salad, which he said was overdressed. There was no bread put on the table, so Dog also ordered a mac-and-cheese, which was good, although made with the pedestrian elbow macaroni. The desserts at Marie Louise are made by Patisserie Poupon on Baltimore Street, so you know that they're good. There is also a small selection of gelati. The last time I was at MLB, they must have been very low on desserts, since the dessert tray featured a chocolate croissant, which is breakfast food. Unfortunately, someone put butterscotch syrup on the strawberry tart, and it tasted exactly like it came out of a jar. Caramel or chocolate sauce would have worked a lot better.

Dinner and tip came out to about $100, but we were so disappointed with the slow service, that it really made the experience less than pleasant.

J. Patrick's Pub

2009-07-11T19:43:00.004-05:00

When I lived in Locust Point, it took me about five years to go to J.Patrick's Pup, even though it was only about a five minute walk from my house. They are unapologetically Irish and my family is British Protestant.

However, once I did go, I fell in love with the cameraderie of the place and the genuine goodness of the people there, especially the owner, J. Patrick Byrne.

They frequently have live music, and the Chefs and I headed over there last week to catch one of their Thursday night jam sessions. It was brilliant.

Oh, and to make this post food-related, they have "small boneless chickens" on their menu.

Sunday Market - July 5

2009-07-05T10:24:00.003-05:00

It's really beginning to look a lot like summer at the Market! Tomatoes today, as well as some raspberries again. Here's what we saw:

Radishes. I remember eating radishes with butter, dipped in salt, in France.Swamp Mallow. There were loads of these, as well as their cousins, the hibiscus.
Tiiiiny flowers on a hanging basket. No idea what they are!
The first of the cherries are arriving, and there are sweet and sour cherries.
Rainbow chard. Take off the leaves and cook the stems first and then add the leaves.
See you next week at the Market!

Nick's Fish House

2009-07-01T15:34:00.002-05:00

Before it rained last night, it was the perfect evening for a drink or two on the porch at Nick's Fish House. Perfect temperature, nice cool breeze blowing and a view over the boats and docks.

Summer Drinks Definitions

2009-06-24T13:37:00.002-05:00

Lots of great links to click for even greater drinks for the summer!
Refreshing by Definition
By PETE WELLS @ The New York Times

AGAVE NECTAR In a Venn diagram of vegans and bartenders, this might be the only overlap. While the former group likes it as a honey substitute with no taint of animal exploitation, the latter appreciates its easy ability to blend into cold drinks. Professionals prefer mixing it with tequila and mezcal, but lazy home bartenders might use light agave nectar just like SIMPLE SYRUP, without the bother of boiling, cooling and bottling an extremely sticky substance.
BASIL Unless you sell your own line of pesto, there’s only so much basil you can use. So why not drink it? A distant cousin of MINT, basil can be put to some of the same uses in cocktails, but with predictably different results. MUDDLE it or just toss it in the shaker and let the ICE do the work (but use a strainer). Basil plays well with fruit, even pineapple.

CHILIES Sometimes the best way to cool down is by adding heat. Sparing amounts of hot peppers can lower body temperature, and will cut against the grain of a sweet cocktail, too. Bits of fresh chilies can be tossed into a blender for FROZEN DRINKS or smashed with a MUDDLER. Whole fresh chilies may be left in a bottle of liquor, like vodka. Ground dried chilies — typically cayenne, but smoky pimentón is also worth a try — can be included in a salt rim, as in: Watermelon Sugar.

COLA Rum and Coca-Cola, the Andrews Sisters sang. America sang along. And drank along. And it was good. What happened? Maybe our tastes changed. Coca-Cola certainly did — around 1900, when the drink was invented, Coke contained cane sugar (and cocaine, but that’s another story). Now it has high-fructose corn syrup, a viscous, unwelcome intruder in a Cuba Libre. But some new colas on the market contain restrained amounts of cane sugar, and a mildly bitter presence of kola nut. This sets the stage for an overdue revival of the Cuba Libre. To make one, mix two ounces of un-aged rum and the juice of half a small lime in a tall glass, build a tower of ice cubes, and top it off with the driest cola you can buy. The rind of the half lime is optional. A straw is not.

COLLINS Commercial sour mix drove this drink to the edge of extinction. If you must take a shortcut — if, say, you have heatstroke and the act of squeezing a lemon might send you to the hospital — then pour very good sparkling lemonade over your favorite liquor (gin, if it’s a Tom Collins; with vodka, the name changes to John). But try to gather strength to make it the right way, with the juice of a lemon, a tablespoon of SIMPLE SYRUP, a slug of liquor and loads of SELTZER. As a way to pass a hot afternoon, it is difficult to beat.

CUBA In most Polynesian-themed bars, not one cocktail comes from Polynesia, but plenty come from Cuba. The island is a prodigious source of classic summer drinks, including the Cuba Libre, the mojito and many variants on the DAIQUIRI.

DAIQUIRI If it’s purple and looks like it came from Mr. Softee, it’s not a daiquiri, no matter what the bartender says. This noble drink from CUBA, often ignobly degraded, should be the color of sea glass and taste somewhere on the sweet side of sour, or the sour side of sweet.

FREEZER The freezer is the home bartender’s most important ally. Set it very cold and always keep a bag of ICE in it for reinforcements, although the ice trays that come with most freezers yield superior cubes. Thick and substantial, they melt slowly. Stashing liquor bottles in the freezer is an affectation that may lend your kitchen a slightly desperate appearance and doesn’t do much to cool individual drinks. But it is a help when making punch. If you are, freeze a large plastic bowl of water (or a ring mold, to be fancy about it) the day before. Once solid, the ice will chill a punch for an hour or two before melting.

FROZEN DRINKS This degraded class of cocktail is now clawing its way back to respectability with the aid of bartenders like Adam Seger of Chicago and Martin Cate of Forbidden Island and the forthcoming Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco. Traditionally, most blender drinks are tropical and rum-based (leaving aside, with a violent shudder, the ones that contain ice cream). But the idiom can stretch to fit other flavors as well, as in this drink of Mr. Seger’s: Blueberry Maple Caiprissimo.

GINGER Ginger ale never went away as a mixer — a spigot with a button marked “G” is standard equipment in most bars — but it lost its fizz, not to mention its zing. Bartenders are restoring both. At the easiest level, this means buying high-quality ginger ale or ginger beer, the kind that burns a little as it goes down. Poured into a tall glass over ice and vodka, with a teaspoon of lime, it makes a Moscow Mule. With dark rum and lime, you have a Dark and Stormy. But there are other ways to drink your ginger. You can throw in thin slices of ginger root when making SIMPLE SYRUP for a ginger syrup that combines sugar and spice. Or get your hands on ginger juice. You can make it if you own a juicer, or you can buy it at juice bars, health food stores and Whole Foods, among other places. Dissolve an equal amount of sugar into it and you have a much more energetic ginger syrup. One last tip: in a pinch, you can grate ginger and squeeze it. You won’t open a ginger ale factory this way, but you can extract enough juice for drinks like: Pimm's Saigon.

ICE Modern bartenders will brag about keeping 10 different kinds of ice on hand. For home use, though, only three are worth worrying about. First, regular ice cubes, for the cocktail shaker and for most drinks served on the rocks. Second, big chunks of ice for punches; see FREEZER. Last, finely cracked ice for JULEPS. Some ice crushers on their finest setting will yield something close to this. But for sticklers, only ice wrapped in linen or canvas and whacked to a fine powder with a wooden mallet will do. If the prospect of that makes you want to take a wooden mallet to this reporter, then forget it, and just find the nearest bar that stocks 10 different forms of ice.

JULEP For all the chest-thumping this class of drinks has caused, it’s a simple affair: sweetened liquor stirred in a mound of finely crushed or shaved ice. But until you’ve had one made without shortcuts, one that truly frosts the outside of its cup, it’s impossible to imagine how refreshing a julep can be. These days it is almost always seen in the form of the bourbon-based mint julep, but in the 19th century Americans drank a julep made with genever, an aged gin that eventually vanished from stores. Now it’s come back and with it, if we’re lucky, this recipe from the drinks historian David Wondrich: Gin Julep.

LEMONS AND LIMES Citrus may be a winter crop, but even the most devoutly seasonal bartenders would not make it past the solstice without lemons and limes. Beyond standard uses, keep in mind that a big dose of lime cuts the sugar in a gin and tonic, especially those made with oversweetened mass-produced TONIC WATER. In fact, it can uplift almost any drink made with a carbonated mixer; see RICKEY.

MELON Honeydew, watermelon and even cucumber (all members of the cucurbitaceae family) can be pounded with a Muddler to flavor a cocktail. But for a tall drink where the juice is the main ingredient, you can peel and pulse them lightly in a blender (seeds and all), then push the pulp through a sieve or a cheesecloth. The juice can taste flat without LEMON or LIME juice and SALT. Try, for instance, loading a shaker with ice, then adding 2 ounces of gin, an ounce of cucumber juice, a teaspoon of lime juice and a pinch of salt. Shake, pour over ice in a tall glass and top with cold TONIC WATER.

MINT Essential ingredient in mojitos and some juleps and a fine garnish for almost every other summer drink.

MUDDLER If you don’t own one, you can make do with the handle end of a sharpening steel, or even a wooden spoon. But a muddler, essentially a miniature bat with a blunt end, is a worthwhile investment for crushing fresh herbs and fruit: Thai Basil Bliss.

PEACHES When they’re in season, drink them. Puréed, sweetened white peaches topped with Prosecco make a Bellini. Three or four ripe peach wedges, Muddled with MINT leaves, a tablespoon of sugar, two tablespoons of water and two LEMON slices, then shaken with bourbon and ice, strained into a glass and served on the rocks, gives you Dale DeGroff’s classic Whiskey Peach Smash.

PIMENTO DRAM Crafting sweet drinks that don’t cloy is the trickiest part of summer mixology: you don’t want your rum punch to taste like Hawaiian Punch. Bitters and CHILIES can help. So can Jamaican pimento dram (or pimento liqueur), now back on some liquor store shelves in the United States. As an undercurrent in fruit-based cocktails, it adds a dash of what-is-that-flavor intrigue. (It’s allspice.)

RASPBERRY SYRUP On summer’s first really hot day (and that day will come, unlikely as it seems), when fresh berries turn to pulp before you can eat them, do this: Boil 3/4 cup of sugar in 3/4 cup of water until dissolved, and let cool slightly. Purée a cup of raspberries with the warm sugar syrup in a blender, then strain and let cool completely. Keep in a clean jar and use the raspberry syrup in place of sugar or SIMPLE SYRUP in any cocktail recipe, particularly those with LEMON. Or stir 2 ounces of syrup into 6 ounces of seltzer for a lovely, if expensive, soft drink.

RICKEY So simple it’s almost embarrassing, a rickey is nothing more than a shot of any liquor with a healthy dose of LIME juice and lots of seltzer. That’s it. A little sweet liqueur can make it even better, as in: Rye Rickey.

SALT Once seen on margaritas and nowhere else, salt has come in for a second look at bars. A pinch in the shaker can sharpen the taste of juices like MELON or cucumber. More often it’s used on glass rims, mixed with sugar, perhaps, and with ground spices like fennel seed, black pepper, CHILIES or dried citrus zest. (Bacon dust has also been spotted, but the less said about that, the better.)

SELTZER Keep a few small bottles in the refrigerator, and more in storage, and you will always have the simplest summer drink within reach: a highball, made with liquor and soda.
SIMPLE SYRUP Nobody in their right mind makes simple syrup for just one cocktail. But it’s worth the bother in summer, when a big batch comes in handy for sweetening iced tea, coffee and lemonade. Boil a cup of sugar in a cup of water and stir until dissolved. Let cool, decant into a glass container and keep refrigerated. (For a change, especially in rum and pisco drinks, try simple syrup made with Demerara sugar instead.)

SPICED SYRUPS Follow the method for simple syrup, but throw in some cinnamon sticks or a tablespoon of whole cloves, allspice or black pepper. Let cool, strain out the spices, and store. Use instead of, or with, SIMPLE SYRUP in fruity drinks. Your guests will be pleasantly mystified.

TONIC WATER Like COLAS, many commercial tonics are now made with high-fructose corn syrup. They have a way of sticking to the roof of your mouth that might be fine in peanut butter, but not in a gin and tonic. New boutique tonics, like Q and Fever-Tree, are less sweet and sticky. A sour blast of Lime juice is no longer a necessity, just a nice complement.

WINE When it’s hot, we’re thirsty. But you don’t want to knock back straight whiskey like water, just to quench your thirst. That’s why tall drinks diluted with COLA, SELTZER or TONIC make sense, and why wine cocktails deserve a try. On the other hand, you could just forget the cocktail and drink a cold rosé.

Sunday Market - June 21

2009-06-23T10:32:00.004-05:00

First day of summer! But one of the farmers told me that they're basically two to three weeks behind schedule because of the cool, cloudy and rainy spring.

Here's what I got on Sunday:

That's right, peonies and raspberries.

Abu, the Flutemaker was there playing his bannister flute.

Yum, stuffed squash blossoms, before the stuffing.

This is some sort of climbing hollyhock.See y'all next week!

Arnold Palmer & Half n' Half

2009-06-16T12:26:00.003-05:00

It's just been in the past year or so that I've learned about an Arnold Palmer, mainly because I don't frequent golf courses, but also because the idea of iced tea in the UK is anathema plain, let alone cut by half with lemonade.

For those not in the know, an Arnold Palmer drink is half lemonade and half sweet tea or plain iced tea. It's also called a half & half, depending on where you order it.

My new favourite version of it is from Big Bad Wolf, using their refreshing mint iced tea and lemonade! There are other versions of this, including one made with iced tea and lemon vodka, or iced-tea flavoured vodka and lemonade, called a John Daly.

Red Canoe

2009-06-15T10:37:00.004-05:00

No market on Sunday as my partner-in-markets was working. So instead, I will review Red Canoe, where I took my niece Julia for lunch on Friday. If you don't know Red Canoe, it's a combination book store/cafe on Harford Road in Lauraville, just south of Cold Spring Lane/Moravia Road. My niece is just learning to cook, and to really understand what makes some things taste better than others. She had gotten a blueberry muffin at the Towson Farmers' Market on Thursday, and liked it a lot. But she'd read the rave review that Richard Gorelick had written about their muffins last week. So she was interested to try Red Canoe's and see if she could discern a difference. Julia ordered a blueberry muffin along with an Oreo latteand I ordered a cup of gazpacho and a spinach/cheddar muffin. At her first taste of the muffin, Julia raved about it. I asked her what the difference was and she pointed out that the Red Canoe muffin had some lemon zest in it that made the flavour brighter. My gazpacho was a little spicy, but cool and refreshing, and the spinach muffin had bits of melted cheddar and mustard seeds from the grainy Dijon they use. All in all, a very successful lunch outing for Julia and me!

Eating in NYC

2009-06-08T20:07:00.009-05:00

Julie at Kitchenography and I went to NYC on Saturday on the BOLT bus... She paid $1.00 each way. I paid 10 times that amount, which is still cheap. The first and last thing we did was to eat. However, our meals were at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Lunch was at Jing Fong, a HUGE dim sum joint on Elizabeth and Canal Streets. We took a looooong escalator up to the massive second floor where we were escorted to a table with some Austrian tourists. The wait staff pushed carts of food around and stopped at the table to see whether you were interested in what was on offer. We got several types of dumplings, pork buns and some clams. Julie had heard something about soft shell crabs, but we never did see any. One of the more intriguing things we saw was a women pushing a cart with an enormous barrel on it, serving some sort of custard-type dessert.

After lunch, we wandered along Canal Street, looking for something special for me, but seeing lots and lots of bunches of lychees, lots of cherries and a monster-sized jack fruit. We headed into Kam Man, one of the first Chinese grocery stores in the UK. It's got everything from soup to nuts and even dinnerware. We were enamored with some dishes with tiny figurines poking their heads over the edges, but at $15 each, we declined.

Next we headed down Canal Street to Broadway to Pearl River Mart. I am not going to write about this here, but I will post on my design blog in a day or two.

We popped into Gourmet Garage to see if there was something to picnic on, but we really weren't in the mood for that. We did see some gorgeous produce though!

As we strolled through Soho, looking at menus posted in windows, we picked a small corner bistro called Lusso. Boy did we luck out! It was the perfect place to sit and have a quick, but excellent meal before heading back to Baltimore. The menu was brief but innovative. Our waiter was friendly and helpful. Louis Santos, the chef, was charming. And best of all, the Belmont Stakes was on the TV, so we got to watch the New York race in NYC!

Julie started with scallops in a truffle-artichoke puree with artichoke chips. If you know Julie, you know she loves artichokes more than anything!!! I had grilled bread with chicken liver pate, which was smooth as silk and about the best I'd ever eaten - even beating Neapol! How lucky is it that Lusso's website had a picture of our two appetizers that looks way better than mine? Do you know how hard it is to take a good picture of chicken liver pate?

We shared a bowl of lemon risotto, parsley and marscapone cheese, which again, was excellent. The lemon really cut the richness of the cheese and risotto.

The taxi gods were smiling on us and we walked right out of Lusso and into a cab!

Sunday Market - May 31

2009-06-01T10:00:00.003-05:00

My mother came to the market with me, and she was looking for hanging baskets and some bedding plants. We were on a tight schedule and so there wasn't a lot of time to stop and take pictures.

We went to the market at 9:30 so my mother could make it to 10:30 mass at St. Ignatius. The difference between being at the market at our usual 8:00 a.m. arrival and 9:30 is like night and day. At 8:00, people are serious about getting what they want and then getting out of there and on with their day. They move along quickly and with a purpose.

At 9:30, people are there to browse and wander slowly through the market. It's also about three times more crowded at that time, something that I don't like!

I am continually amazed by the inconsiderate people who persist in bringing their dogs to the market. It's against the rules in the first place, and dogs, especially the huge one I saw yesterday are an impediment to traffic. Please show some consideration and leave your damn dog at home... Surely you can be parted from him for a little while, no?

Cheetos & Old Bay

2009-05-30T15:20:00.003-05:00

Now that it's summer again... or at least it's now after Memorial Day... it's time to remind everyone about that summertime taste sensation - CHEETOS & OLD BAY! Just get a bag of Cheetos, and sprinkle some Old Bay over them and shake the bag. It's simple, it's tasty and it's the perfect thing to bring for a summer cook-out!

Sunday Market - May 24

2009-05-27T20:01:00.004-05:00

We had intended to get to the market at 7:30 on Sunday, but that didn't quite work! We actually got there closer to 8... We were in a hurry since one of us had to be on the Eastern Shore by 11.

The one thing I really wanted to pick up was some peonies. I am mad for them, and adore their heady scent. I found some white ones with a few pinks thrown in.

Here are the usual pictures... mostly flowers, but some food!

The asparagus still looks terrific! See y'all next week @ the Market!

Sunday Market - May 17

2009-05-22T13:36:00.003-05:00

Before another Sunday rolls around, I thought I'd better post about last week's market finds. If you'll recall, it was rather dark and dreary, so very difficult to photograph anything. So I waited until I got home to shoot what I bought - strawberries and fresh cream, or half & half.

The strawberries aren't local yet, but they were probably from Virginia or the Carolinas. Despite all of the recent rain, they weren't cottony and white inside, but a lovely pale red. Lots of flavour and with a little sprinkle of sugar, and a splash of fresh h&h, they made a perfect Sunday supper... and Monday supper!

I even found a conjoined berry in the batch.

Sunday Market - May 10

2009-05-11T12:07:00.003-05:00

Thank god the rain finally stopped! I felt as though I was beginning to mildew from all of the damp. The first two weeks in May reminded me of life in Wales, right down to the cool weather, glowing green and copious rains.

Because it was the first sunny day of the Downtown Market, it was PACKED, even at 8:00 a.m. There was a line for the beautiful strawberries, but after we did some calculations: n x p = NO, where n=number of pints of strawberries left and p=people in line, we decided not to wait. The other strawberries we saw were not nearly as pretty, so there wasn't a line.

We saw lots of lettuces, asparagus, some left-over apples from last year, but not a lot of other local produce, except some hot-house grown herbs. Lot of market packs of bedding plants and veggies, too.

As opposed as I am to people having dogs at the market (and I am talking to you, woman with the tiny black lab puppy on the leash, who could have been stepped on), I didn't object to the dog this gal was carrying.

We saw this little guy carrying a bag of kettle corn nearly as big as he was!

See you next week!

Goat Rodeo

2009-05-11T11:38:00.004-05:00

My friend, Dog, is a chef at the world's most exclusive club: 100 members only, it costs millions to get in and a new member can only be admitted if another member leaves or dies. So when Dog told me he was looking for goat meat for lunch for the members, I knew it would be an adventure to find it. Dog wanted baby goat meat that he could roll, tie and roast, so we needed someone who could butcher the goat for him.

We started out on Saturday morning, first heading to Big Boy's World Wide Market, an international market on Paca Street across from Lexington Market. They did have goat, but it was frozen and cubed. Since we were in the vicinity, we stopped in to Trinacria, where we met my Sunday partner-in-crime, Julie, who gave us a suggestion of where to look. We checked out Lexington Market, pretty much knowing that they didn't have goat, but we needed coffee, so thought a walk through the market would at least provide us with that.

From Paca Street, we headed over to a halal market on Charles and 20th streets. We walked in and didn't see anyone and finally called out. There was a man sitting behind a huge glass partition, who couldn't even be bothered to greet us when we entered. He gestured us to the back, where there was a butcher. They did have baby goats, but wouldn't butcher them for us, so we left.

From there, we aimed for Huntington and Remington, at Julie's suggestion, although we realized that these two streets don't intersect. We drove up Remington from 25th until we saw another halal store, and stopped in there. "Oh no", they said, "we won't have baby goats until tomorrow. You come back then." They did point us to a place that they assured us was "in front of Yellow Cab" in best Baltimore directions-giving manner.

To give directions in Baltimore, you must direct people via no longer existing landmarks, not actual street names. Needless to say, although we did find Yellow Cab, which is now Veolia Transportation, we didn't find a butcher. Our queries to cabbies in the area yielded no results, although somewhere along the line, we were told about another halal market on 33rd Street, right next to Papa John's.

Close by the Waverly Market, right on 33rd Street, there is indeed a small halal market, which ends up being rather Tardis-like, being much larger in the inside than the outside. After we wended our way to the back, we discovered a butcher shop which did have baby goats that the butcher was willing to cut for us. He chided us for not ordering in advance, but since we didn't know of the existance of the place until about 15 minutes earlier, that was impossible.

After some hemming and hawing, he assured us that he could do the butcher work, he did have enough baby goats and that it wouldn't take too long. How long, we wanted to know. Several hours? No, just long enough for us to go to Pete's Grille for lunch and walk back.

I did take pictures of parts of this adventure, especially the last part, but I have been assured that people will not want to see them. I had a hard time even taking them. If you must see pictures, click here.

The funniest part about this whole adventure was what happened later: I was going to get my eyebrows threaded by a Pakistani woman in the Security area of Baltimore. When I pulled into the parking lot, I remembered that there was a halal butcher and grocery store next to her shop. I mentioned our goat quest to her and she told me that the owner of the store was her husband, he had a butcher on premise and they did have goat in the house!

Sweet Tooth

2009-05-06T14:03:00.003-05:00

Pigtown Mainstreet had our Sundaes on Friday event at Sweet Tooth across from Hollins Market last Friday and it was a ball! For $10, each person got two tickets, entitling them to two sundaes. As much as people protested that they couldn't POSSIBLY eat two sundaes, many people managed!

The ice cream came from Sylvan Beach Ice Cream, which has a store in the Mount Washington area. They have some amazing flavours, including graham cracker and key lime pie. I had some of their strawberry, with crushed fresh strawberry topping and hot fudge as my sundae.

In addition to ice cream, Sweet Tooth has a gorgeous selection of desserts. Two that caught my eye were the brownie chunk cheesecake and the dreamcicle pie!

And So It Begins...

2009-05-06T12:45:00.003-05:00

The Downtown Farmers Market started on May 3, much to our delight. Julie and I met up at the usual place, by Baltimore Dog Bakery, at the usual time: 8:00 a.m. We were joined by our friend Elizabeth and some gals from her and Julie's cookbook club.

It was a miserable morning, cool and rainy. Not just a little misty rain, but a chucking down rain. There were not too many vendors there, mainly because it's a late spring and there's not a lot in the fields yet.

I bought two bunches of lilacs, one white and one, uh... lilac. Didn't take pictures of them, but took some of other flowers and the lack of crowds.

Big Bad Wolf BBQ

2009-04-29T12:28:00.004-05:00

When I lived in Wales, I never learned the language. Oh, I felt a little guilty about it, but really, when would I ever use it? However, I did come to know three words: Bryn Blaidd Drwg (Y and W are vowels in Welsh). It means Big Bad Wolf.
I realized today that Big Bad Wolf BBQ is only about two miles from my office, so I went over and got lunch. Carolina Pulled Pork with a Kansas City Sauce and Mac & Cheese. I brought them back to my office so I could photograph them and eat them at my desk. The pulled pork or the sauce was a little spicier than I like, but it was very good. The mac & cheese tasted like it had a few types of cheeses in it. I also got a mint-iced tea, which was very refreshing. Of course, anything's better than Southern Sweet Tea.

Wegmans Pink Grapefruit Sorbet

2009-04-26T17:52:00.003-05:00

For me, a trip to Wegmans is a huge undertaking. It's about a 50 mile round trip, a bit much for some grocery shopping. On the occasion that I do find myself in the vicinity of Shawan Road, I try and stop in at Wegmans. There are only a few things that I get there that I can't find anywhere else, and one of them is Wegmans house brand Pink Grapefruit Sorbet.

I love pink grapefruit anything, and I've never tasted anything like this. It's got a sharp citrus taste, with little bits of grapefruit rind in it. It's light and crisp and delicious! Added to that it's fat-free, gluten-free, lactose-free and vegan.

It's also the most beautiful pale, pale pink, one of my favourite colours. I bought three pints.

Sundaes on Friday

2009-04-21T13:46:00.003-05:00

I am president of the Pigtown Main Street board and we're doing some fun events this summer. The first event is Sundaes on Friday at the newly opened Sweet Tooth Dessert Shop in the Hollins Market area, on Friday, May 1 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.

Tickets are $10 each, which lets you get two (!) sundaes. Tickets for kids under 10 are $5.00. In addition to sundaes, there will be music and a 50/50 raffle. Sweet Tooth is located at 1111 Hollins Street, and there's plenty of parking available on the streets surrounding it.

All proceeds benefit the programs of Pigtown Main Street.

APRIL FOOD DAY

2009-03-31T17:54:00.002-05:00

Do you know that...

One in eight Americans are at risk for hunger?
Four million Americans receive assistance from Feeding America each week?
Children who are hungry have slower emotional, social and educational development?
Millions of elderly Americans go to bed hungry every night?

It is so critical that those of us who are not in this position help those that are. So many people who never thought they would need food assistance are now asking for help from their local food bank. They have lost their jobs through the massive down-sizings and layoffs. They have exhausted all of their resources. Elderly people on fixed incomes are finding that costs are out-pacing their incomes.

First-time requests at food banks are at an all-time high, but the shelves are bare. Corporations and foundations have decreased their donations and individuals are so uncertain about their own finances, that their giving has slowed.

We are asking that you make a donation, even if it's just a dollar or two, or maybe take a box of canned goods to your local food bank. It will help someone who may be less fortunate than you are.

Here's the link to Feeding America, an affiliation of more than 200 food banks across the country. Chances are that your local food bank is a part of this network.

We're all in this together, and that's the way we will come through it... together.

Please help today. The need is great and the time is now. Thank you so very much.

Lotte Market Sunday

2009-03-30T18:06:00.004-05:00

I went to Lotte Market on Route 40 and Route 29 on the advice of Plays with Needles. She'd found the funniest little tooth-picks with wee brushes on either end and I thought they would work for art projects and for cleaning my computer and mouse.

Lotte is a mainly Korean market, but they do have a selection of Latin American and other foods. The store didn't seem as clean as H-Mart, but it was huge. Like H-Mart and Fresh World Market, Lotte has a selection of china and other housewares. Here are some things I saw: Cactus leaves.Fresh Chives.Telephone brand agar-agar. It was the branding on this that made me laugh.Kung Fu Chicken Soup. I thought it was supposed to be Kung Fu Panda.

On the way home, I drove through the Ellicott City valley, just after a storm had blown through. I love Ellicott City, but always forget to go there.

Bad News

2009-03-28T13:45:00.002-05:00

Well, for me, anyway... Chef Cat is trying out a lot of cupcake recipes and she's asked me to be one of her testers. It's a tough job, but I am trying to step up to the responsibility.

Last night, I had a lemon cupcake with gorgeous lemon icing and little curls of candied lemon, topped with a candied rose petal. YUM!

H-Mart Saturday

2009-03-21T11:35:00.004-05:00

The chefs and I took a field trip to H-Mart on Route 40 and Rolling Road. As usual, lots of interesting and unusual foods awaited us. Chef Dawg was looking for some fermented black beans and found them straight-away. Meanwhile, Chef Cat and I took our time strolling though the produce section and checking out what we saw.

These little things, which look sort of like tiny yams, are actually fresh tumeric. Even the chefs haven't seen this before! These rhizomes are boiled and then dried and ground for use as a spice.We're all familiar with water chestnuts, but have you ever seen fresh ones?This is mamey, the fruit of an ornamental evergeen which grows in South and Central America. Wiki says that the skin is a cross between sandpaper and peach fuzz and that the inside is creamy and sweet and orange. The flavour is described as a combination of pumpkin, sweet potato and marischino cherries! This woman is whipping up batches of kimchi, the traditional Korean pickled vegetable dish. The Kimchi Field Museum in Korea has documented 187 types of kimchi.

Because English is not the primary language of the staff at H-Mart, misspellings are frequent and frequently funny.

Frozen Frog Legs

Oy Vey! Kosher Coke

2009-03-15T17:04:00.004-05:00

Well, not really Kosher Coke technically, but Passover Coke. There are just a few short weeks during the year that you can find this Coke, which is made with sugar instead of corn syrup. There is a prohibition against corn and corn products during Passover, which will begin on April 9, 2009.

You can distinguish regular Passover Coke from Coke by the yellow top on the bottle. It usually only comes in the 2 litre bottles and several Coke products including Sprite, Dr. Pepper and Diet Coke are also available for about three to four weeks.

You can listen to a story on Passover Coke on NPR here. If you like Classic Coke, this is the closest thing you'll find! I got some today at Fresh Market at Quarry Lake on Greenspring Avenue. La'Chiam!

April Food Day - Bloggers Fighting Hunger

2009-03-15T11:20:00.003-05:00

Everyday, the news is filled with the dire news about the current economic climate and a lot of us use the blogging community to take a break from the constant drumbeat. However, we can not ignore the fact that friends and family members, and even some blogger friends have lost their jobs because of the recession.

Former advertising executive and editor of Easy & Elegant Life, along with fundraising professional and editor of Pigtown*Design, have teamed up to create a blogger action day on April 1, 2009, which we are calling April Food Day – Bloggers Fighting Hunger. We are asking our fellow bloggers to create a post about this project and ask each of their readers to make a contribution to Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest), a national food bank with 200 member banks across the country.

People who never had a worry in the world now have to think about where their next meal is coming from. People who never would have dreamt that they would need help are now showing up at the local food banks. But when they get there, the shelves are bare. There is not enough food being donated to meet the sudden rise in demand. There is not enough money to buy the food for the food banks. There is not a general understanding that food banks need help to help fill their shelves.

Every dollar contributed provides seven meals or 10 pounds of food. A gift of $25 provides 75 meals. If we all post together and ask our readers to make a contribution on April 1, we can make a huge difference in our communities.

We would like our fellow bloggers to help in a few easy ways:

Send this or a similar letter to your friends with blogs and ask them to do the same.
Write a post, and we can help you with copy if you need it, and publish it on March 31 or April 1, asking your readers to make a contribution to Feeding America. We will provide you with the direct link to Feeding America’s donation page.
Provide a link to the blog, April Food Day, on your site and to your post about April Food Day. We will link back to your blog and your post.

We hope that you will help us help others. We understand that this is a quick turn-around, but the need is great and the time is now.

White House Dinner

2009-02-26T21:05:00.002-05:00

There was a dinner for all 50 governors and their spouses at the White House earlier this week. I though you might like to see what they served:

Chesapeake crab agnolottis with roasted sunchokes, paired with a 2007 Spottswoode sauvignon blanc from California;

Wagyu beef and Nantucket scallops with glazed red carrots, portobello mushroom and creamed Spinach, paired with the 2004 Archery Summit "estate" pinot noir, from Oregon;

A winter citrus salad with pistachios and lemon honey vinaigrette.

For dessert, a huckleberry cobbler with caramel ice cream, paired with a 2007 Black Star Farms "A Capella" Riesling ice wine, from Michigan.

From: The Guardian

Kerry Gold

2009-02-16T19:49:00.002-05:00

When I lived with David in Wales, he always had Kerry Gold butter at the house. He left it on the counter, so it was never hard - the house was frigid, even in summer, so it worked.

Kerry Gold tastes like European butter and has a lovely pale yellow colour. It looks different than American butter and you can almost taste the grass that the cows eat.

It's a happy day when I can find Kerry Gold at the grocery store. I found that the Kerry Gold site has a store located for the United States. Click here to find the closest store to you.

Fugu Poisoning

2009-01-27T17:39:00.004-05:00

This is why I haven't checked fugu off my Omnivore's 100 list.
Seven diners in northern Japan fell ill and three were still in hospital today after eating blowfish testicles prepared in a restaurant not authorised to serve the poisonous delicacy. The owner of the restaurant in Tsuruoka city, who is also the chef, had no licence to serve blowfish and was being questioned on suspicion of professional negligence, police official Yoshihito Iwase said.

Iwase said the seven men ordered sashimi and grilled blowfish testicles at the restaurant last night. Shortly after, they developed limb paralysis and breathing trouble and started to lose consciousness – typical signs of blowfish poisoning – and were rushed to a hospital for treatment.

A 68-year-old diner was in a critical condition with respiratory failure and two others, aged 55 and 69, were in serious condition, Iwase said. "It's scary. If you go to a decent-looking restaurant that serves fugu, you would assume a cook has a proper fugu license," Iwase said, using the Japanese term for blowfish.

Blowfish poison, called tetrodotoxin, is nearly 100 times more poisonous than potassium cyanide, according to the Ishikawa health service association. Eating it can cause death within an hour and a half.

Three people died and 44 others became ill from blowfish poisoning in Japan in 2007 – most of them after catching the fish and cooking it at home, according to the health ministry.

from: The Guardian

Restaurant Week: Lebanese Taverna

2009-01-26T22:02:00.003-05:00

A group of us went to Lebanese Taverna in Harbour East and although the food was excellent, the service was the worst ever! It took more than four hours from start to finish.

We had a 7:00 p.m. reservation and they seated us promptly, but it took about 15 minutes for the waiter to take our drink order and then about another 20 minutes to bring our beers and wines. Then it was about another 20+ minutes before he brought the menus to us.

We all ordered the special menu, which included an appetizer, a glass of wine or beer, the entrée and a dessert. He requested that we place the whole order at that point, which was fine.

When he brought out the appetizers, he just placed them in the middle of the table, but there were about half as many appetizers as diners at our table. When the entrées finally came out, three came, then about 10 minutes later another few and then finally the rest. By this time, it was almost 9:30 and we were getting restless.

A table behind us put their order in, and after waiting about 45 minutes, were presented with their check, even though they’d never gotten their food. They were livid, as they’d been there for almost two hours!

The waiter finally came around and asked us about our desserts, and we mentioned that he’d taken the order earlier. After another lengthy wait, he came back with three desserts, and disappeared. When we finally saw him again and asked where the rest were, he had to take the order all over again. About 10 minutes, he came back and said that the items we’d ordered were out, and we’d have to get something else.

When we finally got our checks, it was nearly 11:00 (he asked if we wanted separate checks and we said yes, since there were 10 of us). Almost every check was wrong, with things missing and other things added or double charged. That took about another 15 minutes to resolve, and we finally left at about 11:15.

Granted it is Restaurant Week and it was a Saturday night, but I can’t see any excuse for this meal to have taken more than four hours! They could have turned over that table twice in the time we were there.

While we all loved our meals, I won’t be going back there any time soon. It was just a huge exercise in frustration for all of us.

Omnivore's 100 - My List

2009-01-20T23:01:00.003-05:00

The VGT Omnivore's Hundred with things I've tried in BOLD. 69 out of 100... not too shabby!

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile/Alligator

6. Black pudding

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari

12. Pho

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries

23. Foie gras

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

29. Baklava

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a fat cigar

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects

43. Phaal

44. Goat's milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips

61. S'mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs' legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash

88. Flowers

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

Boulangerie in the UK

2009-01-08T19:52:00.003-05:00

When I was in England in October, I ate at a lot of great places, included Modern Pantry (below), Petersham Nurseries, Tom's in Notting Hill, Bluebird (a Conran restaurant) and a sweet little French Bakery in Richmond, Surrey. I had to wait about a half an hour for my friend to come in to Richmond on the train, so to while away the time, I popped into this little bakery to have a cafe au lait and read the Sunday Times.

In addition to gorgeous marcarons, they had some vegetable tarts, adorable chocolates including this cutie pie frog and enormous meringues.

Luckily, my friend wasn't too long in coming!

Modern Pantry London

2009-01-03T16:04:00.005-05:00

When I was in London last year, I had dinner with my friend, the Man of Mode, at Modern Pantry in Clerkenwell in the oldest part of London. I was delighted to see the review of it today in the Guardian and it got a 9/10!

You have to wade through some obscure references at the beginning, but here's the review in full.

The Modern Pantry, Clerkenwell.
9/10Telephone 020-7250 0833 Address 47-48 St John's Square, London EC1

Open Mon-Fri, 8am-7pm

Even in such a hyper-faddish industry in so neophiliac an age, nothing lately has gone from all the rage to dismally passé with the speed of fusion cooking. At the turn of the century, the mingling of cuisines and ingredients that really should have been offering each other outside had come to offer untold riches to the parodist of rampant pretension, and gloomy bemusement to everyone else.

If the gold standard was Shumi, a central London shocker that coalesced the culinary traditions of Italy and Japan before surrendering to closure as its Axis powers predecessors did to the Allies (albeit without a shiitake mushroom cloud), it was hardly alone. During the millennium's earliest years, the nuclear family of fusion joints saw countless members vaporised before the penny finally dropped.

So it was with a fittingly assonant cocktail of emotions - nostalgic warmth mingling with terror - that I went to a newcomer in Clerkenwell belonging to chef-owner Anna Hansen. She's a protégée and compatriot of Peter Gordon, the grandaddy of British fusion whose Sugar Club and, later, Providores spawned so many wretched pastiches from those who never grasped that to be a great surrealist painter, you must first master such basics as accurate drawing.

According to the online guides, the Modern Pantry (and what a cute, era-fusing name that is) belongs to the Gordon-pioneered sub-branch of fusion known as Pacific Rim. That alone was enough to put me off, because to the self-respecting hypochondriac it isn't a geographical or foodie term at all, but the correct antonym for irritable bowel syndrome. "How's your IBS?" "Never worse. These bowels aren't irritable, they're psychotic. And yours?" "Much better. At the minute, touch wood, I have an astonishingly pacific rim."

Low expectations can distort the critical judgment, the relief luring you into inflating the competent into the outstanding, but by any standards the Modern Pantry is a gem. Sited in a pair of listed town houses in a quiet square, the small and more informal downstairs room (a posher one has since opened upstairs, and there's a deli attached) is bright but functional, with gleamingly white furniture, refectory table in the centre of the space, open-plan kitchen, obligatory Farrow & Ball bluey-grey walls, and conical copper lamps, while the staff are tolerant to the edge of saintliness. Our lunch, which kicked off at 12.30, did not end until 7pm, yet even after we had smashed the third wine glass, they smiled indulgently on heading for the dustpan and brush.

The decently priced menu, meanwhile, isn't overly laden with things you need to Google (Krupuk quail eggs, turmeric gujiya, umeboshi butter; just a few) and the food is simply beautiful. My God, this young woman can cook.

My starter was a desert island dish - an omelette of sugar-cured prawns, spring onions and green chilli, straddled by coriander leaves and served with a smoked chilli sambal, which perfectly mingled the sweet and the tongue-tinglingly acrid. Previously, I'd have cited the Arnold Bennett as all-time favourite omelette, but the lightness and delicacy of this masterpiece gives it the edge. My friend was almost as wild about his yellowfin tuna sashimi with truffled mustard seed, yuzu and soy dressing, an elegantly presented, zingingly fresh dish that elicited a visceral, "Och, that's wonderful."

The first glass had been destroyed by the time main courses arrived. "It's like a notably well laid out version of something you'd get in a jerk chicken place," said my friend of his spinach, shiitake and plantain green curry with roasted yams and spiced aubergine relish. "And it's gorgeous." As were my grilled Napoli sausages, gloriously herby, flavoursome beasts served with lentils, feta, parsnips and green pepper relish.

The portions being as rustic as the sausages, we couldn't manage puds. So with the coffee we shared a plate of cheese (including the creamiest Yarg I've tasted) - engagingly and fleetingly removed so the chef could pass the oatcakes fit for duty - and prepared to depart. Four hours and two more broken glasses later, we reeled out feeling as guilty, perplexed and fearful as middle-aged men must after a six-hour lunch. But at the same time we left entranced by Hansen's fusion of the pan-global inventiveness that is now so deliciously nostalgic and the old-fashioned technical excellence that's become so achingly trendy.
Although the Modern Pantry isn't all that at first glance, it becomes more impressive as each hour passes. In fact, it's what a self-confessed size queen of my acquaintance would admiringly call "a grower, not a shower", and should be around long enough to watch a myriad culinary fads rise and fall.

The bill
Bread £2

Prawn omelette £7.80 Pictured above

Yellowfin tuna sashimi £5.80 This is one of the things I had. It was amazing!!!

Spinach, shiitake and plantain green curry £11

Napoli sausages on lentils £12.50Cheese plate £6.50

Alcohol I'm not telling
Subtotal (excluding booze) £49.60Service @ 12.5% (ditto) £6.20
Total £55.80

This was the ladies room. LOVE the pink mirror!

Last Sunday Market of 2008

2008-12-21T19:37:00.004-05:00

Despite an icy morning, we managed to get to the last Sunday market this morning. A lot of the regular vendors were missing and the crowd was sparse. There were lots of wreaths, garlands and trees available today. We talked to one of the people at Gardener's Gourmet who told us that the drive down to Baltimore from Westminster was very scary with all of the ice on the roads. They left at 3:00 a.m. to get to Baltimore by the 7:00 market opening. They had some interesting looking radishes, which were called watermelon radishes.

Here's what the watermelon radishes look like inside.
I am still completely fascinated with the Romanesque broccoli.

After the market, we went to Gertrude's at the Baltimore Museum of Art to celebrate six months of Sundays at the Market. At the gift shop, I saw this hand-knit scarf which reminded me of the broccoli!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T15:55:00.002-05:00

I hope you have/had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of laughter, family, friends, football and great food!

Birthday Dinners

2008-11-16T11:40:00.007-05:00

I am extremely lucky that I have such incredible friends. My two long-time best friends, the Blonde and the Redhead took me to dinner at The Milton Inn, which was spectacular. My two neighbourhood best friends Cat & Dog, made dinner for me last night. They're both chefs, so I knew this would be a real treat.

Here's the menu:

Aged Cheddar and Onion Marmalade Crostini

Gonzo Boneless Short Ribs (Made with Gonzo Imperial Porter by Flying Dog Brewery) with Roasted Onions and Red Peppers

Goat Cheese Herbed Polenta

Braised Brussel Sprouts and Baby Carrots

Poached Pears, Cardamom Spiced Cake, Zinfandel Consumme and Caramel Creme

To say it was fantastic would be an understatement. It was just such fun to watch Dog put together the first part of the meal and then to watch Cat assemble the second part. They were gracious enough to let me take step-by-step photographs of them working.

Whipping the cream Painting the plates with the caramel and the wine reduction
Plating the cake
Poached Pears
Quenelles of Caramel Creme The End.

Thanks Cat and John, and Blonde and Redhead! You all are the very best!

Market Report - November 9

2008-11-09T17:42:00.003-05:00

It was a beautiful morning at the market, a little chill in the air, and the sky was just as clear as a bell. There's a definite decline in the level of the produce at the market, with root vegetables and apples and pears predominating. Kitchenography and I were joined by our friend Strawberries in Paris, whose blog you should check out.

One of the things we all noticed was the size of the cauliflower and the kholrabi, which were all as big as your head! There were also fresh brussels sprouts, still on the stem. They're not my favourites, but they sure are interesteing looking.

See you next week!

Market Report from London

2008-11-02T17:41:00.004-05:00

Fulham, the neighbourhood where I stayed in London, had its own daily street market filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as some house-hold goods. All of the produce was in bowls and you just pointed to the bowl you wanted and they bagged it and weighed it for you.I loved the fact that the old barrows that they used to carry the goods looked like they could have been around for more than 100 years.

Some of the produce was similar to what we have here, but there were things that I couldn't identify. Because of the Afro-Carib mix in the neighbourhood, there were plantains and coconuts, as well as habanero peppers and local apples and pomagranates. Next to the coconuts, there was something that I couldn't identify at all. Although they look like they might be sea-based, I think that they're plant-based. Any hints?

Market Report - October 19

2008-10-19T16:25:00.004-05:00

It was in the 40's when we got to the market this morning, and there was no sign of any of the summer fruits and vegetables, save for a small batch of the last raspberries.

I got some apples and then we had a lovely chat with the man who sells the irises and dahlias. His purple and white dahlias just glow in the early morning sun.

As Kitchenography was buying some greens, I took a picture of one of the farm-workers putting out more Rainbow chard. A shaft of light caught her perfectly.

As we checked out the incredible range of gourds, pumpkins and squashes, we saw the smallest little things nestled between them. When we asked, the farmer told us that they were little spiny cucumbers.

As I've mentioned before, I don't like odd coloured fruits and vegetables, and the purple cauliflower is no exception. It's very purple and if you were making soup for the Ravens game, it would be perfect.

This wee shopper seemed to be struggling under the weight of some greens, but was making a valiant effort!

I will be at a different market next week, so will see you the first weekend of November!

Garibaldi Biscuits

2008-10-05T14:54:00.005-05:00

My older sister and I both remember having Garibaldi biscuits, made by Sunshine Bakery, when we were little. These biscuits, or cookies, are basically raisins or currants, sandwiched between two layers of pastry. Our father used to make something similar with leftover pie pastry, too, which are known as fly cemeteries.

When I lived in the UK, I could find these biscuits in every store and was delighted that they only cost about 70p per packet. The little bake shop down the road also had Eccles cakes, which are similar, but larger and flakier.Recently, a colleague of my sister's told her that she could find them at the Vermont Country Store, a purveyor of all things old and forgotten. I've also seen them at World Market.

I decided to make an abbreviated version using pre-made pie crust and the currants that I had found at Fresh World last week. They turned out pretty well. Perhaps a little tweaking, maybe soaking the currants before, and adding a dash of salt and more currants, but otherwise, a success.I found this picture on the interwebs, and I have no idea what it is, but it's funny!

Market Report - October 5

2008-10-05T11:06:00.004-05:00

I am realizing that it's getting harder and harder to take pictures without a flash. The mornings are really dark and this morning's fog didn't help with the lack of light.

Tons and tons of apples everywhere. I bought a honey crisp apple that weighed almost a pound.

Again with the beautiful gourds and pumpkins. Here's a great idea for a fall table from my friend Eddie Ross, who works for Martha Stewart.

I was never a big fan of dahlias, until I started photographing them. This morning, there were some spectacular colours, including this purple-rimmed one, which almost glows.

We were talking to one of the farmers about the spiral broccoli and the yellow cauliflower and she told us that they were both old varities. She also said that the more "perfect" the produce is, the more likely it is to be a new variety, since we can breed out the imperfections. Hmmm.

Market Report - September 28

2008-10-04T10:09:00.003-05:00

I never posted the pictures from the Market last week, so this will be short! It was a gloomy, rainy morning, so not great for taking photos.

It's really fall now and the fall produce is crowding out almost all of the summer stuff. Pumpkins are everywhere. They seem to be knobbier and bumpier than I've ever seen them! There was one that looked like it was covered with peanuts, and what was so funny was that I was at a Obama party later in the day, and there it was as the centerpiece of the table!

Some of the broccolis and cauliflowers are coming in, and the varieties are amazing. One looks like a middle eastern ziggarut!

See ya tomorrow!

Fresh World El Grande Supermercado

2008-09-27T13:39:00.006-05:00

I sort of found myself in Glen Burnie this morning, just before the torrential rains began. I stopped by the new Fresh World International El Grande Supermercado to see what the excitement was about and to compare it to perennial favourite H-Mart. The Fresh World is just off Route 100 and Ritchie Highway in an old Giant. It's HUGE!

As with H-Mart, the produce is very fresh and pretty inexpensive. What I like about HM is that almost nothing is wrapped in plastic, while at FW there's a lot. The place was spotless, but it's only been open a week, so I'd expect nothing less. There were workers everywhere, replenishing produce, straightening shelves and answering questions.

FW has lots of Asian market staples, including durian, bitter melons, lemon grass, banana flowers and pumpkins. Additionally, they have a whole section with fresh fish in tanks, and fresh cockles and conchs.They have a meat section, too, but it doesn't seem like they've got a butcher on premise. But they do have goat meat.

About halfway through the market, things take a jarring turn and it becomes a regular grocery store with Kellogg's cereal, Campbell's soups and Uncle Ben's rice. I took almost 70 photos, so I thought I'd share some with you.

Head-on shrimp Parrot juice - or condensed milk.
Sodas of every variety. I bought a little bottle of champagne cola. This is chestnut juice.

Pocky sticks for men

They even had a small housewares section where you could buy kitchen items, dishes and rice cookers, amongst much other stuff!

I am one of the most squeamish people alive and I thought these were plastic fish on a display. When I touched them, I found they were real. Real dead. Real dead fish.
They also had mixed nuts in the most extraordinary flavours: pecans with cranberries, black pepper and orange zest; cashews with pineapple, peanuts, lemongrass and chinese chili; pistachios with sesame seeds, pepitas, fig and harissa; and almonds with apple, flax seeds, date, balsamic vinegar and red pepper. The very funniest thing was hearing Aux Champs-Élysées, a French pop song that's at least 30 years old, playing on their sound system!

"Sun-Dried" Tomatoes

2008-09-21T21:29:00.003-05:00

This is the time of year when cherry or cocktail tomatoes are falling off the bushes and you can barely eat them all. So what I do is to "sun-dry" them, but not in the sun, in the oven. It's simple to do and you can do a lot with the tomatoes.

Here's how to do it:

Cut the tomatoes in half length-wise and flatten them on a cookie sheet.
Brush or spray with good-quality olive oil
Sprinkle with sea salt or other salt.
You can also add sprigs of rosemary or slivers of garlic.
Set the oven to its lowest possible temperature. If you've got a gas oven, set to warm
Check the tomatoes every hour or so until they're leathery.

Depending on the temperature of your oven and the size of the tomatoes, this will take anywhere from three to twelve hours. Don't over-cook them or they will become bitter and brittle. The house will smell amazing and you'll be tempted to pop some dried tomatoes into your mouth the minute they're done.

Market Report - September 21

2008-09-21T11:35:00.004-05:00

When I lived in Wales, the one of the two children in our household was fascinated by aliens. He had a dear little Welshie accent and would walk around talking about aliens. Of course, this child also wanted to be a vampire's dad for Halloween... When I am at the market these days, and see the incredible lotus pods, I think of wee Robbie (who I will see in October!).

As we were making our first loop, I was struck by the morning sun bouncing off a building to the west of the underpass and then reflecting back and focusing on a chestnut pod and leaves. Although I love the smell of roasting chestnuts, I am not wild about either the taste or texture.

I thought this pumpkin, hiding out in a batch of watermelons, was pretty funny.And the wild gourds this year, with their flaps and wings, are something to see!

Mums are everywhere nowdays and they come in every colour of the rainbow. I am partial to the sunny yellow ones and will plant two outside my house in the next week or so.

I am very taken with this tiny bud/berry plant. Every week, I ask what it is, every week they tell me and every week, I forget! These buds are tiny, maybe 1/16 of an inch across.

The broccoli is coming back and one stand had little baskets with just one head each. I love the grey-ish greeny blue colour of fresh broccoli.

Today, I bought a basket of cherry tomatoes to make "sun-dried" tomatoes, which I will detail in the next post.

Market Report - September 14

2008-09-14T10:35:00.008-05:00

I am sure that there were a number of fellow bloggers/blog readers at the Market this morning, but things didn't quite gel and after a couple of futile approaches ("Um... are you a blogger?"), I just stood chatting with Key, who owns Baltimore Dog Bakery, which is just across from Reed's. Connor-pup gets one of Key's biscuits just before bed. He races upstairs, and gives me a little bark and then gets the biscuit.

My meet-up ended up being a photography safari with noted photographer and New York Times contributor, Marty Katz, who knows even more people than I do. He was trying out a new video camera and both of us spotted numerous opportunities for great shots and interesting angles. He even took a photo of me to prove I was actually there with hat on! This isn't my hat:

I noticed a lot more cool-weather items at the market, depsite the heat and humidity of this morning. There was lots of cider in a variety of combinations from Reed's. Also very prevalent were the potatoes from several vendors. There are now even more pumpkins and gourds, and I especially liked the tiny yellow and white pumpkins. Below is detail from a butternut squash. I do love a good curried butternut squash soup.
The last several weeks, I've seen people carrying stems of lotus buds. Some of them are fresh and others dried, but all are very pre-historic looking.Because we were at the market until after 10, I noticed the difference in the buyers from the 8:00 hour to the 10:00 hour. And because Marty usually goes to the Waverly market, I saw a lot of things through his eyes. After last week's mob scene, the market was less crowded, and there were even some empty spaces where vendors were missing.

Market Meet Up DETAILS

2008-09-13T10:34:00.005-05:00

Unfortunately, my partner in crime, Kitchenography, will be out of town for the weekend, so I am going to have to do this on my own! We usually arrive at 8:00 and meet at the Reed's Farm stand on the "uptown" side of the Market. Since I am going to be up late watching Michael Phelps' debut on Saturday Night Live, I can predict I will be having a bad hair day in the morning. So to clue you in as to who I am, I will be wearing this hat:So, let's try and gather at Reed's at 8:ish... we'll wait a little for you. Post a comment either here or on Dining @ Large and let me know if you'll be coming. I may bring nametags so we can identify you by your screen name or your blog. Maybe I will do something with a pig for mine!

Look forward to seeing you then!

Market Report - September 7

2008-09-07T10:20:00.006-05:00

It was almost chilly this morning, opening day for the Ravens, the day after Hanna hit and the first Sunday in September. Somehow, the market smelled a little different this morning, maybe from the barbaque smokers...

I didn't get loads of pix today because I knew my camera's battery was running out of juice. Okra's back again. It's such a tricky vegetable because if you do it wrong it's just flat out gross! However, dried okra pods make an interesting decoration on an autumn wreath or in an arrangement.
We stopped by Neopol to get some fresh mozzarella for Julie, and as always, they had their beautiful little pies. They're always so artistically made.
When I got home, I was checking on my "garden" after yesterday's storm, and saw a fat old bumblebee on the flowers of my mint plant. I think a mint-scented honey sounds wonderful! Stop over to my other blog to see some pictures of the Inner Harbour after Hanna and the MD National Guard Flyover before the Ravens' Game.