Black Coffee and a Donut

New menu at RA Sushi!

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:53:00 +0000

by Erin

Tomorrow Xani and I are excited to attend a special dinner at RA Sushi (in Harbor East) where the chef will be introducing new dishes that promise to please both sushi traditionalists (we are def in that category) and those who love a hot new Japanese fusion dish. Here is the press release and a sampling of the new menu:

RA Sushi debuts a new menu today (Oct. 22)! Executive Chef Tai Obata included a broad selection of traditional sashimi options for sushi purists, and also created some surprising Japanese fusion entrées. Here is just a sampling of the new dishes you will enjoy...in addition to some exciting new cocktails:

RA Chips & Salsa: spicy tuna tartare mixed with cucumber, avocado and fresh salsa; served with wonton chips

RA”llipop: tuna, salmon, yellowtail, spicy tuna mix, lettuce, asparagus and cucumber, wrapped in lobok [Asian radish]; served skewered with a garlic ponzu sauce

Kaisen Ceviche: Japanese-style ceviche with cooked shrimp, scallops and squid, chilled and mixed with fresh tomato, avocado and salsa; served in a spring roll shell

Sweet Onion Salmon: thinly sliced salmon sashimi with marinated onions and sweet onion dressing; served with organic micro greens

Banana Split Maki: fried banana maki topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit; drizzled with raspberry and chocolate sauces

We'll be trying something new with this event, Dear Reader: LIVE TWEETING! Follow me (@e_pod) or Xani (@x_factor) on Twitter and read what we think as we are thinking it! Er...how about whenever we get a second to put down our chopsticks :)

Happy sushi-tasting,
EP

OMG- National Donut Day, AGAIN??

noreply@blogger.com (Xani) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Didn't we celebrate National Donut Day back on June 5? Well, according to the good folks on Twitter, today is National Donut Day Part Two. Who knew such a thing existed?? I'm not one to turn down any excuse to eat a donut, so bring it on! Thanks to the internets for bringing this to our attention. Now we'll be sure to celebrate this important (?) holiday (?) with a tasty, fried donut! You should too!!

Happy National Donut Day!

X & EP

P.S. Can't get away from work for a donut fix? Live vicariously and check out these donut-related posts

Reuben Sandwich + Latkes = Deliciousness in Denver

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:20:00 +0000

by Guest Blogger Cezar

Recently I visited Denver to visit a dear friend when, while en route, I received an email from EP. She had forwarded me an issue of Tasting Table (the daily e-newsletter about food in NYC and elsewhere) about Jewish delis and how they are a dying breed, which included a plug for Zaidy’s Deli in Denver: “This cozy living room of a deli is known for its Latke Reuben: A mess of corned beef covered in melted Swiss and sauerkraut sandwiched between two big, thin, crisp potato latkes.” Her message was brief; she said, “You must go here and eat this so we can live vicariously through you!!”

When Xani & Erin give you a food tip, you listen. So I did.

I was especially excited about completing this mission for Xani and Erin because I have a particular fondness for sandwiches. This love is rooted in a story from my childhood: when I was in elementary school, my mummy often sent me to school with leftovers from dinner the night before. I can still remember one day when I had rice and canned sardines for lunch (still a favorite of mine). For those of you who know me now, you’d probably be surprised to know that people picked on me when I was younger. Well, it was true that day and my elementary school colleagues passed my lunch around the cafeteria table like a collection plate at Sunday Mass. Sandwiches, to me, represented the simplest meal, and certainly one that would not weird out your classmates. To this day, as a growing 30-year old boy, I try to eat sandwiches of all kinds as often as I am able, to make up for missed opportunities.

Back to the issue at hand: the Latke Reuben. After perusing the menu at Zaidy’s, I first ordered the Potato Latke Sandwich, which included corned beef, pastrami or brisket served between two potato latkes. The waitress, however, gently suggested that I upgrade to the Latke Reuben, which consisted of corned beef or pastrami, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing between two potato latkes. For only $1.00 more, it seemed like a good deal, so I went with the Latke Reuben with pastrami.

I was very pleased with my selection – the waitress did not steer me wrong. The pastrami was very tender and the potato latkes held the meal together. This was a knife-and-fork kind of sandwich. Disaster might have struck had I tried to pick up the sandwich which was larger than two of my open palms. My favorite thing about the sandwich as a whole was how all the ingredients—the pastrami, the sauerkraut, the cheese, and the dressing—mixed together.

The latkes themselves were memorable. I’m slightly embarrassed to say that this was the first time I can remember eating a latke. The exterior was fried to golden brown. The crunch of the latkes seemed a perfect complement to the melting and merging sandwich ingredients. Perhaps I now need to eat latkes more often to make up for this newly realized missed opportunity.

Along with my sandwich, the restaurant served complimentary pickles and sauerkraut. The pickles had very bold flavors, the sour pickle saltier than the half-sour one.

I do believe that food says something about you. What I liked so much about Zaidy’s Latke Reuben —beyond its deliciousness—is that it was a beautiful blend of Jewish and American cuisine. That makes me think: perhaps I should invent rice and fish sandwich that will be both Filipino and American? I’m sure the BCD sisters will blog about it should I invent it.

Sincerely,
Cezar

P.S. Thank you to XP & EP for the tip to check out Zaidy’s and for allowing me to contribute to BCD. And thanks for KKD for venturing to Zaidy’s twice in one day and hosting me in Denver.

Thanks for fulfilling our latke reuben dreams, Cezar!! We'll be sending you on future foodie missions, don't you worry ;)

Cover girls!

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:44:00 +0000

by Erin

Wow, it's been a long time since we've talked. How have you been, Dear Reader? Xani and I have been busy with work and play (including slaughtering 80 oysters and 15 lbs of lobster last weekend for BCD Dad's birthday -- and note that there were only 2 lobsters!) and are working on some posts that will be coming soon - we promise!!

Today I write because our second article for the Federal Hill South Free News (our neighborhood newsletter) came out last night! And guess what else: we're on the front page!

See the PDFs here and here for our article about fun tips for Halloween. We wrote about our old favorites like Haunted Gingerbread Houses and Caramel Apple Ghosts, and also added an idea to have a pumpkin-carving party at home or at a local park.

We hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather and is gearing up for Halloween! Happy Halloween everyone!

Cheers,

ps. For those of you who haven't heard, we unfortunately did not win the title for Best Foodie Blog in the Mobbies :( But, we were in 1st or 2nd place the whole time thanks to the overwhelming response from all of our wonderful fans! Thanks everyone for your support!!

BCD takes NYC: "Fabulous in Fall" Edition -- Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:39:00 +0000

by Erin

First of all, we want to extend a gigantic THANK YOU to everyone who voted for us for the Mobbies in these last few weeks! Bear hugs for everyone!

And now back to business: a very belated NYC post chronicling yet another day of wonderful eats. Like the day before, we hit a lot of great places to eat!

We had originally planned to go to Barney Greengrass, a deli on the Upper West Side for some good ol' deli food. We wanted corned beef, chopped liver, matzo ball soup, latkes, blintzes....[drooling]. But alas, they were CLOSED for Rosh Hashana. Damn! So, instead we went to The Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien Hotel, a destination that is always on our list but for one reason or the other, gets nixed every time.

I loved the Burger Joint for so many reasons, but one of the main reasons is because of its hidden, underground vibe - like only a select few know of it, and I'm one of them! (This is the second time secrets + burgers = awesome - check out my post about the secret language at In 'n Out burger here.)

The lobby of Le Parker Meridien is cozy but open and sunshine-y, with marble floors and big pieces of modern art on the walls. But if you know where to look, you end up in a dark hallway with black curtains, and just this to guide you:

And then you turn the corner and you feel like you are in the middle of a rec room in Texas. Wood paneled walls covered in writing, movie posters on the walls, and the menu is literally written on cardboard with markers. A-mazing. They only sell burgers, fries, and shakes, and we gladly partook.

All of us ordered burgers except Lauren, who got the cheesiest grilled cheese ever. The burgers were great - juicy and cooked to medium rare, per our request. The fries were pretty good - they reminded me of the fries at McDonald's or In 'n Out. My only criticism was the size of the sodas - call me a stupid American, but 12 oz of soda is not enough when you have a gigantic burger and a bag of fries to get through.

We hung out at the Burger Joint for quite some time, talking, laughing, and appreciating the awesomeness of the place. I love secret burger places!!

After lunch we decided to head down to The High Line, an elevated park created from now-defunct railroad tracks used to transport cattle to the slaughterhouses in the meatpacking district. The High Line is beautiful - the pathway is lined with wildflowers, there is a beautiful view of the city, and a there are a few benches to sit and have a picnic if you are smart enough to plan ahead. We strolled down the High Line and enjoyed the sunshine. We came back down to street-level and, like magic, there was an ice cream truck (called Van Leeuwen) waiting for us!

We couldn't resist - not only was it ice cream (my fave) but they used local milk and eggs, and flavorings from small producers abroad (e.g., vanilla, chocolate, ginger, pistachio). I got espresso and Xani got vanilla - both were great but the vanilla was absolutely, heart-breakingly good.

After our ice cream treat, we went to the Chelsea Market, which was so fun. I love a good market so I was in heaven. After our day o' fun, we separated from Ann and Steven and headed back to Brooklyn to rest up before heading out to dinner in Park Slope at Franny's, for what would become the best meal of the trip.

We had been looking foward to Franny's for quite some time. Xani's friend from high school, Dave, said he was "friends with the chef" and we should go there and tell them "Dave sent us." We weren't sure if this would work - surely the chef would be busy, and what if he had met our connection, Dave, like twice? We would be mortified. While figuring out our game plan (and killing time waaiting for a table - they don't take reservations), we had a few drinks.

Franny's serves local Brooklyn-brewed beers, so Xani, John (Lauren's beau), and I enjoyed those, while Lauren sipped some Prosecco. We waited in the outdoor courtyard and enjoyed the shockingly good weather. (Long-time readers will recall that we have terrible weather karma when visiting NYC: heat like the surface of the sun, or constant slushy precipitation. We were thrilled that the weather cooperated for our visit!)

Once we were seated in the bustling but small restaurant, we were greeted by our friendly and very knowledgeable waiter. Turns out he's getting his PhD in economics at NYU - smart AND friendly! Swoon. Ahem, anyway...we had an AMAZING meal at Franny's! (However, our pictures truly sucked so they are minimal for this meal...sorry!)

We started with 5-6 antipasti, including roasted broccoli with garlic and pecorino cheese, a crostino with tomatoes and lots of olive oil, another crostino with house-cured proscuitto, amazing roasted potatoes with some sort of cheese, and an heirloom tomato salad with ricotta cheese. Everything was so good, it's hard to describe the joy we experienced with each bite.

For the second course, we enjoyed a pasta dish, penne with eggplant, raisins, and pine nuts. I loved this dish - the pasta was cooked very al dente, and the sauce was light but delicious. And I don't even like eggplant!

Finally, we got two pizzas - a classic tomato and buffalo mozzarella pizza, and a pizza with clams, chiles, and parsley. The former was great and classic; the latter blew our minds! The clam pizza was spicy, garlicky, and of course, had lots of delicious clams and clam flavoring throughout the sauce. It reminded me of BCD Dad's pasta alla vongole (clam sauce) and it made us all very happy.

At the end of the meal, Chef Danny came out to visit with us! Turns out our connection, Dave, really IS a good friend of his (they were roommates for several years, in fact)! It was great talking to Chef Danny, and especially nice to compliment the chef directly - as I mentioned, this was the best meal of our whole trip, all thanks to Chef Danny. It was a pleasure meeting him and we will DEF be back!

Okay, enough for now - Day 3 coming soon!

Happy NYC eats,

EP

I Feel Spooky-Coziness in the Air....

noreply@blogger.com (Xani) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:06:00 +0000

by Xani

Regular readers, or anyone who has ever met EP or myself, know that Halloween is our favorite holiday. No question. Even the slight chill of fall, a rust-colored leaf, or writing a "10" in front of the date on a check gets me in the Halloween mood. So if you are anything like us, you're starting to feel that itch to get your Halloween on. I thought I'd go through the archives and dig up some of our old seasonal posts to start getting things all kinds of spooky up in here!

Going waaay back into the x-files, here's a post about a fabulous party where we invited our guests to make their own Haunted Gingerbread Houses! Making that much gingerbread was a terrifying ordeal but the party was a blast!

We made a LOT of gingerbread

Spook-tacular!

Another scaaaary Halloween memory was the caramel lady-apple ghosts we made as seasonal treats for our friends and co-workers. Things really got ominous when we almost burned down Mom and Dad's house with a caramel boil-over. Luckily the spirits took pity on us and the apples came out great!

Almost boil over-- the horror!

Boo!

Finally, we remember back to last year, when we threw a truly over-the-top Seven Deadly Sins Halloween Soiree. The costumes were fierce, the decorations were creepy, and the food was out of this world. The only thing scarier than the costume fashion show was the giant mess to clean up the next day-- but it was worth it!

Clementine all spooked-out

Halloween isn't complete without costumes

Themed food? Sounds like us...

So what do those crazy BCD girls have in store for THIS Halloween?? Only one way to find out, keep reading! And don't forget to vote for BCD in the Mobbies, everyday through Oct 9. We need your help!

Keep it scary,

BCD takes NYC: "Fabulous in Fall" Edition -- Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Xani & Erin) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:34:00 +0000

by Erin and Xani

While a normal report of one's vacation would include highlights, including culinary ones, we do it a little differently around BCD. You see, when we go on vacation, especially our trips to NYC, we put in literally months of research to determine where we should eat. Thus, everywhere we go is a highlight :) That's why it takes us 3 posts to write about one weekend, because every restaurant was hand-picked and highly anticipated.

So, let's start with Day 1 (of 3)! Actually, we should start with day -1 (??) because before we got to NYC, we spent some time in Philadelphia. Xani had been in Philly for work for the week, and then EP and friends Matt and Smulson drove up from Baltimore on Thursday night to see the much-awaited It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia LIVE show! For those who don't know, It's Always Sunny is a TV show on FX that recently went on tour, so to speak. We are huge fans of this television show and our friend Andy not only hooked us up with great tickets, but also was one of the driving forces behind the show's existence! Thanks Andy - we love you! The show was, in a word: awesome.

"Are you chewing gum??" (And yes, that's Danny DeVito!)

"Day Man!"

Of course, while we were in the City of Brotherly Love, we had to have cheesesteaks! We went to Jim's before the show and got a classic cheesesteak with provolone (not cheez wiz - can't bring ourselves to eat that!) and an Italian cold cut sub. Both were good, neither blew our minds. I hope we don't get threatening emails over that last sentence like the Magnolia Cupcake incident of '08.

The following morning, we took the trusty Bolt Bus to NYC!! Two hours later we arrived at Madison Square Garden and got a cab to BFF Lauren's place of work, where we dropped our bags. Thanks LP! Then, excitingly, Xani and I were off on our own in NYC. We had a game plan, and it had alliteration: Prune, Porchetta, Pinkberry.

We took a cab down to the Lower East Side and started at Prune. We'd been to Prune before in February for Xani's birthday, and were eager to get back for some snacks and cocktails. Daytime drinking is classy when you do it at Prune ;)

For our drinks, we got their famous Bloody Mary and also a Ghost of Mary, which Xani had the last time we were there. The Bloody Mary was very fresh-tasting and definitely homemade, with a good amount of fresh horseradish. The Ghost of Mary was much lighter and very refreshing, due in part to their using tomato water (they strain their Bloody Mary mix to make a consumme of tomato, of sorts) and lemon vodka. Yum!

While drinking our drinks, we were noshing on the various garnishes (house-pickled, of course) and we ate what appeared to be a pickled green grape and it was so delicious! We asked the waitress for more of them (greedy for garnishes, we are) and she informed us that they were pickled, unripe (green) grape tomatoes! Called "tom-olives" in the biz. She told us we could buy them at Zabars, so we did!

She brought us extra tomolives!

Then we got two little snackers to go with our cocktails and garnishes. Again, one was a repeat and one was new. The repeat was "Cold Spicy Eggplant, Fried Salt Cod, Hard Boiled Egg" which was just as delicious and interesting as we remembered. As described, it was spicy, smoky, salty and a wee bit fishy from the cod, but then it had a beautifully cooked egg and some creme fraiche on top. These were served with grilled bread with black and white sesame seeds, and the whole thing was very satisfying.

We also got the Sous Chef Salad, which had lovely greens, boiled potato, cheddar cheese, radishes, fresh corn, walnuts, and a vinaigrette made with walnut oil. Yum!

After our visit at Prune, we headed to our next stop just a few blocks away: Porchetta (pronounced por-KET-ah). (And on our way we saw a MOVIE STAR!! Bryan Greenberg! Swoon!) We've had our eye on Porchetta since we strolled by it on our way to Butter Lane last February, and were almost carried away by the scent of roasted pork, like in the cartoons.

Porchetta has approximately 2 things on its menu: roasted pork, and potatoes cooked in the pork fat with the "burnt ends" of the pork (crispy pieces of porky goodness). We got both, natch. We ordered the pork in sandwich form and it was SO. GOOD. It was super-flavorful from the herbs rubbed on it, and it had a contrast in texture between the meat and the crispy skin - when's the last time you got delicious crispy pork skin in the US, much less on a sandwich in the middle of NYC?! The potatoes were, as predicted, incredible. Potatoes + pork fat + burnt ends = magic.

Last stop of the afternoon was Pinkberry, the frozen yogurt craze that is sweeping the nation. Xani had had Pinkberry before but EP had only had one of the knock-offs in Baltimore, so we were excited to get a sweet treat at the original yogurt shop. The verdict? Pinkberry actually IS better than the knock-offs! Xani insisted there was a difference but EP wasn't convinced until that moment. We got the regular "tangy" flavor with kiwi and strawberry, and then a coconut-flavored yogurt plus chocolate-covered crisps on top. It was sweet but not too sweet, and a great (light) dessert after our multi-stop lunch in the East Village.

We then walked all the way back to Lauren's office in Tribeca (and worked off approximately one bite of pork), and changed for dinner. (I swear, there were many hours between Pinkberry and dinner!!) For dinner we gathered cousins Ann and Steven, cousin Brian, friend Melody, and of course BFF Lauren at a wonderful Peruvian place called Yerba Buena. Since we had a large group, we ordered MANY things to share. Some of the highlights were the taquitos (so tiny!), the fish tacos, both ceviches (one was flounder and one was ribeye with sea urchin!), the guacamole, the empanadas, the croquetes, and of course, the cocktails! As is often the case when we get this crew together, much of our energy is focused on catching up with our dining companions, so the food is (for once) not our main focus.

Awesomely spicy guacamole

Empanadas with Peruvian corn (it was gigantic!)

Croquetes of manchego cheese - TDF!

Rib-eye ceviche with sea urchin (uni) and more Peruvian corn

Taquitos - so tiny; see lime for scale!

Churros - a great end to the meal

Whew - what a day! A couple more NYC posts comin' atcha in the coming days!

We'd like to send a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been voting for us as the best Foodie blog in Maryland on the Baltimore Sun's Outstanding Blog awards, the Mobbies! Keep up the great work! Remember you can vote once a day, every day, until October 9th!

Happy voting,

EP & X

National Coffee Day

noreply@blogger.com (Xani) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:54:00 +0000

by Xani
I just found out it's National Coffee Day! Since coffee is half of the reason we exist (maybe even more than half), I couldn't let it go without mention. To celebrate, check out our previous posts about COFFEE.

Don't forget to enjoy a delicious donut with your coffee to make the experience complete-- and don't forget to vote for BCD in the Baltimore Sun's Mobbie awards!

It's about time to get a cup myself...

We’re Nom-Nom-NOMINATED!!

noreply@blogger.com (Xani) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:39:00 +0000

by Xani and Erin

Here’s the big news you’ve been waiting for! Black Coffee and a Donut has been nominated for a Mobbie—the Baltimore Sun’s awards for Maryland’s Outstanding Blogs—in the Foodie Blogs category, natch.

“Vote for the blogs. Take the cannolis.”

So here’s the deal: you vote by clicking HERE. (Note that you have to create a username and password for the Baltimore Sun but it's no biggie. We're worth it, right??) You can vote once a day, everyday, starting Monday, September 28, at 8am, until October 9 at 5pm. So vote, vote often, and TELL YOUR FRIENDS! We have no shame and will be launching a massive campaign to gather votes. We’ll be hitting up our friends and family, utilizing all our social networking skillz, and activating our Wonder Twin powers!

We're so excited to be nominated and hope you will support BCD and help us win our first ever award. We've got some stiff competition, but we know our fans will come through for us. You'll be handsomely rewarded with more great content and, possibly, cookies (we better read the fine print first though- cookie bribes might be expressly prohibited).

Let the voting begin!

X & EP

Hello, Blog, My Old Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Xani) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:06:00 +0000

by Xani

Hey! Blogging! I remember this! Been a while, but it's just like riding a bike, right? Life has been a whirlwind lately, and rather than bore you with excuses about why I haven't been blogging, I'll get right to the action...

Item the first: BCD Goes Gutenberg.

That's right, we're in print! Starting this month, we will have a monthly column in our neighborhood newsletter, the Federal Hill South Free News-- hoorah! Lovely Editor Michelle, an old colleague of mine, is a fan of the blog and asked us to be her regular food columnists-- SCORE. The newsletters should be posted on the website regularly, but until then, you can check out our column here (and the second page here).

Item the second: BCD needs your help!

Very soon we will be asking for your help in winning a local blogging award. We'll keep you posted on how to vote and show your support for BCD. STAY TUNED!!

Item the third: FOOD. That's what you're here for, right?

While I was too busy to blog, I did find a leeeetle time to have fun, cook, eat and entertain. We had one small bbq when my friend Hayley and her husband came to visit from Cleveland, and another, more elaborate one the weekend right after the Blackacre Blowout, at which point I almost died from over-entertaining. Here's a rundown of the eats:

BBQ #1

Gazpacho
BBQ chicken
grilled corn
yellow watermelon and feta salad
nectarine and blueberry gallette

Sounds simple, right? And in reality, we did try to keep everything light, easy, casual-- and it worked! But more importantly, everything was SO delicious. We used almost all local farmer's market produce, which made all the sides especially yummy. The gazpacho, which I had been talking about making all summer but didn't get around to until August was absolutely summer at its best, especially with the homemade croûtons and other garnishes to sprinkle on top.

The watermelon and feta salad was a test-run for the dish we wanted to make at the Blackacre Blowout, and this version was so fresh and interesting that it secured a spot on the menu for the big party. The chicken, however, was really the star of the show. I have to give FULL CREDIT to my wonderful boyfriend, D, who proved at this party, and the next, that he is a true bbq master. (That's right, boyfriend. (!!) Who cooks. Really well. Didn't I mention life has been crazy lately? But in a good way, sometimes :) ) I'm not even really sure what he did with this chicken-- it involved a new piece of a equipment which has taken up residence in my backyard-- a smoker. D+ smoker+magic= amazingly delicious bbq chicken! It was so moist, with perfectly crispy skin and wonderful smoky flavor. A triumph. We also grilled up some fresh local corn, which was just as sweet as any I had all summer.

Dinner wouldn't be complete without dessert, specifically my new obsession, random fruit gallete. I threw together the dough early in the day, mixed some sliced local nectarines and blueberries with a touch of sugar, some flour, and lemon juice and voila!

uncooked

cooked!

So all that was just bbq #1! Bbq # 2 was for a few more people and was just a touch more elaborate...

For our starter, we made a fantastic chilled zucchini soup. Unlike the vegan recipe we used for the Blackacre party, this one was chock full of homemade chicken stock, milk, and sour cream (of course, it's James Beard, after all). Lots of hot pepper flakes, too! It was a great first bite to warm up the palette- cold, rich, spicy.

D was on meat-duty again, and he pulled out all the stops by smoking some fantastic St. Louis style ribs, as well as a brisket that cooked OVERNIGHT. In my backyard. Let me rephrase: something in my backyard was on fire all night. I was certain the fire department was going to be called-- the whole neighborhood smelled like a campfire... oops! But the payoff was totally worth it. We were in serious meat-heaven...

rib-a-rama

massive piles of meats

the elusive smoke ring!

Along with the meat we served a bunch of sides-- again focusing on using the last of the local summer fruits and veggies. We made this recipe for Ina Garten's Sagaponack Corn Pudding that I have been lusting after for, literally, years. It did NOT disappoint. Fresh corn, cream, ricotta, basil, cheddar cheese- what could be bad? (There are somehow no pics of the finished pudding-- probably we were in too much of a rush to devour it. Here are some of us putting it together, thanks to our personal paparazzo, Max!)

While D was slaving over a hot grill and many pounds of meat, he also made this grilled potato and scallion salad, which was good but could have been better if not for an inherent recipe flaw-- everyone knows that vinaigrette should be pured over WARM potatoes, to allow them to soak up the dressing. This recipe, however, said the potatoes and scallions could be grilled ahead of time and tossed with the dressing the day of the party. Also, it said the bacon in the recipe was "optional." BACON IS NEVER OPTIONAL!

We also made a simple Israeli salad with tomatoes, cukes, red onion, and simple lemon-y dressing. Aaaah refreshing!

All of of guests seemed to enjoy the various offerings, along with LOTS of beer. There were several sauces to accompany the meat, and lots of napkins used to wipe fingers and faces. What a meal!

We finished up with great conversation and dueling peach desserts. OK, not really dueling, as I would never dessert-duel with our friend Joy, who is a professional pastry chef! I made a rustic peach-pecan crumble and she brought a gorgeous lemon-verbena tart topped with fresh peaches. Two desserts= we're all winners!

It seems like it will be awhile before we have another bbq. A taligate, maybe. A pumpkin-carving party, possibly. But summer is over and fall is in the air-- bring on the coziness!

So Long Summer,

P.S. We're hoping to get back to more regularly blogging, including the special announcement, philly and nyc trips, and more super-jumbo lobsters, coming soon!

Blackacre Blowout!

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:34:00 +0000

by Erin and Xani

Last weekend we finally had our long-awaited Housewarming for Blackacre! Disguised as a Labor Day party, we were able to get lots of our friends and a few family (and near-family) members out to the shore to eat, drink, swim, and bask in the sun.

As is typical for the BCD family, we started planning this shindig weeks - nay, months? - before the big day. Of course the party had to be elaborately themed, and BCD Dad thought a South of France them would be most appropriate considering the surroundings. We did a lot of menu research and had several family conference calls (yes, seriously) to plan the party.

Finally, we decided on a menu:

Chilled zucchini soup with arugula oil

Gruyere and caramelized onion tart

Mediterranean relish with pita chips

Open faced ratatouille sandwiches

Ham, gruyere, and apple sandwiches

Watermelon and feta salad

Green bean and tomato salad with herbs
Fresh fruit

Olives and cornichons

We had a great time putting this menu together and cooking everything throughout the weekend. Some of the recipes are old favorites (e.g., mediterranean relish, ham/gruyere/apple sandwich) while others were new for us. In either case, we did many, MANY calculations to determine how much of each dish we should make. We were expecting around 80 people for a lunchtime party, so we knew people were going to eat and drink a lot, we just weren't sure how much. Let's just say we spent a decent amount of time calculating how many ounces of watermelon we would get out of a 10lb watermelon for the watermelon/feta salad, and calculators and pi were involved. Mmm pi....

Once we had finally determined how much of each dish to make, we got to cookin'. Xani was in charge of the Gruyere and Caramelized Onion Tart. She is a master at making pie dough (just like our Grandma Irma!) and uses a special rolling out technique that gives the dough a puff pastry-like quality when baked. When paired with uber-caramelized onions, shredded gruyere, and a bit of dijon mustard, the tart was one of the major hits of the party! SO delicious with wonderfully strong flavors.

BCD Dad had the task of cararmelizing the onions until they were practically onion jam. Here is a photo montage:

Ta da!

Erin made the mediterranean relish (we calculated that we should make SEVEN times the recipe - we were a little conservative, meaning we ended up with mucho leftovers), a classic in our hors d'oeuvres arsenal. It was a hit, as usual!

BCD Mom was in charge of the chilled zucchini soup, which was surprisingly good considering it was VEGAN. We served the soup in little dixie cups so people could have a 1-2 sip serving, as opposed to serving the soup in bowls, and we kept the soup cold by putting the tray of cups in a hotel pan filled with ice. The system worked beautifully! We wanted to add a no-fuss garnish to the soup (meaning easy to be eaten in one sip), so we made an arugula oil to put on top via squeeze bottle. Normal! In addition, we made some delicious homemade croutons that guests could add if they wanted.

Zo much zucchini

The two sandwiches were hits as well. We wanted to serve a vegetarian "main dish" and ratatouille seemed like the perfect dish. Instead of making ratatouille sandwiches, which we feared would get soggy over time, we opted for an "open-face" format where we served toasted slices of baguette that had been drizzled with olive oil and salt and pepper, and guests could compose their own sandwiches. We were told that it was some of the best ratatouille our guests had ever had!

The ham and gruyere sandwich was a repeat from our Bastille Day party back in '05 (pre-blog!). The sandwich includes ham, sliced gruyere, and sliced golden delicious apples on baguette, with a sour cream-bleu cheese spread. A-mazing. Xani had the cute idea to leave the butcher paper on the outside of each sandwich, so it was like the sandwich was from a bistro!

Our two salads were delicious and refreshing. The green bean-tomato salad used lots of fresh herbs and a simple vinaigrette.

Xani made up the recipe for the watermelon-feta salad, which includes only 4 ingredients: watermelon, feta cheese, mint, and black pepper. Yum!

In addition to everything, we served a bowl of fresh stone fruit from Emily's, the farmstand down the road (and by "down the road," I mean 20 minutes away), a plate of olives and cornichon, and peanuts in the shell.

As for booze, we served a chilled Rosé (Costiére de Nimes), and we got a keg of Stella Artois. We also had the fixings for a campari cocktail (campari, soda, twist of lemon). Many drinks were drank :)

We did not do a dessert (except the fresh fruit) because we told our friends if they wanted to bring something, bring a dessert - and they did! We had many yummy desserts on hand from friends including Emily, who made raspberry and chocolate macarons from scratch!

As you can tell from the pictures, in addition to all the cooking we did, we also had red, white, and blue decorations, French music (including but not limited to Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, Carla Bruni, Charles Trenet, and Brigitte Bardot) and we OF COURSE made signs for the party. Dad bought some plastic menu holders for us so we printed out the signs (in French and English) and then decorated with red and blue stickers of all shapes and sizes. We may or may not have spent half an hour looking for appropriate stickers in the craft store (esp. the sale bins - only one dollar!).

In addition to lots of eating and drinking, our friends and family enjoyed the pool, the kayak, a few friendly games of petanque (bocce ball), and many hours sitting by the Bay and enjoying the sunshine. What a great way to say goodbye to the summer! We're so glad so many of our friends could make it all the way out to Blackacre (and sorry to our guests who got caught in the Bridge traffic!) - thanks everyone!

Special thanks to Michael, Cookie, and Lynn, our helpers for the day - we couldn't have had such a successful, organized party without you! And of course, a million thanks to our wonderful parents who let us throw parties at their gorgeous home. Thanks Mom and Dad! We love you!!

So long summer,

E & X

Excuse us, We're PRESS

noreply@blogger.com (Xani & Erin) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:47:00 +0000

by Xani and Erin

Writing a food blog is a mixed bag. Sure, it's fun most of the time, getting comments from friends and strangers alike, feeling like you have special corner of the internet all to yourself, and having an excuse to check out that new recipe or restaurant ("we just HAVE to make croquembouche, for the BLOG!"). Sometimes its a bit of a chore, always worrying about how long its been since you posted, making sure you've got something interesting to blog about, getting nagging emails regarding lack of blogging from "fans" who clearly need more going on in their lives (you know who you are!). But one of the BEST things about being a blogger is getting a little extra-special treatment-- like when we were invited to a Press Dinner during the soft opening of Baltimore's newest restaurant, the B&O American Brasserie

The B&O American Brasserie is located in the brand-new, gorgeous Hotel Monaco Baltimore, which is situated in the landmark Baltimore and Ohio Railroad headquarters building, in downtown Baltimore (on Charles St. between Baltimore and Fayette Sts., for our local readers). EP and I jumped at the chance to check out this new restaurant which promised to fill a gap in Bmore dining-- downtown, delicious, and (slightly) upscale. Would the meal live up to our expectations??

Well, before we even had a bite of food, we fell in love with the look and feel of the B&O. As soon as you step in, you are greeted by a warm, inviting, but chic space. A friendly hostess led us through the lovely bar/lounge space (which includes a view of the open kitchen) and up the stairs to a very intimate yet spacious dining room. The tables are far enough apart to give each party plenty of privacy, and the high-backed booths add to that (plus they're comfy!).

Our helpful (and, as we would discover, hilarious) waiter came right over and presented us with the cocktail list. The hand-crafted cocktails are clever and tasty-- we enjoyed the Hobo’s Bourbon & Cola (Bulleit Bourbon & Housemade(!!) Cola), the Junction Berry Fizz (Plymouth Gin, Red Berry Syrup, Orange Flower Water, Lemon & Club Soda), and the Peach Julep (Makers Mark Bourbon, Peach Puree & Mint). Hey, we were thirsty! And they were all VERY good, fresh-tasting and not too sweet. B&O offers drink specials during their happy hour Monday-Friday from 4-7. We enjoyed some very good bread and soft butter with basil salt to soak up the cocktails.

Junction Berry Fizz

Peach Julip

Hobo's Bourbon & Cola -- we love hobos!

Then, onto the FOOD! The B&O dinner menu includes a variety of seafood, flatbreads, steaks and various other mains, including daily specials (known as "The Local"-- one of their cute railroad/train references that pop up here and there). But we started, of course, with starters...

We shared the Local Mixed Greens with Snap Peas, Radish & Citrus Walnut Vinaigrette, as well as a Crispy Pork Belly with Sweet Potato Mash and pickled onions on top (and other stuff that escapes me at the moment).

The salad was very fresh-tasting and the snap peas were nice and sweet. The pork belly was excellent - we saw it on the menu immediately and HAD to have it! While the cut of pork belly we got was -- I can't believe I'm going to say this -- a little too fatty (not enough meat), the flavors from the pork belly combined with the sweet potato worked beautifully, and the pickled onions cut through all the richness. A-mazing!

Mixed green salad with snap peas and walnuts

Pork belly with sweet potato puree

We ordered two mains to share (of course). First we got the special of the day: Buttermilk Fried Chicken atop mashed potatoes. The chicken was perfectly cooked - crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside, lots and lots of flavor in the breading. The mashed potatoes were light and fluffy and when paired with the chicken, created a delicious bite that tasted like childhood.

We also got the Steak Frites, which was offered in a variety of cuts of meat, and we got the coulotte steak, also known as a top sirloin cap steak. The steak was served with delicious frites and -- this is the best part -- they came in a teeny tiny fry basket! So cute - I died. The steak had lots of flavor and our only criticism was that it was a little rare for us.

Tiny fry baskets make fries even more delicious

Then it was time for dessert! Adorably, the dessert menu was called "The Last Stop," keeping with the train theme. When we asked our waiter which desserts he recommended, he suggested the Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler with whipped creme fraiche before I could even get the question out. So, we obviously ordered that. We also ordered The "Wicked Pissa" Cupcake.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler

Cupcakes!

The cobbler was very good - you could really taste both fruits distinctly: the tartness of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the strawberries. We loved the crumbly top and whipped creme fraiche. The cupcakes were very good as well - they were pretty dense and chocolatey, so therefore more like brownies than cupcakes, but still very delicious.

After our awesome meal, we got a sample of the basil salt we had with our bread and butter to take home and a little note from the chef. So cool!

We then left the restaurant and explored the new hotel a bit. We went upstairs to the "Living Room" which is the concierge level for hotel guests. We were both FLOORED by this room - it was so beautifully decorated with warm tones and funky patterns, super-cool furniture and an entire mirrored wall in the middle of the room with a double-sided fireplace. The flower arrangements included birds-of-paradise flowers and artichokes. We could have stayed there all night! They have a wine hour from 5-6 during weekdays and we may be visiting very soon.

We had such a good time at the B&O American Brasserie and we will definitely be back for dinner or perhaps drinks and snacks in their chic and cozy bar area. We encourage out of towners (or Baltimore folks!) to stay the hotel - it looks beautiful and one of the amenities is a "companion goldfish." What could be better?

Thanks to Amy for the invitation - it was lovely to meet you! We hope to see you again soon.

In short, it's good to be a blogger. :)

X & EP

Andy Nelson, We Love You

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:46:00 +0000

by Erin & Xani

Last week Xani and I found ourselves outside the city in Baltimore County (gasp! the horror!) and we were HUNGRY. Our first thought was to hit up our beloved Suburban House, home of some of the best latkes in Maryland and site of Xani's law school graduation lunch, but then we remembered that it recently burned down! The Jewish restaurant community took a big hit. But we hear they are rebuilding and we will be back.

Instead, we went to legendary BBQ joint, Andy Nelson's Barbeque, where Xani had been before but Erin had only heard about. We were excited, to say the least.

The restaurant is unremarkable from the outside but inside it is homey and comfortable. There are also picnic tables outside but we were in the mood for air conditioning so we stayed inside.

Now let's get down to what really matters: the food. We ordered one of their platters to share. The platter came with a half-slab of ribs, two other meats, two sides, and corn bread. For the other meats we ordered pulled pork BBQ and smokehouse beef brisket. For our sides, we went traditional and got the cole slaw and red-skin potato salad. On our ribs, the cashier asked us if we wanted the ribs "Memphis dry" (with a dry rub) or "wet" (with BBQ sauce) - we went with the dry rub.

The food was outstanding. We hesitate to say it was the best BBQ we've ever had since we've been down south and had great BBQ (e.g., when EP went down to NC for some serious Carolina-style BBQ and hushpuppies at Wilbur's BBQ), but we'll go ahead and say it was the best BBQ in Maryland.

The pulled pork was pretty vinegar-y (aka awesome) and had lots of flavor. We think it would be best on a sandwich, versus just on a plate like we had it, since it was chopped, rather than shredded.

The brisket was SO good - it was very tender and fatty and sliced really thin, almost like pit beef. They had a couple types of BBQ sauce available and they were excellent on the brisket.

The best meat, however, was the ribs. I don't know if its just that we hadn't had ribs in a long time or what, but we were DYING over them! The rub was super-flavorful, and the ribs were juicy and fatty, but amazingly not too greasy. We devoured them.

As for the sides, the potato salad was really good, very down-home. The cole slaw had a lot of flavor from the celery seeds, but it needed salt and sugar. Ah well - I guess not everything can be absolutely fabulous!

The corn bread was also very good - crunchy on the outside (and it was a pretty thin piece, so it was mostly "outside") with bits of corn running throughout the bread. I only wish we had had more than one piece.

Think we liked it?

We finished everything and to be honest, we haven't stopped thinking about that meal. We will definitely be going back in the very near future - maybe when it cools off a little so we can eat outside without sweating to death? Yeah, that sounds good.

Happy lip-smacking BBQ!

E & X

Celebrations at Brasserie Beck

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:42:00 +0000

by Erin

At the beginning of the summer I got together with my college friends in DC to celebrate my graduation and BFF Rachel's birthday. I got to pick the restaurant (I have such cooperative friends!) and I had one goal in mind: mussels. I was on the hunt for the best mussels in DC. After researching on Chowhound and getting the scoop from my DC peeps, we decided on Brasserie Beck, a Belgian brasserie on K Street with supposedly some of the best moules frites (mussels and fries) in the district.

Rachel and I arrived at the restaurant before the others so we had a chance to scope out the space, which was bright and airy - very tall ceilings and a cool bar, if I recall correctly (remember: I was there 3 months ago!). They have a ridiculously large selection of Belgian beers and the bartenders and waitstaff are all very knowledgeable about the beers and which beers go with which foods. I was very impressed!

The rest of our party arrived and we were seated in an area that was semi-closed off and was much quieter than the rest of the dining area - which I LOVED because everyone could hear each other! The rest of the dining area had the high ceilings I mentioned and therefore it was pretty loud and echo-y, so I was glad we were in the semi-separate room so we could all catch up more easily.

We started the evening off with - of course - champagne! What celebration is complete without a little bubbly?

Then we ordered a few starters, including a Napoleon of Vine Ripe Tomato with goat cheese and scallion balsamic dressing and a delicious crisp piece of bacon, and a dozen assorted oysters of all different shapes and sizes, with traditional accoutrements (lemon, cocktail sauce, mignonette sauce).

Napoleon of Tomato (mysteriously missing the bacon...someone must have snatched it!)

The Napoleon of Tomato was really good and I liked that they used goat cheese instead of the traditional fresh mozzarella - an interesting and yummy twist on a classic. The oysters were, of course, delicious and fresh. There were 3-4 different kinds so you could really compare and contrast the sizes and saltiness of each - awesome.

The most interesting starter was one of the specials of the day: a house-made duck sausage with dried fruit, served atop sauteed fennel (I think) with a delicious sauce - we ordered two of these for the table since almost everyone wanted to try it!

We also ordered some of their excellent frites as a starter, but our waiter forgot about them until after the first course, so to make up for it, he brought us two orders! He was so good to us :) The frites were served with a trio of mayonnaises: plain, curry, and chipotle. The fries were hot and crispy, freshly made, and so delicious. The mayonnaises were excellent as well and we could not stop eating them!

Then onto the mains: I, of course, wanted mussels. They had several preparations that day, and I chose the mussels cooked with chorizo and fennel. Others got mussels as well (a different preparation with roasted whole cherry tomatoes, basil, and rocket), and some of the others got fish dishes.

My mussels with chorizo and fennel

Everyone reported that their dishes were awesome, and I concurred! The mussels were so flavorful and very hearty with the braised fennel and spicy and fatty chorizo. The portion was HUGE and I could only eat about 1/3 of my little mussel friends - note to self: share next time! (My one criticism of the mussels was that they do a table-side, simultaneous "reveal" of the mussels where waiters remove the lid on the pan in which they are served. During this "show," some of the hot water from the lid burned my arm! Granted, I'm used to slight burns from all my cooking experiences, but it was still unpleasant and I would prefer that they just take the lid off in the kitchen...) Those of us who got the mussels got more frites with our meal, which we shared with the table - they were awesome, as discussed above.

After dinner, our waiter (who was sweet on Rachel) insisted that we get dessert and brought us his two favorite desserts, in addition to a taste of a delicious sweet Belgian beer.

Cheers to Rachel's birthday and my graduation!

The desserts were a Gateau of Chocolate and a Pear Tarte Tatin with creme fraiche ice cream - YUM. These were excellent and Rachel got a nice surprise candle to blow out! My favorite was definitely the tarte tatin - reminded me of when we made it ourselves (with apples) for Thanksgiving last year.

We had lots of Belgian beers along with our meal, and our waiter was very helpful in helping us pick appropriate ones. While I can't remember what I had (helpful, I know), I do recall them being really good and also that each beer came with a special glass - we were highly entertained by this.

I would most definitely go back to Brasserie Beck for more mussels, more beer, and more fries. I had an amazing time with my friends - we were so rowdy! - and I thank them so much for taking me out to celebrate! I can't wait to do it again soon.

Happy mussels and fries -

EP

Beer + Sausage = Independence

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:41:00 +0000

by Erin and Xani

For the Fourth of July this year, Xani and I wanted to have a party. While throwing around ideas one weekend at Blackacre, our parents suggested that we recreate one of their fabulous parties from when they were first married (apparently throwing great parties is genetic): Sausage and Beer party. We loved the idea immediately and started a'planning.

We decided that it'd be fun to try to make our own sausages for the party, so over the Father's Day weekend, we spent an afternoon elbow-deep in pork. Xani brought her Charcuterie book by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn and we tried to follow its directions but we hit a few snags along the way and had to go off-script at some points.

Father-daughter sausage-making on Father's Day!

We decided to make three kinds of sausage: sweet Italian, hot Italian, and chorizo. Seasoning the meat was easy, it was all the steps afterwards that proved challenging. We used a pork shoulder (per the recipe) and Dad bought a brand new gigantic meat grinder. However, the meat had a lot of extra "stuff" other than pure meat and it got all caught up in the grinder. So, we tried chopping the meat up into smaller pieces by hand and then grinding it. Then we tried using the food processor to chop the meat before grinding it. Then we just used the food processor alone. In the end, the best texture came from the second method (food processor and then run it through the grinder).

Seasoned up and ready to go into the grinder

Dad chops the meat after we realized the grinder alone wouldn't cut it (ha, pardon the pun)

Before putting the meat into the sausage maker, we cooked little bits of each kind of meat to make sure the seasoning was right. They all tasted awesome, so we were glad for that at least. Then it was time to make the sausages. We got natural pork casings from a butcher in Federal Hill at the Cross Street Market (thanks Henry!) and soaked them for a few hours to get all the salt off of them (that's how they are preserved). Then we loaded the meat into the grinder and started making sausages! It was pretty easy at that point (HA - easy after hours of seasoning, chopping, and grinding meat). We made both links and large coils of sausage and froze them in preparation for the party a few weeks later.

Flash forward to a few days before July 4: we went to the farmer's market to buy lots of veggies and fruits for the party, and also to buy some back-up sausages from our favorite pork guy in case ours turned out to be terrible. We purchased some brats from him, in addition to some sage sausage. So, in the end, we had 5 flavors of sausage to serve. We were happy that almost everything we served at the party was local/organic - yay us!

We decided to serve the sausages in mini-form (approximately 2-3 inches) with mini-rolls, so people could try more than one flavor without having to commit (?) to eating an entire full-size sausage. To serve with the sausages, we made 3 delicious condiments from this Food & Wine article. We made Curried Apricot and Tomato Ketchup, Quick Mustard Picalilly, and Smoky Pimento Relish.

5 kinds of sausages with the accompanying chart

Condiments!

In addition to the sausages, we served a tomato, feta, and basil salad (we made up the recipe), coleslaw with cayenne and toasted caraway seeds, and horseradish potato salad.

Lovely tomatoes

Tomato, feta, & basil salad (basil from Xani's garden!)

Horseradish potato salad

Coleslaw with Cayenne and Caraway Seeds

Side dishes and accompanying signs

We also made Old Bay popcorn for people to nosh on and we cut up a watermelon (which we served outside so people could spit their seeds on the ground -- or at each other).

For dessert, we decided to make ice cream sandwiches!! We were inspired, as always, by Ina Garten and we made her Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies which she used for ice cream sandwiches. We made a few changes, however: first, neither of us is a big white chocolate fan, so we used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead; also, we wanted the cookies to be more chewy than crispy so they wouldn't fall apart when in ice cream sandwich-form (and they wouldn't stay so solid such that they would force the ice cream to escape out the sides), so we referred to Xani's favorite book, Ratio by Michael Ruhlman, who instructed us to add more butter if you want a chewier cookie. Right, that's just what an Ina Garten recipe needs, more butter. But, we followed Ruhlman's ratio and sure enough, they came out just chewy enough.

Mmmm cookies

All paired up and ready to be made into sandwiches!

Once the cookies had baked and cooled, it was time to assemble the ice cream sandwiches. Now, this is where we differ in our cooking techniques. Erin usually does not mind getting messy in the kitchen, while Xani would prefer to keep a clean work space. Making ice cream sandwiches was, well....Xani wasn't too happy, let's put it that way. We had an assembly line where Xani would put the ice cream between two cookies, and then Erin would roll the sandwiches in red and blue sprinkles and place them in the freezer. This was a melty, sticky, crushed-sprinkles-all-over-the-floor endeavor, but we made it through. And they looked (and tasted) great!

Ice cream sandwich assembly line; note that the ice cream is on a scale so we could put the same amount in each one (nerds!)

Miraculously, for the first time in all of our years of party-throwing, we were done with everything before our friends arrived! It was great. We asked all of our friends to bring their favorite beer, and we planned to give out prizes for different categories of beer, for example: beer from furthest away, beer from closest, strongest beer, "classiest" beer (ahem, Miller High Life), most unique flavor, highest alcohol content, etc. Our friends came through and we had a grand old time and lots of delicious beers!

Food, as far as the eye could see

For contest winners, we gave out foodie tattoos, which were BAD ASS! We had a great time giving them out and I kept mine on for as long as I could. Here are some foodie tattoo pics:

After lots of eating, talking, and drinking, it was time to head up to Xani's rooftop deck, where we could watch the fireworks! We brought the ice cream sandwiches (and, let's be honest, more beer) up to the roof and watched the show on a practically perfect night for it. We may or may not have chanted "USA! USA!" at some point.

It was a great party and the food was awesome (if we do say so ourselves)! The chorizo turned out the best as far as our homemade sausages went - it had the best taste and texture. The condiments were also great - the picalilly was our favorite. It had sauerkraut, mustard, and beer in it - what could be bad? The cole slaw was really tasty, and while the potato salad was good, the horseradish we had was kind of weak so it didn't have that "punch you in the sinuses" effect we were hoping for. The tomato and feta salad was absolutely delicious and fresh and was a big hit. Everyone seemed to really like the ice cream sandwiches too.

Thanks to our guests for coming and bringing delicious beer and snacks (esp. Joy who made a delicious and beautiful 4th of July dessert!), and thanks to Mom and Dad for helping us make sausages and make a huge mess in Kitchen Stadium!

Here are a few more pics from the party:

Joy's dessert - it's nice to be friends with a pastry chef ;)

Happy sausage making and eating,

EP & X

Heart Attack on a Plate

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:57:00 +0000

by Erin

We're baaaaaack! I am done with the bar(!!) and now am hoping to blog more regularly. I know our fans are dying without our witty food commentary and trademark crappy photos, so here's your first dose after a long stint without it. I know I said I'd be blogging about our awesome 4th of July party last month, but I just HAD to tell you guys about the meal we had tonight.

Xani and I met up for dinner tonight and went to Mother's Federal Hill Grille, a local restaurant in our 'hood. We chose Mother's because we had heard about a certain burger called "Heart Attack on a Plate." I discovered this burger a few weeks ago and told Xani we HAD to go have it so it could be featured on one of our favorite food blogs: This is Why You're Fat. Turns out we're not the only ones who found this burger intriguing: the Today Show featured it recently! (See video of the chef making it with Matt Lauer on the Mother's home page.)

So let's get to the deets: the menu describes this burger as an "8 oz. beer battered burger stuffed with cheddar cheese, then deep fried. Served with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and chipotle mayonnaise." Sign me up, and get me a defibrilator while you're at it.

The verdict? It was really good! It was crispy and crunchy, the burger was cooked to medium and had lots of gooey melted cheese in the middle. The whole thing was dripping hot burger grease on your hand which made you want to put the burger down but you couldn't because if you set it down, the whole thing would fall apart. It was a battle but we made it through.

By the way, we split this burger and we were both stuffed by the end of it. It was a great, ridiculous dish and we highly recommend it.

More blogging, comin' right up!

Happy crazy burger eating -
EP

ps. This crazy man ate TWO of these burgers and captured the whole thing on YouTube. He's no Adam Richman, adorable host of Travel Channel's "Man v. Food" and hopefully my future husband, but I give him props for keeping it down.

No Reservations in Baltimore

noreply@blogger.com (Xani) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:43:00 +0000

by Xani

Hey Folks-- as EP recently reported, we're both so super-busy with lame stuff like studying and work that we've been neglecting our favorite little corner of the internet (other than texts from last night). But, I'm taking a few minutes away from the grind to let all you Tony Bourdain/No Reservations/Baltimore fans know that your favorite Travel Channel host visited Charm City a few months ago, and the episode is going to air THIS Monday night! Here's a sneak preview:

Can't wait to see what Tony thinks about Bmore these days. Anyone who read Kitchen Confidential knows he didn't think too highly of our fair city when he lived and worked here in the early 80s. Maybe all that Lake Trout changes his mind? Or maybe his time with Snoop (The Wire fans know who I'm talking about) helps him warm up to the place. We'll find out Monday night at 10pm!

After our vaca we'll be back to (semi) regular blogging. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

X

ps. Tony's a blogger just like us! He'll have a post up about the episode on his blog: http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/ Hey tony, can we get a link back??

Pardon the Radio Silence

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:36:00 +0000

by Erin

Hello readers! Remember us? I wanted to post something really quick to apologize sincerely for our lack of posting recently. We are both unbelievably swamped at the moment (Xani with work - she's a big-wig now!) and me with studying for the bar (5 DAYS!). Once this hellish experience is over, I promise to be a better blogger. The first post upon our return will certainly be about our kick-ass 4th of July Beer and Sausage Party! We had a great time making our own sausages and doing all of the other cooking, plus we got temporary FOODIE TATTOOS to give out as prizes for the beer contest!

Close up of Xani's tattoo

Close-up of my tattoo - "eat fresh, buy local"

We wore our tats proudly when we saw Food, Inc. the next day!

We hope everyone is holding up (especially my fellow bar takers - this is some kind of hazing they've got going on, huh?) and we will be back on the air in no time.

All the best,

EP & X

'Fresh Thoughts' on Our Meal at the National Aquarium

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:17:00 +0000

by Erin and Xani

Xani and I saw the movie Food, Inc. tonight (it's only in Baltimore until Wednesday, folks!). We are both big fans of Michael Pollan and his philosophies, and as we have discussed in earlier posts, we are glad to be part of the movement towards safer food: safer for our bodies, our families, our communities, and our planet. (Read a brief but great review of Food, Inc. by the Amateur Gourmet here. The movie also raises a few very interesting legal issues such as antitrust, libel, agencies' regulatory powers, etc. -- legal nerd alert!) While we both make a daily effort to know where our food is coming from and support sources that produce local and/or organic and/or sustainable products, an opportunity to further support this effort fell into our laps a few weeks ago -- or should I say it swam into our laps?

The National Aquarium in Baltimore held a series of dinners on sustainable seafood called the Fresh Thoughts Dining Series, and Xani and I were invited to attend the third and final dinner in late June. It was fun, delicious, and definitely informative and interesting!

Xani and I walked from our neighborhood through the harbor to the Aquarium on a lovely June evening. We arrived and were presented with a free ticket to the dolphin show! We are SO VIP. It was a great show - I am always amazed at how smart dolphins are. Apparently they are one of few animals that recognizes themselves in mirrors! After the dolphin show, we checked out the jellyfish exhibit, which was creepy but beautiful, and then we headed up to one of the top floors of the Aquarium for the dinner.

The room was beautiful and looked out across the entire harbor, and you could see our neighborhood of Federal Hill across the water.

Our 'hood

There was a bar (yippee!) with local Clipper City beers, plus sangria to match the latin flavor of the evening's menu. After a few drinks and some guacamole and chips, we sat down at our assigned tables. The chef served stuffed mini-peppers filled with cheese and peppers. It was a delicious first bite to the meal. After some more chatting with Aquarium staff and other bloggers, we settled down to listen to a few brief talks on sustainable seafood.

Chips and guacamole made right on the spot

Stuffed peppers

The theme of the evening was our good friend, the tilapia. They chose tilapia as the theme because it is farm-raised locally in Maryland, and (we learned) it is an herbivore so it is low down on the food chain. Lower down on the food chain means fewer fish went into creating the fish you are eating: for every pound of tuna you eat (which is high on the food chain), that represents 10 pounds of squid, and for every squid, that represents 10 pounds of smaller fish that it ate, etc. With a tilapia, all you are eating are the plants it ate. The ecologist explained it by likening it to land animals: eating tuna or swordfish is like eating lions and tigers - they are the biggest, baddest predators on the block, and we should avoid eating them to conserve the fish (or tiger?) population.

After all that learning we were ready to eat! The food was excellent, especially the tilapia tacos. We both love fish tacos and these were outstanding - the fish was marinated in cumin, chipotle, lime zest and juice, and olive oil, and was cooked perfectly. Then it was placed atop a corn tortilla along with a lime-cilantro creme, pickled red onion, shredded cabbage, and queso chihuahua - YUM! So delicious. They also had chicken tacos, and the chicken was from Springfield Farms (a local farm where readers might recall we got our Thanksgiving Turkey last year). In addition to the tacos, the chef served a delicious salad and grilled corn as well, both so tasty and fresh. We enjoyed lovely conversation with our tablemates and a few more brief speeches (one from the Clipper City brewery, another from the chef) as we finished our dinner.

Fish taco

Chicken taco, salad, corn

Then it was time for dessert! It was strawberry and blueberry shortcake with whipped cream. The shortcake was perfectly made - tender and sweet, plus a sprinkling of coarse sugar over the top. A great end to the meal.

Shady shortcake

After dinner, the aquarium had closed to the public so it was just us VIPs hanging around. Xani and I had the shark exhibit all to ourselves! Kinda spooky but mostly awesome.

Thanks to the National Aquarium and Amy B. for inviting us to this interesting and important event - we learned a lot and had a great time!

Happy sustainable eating, and go see Food, Inc.!

EP & X

Sushi the Old-Fashioned Way: One Fish at a Time

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:44:00 +0000

by Guest Blogger BCD Dad

Dad has had the opportunity to travel to Singapore and Brunei in recent months for work and has gotten a few meals in. He was gracious enough to chronicle one of his awesome sushi experiences in Singapore in a guest post. Thanks Dad!!

The experience of Shiraishi Restaurant, Singapore, May 2009

It does seem odd that our family, that came from grandparents who were essentially meat-and-potatoes raised, has become such fans of the fin. Perhaps it started when Grandpa Podolny (William) became so engaged with the Japanese in his business relationships and it has blossomed ever since, being reinforced by my own travels to Asia, by my brother Richard’s many experiences in Japan and now our daughters’ various travels to China and further abroad.

Meat and Potatoes notwithstanding, there does always seem to be a compulsion for the search for perfection, and I admit that I succumb, especially when I am in Asia and have a free evening to myself. Unfortunately none of my traveling colleagues share the passion for poisson to the degree of our family, so it is not something that I can persuade, especially considering the price.

So when the planets aligned and I found myself with a free evening in Singapore, which has to be among the top foodie cities in the world, the pursuit was on. A little internet research and a recommendation from the concierge at the St. Regis, and I had a reservation at Shiraishi, a tiny sushi bar located in the Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore. I hesitated at first, the restaurant being in a hotel, forgetting briefly that outside of the USA, the finer hotels also have the finer restaurants. I was also a little skeptical since the online reviews for all of the top-end sushi/sashimi places were only mediocre. But I don’t really trust other reviewers of sushi restaurants, since the absence of a California roll, for me, is a plus.

Shiraishi has sixteen seats and tables for ten. It is small. There were four sushi chefs upfront and four wait-staff. A very good ratio so the service was perfect.

Minimalist setting to go with the minimalist presentation

My goal was to try the very best and most unusual sushi/sashimi in the house. Shiraishi is a “fugu” rated restaurant, but alas, the poison poisson was out of season. I left the menu up to the chef along with a budget (what a distortion of terms). What followed was an interesting, unusual and delicious presentation of about twelve different courses – most of which focused on a single fish.

A first course on-the-house “amuse bouche” did make me worry a little bit though. It was a dark tuna in small pieces with several flavorings including onion, soy, and sesame. But I was tasting “tuna fish salad.” Things got much better in a hurry. As an alternative to edamame, there was dadachamame (maybe), a sort of cross between lima beans and soy beans, boiled and salted edamame style. This had a lot more substance than the edamame, with almost a sweet potato flavor.

The next course was a mixed sashimi. The presentation included a white fish, very thinly sliced, almost transparent, with ponzu sauce, and then four or five other types including amebi, Kampachi (like hamachi), and what was to be the star of the evening: an absolutely luscious Ohtoro (very fatty tuna). These other fishes enjoyed freshly made wasabi and two kinds of fresh herbs that first decorated the plate and then under the chef’s direction were added to the soya mix.

Annoyed that the amebi was missing a very crucial part, I calmed down when the tempura battered shrimp head and tail appeared as a separate course on a teeny-tiny plate of its own.

Then came the parade of sushi. One piece per serving – a size just perfect to fill the mouth, a minimum of sushi rice – and advice on each piece ("no soya on this one").

Here’s the round-up:

Ohtoro – Awesome

Kampachi – A perennial favorite (same as “hamachi?)

Uni and Ikura – From Hokaido. A very interesting juxtaposition

Kohada – “…no soy on this one…”

Anago– Perhaps the only real disappointment. Too bland and mushy.

Akami (tuna) with oshinko

There were three more, but I’m sorry I can’t recall what they were!

The finale was a nigiri sushi combo. Three pieces each: back for an encore the Negitoromaki – Fatty tuna & welsh onion roll and then a riff on Kappamaki, a delicious miniature cucumber with Umeshiso spicy pickled plum sauce.

Green tea, the house sake, and three bite-size pieces of a perfect “honeydew” melon rounded out the meal.

This was a strictly minimalist approach to the fish. At other ‘high-end’ sushi shops, there is typically, and I quite enjoy, the artistry of the presentation. Here, this was kept to a minimum – no reproduction of the Imperial Palace done in daikon and wasabi. Aside from this minor observation, it was a very pleasurable meal which could only have been better if shared with my sushi afficionado family.

Dennis

Thanks Dad! Great post. Now when are we going out for sushi??

Love,

X & E

A Tale of Two Cities: Cleveland and Charlotte

noreply@blogger.com (Xani) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:04:00 +0000

by Xani

Recently I've been on the road again and my latest trip took me to visit my dear friend Hayley in Cleveland, then on to Charlotte, NC for a conference. Plenty of good times and good eats in both places. Beginning with:

Cleveland!
Cleveland gets a bad rap. The winters are interminable, the local economy sucks, and every summer the city gets invaded by "Mayflies" or "midges" which may sound like something cute but actually they are disgusting little pests that land all over your body! Gross!!

Um, anyway, Cleveland may have its issues but thanks to Hayley I always have an awesome time when I visit. And we ALWAYS enjoy plenty of tasty treats.

My first night we hit Momocho, a funky little joint that bills itself as "mod mex." We arrived in time for happy hour and enjoyed 1/2 price margaritas, including this trio of flavors: cucumber, blood orange, and... something else that now escapes me. Cucumber was the best!

Then we worked our way through LOTS of guacamole (and more margaritas). Another trio, this sampler included: traditional guacamole, guacamole with pineapple, jicama, habanero, and mint, and guacamole with blue crab, corn , and chipotle. Interesting combinations... not the BEST guacamole I have ever had, but I never met an avocado I didn't like!

Mmmmm.... Guac

Our Guardian Angel

Margaritas getting to us...

Next we moved onto the main courses, which were, sadly, a little forgettable (also, my pictures suck and therefore will not be posted). I did like the remolacha (roasted beets + spinach / spiced peanuts / chihuahua cheese), an interesting vegetarian dish, and the queso fundito (house made chorizo sausage / rajitas / corn tortillas). We also had a special with... boar? elk? It's all lost in a margarita haze at this point. The food was solid, just nothing mind-blowing. Great atmosphere and great margaritas (obvi)!

The next night we had a truly fantastic meal at a place I'd wanted to try for a long time: Lolita. Lolita is the more casual counterpart to Lola, Iron Chef Michael Symon's fine dining establishment in Cleveland. The menu includes lots of delicious meat (especially pork) products that Symon is famous for. But, of course, we began with cocktails:

This was a lime and vodka concoction that went down smooth

Then, the parade of food started. We began with these lovely roasted dates with almonds, chiles, pancetta and parsley.

And pure decadence on a plate: roasted bone marrow with grilled bread, scallions and salsa verde. Heavenly.

The "Big Board" included generous servings of a selection of their house-cured meats and tasty accompaniments including soppresata, proscuitto, cured duck breast, and so on. Look at all this gorgeous MEAT!

We finished up with an excellent wood-fired pizza with housemade pork sausage (more pork!), garlic, olive oil, rapini, chiles and fresh mozzarella, and a side of crispy fried brussels sprouts with anchovies, capers, walnuts and chiles-- delicious!

Excellent pizza-- and the leftovers made killer breakfast

What a meal!! Iron Chef Symon (and the hardworking cooks in the open kitchen) did NOT disappoint. I would definitely go back and try some of the other tantalizing dishes (crispy chicken livers? bucatini carbonara with pork belly?? yes, please!)

When it was time to leave Cleveland (sad-- was having so much fun with Hayley and did NOT want to leave. Can't wait til she visits Baltimore in August!) I headed directly to Charlotte, NC, a place I had never been before. With no rental car it was a little challenging to get out and about to interesting eateries, but one night some coworkers and I hijacked (not really) the Charlotte Fire Department shuttle and hitched a ride over to Mac's Speedshop (tag line: Beers. Bikes. BBQ.). What a scene-- apparently we were there on "Euro night" which meant every bike in the lot was a BMW or Ducati. It was crowded with people so we enjoyed a few frosty beverages while waiting. Once we were seated, we ordered a variety of BBQ-- some folks got a platter of pulled pork or brisket, but others (including myself) got the "Little bit of everything" so I could see what all this BBQ was about. A few moments later, my "little bit" arrived. The platter, which was $15 and came with two sides was one of the most ENORMOUS servings of food I have ever seen. It was obscene. One whole giant platter covered with ribs, brisket, pulled pork and quarter of a chicken, and the sides on another giant plate. I'm embarrassed to say I barely made a dent in the food (but would be more embarrassed to report I had eaten it all!). My pictures don't do it justice:

pics are waaaay dark, but if you can make our two plates, I can promised you they were both LOADED with food

meat mayhem

It was a meat masterpiece! But waaay too much food and as tasty as it was, I had to leave most of it there (no fridge in the hotel room, although I'm sure it would have made great leftovers). The only person at our table who was able to finish his whole plate was Mike. Mike, if you are reading this, my hats off to you. You are a gentleman and a scholar.

What a trip. It was heavy on meat, and extra-heavy on fun! Where will work/play take me next?? Stay tuned to find out!

X

News Flash! Upcoming Event!!

noreply@blogger.com (Xani) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:37:00 +0000

Attention readers in the MD/DC area!! We want to let you know about a really cool event coming to the National Aquarium next week. "Fresh Thoughts" is a series of seafood dining events focused on sustainable seafood. Click here for more information on the next (and final) dinner taking place this Tuesday, June 23rd. We'll be attending and blogging the event, and we're super-excited about it! What better way to eat fish than when you're surrounded by fish? Hope to see some of you there. See the full press release below!

National Aquarium to Host Final Fresh Thoughts Dining Event of the Season
June 23rd family-friendly dinner to feature tilapia

Baltimore – This spring the National Aquarium introduced a new dining series -- Fresh Thoughts: A Seafood Dining Trilogy -- that celebrates sensible and scrumptious seafood choices. On June 23 from 5:30-8:00 p.m., the National Aquarium will host the third and final event of the series, this one featuring tilapia and focusing on family fun!

During the outdoor event, guests will welcome summer with an evening for the whole family including good old-fashioned grilled fish feast, samples of micro-brewed beers from Clipper City Brewery and exciting activities. Guests will receive admission to the 5:00 p.m. dolphin show, a special after-dinner showing in the 4-D Immersion Theater of Planet Earth: Shallow Seas and access to the Aquarium’s exhibits until 9:00 p.m.

The featured entrée for the evening will be Tilapia Tacos:
Grilled fillets of farm-raised tilapia marinated in olive oil, lime juice, chili, and garlic. Served with soft tortillas from Lilly's Market, lime-cilantro cream, pickled red onions and jalapenos, tomatillo salsa verde, salsa roja, guacamole, chopped tomatoes, shredded cabbage, and queso chihuahua.

For complete menu, see attached!

WHAT:
Final event in Fresh Thoughts Dining Series
Tilapia - Fish & Family Fun
Featured Entrée: Tilapia Tacos

WHEN:
June 23, 2009
5:30 – 8 p.m.

WHERE:
National Aquarium
501 East Pratt Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202-3194

ADMISSION:
$45 for members, $55 non-members; $25 child
For reservations, please call 410-576-3869.

INFO:
Visit http://www.aqua.org/freshthoughts/index.html

NYC in 24 Hours

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:17:00 +0000

by Erin

Confession: I have an addiction. A serious, debilitating addiction (surprisingly, NOT to bacon). It's an addiction to New York City! I can't get enough - I think about it all the time, I fantasize about living there, SO many of my favorite people live there, and let's not forget about the FOOD! I masochistically signed up for Tasting Table NYC just to hear about all the up and coming food spots I will not be able to partake in but for my sporatic visits a few times a year.

Anyway, between graduation and beginning bar review (uuuggh), I had about a week to just sit around and soak up the rare feeling of having nothing to do. Of course, a trip to NYC was definitely on my list, but I could only come in the middle of the week when most of my buddies/family had to work, so (with the encouragement of Mom and Lauren) I chose to come for a whirlwind, 24 hour trip!

Instead of the train, I took the Bolt Bus from Baltimore ($10 each way - can't beat that!) and arrived just in time to meet up with BFF Lauren in the West Village for a drink before we met up with cousins Ann and Steven for dinner. We ate at Malatesta Trattoria, a quaint Italian place right near the water with open windows and house-made pasta.

Highlights of the meal included the grilled calamari, which was so tender and had a nice added charred flavor, and the sauteed spinach with lots of garlic.

Grilled calamari

Sauteed spinaci

Caprese salad

I also liked my dish, the pasta arrabbiata, a lot - had lots of heat and the sauce was not too heavy. The others also enjoyed their dishes: Steven got ravioli with pink sauce, Lauren got one of the specials, pappardelle with crab (and something else but I can't remember), and Ann got spaghetti with a tomato-based sauce (also can't remember -- all brain cells are being used for legal information at the moment, sorry!).

Ravioli with pink sauce

Spaghetti with tomato and...other stuff

Papardelle with tomato and crab

Penne arrabbiatta

All three of their dishes were made with house-made pasta; the penne in my dish was unfortunately not, but it was cooked to the perfect al dente.

We did not get dessert at Malatesta because we had plans to go to Amy's Bread for -- what else -- CUPCAKES! We in fact not only got an assortment of cupcakes, we also got a few slices of their ridiculously good looking full-sized cakes!

We got red velvet cupcakes and a vanilla cupcake with lovely pink frosting. We also got slices of coconut cake, carrot cake, and German chocolate cake. Actually, we got everything but the German chocolate and as we sat down, Steven got back up and bought the GC slice - the man loves chocolate, what can we say?

Everything was so delicious! As for the cupcakes, I recall the red velvet was good but the frosting was more of a meringue buttercream (more butter than sugar), not the traditional cream cheese frosting. The carrot cake, however, DID have CC frosting and it was bad-ass! The pink cupcake was pretty perfect: not too sweet cake, pretty sweet frosting, good frosting-to-cake ratio.

Pink! And so delicious

Red velvet - we got the last two!

As for the cakes, they were all delicious. The coconut cake was probably my favorite - so moist and coconutty... [drooling]. Surprisingly (or, not so surprisingly?) I really liked the carrot cake! I had it for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it, so I guess I like carrot cake now.

Coconut cake...nom nom nom

Carrot cake

Ann and Steven - love them! And they love cake

Me and LP! We love the pink one!

Steven with his secret extra slice of German chocolate cake

Cupcake carnage

This is the face of a diabetic coma

After we had lapsed into diabetic comas, we stumbled home - Ann and Steven to their apartment in the Flatiron District, me and Lauren to her home in Brooklyn.

The next morning, I took the train into the city with Lauren as she went to work and I went to Madison Square Park, one of my fave spots in the city (which happens to be right outside Ann and Steven's apartment - alas they were at work, lame!). I read my book and enjoyed a Brooklyn bagel we picked up on the way to the train, and then my good friend Kerry arrived! Kerry, a fellow UM law grad (whom you may remember from our meal at Otto in NYC, amongst others), also had nothing to do before bar studying began, so we got to spend some QT together.

One of my and Kerry's favorite things about Madison Square Park is the fact that SHAKE SHACK is there! I've been there several times and just love it. We just happened to be strolling by just as they were opening, so we decided to get a wee snack just for kicks. We got one Shackburger (cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, shack sauce) and a small cup of frozen custard to share. One of the flavors of the day: salted caramel.

Custard!

Kerry and shackburger - two of my favorite things

Hooboy - that was GOOD. The burger was great, as always, and the frozen custard just blew me away! First, custard has a great texture, different from ice cream or gelato, and it reminds me of when I lived in St. Louis and we got to enjoy Ted Drewes custard all the time. Second, salted caramel frozen custard?! I love salted caramel anything, and here it was fantastic: sweet, salty, creamy, melty, yummy.

After our snack, Kerry and I walked around for a while, I picked up some Ess-a Bagels for the family back home, and I got to see Kerry's new apartment - very nice indeed. Then, we parted ways and I met up with Lauren to have my farewell lunch at The Odeon Restaurant.

We ate outside and had a lovely lunch amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. (I believe we were in Tribeca?) Lauren got the tuna burger with a spicy wasabi mayo, and I got the tarragon chicken salad on grilled baguette, which was served with a watercress salad. I appreciated that they used baguette - most chicken salad sandwiches come on soft bread, which gets too mushy in my opinion. Here, not only did they use baguette, they grilled it, making it even more crunchy and delicious - bravo, Odeon, bravo.

Tuna burger with great fries

Now that's a happy girl

Chicken salad on grilled baguette

After lunch, I took the train (all by myself!) to Penn Station and got back on the ol' Bolt Bus. What a great 24 hour trip! I got to see many of my A-listers and ate a few good meals and snacks. Thanks Lauren, Ann, Steven, and Kerry! Love to you all, and hopefully see you in the City soon!

Happy NYC visiting,
EP

Today is National Donut Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Xani & Erin) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:35:00 +0000

by Erin

Hey folks! My apologies for being a bit absent in recent weeks - I have started studying for the dreaded bar exam so I don't have much time for anything that does not include studying, eating, or sleeping (with the occasional break for recorded episodes of "So You Think You Can Dance"). BUT, I had to take a break from studying to inform all you donut-loving readers that today is National Donut Day! Apparently Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' are celebrating with freebies.

We love a good donut, so let's take a trip down memory lane to remember some of our favorite donuts we've had in the two years we've been blogging [cue music, "The Road is Long"]:

Dunkin' donut on Free Iced Coffee Day

Coffee and mini donut at Egg in NYC

The BCD girls at the Doughnut Plant in NYC!

Donut tasting - donuts from Doughnut Plant NYC

Beignets at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans

Read more of our donut-related posts here. And the picture at the top is courtesy of our BFF Lauren from when she did a field report on Dynamo Donuts in San Francisco for us.

Happy donut day!
EP

ps. Post coming soon about my post-graduation whirlwind trip to NYC! I promise it's coming as soon as I just learn all the elements of larceny, robbery, burglary, larceny by trick, false pretenses, forgery, etc. etc. etc.

Meat and Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Xani) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:35:00 +0000

by Xani

A classic/recurring joke at the BCD dinner table is to look down at the plates of delicious, elaborate food we've prepared (and the piles of dirty dishes in the kitchen) and say "oh, just a little something we whipped up." And then we all have a hearty chuckle. Because dinner is always an event, a challenge, a walk down memory lane-- it's never simple, even when, at its core, it is. Which brings me to the meat and potatoes meal we "whipped up" Saturday night at Blackacre.

Steak, potatoes, asparagus-- a basic, classic meal served in restaurants and homes around the country, right? But each time its served the chef or cook gets to make decisions that start to change the meal and make it something special. Where do the ingredients come from? How fresh are they? How are they prepared? Steak in a cast-iron pan or on the grill or in the broiler? Mashed, baked, or fried potatoes? Boiled or steamed asparagus? With sauce or without? And so on... one of the joys of cooking is making these small changes to a basic dish or meal and then seeing how drastically those changes have affected the outcome.

At Kitchen Stadium, even when we go basic, we go BIG and BOLD. Let's start with the steaks:

Not your ordinary new york strip or filet. These beasts were carved off a 15 pound hunk of boneless prime rib roast by Yours Truly just a few hours before we cooked them. Prior to that, they had been wet-aging a Cryo-vac package in the fridge at Blackacre for about 3.5 weeks (during which time the meat began to "break down" aka rot and therefore produce a more tender and succulent steak). We used a kitchen scale, a tape measure and a super-sharp knife to break the 15 pounds into a 5.5 lb boneless rib roast, and 4 (approx.) 2.5 lb steaks. We froze all but two of these, which we brought to room temperature, seasoned heavily with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, seared for 5 minutes per side in a screaming hot cast iron pan, then into the oven until they reached an internal temperature of 122 degrees.

Now the potatoes: simple, yes, but decadent. From #35 on this list, duck-fat roasted potatoes are certainly worth shortening your life for. These little babies came from our favorite local farm stand, Emily's. I peeled a strip from the center of each potato before tossing them into hot duck fat, and sauteed until deep golden brown, crispy, and cooked through.

Local asparagus, also from Emily's, were blanched in salted water while EP tried her hand at hollandaise. For her first attempt at this classic (and notoriously temperamental) sauce, she took a little help from technology and made it in the food processor, using a technique from Julia Child. The egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and pepper went into the food processor while butter was melted. The hot butter was poured slowly into the whirring egg mixture until the sauce became a thick cream. Voila, hollandaise!

Successful timing meant that all our dishes were ready to serve at exactly the same time. The meat had rested for 20 minutes or so and was ready to carve just as the potatoes were pulled off the heat and seasoned, asparagus were drained and sauce finished.

Check out the final plate:

Simple and beautiful and beyond delicious. Add some fabulous Amarone to drink, gorgeous sunset outside and great conversation about how "meat and potatoes" has changed in America over the last 50 years and what a nice little evening we whipped up.