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French Fridays: Cheese-Topped Onion Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:30:00 +0000

This took forever to make.

The recipe said to cook the onions on low and to get them to a deep caramel brown. 2 hours later, I was turning the heat up and getting them to a caramelish hue.

This was good, but I know that we won't finish the leftovers and for me that's the telltale sign that I shouldn't make it again.

TWD: chocolate truffle tart

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:30:00 +0000

From Baking With Julia. Awesome recipe.

This wasn't so much complicated as it was time-consuming. The chocolate crust was great and could be used in a lot of great spin-offs.

The finished product is beautiful and tasty.

And I loved all of the different textures and flavors that come with using the different types of chocolate and biscotti.

Baltimore Ramblings

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:54:00 +0000

I was really excited about moving to Baltimore. Well, excited and terrified. For the first month that we lived here I was scared to leave our apartment by myself. G had to go to his mom's for a weekend and he was afraid to leave me alone. But other than that, it was fun to be in a big city. Plus we started seeing the nice neighborhoods like Fells Point and Federal Hill and I fell in love with the quirkiness that the city has to offer.

I guess that lasted for about a year.

Three years after we moved here I have a very different opinion on this place where we live. There's a level of apathy that I can't begin to describe. It starts with the local government and runs through a lot of the citizens. The segregation here is persistent and blind to the atrocities that many of our lower socioeconomic class neighbors are enduring on a daily basis.

In the 3 years that I have been here, I have worked in the public schools, with HIV/AIDS patients, IV drug abusers, and with victims of domestic violence, as well as many other groups of impoverished, uneducated, and marginalized people. Sometimes my friends will ask me if Baltimore is really like The Wire and I always say yes.

But really, it's worse. Trust me.

Bo ssam

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:46:00 +0000

My version of Momofuku bo ssam.

Parkway Deli, Silver Spring, MD

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I had some amazing matzoh ball soup yesterday from Parkway Deli. We had some other great food there, as well, like blintzes and potato pancakes and corned beef. Oh and a pickle bar. My friend and I were in Jewish girl heaven. But seriously, the matzoh ball soup. Especially if you're like me and have a head cold and just want to lie on the couch all day reading Hunger Games and watching Millionaire Matchmaker.

Tuesdays with Dorie: White Loaf

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:22:00 +0000

Tuesdays with Dorie

Baking with Julia: White Loaf

NYC

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Things that prep school physicians have said to me II.

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:18:00 +0000

How do the patients know where to buy drugs?

This is the most consternation over a glucometer that I've ever seen!

What's methadone?
I've read about methadone in my crime novels.

Things that prep school physicians have said to me.

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:11:00 +0000

"Top work today!"

"I've never had 7-11 coffee."

"Let's get some hard cheeses and see what happens with her."

Happy Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:50:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:15:00 +0000

The more I work the more I really just want to own a restaurant...

Chunky vegetable soup

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:31:00 +0000

From How to Cook Everything

Pasta with roasted beets, fennel and almonds

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:17:00 +0000

From Macrina Bakery cookbook

Pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 01:07:00 +0000

From Cook's Country

Take me out to the ball game.

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:55:00 +0000

I am very excited about baseball season and the new food coming to Camden Yards.

We walked by the stadium yesterday and they were putting up the new signs at the stands.

Yay Spring!

Buzzing about Baltimore

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Recently I was given the opportunity to become a member of the Baltimore Buzz Brigade. What is the wonderful group with fantastic alliteration, you ask? Well it's basically a group of people who love Baltimore (like me!) and want to help inform others about its awesomeness. We'll be doing a lot of stuff, like tweeting and blogging about events, answering people's questions on the Visit Baltimore website, and giving you some insight into what makes this city so great.

Special zombie room

To get started, I joined my fellow brigadiers on a kick-off event a few weeks ago. We went to some pretty cool spots and I'd love to show you a little bit right now about what makes Baltimore so great.

Our first stop was at the Geppi's Entertainment Museum right next to Camden Yards. I'd never been there before, but it was awesome! I'm actually very eager to go back! Here are some photos:

Old-school toys

Beatles memorabalia

An entire room of comic books

Next we went to the Sports Legends Museum, which is actually in the same building. I like sports, but I'm not really fanatical and I thought I'd be really bored here. It was actually really interesting!

Kids (or adults) can try on actual gear

Testudo!

Then we went to the American Visionary Art Museum, one of my favorite museums of all time. Right now they're doing an exhibit called What Makes Us Smile? and it's amazing. I didn't get any photos there, but I can assure you that everything they do is great. Lunch was at AVAM's restaurant Mr. Rain's Fun House. I got a roasted veggie sandwich with fries that was pretty awesome. The best part was their little bread balls that came with mustard. I have been daydreaming about them and conspiring my own recipe.

Unfortunately I had to leave early, but I did get my new favorite shirt:

And yes, feel free to ask me about Baltimore!

Disclaimer: I was selected to be a member of the Baltimore Buzz Brigade, a social media project of Visit Baltimore. The program sometimes offers incentives for blog posts or social media coverage of local events or businesses, and I will always disclose incentives.

The Wine Market, Locust Point

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 16:56:00 +0000

Baltimore Restaurant Week.

Each time that it has come around I have been very excited and studied all the menus, plotting my week(s) and trying to figure out which places would be the best bang for my buck. This time around, I sort of just went with convenience and a place that I knew I wanted to try anyway: The Wine Market.

I've been wanting to go there for a long time (I say that about every place, don't I?) and we really were not disappointed. The restaurant is in Locust Point and has its own parking (always a plus). The inside is beautiful with exposed brick and industrial touches. You walk in through their wine store which seemed to have a great selection with good prices.

We both got the fennel and chickpea soup, which was really delicious and I'm already planning on trying to replicate it. For the main course, I got the seared tuna which came with cold udon noodles and an avocado puree. It was truly delicious and I was very happy to have some good tuna. G got the pan fried chicken with au jus and mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts and everything he had was very delicious. The Wine Market also had some fantastic desserts that night. I had a carrot cake, which was more like a bread because of the texture and wasn't super-sweet. It came with some candied carrots that were an awesome touch. G got a chocolate pretzel pave. The crust was made of pretzel and it was the perfect salty-sweet dessert (yes, I want to recreate that one, too). Oh yes, and I had some sangria which was probably the best I have ever had.

I can't wait to go back there. If you haven't made RW plans, I recommend them for a great spot. Or anytime really!

More cooking?

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:42:00 +0000

It might not seem obvious anymore, but I actually cook way more than I go out to eat. Recently I got really excited about wanting to be more self-sufficient and utilizing seasonal ingredients as much as possible. I decided to branch out into another blog that focuses on cooking, but I also really wanted to collaborate with friends and see what we could all come up with together.

That is how Seasonal Spotlight was born. It will focus on experimentation and using seasonal ingredients. It's only been up and running for a couple of weeks, but I am really excited about it. Please check it out and feel free to give me any input that you may have! We will definitely be needing to hear suggestions for ingredients!

And of course, this blog isn't going anywhere.

Liquid Assets, Ocean City, MD

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 18:55:00 +0000

I spent the first 22 years of my life in Ocean City, so I get a little disappointed when there are restaurants that I have not tried. Luckily, my parents still live there and I am slowly checking all of them off of my checklist. One that I had been wanting to try for years was Liquid Assets.

I guess it was a little bit intimidating to me when I was in high school. It's definitely not a typical Ocean City restaurant. When my mom and I walked in, it was like being in a completely different city. It's half restaurant, half bar/store. The atmosphere in the dining room was a little bit strange; it was really dark and felt empty on the day that we were there. That probably changes during the summer and at night, but for lunch it was odd.

We both opted for the $8 Lunch Combo. I got the andouille sausage macaroni and cheese and roasted veggies. My mom got the veggies and a cauliflower soup. Everything was fantastic, especially the veggies. It was a blend of brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, and other fresh local veggies. The portions were not large, but satisfying. I think a dinner bill could probably get high very quickly. But the quality of food here compared with other OC restaurants is worth the price.

Alewife, Downtown

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:58:00 +0000

The first night that we tried to go to Alewife, we were turned away at the door because they had no tables and did not expect to have any until 8pm, when the show at the Hippodrome started (silly us, we were going to the show and should have known better). We made a reservation for 6 the night after that and had much better results. We got there about 20 minutes early and the same man was at the door. He tried turning us away, but we explained the reservation and he reluctantly let us go in to the bar area. It is a beautiful space and has been converted really nicely. All of the beer selections are written on a chalkboard wall. It was very crowded and we sort of felt like we were in the way.

The majority of us ordered the smoke burger:

An 11oz House Ground Ribeye, Brisket, Skirt and Filet of Beef Burger, Smoked Gouda, Gruyere Cheese, Apple Wood Smoked Bacon, Caramelized Cipollini Onion, Chipotle Aioli, Brioche Bun, Duck Fat Fries

It was very good. A few people said that it was the best burger that they had ever had. The fries were also good, but they were cold. The server was not great. We sort of lost him after he brought our food and we're pretty sure he left. Overall, it was a great experience with very good food. They just need to work out a few kinks with their staff.

Olney Ale House, Olney, MD

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 20:19:00 +0000

I was happy to be eating at Olney Ale House for many reasons. My aunt and my mom were visiting so it was a nice treat to have lunch with them. I didn't have to pick the place where we were going to eat (I am notoriously bad at this). My mom used to eat there when she was in high school and that made it seem cute and special.

It was actually very cute. They had a fireplace and it felt like a cozy log cabin. It was very busy, but the service was great (this is always a huge plus for me). We all ordered a salad that they had on their specials which had pears, dried cranberries, pecans, feta cheese and grilled chicken and had a loaf of their famous bread and butter. The salads were huge and delicious! I love fall flavors and this was the perfect combination of ingredients. The chicken was also perfect, which can really make or break a salad. In fact the salads were so big that we combined them all for me to take home and I ate it for another two days. The bread was also very yummy, served with whipped butter.

The Olney area seems to have a lot of restaurants popping up, but I recommend trying the Olney Ale House if you're out that way.

Good Stuff Eatery and 2 Amys, DC

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 19:06:00 +0000

I am so backed up on my reviews. I can't wait until I graduate. But that's another tale...

We went into DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity. It was a mess. Such a mess that we decided to pass on the mayhem and wander down the street a ways to Good Stuff Eatery, which we had heard very good stuff about. The line was pretty much what we expected and we did wait for a while before we got our food (at least we could watch the rally on TV). We each got cheeseburgers, fries, and marshmallow shakes. We agreed that the burgers were good, but not anything extraordinary. I'd rather have Five Guys or Abbey.

The fries were pretty great, though. They have a little condiment bar that has different types of dipping mayonaisses to try. I believe we had Old Bay mayo, Chipotle mayo, and pineapple. They were unique and cooked well. By far the shake was the best part. It definitely had marshmallow fluff mixed into the vanilla ice cream and was not as sickeningly sweet as you would expect. On top were big, toasted marshmallows. Yum. I would recommend just going for fries and shakes!

Later on, we had dinner at 2 Amys in Cleveland Park. It was a beautiful neighborhood and we were very happy with our choice of restaurant. They are certified by the Italian government to make authentic Neapolitan pizza. I've never been to Italy, but I imagine that this is what pizza tastes like there. The service was incredibly fast and before we knew it, we were tasting some of the freshest and purest pizza you could imagine. This is no-frills food and it is awesome.

Brasserie 10 South, Downtown

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:21:00 +0000

What happened to this place? You can tell from the interwebs that it must have been pretty darn good at some point, but they lost a chef, succumbed to bad location, and just flat out started failing.

I think it should say a lot that I have momentarily come out of blogging hibernation just to review Brasserie 10 South. I was really excited to try this place and I had been holding on to the Groupon for a while. The menu looks fantastic; a plethora of southern dishes jump out from the page. I decided that I wanted to get the shrimp and grits before we even left. But we were not met with that menu. We were met with a lunch menu (at 7pm) that had 3 appetizers, a couple of salads, and about 5 sandwiches. I asked the server if we got the wrong menu. Nope. We could see that some entrees (like the shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles) are offered as specials on some nights.

So how was the food? I enjoyed the Doritos that my boyfriend picked up after we left a lot more. I got a chicken caesar wrap that was dry and bland. G got a burger that was bloody rare inside, even though he wasn't asked how he wanted it cooked. This may have been the first time in our relationship that I saw him leave a burger unfinished. A very sad day.

I'll also note that the atmosphere is weird. It's pretty big inside, and sort of reminded me of being in my grandparents' basement; a little too glitzy and looked like it could hold a huge party, but there were only 2 other tables there. Super uncomfortable.

So what's up with this place? Has anyone had a different experience with them?

Mezze, Fell's Point

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:34:00 +0000

I missed out on last year's summer restaurant week because we hadn't moved here yet and then we missed winter's because I just couldn't decide which restaurant to try (and I'm a busy grad student!). But I was determined to try restaurant week this year. I read all of the menus and made lists of potential places to go until I finally settled on trying Mezze. Mezze had never really been on my "need to try" list, but their menu looked really good and it was an awesome value; instead of 3 courses for $35.10, you would get about 20 tapas dishes. Bargain! And I knew there would be enough to take home.

Mezze is located in Fell's Point and it's a really cute little place. We were seated right away with our reservation and were given the choice between inside and outside. We chose inside, which meant that we were very close to the tables next to us (this seems to be a trend lately). Everyone in the row of four tables where we sat was also doing the restaurant week menu. Our server came over right away and explained everything to us. We each got a glass of red sangria (on special for $5 each) which was very good and fairly large compared to other restaurants' versions. Then we waited for the immense amount of food to arrive. First out was some fresh pita bread, which was hot and very good. I started to get worried here because the tiny table was already almost full with just glasses and plates and pita.

I decided to copy the menu here and just give you a run down of each item. First out were the dips:

Mixed Olives

These didn't actually make an appearance. Not sure why, but no one seemed to get them.
Hummus
This was a really thin hummus, but had good flavor.

Tzatziki
This was pretty standard, but G loves Tzatziki, so he was happy.

Tabouli
Very good and I had more leftover for lunch the next day.

Next, we got the "vegetable course":

Grape Leaves
I really liked the actual leaves, but the filling seemed a little under seasoned. Plus for not being too oily.

Spinach Pie

One of my favorites that we had all night. It was perfectly flaky and the filling was delicious.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Roasted Peppers
I could have taken these or left them. The filling was mushy and I'm not crazy about roasted peppers.

Then came the main course:

Falafel

These were some of the worst falafels that I have ever had. Very dry.

Shrimp Cakes
Interesting. I liked them, but didn't feel like I would necessarily order them again.

Fried Calamari
Pretty typical calamari. Good, though.

Chicken Kabob
The chicken was very moist and flavorful.

Beef and Lamb Meatballs
Very moist and tender. They were good, but again I don't think I would get them again.

Baby Lamb Chops
My first experience with lamb chops. They were decent, I guess, but I don't feel qualified to judge.

Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes
Good for a place that isn't known for seafood/crab cakes. A little too much filler, but good flavor.

At this point we were stuffed, but the dessert course was on its way and it looked amazing!
Baklava

Yummy, yummy, yummy. Lots of honey and nuts.
Kataifi
Kind of like the other two desserts combined. Interesting and different and delicious.
Baked Custard

Probably my favorite of the three. Delicious chilled custard with a yummy philo-type "crust."

The bill, with tip, came up to around $100. We had a ton of food to take home, but I still do not think that the restaurant week pricing justifies a visit to Mezze. You could go there, get only the dishes you want, and go home happy and probably spend less than half what we did. The food was hit or miss, but the dishes that we liked, we liked a lot. And like I said, the tables are really small and close together, so I felt like I was doing a balancing act the entire time. A person at the table across from us did knock over his water and sent it flying every where. My advice: try Mezze, get what you like, and don't go for restaurant week.

The Dogwood, Hampden

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:31:00 +0000

The first thing that you will realize when you step into The Dogwood is how amazingly gorgeous the decor and layout are. This is seriously a beautiful restaurant with amazing lighting and a perfect spot for a romantic evening. I wasn't actually on a date when I went there, though; I was with roommate from college and we thought that it was fantastic.

I have gotten several recommendations to try The Dogwood since I moved to Baltimore, but had been putting it off for a while. When my friend came to visit, I knew that a girls' night would be the perfect time to check it out. It was loud in there, so be sure that you're prepared to talk loudly. Our server was very friendly and helpful. To start each table is given some homemade brown bread with a mango chutney butter. Mmmmm!!! Seriously, I could have just eaten this and gone home happy. But of course, I needed to try more. For dinner, I ordered the seared Cape May sea scallops ($31) with, sweet corn-local mushroom risotto with baby spinach, apple smoked bacon. My friend ordered the local corn and mushroom risotto ($18), with baby spinach, garlic sauteed greens, sage persillade, local oyster mushrooms. We were both so happy with our food. The scallops were cooked perfectly and the smokiness of the bacon played so well with all of the other components. I even had some to take home and eat for lunch the next day!

The Dogwood is definitely a beautiful space with fantastic food, and very worthy of taking company!