pigtown pigout

Caffe Falai in NYC

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:15:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Market – November 8

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:44:00 +0000

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

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

Clementine

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:19:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

Sunday Market – October 25

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:41:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Market – October 11

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:16:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

FTC: Bloggers Must Disclose Endorsements

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:39:00 +0000

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

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

Here’s more:

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

A link to the announcement is here.

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

Gourmet Magazine Closing

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:33:00 +0000

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

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

Such a shame for everyone involved in Gourmet.

Sunday Market – October 4

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:09:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

See you next week @ the market.

Sunday Market - September 27

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:55:00 +0000

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

B&O American Brasserie

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:48:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

We’ll go back for happy hour though!

Sunday Market - September 20

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:01:00 +0000

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

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

Flushing, Queens

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:43:00 +0000

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

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

Sunday Market - August 30

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:16:00 +0000

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

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

RIP Brass Elephant

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:33:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No Market....

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:35:00 +0000

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

Here's a picture from a previous market.

Next week, though!

Sunday Market - August 16

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:49:00 +0000

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

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

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

Salt

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:10:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crush

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:14:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Market - August 9

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:02:00 +0000

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

woven reed, straw or wood baskets,

pulled or pushed baskets and carts,

logo and printed bags

and collapsible market baskets.

What do you carry at the market?

Food Blogger Code of Ethics

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:56:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

1. We will be accountable

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

2. We will be civil.

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

3. We will reveal bias

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

4. We will disclose gifts, comps and samples

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

5. We will follow the rules of good journalism

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

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

Sunday Market - August 2

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:08:00 +0000

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

Crabs on Sunday

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:46:00 +0000

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

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

Grilled Cheese Croutons

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:28:00 +0000

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

From the Minimalist's 100 Summer Salads.

Sunday Market - July 26

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:57:00 +0000

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

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

Loads and loads of fresh flowers everywhere!

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

See you next week!

Julie & Julia at Wegmans

mfairfaxf@juno.com (Pigtown-Design) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:21:00 +0000

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

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

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