Maryland, My Maryland

Yesterday, BuzzFeed (my favorite useless news site) posted this article on 20 reasons why Maryland is the "Coolest" State.  Now I've never quite figured out exactly how BuzzFeed works.  Do they have a staff that writes for them?  Or do they have contributors?  Because I think I've seen this article at least 10 times already substituting 10 other states/cities/countries/colleges/etc.  However, I must admit, it's fun to see my everyday in a nationwide story.  But, I'm not sure I agree with their reasons.  Maryland is pretty cool, as much as I complain about it, but their reasons why it's the coolest, are a little weak, quite honestly.  I'm not sure I'm creative (or invested) enough to think up 20 reasons why we Marylanders rock, but I bet I can dream up at least the top 10.

1.  Have to agree with the article on this one, the Ravens are the reigning Super Bowl Champions.  There is nothing we love more than our boys in purple!

2. We claim Cal Ripken, Ray Lewis, Michael Phelps, Edgar Allen Poe, Bryan Voltaggio and Josh Charles as our own.  

3. Not to be outdone by the Ravens, the Orioles began their own hot streak at the end of last season, and contrary to the last few games, have been continuing on that streak this season as well.  It's been quite a while since we've seen it, but we just might have another pennant soon.

4. Maryland Seafood.  Yeah, we're pretty famous for those little blue spidery things that everyone just loves (i.e. Maryland Blue Crabs) but the oysters, shrimp, and fish shouldn't be counted out.  

5.  We are home to Natty Boh (which is apparently a thing to be happy about) and Old Bay which BuzzFeed is correct in saying "we put that on everything!"

6.  Our weather rocks at least half of the year.  Sure it's hellishly humid in the summer and we could quite possibly get up to 4 feet of snow in the winter, but you have to admit autumn and spring are pretty nice.

7. Annapolis - A drinking town with a sailing problem.  There's really nothing to complain about when you're surrounded by boats and water, restaurants and shopping, historic monuments and present day houses of government.  It's the tourist heart of Maryland and I'm pretty fond of it.

8.  We can go down the ocean, hon.  Not many states (well, aside from all the ones that have a coast line, I suppose...) can boast an actual beach and boardwalk.  When you pile on the availability of Thrasher's French Fries, Dumser's Ice Cream, Boog's BBQ and Fisher's Popcorn, you're looking at one world class destination.

9. On our very own Ft. McHenry, Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner.  The fort still exists today and plays host to multiple patriotic celebrations each year, as well as field trips and tours.

10. Washington DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and the Carolinas, are drivable within a few hours time.  If we really wanted to, we could leave the country (Canada) without jumping on a plane or train.

See that?  Contrary to what all food TV hosts that come here ramble on about, it is possible to talk about how great Maryland is without mentioning "The Wire"...

My Two Favorite Things

By chance I found The Food Travel Company on Pinterest today while vacation planning, of course.  It is by far the coolest and most fabulous idea I've ever seen.  They create food experiences by taking groups on trips to food festivals and destinations.  The up side and downside of it all is that the company is located in England (where everything cool is, of course!).

On the downside, England is very far away, and it doesn't look like I'll be moving there soon (though one day it's so going to happen!), so, no participating in these amazing trips.  However, on the up side, England is really far away - I'm thinking the US needs a subsidiary.  I can think of about 30 different food locales just here on the East Coast, let alone the rest of the US and Canada.  

Travelling to Eat specifically (something I do already, much to my travel companion's chagrin) - I'm already half way there. All I need is a decent business plan.  For once my annoying little habit (food obsessed) could make me rich! : )

A Little Bit of Happy is Definitely Needed

In the age of Facebook statuses and Twitter updates, it was bound to happen.  Anonymous weirdos using social media for no other reason than to be mean and vicious.  These individuals have gotten tired of attacking others face to face.  They now take to the internet where they have an audience of thousands to listen to them.  Two of these such stories hit the news cycle this week and while being heartbreaking, they are also disgusting in that they are allowed to continually happen.

One story details the rape threats to a British woman who leads a women's rights website and group.  After campaigning for Jane Austen to appear on the 10 pound note, one 21 year old decided to threaten her on Twitter with rape.  When this particular woman tried to appeal to those in power at Twitter, they turned off their accounts and ignored her instead of discontinuing the attacker's.  Then there's the horrifying story coming out of Russia.  Gay men are being lured by fake singles ads online only to be viciously attacked and humiliated by homophobic groups.  If that weren't enough, their humiliation is being photographed and video taped and uploaded to the same internet the attackers are using to lure them there.

It's positively terrifying and heartbreaking.  I'm absolutely at a loss; how is this allowed to happen?  We've been to the moon and back.  We've cured terrible diseases and found ways to give back to those in third world countries.  But we can't decipher a way to patrol the one network that the entire world is on?  Which brings me to my next point. 

I read this article earlier this evening and think it's a fairly fantastic idea.  Since I doubt Ellen has any ambitions of being the president of the United States, maybe we can talk her into becoming the Sheriff of Social Media.  I'm sure she can whip the Wild West into shape.  A few jokes there, many well-timed heartfelt speeches there, and the world would be a much happier and more importantly nicer place!

Baltimore Restaurant Week - Cinghiale

I've never actually done the whole restaurant week thing.  I've always wanted to, but never got around to it. That finally changed this year when the girls and I tried Cinghiale.  Cinghiale is a fairly new restaurant in the new Harbor East section of town (tons of new restaurants to try - yum!)  They serve high end Italian food and charcuterie.  However, there were just a few things to try on the Restaurant week menu.  However, those few items were delicious!

I chose:

ANTIPASTI

Local Heirloom Tomato Salad, Gorgonzola, Basil, Arugula, Sportoletti Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I was worried about this one because I'm not a fan of Gorgonzola.  But it was more like strong buffalo mozzarella rather than the blue cheese variety  So delicious!

PIATTI PRINCIPALI

Hand Cut Tagliatelle with Veal Bolognese, Parmigiano

This course was good, but not my favorite.  The pasta was perfectly cooked but the sauce was a little too strong, with not many spices to liven it up.

DOLCI

Vanilla Panna Cotta, Local Market Fruit

Absolutely perfect!  The local market fruit was grilled and so delicious!  I usually go for chocolate (the other choice was chocolate but it was supposed to have pine nuts, and I hate nuts) but I'm so glad I chose the panna cotta this time.  It may now be one of my favorite restaurant desserts of all time!

The only issue I have is now I know why I could never be a food writer.  I was too busy scarfing down my meal to remember to take pictures!  But what a great evening with some fabulous ladies!

Let's Go O's!

It was the perfect night for my first Orioles game of the season...if you overlook the torrential downpour that delayed the game by 30 minutes, the absolute invasion of Baltimore by Bostonians (such a huge Sox faction that when everyone screamed, I had no idea if it was good for us or them), and the complete and utter thrashing the poor O's took from the Sox (it was 7-2 when we left, and it wasn't even the 8th inning yet...I'm too afraid to  search for the final score).  So, you know, a wonderful summer night at the Yard!

 

Contrary to what it looks like, I do actually have orange on.  And no I have no idea what the chick and the dude behind us are doing...

 

 

Friday Five

1. Jeans, Jeans, Jeans - Woohoo!  I realize that I haven't needed them since it's been 50,000 degrees here, but I've been looking for jeans for vacation since summer started.  The stores have had plenty of fantastic sales but no stinking jeans.  It seems that it's finally close enough to fall, that the jeans have finally arrived!  Ann Taylor LOFT here I come!

2.  The Travel section of Pinterest.  It's probably not good for my checkbook but it's certainly giving me a serious case of Wanderlust.

3. I've read this story before and it's not my favorite by any means.  So I'm not entirely sure what makes this cute.  I have a suspicion that it's the Benedict pictures interspersed... 

4. Most certainly the best and most impressive this to happen this week!  Way to go Phil!  The win the week before, the humility with which he always plays, the fact that his family was there each time he won, and most of all coming from behind and bypassing Tiger along with quite a few others.  He's just fabulous, and that's about all there is to it!

5. Banana Fudge Pie Ice Cream with mucho Hot Fudge from Kilwin's in Annapolis - Yum Yum Yum!!

5 Months...

Don't mean to stress everyone out, but today is officially 5 months until Christmas!  I know that usually it's my trip that I'm counting down (though, that's 11 weeks from today, in case you were wondering...) but I get ridiculously excited about Christmas too.  Three months from now, I'll most likely be complaining about the lack of shopping I've done, but for now I'm basking in the Christmas in July feeling.

Just the other day, I was perusing all the new Christmas books that were coming out soon on Amazon.  There's nothing better than reading a Christmas story, in my opinion anyway.  Since I learned one of my favorite authors (Mary Kay Andrews) has a new one coming out this year, I've been pretty darn happy.  And now I'm noticing the Scrap companies are previewing their winter and Christmas lines as well.  It's all a little too quick since I'd really like to savor summer a bit longer but on the other hand, I love that Christmas spirit!

Merry Christmas (in July!)

Feeling Icky...

It would seem the first time trying Indian food was a little too much for this girl.  Taking the night off to recuperate.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Match or No Match?

There's something to be said about online dating sites.  From what I can tell there have been quite a few marriages and happy families made from Match or e-Harmony (at least that's what the commercials say...).  And pretty much everyone with a husband or serious boyfriend already, is convinced it's the miracle "cure" for us singles.  Just go on create a profile, and Bam!  There's your future Prince Charming.  

And I must admit I've tried; admittedly, not very hard.  I posted a few pics, made a few witty (to no one else but me) remarks, and complained when I didn't get a date.  But it's mostly because I just don't get it.  This may just be me, but I think people are judgemental in general.  The first tiny grammatical error or missed comma, and I'm judging him for being an idiot.  Then there's what we choose to post.  You (or I for that matter) can post anything we want up there, and who's there to verify it?  I can post a resume to rival the Dalai Lama and photo that looks like Cindi Crawford and who's to say I'm not beautiful and brainy?

I've said it before that I have visions in my head of meeting someone the old fashioned way.  Bumping into him on the street or being introduced at a function or at work.  But obviously, that's not working for me.  So maybe I need to try a little harder with this Match stuff even though I don't believe in it all that much.  

I read a quote recently that said something to the effect of, once you find that one special person, you'll wonder why everything was so difficult in the first place.  I certainly hope that's the case.  I just wish the wondering would start sooner rather than later...

It's a Boy!

I have to admit, I wasn't nearly as invested in this whole Royal Baby fever thing as I probably should have been, given my affinity for all things England.  But now that she's actually had the little one, I will admit it's fairly exciting.  I realize, there are quite a few years until he becomes King, but imagine looking at your little one and knowing he'll rule your country one day.  What a responsibility!  

But of course, I'm more concerned with what everyone else is concerned with - when can we see him and what's his name?!

Congrats Will and Kate!

Artscape 2013

I have lived in Maryland  my entire life, and have never once gone to Artscape.  I decided to change that this year, so the bestie and I headed downtown to sweat it out.  I have to say, it's not at all what I imagined.  I had Comic Con for artsy types in my head.  Lots of off the wall outfits with crazy music and gorgeous works of art. Contrary to what I thought, there were lots of food vendors selling random deep-fried sweets, and lots of craft vendors selling their wears.  There were occasionally some exhibits and some dancing and music but not much.  

Aside from the fun time with the bestie, to be honest, I would have rather stayed home where it was nice and cool and watched Lefty clinch the Open title.  (Woohoo!!  Way to go Phil!)

Trying to be all artsy like - that reflection in the yellow shirt is me : )

Scrap Happy Saturday

I've been in quite the crafty mood lately.  I haven't gotten the chance to actually sit down and do the crafting, but that hasn't stopped me from dreaming up all sorts of scrappy fabulous ideas.  This sudden burst of creativity is for the most part motivated by my upcoming adventure.  (The major sale at AC Moore, I'm sure, also has something to do with it...) Though I haven't quite mastered the art of the camera yet, I plan to take loads of beautiful pictures that will be dying to be displayed in some fabulous way or another. 

Herein lies the problem.  Even though I say I'm a scrapbooker, that's not really the whole truth.  I'm more of a paper crafter than a scrapbooker. I like to focus on cards and frames.  12x12 scrapbooks are just too overwhelming for me.  I feel they need to have a theme therefore throwing a bunch of unrelated pictures into a scrapbook doesn't work for me.  Also, after one page fails, I lose all motivation for the next 10.  It really is a vicious cycle.  But that's beside the point. What I really want to say, is I've discovered a new way to scrapbook which just may turn my whole scrappy outlook around.

A few months ago, I ranted about Project Life; the new craze that's spreading through the craft world wherein you scrapbook every day of each year.  How completely and utterly overwhelming and terrifying is that!?  My little crafter's heart started fluttering just thinking about it.  But, with the rise of Project Life, came the invention of the Project Life scrapbook to make this behemoth task slightly easier.  These albums have pocket pages instead of just 12x12 inserts.  Basically, if you want, all you must do is drop your pictures in the handy dandy sleeves and add a bit of journaling and you're all set.  This fabulous invention is just what I needed to jump into scrapbooking.  Much less scary and all together beautiful in the end.  Not to mention, all the little pockets are perfect places to add maps, and other little accessories I'm sure I'll accumulate after 10 days in GBR.   The best part is, since Project Life tends to be such a big accomplishment, there are tons of ideas up online to scrap-lift from in the case of failure.   Just look what I've found after just a few minutes on Pinterest:

 

Now there's only one small question left to ask: Is it too soon to start or must I really wait until I've taken the pics?

Friday Five: Geeky Edition

In honor of the Geek National Holiday that is occurring in San Diego as we speak (aka ComicCon), this week's Friday Five is dedicated to all things nerdy.  Geek out!

1.  I'm slightly fond of UK's Sherlock and can't seem to get enough of this video.  Even if you have no idea what a Cumberbatch is, there is no way you won't at least giggle at his shenanigans.  Adorable!
  

2. This fairly amazing poster apparently inspired by Wil Wheaton and designed by the folks at Don't Forget to be Awesome.  I'm only certain of a few of the references (some geek I am!) but I love the design and the sentiment.

3. I'm not sure how or when I decided that Matt Smith was all kinds of adorable in a non-lovey dovey more bumbling 5 year old kind of way, but it was most definitely in the last few months.  Of course it's now that he decides to leave.  Let's hope that means we get at least a few more interviews at least half as adorable as this one.

4. As a one-time attendee, I agree with every point on this list.  In reference to point 21, I believe that's the exact spot I sat in for 3 hours waiting for the USA panels to start.  Best vantage point for costume watching if I do say so myself.

5. Also as someone who knows exactly what she's missing - the crazy, enchanting, celebratory, geek-love nerd fest - this list is pretty accurate as well. 

 Happy ComicCon Week!

An Evening with the Doctor

Last evening I (and about 500 other people) had the pleasure of spending a bit of time with Doctor Oliver Sacks.  Dr. Sacks is a world-renowned physician, neurologist and expert in all things brain-y.  I've been a huge fan of his since college, when we read "The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat" which contained case studies of people with prosopagnosia or face blindness.  Since then, I've been fascinated by the idea of not recognizing someone based on facial features alone.  Sufferers of face blindness, can no longer recognize even those closest to them.  Once they leave a room, and come back, the person they are seeing is now a stranger to them until they speak or use some other distinguishing noise or movement.  So while I'm sure the initial description of the book made your eyes glaze over, you have to be at least a little intrigued by the premise.

That seems to be his greatest asset, along with his straight to the point writing style: choosing fascinating topics.  His book subjects range from catatonic patients waking up after being given a drug used to treat an entirely different ailment, what music does for the brain, Temple Grandin the autistic expert on animals, and most recently, hallucinations.   "Hallucinations" was the to be the basis for his discussion at this particular event and was given to the audience with their tickets.  

Now while hallucinations are a particularly interesting concept, you (like I did) would think that the discussion would have been riveting to say the least.  Edge of your seat stuff, surely.  Stories of patients seeing and hearing all sorts of shenanigans while under the influence of all sorts.  But sadly it was not.  It was interesting but quite different than I had imagined; not bad but not what I expected.  

Seeing as he's been writing for quite some time, I should have realized he would be slightly advanced in age.  Also, given my affinity for all things British, I should have known he was a Brit.  However, neither one of these things crossed my mind.  Doctor Sacks is now 80 years old and therefore talks quite quietly and not as quickly as he used to.  Add to that the thick British accent, and you'd see where one may have some difficulty.  

Timing was another issue.  He spoke for barely 40 minutes, with 20 minutes used mostly by the moderator.  I'm assuming this was because of his age and the sheer number of people that were hoping to have their books signed after he spoke.  However, even with the unexpected speed bumps, you could tell, he's just as clever as ever.  He seemed like a very sweet man who could take on any younger experts in his field without breaking a sweat; pretty much exactly as I've always imagined him...with some added British-ness.

Oliver Sacks

Would love to tell you all about my evening seeing:

At the 6th&I Synagogue in Washington DC.  But it's a school night and I really must get to bed.  More info tomorrow I promise.  Nighty Night!

What Passes as a Good Night

I am what you might call easy to please.  I get very excited over very little - one teeny tiny little detail going right and I'm set for the week.  Which is why I'm willing to count this evening as a very good night.

I managed to make this:

(It's strawberry bread, made with lots of bright red strawberries in bright red sugary sweet sticky strawberry sauce, in case you were wondering) Not once but twice - in cake form and cupcake form.  While simultaneously making bright red tomato sauce and assisting in the frying of egg plant (and here is where it gets quite impressive, as I'm a bit of a whirlwind in the kitchen) without getting a single red stainy drop or greasy speckle on the WHITE pants I was wearing.  

I knew I was tempting fate when I tried but for some reason the gods were on my side.  Also, not only did the cupcakes turn out yummy (not so pretty but delicious nonetheless) but the cake turned out pretty as well.  The skies will probably fall tomorrow but this evening I'm sitting pretty (and clean!)

Oh and Suits comes back this evening on TV as well - Woohoo!

Current Events

Dear Florida DoJ,

I know I wasn't in the courtroom, and I know that I didn't hear all the facts but I just don't understand how you could have acquitted George Zimmerman.  At a certain point, you had to have realized he at least contributed to his death, if not killed him outright.  If he wasn't there that evening, Trayvon Martin would still be alive today.  It's as easy as that.  The whole situation was a terrible one.  Either way, there would be no winner, but justice should have been served and in the end it wasn't.

So far the protests have been peaceful which is a positive in all this.  Those that feel strongly about re-igniting the debate on race, are sharing their views respectfully and calmly, and doing so in a spirit of collaboration with friends and neighbors.  So it would be prudent for you to listen to them.  You have to do better. Be better.  We all deserve it.  We're doing our part out here to make the US a little better, you should join in on that fight.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Citizen 

Yummy Sunday Breakfast

Quite honestly, I'm a terrible food photographer, but this right here (since the snapshot does it no justice) is a yummy Sunday breakfast.  It's an Oven Puffed Pancake taken from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook.  In it, Betty suggests you eat it plain or add apples.  But I added chocolate chips and bananas since I add chocolate chips and bananas to just about everything. Puffed pancakes are really nothing like a real pancake at all.  The texture is almost like a dense pudding, but it was quite delicious. It was also much prettier when it came out of the oven, all puffed up, but by the time I got the camera it deflated. 

If my award winning photography persuades you to give it a shot, the recipe is below.  Enjoy!

Betty Crocker's Puffy Oven Pancake

2 tbsp. margarine or butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
*I used about 4 tbsp. of chocolate chips and one mashed banana too but you can add anything you like.

~Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Melt margarine in a pie plate and be sure to brush the sides of the pie plate with the melted margarine.
~Beat eggs, then beat in the remaining ingredients.  Pour into the buttered or margarined pie plate.
~Bake 25-30 minutes until puffy and golden brown.  
~Sprinkle with powdered sugar and dig in!

Lions, (No) Tigers, & Bears, Oh My!

Summer Day (Hot as blazes, in case you were wondering) at the National Zoo in DC practicing with the camera.  Wonderful time, Ok pictures.

The closest I could get to the Pandas without glass and 40 people between us

Hedwig's long lost cousin

Huge birds and loud little suckers

This just looks very uncomfortable...

Hakuna Matata...

I'm a little Teapot, short and stout

Love the turtles!

The biggest Sting Rays I've ever seen!

Not the best picture, but he grabbed a whole bamboo tree and decided to have lunch.  How cute is he!?

Friday Five

1. Too, too cute!  Also, exactly what my craft room looks like when I scrapbook...

2. Happy Malala Day!  Absolutely wonderful and positively inspiring role model for children to see.  Throughout her ordeal, she's shown such poise and grace.  As one of the commenters said, I hope I'm around when she becomes president of Pakistan one day in the future.

3. Google Chrome: I've been resisting Google Chrome for months now because I like IE contrary to everyone's utter hatred for it.  But when Reader went away, I had no choice but to install Chrome so I could transfer all my subscriptions over to Feedly (which apparently doesn't work on IE...) Anyway, while I'm still not sure about Feedly, I'm starting to like Chrome.  Pinning is way easier, and we all know how I feel about that.  I think I just might be a convert. 

4.  The new Cut & Paste line from My Mind's Eye is gorgeous!  I haven't bought much paper lately as I've been trying to use up the ginormous stash I have, but that will most definitely change once this line hits shelves.  I'm already dreaming of cards and projects to create.

5.  While I haven't quite figured out all the fancy schmancy bits and baubs my camera has yet, the one function I seem to have gotten is the Close-up button.  These seem to be the easiest to take and always turn out right.  Close-up isn't the main reason why I want to take pictures, but for now at least, I've one specialty that's seemingly working out.

A+ for GBR

After you watch a few British programs, you start to pick up on a few often used acronyms and words, "A-levels", "GCSE", "I-Bacc" to name a few.  Words that were just made to be googled.  What began as a quick way to verify that "A-levels" were basically the British version of the SATs, turned into a 2 hour study session of the British Education system.  As ridiculous as this sounds, it was actually quite the page turner.  Thanks to links within links, I  kept going further down the rabbit hole.  During my little expedition, I learned quite a bit, mostly that, as much as Brits complain, their education system seems vastly better than ours, as well as:

* It's like alphabet soup over there.  There's an acronym for every little program, system and test, and apparently, they have no problems keeping them all straight.

* Students between the ages of 7-11 will now read 2 (count it, 2) Shakespeare plays as well as poetry before passing on to the next level.  Not sure about your schools, but I didn't even hear the Bard's name until High School.

* From what I can tell, students basically choose their own curriculum for high school and can decide which specific areas they'd like to study.  If I could have opted out of Math class, high school would have been so much better for me!

* Uniforms for 99% of schools.  As someone who wore a uniform for 13 years, I wholly support this idea!

As well as plenty of other reasons, that are much too difficult to decipher and explain, the number one reason, Britain's schools are better (besides just being in GBR) is:

*  The schools are paid for by the state.  No tuition for primary, upper or college for parents and no student loans to have to pay back.  I don't know how they afford this but how many more students here in the US would shoot for the moon if they didn't have to worry if their families could afford their education?

Maryland Munchies

Every place worth visiting (that is to say every place in the world) has that one (or more) thing that makes them special. A dish or a vegetable or just a little dessert, that brings visitors from miles around to savor that specialty. Scotland has their Haggis, and Kansas City has their BBQ, while Maryland is known worldwide for their crabs. Of course, I’m here to tell you that there’s just so much more than that here in MD.

Before I go into all the deliciousness you’re missing, just visiting us for the crabs, I must issue a quick caveat. While I live, and have lived my entire life, in Maryland, I’ve never been such a fan of the food scene here (though I will most likely be ostracized for saying this, I don’t even like crabs!). I suppose after living somewhere so long, you start to take what you’re lucky to have for granted. Which is one of the reasons I’m writing this post. After reading an article on one of our famous foods (that isn’t crabs) that you’ll hear about later, I began to think about, some of the things that have put the Maryland eating scene on the map and I realized, quite by chance, that there are a ridiculous number of them. While I may not be partial to nearly any of them, they are quite good to a lot of people and make Maryland irresistible to those who love to eat. Now that you know that, let’s get on with the good stuff.

First and foremost, and it really wouldn’t be a post about Maryland without starting with them, there’s crabs. Of course you can get quite Forrest Gump about our Maryland Blue Crabs in the summer. Just about every menu has: Steamed Crabs, Crab Cakes, Crab Dip, Crab Soup, Crabby Fries, Crab Imperial, Soft Crabs, Cream of Crab, well, you get the picture. There’s a lot of crab! The most famous though would be the Steamed Crabs, Maryland Crab Soup and Crab Cakes. Of course you can get these items pretty much anywhere in the world, but ours here are special (or so I hear.) A crab cake here isn’t full of new and interesting flavors. They have breading, lumps of crab, something to hold them together and of course Old Bay, and are then thrown into a fryer or a hot pan for a few minutes. That’s about it. Pretty simple when it comes down to it, but there is that magic ingredient that thankfully is another home spun perfection: Old Bay.

If you’re not from the East Coast, you may never have heard of this gem but it’s basically seasoned salt, just about 100x better. You can put it on everything but my personal favorite is french fries. This spicy and salty condiment is on pretty much every table in every seafood restaurant here and is made by McCormick Spice Company located right in Maryland’s Inner Harbor. Can’t get much more local than that!

Also on the seafood front, we have Oysters fresh from the Chesapeake Bay. We get a little Bubba Gump with these slippery little shuckers as well. If you’ve never had one, it’s a bit hard to explain the texture. They most definitely need to be sampled at least once for their brininess and sweetness (also, so I’ve been told). They also pair quite well with Old Bay which should be no surprise, what doesn’t go with this stuff?!

Now suppose seafood isn’t your thing. Then you’ll need to be sampling the Baltimore Pit Beef Sandwich. This one is a little hard to explain, it’s sort of like a Roast Beef Sandwich mixed with BBQ without the sauce or fancy cuts. It’s most often served between 2 slices of white bread with Horseradish (not really my cup of tea!) thrown on top for good measure. The smell of this meat cooking is almost as good as Old Bay smothered crabs just out of the steamer.

Now that you’ve had your meal, you’ll be needing dessert. That of course, brings us to Berger cookies. If you have a sweet tooth, this will most definitely suffice. These plain vanilla cookies are slathered and I do mean slathered (you can barely see the cookie anymore) in rich chocolate fudge; about an inch of the stuff and have been made for over 100 years. We Maryland-ites tend to do quite a bit of baking with them, adding them into cakes, cheesecakes and pies whenever the mood strikes us.

If super sweet isn’t your thing, your dessert should most definitely be Smith Island Cake. This seven layer wonder seems to be the new cupcake in our neck of the woods. Every restaurant is making them in every flavor imaginable but the original is still the best. This behemoth is 7 layers of vanilla cake and rich chocolate icing and is as delectable as it sounds. You all can have my crabs, and oysters and pit beef. I’ll take the cake any day!

And if you for some reason, would very much like to stay on the diet you're on, then you'll most definitely need to hit the Eastern Shore.  The fresh produce such as peaches, corn, tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, plums, zucchini and about a dozen other fruits and veggies, are what I dream about in the summer.  There's nothing better than a giant, juicy, and especially fuzzy (which in any other food description is a terrible adjective but in this case, it's so not!) Eastern Shore peach.  Dreaming up recipes to make with these beautiful veggies and fruits is half the fun of summer.

I’m sure there are many other local favorites that I’ve forgotten to mention like Natty Boh, whose winking face lights up our skyline, but hopefully I’ve whet your appetite. Maryland tends to get a bad wrap based on what I see on the Food Network or Travel Channel. If they’re to be believed, Maryland is nothing but The Wire and Crabs. We’re so much more and I’d love for everyone to realize that. So if Maryland is on your summer itinerary, I have one suggestion for you: Come Hungry!

Nothing and Everything

There are some days when there just isn't anything to say.  And some days when there's too much to say.  Then there are days when both happen at the same time.  If you hadn't guessed today is one of those days.  In the "real" world; the day to day life that I live that includes work, and food and family and friends, nothing happened.  It was just another day at work.  I solved the daily puzzle.  I went on a field trip to Vera Bradley at lunch.  I came home.  All fascinating tasks, don't you think?

But then in the bigger picture of the world; the one we all live in, the media is exploding with headlines and special reports.  Edward Snowden and his many asylum requests, the San Francisco plane crash, a train explosion in Canada, Egypt in uprising, football players being charged with murder, wives of baseball players being charged with attempted murder. Every day there's a new story of someone hurt or some terrible event.  So while I could write about those things too, it would almost be too much.  The press is inundating us with thoughts and opinions of these events hourly, why should I do the same?

Yes the everyday "real" world lives we live can often be boring or mundane, but when you look at the bigger picture of what's going on out there, a little bit of the everyday grind isn't so bad - just a little uninteresting to write about.

Down the Ocean, Hon!

 

Girl Time with the Momma.  Cracker Barrel.  Outlet Shopping.  Super bargains.  Beach time.  Calm Seas.  Sun and sand.  Boog's BBQ.  Thrasher's French Fries.  Dumsers Ice Cream. 

Yep, a pretty perfect summer day! 

Crafty Cooking

I made this Recipe Book about a year ago with good intentions of using it to hold all my favorite recipes.  But that fell through real quick.  Mostly, because I couldn't figure out a way to format it.  The outside was fun to create but when it came to the inside, I couldn't even decide what paper was best to print the recipes on or even what font was best to read.  Can you say over thinking it?  Anyway, it sat patiently waiting for me on my bookshelf until this week when I discovered this brilliant blog post and I decided to finally make it work.  All in all, I'm pretty pleased.  So far these are the most used recipes I have so it wasn't too taxing to include them.  We'll see how the organization goes when I discover new and exciting recipes and actually type up the old standbys.  Even if it's not useful, at least it looks cute : )

PS: Please excuse the carpet background, I'm not that photo savvy yet : )