Foodie vs. Food-Lover

A few weeks ago, I read an article about the decline of the word "foodie."  Since everyone and their brother were now foodies, did that word really mean anything these days?  Couldn't people just say they loved food?  I thought it was fairly ridiculous at the time.  I mean, I got what they were saying, but just let people call themselves what they want to be called.

Cut to this weekend.  I was eating dinner with my friends at a new restaurant, and doing my food-happy dance - as you do - and I said at the time that there were about 7 things in the world that made me truly happy.  Food being one of them.  But it was more than that, it was yummy food.  Not something bizarre just for the heck of it.  Not something so crazy, that I just had to try it.  It's really good food full of delicious ingredients that makes me the happiest.

That's when I figured it out.  Maybe I'm not a foodie - though I strive to be one since being brave is on the list of to-dos - but I'm most definitely a food-lover.  And I'm 100% ok with that.  Some people just don't get excited about new restaurants or new menu items to try.  But I do!  I probably won't be guest hosting for Anthony Bourdain or judging on Top Chef any time soon.  But what I'm going to do is eat delicious food, try new places and new things, and keep reading about food and the food industry.  That is what makes me happiest. (Though I do wish - only sometimes - that exercise and dieting made me happiest... : )

Travel Bucket List

In the last few months my mind has been swirling with travel everything.  Between my upcoming trip, Pinterest Travel boards and another side project (which if the bestie would just agree to my evil ways, I could discuss), I really think of little else.  In my searches, I've come across a new trend in travel writing and travel dreaming: the travel bucket list.  It's a fairly easy concept; what are those life changing experiences you'd like to have before you die?  I'm sure everyone's list is quite different as well as quite changeable.  I'm also sure, most people will consistently add to their lists as they travel more widely.  As of right now, there are quite a few things that may seem trivial on mine, but they have for one reason or another, piqued my interest.

* Gobble up a beignet at Cafe du Mond in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. I've always been fascinated by New Orleans in general.  But getting to see it in all its festive debauchery, would be too exciting for words.  As for the beignet: it's fried dough covered completely in powdered sugar, what's not to like?

* Celebrate Hogmanay in Scotland:  While New Year's Eve here in the States is always a festive occasion, I've heard there's nothing quite like spending it with the Scots.

* Wander the Christmas markets in Germany.  Snow, Christmas lights and warm drinks just make Christmas that much more romantic and festive.

* Food truck tour of Austin, Texas: Seriously, how could I not?  There are more food trucks there than in any other part of the US.

* Drive the triangle of Seattle Washington, Vancouver BC and Portland Oregon: You may be sensing a pattern here but I hear they're great food towns.

* Spend an evening into the night strolling around Paris with my significant other.: What's more romantic then the City of Light, lit up in all its glory?

And those are just the greatest hits.  There are about a dozen other places that I want to visit for no other reason than I'm dying to see them in all their beauty!

Are You Ready for Some Football Food?!

It would seem that the official start to football season is upon us yet again. (Go Ravens!) After such a long hot summer that seemed to drag on, it feels almost impossible that we are entering into the football days of fall already.  It’s time to turn in our baseballs for pigskin; our bats for helmets; our home runs for touchdowns and our Orioles for our Ravens (that last one may just be here in MD…) And most importantly, for those who love to eat: our cracker jacks and beer for nachos and pretzels and dips galore, and (let’s be honest here) more beer.

What used to be a simple calendar flip from one month to the next has become more intricate in the last few years.  Now, not only does autumn signify leaves changing color, and temperatures dropping, but it also means the start of fantasy drafts, football pools and the planning of football parties. The planning of game day bashes, in the eyes of someone who understands very little of a game, is the most important part.  There must be oodles of food and plenty to drink.  Who cares if your team loses (though I know this isn’t necessarily the case) if there’s something yummy to eat?

But of course, as in the game of football, there are rules to the game of football food as well.

1. To have a proper football party, there must be proper football food.  While Bouef Bourginon that you’ve spent hours roasting and perfecting, is delicious; how in the world are you going to eat it crowded around the television?  Handheld food is what you want.  Dips and accessories for dipping are perfect.  No need to take your eyes off the ball when it all comes down to a single play, which brings me to my next rule.

2. You should never serve something that will surely stain that bright white new carpet you’ve just recently installed.  Yes, while pizza dip smothered in cheese and pepperoni sounds like the perfect snack to consume while your team is making their way to the playoffs, you may think differently when your QB throws an interception and the plates go flying.

3. Now I may not hold too much stock in this, but be sure to have the alcoholic beverages of your guests’ choice, as well as some non-alcoholic options for us tea-totalers.  I've heard it’s not a football game if there isn’t at least beer there for consumption. Though, stay away from the darker brews. (See reason above.)

4. While probably not the usual requirement for most football parties, include a dessert for all your guests.  If the game ends in a win, you’ll surely need something to celebrate with and since you’ve been consuming treats of another nature for the entirety of the game, a brownie or cookie (keep in line with the handheld rule) will surely hit the spot and soak up some of the booze.  And most importantly, if your team loses, a sweet treat can be used to drown your sorrows and turn that frown upside down – Never underestimate the power of chocolate!

5. And last but not least, enjoy the game and don’t argue with your guests about players, plays and scores.  It’s just a bit rude, and if you haven’t followed the no stain rules, it could get quite messy.

Happy Football Season!

Bon Apetit!

It seems fitting that on what would have been Julia Child's 101st birthday, I've had the chance to research her favorite city all day: Paris.  There's a small chance, which I never thought possible, that we may be going to Paris for the day when we are in London.  Holy Moly!  I still can't really believe it.  I was perfectly (well, let's say insanely) happy to be seeing my favorite city again, along with my newly imagined other favorite city (Edinburgh) and Shakespeare's home.  Adding the possibility of Paris onto what will be a truly memorable trip is just icing on the cake!

Paris has always been one of those places that's slightly out of reach.  I'm sure it's filled with fabulous people looking nothing like me, and sounding nothing like me (Thanks 5 years of Spanish for getting me nowhere!)  But Julia taught me that there is another side of Paris.  A side fully of boulangeries, patisseries, chocolatiers and dozens of other food-centric positions. Basically its a city full of people that like to eat, drink and be merry.  Ok, without the drink (Iced tea's not really their specialty), that's my kind of town!

So if it should happen, and right now it's looking good, I'll be spending my 12 hours in the City of Light repeating my mantra: What would Julia do?  Though, most likely I'll be saying: What would Julia eat!?  How exactly do you say: Where are the macarons? in French?

Happy Birthday Julia!

Wishful Wednesday

I read a Twitter post earlier today that named today Wishful Wednesday.  To celebrate Wishful Wednesday, you were supposed to tweet where in all of the world (or out of this world as the case may be) you would like to be at that very second.  Two particular places sprang to mind when I read it.  But I decided to do some research to see if I was the only one.  Four of the four co-workers I asked said some sort of beach: Hawaii, California, Brazil and any old beach.  Apparently sun, surf and sand are quite popular choices.

I, on the other hand, did not choose the beach and I suppose that makes me just bit odd. Two distinct places sprang to mind, but of course there were about a dozen after that as well. Here's the odd part, pretty much all of them had to do with food.  Is that wrong?  I may just have been hungry at that moment, but my happy places mostly have to do with eating so I guess you could call me a bit of a glutton.  But quite honestly, I really don't care.  There's really nothing better than spectacular food!

My (immediate) wish was to be:

~Sitting in Paris eating a Laduree macaron
~Sipping a nice cuppa with scones and clotted cream in London

Of course, I could also have said:

~Gelato in Rome
~Fresh pasta in Tuscany
~Lobster in Maine
~BBQ in North Carolina
...well you get the picture.  

Apparently, I have a problem...

Chazz: A Bronx Original

Chazz Brick Oven Pizzeria opened last year sometime in the Harbor East area of Baltimore City.  It's owned by Chazz Palmentieri; an actor I'm sure you've seen if you've ever seen a mob movie.  Ever since it opened, I've been dying to go based on the menu alone.  But then the reviews started coming and they were fabulous, so of course, I wanted to go even more.  Problem is, I don't often go into the city just for dinner.  But Restaurant week was the perfect excuse, so I finally got my wish.

After all the build-up I was slightly worried it wouldn't live up to the hype.  Not only did it live up to the all the praise, it was pretty much the best restaurant I've eaten in in a very long while!  Quite honestly, after looking at the menu, and comparing it to the restaurant week menu, I was always going to order the good stuff instead. So we started off with the Burrata and Prosciutto appetizer which I was craving all the live long day.  To die for!  For our meal, it had to be pizza, the Contadina to be exact.  It was full of parmigiana, onions, garlic, more prosciutto, bechemel and 2 over easy eggs.  Sounds like a heart attack on a plate, but it was some of the best pizza I've ever had the pleasure of tasting.  Though, now I need to go back at least 10 times, just to compare ours to the other 10 flavors on the menu.  

All together, delicioso!

Not my wine of course, but love this glass!  

This looked a lot prettier before I pigged out on it.  Forgot to snap a shot again when it first came, oops!

Friday Five

1. Chazz A Bronx Original: Oh my goodness!  I don't think I've ever been so stuffed in all my life.  Full review to come tomorrow, but this might very well go in my top 10 restaurant list of all time.  Absolutely delicious!

2. Love Love Love!, which I realize is slightly ironic since I don't actually have the patience to scrapbook, but I'd like to, so I suppose that's all that matters : )

3. I was looking for some sort of travel writing challenge to spice up the blog a bit and found this one.  It's actually the only one I've been able to find so far.  It's cute but I fear the prompts would all yield pretty much the same result.  But I may just give it a shot.

4. I am in love with this layout.  Unfortunately I gave it a shot with a map of England and seeing how England is not the easiest shape to re-enact, it turned into a disaster.  But I'm still working on it, for now anyway...

5. I have been dreaming about this scarf since I first saw it on Etsy.  It's chevron, which is my new obsession and infinity which apparently is "the new black", and of course it's only $10 - gotta love a steal!  Though, the fact that it's been sold to someone other than me, is a bit of a bummer...

Currently...

Had to snatch this idea, because it's too cute!

Loving: Trying new restaurants courtesy of Baltimore Restaurant Week.  Italian at Cianghale on Sunday and Pizza at Chazz tomorrow.  Quite looking forward to some serious brick oven pizza!

Hearing: Comic Con interview with Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat (at this very second) but lately I've been hearing Phillip Phillips' "Gone Gone Gone".  Fantastic!

Reading: "The Marseille Caper" by Peter Mayle, the follow up to "The Vintage Caper".  I know nothing about wine, but it's a great mystery and how can you resist a series set in a France?

Planning: Must I really answer this?  The England trip, of course... : )

Laughing About: My cube group at work.  Quite honestly, work is pretty boring, but having awesome people with ridiculous conversations surrounding you makes it a bit better.

Coveting: A gray chevron infinity scarf from Etsy.  I was this close to getting it last evening, and the gosh darn thing sold!

Can't Believe: BronyCon 2013.  It's coming to Baltimore this weekend.  If you don't know (wish I didn't...) it's a convention of guys who love My Little Pony.  I'd very much not like to be anywhere near the convention center for the next few days.

Watching: Top Chef Masters - Go Bryan Voltaggio!

Thinking about: Travel, which is pretty much all of the time.

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!

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!

Muy Bueno!

I am a sucker for all things Mexican food, so imagine how excited I was when  a new restaurant opened in Columbia MD last week: Xitomate.  They are still in their soft opening stage in that they're working out the kinks between the servers and the kitchen.  A complete menu wasn't even available yet, but you can most likely deduce my thoughts based on the title of this post: Delicious!  The chips and salsa were a little different than what I'm used to; thicker homemade chips and slightly sweet salsa, but I'm sure I could have eaten a whole basket by myself...if they would have come before my meal had come instead of after.  Like I said, still working out the kinks. 

For our meal, we had the Taquitos de Puerco, and a Carne Asada burrito which were both yummy.  The burrito was supposed to come without beans which it didn't and the pico de gallo left something to be desired but the mole that came with them was outstanding!  There was also a bit of a snafu when a poached egg for a soup that was ordered, couldn't be prepared because the kitchen was out of vinegar.  Not entirely sure what happened there but I'm hoping the chefs will eventually learn that vinegar is not really that important when poaching an egg...Anyway, since the servings were a bit smaller than usual restaurant portions (sort of tapas size, I think so you can order small bites to share with the table), we also had room for dessert.  The review I read noted the to die for churros so I knew exactly what we would be getting.  And they were admittedly, to die for.  I'm certain, I could have eaten many, many more plates of those little suckers.

Once they get the kinks worked out, I'm sure they're going to have a crowd pleaser on their hands.  Between the funky decor, the pleasant and helpful staff and the mouth-watering food, they'll most definitely do just fine.  I know I will be going back, if for nothing else than to gorge on churros...

Super cool wall art: You could say I'm a bit of a fan girl when it comes to Dia de los Muertos...

These gorgeous lights were everywhere

My teeny tiny taquitos (Sorry for the lack of churro pictures, I was much too busy gobbling them up...)