Iced Coffee has changed my life...

Coffee is one of those things I think i'm going to be stuck with for the rest of my life.  I just don't see myself breaking off my 11+ year engagement with that rich, nutty, caramel colored (and sometimes flavored) beverage.  I could easily drink coffee all day long.  And I usually do.

However, in an effort to save some money I have REALLY tried to make coffee at home more often.  D used to make me coffee almost every morning before work, but he has recently kicked the coffee habit and therefore no longer has the incentive to get himself out of bed (I can't say I blame him) And, unfortunately, I just have not mastered the French Press like he has...

That's when The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, comes in with exactly what i've been looking for.  The perfect recipe for the perfect DIY iced coffee.

I want to be Ree when I grow up.

I made a huge batch of this with One Village Coffee's"Smart Blend" and have been drinking it non stop.

I add a little bit of pure maple syrup for sweetness (not pancake syrup people...PURE maple syrup...huge difference) and some Silk Soy creamer....

Enjoy the recipe HERE...

Birthday Dinner!

We decided not to "flavorghost" this one because it was just TOO good...and because it was my special treat from D for my birthday :)

But here is the menu for those interested...pretty much the most amazing meal i've ever had.

HUGE props to Claudio Foschi, chef at Cityzen, who delivered this freaking amazing meal.

And of course, big thanks to my D who made it the most memorable night of my life :)

We got the Chef's Tasting menu...not the vegetarian one of course

Baltimore Edition! Woodberry Kitchen

Ok, so I have been wanting to eat at Woodberry Kitchen for some time now, but due to the fact that D lives in D.C. and we spend most of our time there, our food exploring doesn't really make it's way out of the District.  I'm definitely not complaining! D.C. has wonderful and amazing food, but Baltimore is really starting to hold its own with some great restaurants (try Salt, The Brewer's Art, Black Olive).  So I came here with my long lost friend, Alicia, for brunch.

WK is a self-proclaimed "farm to table" restaurant focusing on local, seasonal and sustainable ingredients.  Not a new concept (especially in my line of work), but a hard one to master.  Most "sustainable" restaurants are over-priced and under-deliver in flavor, quality and consistency.  WK gets it right.  Not only is the food great, but for the price the portions were MUCH larger than expected.  I can't speak to consistency since this was my first time, but i'm giving them the benefit of the doubt :)

The restaurant is built in an old Foudry space in Clipper Mill and it's beautiful. Lots of exposed brick and wood, with an open kitchen and wood fire oven.  The ceiling is open up to a smaller 2nd level with more tables that over look the kitchen.  Seemed "cozier" up there for date night or maybe larger groups.  We made reservations for 11am (recommended) and were sat right away by a sunny window.  The service was attentive and genuine and the waitresses wear these cute little handmade aprons...and I want one.

ANYways...About the food

To Drink:
The 'Full Monty' Bloody Mary ($9)--House made tomato juice and organic vodka.  Garnished with CANDIED BACON and an Old Bay spiced prawn. Yes, I said Candied Bacon.

...and just when you think it couldn't get any better

They add a Natty Boh chaser.  I love Baltimore.

** Excuse my photos...I had more, and close-ups, but some how got deleted!   Luckily I texted a few to D, so these are all that remains <sad face>

The Appetizers:
Raw oysters by The Choptank Oyster Company ($13)-- "Choptank Sweets"($ (MD Eastern Shore Aquaculture Company, specializing in producing high-quality oysters while also working to improve the health and sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay.  Our stores work closely with these guys--they love their oysters!)  Salty, Sweet, chewy...the perfect oyster.  Not much to be said!
Cherry Glen Ricotta 'Out of the Oven' ($10)--with Rhubarb, honey, sea salt and toast points.  Cherry Glen is another local producer, specializing in only goat's milk cheeses.  Another vendor of ours, based out of Boyd's, MD.
Maybe it was the fact that it was baked, but the actual goat's milk flavor was lost.  You couldn't even tell.  The rhubarb was a nice touch, gave a great tartness, but the honey was a little overwhelming and the dish came off as a little TOO sweet...I would have added some fresh thyme and black pepper for something a little more savory...
Tilghman Island Crab Pot ($14)--with lump crab meat, housemade quark and topped with sherry. VERY rich...but very good.  We had to ask for more bread!
All these "small plates" were enough for 4 to share!  Especially if you were also getting a breakfast plate.

Notice Alicia's hungry claw reaching in before I could even take the photo! ;)

Breakfast:
Amy- "Morning Flatbread" ($14)--with eggs, housemade sage sausage, potato and Hawks Hill (Maryland cheese producer) Cheddar.

So. Freaking. Good.

Just look at that egg.

Alicia- Eggs Benedict ($16)--Poached egg, Truck Patch ham, house made hollandaise, skillet potatoes on an English muffin

Sadly I dont have a photo of this one :(

But this was no ordinary Eggs Benedict...it was beautiful.  Perfectly poached egg, nice thin slices of ham and the creamy, rich, buttery drizzle of hollandaise was just right...

Coffee is direct trade and served in a personal sized French Press and pressed table side.

I wish I could have tried everything on the menu...but I will definitely be making a return trip. Especially to try this C.M.P dessert i've been hearing about...a mix of Chocolate sauce, bruleed marshmallow fluff and wet nuts.

DC folks, get yourselves out to Baltimore--you won't regret it.

Woodberry Kitchen

2010 Clipper Park Rd
Baltimore, MD
21211

Que Pasa Pollo Rico??

As long as I can remember El Pollo Rico has been an institution and the “no brainer” destination for Peruvian chicken in Northern Virginia. I remember going in there years ago and being completely lost in the legendary moisture and charcoal flavor of the chicken, “special Peruvian sauces”, slaw and delicious fries in a completely packed place, every seat taken.

Last Wednesday, Michi and I decided to head over there after a Cherry Blossom walk. The Charcoal smell in the air was phenomenal and they still maintain that stripped down, South American Polleria atmosphere. Same good old 5 item menu on an old school board, all plastic utensils, DIY, soup Nazi type service, they now, however, do take credit cards.

Ok, so simple place = simple review; chicken sucked! Way too dry! (Moisture is supposed to be the charm of Peruvian chicken in the first place) and it was cold!! The skin was salty and didn’t seem to have that usual magic of the Hispanic spice blend worked into the flesh with the Peruvian brine, the worst part for me was that I could actually taste a bit of chlorine water from the brine in the skin.

I should really stop right here because it is a “Pollo place” and the Pollo was “muy malo” but I’ll add this; the “Peruvian special chicken white sauce” was mostly mayo and the slaw was also mostly mayo. Sadly, the fries and the white rice ended up being the best part. They are solely living off the fading fumes of their past glory days.

In a nutshell, I can think of about 1.934.209 places I can get better chicken, including KFC, they should probably go back to not taking credit cards and rather stick to the original recipes and execution that made this place legendary. On one of their walls remains a picture of the owner/founder of the place whom I believe is dead and probably turning in his tomb after what they are doing to his once celebrated business… sorry jefe, pero se estan re cagando en tu negocio!

Dinner Tonight: Linguine con Frutti de Mare

I have a bad habit of waiting until I'm absolutely starving before I eat.  I swear I don't do it on purpose, it's just that during the day I'm running around so much that I literally FORGET.
D will tell me I'm ruining my metabolism, and he's probably right, but still it's a hard habit to break.
Any way, usually when I find myself in these hunger filled rides home from work, I have a muddled idea of what I want to make for dinner--I was convinced that tonight I was going to be simple and make an easy marinara with fresh egg noodles and fresh basil (from our THRIVING indoor basil plant!)
That's when hunger delusions start to set in...and I begin to think about the mussels we had last week and how delicious they were...and calamari, mmmm I could really eat something with tender, fresh squid....and bread. I need bread. And that's when it happened...I decided I was going to make seafood pasta, panzanella style.  And i'm glad I did because it was good.  Really good.  Even if I did have to wait until 9pm to finally eat.

Here's how to do it (pardon the photos, i'm working on it)

Add a little olive oil AND butter to your favorite saute pan

Saute your onions and garlic until tender and enjoy that wonderful smell of buttery, garlic-y goodness

 If you happen to be drinking wine (I pretty much ALWAYS happen to be drinking wine) go ahead and spare some for the sauce.  About a cup.  It will give your sauce a rich red color, and add a certain depth to the finished flavor. I am not one who likes to part with wine, but it's worth it :)

Let the residual alcohol cook off by continuously stirring over med-high heat for 3-5 minutes

 Now add your tomatoes--Every one is different and likes certain brands, diced, crushed, whole, whatever.  I use San Marzano because they are naturally super sweet, bright red, and just the right acidity.  Also Tyler Florence uses them :) (D would kill me for saying that, he can't stand TF)
I also use the diced version because I like chunky sauce.  Choose crushed if you prefer smoother sauce.

Now clean and prepare your squid (hopefully you've already cleaned and prepared your mussels.)  I bought the squid already "prepared" we just need to slice into rings, and also separate the tentacles.

Now for my "secret" ingredient.  Nothing really special, but this clam sauce is a really nice addition. I prefer white clam sauce for this over the red version.

Stir, Saute, and Simmer, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes and up to one hour.  You don't want to make this a super heavy, simmer all day kind of pasta sauce because you want the flavors to be BRIGHT and fresh and spring-like.  AFTER, and only after, the sauce has been simmering should you taste it and add/adjust seasonings. I use only salt and pepper, and fresh basil at the end.

While your sauce is simmering start the water for your noodles and you can also start on the crusty bread cubes--this is optional, but the bread is great for soaking up the sauce and adds a nice crunchy textural element.  Its very easy--cube day old bread (we had a rustic loaf leftover from some Pan con Tomate I made earlier in the week, recipe to come!) and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and a little melted butter.  You can also add dry/fresh herbs, butter, cheese etc...whatever you want. Then you bake until crisp, think of them as over-sized croutons.

When your sauce is simmered, seasoned and ready to go, add your seafood (I forgot to mention that you can add whatever seafood you'd like...clams, langoustines, scallops, firm white fish) and cover for about 7-9 minutes or until your mussels have opened.

When seafood is cooked through, add a handful of fresh basil and stir--spoon sauce over your noodles in a wide bowl, crack fresh pepper on top, a few fresh basil leaves and your croutons.  Finally, enjoy :)

Linguine con Frutti de Mare

serves 2

Pair with: Barbara d' Alba or Sangiovese

Ingredients:

8 oz Linguine noodles, fresh or dried

2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 T unsalted butter

1/2 cup onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup red wine (optional)

1 28oz can diced tomato (I use San Marzano)

1 15oz can Cento White Clam Sauce

1 fresh squid with tentacles

1 lb fresh mussels

salt and pepper

fresh basil 

Day old bread (optional)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400

Add butter and oil to pan and saute your onions and garlic over medium hight heat until translucent (about 10minutes)

Add red wine and continuously stir until alcohol has burned off, leaving onions a deep red (about 5minutes)

Add Diced Tomatoes and Clam Sauce, stir and bring to a heavy simmer/light boil

Reduce heat to simmer and simmer, uncovered, at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.

Cube day old bread and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Lay on a baking sheet and bake 20 minutes until crisp.

Taste sauce and add salt/pepper as desired

Add seafood, cover and simmer 7-9 minutes or until your mussels have opened and fish is cooked through.

Make pasta according to package directions

Spoon sauce and seafood over top noodles in a wide, shallow bowl.  Top with fresh basil, cracked pepper and bread cubes.

Zengo (Chinatown)

Friday 04.01.11 

Zengo had a sizzling environment; busy Friday night (an hour wait list), a bit of a club atmosphere, a line of people from the double doors to the host stand and upbeat techno music playing at a noticeable volume. I refuse to call ahead to restaurants (or hair appointments), it goes against my personal belief...So this of course almost always puts us in the “first come first serve” bar areas when we go out. Although I think we’ve grown used to it and actually kind of like it. This time a tall gentleman who appeared to be a manager squeezed us into a small table on a corner within 3 minutes of walking in! Not too bad for a Friday night at Chinatown and yet again managed to get dinner on a Friday night in DC with no reservations J 

Navigating through the one page menu (which I like) it's not immediately clear what the concept is; this “Latin/Asian fusion” is not specific to any particular Latin or Asian culture but rather a conglomerate of Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Peruvian, Mexican and Caribbean which in my opinion contributes to the skewed, but popular misconception that the rich and diverse Asian and/or Latin cultures can all be thrown together under one huge umbrella, but ok, let’s get pass that. 

First drinks!

4/5 Stars or “Hell yeah!” 

I have to admit I am a sucker for this “nova martini” movement with exotic blends, I had the Lychee martini  and personally I thought it was excellent! Lychee always transport me back to my childhood  growing up in the Caribbean--right after school we used to love going to get a bag of “mamon” from a street vendor. The drink was not overly sweet (which is often the case with these drinks) and had an actual seedless lychee at the bottom, good stuff! Michi had a "Midnight Karma" which was Bombay Sapphire Gin, Blueberry and Lime.  She doesn't normally like "cocktails" (or gin), but she loved it!  No fake blueberry vodka or artificial flavors, just straight gin, REAL blueberries and REAL lime juice.  At $12 a drink they should be good... 

First course was Mahi Ceviche  3/5 Stars or “Pretty good”

Well executed and at first glance quite sophisticated; nice plates, presentation, grapefruit, avocado creme and sliced fresh jalapeno, great! But then they served the most generic cheap Mexican restaurant corn chips you could ever imagine! Perhaps a better tortilla could elevate this whole dish, maybe “Platanitos”? 

Next, Tuna Tacos 2/5 Stars or "good if I was already drunk"                                 Hard taco tortillas crumbled in our hands with first bite, tuna was well seasoned but slightly over cooked, and the tacos laid on a bed of guacamole?? Very awkward since Guac will usually add moisture as a topping, but when acting as the "bed" it just wets the tortilla outside so not only does it crumble with first bite, but now its crumbling in your guacamole covered hands. Really annoying actually, the Guac was also not fresh, by the oxidation it appeared to be made the day before. Sushi rice inside taco was interesting, made me contemplate what I was tasting for a sec…

Peking Duck Tacos 4/5 Stars (Hell yeah)

Hands down best dim sum of the night, duck was cooked perfectly, crunchy but not dry, and not overly sweet. They came with a sweet orange sauce and thinly sliced daikon acting as the "tortilla". This,quite frankly, was a genius contrast for the duck.

Achiote Pork Arepas. 2/5 Stars (good if I was a bit drunk)

We in America are obsessed with proteins (for example “meat lovers pizza”) and because of this we mostly destroy the magic balance of a dish.  This “antojito” was a clear example of that; there was a mountain of BBQ style pulled pork (??) over a really thin almost cracker like fried precooked white corn meal that I guess resembled an arepa. Again, really awkward to bite and the ratio was like 70% meat 30% carb (arepa) which is the complete opposite of how this dish would really work. On top of that, pork was way too sweet.

Pork Belly Steamed buns 2/5 Stars (ehhh...)                                                                I don't claim to be a "master of pork belly", but I can tell when it's done right or wrong...and this was wrong.  They used the SAME sweet BBQ or whatever seasoning as the pulled pork, but this time slathered it on the pork belly.  It wasn't given a good sear so it was just very fatty and soft inside of a very doughy (and also soft) steamed bun.  Texturally it was a mess..all soft, no crunch, no good.

I have to admit I’m always a little weary of “fusion” places; their concept tends to be ambitious, geared towards the easily impressionable and often poorly executed. Zengo teeters on the brink of this, they come out strong with some of their dishes and it seems like a fun place to go have a couple of drinks; they have interesting ideas that look good on paper and properly executed could be a great local’s destination.

Overall, this is a place for the slightly above average tourists looking for a bit more than a road food experience, or the easily amused young crowd looking to see and be seen, if you want a real fusion food experience go somewhere else. Zengo is a slightly above average product with really nice packaging at a stiff price.

listening.

Summer Music!
Shows lined up so far:
April 20: Iron and Wine at Rams Head Live! in Baltimore, MD
June 3: Death Cab for Cutie at The 9:30 Club in Washington, DC
June 11: Phish at Merriweather Post Pavillion in Washington, DC