I love Annapolis and spend a *lot* of time down there. I eventually want to move there and have these idyllic ideas in my head about how I'll ride my bike into downtown and pick up wine and cheese and pedal home. It'll be amazing. I'll have a porch.
Unfortunately that dream is several years away so I have to drive down to Annapolis hang out, have a blast, eat amazing food an then drive home. I'll take what I can get.
One of my usual defaults in Annapolis is The Metropolitan. It's a great little place, good beer selection and it's in the farm-to-table vein that I love so much. In fact, during winter sailing season I'll stop by the Metropolitan most Sundays for a pre-race brunch.
The other weekend my friend Andrew wanted to celebrate his billionth second alive and since he lives in Annapolis we decided to eat down there. I campaigned hard for the Metropolitan, but I was overruled.
We ended up going to Level, a small plates style restaurant just down the street. Honestly, even though I felt like I was cheating on the Metropolitan, I was really excited to go. I love small plates because it allows me to sample a TON of different foods, and I love places with a good cocktail program.
I also love eating dinner with my friends but because they're super into food also, we usually end up ordering what seems like the entire menu and sharing everything.
I browsed around on their website to see generally what I was going to get. I had no idea except that I wanted a negroni as my first cocktail. Their website is useful to get a general feel for the place, and I think there are several menu items that are standard. The rest is fair game for changing due to seasons, farm availability, etc. To me, this is a very good thing.
When we got there, the negroni was no longer on their menu, but I asked and they made one for me anyhow. I know that it's a full bar and good bartenders can make me anything and I don't *have* to stick to their pre-described cocktail list, but the fact that they were instantly like "yeah, we can make you one of those" earned points in my book.
I've come to the realization that I need to start taking notes on what we order, but I didn't so here's a rough list of everything we got.
* Tuna tartar - This was amazing. It wasn't ground into a paste like you'll see with a lot of tartars. Instead it was more like large chunks of tuna sashimi. Easily one of my favorite things I ate all night. And it was SPICY, way more so than I was expecting, but I love spice. My friend Brian, who is from Iowa was sweating bullets. He agreed that it was delicious.
* Veal sweetbreads - These were on special and I can't turn down sweatbreads, that's what I ordered. Nice, moist and juicy and lightly breaded. All around fantastic. I could have eaten a way larger plate.
* Tomato bisque and grilled cheese - These were also one of my favorites. The tomato bisque was amazing! It was rich and creamy but still with a strong tomato taste, but not too acidic. I wish I had ordered this and not Andrew so I would have been justified in wolfing down way more of it.
* Chorizo dip - who doesn't love chorizo and cheese?
* two flatbreads, Margherita and some sausage variety that I've forgotten the specifics on - I love their use of fresh mozzarella. They should note on their menu that these flatbreads are not "small plates", and two people could easily split one for an entire meal. Great dough, great cheese, so I didn't mind having too much of these.
* grilled calamari - I love how this was actual grilled squid, not the breaded and deep fried variety you find everywhere. So great, nice and chewy (in a good way).
* bison and bacon sliders - great sliders. I think my problem is that I only got half a slider. It was good, but I think the person with the other half stole all my bacon.
* korean duck tacos - Also completely fantastic, I could have eaten a giant pile of these
* cuban pork spring rolls - Delicious, great dipping sauce
* scallops - always a favorite
I know we got more, but that's all I can remember so I'm assuming those were the best things we ate and therefore the best list to talk about.
Apparently Level has a special on Monday night where if you get a bottle of wine you can get a flatbread for $2. This sounds like a great plan that the boyfriend and I will have to enact one of these weeks.
All in all, it was a great dinner, the service was fantastic and I'll definitely be back again soon!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Finally a good breakfast!!!
I completely hate the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Hate. It.
The only redeeming thing over there is the National Aquarium. The rest of the place is covered in touristy shops, chain restaurants and not a single good bar (with the obvious exception of the Pratt Street Alehouse).
Now, if you know of a good place I've just walked by a hundred times, I'd love to hear it. I'm always willing to be convinced otherwise.
That being said, for beer-related events, the boyfriend and I often get a hotel downtown so we can stay there without worrying about getting home. Some people think this is a bit excessive, but a hotel is way cheaper than a DUI and it provides a convenient base of operations and gives us a good excuse to go out to dinner and brunch in Baltimore.
Dinner usually isn't the problem, with the combination of Harbor East, Fells Point and Little Italy, we can square dinner away pretty easily. Breakfast/brunch is always the problem.
Everyone always sings the praise of Miss Shirley's, and I'd love to eat there eventually. The problem is that the wait is always over half an hour and they don't take reservations. This kinda rules it out for us. We usually want to get a good breakfast and head home and get on with our day. And we're usually too hungry to wait that long for good.
We've tried a bunch of other place's in the Inner Harbor and they're all seriously meh. Good views of the water, but seriously mediocre food.
There's Teavolve over in Harbor East, which is SUPER GOOD. I'd eat there all the time, except I already eat there all the time and I'm ready for a change. Not a permanent change, but maybe a place to alternate between.
Today we discovered a new breakfast location that's been open since Feb. It's called The Saturday Morning Cafe. It's got really good food as well. Not as upscale as Teavolve, but way closer to the Inner Harbor and a little more Baltimore-ey. It's a small place so we ate at the counter. The boyfriend and I both got shrimp and grits, which comes with bacon and cheese on top. Yum! My shrimp were prefectly cooked. They also have a seafood omelet which looked quite good. A lot of their offerings were on the heavier side: chicken and waffles or french toast. The one downside is that they don't have cocktails so I had to go without my weekend bloody mary. It's definitely a great option for good, quick breakfast downtown.
The only redeeming thing over there is the National Aquarium. The rest of the place is covered in touristy shops, chain restaurants and not a single good bar (with the obvious exception of the Pratt Street Alehouse).
Now, if you know of a good place I've just walked by a hundred times, I'd love to hear it. I'm always willing to be convinced otherwise.
That being said, for beer-related events, the boyfriend and I often get a hotel downtown so we can stay there without worrying about getting home. Some people think this is a bit excessive, but a hotel is way cheaper than a DUI and it provides a convenient base of operations and gives us a good excuse to go out to dinner and brunch in Baltimore.
Dinner usually isn't the problem, with the combination of Harbor East, Fells Point and Little Italy, we can square dinner away pretty easily. Breakfast/brunch is always the problem.
Everyone always sings the praise of Miss Shirley's, and I'd love to eat there eventually. The problem is that the wait is always over half an hour and they don't take reservations. This kinda rules it out for us. We usually want to get a good breakfast and head home and get on with our day. And we're usually too hungry to wait that long for good.
We've tried a bunch of other place's in the Inner Harbor and they're all seriously meh. Good views of the water, but seriously mediocre food.
There's Teavolve over in Harbor East, which is SUPER GOOD. I'd eat there all the time, except I already eat there all the time and I'm ready for a change. Not a permanent change, but maybe a place to alternate between.
Today we discovered a new breakfast location that's been open since Feb. It's called The Saturday Morning Cafe. It's got really good food as well. Not as upscale as Teavolve, but way closer to the Inner Harbor and a little more Baltimore-ey. It's a small place so we ate at the counter. The boyfriend and I both got shrimp and grits, which comes with bacon and cheese on top. Yum! My shrimp were prefectly cooked. They also have a seafood omelet which looked quite good. A lot of their offerings were on the heavier side: chicken and waffles or french toast. The one downside is that they don't have cocktails so I had to go without my weekend bloody mary. It's definitely a great option for good, quick breakfast downtown.
My favorite bar in San Antonio
My friend Paul was kind enough to take me to my favorite bar in San Antonio.
The Esquire is a really odd (in a good way) place that looks like it just stepped out of the Wild West, serves amazing cocktails and craft beer and has the longest bar in Texas!
I've been there a few times, usually with Paul, who doesn't drink much, or with co-workers on business trips. I really want to get a hotel in downtown San Antonio and go there with the boyfriend so we can sample more than one drink.
Every time I go back to Texas, I'm pleasantly surprised by the state of craft beer. When I lived there Shiner Bock was about as craft as it got (or that I was aware of), but a lot of breweries have been opening up and making really great beers.
During my last visit to The Esquire I had an Oatmeal Pale Ale by Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling. I thought it was a really interesting beer, but not as Oatmealey as I had expected. Paul thought it was too hoppy, but he's not a big Pale Ale fan to begin with.
I really want to eat a meal at the Esquire too, their menu looks like an interesting mix of local/sustainable/organic, bar food and Tex-Mex. Totally right up my alley.
The one thing I don't like about the place are the bathrooms, they freak me out. The ceilings are really tall, it's really dark in there and the mirrors are old (or look old) and are highly patina-ed. I keep expecting to turn around and see the girl from The Ring looking back at me. Paul says the men's room isn't as bad but he could be trying to either get me to convince him to go into the women's room or get me to go into the men's room for comparison purposes.
Next time I'm there, I'm ordering a cocktail that comes in a copper cup, devouring an organic burger and going next door to pee.
The Esquire is a really odd (in a good way) place that looks like it just stepped out of the Wild West, serves amazing cocktails and craft beer and has the longest bar in Texas!
I've been there a few times, usually with Paul, who doesn't drink much, or with co-workers on business trips. I really want to get a hotel in downtown San Antonio and go there with the boyfriend so we can sample more than one drink.
Every time I go back to Texas, I'm pleasantly surprised by the state of craft beer. When I lived there Shiner Bock was about as craft as it got (or that I was aware of), but a lot of breweries have been opening up and making really great beers.
During my last visit to The Esquire I had an Oatmeal Pale Ale by Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling. I thought it was a really interesting beer, but not as Oatmealey as I had expected. Paul thought it was too hoppy, but he's not a big Pale Ale fan to begin with.
I really want to eat a meal at the Esquire too, their menu looks like an interesting mix of local/sustainable/organic, bar food and Tex-Mex. Totally right up my alley.
The one thing I don't like about the place are the bathrooms, they freak me out. The ceilings are really tall, it's really dark in there and the mirrors are old (or look old) and are highly patina-ed. I keep expecting to turn around and see the girl from The Ring looking back at me. Paul says the men's room isn't as bad but he could be trying to either get me to convince him to go into the women's room or get me to go into the men's room for comparison purposes.
Next time I'm there, I'm ordering a cocktail that comes in a copper cup, devouring an organic burger and going next door to pee.
Are you Mofongo?
While I was in San Antonio, unfortunately I wasn't able to eat at all of the places I wanted to. Tried a few new places, but had entirely average meals not worth writing about.
However, there was one stand-out meal at a place called La Marginal Puerto Rican and Latin Cuisine. My friend Paul had been talking about a dish called mofongo. When he mentioned that you could get it filled with seafood, I was suddenly game.
La Marginal isn't a place I would have found on my own. It's in a strip mall, but a Kwik Wash. It's a total hole in the wall, which usually means it'll have amazing ethnic food. Paul has no idea how he found it either, but was pretty sure it was recommended by a friend.
Since it sounded so interesting I ordered the mofongo. It's is unlike anything I've really seen before. You can get either yucca or plantain (I got plantain) pounded until smooth, almost like grits or mashed potatoes. It's served in a bowl and either pork, shrimp or assorted seafood is piled on top. It comes with an orange cajun-ish spicy sauce that I poured on with reckless abandon. It was really fantastic, the plantain was crispy around the edges where it had cooked in the bowl. Paul wasn't a fan of the fake crab they included, but I thought it provided a nice texture and flavor. I don't generally mind fake crab. In total it had mussels, shrimp, fake crab and flaky white fish. Really really good and new and different!
They also had fantastic mojitos. They took a while to come out, but I think that's because they were muddling the ever living heck out of that mint. It tasted far mintier than I thought it would have, judging on the amount of visible mint leaves. I don't mind waiting for a super quality product! Their secret to a their mojito was adding a splash of Sprite. When Paul told me that I was severely skeptical, but it turned out to make a great drink.
All in all, La Marginal was a fantastic place that I'd absolutely return to again.
However, there was one stand-out meal at a place called La Marginal Puerto Rican and Latin Cuisine. My friend Paul had been talking about a dish called mofongo. When he mentioned that you could get it filled with seafood, I was suddenly game.
La Marginal isn't a place I would have found on my own. It's in a strip mall, but a Kwik Wash. It's a total hole in the wall, which usually means it'll have amazing ethnic food. Paul has no idea how he found it either, but was pretty sure it was recommended by a friend.
Since it sounded so interesting I ordered the mofongo. It's is unlike anything I've really seen before. You can get either yucca or plantain (I got plantain) pounded until smooth, almost like grits or mashed potatoes. It's served in a bowl and either pork, shrimp or assorted seafood is piled on top. It comes with an orange cajun-ish spicy sauce that I poured on with reckless abandon. It was really fantastic, the plantain was crispy around the edges where it had cooked in the bowl. Paul wasn't a fan of the fake crab they included, but I thought it provided a nice texture and flavor. I don't generally mind fake crab. In total it had mussels, shrimp, fake crab and flaky white fish. Really really good and new and different!
They also had fantastic mojitos. They took a while to come out, but I think that's because they were muddling the ever living heck out of that mint. It tasted far mintier than I thought it would have, judging on the amount of visible mint leaves. I don't mind waiting for a super quality product! Their secret to a their mojito was adding a splash of Sprite. When Paul told me that I was severely skeptical, but it turned out to make a great drink.
All in all, La Marginal was a fantastic place that I'd absolutely return to again.
Blood in the Water
Bad things don't happen in my family. We're a group of the most spoiled, coddled people you'll ever meet. Everyone (except me) has nice cars, is building or lives in beautiful enormous houses. Everyone is well educated, has good jobs. We all are happy, have beautiful families and amazing Christmas cards. Nobody gets seriously ill and nobody dies unless they are old.
Most of the time this completely pisses me off, not because I wish ill on my family or begrudge anyone their happiness, but because it makes people (my mother in particular) so completely out of touch with reality and the rest of the world. I'm also the only Democrat and I sometimes wonder if the two are related.
Why would anyone want government subsidized healthcare? My mother will wonder. I'll respond with the fact that many people are kicked off their healthcare plans due or cannot afford insurance or a multitude of other reasons that leave them ill provided for in the healthcare arena. I'll show that most other western countries have some sort of government-provided healthcare and that America is not the leader in healthcare we think we are.
Well, why don't people just get better jobs that give them insurance? Yes, mother, it's just that easy. People just aren't getting better jobs because they'd rather whine about things. Why didn't they just think of that.
My most favorite comment that people make frequently is "Sandra, when are you going to buy a real house?". This one throws me into fits of fury like nothing else. I have a house, it's a townhouse. The roof over my head is real, the floor under my feet is real and my monthly mortgage is most definitely real. However, it's attached to another house, so I guess to my family, it's a fake house. They even call it an apartment sometimes, I don't know if they're trying to piss me off or really don't know the difference.
My internal monologue replies with "look, you fuckers, I live on the East Coast. My shitty tiny townhouse cost 300,000. Also, there are two of us in my family, the boyfriend and I don't need more space. WE DON'T HAVE THAT MANY CATS!!!".
I usually end up responding either that we don't want a bigger house or that we can't afford one. This is met with either looks of confusion or pity. Both make me angrier for different reasons.
So it's always interesting when something "bad" does actually happen. The last "bad" thing that happened was that my youngest brother didn't get into medical school right away and had to get a Master's degree in something else and THEN go to medical school. The horrors.
This time the "bad" thing is divorce. My cousin's to be exact. This isn't to say that divorce is a great thing, but rather that it's not the end of the world. It sucks, but like most things, time will pass, wounds will heal and life will move on.
We all started noticing things a few months ago. Facebook makes things entirely too obvious. When the boyfriend and I were in Dallas a few months ago my mother and sister-in-law immediately brought it up. "Have you noticed that she went on vacation with her friends?Have you noticed that she hasn't mentioned him? Have you noticed there are fewer pictures of them together?". I had noticed the exact same things and had come to the exact same conclusion, but at that moment I suddenly felt guilty. I responded "oh please, people go on vacations with their girlfriends all the time, it doesn't mean anything". Who were we to sit there and gossip?
As someone who has had long-term relationships shatter (not marriages, but with my point of view on marriage, it might have well been the same thing), it sucks. There's a whole slew of emotions that are involved, anger, hurt, embarrassment. I wouldn't want my family to be eating affordable french food at a La Madeline's gossiping about me. Now I know they probably did, and I just don't want to do that to other people.
Last week it finally came out that my cousin and his wife were getting divorced, ending their three-year marriage. Granted, I've only heard things from my cousin's point of view and his wife is the one who filed, but it sounds like divorce was a pretty good option. They both sounded miserable.
To my family, this is the worst thing ever. My mother sent me a text message saying I had to call her IMMEDIATELY. She couldn't wait to tell me the bad news, which is kinda messed up. It's like they're all so upset for him, but all so gleeful to spread the bad news. I really don't understand it.
I know a LOT of divorced people. Most of them are totally great people, divorce is something that happened to them, it doesn't define who they are. Maybe it's this that leads me to treat divorce as something that happens sometimes, not some earth-shattering scandal.
When my mom asked me what I thought, I replied that it sounded like divorce was a good solution to their problem. What I should have said was that I'm sorry that my cousin's failed marriage was the blood in the water, that I was sorry we were all feating upon my cousin's potential unhappiness.
I say potential unhappiness because I haven't talked to my cousin, we're not close. For him to call me about this would be incredibly strange. For all I know, he's relieved to be getting divorced. He's not even 30 years old, he has his entire life ahead of him. He's getting a second chance, and a way out of what seems to be a very hostile and volatile situation.
I guess my answer wasn't what my mom wanted. She asked me what the boyfriend thought. Being the only other divorced person in the family, I guess he's the resident expert. He totally doesn't care. He's met my cousin like two times. My mom reiterated that the boyfriend's opinion matters to her.
Who are we to have opinions on someone else's divorce?
I'll be sad for my cousin, if that's what he wants. I'll be happy for him if he wants that instead. Until he lets me know if he wants either emotion, I'll continue to treat it like I have been, a fact. This is happening. It's neither good nor bad, it's just an event taking place.
We've all been explicitly instructed to not tell the Grandmother. Based on how the text was worded, I know it was one of those messages my mother sent to everyone.
We are such assholes. Can we please stop feating on what's perceived to be someone else's misfortune?
Also, someone's got to tell Grandmother. She's old, but she'll start noticing a missing wife.
I'm not really sure the moral of this story, but I for one am going to try to stop gossiping. It's really assholeish.
Most of the time this completely pisses me off, not because I wish ill on my family or begrudge anyone their happiness, but because it makes people (my mother in particular) so completely out of touch with reality and the rest of the world. I'm also the only Democrat and I sometimes wonder if the two are related.
Why would anyone want government subsidized healthcare? My mother will wonder. I'll respond with the fact that many people are kicked off their healthcare plans due or cannot afford insurance or a multitude of other reasons that leave them ill provided for in the healthcare arena. I'll show that most other western countries have some sort of government-provided healthcare and that America is not the leader in healthcare we think we are.
Well, why don't people just get better jobs that give them insurance? Yes, mother, it's just that easy. People just aren't getting better jobs because they'd rather whine about things. Why didn't they just think of that.
My most favorite comment that people make frequently is "Sandra, when are you going to buy a real house?". This one throws me into fits of fury like nothing else. I have a house, it's a townhouse. The roof over my head is real, the floor under my feet is real and my monthly mortgage is most definitely real. However, it's attached to another house, so I guess to my family, it's a fake house. They even call it an apartment sometimes, I don't know if they're trying to piss me off or really don't know the difference.
My internal monologue replies with "look, you fuckers, I live on the East Coast. My shitty tiny townhouse cost 300,000. Also, there are two of us in my family, the boyfriend and I don't need more space. WE DON'T HAVE THAT MANY CATS!!!".
I usually end up responding either that we don't want a bigger house or that we can't afford one. This is met with either looks of confusion or pity. Both make me angrier for different reasons.
So it's always interesting when something "bad" does actually happen. The last "bad" thing that happened was that my youngest brother didn't get into medical school right away and had to get a Master's degree in something else and THEN go to medical school. The horrors.
This time the "bad" thing is divorce. My cousin's to be exact. This isn't to say that divorce is a great thing, but rather that it's not the end of the world. It sucks, but like most things, time will pass, wounds will heal and life will move on.
We all started noticing things a few months ago. Facebook makes things entirely too obvious. When the boyfriend and I were in Dallas a few months ago my mother and sister-in-law immediately brought it up. "Have you noticed that she went on vacation with her friends?Have you noticed that she hasn't mentioned him? Have you noticed there are fewer pictures of them together?". I had noticed the exact same things and had come to the exact same conclusion, but at that moment I suddenly felt guilty. I responded "oh please, people go on vacations with their girlfriends all the time, it doesn't mean anything". Who were we to sit there and gossip?
As someone who has had long-term relationships shatter (not marriages, but with my point of view on marriage, it might have well been the same thing), it sucks. There's a whole slew of emotions that are involved, anger, hurt, embarrassment. I wouldn't want my family to be eating affordable french food at a La Madeline's gossiping about me. Now I know they probably did, and I just don't want to do that to other people.
Last week it finally came out that my cousin and his wife were getting divorced, ending their three-year marriage. Granted, I've only heard things from my cousin's point of view and his wife is the one who filed, but it sounds like divorce was a pretty good option. They both sounded miserable.
To my family, this is the worst thing ever. My mother sent me a text message saying I had to call her IMMEDIATELY. She couldn't wait to tell me the bad news, which is kinda messed up. It's like they're all so upset for him, but all so gleeful to spread the bad news. I really don't understand it.
I know a LOT of divorced people. Most of them are totally great people, divorce is something that happened to them, it doesn't define who they are. Maybe it's this that leads me to treat divorce as something that happens sometimes, not some earth-shattering scandal.
When my mom asked me what I thought, I replied that it sounded like divorce was a good solution to their problem. What I should have said was that I'm sorry that my cousin's failed marriage was the blood in the water, that I was sorry we were all feating upon my cousin's potential unhappiness.
I say potential unhappiness because I haven't talked to my cousin, we're not close. For him to call me about this would be incredibly strange. For all I know, he's relieved to be getting divorced. He's not even 30 years old, he has his entire life ahead of him. He's getting a second chance, and a way out of what seems to be a very hostile and volatile situation.
I guess my answer wasn't what my mom wanted. She asked me what the boyfriend thought. Being the only other divorced person in the family, I guess he's the resident expert. He totally doesn't care. He's met my cousin like two times. My mom reiterated that the boyfriend's opinion matters to her.
Who are we to have opinions on someone else's divorce?
I'll be sad for my cousin, if that's what he wants. I'll be happy for him if he wants that instead. Until he lets me know if he wants either emotion, I'll continue to treat it like I have been, a fact. This is happening. It's neither good nor bad, it's just an event taking place.
We've all been explicitly instructed to not tell the Grandmother. Based on how the text was worded, I know it was one of those messages my mother sent to everyone.
We are such assholes. Can we please stop feating on what's perceived to be someone else's misfortune?
Also, someone's got to tell Grandmother. She's old, but she'll start noticing a missing wife.
I'm not really sure the moral of this story, but I for one am going to try to stop gossiping. It's really assholeish.
Things overheard in airports
Due to the fact that I travel a lot for work and fun, I spend a TON of time in airports. Two great quotes from my last trip to San Antonio. These were either overheard in Baltimore, San Antonio or Chicago.
* "Emily wore her wiener dog pajamas for a year and a half straight. We told her that if she wanted to have any more kids, she'd probably need to find something else to wear once in a while".
My response to this: holy shit, I want wiener dog pajamas!!!!
* "Look at those luggage carts, I totally went on a rampage in one those in GTA 5 the other day".
I guess my household isn't the only one inundated with GTA these days. Also, are luggage carts good or bad for a rampage??
* "Emily wore her wiener dog pajamas for a year and a half straight. We told her that if she wanted to have any more kids, she'd probably need to find something else to wear once in a while".
My response to this: holy shit, I want wiener dog pajamas!!!!
* "Look at those luggage carts, I totally went on a rampage in one those in GTA 5 the other day".
I guess my household isn't the only one inundated with GTA these days. Also, are luggage carts good or bad for a rampage??
I'm back!!
I can't believe it's been so long since I've last posted. Life has been a whirlwind as usual, so I have a lot to tell you guys about! Trip to San Antonio, several beer festivals, etc. Please stay posted for a ton of new updates!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)