How Much Does the Internet Weigh?

This. Is. Too. Cool.

So cool, in fact, that even though it is not at all food-related (my one rule for this blog is that it be food related), I am posting it anyway.

How much does the internet weigh? Discover Magazine found out:

Taking [one scientist's] 40-petabyte figure [for the total size of the internet] and plugging it into the...formula that we worked out for our 50-kilobyte e-mail results in a grand total of 1.3 x 10^-8 pound. At last, after much scribbling (and perhaps a little cursing), we had our answer: The weight of the Internet adds up to just about 0.2 millionths of an ounce.

I just can't add anything to that. But it'd be one helluva small measuring cup to fit it into.

More Food Blogs of Note:

Baltimore Restaurant Blog, going on for a month or two, not only reviews restaurants but mentions reviews of other bloggers - myself included. Neat! My recent visit to Curtis Bay and Stoney Creek is mentioned there. The blog is maintained by the authors of "Where the Locals Eat," with a long list of restaurants that Bawlamorons tend to like. I hve to disagree with some of their choices, based on various reasons.

Also worth noting is the Baltimore Sun's Dining@Large column, led by Elizabeth Lodge. She seems to get out a lot lately because her most recent posts have nothing to do with food in Maryland.

And then there's Black Coffee and a Donut. Read about sisters Xani and Erin eating through Baltimore, specifically Federal Hill. Also check out their recent post about their foodie experiences throughout Virginia.

Exit 2: MD-10 South (to Severna Park)

After buying ingredients for my potato chip chocolate chip cookies (see previous post), I decided on an early dinner and headed toward Exit 2 to discover what deliciousness lie ahead.

Never really having taken Exit 2 before, I soon found that it led to MD-710, Ordnance Road and Glen Burnie. I took the Glen Burnie exit and found myself in easy walking distance of Exit 3 off the beltway. Wanting to save that for a future post, I did a U-ey (pronounced "you-ee") and got back onto the freeway. I continued south on MD-10 and got off the next exit, leading to Furnace Branch Rd. (MD-270). With two ways to go, I turned left at the light and sought food.

Boy did I find food.

Best Seafood (map) caught my eye because it was pretty close to the on-ramp, and because it was next to a BBQ joint (more on that in a paragraph or two). Hemming and hawing a little bit, I chose the seafood place. This turned out to be a very small take-out place, no seating at all. Sandwiched in between fake crabs and a calendar with a very large picture of Jesus and some kids on it was a menu. The adjacent wall had more, impromptu printed-out specials. I told the cheerful middle-aged Korean woman behind the counter that I needed a minute, then quickly changed my mind when my attentions were diverted to the fried fish. Lots of it - catfish, whiting, flounder. All they had today were those three things. I went with the fried catfish for $7.75, choosing fries over cole slaw (my mistake, actually), half-expecting some warm-over ick of an excuse for fish.

Since it would not be ready for another 10 minutes, I meandered outside and looked in the window for Dotson's Barbeque (map, though why bother because it's the same one as for Best Seafood). This is the next-door BBQ/soul food take-out. This place even got written up in Baltimore Magazine oh, seven years ago. I asked the elderly African American gentleman about the corn muffins advertised on the menu, even older and crustier than the one next door, for only 50 cents! I ordered four, and he heated them up for me. Dotson's, which also has a larger building across the street, has various tasty items in addition to their ribs: mince chicken, greens (I bought a small bowl for $1.75), pig's feet, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, all homemade.

I'd have to come back to try the ribs, though, because my fish was waiting next door. I put my greens and corn muffins in my car and went in for my fish. I forked over my card for the fish, and also ordered some hush puppies (mmmm) which I paid for with cash (only $1.25, so I did have it to spare). I got all this wonderful, cheap food home, photographed the hell out of it (for your viewing pleasure) and sat down to eat.

What I was most impressed with was the catfish. The coating was crispy and crunchy and - here's the best part, in my opinion - the fish tasted like fish! You may be thinking "Um, duh, what else does it taste like?" But so many fish fillets I have ordered, takeout or sit-down, have been flavorless. All the fish flavor just leached right out of 'em. This, on the other hand, tasted like fish. How novel! And I had two large fillets, one of which is sitting in the fridge as I write this. So I have more. Now please don't stop to remind me: I am sure there are better fish out there than Best Seafood's. But this hole-in-the-wall offered up surprisingly good product, so I am glowing about it.

The other parts were less memorable, but mostly good. The hush puppies were in some strange potato wedge shape - I couldn't visually distinguish them from the little, forgettable potato wedges that came with the fish. But the hush puppies were good. Same with the greens, a little bitter and a little salty, but tasty. The corn muffin never really got touched, on account of the hush puppies. But I've bagged the rest for further consumption.

Places I visited:

Best Seafood (seafood) – 7319 E Furnace Branch Rd, Glen Burnie, MD, Phone: (410) 761-4666

• Would I eat there again? Sure
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Sure, but only for the fish

Dotson's Barbeque (barbecue, African American cuisine/soul food, Southern cuisine) – 7317 E Furnace Branch Rd, Glen Burnie, MD 21060, Phone: (410) 768-2784.

• Would I eat there again? Sure
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Sure, mostly to try what I haven't yet

Other photos

If you're looking for Best Seafood, here's what it looks like.

This is the whole, tasty mix of Dotson's greens and corn muffin and Best Seafood's catfish and hush puppies.

Jolene Sugarbaker comes through for a cookie swap

It's time for another cookie swap at work, and I finally decided to tap into the wisdom that is Jolene!

The cookie of choice is her potato chip chocolate chip cookie. She used crushed Utz (look closely at that video; it's Utz) to make a crispy and crunchy cookie. My results were, well, a wee bit different. I got a cookie that was definitely not crispy, but kind of soft and a little less sweet than I thought I'd get. In fact, they were almost pastry-like. Part of all that has to do with the potato chips. But part of that, I think, also has to do with my substitution of Splenda sugar and brown sugar for the real stuff.

After I transcribed the recipe, I guesstimated that I would have to quadruple the recipe to make enough for all my coworkers (at least 20). Then I went ahead and bought all the ingredients. I knew I had some at home but to be on the cautious side, I bought them all, flour included. The total came to $70 (waaaah). That's not an expense I expected, especially after the NYC trip.

So here's the recipe as I transcribed it:

1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 c oil
1 c butter
1 egg
1 T sour milk (or milk with a dash of vinegar)
1 t vanilla
1 t almond extract
1 t cream of tartar
1 t baking soda
½ t salt
2 c Utz
3.5 – 4 c flour
2 c chocolate chips

Crush chips, and cream sugars and fats together. Next, mix in other ingredients, except for flour and chocolate chips. Separately mix in flour, then chocolate chips. Put on a baking pan, and make nice little balls and plop ‘em on the tray. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes or until nice and golden brown.

I was in a hurry, alright?

I made a few changes, some deliberate, some not. First there was the whole Splenda thing. Also, in my first of two batches I replaced half of the chocolate chips with butterscotch chips, just to be different. That was totally accidental.

The first batch made about 50 cookies, but I needed more than that (each coworker gets four cookies, so that's 80 right there). Lucky for me I had enough to make four batches! Unlucky for me, though, that I spent so much money and only needed one more batch. Math was never my strongest subject. Actually scratch that - I was far worse in physics.

I churned out lots of cookies. Since I was using the folks' kitchen (mine is, well, puny) they were halfway interested in trying - eager because they were free cookies, not so eager because they had potato chips in them. They liked them. I was surprised, particularly because of the pastry-like brittleness of the cookie. Good cookie, but unusual. Very unusual because it's not that sweet. Again, may be due to the Splenda, but I'm not sure.

Jolene Sugarbaker, la reina de la caravana

Sí, es la verdad que Jolene Sugarbaker tiene amigos por el YouTube. Ya una amiga traduce al español un video que contiene su receta deliciosa, Chuletas en Salsa de Coca-Cola (o sea, Pork Chops in Coca-Cola Sauce). ¡Qué come bien!

Traducción: Yes, it is true that Jolene Sugarbaker has friends through YouTube. Already a friend translates into Spanish a video that contains her delicious recipe, Pork Chops in Coca-Cola Sauce (that is, Chuletas en Salsa de Coca-Cola). May you eat well!

On the Road #7: The Best of Bosnia

I wrote this on the train on the way back home. I am short of much more money than I care to think about (all my fault, by the way). I did make it back to Crumbs to get some of those mini cupcake samplers to bring back with me. Everybody loves 'em, and I photographed the hell out of them so I can try to reproduce them in the future.

But my last culinary experience was not with Crumbs. I still had lunch ahead of me when I got to the station (early), so I checked my largest bag and went in search of one or two more places I read about in the Frommer’s guide.

The one I eventually went to, in the Garment District, was a Balkan restaurant of all things. On 38^th St., across from the right-out-of-John-Waters-imagination store of Spandex World (Aren’t they running a booth at HonFest?), is Djerdan Burek. This place serves food from the Balkan region of Southeastern Europe, and their namesake menu item is burek, a pizza-sized creation of fillo dough stuffed with your choice of spinach, cheese or meat.

This is not a light and flaky fillo dough, either. This is a hearty, bite-right-into-it fillo. The slice of burek that I did order, for $4.95 (only $4 if you get it to go), was the meat burek. Filled with ground beef, it smelled and tasted quite good, though with so much air and space (this is a pastry, mind you), I expected more meat inside. But I liked it, and can honestly say I was satisfied enough to want to return, if I do find myself back in that area.

Along with the burek I ordered a Diet Coke and a Jadranka blueberry juice made in Bosnia (the waitress got a kick out of me asking for this drink). It was reinforced with apple and sour cherry, and it was pretty tasty. It was also $2.50 for what couldn’t be more than 8 oz. of juice. But I don’t get it every day.

I did break down and order the baklava, made with the same, hearty fillo. This not-so-delicate baklava was difficult to break apart with my fork, but was still some of the best I have had. Not all dry and gummy like some you find in restaurants. It was brought out fresh and was just too good. I happily forked over another $3.95 just for that. Altogether, this early lunch (no breakfast today) cost me $13 before tip.

And still I wanted to try one final place recommended in my travel guide. Along the way back to Penn Station, past the kosher pizza and sushi place and the halal bakery and countless more spandex stores, was Gray’s Papaya. Gray’s has been voted the best hot dog in the city, and it’s certainly the cheapest. Not an eat-in type of place, it has hot dogs and fruit smoothies (hence the papaya?) at unheard-of low prices. Two dogs and a soda come to $3.50. I just got a plain dog, sans chili, for $1.25. It was a tasty hot dog, but with all that Bosnian food filling my stomach I could only finish some of it. I headed back to the train station, not wanting to eat again until I found my way back to Baltimore.

On the Road #6: The Grand Sichuan

I wasn’t terribly hungry after my trip to Sonar Gaow, so I waited a few hours before I left for dinner. And this time I was determined to take another stab at the Grand Sichuan. By subway and taxi (I’m finally starting getting the hang of the NY Subway) I made it to Chelsea, the tight-shirted center of New York’s gayborhood. I found the Grand Sichuan on 24^th St, and this one was actually open – and boy, was it open! Packed to the gills, I had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. Once seated I got a hold of the menu and started scanning it for the cheap stuff. About a third of it was cheap stuff, specifically the noodle and noodle soup dishes, plus lots of cold dishes. Traditional greasy wok standbys – the triple delights, the candied beefs and orange chickens – were priced a bit higher, and I came here to save some dough (which I desperately needed to do, considering the expensive taxi rides I took all over Manhattan later that night).

I could have played it safe but I wanted to be adventurous. That’s me, Mr. Adventurous! (I should do a TV show with one of those British guys who goes all over the world for Lonely Planet. Er, or not.) So I scanned past the pork, chicken, shrimp and duck and went straight for the cold section. I got my first taste of conch, smothered in chili oil, with some leaks sprinkled on for flavor and decoration (for $7).

Conch is an interesting creature. It lives in those little shells you put up to your ear at the beach. Survivorman Les Stroud killed and ate some right for the cameras. For me, it was a mixed bag. I don’t know if the fault lay in the preparation or in the nature of the beast itself. But I didn’t really like it. I liked the flavor alright, but some of it was just so tough, while other parts were very nice and tender. Between it and a very standard vegetable roll, I ended up filling up very fast. Before the white rice (not complementary) and Diet Coke, my meal came to about $10 – again, the cheap eats abound if you know where to find them!

I was not as enthralled with the conch as I had hoped I’d be. But many other people were enthralled with their dishes, so I guess there’s something to this place. If I find myself back at Grand Sichuan, though, I’m steering clear of the conch.

On the Road #5: You Get What You Pay For (or So Many Indian Restaurants...)

My trip to AMNH yesterday was a tad exhausting, but I saw what I wanted to see, and it was very cool – worth all the trouble. Afterwards my head hurt from hunger. Mindfully bringing my bag along with me, I got out that Frommer’s cheap NYC guide and looked for some cheap eats. There were so many good suggestions and itineraries. Charm City Cupcake, a native Brooklynite (Brooklyn, NY, not Brooklyn Park, hon) suggested this great Thai place in Queens, along with a Hindu temple that serves a kick-arse South Indian menu. My itinerary, sadly, took me only as far as Downtown Manhattan, so I will have to shelve Queens for the next visit. But I did stumble quite accidentally onto a whole neighborhood full of South Asian restaurants. One could take one’s pick: Indian, South Indian, Bangladeshi, Punjabi, Sri Lankan, Tamil, and at a range of prices. I didn’t see any Pakistani places, but I’d be surprised if there weren’t one.

I am not a person who should ever be allowed to be president, because I can’t make a freaking decision save my own life, much less the free world. So try to imagine the headache I felt from trying to pick one of these places. Go on. Hurts, don’t it?

After an irritating cab ride around the East Village to find some unreachable restaurant, I got out somewhere around 1^st St and 1^st Ave and meandered around like a lost tourist – which of course I was.

Around 1^st and 2^nd Aves, and 6^th St I found the embarrassment of Indian riches. The Sri Lankan place wasn’t open for another hour, and these dueling Indian and Bangladeshi maitres’d tried to cajole me into their respective restaurants. I hurried away from these crazy men and turned the corner. ***GASP*** MORE Indian restaurants!!! Plus ones selling Japanese, soul food and Peruvian to boot.

I finally settled on a festive little restaurant with flowers and chili lights (like you see in Arizona around Christmas) called Sonar Gaow. It’s Bengali for, um, I don’t remember actually. All I remember was the emptiness of the restaurant (it wasn’t even 4:45 yet) and a specials sign advertising a prix fixe menu for $6.95. That’s right, $6.95!!! That helped cement the deal. I went in.

You get a lot of food at Sonar Gaow for your money, which makes it a great place to eat. The quality of the food – well, it isn’t bad food, but I’ve had better, (Check here for a review from someone who, well, would disagree). It's kind of like a small, cramped Bengali Café Hon, only much, much cheaper. But with my entire meal coming to $6.95, I can overlook the weakness of the mulligatawny soup.

And every course was, to put it more mildly than the food here, a bit weak. The first, said soup, was very heavy on the cumin, and not tangy at all. But it was hot and brought to my table almost immediately. Next came the vegetable samosa, which had a lovely smell, and which was served on top of a pappadum that tasted a little cinammony to me. This samosa – my chosen appetizer from among several – was also not thrilling, but adequate, and worth the price (hey, if you do the math, it probably works out to, oh, $1 at most).

My main dish (also chosen among many) was the lamb dopiaza. It followed the same, conflicted path – served hot and immediately, but weaker than I’m used to. This dopiaza was light on the fat, and the gravy was plentiful but, again, the dish was weak. I did enjoy the naan the waiter brought out with the meal. But what bothered me was the rice. I usually expect basmati rice in an Indian restaurant. But what I got tasted strangely like gummy, warmed-over plain white rice. Bleah. But again, at $6.95 for the whole meal, I could even overlook that. Not for more money, but for that price, yes.

The final bill did include a Diet Coke (about $1.50), but the total bill still came to less than $10. Very impressive for a three-course meal, I think (they forgot my dessert, though). Would I go back to Sonar Gaow? No, I would not go back. And what incentive is there? There are so many other Indian restaurants that, even if I got to New York with any frequency at all, it would take too long to try them all.

What Marylanders Have in Common with Zoo Animals of the Midwest

How galldarned yummy those cicadas are! Okay, I won't ever eat one. It was, what, 2004? Just another 13 years to go before we see WJZ or WMAR etc. do another "special interest story" about
how people catch and fry up those cicadas when they come around.

The zoo animals in Illinois don't even bother with cooking them. Maybe they're into that raw food thing?

Awwwwww! That's so cute!

UPDATE: The story is gone, the photo is gone. Oh well. It was still cute.

On the Road #4: Street Fairs and Central Park

After a quick jog around Jackie-O Reservoir in Central Park, I decided to fix my hunger with some food. Because I was planning to check out the human evolution exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, and it was only sixteen blocks, I decided to forgo the subway and just hoof it.

Along the way I stopped in one of the many, many kosher delis that Manhattan has to offer. And when I stepped into Murray’s, the smell reminded me of Attman’s. The prices, well, I confess I haven’t been to Attman’s in a while, so I don’t quite know how expensive kippered salmon is these days. But $8.50 for a quarter pound seemed a little steep for me. But I was dinged on the price anyway, when I got a nova salmon sandwich on rye with cream cheese for $8.50. The salmon tasted about as good as any I can find for less per pound, or per sandwich. That and a water came to around $9.50.

I was not disappointed, but not thrilled either – like, sadly, most of the food I have had here this weekend. I just keep making the bad food choices, I guess.

But things looked up as I came across a street faire they were having along Broadway in the Upper West Side. I bought a freshly grilled corn on the cob for $3 and two crispy, warm falafels (no bread to put them in, I didn’t want any) for $1. Two things came to mind with the falafels: 1) Well, there goes all the running I did this morning; and 2) Mmmm, this is damn tasty falafel! Now, falafel can be good, or it can be nasty. I have never found an in-between. If it’s cold or sometimes even lukewarm, and especially if it isn’t crispy, it usually swings decidedly over into the nasty category. But when it’s hot and crispy, it’s usually wonderful. This one was in that latter category. As for the corn, it was spicy and sweet, but I tasted none of the butter that the gentleman put on it.

Swerving around in a sea of Yankees caps and jerseys (***grrrrrr***) and, what apparently is now the latest in men’s fashion in New York, European and English premier league soccer jerseys, I made my way down to the entrance of the museum, where I encountered a ridiculously long wait.

On the Road #3: Ristorante Amarone (or What Chinese Food?)

I used my Frommer’s guide to look for a good place for dinner before the show. I had two choices, Chinese and Ethiopian (the latter I found by myself on the internet – I was looking for African food because I just don’t eat that much of it and I figured New York, of all places, would have it). I settled on the closest restaurant to my theater, the Grand Sichuan. There are several branches throughout the city. It was about 6:30, and I got to the restaurant all hungry.

Here’s what the restaurant looks like today (look in the yellow box):

So it’s now closed. I started roaming all over the street on the way back to the theater to find something cheap – and of course, the closer it got to curtain time, the higher a price I was willing to tolerate. There was a Greek tapas bar (!) – but the cheapest tapa was $9 (no Tapas Teatro this place), so, ah, no. I passed by Spanish, Brazilian, Mexican, Southern – all more than I wanted to spend. And, um, no, I wasn’t desperate enough to duck into McDonald’s.

I finally found a place near the corner that I needed to turn down. The Ristorante Amarone looked good enough and it looked as if there were cheap enough things that I could make a dinner out of what was on the menu. The waitress seated me at the bar of this pretty charming establishment and gave me a menu. After a short while I settled for the cheapest thing on the menu, the pasta puttanesca in the Pasta section (a dish with capers, anchovies, olives, tomatoes – if done right it makes me wince it’s so powerful). I immediately ordered a Diet Coke (no slow service there) and a red wine - the waitress helped me find a good wine, and let me try their Shiraz, which she recommended. After the sour face I made, she offered me a different one, even though I said it was alright if she didn’t. The second one wasn’t great either – but again, I’m not really a wine person.

Perhaps I’m not a puttanesca person either. The food came out piping hot, which I cannot say for most Italian food I order. But this dish was, well, forgettable. The pasta was pasta, they didn’t mess that up. There were huge chunks of tomato. Red, grainy, watery, flavorless tomato. (Was this a beefsteak? Those big balls of tomato-flavored goo should not be allowed in any restaurant, much less a fancy one.) Their tomato had a little more flavor than most beefsteaks. Plus, the anchovies were hard, the capers were barely noticeable, and the sauce only congealed at the bottom, where it tasted kind of like an Indian murgh makhani (chicken in butter-tomato) sauce. The only thing that stood out was the olives. And the olives should not have to carry this dish alone. At least it was only $10, relatively cheap for a pre-theater dinner

The dessert of the day was an irritating $8, but this one was actually worth the price. It was two small cannoli, with chocolate on each end and a cream filling in the middle that was better than most cannoli creams I have ever had. Usually most cannoli have horribly grainy creams, but this was very smooth and rich. It was just very good, all buried in little chocolate shavings that melted in your mouth. It was the only memorable thing about this meal!

After the puttanesca, the cannoli, two Diet Cokes and the wine (and complimentary, though tough, bread), my bill came to $36. I left $42 and went on my way. There was some congenial and helpful service there. The dessert was delicious. I just wish my entree had been better.

On the Road #2: Snacks and Vino

NB: I wrote this post yesterday afternoon in Word before I went out for the evening. I'm posting it now.

Just traveled down the #1 line and got off at 72^nd Street. If you find yourself in that vicinity you will not be short on baked goods or vino.

Noticing a sign for a free wine tasting, I stumbled into Pour, a wine shop that goes out of its way not to sell the brand that you can get everywhere else. This place is unusual also in that it does not organize its wines by region, but by characteristic – bold, crisp, etc. These are the sections in this wine shop. And each section has pictures of which foods go best with the wines located therein. I tasted this red wine from Apulia (Italy), Cantine de Falco Primitivo (and then bought it for $13 before tax). The staff are helpful, I might add.

I staggered out, a little buzzed (one reason why I usually prefer beer – it doesn’t get me drunk as fast), and went next door to Crumbs. This bakery seems to specialize in cupcakes, and they have the standard vanilla and chocolate. But they also have snickerdoodle, red velvet, piña colada and (the one I left with) fluffernutter. This was only $3.50. And though it looks like there’s a mound of icing – whipped, not hard, but thick – there is actually a whole lotta cupcake underneath it, and it was very moist, more so than most cupcakes I eat which tend to be far more muffin-like in their consistency. These people are doing something right that Giant just is not. Enough so that I’m going to buy their 16 mini cupcake sampler tomorrow for $16. Gotta take something back home for the folks, after all.

On the Road #1: Avoid Orbitz If You Can

Just a few short notes before I start roaming about town:

I was not disappointed by Amtrak’s service – though I had envisioned horrific things happening – super delays among the worst of them. But for my purposes at least, Amtrak was a very efficient, if expensive, way to travel. And I didn’t even have to deal with New York traffic!

I did have to deal with New York foot traffic, and a thousand people who felt obliged to just stand around in New York Penn Station not moving while I barreled toward them. The subway was far less of a nightmare than it was in November. I took the #3 train to 96^th, and then to my hotel. Now, because I had made two different reservations on two different days – cheaper than paying an extra $25 fee to Orbitz (notice I am not linking; you will soon see why) to extend my time, I booked a second night through Hotels.com – I was not quite sure how that would show up in the system. Turns out my Orbitz-booked room was not even in the Continental Hostel’s reservation system, but the Hotels.com one was. Well, that’s the last time I use Orbitz. They’ve been a pain before – why do I keep goin’ back when they do me wrong?

Fortunately, the hostel was able to accommodate me – I did pay for the room after all – and without extra cost. I might have to change rooms in the morning, but at least I have something.

Don’t reserve a hotel room through Orbitz, people. In fact, don’t reserve anything through them. They just mess up your reservation sometimes.

Back to the train ride: the snacks on the train were, well, underwhelming – though not the prices. For $6.75 I got a bottle of Heineken and a container of yogurt. All their sandwiches were out except for microwaveable cheeseburgers and two bratwurst. Maybe it would’ve been better had I not eaten at all, which I really didn’t need to in the first place!

Well off I go! Today I try to find cheap eats before my big night out – I’m going to see Company, in a similar staging as another recently-staged Sondheim classic, Sweeney Todd, where all the actors and actresses double as the orchestra. Cool. I found this book in the library published by Frommer’s – NYC Free & Dirt Cheap. It will be my Bible – Qu’ran, Bhagavad Gita, Book of Mormon, whatever you wanna call it – for the next 48 hours.

Come On Ride The Train...

Well, I'm getting ready to head out to NYC today. And this time, I am taking Amtrak. I calculated that, after gas, tolls and parking, it's actually about the same cost to drive up as it is to take Amtrak's otherwise high-priced trains. In fact, I get more for my money if I spend an extra day - at $50 to park per day in New York (that's on cheap end), it's not cheap to park up there. And it is convenient to just hop on public transportation and wind up in a major world city. One coworker who is originally from Queens tells me it's the only way to go between Baltimore and New York - he does it all the time.

And the best part of this Amtrak stuff? I do not have to drive into the city. I don't know if Mayor Bloomberg's toll on entering Manhattan has gone into effect yet (they have a similar system to reduce congestion in London and San Fran), but it is not fun to drive in Manhattan or Brooklyn - less so Manhattan. No disrespect to any readers from the Big Apple, but you have to be aggressive in a way you just don't here. For example, if I am trying to change a lane, here (for that matter, in Cali, too) I wait for an opening in traffic and then change lanes. But in New York you cannot get away with that - you have to push your way into traffic. And it's not being overly aggressive, because you are expected to do this, too. The first time I drove up I learned this the hard way, but I adapted. And I didn't enjoy it.

Also, not doing Acela - it shaves 15 minutes off of a 150 minute ride for $50 extra each way. I'd just as soon save the $100 and take the "slow" train.

There are some advantages of taking the train over the plane, too. Even though it's more expensive, you can exchange tickets with little if any penalty - I changed my return ticket twice and had to pay nothing more than the difference. Planes are definitely cheaper, but only if you buy well in advance. If you try to fly a few days before, you will pay an arm and a leg to fly. With Amtrak, you only pay an arm - but never a leg. Maybe an arm and a toe or two if you wait (one ticket was $14 more two days after I bought it - glad I bought it when I did). Unless it's the Acela Express. The security measures worry me - I'm not sure if there are any. I don't know, I'm the kind of person that feels safer if everyone has to go through the metal detector.

Two more advantages of the train: you can use your cell phone and other electronics for the duration of the ride (not so on a plane, where your phone must be off and electronics must be shut down at the start and end of the flight); and they have snack cars! I'll tell you about the snacks on the Amtrak. They sometimes have pizza, from what I hear. I just hope this isn't your typical elementary school cafeteria menu. Only with alcohol. Ooh! Do they have beer?

Dogwood

Some friends and I went to dinner on Thursday night. It was this new place that they rave about in Hampden called the Dogwood. This place is affiliated with the upstairs Dogwood Deli and in the same building as a local Bikram Yoga studio (that is the last time I stare at myself almost nekkid for 90 minutes in any asana again - I just can't do it. The staring, I mean). And it's very posh and modern - like something you might imagine being showcased on the Food Network.

The place was crowded, even on a Thursday night. My friends love this place, and apparently so does the whole neighborhood. Wine lovers that they are, they often bring their own. Tonight they brought two bottles (both rosés)- but hey, they live in walking distance (lucky lucky lucky them) so no DWI for them!

The service was quite good, and the staff, from the owners down to the busboys, were all congenial. My friends have gone to Dogwood enough that they know one of the owners, Bridget Sampson (who runs the place with husband/chef Galen), by name, and viceversa. And in the short time they introduced me, she greeted me by name! The service, decor and food are all as sharp as this!

A few points about Dogwood:

• The menu changes slightly from day to day. This is good, because there is always variety. But they do eventually offer the dishes again. For example, this night I started off with a really great wild greens and strawberry salad with small crumbles of cheese ($9). This was not a small salad, either. My one friend had had this before (see, dishes do rotate back onto the menu), and I'm glad I took his recommendation.
• The entree may or may not be large as well. Mine, perhaps the best halibut ($23) I have had since I don't know when, was not very large. It was also not hard or gummy except in one teensy corner, and the potatoes that came with it - mixed with bacon and horseradish - were gone very fast. My friends got steak ($23 and $26), and they certainly had more.
• Dogwood's owners are very socially conscious. They hire many people who are recovering from problems with addiction or other bad situations.
• As much of their food as possible is grown or produced fresh in Maryland or somewhere close. Many of the places where they get their ingredients are listed right on the menu (printed fresh daily). What doesn't come from Maryland may come from nearby - Pennsylvania or Virginia. The farthest they seemed to go for ingredients was Maine (scallops) and North Carolina (where, unlike the Chesapeake, there are more blue crabs this time of year).
• Dessert was good - a chocolate chip pound cake ($6), though didn't dazzle me the way the appetizers and entrees did.

The very best part of the evening was that my friends paid for me (which I don't mind). For me, this was excellent. For them, it was $112 for the three of us, minus tip.

The next time I may have to pay out of my own pocket! And if I do go, or if you do, please be sure to save up some moolah and try out the Dogwood.

Brooklynite in Baltimore and a Yummy Monkey Cake

Check out Charm City Cupcake's delicious monkey cake project. She, like myself, can't get enough o' the house of Duff.

She also has a photo of that cool billboard where Natty Boh is proposing to the Utz girl. It's a billboard for Smith Jewelers.

OMG: look what I just found: an Utz Girl doll. AND one of her Grandma!

Oh hell, I'll just post the pic myself:

Bobby and Jamie Deen in NYC

The Deen bros, I hate to say, grate on my nerves just a weensy little bit (love their mama though, as y'all know). But they mean well. And the Road Tasted show has started to grow on me.

In anticipation of my road trip this weekend, I am sitting through half an hour of Bobby and Jamie exploring the ethnic neighborhoods of New York City. They're making this fancy Greek dessert with a Queens woman who cracks the whip so much that Jamie told her she's "worse than my mom!" And the brownies they made? You should've seen the looks on their faces when the young woman at the bakery let them try the pure cocoa squares she uses in her brownies, without telling 'em they were unsweetened. Funny, too funny!

Red-state, blue-state my ass. I love seeing Northerners and Southerners mixin' it up. Makes that ol' Mason-Dixon Line seem like just a line of stone boundary monuments.

Loosely-related update: Ooh! Duff Goldman's karate chopping a cake! He's so silly!

Exit 1 – MD-173 (Hawkins Pt. Rd to Pennington Ave and Ft. Smallwood Rd)

The first exit on my journey is a rarely-traveled one for me. The first day I got off at this exit was a Sunday, a week or two ago from this writing. I had done some research to find a place to eat, and had heard of this place called Cookie’s City Line Diner (map). It was the only – I mean the only – place I could find to eat for a while, before I just gave up and headed back to the beltway, never coming near Stoney Creek.

And Cookie’s was closed. So was a sub place down the street, so I figured everything was closed on Sundays in this town. I know, it sounds silly but it’s not that far-fetched (visit Loma Linda, CA, on a Saturday sometime – it’s a Seventh Day Adventist town and practically everything is shut down on Saturday), but I just headed back out.

So a subsequent Monday night I crossed the Bridge and headed back off of Exit 1. I got to the Diner – same thing, closed. They are, apparently, only open for breakfast and lunch, and for “special parties” (not good, as the only time I ever have to eat out is the dinner hour). Betty Boop, in fiberglass form, looked mockingly from the other side of the doors as I drove back off to find food somewhere else.

This Sunday was my last try. My patience was running thin, but I got up early enough to try to hit Cookie’s for lunch. Again, no luck. So I threw up my hands and drove further along Ft. Smallwood Road, not sure what I would find.

I found, as many of you probably knew already, the community of Riviera Beach, en route to Pasadena. And there were some comforting and, er, less comforting family-style restaurants, snowball stands and fast food joints along the road that I registered in my mind for later.

I finally settled on a side-of-the-road pit beef stand at the intersection of Ft. Smallwood, Riviera and Bar Harbor Roads (map). Big T’s BBQ, unlike (it seems) Cookie’s, is open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The owner of this African-American-owned business, along with his daughter, just exuded Southern hospitality. He said, as I asked, that he is there most weekends, hopefully, during the summer. And hopefully he will be, because I still have yet to try his pit beef, or his catfish, or his fried whiting. I did opt for the North Carolina-style Pork BBQ ($6.50). It was disappointingly dry – is NC Pork BBQ supposed to be this dry (here's a primer on NC-style pork BBQ)? But on the plus side, it tasted smoky in a good way. The sauce wasn’t sparse, but I still wish there had been more of it. And there was a lot of meat, too. I could only finish about 60% of the sandwich before I went on.

Driving back across Stoney Creek, enjoying the boats and the water, I eventually got hungry again when I saw a sign advertising Italian Ice and another sign on the property advertising gelati. Oh boy, gelati! Turns out, however, that Carmen’s Italian Ice, also on Ft. Smallwood Rd. (a better map here), does not serve gelati. It does serve something I have never heard of before: a sort of Italian Ice – soft serve parfait. In a cup, you top a dollop of soft serve ice cream with the Italian Ice (though it's more like a snowball than a granita) of your choice, and then finish it off with a peak of more soft serve ice cream. There is nothing Italian about this - it's just good old American junk food. And it's nothing special. Plain, nothing to write home about (write a blog about, on the other hand). It was tasty but I still wish I had gelato.

Thinking back to Sunday, there are more places I must try in this little picturesque community. The Stoney Creek Inn (map) looks like an inviting crab shack. Perhaps this will be my next spot to try out? Hopefully, it has better hours than Cookie’s.

Places I visited:

Big T’s BBQ (pit beef, Southern) – Intersection of Ft. Smallwood, Riviera and Bar Harbor Rds., Pasadena, MD., 21122. Open weekends during the spring and summer.

• Would I eat there again? Sure
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Maybe

Carmen’s Italian Ice (dessert) – 8461 Ft. Smallwood Rd., Pasadena, MD 21122.

• Would I eat there again? Sure
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? No

Places to look up later:

Cookie's City Line Diner (American) - 6407 Ft. Smallwood Rd., Curtis Bay, MD 21226; Phone: (410) 354-3004
Stoney Creek Inn (crab house) - 8238 Ft. Smallwood Rd., Curtis Bay, MD 21226; Phone: (410) 439-3123

Other photos

This is the North Carolina pork BBQ. It looks better than it tastes, not that it tasted bad, mind you.

Carmen's on Ft. Smallwood Rd. The best way to find it is by looking for the Wendy's next door. Don't go out of your way.

Snackin' around the Beltway

I am starting a new project. I am always driving around looking for good eats in different parts of town. And my travels take me all over the beltway. So why not, I reasoned, deliberately see what is waiting for me off of the different exits?

This is the idea for my new project: Snacking around the Beltway. I know, it’s not the most original name, considering. It is more original than the “Beltway Snacker” would’ve been. Not much, but enough for my purposes.

Eventually, I plan to put these on their own separate page. Why? It just seems like a good idea to keep it all together in its own special little place. But for now, I'll keep them here. When I do set up the new blog, I'll put all these related posts there.

My own personal rules for this project are simple:

1. I will try to stay as close as possible to the exit - this is to find food right off the exit. After all, what if you're hungry and need something now?

2. I will not write about any place about which I have written before. This is specifically so that I can find new places to try out.

3. If an exit branches off into two or three exits, I will venture off in each direction at some point. Again, this is to try as much as possible.

4. If the exit is an on-ramp to another interstate, I will get off the first exit I can (so if I get off of Exit 11B, I-95 south, the first exit I would take off of it would be where I stopped).

5. I can bend these rules as I see fit, if it's most convenient for me - particularly if there is nothing for miles off an exit.

6. Finally, and this is the one I will not bend: I will visit each exit in numerical order. For instance, I'm not going to write about Arbutus (Exit 10) until I visit Lansdowne (Exit 9) first.

Look for my first post about my adventure off of Exit 1, Ft. Smallwood Rd and Pasadena, in the near future.

Here's something worth avoiding...

Ever wonder what American elk tastes like? Well, so do I. Even with my purchase today of "Hickory Smoked/Kippered" elk jerky that I bought for $2.95 at Outdoor World in Arundel Mills.

I think the brand name is "Premium Midwestern," but I'm not sure. It was forgettable at any rate. I thought elk would taste all different and interesting. But they hickory smoked and kippered the hell out of it, so it just tasted like your average boring-assed beef jerky. I'll pass on it the next time.

More Murlin Festivals, Hon

On AG's suggestion:

Ohhhhhhh I wish you would post in advance of these events coming...I would have loved to been there!

I am posting the whole schedule now. It's a little broader than the official list of Baltimore Showcase of Nations (they have "SN" next to them), because there are other things going on. Unless I am out of town, my ultimate goal is to make it to at least 75% of them - 3/4, kids, for those of y'all who like the fractions better - because, mind you, I also have to sleep.

All festivals take place in Baltimore unless otherwise stated

UPDATE JUNE 3 - As I find out new festivals, I will add them to this list, and post the list for your - okay, my convenience. As the festivals get done and over with, I'll just cross 'em off the list!

May

May 19 - Festival of India / Hare Krishna Rathayatra Chariot Festival - Harborplace

June

June 1-3 - Polish Festival SN - Patterson Park

June 2-3 - Charles Village Festival - Charles Village (duh)

June 8 - 10 - Greek Festival SN - St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Greektown

June 9 & 10 - Honfest - Hampden

Also June 9 & 10 - 103rd Saint Anthony Festival - Little Italy

(Food-wise, the Greek and St. Anthony festivals kick arse, and Honfest is good, silly fun, so that will be a busy weekend for me.)

June 16 & 17 - Baltimore Pride 2007 (GLBT Pride Festival) - parade in Mount Vernon, festival in Druid Hill Park

June 23 - 24 - LatinoFest SN - Patterson Park

June 27 - July 1 and July 4 - 8 - Smithsonian Folklife Festival - National Mall, Washington, DC. This year's showcased festivals: Mekong River Delta, Northern Ireland, and Roots of Virginia Culture

I only added this one, and not any of DC's other festivals, because it is such a wonderful and unique event! We have nothing like it here, and it's so damn close by, it only made sense.

July

July 6 - 8 - African American Heritage Festival (formerly "Afram") SN - Camden Yards

July 13 - 15 - Caribbean Carnival Festival SN - Druid Hill Park

July 20 - 22 - Artscape - Mount Royal Avenue

Check out Danielle's post in the Comments section for more info - BTW: Thanks for the head's up, Danielle! I couldn't find the dates when I first made this post, and just forgot to go back when I did.

July 28 & 29 - Baltimore International Festival SN - Poly Western High School

July 28 & 29 - 107th Annual Maryland German Festival - Timonium State Fairgrounds

August

August 11 & 12 - NAIJA Fest (Nigerian Festival) SN - Patterson Park

August 18 & 19 - 79th Annual St. Gabriel Festival - Little Italy

August 24 - 26 - Powwow Native American Festival SN - Patterson Park

August 24 - September 3 - Maryland State Fair - Timonium State Fairgrounds

August 26 - LatinoFest Baltimore County - Towson

September

September 2 - 3 - Baltimore Jewish Festival - Pimlico Race Course

September 8 - 6th Annual Pigtown Festival - Pigtown

Thanks to American Geisha for the head's up!

September 8 - 9 - Ukrainian Festival SN - Patterson Park

NEW! September 14 - 15 - Baltimore Irish Festival SN - Canton

September 22 - Korean American Festival SN - War Memorial Plaza (between Gay & Fayette Sts.)

October

October 19 - 21 - Russian Festival SN - Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (1723 East Fairmount Ave)

November

November 9 - 11 - Maryland Irish Festival - Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium

ALSO

Weekends and Labor Day from August 25 through October 21 - Maryland Renaissance Festival - Crownsville

I sincerely doubt this list is exhaustive. If you know of any other festivals - not solely book fairs or parades, but festivals, with food - please post it in the comments and I'll get it on the post.

Baltimore Festivals: Festival of India

I first got the idea for this blog about this time last year. My original idea: to talk about Baltimore's many ethnic festivals, in words and pictures. Then I got lazy after I went to the Polish festival, uploaded my photos to my desktop, and then got caught up in summer classes at Towson.

Now we are in a new festival season, and I made it to the very first festival of them all: the travelin' Festival of India. This isn't sponsored by the city, mind you. Instead, it's a traveling festival of Krishna Consciousness. Baltimore's version, the Rathayatra Chariot Festival, is run through the Catonsville branch of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, whose North American HQ is in North Carolina. Granted, "North Carolina" probably isn't the first thing that pops in your mind when you think of the Hare Krishnas, but really, "Maryland" isn't either.

I decided to get some exercise under my belt, so I parked on the street - free - by Whole Foods and the Sylvan Learning Center corporate offices, and hoofed it all the way over to Harborplace. Lots of Krishnas (um, duh), and all sorts of literature. Ever wanted a big "Illustrated Family Bible"-sized copy of the Bhagavad Gita? Well this festival was where to find it!

The main part of the jam-packed festival (which didn't take up much space) was the Rathayatra Chariot, a tall, gorgeous structure in gold, red and so many other colors streaming around it. I totally do not know or understand the theology or symbolism behind it, so like most of the non-Indians there I pretty much just gawked - while I took photos with my camera phone! I will admit, with much chagrin, that I wasn't sure if people would accost me with literature or anything, because that has happened to me before (ten years ago, National Air & Space Museum, I gave a woman $5 so she would stop accosting me and trying to make sure I was "happy"). Nope. People were there to tell you whatever you wanted to know about Hare Krishna - but you had to ask them.

And all the Krishnas were happy, especially the converts. Then there were the Indian-American families coming to the festival, who struck me as just regular festival goers. Some were happy, others were yelling at their children, still others were taking photos. It was, for me, a typical American festival. And then there were the "tourists" - mostly non-Indian people (like me), just enjoying the ride and trying to appreciate what was going on.

The main reason I came, though, was not to enjoy the ride or even learn more about the Krishnas. I came for the advertised "Free Feast" - yes, a vegan feast, but still a feast. I was quite eager until I saw the line. A legendary line! A line that would take a single Deva year to get through (one Deva day = one human year, so you do the math). I didn't feel like waiting that long for food, so I just hoofed it back to Whole Foods and got a very Krishna-unfriendly bruschetta burger and a cheese pupusa with some stir-fried veggies. But I did donate a dollar to the Krishnas before I left. Who knows? Maybe I'll bank up some good karma?

NYC Nosh

Okay, New York isn't exactly local. But since I occasionally take a quick trip up there I thought it'd be good to glance at some New York-based sites. My portal, as y'all know, is the Amateur Gourmet. And from Adam's page I found, perhaps, my Big Apple counterpart, NYCnosh. Just restaurant reviews, from what it looks like, with lots of photos. Found a really good looking South Indian restaurant in Midtown Manhattan on this site just now that's supposed to be like real Indian home cookin'. I think I have lunch figured out at least!

Seidel's Duckpin Bowling Closing Down!

Danielle pointed this out on her blog. The last night for Seidel's Duckpin Bowling Center (with snack bar), opened 1929, and on Belair Road, hon - is Friday, May 18. By the time you read this, it'll be closing today instead of tomorrow. I cannot go, but Danielle is asking if anyone is interested in going. It'll be fun...

Mega Munch and the competitive eating in Pennsylvania

Y'all have been reading my posts enough (if not, they're there for your perusal). And there are a few things you may guessed about me. One of them is that I would probably not be the competitive eating type. I complain enough about calories (so why the hell do I eat out as much as I do? So confusing...) that I just can't picture my itty-bitty stomach in that situation.

And then there's Dave Shoffner in Harrisburg, PA (close enough to the Baltimore region that his blog definitely needs mention). I have just encountered his Mega Munch blog. He is definitely the competitive eating type, and has the most delicious pic of this Chinese buffet the likes of which I don't eat at much anymore. Also a funny photo of packaged rooster combs (ewww). I readily admit, the competitive eating world is one I know next-to-nothing about. Dave's page is an entertaining examination of it. The post with the Chinese buffet? He and his colleagues go to said buffet with scale in hand and see who can eat the most, in pounds, by weighing it. Definitely not a pick-at-your-food setting, like I sometimes create for myself.

Han Ah Reum is redoing itself

God I love Han Ah Reum! That Korean super-duper market at the corner of Rte. 40 and Rolling Road, patronized by so many people, Korean and not, is looking better than ever. They have so many ingredients I cannot find in most places, and they are often cheaper than at the Giant across the street. And there are so many people from so many backgrounds there! I just crave the mixture of people.

I went in to buy a box of those Nongshim Kimchi Noodle Bowls, also picking up a container of instant Japanese noodles, and I passed by the rice puff area. Again, the guy pressing them was leaving the broken up extras out for people to take and eat, which I always do (I pass by his stand specifically for that reason).

I could not help but notice the brand new layout of the seafood area. Much more user-friendly, and much less crowded. It specifically showcases their fresh as can be Korean seafood (must try at some point). And, again, they have things you just can't find at Giant. The conch - fresh conch - was only about $1.50 per lb, and I was tempted to buy some right on the spot. But no time to cook lately.

The one problem with H-Mart is that the lines are always so freakin' long. Not today, for some reason. I was in and out of line fast enough to linger over a sweet rice red bean donut ($1.25). Some of their ready-to-eat meals are good, though I tend to stay away from their sushi and tempura bar (too many flies and they can call their fried offerings whatever they want, but it is not tempura). Their donuts - right next to the doors - are a mixed bag. The donut I got was filled with smooth red bean paste (yum) but the donut was a little chewy (the nature of rice flour donuts, perhaps?). But when I bit into it the damn thing tasted like a big mouthful of cooking oil. I had to blot it off. Maybe that's why I don't get their donuts that often.