Five Minute Brie sans Croute

Here is something I threw together today to take to a chorus rehearsal that even Claire Robinson, that wacky perky person on the Five Ingredient Fix show on the Food Net would appreciate. It parallels many recipes I have found online, almost all of which require pastry. I have no pastry, and I had to get it done fast. My apologies if this is similar to anyone's specific recipe, but a lot of these really are variations on a theme. I just eyeballed it as I went along.

You will need a wedge of brie, about 1/4 cup of honey, a handful of pecans, some kosher or sea salt and a little butter (or ghee - yes, I actually have ghee lying around).

Put the brie wedge into a broiler-safe dish (Corningware, for example). Stir fry the pecans in the butter/ghee and salt for a minute, then dump them and the honey on top of the brie wedge. Place under the broiler for about two minutes, until the pecans are dark but not burned. The brie will be warmed and not melted. Serve with crackers.

I wanted to throw on some craisins but I had run out. Oh well. Next time.

Tapas Teatro for Restaurant Week

I went with a friend last night to Tapas Teatro. I thought they might be taking part in Baltimore Restaurant Week, and they indeed are! Not that Tapas Teatro needs any more customers, as our half hour wait for a table made painfully clear. The dimly lit restaurant that shares a building (and a door) with the Charles Theater still somehow manages to be cozy, bright and lively all at once. And that is even as you try in vain to find some way to move around the place! It is constantly packed and for good reason - Tapas Teatro is one of those few places that not only lives up to the hype, but somehow seems underhyped! I have not eaten at all of the tapas places in town (I will get to Pazo, I promise!), but this one is a fave for good reason.

Eric and I waited a good half hour for our table while we nursed our alcohol - his choice was wine, mine a bottle of Bass Ale. We spent the half hour trying to choose between the $35 Restaurant Week menu and the regular one. At most area restaurants, the $35 prix fixe menu is a steal (less so than in August when it was only $30, but still). But at Tapas Teatro the Restaurant Week menu consists of three plates: one small tapa, one large tapa, and one dessert tapa. For a grand total of $35. I rarely spend more than $15 here, but Tapas Teatro is a place where you could easily spend $30, $40 or $50 on tapas, but not on just three of them, unless you stick with the pricier options. As indecisive as I am, it took me a good while longer to choose. Eric seemed to settle rather quickly on the regular menu, and after another 10 minutes of hemming and hawing, I did too.

We ordered a total of seven different tapas - I chose three, and Eric chose the rest. He said that this was that rare occasion where every dish he ordered was really good. He had some sort of unsatisfying flatbread plate the night before while eating there with another friend of ours (shout out, Jim!) but this night was different.

Here's what we ordered. I would recommend each one:

ensalada del teatro ($7) - A peppery arugula salad with very thinly sliced red onion and an almost chocolaty balsamic vinaigrette

batter fried vegetables ($6) - This is one of my tried and true favorites. I have ordered this so many times (it was, in fact, the very first dish I wrote about on this blog). I still love the tempura asparagus, eggplant and thickly-cut onion, and that jalapeño-mango jelly goes with anything batter-fried. But I think after tonight I have a new favorite dish.

asiago cheese with tomato on Ciabatta ($5) - This wasn't the new favorite I meant. That one is below. But I still found myself going back to this garlicky cheese-covered ciabatta for one bite here and one bite there. I almost didn't have room for anything else after that.

asparagus with serrano ham ($8) - I only had a little bite of this. Tasty.

baby potatoes ($5) - I rarely find potatoes that I really like when I eat out, particularly those of the whole-roasted variety. But the flavor of the potatoes was a pleasant surprise, especially combined with the garlic aioli.

fried calamari ($9) - This is my new favorite. On the menu, it's listed as grilled calamari, but you can get it fried instead. And it will be one of the best fried calamari dishes you will eat. The calamari is quite tender, more so than any I have eaten. In addition, the coating is crunchy, light and not too greasy. Sadly, there are no long, stringy tentacles (I like those, okay?), but what you get is very satisfying.

skewered lamb with lentils - Eric ordered these, so I'm not sure how much these were. I can't find these on the menu. So I will have to ask about it next time I am there. What it was, was tender skewered lamb laying on a bed of lentils. This is a simple sounding dish that packs a lot of wonderful flavor. You don't have to win me over to lamb - I am a lamb-lovin' person as it is. Perhaps it's less lamb than I am used to, but I still liked the dish.

Minus Eric's glasses of sparkling rosé and coffee and our pre-dinner drinks, the total food bill was about $50 to $52 (making that lamb dish about $11 or $12). That's seven tapas for about $50, minus the six tapas we could've gotten from the Restaurant Week menu for $75. I have to say that ordering off the menu was by far the better deal for my skimpy bank account (what I ordered cost about $20). But if you can find a seat for Restaurant Week, peruse the prix fixe menu and decide for yourself what you'll get next.

Have six months gone by that fast?

It's Bawlmer Restaurant Week, er, Fortnight, hons. And it's a little pricier this time around - $35 instead of $30. But lunch is still $20.

Best of 2009 Part IV: Some Non-Food Faves at the End of the Aughts

I haven't posted much in the way of non-foodie stuff on this blog since I discovered the silliness that is Twitter. That is pretty much where all the non-food stuff goes. So a once in a year post that has little to do with food is not that tall an order. And I can't fit all this into 140 characters anyway.

Warning if you're on dial-up (yes, I still have a handful of readers on dial-up - I checked with Google Analytics): there are a few YouTube videos in here so the load time may be a little longer than normal.

Favorite things about Baltimore - A few: 1) We now have recycling pick-up every week; 2) The Bawlmer Book Festival; 3) The Waverly and I-83 Farmers' Markets, among others; 4) The availability of important services such as Our Daily Bread, Moveable Feast and the Maryland Food Bank, which are even more important now than ever.

Favorite Baltimore museum - Gotta be the Walters.

Favorite movies of '09 - Again, saw few of them this year. Julie & Julia was probably the one I am second most likely to go out and actually buy on DVD. The likeliest? Zombieland. Food, Inc. and Star Trek are also up there. And yes, I actually did like Paranormal Activity. Freaked me out for a few days, true.

Favorite YouTube videos of the year - Oh, the YouTube has been bringing on better and better videos every year. This is a toughie, made even tougher by one of my new favorite shows, G4's Web Soup with Chris Hardwick. Next time I'm out in LA I have to get into the studio audience. This is, what, the third Soup knock-off on the air now? My Top 6 - I would have just done a Top 5, but Sandra Lee had to make an appearance in here somewhere:

6. A video to remind us why Aunt Sandy does not belong on any television show, much less her own (even more Sandra Lee silliness here):



5. The Muppets Take Bohemia!



4. Probably the standard for literal videos set by DA Scott Jr - "Total Eclipse of the Heart - the Literal Version"



3. Is the episode on Designing Women where Julia loses her mind, or the one where she was possessed by demons? It's the Dixie Carter Exorcise Video, dug up from the 90's and thrown onto the net!



Attack of the Show's reaction was priceless.

2. From Australian YouTubist Pogo: delicious-sounding trippy electronic remixes of movies into song form. My favorite is his Mary Poppins-based "Expialidocious" (it's a damn shame he made the video private - YTF? - but a link from last.fm is here). The Willy Wonka-ish "Scrumdiddlyumptious" is clearly more appropriate for a food blog:



1. Finally, Carl Sagan comes back from the grave to sing a song I could not stop listening to all year, "A Glorious Dawn," the first in the Symphony of Science series. It's probably one of my favorite songs of the past year overall.



Also worth noting: that beautiful slow motion SprintCam v3 video showing cheerleaders, a men's field hockey team, Jell-O and, um, half-naked rugby players (strange) in very slo-mo; Kelly's late awakening at Marshall's; and the catchiest insight into what Americans sound like to people who only speak Italian (been floating around the internets since '07 but only went "viral" this year).

Favorite TV shows - I love me some Doctor Who - how 'bout that new Doctor? Also up there now: I've recently discovered The Big Bang Theory, as well as Web Soup (noted above), RuPaul's Drag Race and the series based on the History Channel's Life After People. Still waiting for Project Runway on Lifetime to impress. Season 6 was more unintentionally funny than anything else.

Favorite TV show episode - The one on 30 Rock where Jenna instructs Liz Lemon that "Drama is gay man Gatorade. It replenishes their electrolytes."

Favorite radio shows - Still Marketplace on NPR. But The Splendid Table has now rocketed into second place now that it's much easier to hear it in the Baltimore area.

Favorite books - Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, a memoir in graphic novel format about her relationship with her father, who (like her) was gay, but who (unlike her) was married with three kids and in the closet (this was the 70's after all). Pride and Prejudice and Zombies also ranks up there. I've already mentioned In Defense of Food and The Fortune Cookie Chronicles in a previous Best of '09 post.

Favorite song - Too many of them, but almost all are not the usual or even the not-so-usual hits. They are more of the created-for-YouTube variety. But some notable favorites of the past year include:

Coldplay's "Strawberry Swing" (I love this video, much groovier than the official one)



and Marina and the Diamonds' "I Am Not A Robot".



But I've been wearing out "Poker Face" on my MP3 player - less so the original, more so the all-male college a capella version, and this one:



Favorite gadget of '09 - Certainly not my cell phone, currently held together with duct tape. Just four more months until I can replace the damn thing for free. Did have some fun for a few weeks with the sister's Wii though. Still want to play the majestic and sweeping Okami on it.

One thing I'm looking forward to in '10 - Hopefully finding a full time job, which has still eluded me. Not happy about this at all.

And lastly: Did I keep last year's New Year's Resolution? It was to "eat more of the stuff in your own pantry, and less of what you can find in the restaurants! Also, go grocery shopping less often." Yes, I did that, and I have saved a bundle. So no new resolutions this year, except to keep this trend up.

That's it for my mammoth '09 recap. Stay tuned in hopefully just another 11 and 1/2 months for the recap of all the fun in 2010! I am planning ahead here.

Best of 2009 Part III: The Best Brains Awards for the Worst and Most Average of 2009

I have to admit, people: As sucky as last year was, I really didn't have a lot of bad dining experiences in '09. I don't know why exactly. Maybe I've just become more discerning. Or maybe it's because I just don't eat out that much anymore. Even as far as recipes go, I didn't have too many that turned out, well, bleeeeh. So, ironically, the worse the year, the better the food seems to be!

That said, '09 did not pass by with only fabulous dining experiences. Overall, the bad was more of the "below-average" variety. Mostly.

Again, to avoid talk of copyright infringement: the "Best Brains Awards" are named for those masters of silliness, Joel, Mike and the Bots, etcetera, kings and queens of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Cinematic Titanic and RiffTrax. Play us in, Gypsy...

*** Videos are linked to these titles. They elaborate on the theme of the award. Click on them. They're funny.

The Best Brains "Mayo-NAAAAAAISE!***" Award for a second-guessed dining experience

The Ambassador Dining Room (Indian - Roland Park). I almost feel bad mentioning them. Almost. Don't get me wrong: the food was spectacular, and the view was amazing. It was everything else that sucked. And by everything else, I mean the service. A handful of waiters just bizarrely standing around watching me for a good five to ten minutes after I finish one course of a Baltimore Restaurant Week prix fixe lunch. And that was about as good as the service got. A wee nitpicky, but in a posh place like the Ambassador you especially do not expect that to happen. That and my Diet Coke tasted like dish water. I mean, more so than Diet Coke usually tastes. Oh, and did I mention the waiter plunked down my check less than halfway through my dessert? I mean, they weren't filled to capacity that afternoon or anything. Honestly.

Thank you for coming to the Ambassador Dining Room. Now get out.

The Best Brains "I need some hot stuff, baby, this ev'nin'!***" Award for an exceptionally overrated dining experience - They're not all that, chips or no chips...

South of the Border (fast food, Mexican - Dillon, SC) - I know that their thing is a fun and kitschy, "tiki bar meets East Coast taquería" style sort of shopping and sleeping experience. And I know people don't go there for the food. But for God's sake, if you actually want to eat something, stop somewhere else in Dillon. Hell, even the Shoney's. Or stop in North Carolina (if heading south) for food. The shriveled up hot dog and over-salted, dried out "Mexi-fries" I got at SotB don't do Palmetto State food justice.

Less "Lowcountry" and more just plain "Low"

Millions of Milkshakes (shakes) in West Hollywood, CA, merits a dishonorable mention in this category for an allegedly standard chocolate shake that tasted like somebody dumped a gallon of gritty pound cake crumbs into it. The flavor was average at best. Should I really have tried the other 999,999 milkshakes, or instead headed to In-N-Out, who actually know how to do milkshakes?

The Best Brains "Seventh time around...***" Award for places that you just have to wonder why they're still open after all these decades

I normally might want to put the Grill Art (Hampden) here, but my friends swear that they've improved by leaps and bounds in the last year or so. As such, I am stumped for an entry here. I don't have an idea for a place that should've shut down a while ago. Ironic, considering that so many places - good, bad and mediocre - have shut down over the past year in the tsunami that was the Great Recession. Particularly surprising is the demise of the Brass Elephant, a business I didn't think would get taken down in this recession. Look in the window now and it's exactly the same as it was the day after it closed. It's almost like the "1 Day After People" sequence in the History Channel's Life After People series.

The Best Brains "NoDoz" Award for an exceptionally average dining experience - Did I eat yet?

Hello Sushi (Japanese - Redlands, CA) - If you ever have the good fortune to venture to Southern California before the state completely falls apart, there are lots of great sushi experiences to be found. Hello Sushi is not among them. They used to be good - so good they wound up in my Best Of section of 2008. But now the food is mostly tasteless, the service is lackluster, and the prices are about the same as they used to be. It's sad, because the food used to be so much better than this. Head about 20 minutes east into Yucaipa for Tokyo Restaurant's tastier, more innovative rolls, sushi and sashimi.

The Best Brains "Semi-Homemade Angel Food 'Harvest' Cake***" Award for the worst in food on television - Still bringin' on the crazy after all these years. Butter-tini time!

Chopped (Food Network) - This show should never have happened. A poor man's knock off of Top Chef, but just with quickfires that end in eliminations. And apparently about 75% of all contestants are from New York - not just working in New York, but born and raised in New York. Because the rest of America is a culinary wasteland, as well all know, right? Oh Ted, you have better taste than this.

A special mention for a show that seemed to get much, much better after I stopped watching. As a result, I never got see half of the quickfires or elimination challenges involving either Voltaggio brother on Top Chef 6: Bryan and Michael Do Vega$. I did see the final episode, which was much more watchable than the first five or six. Yep, the best three chefs did make it through to the end (the best four if you count the first half of the finale). But the rest of the show? I'll just let the words MinxEats put in Bryan's mouth at the end of her recap sum up my attitude for me: "You know Mom's going to make you share that money." (scroll to the end of the post for the picture. Thank you, Kathy.)

The Best Brains "Close it back up, close it back up!!!" Award for the worst packaged food of the year

These uncured Chinese candied olives I bought at a 99 Ranch (a Chinese answer to H Mart, but on the West Coast) in Monterey Park, CA. Some things were not ever meant to mix and this is one of them.

A little slice o' purgatory right in your own home!

Honorable mention goes to pretty much any beer made from sorghum that you can find in Baltimore. Redbridge is about the most drinkable among them. Others have recommended New Grist, which I just did not like. I know they're trying to find gluten-free alternatives to regular beer, and I admire their efforts. But if they want to use sorghum, it isn't working.

And speaking of sorghum...

The Best Brains "Look... At... That...***" Award for my most failed attempts at cooking

My attempts to pop sorghum never quite worked out. I haven't tried it since, especially since I now know that you can actually buy a big ol' bag of already-popped sorghum at Punjab in Waverly.

Showing here

How little did it work out? Let's see. During my kitchen experiments with sorghum, I managed to scorch it in various kinds of oil in a heavy pot, lightly toast the sorghum kernels in a pan that was vigorously shaken over a fire, and - this is my favorite method of failure - dodging the kernels while they are sprayed in a trillion directions all over my kitchen from a hot air popcorn popper. That method yielded me the most popped sorghum kernels, by the way.

Recently I bought a new package of sorghum, and it's sitting in the refrigerator. Most advice I have gotten suggests that refrigerated sorghum will pop more easily.

Though I wouldn't call it a total failure, an honorable mention goes to my attempt to make American Indian fry bread. Every bit of fry bread I have ever eaten has been wonderful and crispy. Mine turned out like little discs of hard tack. I still need to take up commenter Cassie out in Flagstaff, AZ, on her generous offer to give me some tips for making fry bread that actually tastes good!

Um, fry bread isn't supposed to chip your teeth, dude.

And of course, there was this.

But what is it?

This Poorman's Meal is less appetizing than it sounds or looks. The worst part is that, at the rate things are going, I may have to be eating more of this.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for!!!

The Best Brains Second Annual "Grill Art Cafe" Award for an exceptionally horrible dining experience

I haven't had much to criticize this year. A few average dishes here and there along I-95 or around the Beltway, but nothing truly horrible per se. So take this one with a grain of salt, unless you have "intestinal issues" in which case consider yourself warned. King's Grilled Kabob (Middle Eastern - Hampden) had some okay food. Some of my friends said they had a pretty average dining experience but nothing to get too upset about. Until I woke up the next morning with a wrenching Crohn's flare up that lasted the better part of a week. Oh what fun! This rarely happens when I eat out, and when it does it's rarely my doing. If you don't have Crohn's or colitis or anything like that, feel free to go there (some people find it hard to leave). In fact, it has apparently become a favorite of Hampden's denizens. And I'll admit the falafel actually wasn't that bad. But if you do have GI issues, please high tail it somewhere else along the Avenue. Hell, from what I hear, even the Grill Art has edible food these days.

In a bit, the final recap post of the year: my favorites of everything else for the end of the Aughties. Play us out, Gypsy, old girl.

Best of 2009 Part II: 10 Places, 10 Recipes, 10 Items, and then some

I know it's taken a while. But as far as we are into the new year (half a month!), I've finally narrowed down my favorite eating experiences of 2009 down to tens: ten restaurants (and then some), ten recipes and ten foods.

Ten (Plus) Restaurants of Note

13.5% Wine Bar (Italian, American, wine - Hampden) - A smallish wine bar, hip but not in an in-your-face sort of way. But it's got so much more than that. It's got beers and cocktails. It's got appetizers, panini, salads, a roving cheese cart, and a massive wine selection. And you can buy whole bottles if you want. Even on Sunday. Plus, their desserts are walked over fresh from the nearby Puffs and Pastries (see below). My favorite dish: the "Mack N. Cheese PhD" which sports mascarpone and several other cheeses ($10 except on Sunday evenings, when it and several other small plates are 1/2 off).

Carlyle Club (Indian, coastal Indian - Roland Park) - The formerly Lebanese restaurant now serves haute coastal Indian food. Specifically try their dosas, though most things are good to eat. And much of it is local.


El Nayar (Mexican, Western Mexico - Catonsville, Elkridge) - It's very difficult to find particularly good Mexican food in the Baltimore area, but it is there. The favorite place I found this year has been sitting in Elkridge for a while now. I had the chance to eat at their new Catonsville location. I was impressed by the quality, variety and reasonable price of their soft tacos, a quality of which I just haven't found in Baltimore yet.

Grano (Italian - Hampden) - Not only has it stuck around (unlike most of the businesses in its same location on the Avenue) but it's expanded to a second location down the street. The mix-and-match pastas with sauces are a revelation to me, and you have to try very hard to spend more than $15 to $20 there. Their coconut flan is also tasty, more coconut milk than coconut flakes.


Joong Kak (Korean - Charles Village / Koreatown) - The filling, tender, flavorful Korean barbeque is just the tip of the iceberg. The soju, the pajeon, the panchan, the homey atmosphere, the pleasant and quick service - well, here's the rest of the delicious iceberg. A fave of my friends.

Kooper's Chowhound Burger Wagon (burgers - various locations, depending on the day) - I love a good burger, but lately they have gotten tiring. Kooper's has helped by delivering deceptively juicy burgers, available in beef, turkey, bison and veggie. I first found them at Tide Point, where I got a juicy, packed beefy hamburger for about $8. And they cook it to your taste. The next time I found them they were at the Rotunda, where I benefitted from their Rotunda lunch special: $5 for the burger of your choice, plus sweet potato fries.

Minato (Japanese - Mount Vernon) - This has become my favorite sushi restaurant, though certainly not my only favorite. It's more than just a flashy interior: their rolls, their selection of martinis, their sake and wine selections, and (especially) their sashimi are all consistently delicious, and their service is regularly friendly. My favorite thing to order: the sashimi, which is juicy and comforting.



Puffs and Pastries (bakery - Hampden) - Yes, there's a lot from Hampden. I am biased by the places I spend the most time, and I pass through often. This itty bitty and inviting bakery has some of the most amazing cookies I have ever eaten. They've had to raise the price of their humongous chocolate chip cookie, about 7" across, to $2. Considering most places would likely charge at least thrice as much for half the quality, I mean it's a steal, people. A delicious, buttery, sinful steal. I just hope they don't read this lest they raise the prices of their wonderful cookies.

Tamber's (diner, Indian - Charles Village) - I went here with a large group after a Christmas concert (I was in the concert). They all raved about this diner that I hadn't heard of before. Tamber's has two diverse sides to its menu: its diner side and its Indian side. the chicken tikka masala was buttery and wonderful, and the naan soft and hot. It's not difficult to please me with Indian, but in a place that makes it just one of its specialities, it was kind of a surprise to me. Plus, the service was pretty quick for a large groups such as ours.

Trinacria (Italian, deli - Downtown) - Why did I never stop in here before? They sell quality groceries from Italy, quality pre-made foods in their refrigerated section, and inexpensive wines, bulk pastas and ready-made sandwiches. Try their tiramisù, in the refrigerated section. It's rich and light at the same time, and I don't know how they manage to do that. Wonderful stuff.

Also deserving of high praise

Dukem (Ethiopian - Mount Vernon) - The service was a wee bit slow the last time, but still friendly. The food was rich and spicy as always.

Mughal Garden (Indian - Mount Vernon) - Now serving dosas! But their northern offerings are still filling and flavorful.

Sotto Sopra (Italian - Downtown) - I haven't eaten there in a while, but I'm really, really looking forward to going back.

Wine Source (wine, beer - Hampden) - It's a market, not an eatery. But their constant tastings, extensive cheese section and always helpful staff have made it my favorite beer-wine-and-liquor store by far.

Woodberry Kitchen (Chesapeake, slow food - North Baltimore) - They really pride themselves on serving up local foods with local ingredients, in unique, somewhat pricey ways. I ordered a helping of their bacon wrapped Chincoteague clams ($9). Small, but every bite was lovely.

And if you're in...

Inland Empire and LA County: In addition to all the praise I must heap on Fresh and Easy (that is, Tesco stateside), I also have great things to say about Pepito's (Mexican - Riverside) who serves a darn fine soft taco, the Ocean Star (dim sum - Monterey Park) with all the dim sum you can eat (I think they undercharged us, too), and the consistently delicious tapas to be found at Café Sevilla (Spanish - Riverside).


New York City: My summer trip to NYC was actually the first trip where I was truly happy with everything I ate. Among the best things I found: the Northeast's answer to In-N-Out: the Shake Shack (burgers, shakes - Manhattan, Upper West Side), who make ALL their burgers from freshly ground meat and ALL their shakes from freshly made ice cream. La Carbonara (Italian - Manhattan, Chelsea) was also a good food find thanks to a lucky recommendation. I haven't been able to replicate those caramelized zucchini slices yet. Plus, for those of us who aren't from New York, we often forget how much great stuff can be found outside Manhattan. The spacious Jackson Diner (Indian - Queens, Jackson Heights) has a buffet that'll knock your socks off, including ready-to-order dosas.


Raleigh: The delicious Asian fusion of Duck & Dumpling (pan-Asian - Inside the Beltline) is a bargain in a beautiful space, just a few blocks away from the city's museums. I am now sold for good on cha chiang noodles. I just hope I can find some in my neck of the woods. I also enjoyed my stop at Flex (Inside the Beltline), one of the friendliest gay bars I've ever had the pleasure to set foot in.

Savannah and the Fort Stewart area: If in Savannah, pass on the Lady and Sons unless you've reserved a few months in advance, and head for the Moon River Brewing Company (Lowcountry, burgers, brewpub - Savannah), whose samplers of microbrew and selection of Lowcountry favorites should have a wait, since it's pretty damn good. And please don't leave Savannah until you stop by the Savannah Candy Kitchen (candy - Savannah and various other locations). Get a warm chocolate praline if you're able. There are also many, many places to find wonderful barbeque in the area, such as the Clubhouse at Rye Patch (Southern, Lowcountry, barbeque - Ludowici). But I am surprised to admit that the ribs and mac & cheese at the Kroger of all places (supermarket - various locations), though not nearly as good as at the Clubhouse or most other restaurants, is better than from any other supermarket.

Washington: ThaiPhoon (Thai - Dupont Circle) gives you some hearty tom kha gai and a hearty and satisfying pad thai. But they give you so much that you might not be able to finish it. Just a warning.

Ten Recipes of Note

Cantonese style stir fried greens and/or seafood - I found myself stir-frying a lot of things this year, Cantonese-style, using Chinese rice wine, sesame oil, soy sauce and garlic, among other things. Sweet potato leaves, beet greens, bok choy, Boston lettuce all work quite well. Swiss chard? Well, okay, I don't like Swiss chard.

Hot Milk Cake - A classic Baltimore sponge cake, if done right it is velvety and moist and will keep for a while. It's also extremely sweet.

Irish Soda Bread - 2009 was a year that I started using the bread machine I bought from my landlady in California for eight bucks. She used it three times. I've already used it about ten times as much. I've made a dizzying variety of breads and rice dishes in this thing. My favorite was an Irish soda bread I found from a recipe on the ChefMom website. It was so much better than the store-bought version that comes out every St. Patrick's Day, with juicier raisins, softer bread and a strong caraway flavor that holds up ridiculously well to the pre-made stuff that I can only describe as "grainy" and "cardboard-flavored".


Mozzarella Cheese - What can I say? I made mozzarella! And it was much creamier than the store-bought kind. Again, it'll be difficult to go back.


Nataing - The first main dish I made in my new Food Ethnography project, this Cambodian meat dish from The Elephant Walk Cookbook is extremely rich with all that pork and coconut milk and fish sauce. I had to make a second for Dara's blogger dinner party.

Neapolitan Tomato Sauce - I haven't used a jarred tomato sauce since I learned how easy it was to make it from scratch, and to freeze it so I can have more later. It freezes very well.

Old Bay Boiled Peanuts - After eating so many boiled peanuts and driving in Georgia this past summer, I had to make my own, with a Chesapeake twist. But you have to add a lot of Old Bay to get the flavor. These also freeze very well.


Old Bay Caramels - I swapped out the sea salt in a Fleur de Sal Caramel recipe for some Old Bay, in a kitchen experiment. While it didn't turn out at first, particularly the ones that I added extra Old Bay to since I couldn't taste it at first, the ones with less Old Bay ended up tasting quite nice after sitting for a week or two - the perfect blend of crumbly, sweet caramel and salty, spicy Old Bay. A strange mix, to be sure, but an interesting one.

Pan-Fried Soft Crabs - Most Baltimore families have a soft crab recipe, I imagine. My mother's mother pan-fried hers with nothing more than some flour and butter. I added cornmeal since I like the taste. Even better in a soft taco with some sliced onions or scallions.

Roasted Vegetables (peppers, chilis, tomatoes, broccoli) - Quite simply, there are fewer things more satisfying than a nice oven-roasted tomato or flame-roasted pepper. Don't even need bread crumbs or anything like that. Just drizzle in olive oil and salt and bake for about an hour at 350°F.

Ten Other Food Items of Note


anything made by Fresh and Easy - Despite their almost-Scientological zeal, the folks at Fresh and Easy (supermarket - various locations throughout Southern California) have every reason to be enthusiastic about their wonderful products, which often end up half-priced in a special, prominent aisle when they are a day or two old. Their lemon bars, brownies, and many of their bottled sauces are sorely missed in my apartment.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale - On tap during the fall months at the Hippo!

Farmers' Market Milk - Like most milks bought at a farmers' market or CSA, South Mountain Creamery's rich homogenized and cream top milks (available year-round at Waverly Farmers' Market on 33rd Street) have spoiled me for supermarket milk in the same way that Fractured Prune donuts have spoiled me for Krispy Kremes. Just tastes like water now.

Fat Tire (and beers like it) - Since we still can't get Fat Tire in Maryland, the best we can do is the Gordon Biersch Märzen out of San Jose. It has a similar fatty and rich feel in the mouth, I have found.

Fresh Berger's Cookies - The fresh ones you buy at the booth in Lexington Market have now spoiled me for the Berger's Cookies you buy at the store. But if I can't make it downtown, the ones at the store'll do, hon.

Mo's Milk and Dark Bacon Bars - The Dark Bacon Bar (available at Ma Petite Shoe and Whole Foods, among other locations) is better, but the Milk Bacon Bar is still pretty good.

Mrs. Holmes Boiled Peanuts - Fresh out of South Carolina, you had best stop in almost any convenience store to buy some to eat along the way to wherever you're going. Plentiful in Georgia.


Palmiers from Sarabeth's Kitchen at Chelsea Market - I know, I'm the last foodie to ever realize that the Chelsea Market is where the Food Network offices are located (and I'm the first one to accidentally stumble upon the place without that knowledge). The wing-shaped (or "elephant ear") palmiers cookie is the only palmiers cookie I have ever eaten that is, well, edible. And its buttery flakiness makes up for all those other nasty, gummy, sticky, cardboard-flavored ones I've eaten in the past.

Southern Tier Choklit Stout - My favorite part of Baltimore Beer Week was a beer from a brewery I already knew quite well. Southern Tier's Choklit Stout is among the best from a brewery that puts out some of the best beers on the East Coast.

Whoopie Pies - My first exposure to whoopie pies, ever, was this year. Before I just thought they were some type of moon pie. Silly me! They really are tasty, with a rich buttercream filling (or marshmallow, or "bettercreme" - yekhkh - depending on where you get yours) sandwiched between two soft and moist devil's food buns. I guess this Yankee-slash-Amish dessert has crossed the Mason-Dixon Line for good! My favorite is the one Trader Joe's puts out in a six pack (regular or pumpkin). Not so good: the one from Giant, but hey, Marylanders are just learning about whoopie pies, okay?

That's it for what I liked the most in food in '09. Coming soon: what I disliked the most.

Getting food to Haiti...

Jennifer Ward at the Atlantic Monthly's Food Channel writes an important article about getting food aid to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, which as you know was devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake earlier this week - an earthquake that has made things so bad that aid of any and all kinds is almost impossible to deliver to those who need it. One of the best things to send: high-energy bars.

"These are times when it's about just giving people enough to get by," Jennifer Parmelee, the WFP's public affairs officer, told the Atlantic Food Channel. She called the biscuits "literally an energy lifeline," not really equivalent to what most would think of as a meal.

The biscuits are the most appropriate food for responding to crisis because they are individually packaged and don't need to be mixed with water. Even where food is available, the devastation has left few facilities in which to prepare it. The WFP last used the biscuits in the Philippines to feed hundreds of thousands of people displaced by 2009's severe floods.

Ward provides links in her article if you want to get food aid to Port-au-Prince and other parts of Haiti.

Because our Ravens kicked New England ass today...

Massachusetts governor DeVal Patrick now has to ship some fresh lobster tails to Annapolis for Martin O'Malley. Our Ravens rock.

Best of 2009 Part I: Some Stats about This Blog

I've been late in putting up my annual end of the year post-a-thon. My favorite and non-favorite restaurants of 2009 will be coming this week (such a busy week). For now, I'll start off the recap the way I did in '08: by throwing statistics at you.

Number of blog posts in 2009 - 245 (I didn't have a lot of time this year)

Number of restaurants/festivals/markets/bars/etc. blogged about in 2009, including ones I didn't eat at - a mere 72 (I did a lot less eating out this year - last year it was 372)

Number of restaurants/festivals/markets/bars/etc. "Tweeted" about in 2009, including ones I didn't eat at - a lot, let's just leave it at that.

Number of videos linked to in 2009 (including duplicates) - Oh, who knows?

Number of accomplishments I am proud of this year - 5, most while still finishing grad school. In chronological order:

• Officially concluding my mammoth Beltway Snacking series way back in January
• Posting about my popped sorghum experiment - not a big feat in itself, but out of all my posts, it consistently generates the most comments. I just got one for it yesterday!
  
• Hitting Post #1,000 (watch the video here)
• Getting mentioned in Baltimore Magazine in May. That was pretty cool. Hey guys, I'm still looking for work. Know of any magazines hiring? :)
  
• Starting my new Food Ethnography on a Budget project and sticking to it. In '09 I familiarized myself with Cambodian nataing, Eastern Woodland sassamanesh relish, American Indian fry bread and Romanian ciorbă.
  

Number of states in which I purchased Fat Tire Beer in 2009 - 3 - California, Georgia, North Carolina. Note Maryland's conspicuous absence from that list. And if you need to pack it in your luggage, here's a helpful primer.

Number of blogger get-togethers I have been written about in 2009 - 2 - LP Steamers and Dara's place.

Number of Restaurant Weeks I have taken part in during 2009 - 2, both this time in Maryland

Number of recipes I've written about in 2009 - 28

Number of recipes that didn't quite work out in 2009 - 1 1/2 - Poorman's Meal is not happening in my kitchen again.

Number of food-related New Year's Resolutions I made in 2009 - 0

Number of food-related New Year's Resolutions I kept in 2009 - 0, natch.

Number of foodie movies you should watch! 2: Julie & Julia, of course, and the very disturbing Food, Inc., based on the below-mentioned book.

Number of food-related books that you should read: 2, Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. It'll probably change the way you eat. Just don't read it before Jennifer 8. Lee's Fortune Cookie Chronicles, a fascinating history and ethnography of Chinese-American food. If you read Pollan before Lee I swear you won't be able to finish your General Tso's Chicken.

Number of television shows subject to my live-blogging experiment in 2009 - 2 1/2 (Top Chef 5 and Next Food Network Star 5, plus a few comments about Top Chef: Vega$ that lost my interest before it actually got good)

Farthest I have traveled for a blog post in 2009 - West Hollywood's Bossa Nova, a little bit of Brazil right off Santa Monica Blvd. Or if you just consider locations I drove to from home, the Clubhouse at Rye Patch in Ludowici, a small town outside of Hinesville, GA. Some of the best fried pickles I've had in a while, and don't get me started on their barbeque. Lordy!

Least far I have traveled (not counting my own kitchen) in 2009 - Vito's Pizza at the corner of Cedarcroft and York Roads, only 20 minutes by foot and 5 minutes by car, counting the light

And a useful new term for 2009 -

a spray of hons - collective noun - a gathering of hons. Coined by my buddy Eric at this year's HonFest

a spray of hons

Coming next - My favorite places to eat of 2009!

Food Ethnography on a Budget: Tanzania I: N'Dizi Ya Na Nyama & Mchicha Na Nazi

The next stop on my Food Ethnography project is the East African country of Tanzania. This country has a wealth of recipes featuring bananas, plantains... okay, bananas and plantains. Seriously though, it's a lot more than just bananas and plantains. But these fruits feature heavily in the cuisine, so it's easy to fiind uses for them.

Food Ethnography: Tanzania
Located in: Eastern Africa
Some common ingredients: bananas, bananas and more bananas, not to mention coconut milk, curry powder, beef, silver beet, plantains and, of course, bananas.
Number of Tanzanian restaurants in the Baltimore area: 0
Number of Tanzanian restaurants in the DC area: 0
Kind of like: Kenyan with a generous hint of Indian, and lots more bananas

Tanzania, just south of Kenya, north of Mozambique and east of Rwanda and Burundi, is along the Indian Ocean. There are, in fact, some notable Indian overtones in Swahili foods. introduced by Arab traders in the Indian Ocean trade in the 700's - specifically curry, coconut milk, citrus and ghee. In addition, beef and silver beet - a green similar to spinach - are not uncommon. But when you think about Tanzanian food you have to think first and foremost of the banana. They are used in just about everything. In fact, you could make an entire Tanzanian meal from bananas and plantains.

Those aren't my words, though. They are the words of Ghanaian-Australian chef Dorinda Hafner, whose cookbook A Taste of Africa is my source for all things Tanzanian. A Taste of Africa is one of the first cookbooks I had ever seen that incorporated the cuisines of Africa and the African diaspora into one handy volume. It's also one of the first African cookbooks I had ever seen at all. Just about every recipe in the "Tanzania" chapter is based on foods from the banana family: banana beef stew, banana soup, plantain chips, banana fritters, even homemade banana wine! I've never been the most enthusiastic consumer of bananas. Now is better than never.

The meal: N'Dizi Ya Na Nyama (Beef and Banana Stew with Coconut Milk)

Hafner gives a very meaty recipe for coconut milk, beef and banana stew, or n'dizi ya na nyama in Swahili. You can also use plantains in this recipe, but bananas were easier for me to find. However, you must use unripe bananas or plantains for this recipe. This I have never seen, but that's what the recipe calls for.


Shopping for this recipe required a few ingredients that I did not have. However, most of them were not terribly pricey. It also helped that I halved the ingredients, which saved even more money. Perhaps Tanzanian cuisine is one of the more economical cuisines in the world, at least for us:

• 1 lb cubed beef (bought at Whole Foods for about $6 per lb. I very rarely buy meat, which is the only reason I could justify the expense. Surprise - this was still the cheapest beef I could find there. You can probably find it cheaper at Giant or Super Fresh)
• 1 onion (had it)
• 1 small tomato (one Roma tomato at $1.49 per lb - I bought two maters, hon, for about 90¢)
• about 1 cup coconut milk (one can cost me $1.49; I used it for this and a second recipe)
• vegetable oil (on hand)
• salt and pepper (yep, also on hand)
• 4 oz peas (had that, too)
  
• 3 unripe bananas (for this and a few other projects, I bought about 12 bananas at 49¢ per pound. They cost me a total of about $3. I used less than $1's worth for this recipe. Bananas are cheap.

Grand total spent on this recipe: about $8.50 for enough food to feed four to six people. Almost all of that was from the cubed beef.

The recipe (posted here on RecipeHound) is relatively easy: just braise the beef in the oil and a little water. Meanwhile heat but don't brown the onion (sliced) and the tomato (chopped) in a large pan. Next, add the meat mixture (or do what I did, and add the onion and tomato to the meat, since the meat was in a bigger pot), and add the coconut milk and cook until it boils. Next, add the unripe bananas (or plantains) in large chunks, and cook until the bananas are "cooked but not mushy" (Hafner's words).

Even though I cut the recipe roughly in half, it still yielded very much food for one person (lots of leftovers - yum). It's strange that a recipe with several very strong flavors - bananas (again, unripe), coconut milk, onions, beef - ends up not tasting as strong as I was expecting. The biggest surprise was the coconut milk, which is extremely subtle in this recipe. It doesn't really cut into the flavor of the unripe bananas. Maybe I added less coconut milk than I should have. As for the bananas: I have never deliberately eaten ones that were not ripe. I can't say I enjoy their flavor. The unripe banana flavor doesn't really detract from the flavors of the beef or the coconut milk. It's not a terrible flavor. It's just not one I'd enjoy eating often. I now know why I prefer my bananas ripe. Fortunately, Hafner has lots and lots of Tanzanian recipes featuring ripe and even overripe bananas! Two are coming up in future posts.

Love it, like it, hate it or meh, the n'dizi ya na nyama is complemented well by the spinach and coconut milk recipe on the next page of the cookbook, one of the few recipes in the "Tanzania" chapter that has nothing to do with bananas or plantains.

The side dish: Mchicha Na Nazi (spinach in coconut milk)


Again, I halved this recipe, and still ended up with more food than I could finish. However, I have to say I really enjoyed this one a lot. Perhaps it was the lack of unripe bananas? The ingredients cost me a good bit less than those for the n'dizi ya na nyama.

• 1/2 lb spinach (one frozen bag is 99¢ - or buy fresh spinach or silver beet. Really though, you could use just about any green for this)
  
• 1 small onion (this time, I went ahead and used a shallot, which I also had laying around)
• 1 small tomato (bought two, used one for each recipe)
• about 3/4 cup coconut milk (I was able to stretch the one can of coconut milk over two recipes)
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• ghee (no ghee? You can use unsalted butter - or do what I did, and make some in a covered dish in the microwave, a la Julie Sahni. I had a stick in the fridge and just used half of that.)

Total extra spent for this recipe: $1 - and I only used 50¢ worth of that.

Mchicha na nazi is also surprisingly simple, less so if you use fresh greens (also posted on RecipeHound). If you go the frozen spinach route, you don't even have to thaw it! Just fry the onion, tomato and curry powder in the ghee for a few minutes, then add the coconut milk and spinach and cook for 15 minutes on a low flame.

I was worried this would be too rich, but I really got a nice taste of the coconut milk. I've never had spinach and coconut milk together and they blend well. It is an incredibly rich tasting and rich feeling dish and it is a side dish that will really stand out if you use it. And it's very versatile. I ate it with some turkey and stuffing the other day.

N'dizi ya na nyama and mchicha na nazi, with some of that Romanian cornmeal mush mămăliga

The n'dizi ya na nyama and the mchicha na nazi go well with rice, couscous, mashed potatoes or taro, even cornmeal mush. I ate it with some of that leftover mămăliga from the week before. Though from Eastern Europe instead of Eastern Africa, mămăliga (minus the cheese and sour cream of course) bears a striking resemblance to yet another member of the grits/polenta/mămăliga family: ugali, a pan-East African staple that is often eaten for breakfast and with other meals. I would've made some, but with all that mămăliga left over it seemed redundant.

In the next week or so, I'll be trying out some of these other banana recipes from Tanzania. One of them is made in the most wonderful way on the planet: deep-frying.