30 in the 30th

Without Further Ado.....


1 Write up my list and hang it somewhere in my apartment so I can be mindful of the list. 
2 Couch to 5K
3 Call G/Grandad at least once a week
4 Update my blog at least once a week
5 End the year ten pounds lighter than I start it. 
6 Go as many as I can of the restaurants in the CityPaper's Best of Baltimore List
7 LEARN HOW TO CAN THINGS
8 Create 12 new Ice Cream flavors (or make a different ice cream each month. or sorbet)
9 NYC for the weekend!
10 Learn how to bake bread. 
11 DFTBA Tattoo 
12 Go to Rhode Island 
13 Make a concerted effort to schedule more 'sister' time with jack
14 Be better at keeping in touch with friends and family
15 Read books from five authors I have never read before
16 Try 12 different kinds of wine
17 Go to a Scotch tasting with Julie
18 Go on 30 dates. 
19 Go to Boordy for a wine tasting. 
20 Perform six random act of kindness
21 Create a Val's guide to Baltimore and write it up on my blog. 
22 Throw a party!
23 Try 50 different cheeses 
24  Take photo portraits of my family and friends 
25 Volunteer for a day somewhere: soup kitchen, City Year, something
26 Read five classic books:  Definitely on the list: Jane Eyre, The Scarlet Letter, and A Tale of Two Cities
27 Try to maintain a more positive and less self defeating attitude. 
28 Take a photography class (or photoshop) With Katie.
29 Make ten cocktail's I've never made before using my new barware cocktail set (fancy!)
30  Write and mail actual, physical birthday cards to my friends, because it's awesome to get real mail. 

29 in the 29th- a Roundup.

With a week and a half of my twenties left to go, here's where the list stands: 

1) Go see a taping of Wait Wait Don't tell me. Nope! And they even came to Baltimore, which was SUCH A BUMMER to have missed. I was pretty broke at the time though, so no Wait Wait for me. 


2) Take advantage of a Southwest sale and go somewhere with Julie that we've both never been. Sadly, nope. 


3) Redesign my website. Buy a domain name and move the blog there.

 No, not this one. Maybe if I can be a little bit more disciplined about posting, I will think about it this year.


4) Enter a cooking contest. (a real one. not one at work. With real judges and everything) 
I entered one at my last workplace (which doesn't count... I know, but it was still a contest) and.... lost. Sad Clown.

5) Buy a video camera and make and edit more videos (even if it's just a flipcam)  

No, but I did put up more video content this year! This Video is the reason I get like, 90% of my google referrals. heh. 

6) Update my blog at least once a week. I was not so successful at this, but it's going on next year's list.  I need to remember that I can't abandon things when i'm sad (the cause for this year's earlier abandonment) or busy (the reason why I haven't been updating so much this recently)


7) Plan fun things to do to show Jackie Baltimore, now that she is living here. We've done a couple of good things, but we could definitely be doing more. 

8) Go to a restaurant for restaurant week. DONE! Went to Dogwood with Jackie this summer. It was AMAZING.  I am still thinking about the chevre that they served on the salad I had there. So creamy!


9) Go tubing down the river (I don't know which river. Any river. Preferably with Paul, who suggested this list item) 

Nope! 


10) Take more pictures, post more pictures. 

I think I've taken more pictures this  year.


11) Taste 20 types of beer.

 Eh, I've decided I'm not such a huge fan of beer. my tastes tend to go to Miller High life... classy, I know. but I couldn't justify the expense of trying all those beers when I know how delicious gin and tonics are. 


12) Continue my tradition of Top Chef Wednesdays and Glee Tuesdays. 

Glee tuesdays stuck it out for much of the year! And we've started up again now that the season has started. This is really, really one of my favorite things- I look forward to it every week. 


13) Donate money to causes I believe in. 

I have!


14) Go to NYC for a weekend. 

I have not!


15) Go somewhere where there is not much ambient light, and look at the stars. 
Chincoteague, 2011. So. Many. Stars.

16) Learn how to identify more constellations than just Orion. I found The Big Dipper and Cassiopeia! 


17) Master bread baking (this guy is also going to be baking bread this year, and I want to bake some with him!) 

Nope, sadly

18) Help someone else complete a List item on their list that isn't on my list.

   I feel like I've done this one, but I can't remember. If i helped you with a list item, would you let me know via comments? I know I've helped inspire some other people to make their lists, and that's quite awesome. 


19)  Go on a picnic. 

I went on a great picnic with my sister Jackie and my cousin Kate, and Jackie even did all the cooking for it! it was really awesome. 

20)  Figure out what I'm doing with my life professionally. 

This was my big one, this year- I was really really miserable and unhappy in my last job, and I made the move to a new one- which has its own challenges, but I am so much more happy professionally that on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is my old job, I'm about at a 15. 

21) Set one weekly excersise goal every week and then meet it. (even if it's small: i.e. 3 days of wii fit a week, two long walks around the ten hills neighborhood,  walking up the giant hill in front of my house)
Uh, no. but! with the new job comes a lot more activity, and i've gone down a few pants sizes!
22) Move to a new apartment when my lease is up, with the following requirements: decent size kitchen. hardwood floors, fun area of Baltimore. (optional but would be nice: washer/dryer combo)
Nope
23) Go to one of the City Year Events in DC (or philly, or NYC, or RI- Just do one event with them)
Nope
24) Decorate a cake with fondant. 

Nope

25)  Learn how to can things.  Seriously. Making this happen. For real this time. 
Seriously, I need to get this one together. it's going on next year's list. 
26)  Go to see a drive in movie. 

Nope

27) Do one social activity that is outside my comfort zone per month. 

No, not really. 

28) Go down to Florida to visit G; make it home to visit my Grandad more often. 

I didn't get down to Florida this year, sadly. 


29) Go to some kind of food festival. Whether it is barbeuce, or Garlic, or a Pickle festival. 

I went to the Baltimore Food Truck Rally but it was waaaaaaaaaaaaay too crowded, and the lines were insane, so we ended up going to Ze Mean Bean instead. Maybe the next time they have one, it'sll be in a little bit less claustrophobic space, and I can actually get something to eat. 

So all in all, not a great year, in terms of getting things done (all told, it was a pretty horrible year all around, actually).  The one important thing that I really needed to do, #20, got done so for that I'm considering this years' list a success. 

 but I'm working on the new stuff (and keeping some of this year's stuff) and will come out with my 30/30th list next Sunday! 

There is life outside my apartment

I work ten hour days.  Five of them, every week, at what is at times, a fairly physical job. Once I got over the initial time of just sleeping when I wasn't at work (which was about two months, give or take) I began to emerge and start living life outside my apartment again. When before I couldn't imagine doing anything after my workday, now I can take some time and hang out. (Unless I have to be in the next day at 3am)

This weekend, I was able to do two awesome things: a picnic with my sister and cousin at Druid Hill Park, which was wonderful and relaxing.  We ate, and laid on the grass and talked about lots of things, did a lot of "would you rather" questions, and generally had a good time. 

Then, on Sunday, I made plans to meet Jackie in Fell's Point to get gelato, (note: this is one of my favorite things to do ever)  I left work at three, ran some errands, grabbed dinner at Five Guys, and still had an hour before I was supposed to meet her.  I (miraculously) found parking in Fell's, and walked down to the end of the pier.  The weather was gorgeous, there was a light breeze, and I was just able to sit, and soak in the beautiful day, and the dwindling sunlight.  I could feel any remaining tension seeping from me- I feel like being that close to the a body of water gives me perspective, and I just hung out for awhile, thinking, and watching the families as they strolled up the pier, putting coins into the viewfinders to look at the ships and sailboats floating around.  I felt peace- something that, as unsettled as I've been, has not been easy to come by, lately.  I walked slowly back to the main promenade, and people watched (an always excellent activity) until it was time to meet Jackie. 

We hit Pitango, and I got the Grapefruit Sorbet and Coconut (the grapefruit tastes like you are biting into the most perfect piece of cool, slightly sweetened, tart grapefruit- so good. And the coconut is rich, and has an amazing pure coconut flavor.   We walked down to the edge of the pier, and sat, talking and eating our gelato.  We decided to walk for awhile, and took a large loop around Fell's. 

And now it's my weekend- Harry Potter tonight, dinner at Tim's tomorrow. 

Life is good. 

29 in the 29th

Okay.  So I have been thinking a lot, and I think next year, I'm going to transition into a Mighty Life List, as opposed to yearly lists, in an effort to think a little bit longer term about where I want to be and what I want to do with my life.  But I couldn't resist coming up with one last yearly list, because this is the big one. The last year before I'm thirty. The last year of my mid to late twenties. Oh, all right, my late twenties. I have purposely made this list a lot more accessible, I want to complete EVERYTHING on it this year.

1) Go see a taping of Wait Wait Don't tell me. 


2) Take advantage of a Southwest sale and go somewhere with Julie that we've both never been.


3) Redesign my website. Buy a domain name and move the blog there.


4) Enter a cooking contest. (a real one. not one at work. With real judges and everything) 


5) Buy a video camera and make and edit more videos (even if it's just a flipcam)


6) Update my blog at least once a week


7) Plan fun things to do to show Jackie Baltimore, now that she is living here.

8) Go to a resturant for resturant week.


9) Go tubing down the river (I don't know which river. Any river. Preferably with Paul, who suggested this list item)


10) Take more pictures, post more pictures


11) Taste 20 types of beer.


12) Continue my tradition of Top Chef Wednesdays and Glee Tuesdays.


13) Donate money to causes I believe in.


14) Go to NYC for a weekend


15) Go somewhere where there is not much ambient light, and look at the stars.


16) Learn how to identify more constellations than just Orion.


17) Master bread baking (this guy is also going to be baking bread this year, and I want to bake some with him!)


18) Help somone else complete a List item on their list that isn't on my list.


19)  Go on a picnic.


20)  Figure out what I'm doing with my life professionally.


21) Set one weekly excersise goal every week and then meet it. (even if it's small: i.e. 3 days of wii fit a week, two long walks around the ten hills neighborhood,  walking up the giant hill in front of my house)


22) Move to a new apartment when my lease is up, with the following requirements: decent size kitchen. hardwood floors, fun area of Baltimore. (optional but would be nice: washer/dryer combo)


23) Go to one of the City Year Events in DCn (or philly, or NYC, or RI- Just do one event with them)


24) Decorate a cake with fondant.


25)  Learn how to can things.  Seriously. Making this happen. For real this time.


26)  Go to see a drive in movie.


27) Do one social activity that is outside my comfort zone per month


28) Go down to Florida to visit G; make it home to visit my Grandad more often.


29) Go to some kind of food festival. Whether it is barbeuce, or Garlic, or a Pickle festival.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch Cupcakes

These are the cupcakes I made for our opening night of Hedwig And the Angry Inch I made them with Smitten Kitchen's Yellow Cake base, and the frosting is her Fudge Frosting, which is so good, I will be making it again and again.  Before this, I was not a fan of chocolate frosting, really. I liked butter cream, I liked cream cheese frosting, and I was kind of meh about chocolate frosting. (well, except for ganache. I love some ganache)

I whipped this one up, and it's basically a modified buttercream, with unsweetened, melted and cooled chocolate whipped in.  it's light, and fluffy, and chocolatey, but not overpoweringly so. I think it would make an excellent foil for a peanut butter based cupcake, or a banana cupcake,  or as my grandma suggests, smeared in between two graham crackers. Note to self: buy graham crackers.

Anyway, the crew liked them, I thought the wig was super cute piped on, and I even had enough frosting left over to frost a cake for my sister to celebrate her first week of classes. (and then i ate an inappropriate amount of that cake)

So, anyway, Hedwig is looking for volunteers for front of house.  You get a free ticket to the show (a 15-20 dollar value, depending if you're a student or not!)  and you get to hang with some cool people, while you hand out programs, and sell t-shirts.  If you're interested in volunteering, let me know, because we need them!  (plus it's an awesome and fun show, and Joseph and Sarah Lynn and the band are ROCKING IT)

Fake Thanksgiving!

I love fall.  I love leaves crunching under my feet, I love sweater weather, I love all of the fall flavors: apples, pears, braised meats, Turkey, pumpkin... I love them all.  This summer has been unbearably hot, and it's only in the last couple of days (and thanks to Hurricane Earl) that we've had a temperature drop in the area. And so when my friend Sarah Lynn invited me to her Fake Thanksgiving party, I thought it was a little crazy, because it was still in the 100's. But who can to turn down free turkey? I cannot. Especially with all of the trimmings.

It was so. good.  There was turkey, there was stuffing, and gravy, roasted potatoes, green beans, broccolini, and tofu,  There were awesome pumpkin squares, and chocolate muffins (which I didn't try, but have had before and know are awesome) I currently have sent an email harassing Sarah Lynn for several of her recipes. Especially for the gravy.... ooooooh, the gravy.  Plus, there was knock-you-on-your-ass sangria, which I need to get the recipe for, from my friend Joseph.  If  I hadn't been driving, I would have had more then one serving, and things might have gotten crazy up in there!  (It's probably a good thing I was driving.)

Plus! it had my crazy, and awesome friends.  Who, although at times inappropriate and try to make me blush,  are fun, and funny, and who I'd spend any Thanksgiving with, fake or otherwise.

It definitely got me in the mood for fall now too- I want to pull out my sweaters, and start looking up recipes for pie, and and perhaps make some pumpkin scones.  I foresee more soups and stews and braised things coming down the pike. 

I love the fall.

The most fantastic tomato sauce.

This tomato sauce. I have been thinking about this tomato sauce a lot.  I first made it last week, when I had a dinner guest cancel on me- it was what I was going to make, but when it got to the boiling pasta point, I didn't feel like it, and just made toast and ate it topped on that way.  It was so delicious that I was eating it with a spoon from the pot. I am not a huge fan of tomatoes- I don't like them raw at all, and usually prefer them blended into whatever sauce they're in, and masked by basil, and garlic, and made to taste like something entirely else. 

This tomato sauce is not like that. It is capital T Tomatoey. It's- grab onto a strand of pasta and coat with the luscious sauce-, silky, chunky, oh my goodness tomato sauce. 

I made it again tonight, to see if it was one of those culinary flukes, those "I was so hungry anything would taste delicious" moods, and it wasn't. In fact, it was even better this time, because I had pasta with it, garlic bread on the side, and a nice bottle of merlot, and best of all, my friend Paul came over to eat it with me. The sauce just shimmers in the pan, waiting for you to add the pasta to it.  I want to make this sauce over and over. I don't want to make any other tomato sauce, ever. I just want this one. 

The beauty of the sauce is in the simplicity. It has four ingredients that I almost always have in my pantry. 

It is Marcella Hazan's recipe, but I found it at one of my favorite food blogger's sites- Orangette

2 cups whole, peeled, canned plum tomatoes, chopped, with their juices (about one 28-oz. can)

5 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut in half

Salt, to taste

Combine the tomatoes, their juices, the butter, and the onion halves in a medium saucepan. Add a pinch or two of salt. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, at a very slow but steady simmer, adjusting the heat as necessary, for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free from the tomato. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon. Taste and salt as needed.

Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta.

Make this. you won't regret it. 

TEN THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY RIGHT NOW

1 Baltimore Pride was this weekend! I was there with the Iron Crow crew, handing out postcards for our next production, which is Hedwig and the Angry Inch,  (and is going to be SO AWESOME)

2 Had an awesome time hanging out with Bryan, Katie and Paul on Saturday, running errands, shopping, and then seeing Toy Story #. (you should go see Toy Story 3, it's great)

3 Purchased a Potato Ricer, which I have wanted for a long time

4 Got some hair product that does not make my hair look gross

5 Had an all-important IKEA trip, which resulted in a new cutting board (wooden) and a new plastic cutting board for meat (in red)

6 Have begun the countdown in earnest to vacation.  Chincoteague, here I come!  TWENTY DAYS

7 Was outside all day yesterday in the burning hot sun and did not get sunburn. (I do not know how this happened)

8 Being introduced to new music: my new favorite happy/dance around my apartment song is Ca Plane Pour Moi, by Plastic Bertrand. Check it out! I dare you not to dance around.

9  Firing up the kitchenaid to make some cupcakes this week! Vanilla buttercream and oreo are on the docket

10 Testing my rib recipe this week!

What is making you happy RIGHT NOW?

28/28th # 9

On my list of 28 things to do in my 28th year  #9  Is to go to one non- house concert show.

I love house concerts.  The intimacy of the performer, a few feet away, strumming on their guitar, or playing the piano, makes me happy. It really is the best way to hear music. In the last few years, I have been to seldom few non-house concert shows.   In order to get out of the box and enjoy the Life Outside My Apartment, I added go to a non-house concert show.  Large concerts have their bonuses too-  I never would have been introduced to acts like Girlyman, Lucy Kaplansky, and Richard Shindell if not for Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.

I was all set to make The Rescues show at the Ram's Head in Annapolis my concert,When there was a concert on Twitter by Bthesite to win tickets to Corrine Bailey Rae!  I entered the contest, and won (WOOOOOO, winning!)  and then I had tickets that friday to see her.  I invited Tim (he of trip to Japan awesomeness) So I not only exceeded my goal, I doubled it!  

Corrine Bailey Rae was really good- (aside from the venue that had no seating, requiring us to stand up for four hours)  I had not listen to much of her latest album, that she was touring on, but I really liked it. She sprinkled in her popular songs from the last album. All in all it was an excellent show.

The Rescues I saw the next week.  A supergroup of four singer songwriters that came together to make an awesome band, I am a big fan of theirs.  Kyler England, Adrianne, Rob Giles and Gabriel Mann make up the group, and they rocked it.  It was my first time being at the Ram's head, and I REALLY liked it- it's a great venue to hear music, plus, there are chairs and food! I will be keeping my eye out for other acts that are going to be there, Due to sheer awesomeness.

Opening for The Rescues was Garrison Starr, who I had heard of, and was a little familar with her music (she comes up on my Edie Carey Pandora playlist)  and I thought she was great- I went home and downloaded a bunch of her music from itunes.  I love when opening acts are good- it sets the tone for an awesome concert-going experience.

*all pictures taken with my phone.

First company in the new apartment! (and Polish Festival)

These guys came down from New Jersey this weekend to visit Baltimore, and to go to the Polish festival that was over in Patterson Park. My cousin Dan, his girlfriend Helena and my sister Jackie.  Jackie came down for hanging out and a meeting that she had to go to for grad school, and Dan and Helena came to go to the Polish festival. 

We had lots of fun taking pictures..... 

and looking at pottery.... 

and taking more pictures... 

The festival was on the small side, so once we had taken in the sights, eaten some perogi and potato pancakes, (plus the white borscht soup that Helena got that I need the recipe for. omg, so good)  oh, and Polish beer!  We still had some time, so we headed down to do my favorite thing in the city: 

Going to Pitango Gelato, and sitting and enjoying it in Fell's point.  I know my family and friends are probably tired of going there, but I never get tired of it. gelato, looking out a the boats on the water, heading over to do some shopping at 10,000 villages and Su Casa... awesome. 

Dan and Helena left to go home on Saturday night, and Jackie and I hung out.  Then, this morning, We got up and headed over to the farmer's market, where I got some good stuff. 

I love having company, and I can't wait until they come back!

Check Out the New Digs!

I know that it's not the 27th in the 27th anymore, but I like crossing things off lists, and this is something I definitely should have done that year. So I'm retroactively crossing it off.  I've only been in this new apartment for three days, and I just feel better in it.  I think it has a lot to do with the amount of sunlight that the new place gets:

Living room area

I moved to a new apartment in my same complex, and I had an awesome moving team- my mom, dad, sister Jackie and my friend Meda.  There aren't many people who will help you move from a third floor apartment to a third floor apartment, and they've got my back.  I had a lot of stuff  ready when the got there, (and had already moved some things)  but it took the five of us just three hours to move all my stuff.

Looking into the kitchen

In retrospect, it makes the panic and stress I was going through seem kind of pointless.

 

Dining area

I was able to get everything unpacked on Sunday and Monday morning (SCORE for moving on a three day weekend, that was some great serendipity) and got to relax after I did the remaining cleaning at my old place.

  

Other Side of the kitchen

Awesome bonus to this kitchen- I heated the oven to 450 to cook my pizza, and the smoke alarm didn't go off! WOOT. That would have never happened in the old apartment. I would have been waving a dishrag in front of the smoke alarm for the duration of the cooking.

Earl enjoying the sunlight

Earl  likes the new digs, too, seeing that there is exponentially more sun in the new place. he's already developed his "running around the apartment in a giant circle" loop.  Here he sits on the Grandad Chair,  soaking in the sun from the sliding glass door.

Another great feature of this apartment is the balcony; my old apartment had one too, but it was not enjoyable to hang out there.  This one is- I had my tea on it this morning. (sorry for the no balcony picture)

I'm all ready to have my first houseguests this weekend!

Reason #32074 to love Baltimore

I love the Sunday Farmer's Market in Baltimore.  It's one of my favorite things to do. I like to go really early, before the masses descend, and meander around, with my cup of Zeke's Coffee, and my freshly made donuts from the donut guy, and slowly make my way around, smelling strawberries, trying samples of cheese, and picking out herbs and vegetables, and listening to the musicians that are playing.  It has expanded exponentially since I first started going, and now it is in two areas. 

If Baltimore people want to know which stands are my favorite, send me an email, because I don't know what the names of most of them are, but I can tell you where they are located. 

Today was my first farmer's market of the season, and I did not realize just how much I had missed it.  I met my friends Katie, Lisa and Bryan, and we walked around, eating our donuts, and enjoying the beautiful morning.  Of the new vendors,  Bryan introduced me to the olive oil stand that is new this year, which is SO good. and! if you bring your bottle back, they give you a discount to refill it!  Awesome. Also, Pitango Gelato is at the market now, and my epic love of Pitango is timeless. 

But easily my new favorite stand is Wheely Good Smoothies. First of all, a Pun-y name is always my favorite.  Secondly, they are a smoothie stand, that is powered by bicycle. You pay your dollars, and you get a discount if you pedal yourself.  they fill up the blender cup, and put it on the little stand on the back, and you pedal away.  And when you're done, you have a delicious smoothie!

I chose the Strawberry Basil with Orange juice, and it seriously rocked. I liked it so much that after the farmer's market, I ran down to Trader Joe's to get the ingredients so that I could make my own smoothies. The basil just makes it taste so fresh and delicious.  I tested out making my own with my stick blender, and it totally worked!  I forsee a summer of smoothie making.  The key that Wheely Good does, that makes the smoothies so awesome, is that they use frozen fruit, so that you don't need to add ice that would water it down. GENIUS. 

TEN THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY RIGHT NOW

(Caps lock intended to convey happiness, not shouty-ness)

1 THE SHOW I AM IN OPENS THIS WEEK! Here to check out our website, here to buy your ticket already, and here to friend Iron Crow on facebook and here on twitter. Do it.

2 MY FAMILY IS COMING DOWN TO SEE THE SHOW! My Dad, Jack, Kate and Potter and Lauren are headed down from the Jerz on Saturday to come and see our show.  WOO! They are coming early on Saturday, so we will have time to do some Baltimore things, which is awesome.  Baltimore people: any suggestions on what to do?

3 DAY OFF ON THURSDAY BEFORE OPENING  which is especially awesome because I know I'm going to be running around. It will be good to have the day off to get everything in order.

4 COFFEE.  it is not to be underestimated, ever.

5 BON FRESCO IS AWESOME. The fact that I have been there a somewhat unreasonable amount of times in the last week is... totally fine! I merely want to eat everything on their menu. Especially the potato salad. and the pork loin sandwich. and the corned beef. and the lentil salad. and anything with the olive tapenade on it.  Yelp reviews here. (They don't have a website yet) And their bread. Oh, the bread.

6 MY SISTER'S MOVING TO BALTIMORE! In September, to go to school. It's going to be awesome to be in the same city!  Hanging out, carpooling on trips home, (and who are we kidding... cooking her dinner a few times a week :) )

7 IT IS COLD PRESS COFFEE SEASON... what what!  I am starting my first batch with some awesome Bolivian Coffee from Trader Joe's.

8 THE WEATHER IS AWESOME.  Despite the terrible things it is doing to my allergies, it was quite awesome to drive home with my windows down this morning. After a horrific winter of snow and craziness, followed by a lot of rain, it's nice to have some awesome days.

9 NEW SHEETS FOR MY BED. I usually use t-shirt sheets, but i wanted something cooler for the spring, so I went and picked out a set of white sheets for my bed. They're so soft! they make me happy.

10  CROCHETING CUTENESS.  Keep your eyes peeled for the latest projects!

Burger Brothers in Towson

We're looking for the Best Burger in Baltimore! For more info, Click here. 

Burger Brothers is in Towson, on Allegheny ave, just off the Traffic Circle. Julie and I got there on a friday night, Parked at the mall, and after a little shopping, headed over to Burger Brothers for our burgers. 

The interior of Burger brothers has a very casual,- chain-esqe feel. What I would most closely compare it to is a Five Guys, but  burger brothers is not a chain; it's a stand alone store.  They have other things on the menu besides burgers here though- chicken sandwiches, wings and salads.

We ordered: Me with a regular cheeseburger, mayo, and pickles,  Julie with a cheeseburger, onions, mayo and ketchup. They take your order without asking how you'd like it done, so I'm guessing that they cook all of their burgers a uniform time.  The buns are toasted- which is a nice touch. It adds a little crunch to the burger that is nice.

(The picture you see is Julie's burger.  I grabbed hers by mistake, took a picture and a bite before I realized that there were RAW ONIONS in her burger. uch.   We switched  our burgers, and dug in.   I had thought that the bun/meat ratio would be off, because the bun is so huge, but it squished down nicely as I ate,   I thought it was a good, solid burger, moist, good beef,  good bun.  Not as good as the front runner, but definitely close to the top.

As for our sides- Julie got the fries, and I got the onion rings, because I had been craving them.  I liked both- the onion rings are lightly breaded, and didn't taste too greasy, and the fries were fresh, and fried in peanut oil. (I heartily approve)

Besides parking being generally annoying in the area, I think that Burger Brothers is a good alternative to Five Guys- Especially if someone in your group is not a burger person.

And just because a I liked the picture: a gratuitous ketchup shot.

Poncabird Cafe

We're trying to find the best burger in Baltimore! For More entries, click Here. 

I was talking to Julie earlier today, and we were trying to figure out when we could do burgers next, when I realized that I had never posted anyting about Poncabird cafe!

Which is really an oversight, because they have some awesome burgers at the Poncabird.

We started with the Crab dip in a bread bowl which was really excellent- creamy and delicious, with the awesome addition of melted cheese on top. . My one criticism would be that it could have used a little bit more Old Bay.

(sorry for the blurry picture, my camera battery was dying)

The Poncabird is in kind of a strange area, nestled in amongst big warehouses in the Higlandtown area, and I got a bit turned around going there. But once I was there, it's a really cool neighborhood hangout. there are christmas lights up around the bar,  the service was good, and attentive, and  all the food is cooked in the open air center of the bar. The ambiance was fun too, with a crowd that looked like regulars, and a table with a barbershop quartet that started warming up, but never sang. (we hoped they would sing, but alas, no.)

This was a solidly good burger, among the top, but not quite surpassing our favorite burger (at Jennings Cafe) It was cooked perfectly for both of us (I had medium rare and Julie had medium) And Julie liked that the onions on her burger were sliced thin and spread all over the burger.  The burgers came with chips, and a pickle, but no pickles on the burger (which was sad for me).

Up Next: Abbey Burger Bistro!

Tutti Fruitti in Ellicott City

My sister has been talking about a great frozen yogurt place in Princeton, where she works, that has pay-by-weight frozen yogurts with toppings. They have all sorts of flavors, and an insane amount of toppings- fruit, sauces, and candy,  you load up your little container, and they they weigh it and you pay.

Now Ellicott City has one, Tutti Fruitti on rt 40, near the interchange for 29.  The "regular tart" flavor is my favorite, with a real taste and tang of yogurt. I like that if you can be disciplined,  it is even relatively cheap! (mine today, was three dollars.  Plus, they have free wifi, which I'm using right now.  (also, a lot of high school students, which is... interesting in an anthropoligical way)

Best part? they have a frequent flyer card that you get a free one after you get ten of them.  Which, if I don't pace myself, may be sooner than I'd like to admit.

Best Burger in Baltimore

One of my favorite tv shows of all time is How I Met Your Mother. And in season Four, there was an episode called "Best Burger in New York" where Marshall was on a quest to find a burger that he had tasted in his first week in NY, and then was never able to find again.  In that spirit, my friend Julie and I (the Julie of Baltimore Over Easy fame)  have begun a quest. An epic quest for the best burger in Baltimore.

Cobbled together from a list on UrbanSpoon and the http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/reviews/blog/ blog, I have come up with the comprehensive list of contestans in our Best burger challenge

Links will take you to the reviews!

Abbey Burger Bistro (Federal Hill)

Hamilton Tavern (Lauraville)

Burger Brothers (Towson)

Jimmy's (Fell's Point) 12/17/09

Ale Mary's  (Fell's) 1/14/10

Kooper's (Fell's)  Done! 10/27 See mini review below

Alonso's  (Roland Park )

The Dizz (Remington)

Duda's Tavern (Fell's)

James Joyce Irish Tavern (Downtown)

Jennings Cafe (catonsville) 12/10/09

McCabe's (hampden)

Turps (Mount Vernon) Done! 11/17/09 See mini review below
Poncabird Cafe (Highlandtown)
Alexander's (Fell's Point)
The Seahorse (Dundalk)
Dougherty's (Mount Vernon)

Kooper's Tavern

Burger- decent burger, good size smashed patty- cooked to order, meat was okay, flavored with something (worsteshire?)   Fries: frozen, had flavor on them, (medium, taste wise)  Pickle: AWESOME  Crab dip: good actual dip, bread accompanying, not great. (bonus: on tuesday nights, burgers are half price)

Turps

Burger: good size,  cooked perfectly to order, meat good, some kind of mix to flavor meat  Fries: frozen, but decent, and cooked well. Pickle: good  Crab stuffed pretzel: Not actually a pretzel so much as a breadstick, but good creamy dip, good amount of actual crab. Julie liked the side of cheez whiz that came with, I was... less impressed with that, but it wasn't bad. (half price burger nights: Wednesday)