Howard County Shopping Odyssey

I set out this afternoon to fill a prescription and ended up with a bag of empanadas, and that's why I love Howard County. I walked into the Target at Long Gate and was immediately greeted with good news.

The idea of being able to get my Target shopping and grocery shopping done all at once is something I have been looking forward to for a very long time. While I was waiting for my prescription, I was wandering the aisles (always dangerous) and remembered that I needed a new 12" frying pan. But I was disappointed in what I found at Target, nothing seemed to be decent enough quality to justify the price. So after I finished at the pharmacy, I headed down Route 1 to see what I could find at Sysco, the restaurant supply store.

Too bad I forgot they close early on Saturday and it was almost 4pm. But since I was there, I decided to wander through the flea market and maybe grab something to eat. Sadly, the flea market was closing up too with most of the stalls already covered in tarps and the food court in the process of shutting down, watched over by My Little Militia Melanie.

Since we were already on Route 1 and had run out of coffee this morning, we headed over to MOM's to grab a bag of Zeke's but when we got

there, we realized we were far too hungry to go inside a grocery store so we headed around the corner to Pollo Fuego to eat our body weight in plantains and some chicken too. Stuffed full of Peruvian poultry goodness, we were able to get out of MOM's with just the bare necessities; coffee, half and half, and garlic powder.

As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I remembered reading on HowChow that the Latin market across the street sold frozen empanadas. I haven't had a decent empanada since Produce Galore went out of business so I have been eager to get over there. I wandered around, looking through all the freezer cases but no empanadas. I resigned myself to the terrible fate of buying fresh-baked empanadas and having to eat them immediately and ordered a bunch from the really friendly employee at the counter. I asked her about the frozen ones and she explained they keep them in the back, you just have to ask. Good to know for next time. I got the chicken, beef, ham and cheese, and spinach flavor so I will know which ones to stock the freezer with.

Bonus: they had a flavor of Goya soda I had never seen before.It smells like Worchester sauce but it really does taste like carbonated sangria, which is to say it tastes really good.

Remembrance of Restaurants Past

I finally made it to Bon Fresco and while enjoying an excellent Italian sandwich I couldn't help but think of my favorite sandwich of all time, The Giacomo, from the now closed Italian grocery and deli Giacomo's that used to be back by T-Bonz in Ellicott City. I've tried to reproduce this sandwich at home but somehow I never get it right. It's a combination of Italian deli meats (prosciutto and salami and something else), a layer of ricotta, and sliced green olives on focaccia. The first time I went there, I made the mistake of commenting out loud how odd that sandwich sounded and the owner convinced me to give it a try, promising if it wasn't the best sandwich I ever ate, he would give me any other sandwich on the menu for free the next time I came in. I never got to take him up on that because I never ordered any other sandwich.

That got me to thinking about other dishes I loved at restaurants that are now history. Back in the late 80s, there was a restaurant downtown called Café Park Plaza. They had a dish on the menu called Shrimp Angel that was basically a bowl of garlic and wine sauce with big shrimps in it. It may have been an appetizer and that was all to it. It might have been an entrée and come with pasta. I really don't remember because I always ate it the same way; scooped up with big hunks of fresh bread. I couldn't name one other thing they had on the menu and we ate there at least once a month for over a year.

Right down the street from Café Park Plaza was another icon in the Baltimore restaurant scene in the 80s, Gampy's. Now you can get a Monte Cristo sandwich at just about any diner but I have never found one that compares to my memory of theirs. Ham, cheese, fried, jam on the side; perfection. I think they put crack in it. There's no other explanation for what made it so good.

Then there were the kosher dogs and western fries at the Homewood Deli in Charles Village. Royal Farm Stores western fries come close but always seem to fall just a little short of my memory. There was a bakery that shared space with the deli that made the most amazing pinwheel cookies. I think I have tried at least a dozen pinwheel cookie recipes and none taste like those did. I can't seem to get them as flat and dense. Mine always puff up too much.

Of all the food you've eaten that is now gone forever, what do you miss the most?

NOTE: Recipes will return when Baltimore is no longer hotter than the surface of the sun and it's cool enough to cook again in my little house without air conditioning.

I love it when a plan comes together

It is finally grilling weather again and I had some fabulous skirt steaks from Treuth's waiting for accompaniments. Poking through the fridge, I found some Anaheim peppers, some jalapenos, and some leftover rice and a plan started to come together. I knew I wanted to stuff the Anaheim's with cheese grits but I wanted to use the jalapenos too and that rice was nearing the end of its shelf life. A quick check through the pantry revealed a can of black-eyed peas and I knew what I had.

Hoppin' Juan

Ingredients:

• 1 can of Black-eyed Peas
  
• 1 cup cooked rice
  
• 2 jalapenos
  
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
  
• 1 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 tsp chili powder
  
• 1 tsp ground cumin
  
• 1 tbsp lime juice
  

Directions:

Drain and rinse the black-eyed peas and let them continue to drain in a colander while you heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Mince the jalapenos. When the oil is hot, sauté the jalapenos until they have some char. Add the garlic, chili powder, and a pinch of salt. Once the garlic is warmed through, add the black-eyed peas and rice. Mix thoroughly and add salt to taste. Just before serving, add the lime juice and toss again.

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My best friend's dip

Tomorrow is the first annual QA Chili Cook-Off at ZeniMax Online Studios. While I am confident my chili will take first prize, I'm not above stacking the deck a little and bringing along my friend Roz's famous salsa dip. She makes this dip every time we come over to watch the Ravens play. We have an unspoken agreement that we won't come over unless there's dip.

This recipe is an approximation of her recipe. I've seen her make it countless times but for some reason, hers is always better.

Roz's Salsa Dip

Ingredients

• 8 oz. package of cream cheese
  
• 1 tbsp chopped pickled jalapenos
  
• 1 tsp pickled jalapeno juice
  
• 3 tbsp salsa
  
• 1 tsp chili powder
  
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  

Directions

Soften the cream cheese on the counter for 10 minutes. Dump all the ingredients except for the shredded cheese in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the cheese and stir together. Chill for half an hour before serving.

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I fail as a Baltimore foodie!

After I heard the sad news that venerable Baltimore Sun food critic Elizabeth Large is retiring, I realized it has been a while since I read her blog. I stumbled across a post where she asked her readers to come up with a list of 100 Things every Baltimore Foodie Must Do. Having lived my entire life here, I figured I would ace it. I have a lot of work to do.

1. Have a jumbo lump crab cake from Faidley's on a Saltine.
   
2. Pick steamed hard shells at Mr. Bill's Terrace Inn in Essex.
   
   1. I give myself credit for Whitey and Dot's
      
3. Eat Bertha's mussels.
   
4. Drink a Natty Boh.
   
5. Snack on a Berger's cookie.
   
6. Put marshmallow on your snowball.
   
   1. This really should be an Egg Custard snowball with marshmallow to count. Either way, I'm good.
      
7. Split Maryland beaten biscuits and put some thin slices of ham in them.
   
8. Serve sauerkraut with your turkey.
   
9. Get a chicken box (fried wings, western fries, dinner roll) from a Baltimore City public market.
   
   1. or Royal Farm Store
      
10. Maybe the chicken box should be from Tyrone's?
    
11. Lake trout. And for those of us who watched "The Wire," have a grape soda with it.
    
12. Breakfast at Blue Moon Cafe down in Fells Point.
    
    1. Personally, I think breakfast at the Paper Moon in Remington should count.
       
13. Corned beef on rye at Attman's.
    
    1. I am giving myself credit for roast beef because corned beef violates my rule of never eating anything that was intentionally rotted before I ate it.
       
14. Chiapparelli's house salad.
    
    1. I think that's all I ate my junior year of high school.
       
15. Knock back a goblet of Resurrection Ale at Brewer's Art.
    
16. Take a Sunday morning stroll through the JFX Farmer's Market.
    
17. Thrasher's french fries from the boardwalk in Ocean City.
    
18. Have a Black Eyed Susan at the Preakness.
    
    1. I have issues with horse racing so I will never go to Preakness but I have had a Black Eyed Susan at a bar while the Preakness is on TV
       
    2. I also give myself credit for this because I can't hear "Black Eyed Susan" without thinking of Kirk McEwen asking for a Black Guy, Susan
       
19. Chow down on a pit beef sandwich at Boog's during an O's game.
    
20. Shop for shoes and chocolate at Ma Petit Shoe in Hampden.
    
    1. I assume any store called Petite Show doesn't carry shoes to fir my size 11W gunboats so I have never gone in
       
21. Have a soft crab sandwich on white bread.
    
    1. I am a lifelong hometown girl and soft shell crabs still creep me out
       
22. Eat a box of Rheb's buttercreams. Not at one sitting, of course ... on the other hand, why not?
    
    1. Why would I eat a box of Rheb's butter creams when I could eat a box of Rheb's assorted caramels?
       
23. Order a Tio Pepe sangria (red). It contains fruit, so it counts as food!
    
24. Polish sausage from one of the two Ostrowski shops.
    
    1. Does buying Ostrowski sausage regularly from Mars Supermarket count?
       
25. German sausage from Binkert's
    
26. Fisher's popcorn downy ocean, hon!
    
    1. I am deeply insulted by this one because we are a Dolle's family but I am giving myself credit anyway
       
27. Sunday brunch on the terrace at Ambassador Dining Room, an atypical setting for an Indian restaurant.
    
    1. I should get double credit for this one because I used to eat Sunday Dinner at the Ambassador Dining Room when it still WAS the Ambassador Dining Room. It's a much better restaurant now.
       
28. Get peach cake from Woodlea Bakery.
    
29. Eat the pumpkin appetizer at the Helmand.
    
30. Eat a Wockenfuss caramel apple! Mmmmm.
    
31. Thin crust pizza! Iggies and Joe Squared.
    
32. Savory muffins at Red Canoe in Lauraville.
    
33. Try some of the special flavors from Taharka Bros. (formerly Sylvan Beach) ice cream and Pitango Gelato.
    
34. Make fun of the hipsters at Golden West and Rocket to Venus in Hampden.
    
35. Have a special occasion dinner at Charleston. Ask Chef Cindy Wolf to fix what she thinks is best that night.
    
36. Change your mind about vegan/vegetarian food at Liquid Earth.
    
    1. I have no idea where Liquid Earth is but I had the same revelation at Great Sage in Clarksville. It counts.
       
37. Try the charcuterie at Clementine.
    
38. Macaroni and cheese with bittersweet chocolate from Jack's Bistro.
    
39. Throw in a shrimp salad from Kibby's and/or Mary Mervis.
    
40. Smith Island Cake, but only from Sugarbakers.
    
41. Gorge yourself on the Monday night all-you-can-eat at Vaccaro's.
    
42. Discuss a bottle of wine with Tony Foreman at Cinghiale.
    
43. Eat roasted vegetables at Donna's ... wearing black.
    
44. Veal Chop at Da Mimmo.
    
45. Bookmaker salad at Sabatino's.
    
46. Get a crab cake and a lemon/peppermint stick at the Flower Mart. Isn't a fabulous crab cake, but even an average crab cake in Baltimore is better than anywhere else!
    
47. Order any sandwich at Trinacria. But no calling ahead to order like I do. You must wait in line for the full effect.
    
48. Order the popcorn and deviled eggs at Woodberry Kitchen. Before your appetizers, not in lieu of.
    
49. Have lunch on the patio at Sanders Corner overlooking the Loch Raven Reservoir.
    
50. Head to Carroll County for the best cream of crab soup at Smokey's BBQ on Liberty Road.
    
51. Stop at DiPasquale's in Highlandtown for their Italian and meatball subs.
    
52. Fried chicken livers from the Lexington Market.
    
    1. Ewww. I watched my mother eat these for years. Not on a bet.
       
53. Bagel with lox and cream cheese or apricot spread from Greg's.
    
54. Sit at the bar at Cinghiale and order anything. Talk to Rob about wine when Tony isn't in town.
    
55. Tamales from the food truck on Broadway.
    
56. Coddies on a cracker from a rowhouse bar.
    
57. Wander aisles of exotic produce - lychees! jackfruit! Indian eggplant! - at H Mart or Lotte Plaza in Catonsville. Eat some yummy bi bim bap or udon soup at the food court and then pick up a beautiful fresh whole fish for dinner before you head home.
    
58. Go to a bull/oyster roast or crab/shrimp feast at any number of Baltimore venues as long as you go to at least one at a V.F.W. hall, American Legion, Steelworkers Hall, fire hall, state park, etc.
    
59. Prime rib at the Prime Rib.
    
60. Greenberg Potato Skins from Prime Rib.
    
61. How about the fried green pepper rings at Gunnings!
    
62. You have to get a Popular Mozzarella Pie from Matthew's Pizza!
    
63. A baloney-wrapped hot dog from Attman's.
    
64. Pit beef from anywhere without a door.
    
65. Late night dinner at the Bel-Loc Diner.
    
66. Eat a "Tour of Samos" at Samos in Greektown (Greek salad, tzatziki and pita, kalamari, spinach pie, chicken souvlaki, dolmades, lamb chops, garlic shrimp, gyro, roasted potatoes).
    
    1. I've eaten all of that many times over at Ikaros.
       
67. Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding at Ale Mary's
    
68. Eat anything on the menu at Andy Nelson's.
    
69. Gravy fries.
    
70. Chicken salad from Graul's Market!
    
71. Old-fashioned Maryland stuffed ham.
    
72. OTTERBEIN'S COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!
    
73. Raw beef and onion sandwich with raw yellow onion and salt and pepper on fresh rye bread (or pumpernickel).
    
    1. This also falls in the "I can't believe my mother eats that" category.
       
74. Buy a crepe at Sofi's and enjoy it while watching a movie at the Charles.
    
75. Naron candy.
    
76. Polish dog with "the works" at Polock Johnny's.
    
    1. Not quite "the works"…
       
77. Italian cold cut sub at Pastore's in Towson.
    
78. WOCKENFUSS CANDIES!!!!!!!!!!
    
79. Order the chocolate-chili bread pudding at the Blue Agave.
    
80. Have a picnic at Fort McHenry.
    
81. Any sandwich from Eddie's in Roland Park.
    
82. String bean rolls at Cafe Zen.
    
83. Garlic fries at Brewer's Art.
    
84. Oysters and beer at Cross Street Market!
    
85. Coffee from Zeke's.
    
86. Smoked platter from Neopol at Belvedere.
    
87. Go to the Wine Market on a Monday night and enjoy a neighborhood discount (extended to all diners).
    
88. Have an ice cream that contains vegetables at Dominion Ice Cream. [Ed.'s note: Now relocated to Hampden.]
    
89. Have Old Bay on things other than seafood. For instance, corn on the cob, potato salad, coleslaw.
    
    1. I rolled goat cheese in Old Bay last night. I wouldn't make chicken salad without it.
       
90. Margarita in a hubcap from Nacho Mama's.
    
91. Take the Clipper City brewery tour.
    
92. Have a Black Eyed Susan cupcake at Charm City Cupcakes. It's one of my favorite things about Baltimore!
    
93. Get fruit and veggies from an a-rab.
    
94. Sip 'n Bite.
    
95. Sip a Bloody Mary with an Old Bay rimmer. I only see this done at Baltimore restaurants.
    
96. Enjoy a meal at Salt.
    
97. Eat the Berger cookie pie at Dangerously Delicious Pies in Federal Hill. A new tradition built on the old.
    
    1. I can't believe I never had this pie. I feel sad.
       
98. Mary Sue Easter Eggs.
    
99. Eat sushi in Towson.
    
100. Wiener schnitzel, red cabbage, and more at Eichenkranz in Highlandtown. The last traditional German food in the city.
     

Baconny Bacon!

I love bacon. I am eternally grateful that I was born and raised in a religion that doesn't forbid the eating of pork because I am fairly certain I would feel a gaping hole in my life where it's salty, greasy goodness should be. When the weather people started predicting apocalyptic amounts of snow recently, the first thing I did was open the freezer and check my bacon supply. I counted 6 different kinds so I figured I just might survive. OK, I confess, it's not so much 6 kinds of bacon as bacon from 6 different sources but each has its own distinct personality.

Double Smoked Bacon from Smokehouse of the Catskills in Saugerties, NY

If I could have only one bacon for the rest of my life, this would be it. Their bacon is so meaty and delicious; it's like eating a piece of pork. It is also an excellent base for any recipe that starts with bacon. My oldest and dearest friend lives in Saugerties. I claim to go visit her a couple of times a year but in reality, I sleep at her house when I go up to get bacon. Luckily, she knows this and understands completely. When she came down for Christmas, she gave me 2 lbs of bacon. I gave her 2 packages of Berger's Cookies. There is a reason we have been friends for 30 years.

Farmer's Market/Butcher Bacon

Unfortunately, the best farmer's market in my neighborhood is n Wednesday afternoon. My boss is unsympathetic to my requests to take the afternoon off to see if there's anything good at the market this week. Fortunately, I work right down the street from a Pennsylvania Dutch Market so every Thursday or Friday, I can pop by and pick up some Amish country bacon.

Thanks to Baltimore Magazine's "2009 Best of" edition, I finally have a butcher. It's no Smokehouse of the Catskills but J. W. Treuth & Sons in Oella comes pretty close. The upside to picking up bacon at a butcher is you can also grab some real ground beef while you are there. Treuth's is so full service they even have an excellent cheddar most days. If only they had hamburger buns and fries, it would be a one-stop shopping experience for one of my favorite dinners.

I have been addicted to Top Chef on Bravo since the first season so when I found myself in the Quarry Lake shopping center with a Fresh Market, I had to check it out. I'm not sure I would want to try and find the ingredients to cater an entire wedding that night in there but they do have Nueske's Applewood Smoked Bacon. Charles Kimball and his merry band of taste testers in America's Test Kitchen rated Nueske's really poorly but can you really trust a guy who cooks in a bowtie? Personally, I love Nueske's.

Supermarket Bacon

Let's face it, sometimes you can't get to the farmer's market, the butcher, or Upstate NY and you have to buy bacon at the grocery store. I keep an eye out for sales on the premium, center cut stuff and stock up the freezer. There are also certain recipes that just work better with grocery store bacon, especially ones that require crumbled bacon like Cheese and Bacon Crackers. The meaty quality of really good bacon actually works against you in that case.

So you see, having 6 kinds of bacon makes perfect sense.

My Very First Chicken and Dumplings

I am lucky enough to work in an office with a cafeteria on site. Even luckier, we have a real chef in the kitchen. Besides the salads and sandwiches, we get three hot entrees every day that are always good but sometimes are outstanding. Case in point, one day Becca made Chicken and Dumplings. My experience with dumplings in the past has been dough lumps roughly the density of a hockey puck floating in industrial gravy. The last time I had them was at IKEA and the sign did not lie. Not these here we had light, fluffy clouds of dough floating in a clear chicken broth. I was in love.

I told Becca how great they were and she claimed they were really easy to make. I did not believe her but she swore up and down. She gave me her recipe and I decided to give it a shot. True to her word, they were really easy! Unfortunately, her recipe also made enough for an army and I only feed two people at a time. After a couple of tries, I got it down to a reasonable portion for the two of us and made some other alterations to arrive at my very own dumpling recipe.

This recipe is an excellent way to use up a rotisserie chicken. Strip off the meat to put in the soup and use the carcass to make the stock. Leftover vegetables also work really well in the soup.

Ingredients

• 2-3 cups chicken stock
  
• ½ cup flour
  
• ¾ tsp baking powder
  
• 2 ½ tbsp cornmeal
  
• 1 tsp sugar
  
• ½ tsp salt
  
• ¼ tsp dried thyme
  
• ¼ tsp dried sage
  
• ½ cup milk or cream
  
• Cut up chicken
  
• Soup vegetables, to taste
  

Directions

Make a pot of home-made stock and get it simmering on the stove in the widest pot you have. Cut up some cooked chicken and throw in whatever soup vegetables you like. If you aren't using leftover vegetables, you might want to throw them in a sauté pan with a little olive oil just to soften them up before you add them to the soup.

Mix the dry ingredients together well. Add the milk or cream and mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.

If you have never made dumplings before, this is the point when you will think you have misread the recipe because you have a loose, gloppy mess. If that's what you have, you made it right.

With 2 large spoons, drop spoonfuls into the simmering broth, leaving a little space between each one. Put the lid on and leave it on for 12 minutes. No peeking!

Scoop the dumplings, chicken, and vegetables into bowls and cover with broth to serve.

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