Update

Here's an update from us here at City Share:

I came down with a horrible cold and cough accompanied by a fever the day before my birthday. Not only was I sick for five days and feeling miserable, but we had company for three days in the middle of it. Nothing like plodding around in my giant grey sweatpants and fleece with uncombed hair to get to know someone better. Being pregnant and sick is the worst combination.



Luckily, I recuperated in time for our babymoon to Baltimore. I wasn't up to full speed, but good enough to be able to walk around and enjoy some good food. I highly recommend Baltimore for a weekend getaway. Don't let The Wire scare you off. There are some lovely historic neighborhoods. We had fun taking the water taxi around the harbor, visiting the American Visionary Art Museum, visiting The Walters Art Museum and just walking around checking out the different neighborhoods. Of course we had to eat while we were there too. My husband has a friend from high school who lives in Baltimore, and he was kind enough to come up with a whole list of restaurants in a variety of neighborhoods for us to try. I'm allergic to shellfish, but my husband indulged in the requisite crab cakes (he actually thinks they are kind of boring, but the raw oysters were right up his alley). We sampled some delicious Afghan food in the Mount Vernon neighborhood at The Helmand, and some solid pub fare at Alexander's Tavern in Fells Point. It was a great getaway and only a 2.5 hour train ride from New York City.

We will be away this weekend for Easter, but then we will be settling in for the duration until the baby comes. Our new addition is due to arrive at the end of June. I'm looking forward to being home after a couple of weekends with guests and a couple of weekends away. We hope to be preparing lots of healthy treats, and maybe even putting some up for when the baby comes.

This post is part of Alphabe-thursdays.

Babymoon

Have you heard the term "babymoon?" I think it's a relatively new term to describe a trip you take before the baby comes. I know that some people head out to luxurious tropical location, but we are sticking a little closer to home. We are wanting to save our vacation time and just go away for a weekend, so we were looking for a place within 3 hours of New York City, a bit warmer than home and affordable. Just to further complicate things - we don't have a car. We landed on Baltimore. It's not exotic, but it is a change of scenery, and I have never stayed there before.

Here is my question: Do you have any suggestions for restaurants in Baltimore? We will probably hit at least one crab place for my husband, but I'm allergic to shellfish, so other suggestions would be great. Breakfast places? Local food?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday, Tip Day Thursday, Pennywise PlatterThursday, and Frugal Food Thursday.

Boston, Part II

As much as I like to search out restaurants with nice atmosphere and delicious food, sometimes it comes down to location. We didn't get in to Boston until 8:30 PM, so we looked for a seafood restaurant close to our hotel in the financial district that was still serving dinner at 9:30. It came down to Union Oyster House. I read some reviews and they weren't the best. People said the service wasn't friendly, the food was OK, but overpriced. But we were undeterred, and went there any way.

It claims to be the oldest restaurant in America, and has the ambiance to match. The food was simple, but good. I had the broiled scrod with boiled salt potatoes, and my husband had a small lobster with broccoli. It wasn't inexpensive, but the prices weren't shocking.


Sunday morning, we were looking for a breakfast place near Old South Meeting House when we came across Emmet's Pub. We both ordered the Irish breakfast which included the Irish bacon, sausages, black and white pudding, grilled tomato, two eggs served with home fries. The black and white pudding was excellent. I highly recommend Emmet's for a hearty breakfast before a busy day of sightseeing.

Boston, Part I

We are so spoiled. We have been eating lots of delicious homemade food prepared with fresh local ingredients. We are accustomed to vibrant tomatoes bursting with flavor; nutty, whole grain breads with naturally fermented starter; and creamy fresh mozzarella from the Italian cheese shop down the street. All these foods have raised our standards.


We were in Boston over the weekend to visit family and do some sightseeing. We had a great time. The weather was gorgeous and provided the perfect backdrop for 2 days of walking and seeing the sights. We always keep an eye out for local institutions to try. We were looking for some food to take on the road when we came across Cardullo's in Harvard Square. We were excited to explore the old school deli and charming gourmet food shop. Unfortunately, the sandwiches were a bit disappointing. We chose Caprese and Italian sandwiches. The tomatoes were green in the center which was a shame because it was the centerpiece of the Caprese sandwich. The Italian had a variety of meats and lots of hot peppers. Both were solid, and made a good dinner for our trip back to New York, but they didn't beat sandwiches we had at home.

All in all, the next time we are in Boston I would still peek in the store to see what's on the shelves, and I would try another sandwich. There was one with pate and figs that was intriguing.

Angelo's of Mulberry Street

We live very close to Little Italy in New York City. Little Italy is a busy, touristy area with hawkers out in front of the restaurants pressuring passersby to eat dinner in their establishment. Most of the places are almost interchangeable because they all have menus serving the same Italian-American classics. We have eaten at a couple of places when we have family in town, but we are never sure where to go because they all blur together. Once we tried asking an old-timer from the neighborhood which restaurants were the best and he refused to answer the question. We asked which ones to avoid, and he replied, "I don't know you. I don't know who you know." He went on to explain that there are a lot of "wise guys" in Little Italy and he didn't want it getting around that he was suggesting one restaurant or bad mouthing another. I think of the mob as a thing of the past; something that died away in the 1960s or 70s. Is it still around today? I don't know, but it was fascinating to hear the old-timer's concerns. Just in case, I'm not going to say anything negative, but I will give a recommendation.



Last night we got home from work, and the apartment was hot as Hades. Neither one of us could imagine cooking, so we decided to go out. A friend of ours has been harassing us to try Angelo's and last night we acquiesced and gave it a try. We ended up sitting in a funny little room in the back, it was a little tight, but it was fine. The service was impeccable and the food was even better. I wish I had photos of our meal, but we were sans camera last night and the cell phone pictures just didn't do the food justice (the phone cameras don't do well in low light).

We started with Carpaccio Veneziana which included thin slices of raw fillet of beef served on a bed of arugula dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette, capers and generous curls of Parmesan cheese. The combination of peppery arugula, the tangy capers and the pungent flavor of the cheese with the paper thin slices of tender beef was amazing. We chose Rigatoni Del Montannaro for our pasta course. This dish is a Wednesday night special and was described as rigatoni with sausage and wild mushrooms in a special sauce. The waiter came out with two large bowls for us; it was hard to believe that this was a single serving split in half. Ahh, heaven in a bowl. It turns out that the special sauce included tomatoes, cream and cognac. It reminded me of a really good vodka sauce. Delicious! For the meat course we chose the Scaloppine di Vitello Caprese. The thin slices of veal sauteed with asparagus, zucchini and artichoke hearts were lovely and fresh. I was stuffed by this point, and it was a hard for our taste buds to appreciate the delicate flavor after the big showy flavor of the tomato cream sauce with sausage and wild mushrooms. I could only eat three bites of the meat course and then I had to take the rest home. I packed up the leftovers over lettuce for today's lunch and it was fabulous. I ate it cold and the artichoke flavor really came through.

Angelo's gets an A. It's a great place to go for a treat.

Oyster Bay

We took a day trip to Oyster Bay today. We had fun walking around, seeing the town, visiting Sagamore Hill , swimming and trying out the local cuisine. It was a hot one, so the swimming was definitely the highlight.

We picked a place for lunch that looked fitting for Teddy Roosevelt's former home, Canterbury's Oyster Bar. It had dark wood trim, fish prints, historic photos of the village, a bison head, etc. I expected the menu to offer some great seafood and steak options. They did have a few promising options, but they also had some unusual pairings like a swordfish sandwich with hummus, guacamole and bacon. Really?

This was my salad. Beautiful, right? It was kind of flavorless, but it gave me some inspiration for something I could make at home that would be even better.

My husband chose the clam roll. I'm allergic to shell fish, so we never really have it at home. When we are at the shore, I always encourage him to get shellfish (partly to ease my conscience that I'm not depriving him). This was not the treat I was hoping for. He said it reminded him of a school lunch (apparently they got clam rolls for school lunch).

Canterbury's gets an A+ for ambiance, but only passes on the food.

Bread

Yesterday, we came home to a miserably hot apartment. We hadn't had a chance to go grocery shopping and had no food at home. We decided to head out and try Bread, a place that had been recommended to us.

We ordered Greek Olive Tapenade Tartines for our first course. The presentation was unimpressive, but the olive tapenade was tasty. I've decided that I like tapenade a bit chunkier. I think I would pass on this the next time around and save space for some of the other amazing dishes.

Next we tried the Smoked Salmon Carpaccio. I often don't liked smoked foods especially anything with a fake smoke taste. In this dish, the smokey salmon flavor was delicious because it paired nicely with the peppery arugula, the bite of the radishes, and the lemon dressing. We both greatly enjoyed the dish.


Last but not least we tried the Meat Balls served with potatoes and peas. Ahh. They were good! The only critique would be that they were really hot and probably better enjoyed on a cold winter day, but that's our fault. The tomato sauce had a great rich, meaty taste. I only wish we had more bread to sop up every bit of it.

A Day of Eating

We always seem to eat a lot when we are visiting family and friends. There are restaurants we want to try, old favorites to revisit, and lots of people to eat with. Yesterday we started out with some homemade egg and chorizo burritos. The chorizo came from a Phoenix institution called Schreiner's Fine Sausage. They have traditional German sausages in addition to sausage inspired by Portugal, Spain, England and Mexico. Everything is homemade and delicious. We sauteed the chorizo until it was cooked through and added scrambled eggs. Cooked it until the eggs were dry and wrapped up the mixture in a tortilla. It's a breakfast treat that's quick and easy to prepare.

For dinner we headed over to a new restaurant, Hula's Modern Tiki, to meet friends. They had a wide selection of offerings that included lots of fish, burgers and Polynesian inspired plates. I had their fish tacos with a tiki twist and my husband had Duke's Luau Pork Plate. Both of our meals had their coleslaw (mine was in the tacos and his as a side), and it was great. It started with a typical coleslaw recipe, but added ginger. I plan on recreating it at home.


After spending an evening visiting with friends, we stopped for ice cream at Mary Coyle's on the way home. This is another Phoenix institution, and I have great memories of going there after choir concerts and dance performances while I was growing up. All the girls would pile in one booth and our parents would be in a booth a few spots away. We loved getting to feel grown-up with a booth of our own and the old-fashioned ice cream parlor feel. Today I love the delicious ice cream and the good memories associated with the place. The ice cream is all made on site, and is rich, creamy and not too sweet (the menu brags that it has 16% butterfat content). My husband and I each got our favorite flavors, peanut butter crunch and peppermint chip. Lots of places only make peppermint chip at Christmas time, but Mary Coyle's serves it year round, and it is the perfect way to finish a hot Phoenix summer day.

Matt's Big Breakfast

Can you tell where we are? We arrived in Phoenix, AZ late Thursday night. Yesterday, we woke up bright and early (because we are still on east coast time), and headed over to my favorite breakfast place, Matt's Big Breakfast. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the place is tiny! They have tables to seat about 20 and then counters that seat 10 more. They serve simple food with high quality ingredients, and they do it really well. I wanted to make sure we got there Friday morning because on the weekend there is usually 1.5 hour wait to get in. We got there at 8:00 on Friday and waited 20 minutes - not too bad.


My husband got the breakfast sandwich with thick-cut peppery bacon, grilled onions and scrambled eggs on a lightly toasted challah roll. I had a taste and it was delicious. We split a side order of hash browns because they are a must! They are cooked in butter and have the perfect crunchy crust with a nice soft inside.


I usually order the special when we to to Matt's because it generally includes eggs with some type of green chilies and chorizo. This is just the type of breakfast an Arizona girl living in NYC craves. But yesterday's special was less alluring to me, a Denver omelet made from eggs, ham and green pepper. So I finally took advantage of the opportunity to try their famous waffles. They make the batter in small batches all morning because they actually use beaten egg whites to create light, fluffy waffles. My father and I both had them, and they didn't disappoint. They were served with real butter and maples syrup and the delicious thick-cut bacon.

The next time you are in Phoenix it is worth a trip downtown to get breakfast at Matt's.

Day Off

Yesterday we didn't prepare anything from our CSA share. We had family in town and ended up eating out for all of our meals. However, the meals out and about are worthy of mention.

The first stop was brunch at Public. We have walked by there plenty of times, and I have even read the menu on several occasions, but I was never really tempted to stop. For some reason, we popped in yesterday on a whim and it exceeded our expectations. It was delicious!


I ordered the Crispy pork belly with poached eggs, potato hash, buttered spinach, roasted tomatoes and a harissa hollandaise. The sauce was amazing, and at some point I will try to recreate it.


My husband was much more sensible and got the Salad of herby lentils, green beans, avocado, toasted pecans & baby gem with pomegranate molasses and avocado oil vinaigrette. (The descriptions are just too good. I had to quote them.) I guess my palate is unsophisticated because the dressing just tasted like balsamic vinaigrette. Luckily, this will make it much easier to recreate.

For dinner, we met up with family for Vietnamese food at Bao Noodles. I was too embarrassed to take photos, so you'll just have to trust me that the grapefruit salad and Bún ga nuong (grilled chicken vermicelli) were the perfect meal for the end of a hot, humid weekend. After dinner we strolled through Stuyvesant and Union Squares, and arrived at Crumbs. I never really succumbed to the cupcake craze- I didn't have the budget or extra inches in my waistband- so the selection was a little overwhelming to me. After much deliberation, I decided on the red velvet cupcake. I actually found it disappointing. I was looking forward to some rich cream cheese frosting, but instead it was slathered with a disappointing sugary butter cream. This really worked out well because now I'm not dying for a repeat visit.

Tomorrow we return to the tale of our CSA share.