I had the coriander and pepper crusted tuna tenderloin, and it was just amazing. Friend had an amazing looking roast salmon on crab and potato gnocchi. Great wine list too! Just what Baltimore needs, and it's open on a Monday night!
Check them out. It's worth the trip. Four stars for food, three stars for ambiance. The space is very hip, and so is the clientele.
Can we have Daylight Savings Time every weekend? Pretty please? Man - that was freakin awesome to luxuriate in bed for an entire extra hour this morning...
I don't know if it was the awful weather Friday night, or just the end of a very long week at work and the need to do something both mindless, comforting, and creative, but with my London friend down in DC for a couple of days, I had the entire weekend before me to clean, cook and cocoon. She comes back this evening, and I had the overwhelming desire to make comfort food for her and some other friends, and I decided to tackle a cassoulet. I wish you could smell my house right now..... I did try to lighten up the original recipe - which calls for more than a POUND of duck fat and salt pork, and cooking it under a layer of pork fat. That might be rich, but it could also damn near kill you. This takes 2-3 days to make, but the end results are SO worth it! In case you are so inclined....
CASSOULET
2 pounds of White Northern Beans or canellini beans soaked in water overnight. Discard the soaking water, refill with fresh water to cover the beans by 3 inches. Bring to a boil, let beans boil briskly for 15 minutes. Take off heat and let them sit while you assemble the meats.
1 duckling. 4-5 pounds. Remove the giblets, rinse thoroughly, season with salt and pepper and roast at 450' for 45 minutes. It will be underdone, but will get cooked more later. Drain the duck, savings the juices, skim the fat and save, cool it, skin it, and chop the meat. Discard the bones and skin.
Along with the duck, roast 2 pounds of lamb bones in a separate pan(ask the butcher for them).
In a large, heavy skillet, sear the following meats in batches, adding a little duck fat (from the roast), or olive oil as needed to keep from sticking, and put the seared meats in a large bowl to cool. Season the meats with salt and pepper and dust lightly with flour: The duck neck and gizzards, a package of pancetta, 2 pounds of cubed lamb meat, and 2 pounds of cubed pork (I wanted to use rabbit and couldn't find any).
Without cleaning the skillet, add more duck fat if needed, and saute the following vegetables over moderate heat until soft - about 12-15 minutes: 3 large carrots diced, 4 large ribs of celery diced, one large yellow onion, diced, 6+ cloves of garlic finely chopped.
You're gonna need at least an 8 quart casserole dish with a cover for all of this, and heat the oven to 350'. Pour in the beans, add a 14.5 oz. can of diced or stewed tomatoes, 2 bouquet garni tied in cheesecloth, 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, and a teaspoon of allspice. Add the mirepoix, and using a slotted spoon, add all the seared meats, and the lamb bones.
In the skillet, pour 2 cups of vermouth, and all the juices from the seared meats and the duck. Reduce by about a third, and scraped up all the great browned bits from the pan. Add to the beans.
Pour in as much beef stock as needed to just cover the beans (about 4 cups). Cover and cook in the oven at 350' for 2.5 hours. Cool and refigerate overnight.
The next day, remove the cassoulet from the fridge, and dig out the bones, duck neck, and - if you can find them - the gizzards, and discard.
Add the duck meat, and 1 pound of garlic sausage or andouille sliced into rounds. At this point, you can also add the authentic paste made of a pound of boiled salt pork processed into a paste with 3 more cloves of garlic, or you can just add more garlic - which is what I did.
Mix together 4 cups of fresh bread crumbs, one cup of chopped parsley and 2 cups of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle 1/2 of this mixture on top of the cassoulet.
Bake the cassoulet at 350' for 45 minutes.
"Break the crust". Stir the crust down into the cassoulet and spread the remaining topping on the cassoulet again. Some versions of cassoulet require "breaking the crust" up to seven times before it's complete, but since I don't have a pound of pork fat to absorb, I only need to do it twice. If the cassoulet seems too dry for any reason, just add some more beef stock or water. It should have a moist, creamy, stew like consistency, but should not be soupy.
Cook for another 45-60 minutes until the crust is brown and crunchy.
Serve with a green salad, crusty French bread and the best, fruity Cotes du Rhone you can afford.
Oh, and invite a bunch of friends over - this makes a lot (freezes well). Bon Appetite!!
The best thing about Halloween weekend? The endless onslaught of horror and sci-fi movies on cable this weekend. It's a horror smorgasboard. From classics to B-flicks, and aliens to zombies, I'm gonna load the Tivo hard drive till it can't hold anymore......
For reasons too long to go in to here, I am capping off the recent round of dinners and parties this past week by having dinner with this legendary baseball player tonight. Go figure.
In other news, if you haven't already downloaded the newest version of Firefox that was unveiled on Tuesday, and added a couple of their extensions, then you ain't surfin the web.
Sorry internet, but ever since a week ago Thursday, Broadsheet has been busy, busy, busy having fun, fun, fun. With weeknight invitations to a house warming party, followed by the discovery of a GREAT little piano bar called Jay's on Read Street - trust us - you'll love it! From that auspicious beginning, it was a call on Friday that a dear friend would be coming for a weeklong visit from London, a wonderful evening with some wonderful men at a comedy club, and then the Bolton Hill Fall Festival that weekend, along with a lovely dinner party at the neighbors, the arrival of London friend on Wednesday and dinner out, Thursday was a museum tour and exquisite wine tasting dinner at Ixia, Friday was a going away party for neighbors who are moving, Saturday was a trip to the Gem and Jewelry Show and some beers at the Warf Rat, Sunday was shopping and yet another party for a friend who is leaving for North Africa.....whew!!! I haven't been neglecting you internet, I'm just a tad busy right now having a damn good time. Tonight? Dinner out with friends - again. Lather, rinse, repeat!
Charle's Darwin's entire life's work is about to go online.
If that's not proof of evolution, adaptation, innovation and that the internet is the most important invention of the latter part of the 20th century, I don't know what is.
There is no charge to use the website. Most texts can be viewed either as colour originals or as fully formatted electronic transcriptions. There are also German, Danish and Russian editions.
Users can also peruse more than 150 supplementary texts, ranging from reference works to contemporary reviews of Darwin's books, obituaries and recollections.
At the moment the site contains about 50% of the materials that will be provided by 2009, the bicentenary of the naturalist's birth.
I left my pager AND my cell phone on the kitchen island this morning. Now THAT'S gonna drive the cats just bonkers! Can't wait to see how many messages are on them when I get home (the pager and cell phone - not the cats).
In better news, serendipity is arriving in the form of my housekeeper today - one day before I get a houseguest from London. It's a good thing.
2. Put away all the clothes and shoes strewn about the house, and get at least 4 loads of laundry done. - DONE!
3. Unpack from last weekend. - DONE!
4. Get a handle on all the bits of paper and mail that seem to have taken over my kitchen island, the bar cart, my desk, my dresser, and even a small pile on my coffee table. Receipts, bills, invitations, tickets to events, postcards, coupons, letters, junk mail, dry cleaning tickets, etc... It's no wonder that when I went to leave the house last night to go to a neighborhood dinner party, that I grabbed the wrong set of keys off the kitchen island and locked myself out of my own house for the evening. I had to rely on my neighbors for a spare set at 11:15 when I came home. - Not so much
5. Clean the litterboxes and the laundry room. - Out of cat litter - they can wait till I run errands after work tomorrow. I did run the vacuum in the laundry.
6. Put out the trash and recycling. - DONE!
7. Make a healthy dinner. - So, you see, last night, I had an over the top decadent meal at a dinner part in my neighborhood. Yummy, but rich, so I was pretty much going for miso soup and crackers today to make up for it. But my neighbor across the way saw me working in the yard, and asked if I wanted to come over and grill steaks and have a glass of wine at 6:00. There's always tomorrow.
8. Deal with the bills so I know how much I have to live on for the next couple of weeks and avoid using the credit card for anything. (I made an impulse buy at the Festival on the Hill yesterday of a stunning fur trimmed pashmina shawl in red and gold paisely from Kashmir. My credit card is grounded until next month.) - Ummm, didn't make a whole lot of progress here.....
It's 11:00 AM - let's start with a shower and more coffee, shall we?
Well, at 4:30, with an hour and a half to go before I head next door for dinner, I still managed to straighten up a lot, update my computer, and at least make piles out of all the paper. Not too bad, and I got to sleep in and relax this morning.
News Flash! One of my best friends from London is going to pop across the pond on Wednesday for a quick visit before she heads to China for a year or two! Yay!
In other news, if you have a chance to catch Carl Lebove perform anytime - take it. We saw him at Rascal's Comedy Club last night and he was frikkin hilarious. Very funny stuff. Apparently he's been on Leno a lot, but he is just a very funny man.
If you're out and about and looking for something to do today - stop by the 52nd Annual Festival on the Hill right here in good ol' Bolton Hill for some great food and music. It's gorgeous out - come on - you know you want to!
After last year's monumentally bad Friday the 13th, in which I got a speeding ticket, a flat tire, and was in a bank robbery all before 1:00 PM, I've been a little gun shy of this day.
Well, today is auspicious already. I got out of the shower and the power went out. I swear BGE hates my street. Our power goes out for no reason at least once a month. Anyway, I got dressed in the dark, put my makeup on by candlelight and came into work with sopping wet hair in 37 degree weather. Yay.
Then, just for laughs, I stopped for coffee. Turns out I grabbed a slightly mishapen paper cup that wouldn't allow the lid to fasten securely, and immediately spilled blistering hot coffee on my hand, the cuff of my fresh from the dry cleaner suit jacket, and across my pants. Yay.
And at 10:00, I have a meeting with the CEO of our entire health system to discuss a $3.5 million project with bad hair and coffee stains on my suit. Yay. I'm just sure that's going to go well.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE: The meeting was both better and worse than I hoped. We are 3 weeks away from kicking off a major construction project, and in order to do it, I need to move about 20 people into temporary "swing space" for the duration of construction. Now, they tell me that there is no good, permanent location for these people on campus after construction, and they want me to completely redesign some space off campus to put them. The alternative space is much larger and has some strong advantages to the space we were going to build, but after 6 months of architectural meetings and trying to get consensus from a group of very strong willed individuals, it's like going back to square one. I'm also pretty sure that I am not going to get more than the $3.5 million originally budgeted for this project, and once again will have to paint a 3 bedroom house with one bucket of paint. I'm really glad it's Friday. Even if it is the 13th.
I'm going to a comedy show with a few characters that might also be bloggers (even if only when they challenge each other to post things) this evening. If nothing else, I've got a few good laughs to look forward to tonight.
On the occasion of the Contemporary Museum's fall exhibition, Girls' Night Out, The Wine Source and IXIA Restaurant, Lounge, and Bar team up to present a food and wine-lover's delight. This evening will begin with a special viewing of Girls' Night Out followed by a presentation of wines created by women vintners paired with an exquisite IXIA tasting menu. This evening begins at 7:00pm with the first course and wine pairing at the Contemporary Museum, the evening then continues in the Lounge at IXIA. Tickets are $90 for members, $100 for non-members.
Many of you may have heard this story, but my Dad sent it to all his daughters, and I thought it was not only sweet, but very apt:
Women are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy. The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right man to come along, the one who is brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.
Now Men.... Men are like a fine wine. They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to stomp the shit out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.
Going on about 10 years now, our family has carved out Columbus Day weekend as a fall getaway for the family. At first, we tried a few locations in the Shenandoah mountains with varying degrees of success. From major floods to snowstorms, it was not exactly relaxing. After the last trip ended with a surprise early fall snowstorm, my mother gashing her head and bleeding all over the place, a whopper of a storm resulting in a power outage at the cottage, burning dinner in the fireplace as a result, raccoons getting into the cooler, and smoke backing up into the cabin, we decided that less rustic, closer, accomodations were in order.
So...for the last 8 years, we have been renting a very large, very posh, house in Deep Creek, Maryland. There are 11 of us: parents, kids, in-law and progeny. For the first few years, we tried out a couple of different houses, but soon discovered that we enjoyed a mountain top view overlooking the lake, and settled on one house in particular, or the one nearby.
Columbus Day weekend in Deep Creek never dissapoints. The leaves are at their peak colors, the weather has been largely WONDERFUL, and we hike, play games, cook, put together puzzles, watch football, take the kayak out on the lake, and just generally hang out. We are also rabid readers, and a large amount of time is spent on the deck polishing off books.
The entire family looks forward to this weekend together more than just about any other time of the year - including Christmas. I know I do.
And after today, a four day weekend in the mountains is just what the doctor ordered.
I hate full moons. Full moons and hospitals do not historically get on very well with each other. Stuff happens.
I like my job. A lot. I really do. But I just had to fire someone this morning and it was ugly. And sad. And upsetting. My stomach is still in knots. And as soon as it was over, another key employee informed me that he was resigning. It's a good opportunity for him, doing something very different than what he does here, and I can't match the opportunity in our environment. I wish him well, but it sucks. Just sucks. He was a keeper.
In better news, I am off to the mountains this weekend to hang out with my family, and will not have to deal with any of this until next Tuesday.
I woke up with a sore throat this morning. Not the, "oh crap, I'm coming down with something", kind of sore throat. More like a really painful soft palate that indicates, "holy shit, I must have snored like a banshee last night".
It was really pretty last night wasn't it? Nice enough to have all the windows in the house open?
Yeah.
So to all my neighbors who called 911 thinking they were hearing someone being murdered in their sleep last night?
My buddy Jwer lamented about this exact issue over on his blog the other day. Perhaps if I send him some traffic, he'll post more frequently. The most poignant, and relevant comment on his post is from our Scottish friend, Campbell.
Sad does not begin to describe it. One of my alltime favorite books as a kid is 84 Charing Cross Road. To this day I want to own and read the entire Pepys Diary. I couldn't have been more than 14 years old when I read Charing Cross for the first time, but it totally validated all the thoughts and feelings I had on the importance of literature and the NEED to read the things that were important to you. Not just a desire to read, but a real, and pathological NEED. Like air, food, water = books. It also set forth an example of being able to search out these pieces, sometime obscure, through second hand shops and specialty bookstores, which has become a great hobby.
When I finally got to London, one of my first stops was Charing Cross Road, but I had also taken great pains to highlight all of the major London Booksellers in my travel guide so that I could stop in and have a glance. The predominant ones are still there, Blackwell's, Foyle's, Hathchard's but have all been commercialized to one extent or another (proven by their on line presence). I do sympathize with the fact that far, far, more books are published now than ever before, and maintaining an adequate inventory of them in 19th century space is problematic at best.
I shipped home an entire carton of books from that visit, that I knew I couldn't get here, but I can see the effect that commercialization and corporations are having, and it makes me very sad indeed.
It's the same in the music industry as well. Instead of spending a rainy afternoon combing the back stacks of a used book or record store, it's now all on e-bay or Amazon.com. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE them both for doing exactly that, but I still love the ability to sift through stacks for an afternoon looking for new and old friends, and feeling them in my hands.
I did that today, and it was terrific, and I found some gems, but it is also exactly why, after looking for it for nearly a month, I reluctantly ordered a copy of this book from Amazon.
As I grow older, I am constantly amused and amazed by the sheer diversity, height, and enormity of my friend's achievements, actions, and accomplishments. There are very few less amazing or accomplished than those of my friend and neighbor, as co-lyricist for this latest NYC production.
I would be remiss in recognizing his talent, without mentioning his equally talented and accomplished husband, who might be the owner and entrepreneur of this place.
But this could all be a rumor, so never you mind.
Well done gentlemen, and hugs all around.
PS - and an extra special belly rub to you, Goblin Fu.
Listen, I hope the guy gets all the help he needs, and I'm sure he's going through the worst time of his life right now, but since when did AA start treating pedophilia? And since when is alcoholism a root cause of pedophilia? If anything, in his case, I think it's probably the opposite. If he needs to clear up one disease to treat another, fine, but he needs to address both issues.
Sometimes, I think rehab is a convenient place for these people to avoid the immediate media scrutiny post scandal versus the need to get treatment. I'm sure they need the help, but in 6 weeks, a lot of this will have died down, and he'll have sobered up.
UPDATE: Oh, it just gets worse....Wonkette is now reporting that Foley may be at a Scientology Rehab Center in Clearwater, FL. That would be the same group of cult nutcases who claim to be able to "cure" homosexuality and don't believe in modern psychiatry. Way to make a crazy loon even crazier.....
In today's Slate Magazine, Will Saletan's has a beautiful double entendre use of 'Roe', and his take on two bills currently in the House of Representatives aimed at not criminalizing, but significantly reducing abortions through better support for women to carry unwanted pregancies to term, and increasing access to contraception.
The pro-lifers are balking because they see increased access to contraception directly correlated to more sex and therefor, more abortions.
Does the increased risk from more sex outweigh the decreased risk from more protection? Do the math. On average, contraception lowers your odds of pregnancy by a factor of seven. If you're capable of having seven times as much sex, congratulations. The rest of us will get pregnant less often, not more.
And while we're on the topic, could someone explain to me why the Catholic Church and other Fundamentalist Christian groups oppose the morning after pill? In theory, it's supposed to prevent the implantation of a fertilized embryo. Ever hear of BREAST FEEDING?? Same diff. I doubt that they'll be rushing to prevent that any time soon.
So, I made some new friends over the weekend. Of the human variety, I had a BALL with the girl from Sydney at the Live Baltimore booth at the Book Festival. Funny, bright, loud and crazy, an Aussie who has thrown her heart and soul into loving her adopted hometown. There will be definite hanging outs in our future! And let's not forget the crazy Cantonite by way of Minnesota, who also worked the booth with us. Hope you find a job you love, and the perfect plate of bad-for-you-but-oh-so-good festival food in the future. Really fun girls.
Of the book variety, you'll be happy to know I did NOT purchase any cookbooks! Yeah me! Instead, I picked up a biography of Borges, because I never have enough unread biographies cluttering my shelves, and I also picked up Jose' Saramago's book The Double, which I nearly finished yesterday. I didn't find it quite as compelling as Blindness, but he's a treat to read. Don't get discouraged by the overly prosaic style in his first 20 pages or so, and approach the digressions in his work as side trips in context. With that in mind - great, great writer.
And just for the fun of it, I grabbed Susan Vreeland's The Forest Lover, not just because I enjoyed her previous work, The Girl In Hyacinth Blue, but more because the novel is about the Canadian artist and iconic feminist, Emily Carr. I had the pleasure of seeing many of Carr's works at the museum in Montreal last year, and fell in love with her style and her story. Can't wait to sit down and dig in to this one.
A random shot across the park from the Live Baltimore booth at the Book Festival yesterday. The sun actually peaked out late in the afternoon for a little bit. This is most definitely one of my favorite pieces of architecture in all of Baltimore.
In a bold scheme carried out over decades, two respected priests are accused of stealing more than $8.6 million in cash from the collection plates at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church to bankroll lavish secret lives that included steady girlfriends, investments in property in Florida and Ireland and gambling junkets to casinos in Las Vegas and the Bahamas.
