Old School Thursday: Legislation & Treats Edition

Today is a good one: National Ice Cream Soda Day. Charmingly retro, seasonally appropriate, delicious. Perfect all the way around.

The rest of today’s news is an odd mishmash of Americana. First, today in 1895, a patent was issued for an electric stove. While the electric stove isn’t all that great from a cooking perspective (I use gas), it was an important innovation in household appliances.

In slightly less appetizing news, today in 1906, Congress passed both the Pure Food & Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act. Since I don’t really want to think about what happened to get that law passed – how bad the meat really was – so let’s move on to 1936, when Congress approved the 40 hour work week. No, it’s not food-related, but I couldn’t help but include it because it seems so quaint today. Necessary at the time, for lots of reasons I’m sure, but I certainly know a lot of people who work more than a 40 hour week. I work “part-time” and am also a stay at home mom, and even I sometimes work more than a 40 hour week. So, thanks, Congress?

Finally, today in 1985 was a sad occasion, when James A. Dewar, creator of the amazing and oh-so-American treat known as the Twinkie, passed away.

With all of this, how should you celebrate today? I say, take the day off to celebrate the shorter workweek and have an ice cream soda and a Twinkie for a snack. But maybe skip the meat. I still don’t want to think about the meat.

Things That Taste Good with Orzo

(This post could also be called "Things I Didn't Photograph, or Things I Photographed Poorly")

Rick Bayless's shrimp with spicy chipotle-tomato sauce from the July issue of Food & Wine would be amazing over orzo. That's not how I had it - instead I chopped up the shrimp and turned it into a dip served with tortilla chips. It's pretty amazing, though, and even though it requires a few steps, it's not overly complicated.

Also delicious, and weeknight-with-orzo-friendly, Bon Appetit's chicken with mustard and herbs and sauteed radishes:

I couldn't find any tarragon (at Trader Joe's or Belvedere Square!) so I subbed in basil from my deck. Plus, I was a little low on radishes, but that was OK. This dinner was easy and very, very flavorful. And I actually did serve it with orzo!

Last Minute Throwdown: BBQ-Style

We had some friends over on Saturday for a little party. Since it's barbecue season, and since Cooper's smoker has been our family's new best friend, the menu started with smoked pork.

On Thursday night, I was rummaging around in the refrigerator, trying to make room for all of the ingredients I'd gotten for Saturday, and I ran across a mysterious jar of homemade barbecue sauce. After some reflection, I realized it had been a gift from Mike Roach, one of the guys who works with Cooper, and that we'd never opened it. An idea was born.

When we have pork, Cooper makes his own sauce, plus we usually serve something cheap from a bottle (like Sweet Baby Ray's) or something a little better from a bottle (like Gates). So we've got a few different sauces scattered around the house - mostly tomato-based with a little vinegar thrown in. And where there are a few different options, there's an opportunity for competition.

Five minutes later, I was in PowerPoint, making up scorecards:

We had three categories of judging: sweet/spicy balance, consistency and overall favorite. Everyone picked their favorite for each category.

The tasting was blind, of course, with each sauce in it's own glass jar:

Alicia pegged Cooper's sauce right off - we expected that everybody would know which one was his, since it's much more vinegar-heavy than the other options. Even our guests who'd never had Cooper's sauce commented on how totally different it was than everything else. One of our new friends, the very helpful Bob, mentioned right away that it was pretty "Carolina."

Interestingly, there was a lot of debate about which of the other three came from a bottle. Everyone knew that Sweet Baby Ray's was bottled - that wasn't a surprise. But there was some real discussion about whether Roach's sauce or Gates came from a bottle. Roach admitted to us that his sauce was on the sweeter side - sweeter than he likes - because that's what his wife and daughters prefer. It was popular around here, too, and took home several votes for favorite sweet/spicy balance and favorite consistency.

In the end, Gates was probably the overall winner - it received the most favorite balance and favorite consistency votes - but because we have good friends, Cooper's sauce was the official overall favorite. Everybody had strong opinions, though and each sauce had at least one champion.

I, of course, abstained from the voting. I have to agree with our friend Christine, though. She said that Cooper's sauce is so different from the other options, which makes it good if you're looking for something that's not the traditional BBQ sauce you'd find in Maryland. But sometimes you ARE looking for that type of sauce - and on those days, Gates is my favorite.

But they're all good. Because really, even the worst BBQ is still pretty great.

This Week...

It's been busy this week chez Pollard. Wedding over the weekend, camp all week, deadlines galore, U2 on Wednesday. Plus, in the midst of all that, we've been planning and organizing for a little mini-party on Saturday.

And as part of that planning, Cooper is building me the super-long outdoor table I have wanted forever.

So the table won't be quite that long (the table above is at Blackberry Farm, during this year's Garden & Gun Secret Society Weekend). But it will comfortably seat at least 10 people and with a little effort, even more. Have I mentioned that I'm excited for all the al fresco dinner party opportunities?

Woodberry Kitchen: Amazing All the Way Around

Cooper and I celebrated our 7th anniversary this weekend, while we were at the beach also celebrating Jeff and Christine's wedding. Before we left for the beach, though, we took ourselves out to Woodberry Kitchen for an anniversary dinner.

It was my third visit and Cooper's second. While we both know it's an incredible restaurant, we're not in the habit of going there - if we have a kid-free night, we usually go to Dogwood or Petit Louis or Crush/demi. I'm not sure why, we just do.

I'm so glad we did, though - we had an amazing time, starting with interesting, refreshing and perfectly balanced cocktails (the Govt Mule and the Spring Lane) and ending with a gift of dessert and smooth, sweet Venezuelan rum, which we initially thought was port, from our waiter.

Our waiter, by the way, was knowledgeable and friendly and a pleasure to hang out with. His wine recommendations were informed ("Only Black Ankle wines if you're going local," "I like this Cotes du Rhone - I used to bike past the vineyard when I lived in France") and he gave us great background on the menu.

Speaking of the menu, here's what we ate:

- Smoked onion dip (so smoky!) with homemade potato chips
- Raw rockfish, sliced super thin and sprinkled with radishes, cucumber and salt (refreshing)
- The butcher's platter, filled with house made charcuterie, including head cheese (tasty but too gelatinous for me), melon butter (delicious), pickled red onions and cucumbers (crunchy annd tart), whipped lard (like salted butter, but we kind of got stuck on the word "lard" so we didn't eat much) and a variety of dried meats and porks
- Heirloom tomato salad (the first tomatoes of the year came in earlier that day and WOW did this taste like summer)
- Berkshire pork chop (the ribeye of pork...Cooper ordered this on our waiter's recommendation and was so glad he did)
- Marvesta shrimp with tomatoes and peas in a scampi-like sauce over toast (so flavorful)
- Coeur de la creme with cherries and blueberries (this was on the house, for our anniversary, and we ate every bit, even though we also ordered...)
- Firm, mild Pennsylvania cheese served with salted strawberries
- House-made ice cream made with multiple types of mint (delicious, even though it wasn't bright green, the way I like my mint chocolate chip)

We washed everything down with the aforementioned Cotes du Rhone. Rereading our menu, I realize that I can't really do it justice just by writing about it.

Here's the thing about WK - is it maybe too popular for it's own good? Probably. Too earnest? Definitely. Do the beards and the flannel shirts make it all a little too Brooklyn? Absolutely. But the fact is, they deserve all their accolades - the food really is that good and the service is that well-informed.

I might have been stuffed when I left, but I was ready, immediately, to walk back in and have dinner all over again.

And the Winners Are...

Katie Berman, Elizabeth from Strawberries in Paris and Adam Osborn! They'll be hitting up the National BBQ Battle next weekend!

Katie likes honey-chipotle sauces (edgy!), Elizabeth is a fan of mustard-based sauces and Adam likes Kansas City-style sauces (which makes sense because he grew up there). Thanks so much to everyone who entered...and I'll Facebook the three of you so I can get you your tickets!

Safeway National BBQ Battle: TICKET GIVEAWAY!

Remember the Barbecue Battle on Pennsylvania Avenue that I mentioned yesterday? It takes place in just over a week - on June 25th and 26th - and is sure to be a good time.

Well, the good people at Perdue have given me six tickets to give away to readers! To enter, simply leave a comment on this post, or send me an email at kit at kitpollard dot com, telling me your favorite kind of barbecue sauce - style (tomato, tomato-vinegar, white, mustard, vinegar-pepper...), not brand. Garden & Gun did a recent Facebook survey on this very topic and I want to see how M&G readers stack up.

And if you're at the Festival on Saturday, be sure to stop by Freedom Plaza, where Perdue's corporate chef, Chris Moyer, will be doing a cooking demo on the main stage, and where all day, the company will sponsor a "Sizzlin' Chicken BBQ" Contest. So go by, try some chicken, learn some tips, say thank you...

All entries must be in by 5 PM on Sunday. Winners will be announced on Monday morning.

Good luck!

Old School Thursday: All-American Edition

Today is National Fudge Day and also the Feast of St. Benno, who is the patron saint of anglers. Fudge and fish. Delicious.

Today’s other news all relates to venerable American brands born in the 19th century. First, today in 1893, R.W. Rueckheim invented “Cracker Jack,” which was introduced at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It was R.W.’s brother Louis, though, who fine-tuned the formula into the candy we know today, by figuring out a way to keep the molasses-covered popcorn from sticking together. That happened in 1896…and the toy in the box didn’t arrive until 1912.

Ten years later, in 1903, Pepsi-Cola registered its trade name. At that point, the company was a year old – it’s first year of life it was called “Brad’s Drink” after Caleb Bradham, the pharmacist who developed the formula at his drugstore in New Bern, NC.

And finally, today is August Busch III’s birthday (1937). Busch III was the president of Anheuser Busch until 2002 and and chairman of the board until 2006, when his son (August Anheuser Busch IV, obviously) took the reigns (literally and figuratively – love those Clydesdales). I have a very soft spot in my heart for the Busch family, since through Busch Gardens and Anheuser Busch itself, they’re big supporters of William & Mary. Go Tribe & Go Busch Family!

Going on around Town: This Month

 It's summer, it's beautiful outside and there is a lot going on these days. Here are a few of those things:

• TODAY, June 15th through June 18th: Freixenet sparkling wines has a "Tastings & Tapas" truck roaming around Baltimore. Location details will be on Twitter. I like cava (Spanish sparkling wine) and I like tapas - I also think this is a great idea from a marketing perspective. Freixenet is so ubiquitous and it's been lodged in my mind as a mimosa mixer and not much else. It's been around in the U.S. market since before everybody was making the cava/prosecco/champagne/other sparkling distinction and before Spanish food was super popular. It seems smart to me to refine the brand's position as a cava and to emphasize it's Spanishness by pairing it with tapas.
• June 18th - #1: It's festival season in Baltimore and this weekend offers up a good one - the Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival. It's at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson (3134 Eastern Avenue) and it's free to enter (though you'll have to pay for food, etc.). The festival celebrates all aspects of Maryland living and will feature a ton of music and stuff like decoy-making and boat-building. Most intriguing to me, though, is the food, which will cover the traditional (Smith Island cake), the new traditional (Latin American influences) and food that we don't necessarily think of as Marylandy, but which certainly lives in Maryland (Nepalese). Overall, it sounds like a great time.
  
  

  

  The food at the Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival looks kind of awesome. Photo credit: Shane Carpenter.

  June 18th - #2: The good and hardworking folks at RA Sushi have declared this Saturday "International Sushi Day" and to celebrate, they're offering all of their Facebook fans a coupon for a free Tootsy Maki roll. So get one!
• June 25th and 26th: The following weekend, DC is the place to be, food-wise, as the 19th Annual Safeway National BBQ Battle rolls into town (on Pennsylvania Avenue; Saturday 11 AM-9 PM, Sunday 11 AM-7:30 PM). This is a huge event, featuring a BBQ cookoff between 50 pitmasters, performances by 30 bands, and a whole mess of activities and food to try. The Battle is a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of America - over past years, the event has raised over $1.2 million for the organization, which means you can feel righteous while eating your delicious smoky pork. On top of that, I have it on good authority (my sister, who caught the tail end of last year's battle) that it's both well-run and a great time. Tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for kids (free for kids 5 and under) and may be purchased online (for a discount) or at the gate. OR...I've got a couple of tickets to give away. So look for a giveaway post from me tomorrow.

You know what I like about this picture of last year's National BBQ Battle? You can see the smoke. Photo courtesy of the Safeway 2011 National Barbecue Battle.

•  June 28th, July 18th & August 11th: If you're making plans in advance, pencil in a trip or two to the Maryland Science Center. Throughout the summer, the Science Center is hosting a cooking series called "Beautiful, Delicious, Nutritious." The series, which includes chefs from Antrim 1844, Donna's and Gertrude's, is free to members, or with paid admission. Each demo will focus on healthy cooking and eating - a great fit for the Science Center's exhibit on diabetes.

Speaking of diabetes, have I mentioned what my high school friend Doug Masuik is doing this summer? He's running across the country - from San Francisco to New York - to raise awareness (and money) for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Doug was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was a little kid - he's been managing the disease for most of his life. He'll be the first Type 1 diabetic to run across the country. He's also participating in a ton of events, many of which relate to the JDRF.

So many great events, and so many great causes. It's a busy summer already.

Recently Learned Chez Pollard

1. Gougeres out of a box can be pretty good:

The mix came from Williams Sonoma and yes, it did cost $14, which is a lot for cheese puffs, but I'm not very good with pastry and these were easy and also delicious. So I would totally buy it again.

2. I need to remember that I bought myself some fennel pollen:

A few weeks ago, I went on an Amazon tear, and one of my purchases was a small tin of fennel pollen. Since it's arrival, I've used it exactly once - I sprinkled it on goat cheese for a salad - and it was good, but not earth-shattering. I get the impression it's a bigger deal when paired with meat...so I need to remember to pair it with meat. Also learned: I'm a sucker for trendy ingredients.

3. Ceriello makes a perfectly serviceable cold octopus salad:

While it's not as incredible as the grilled octopus appetizer at The Black Olive (my gold standard), it's got tons of flavor...and it's available 2 miles from my house.

4. Cooper makes a nice sun tea:

He's been adding basil and mint (WOW do we have a lot of mint) and it's delicious. Also learned: Mary really, really, really likes sun tea. She's had more of it than I have.

5. Cooper also makes some nice ribs:

Ribs are pretty ugly - they definitely don't photograph well. But they do taste good.

6. Jamie Oliver knows what he's talking about:

Over the weekend, I reread Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef, which was the very first cookbook I bought when I decided to learn to cook, way back in the spring of 2002. I'm not sure I made much from the book back in those days, but upon a reread, I realized that I've internalized a lot of Oliver's approach (fresh, seasonal, etc. etc.). On Saturday, I made his salsa verde, which is a chimichurri-esque combination of mint, basil, parsley, anchovies, mustard, bread and butter pickles, capers, red wine vinegar and olive oil. He uses it for a variety of foods - I used it to make a warm potato salad to serve with corn and crab cakes. Perfect for this time of year and perfect with the crab.

Then, on Sunday, I took his advice again and topped boiled asparagus with a compound butter made with anchovies, lemon, and red and black pepper. It was surprisingly subtle and a nice alternative to lemon and olive oil or hollandaise.

7. I like Gwyneth Paltrow again:

Back in the late '90s, when Gwyneth was winning Oscars and loving Shakespeare, I was loving her. Sometime after that, though, the love faded. I don't know if it was the macrobiotic diet or the $300 yoga pants in GOOP or what, but something about her turned me off. I know I'm not alone in this.

So it was with some trepidation that I opened the June issue of Bon Appetit, which has Gwyneth's smiling face on the cover. The magazine got a lot of pushback on that cover - and I get it: it's a food magazine, not US Weekly. I also get, though, that a cover featuring a controversial movie star, who also happens to have some genuine food credentials, will a) generate a lot of buzz for a new editor and a magazine that's clearly trying to update its image and b) sell a hell of a lot of that magazine. It's controversial, but I think it was a good call.

Anyway, the magazine arrived while I was in NYC for the weekend with Alicia, visiting her friend Stacy (more on that one day). When I got home, Cooper had already read the whole thing. His response to it was simple: "I like Gwyneth again." I reserved judgment but you know what? After reading it for myself, I liked her again, too. Especially after I made her roasted tomato and anchovy oreganata pasta (above). I made one small adjustment - I pureed the sauce because Cooper doesn't really like whole tomatoes - but otherwise, I followed the very simple recipe exactly. And it was great. Easy, tasty, cheap.

Then I bought her book. And it is just as good as the few articles in the magazine (I've already made the cacio e pepe and it was also super simple).  Plus, as the book is called My Father's Daughter, it focuses on stories about the food memories Gwyneth shared with her late father, Bruce Paltrow, who died from cancer in 2002. There are tons of pictures scattered throughout the book and stories that are both heartwarming and sad. The end result is that Gwyneth comes across as a real person - and someone who is funny and genuinely likable. As in, I would want to be her friend. Even if she was wearing a $150 tank top.

So there it is, all the things I've learned recently, from gougeres to Gwyneth.

The Heat Makes Me Crazy

But it also makes me make delicious drinks - like Planter's Punch from the Peninsula Grill in Charleston (courtesy of Garden & Gun):

I made myself one of those yesterday and it was perfect - refreshing and also as tropical as the crazy steamy weather.

Today, I'm thinking about making one (or two, or three...) of these:

That's the Barefoot in the Park cocktail from The Surrey's rooftop bar (as seen on Tory Burch's blog). It sounds amazing and I'm pretty sure that I even have a bottle of guava nectar lying around here someplace, so I should be able to whip it up without breaking a sweat.

Cocktail-making in the heat isn't really all that crazy. It's practical - staying hydrated and all. What IS crazy, though, is how much the heat makes me want to shop. Right now, I am actively holding myself back from buying a new dress. I don't need a new dress - I have a trillion summer dresses. But it's so hard to remember that when I'm faced with the Milly website. I mean, just look at this:

And this:

It's so hard to say no.

But it is so, so much less spendy to stick to buying ingredients for summer cocktails. I just have to remember that, no matter how much the heat goes to my head!

Old School Thursday: Processed & Automated Edition

Today is National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day – totally appropriate and totally seasonal! Rhubarb is all over the grocery store lately. I haven’t bought any of it because I don’t like to bake and I’m not really sure what else to do with rhubarb…so I just ignore it. But I like the idea!

Today is also about inventions – American food inventions. Today in 1869, Charles Elmer Hires started selling his root beer in Philadelphia. It’s still for sale today.

A generation later, in 1902, the fast food concept was born. Today marks the 109th anniversary of the opening of the first Automat. It was at 818 Chestnut Street and opened by Frank Hardart and Joe Horn. The last Automat closed in 1991, but the concept lives on all over the place, in every fast food place around the world.

A few years later, in 1911, Carrie Nation passed away. Nation was a key figure in the women’s temperance movement, and was known for bashing in saloons with a hatchet. I’m sure she felt that she was doing very important work…but I’m also pretty sure she and I could never have been friends.

Finally, today in 1953, John Kraft received a patent for the manufacture of soft surface cured cheese. Mmm…soft, processed cheese. So gross, but kind of good at the same time. And so very American.

So there it is: root beer, fast food, processed cheese and temperance. To celebrate it all, I’d stick with a nice rhubarb pie.

Backyard Evolution: From Jungle to Patio

Now that summer is here, and I'm all fired up about going outside, I'm so, so thankful for our yard. Not just our yard, either - I'm thankful that last fall, we made the very good decision to have a patio built in our side yard. We've been using it a ton, in kind of a "if you build it, we will use it" way.

When we moved into our house, the side yard (well, most of the whole yard, actually) was a big overgrown mess. Once Cooper started pulling stuff out of the ground, just to clean it up, we realized we had a lot of space on our hands.

The view from our front porch, pre-patio. It was a jungle back there.

One day, our friend/landscaper Chuck came over and we started talking about putting in a little patio - just enough space for a couple chairs and a firepit. Next thing you know, we had much grander plans.

Kyle & Mary's dog Mia was a fan of the construction phase. We had a Bobcat in our yard for, oh, two months. There was a lot to clear (plus, it rained about every other day last fall, making it hard to get anything done).

After some discussion, Cooper and Chuck and I agreed that if we were going to put in a patio, we might as well go big. For a long time, I've had a thing about dinner parties at long tables (evidence here and here). So why not put in a patio that could house a super long table? So that's what we did.

Plus, there's a retaining wall and a walkway and some excellent landscaping (Chuck is great). All of the stone is local and the plants are fairly low maintenance, so we get to enjoy the patio without too much extra work.

Last March, when we used this space for the first time, we comfortably fit about 15 people around the fire. The rock wall adds extra seating - and the rocks retain the warmth from the fire, which means we can use this space most of the year.

This is the view towards the front yard - that's the door Dixon's standing by in the very first picture and the tree to the right is the fig tree that stands outside the window above my kitchen sink (and produces comical amounts of fruit each year).

Next project - which is already underway - is for Cooper to build me that long table. Over Memorial Day weekend, we bought some beautiful sycamore from a guy in Harford County and Cooper has begun the sanding process. Soon, I'll have a ten foot long table, plus benches. Add a few lights in the trees and some pretty table linens and I will be hosting the al fresco dinner party I've been daydreaming about for years!

The United States of Online Dating: Maryland In Words

Last night, my college friend Tricia posted this amazing link on Facebook. An artist named R. Luke Dubois mined data from 20 online dating sites and created detailed maps of the entire U.S., replacing place names with the words most frequently used in the online profiles.

The results are revealing, if not always surprising. LA is Acting, Richmond is...Tobacco.

And Maryland. Maryland is Crabs, but apparently only if you live in a little pocket of Kent Island. Other than that, Maryland is Interesting and Afraid and Give - guess which one of those three is in the middle of Baltimore City. (Interesting is outside DC and Give is Annapolis.)

Here's what the state looks like as a whole:

And here's a close-up of the middle section of the state, where most people live. To give you some perspective, the Bay Bridge is right in the middle, just to the right of Give:

As it turns out, I grew up in a community called Discipline (unsurprising, in so many ways) and now I live in Future. I liked seeing all of Severna Park - Analysis is right up the river from Discipline - and Future seems like a pretty appropriate place to settle down.

I do wonder, though, how Timonium somehow became Epidemiology. Academic? Or just creepy?

Old School Thursday: Cheesy & Boozy Edition

Today is National Hazelnut Cake Day because of course it is. Random, yet delicious.

June 2nd’s other news is also pretty random. Today in 1851, Maine became the first state in the U.S. to ban alcohol, almost 70 years before the 18th amendment kicked off Prohibition on a national level and 82 years before the 21st amendment repealed the 18th. Eighty-two years – that is a long time to be a booze-free resident of chilly, dark Maine!

In other early 20th century news, today in 1928, Kraft’s Velveeta was introduced, filling a vast need for smooth-melting processed cheese.

So today, to celebrate, melt a little cheese and have a drink – because you can.

Baltimore Fish & Chips

Cooper's the one who came up with the title of this post...and the one who caught the fish in question. A few weeks ago, he and his friend Tony went fishing in the Bay. It wasn't the best day ever - certainly not as productive as the time they brought home like 700 pounds of tuna (from Ocean City, right after Hurrican Isabel) - but they caught enough rockfish that we could have a very respectable dinner.

Cooper marinated the fish in garlic, shallots, olive oil, salt, pepper and a bunch of herbs we had in the yard:

Then he grilled it. It doesn't take much to make rockfish good, especially when it's super fresh. I added some green beans and thinly sliced, quickly fried potatoes (my homage to McGarveys) and voila, Baltimore's own version of fish and chips:

Freshly caught fish is so much better than what you buy at the store - even if you buy freshly caught fish, like I usually do (from Conrad's). Even though I'm not the one who was actually out there with a line, the fish tasted better to me because Cooper caught it. 

Hopefully there will be a lot more of this meal this summer. I'm sure Cooper hopes so, too, since more of this means more time on the water for him.