Drink Crush: Limoncello Collins

I am feeling sunny as anything today - and that is only partly related to the weather gods finally granting us a brief reprieve from the constant rain.

It's also because I have big plans today: instead of work, work, working, I'm heading to Black-Eyed Susan Day with a handful of fun ladies. Then, for the rest of the weekend, I plan to relax, watch some lacrosse and horses, and generally enjoy myself.

Last weekend, I did a lot of the same (minus the horses). On Saturday, we had an impromptu dinner party that turned into a rager (the kind that involves a bunch of kids ten and under...so I'm using that term loosely).

The night kicked off to a promising start with a big batch of Limoncello Collinses, made from this Food and Wine recipe. They're a fantastic batch drink and so delicious. Also, dangerous. They're like massively alcoholic sunshine in a glass.

Last week was my second time making them. I also made a batch for Mother's Day, when we had my parents and grandmother over for dinner. A meal that turned into...well, it wasn't a rager, but Cooper and I did stay up way too late for a Sunday, drinking and listening to music and talking about how lucky we are to have such a great kid.

If you're looking for an easy to make, truly tasty summertime cocktail, this is your drink. Even non-gin drinkers like it. The only catch is that you have to prepare it a couple hours in advance, so it can settle into itself.

But if you can handle that...watch out. It's a treat.

Closing Out 2015: Stuff I Loved at the End of the Year

As is often the case, I've got a list of posts-to-write that's a mile long. Over the past two months, especially, I've done a million fun things and eaten some great food and while some of it has made its way to Instagram or Facebook, I'm way behind on actual blogging. I managed to write about a couple fun nights...but I'm still way behind.

And that means a roundup post. Here's what else I've been up to - the good stuff - since November:

Wine Tasting at Tarara

 In mid-November, to celebrate my friend Mandy's 40th birthday, a small crew headed to north-central Virginia for a day of wine tasting. Her husband, Oliver, organized it and chauffered, and he did a bang-up job of both.

The best part of the day was the serious tasting at Tarara in Leesburg. Not only were the wines we tasted really nice, the setting is beautiful and the overall experience there is super thorough. The selection, which started with sparkling then made its way through whites and reds, ending with dessert wine, was paired with four diverse cheeses - and a lot of education. I've done a decent amount of wine tasting, but I still learned some things.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Cooper and I alternate families for Thanksgiving; this year, we were at my parents' house, and so were my brother and sister (and Cail and Clark).

Thanksgiving always - always - involves a round of mid-afternoon oysters. Mostly, we stick with Oysters Waskom, our fine-tuned family specialty. As a family, we are pretty locked into tradition. My mom made a new sweet potato recipe this year and there was very nearly a revolt. But as long as we have a couple dozen Waskoms available, we're also open to trying a new approach or two.

This year, my parents worked hard to replicate a dish they'd had in September, when they celebrated my mom's birthday with Erin and Clark at L'Auberge Chez Francois in Great Falls. The oysters - topped with bearnaise and grilled a little (but not too much) impressed them so much.

At home, they needed some tinkering. My mom made the bearnaise the day before Thanksgiving, so it would have time to solidify in the refrigerator, but even the next day, she worried that it was a little too thin. Plus, we grilled the first batch of oysters a little too long - they weren't overcooked, but the bearnaise melted and disappeared.

With adjusted cooking times for the second batch, though, we had it. (And by "we" I mean my dad. All I did was plate and eat.) They were awesome. And pretty:

The day after Thanksgiving, as is our tradition, the family, including both baby Virginia Catherine to 97 year old Nan, went to Petit Louis for lunch. It was, as always, excellent. I love the whole menu, but there is nothing like PL's pureed soups. I had a cream of cauliflower that was unreal. Just perfect.

40th Birthday by Clementine at Church and Company

A couple weeks after Thanksgiving, party season got serious Chez Pollard. Cooper turned 40 on December 12th and I followed ten days later, on the 22nd.

After much, much discussion, we decided to throw ourselves a party. (I'm not sure why it required so much discussion. That was obviously what we were always going to do.)

Instead of doing something at home, we rented out Church and Company, an insanely cool event space in an old church in Hampden. Alex, the guy who owns the space (and who rehabbed it himself) might be the nicest person in the world - and he has such a solid eye for design.

Since our party was just before Christmas, the space was all kinds of decked out with garlands and trees and candles. It was just gorgeous.

There was never any question about what we'd do for food - the whole reason we decided not to cook ourselves was that we wanted Clementine to cater. Unsurprisingly, everything from the pickled oysters to the charcuterie (heyyyy chicken liver pate) to the basil lime elixir was incredible. Plus, Alicia made us mint chocolate chip cupcakes and our friends got us a cake from Graul's - both of which were awesome.

It wasn't just Clementine's food that was great - it was the people, too. Especially Cristin, who realized we were wrong when we told her we didn't want to hire a bartender. She gracefully let us make that choice...then stepped in and tended bar at the last minute (with Alex's help). She was right, I was wrong, and she didn't even say, "I told you so."

Overall, the night was kind of ridiculous. On one hand, I felt silly throwing such an intense party just for our birthdays. Between the space, the catering and the guest list, which covered family and friends from all parts of our lives, it was like a small(ish) wedding. On the other...it was so great I didn't really care. It was a blast.

40th Birthday at McGarvey's...and More

But here's where things get really ridiculous. The Friday night party in Baltimore was just round one.

The party continued on Saturday, when I made my annual birthday trip to McGarvey's. I've been celebrating there since I turned 21...and party in Baltimore or no, I was not about to break that tradition. Instead, I upped the ante.

Most years, we just have lunch or brunch or drinks in the bar, wherever we happen to fall. This year, since it was a big one, I reserved the upstairs space from 4 to 6 p.m.

I'd never been up there before - it's only open for private parties - so even just walking up the steps was a total thrill. It's not a terribly big space - it holds about 30 people, standing - but it is comfortable and has a great view of Dock Street and of the back room in the bar itself.

Saturday's crowd was more Annapolis-oriented - my high school friends and family (including the ones who live in Virginia), plus Mike and Alicia from Baltimore and Stacy, who came down from New York just for the parties. Unfortunately, we were missing not only Bill and Kyle and Mary but also Cooper, who got sick at the end of the week. He powered through Friday night like a champ...but just couldn't do it on Saturday. Sad, but understandable.

Ultimately, that meant more oysters, crab balls and crab cakes for us. That's what we ate at McGarvey's (along with many, many Aviators, their house beer). Those are McG's strengths - and they did them well.

We were all also super impressed with the service. We had one young waitress, who hustled up and down the steps and kept drinks in everybody's hands for two straight hours. She was such a pro.


Once the upstairs party ended, we migrated downstairs for a couple more drinks and to figure out a plan of action. Our goal was to drink our way up Main Street, following the path of a long ago bar crawl that Bert and Rob and I did, and to still be standing strong, ending at Harry Browne's, at midnight, when Bert turned 41.

Spoiler alert: we made it.

But we knew, if that was going to happen, we needed sustenance. Bert scoped out the options for a group our size and we ended up upstairs at Middleton's, where everyone scarfed down burgers, crab cakes...and oyster shooters.

As my sister said, if it was good enough for Ben Franklin, it's good enough for me.

Next, we classed it up with Natty Bohs and a Bud Light tower at Acme, which was so, so, so crowded, even at 8:30. It was kind of weird, being there without anyone using a fake ID.

Note: that is Alicia.

After Acme, we made two more quick stops - Treaty of Paris, which was a bit of a snoozer, and Galway Bay, which was packed and super festive - before finally stumbling into Harry Browne's.

As a general rule, when I go out in Annapolis with my high school friends, that's where we end the night. It's such a nice bar, so it's always kind of funny to roll in there after watching people spill beer all over each other at Acme or wherever.

As soon as we walk in, we always start upgrading our drinks - and making a mess. I switched to wine and Alison ordered a martini, which she promptly spilled everywhere. Rasim ordered a pile of food and I ate an entire plate of calamari by myself. Hot.

Then, we went home (or back to the O'Callaghan Hotel, in my case) and slept it off. What a night.

Even More 40th Celebrating

What's funny (maybe?) is that wasn't even the end of it. The next morning, Mike, Alicia, Stacy and I had an awesome breakfast at Iron Rooster in Annapolis. Their homemade pop tarts really are no joke.

And then, on my actual birthday - which was a Tuesday - Dixon and Cooper and I had dinner at Grano Emporio in Hampden.

I had veal marsala and it was lovely. Cooper and I also split a carafe of Montepulciano and I remembered that I so love restaurants that still sell wine in carafes. They remind me of when I was a kid, going out to dinner with my parents.

And then, finally, the birthday celebrating came to an end.

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve

But just a few days after my birthday, we were back on the party train with Christmas Eve dinner at our house (first time ever! Meat...obviously.) followed by Christmas brunch with Cooper's family and dinner at his parent's house (more meat...obviously).

On New Year's Eve, we had dinner at our house with Mike, Alicia, Kyle, Mary, George, Audrey and all the kids. Piper, George and Audrey's second oldest, came over early to help me set the kids' table, which made the whole day even better for me. She is only in second grade, but was so thoughtful about all of it.

We had Oysters Waskom, crab cakes from Conrad's, this ridiculously easy and delicious John Besh cauliflower puree thing that I make every year and a bunch of wine.

It was crazy and hectic and fun and such a good way to kick off 2016.

Speaking of 2016, I've already had a bunch of good meals. We loved brunch at Silver Queen and dinner at Smoke (more on those later) and we have a bunch of good dinners and parties scheduled for the next few weeks.

Ending strong and starting strong.

The Social Side of Wine

Last month, we had a fantastic dinner at Fleet Street Kitchen - it was the third in the Fork and Cork series, which was a collaboative effort between the sommeliers and chefs from FSK, Wit + Wisdom and Aggio.

I've mentioned the meal here already, but what I didn't say was how much we enjoyed hearing from the sommeliers, especially Julie Dalton, of Wit + Wisdom, who ended up at our table a couple times and who was just bubbling over with excitement about the wines. When someone is that psyched about what they're pouring, it's hard not to get on board.

I was thinking about that dinner today and remembered that a couple years ago, I interviewed Julie for a Sun article about restaurants and bars using new approaches to wine dispensing (taps, etc.). 

During our conversation, Julie and I talked about a lot of different things, some of which were eventually cut from the article for length - including her take on people using social media to learn and share about wine.

That conversation took place over a year and a half ago, but I think what she shared is still pretty relevant...so instead of letting it languish in a file on my computer, here it is:

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Wit + Wisdom's Julie Dalton on the Social (Media) Side of Wine

At Wit + Wisdom, the Millennial clientele is highly experimental with different varietals, says Julie Dalton, and they incorporate technology into their wine drinking experience on the social side. "It's crazy what social media has done for the wine industry," she says. Activities like "sabering" (opening bottles of sparkling wine with swords) and drinking directly from porrons (double-spouted glass pitchers from Spain) have gained in popularity thanks to social media sites like Instagram and wine-oriented apps.

"Right now everyone is sabering any sparkling wine because they're seeing videos and the hashtag #sabering," she says. "They follow people on [the app] Delectable to see what other people are drinking. People use it to see if they're drinking 'cool' wine." (Delectable is an app that lets people to share photos of what they are drinking; from the photos it identifies the wine and users can rate and buy the wine via the app.)

Wit + Wisdom is tapping into these trends this summer (ed note: as in...summer 2014) with Instagram-worthy events like Porron on the Patio, which will be part Spanish wine class, part interactive porron experience. "It's fun," says Dalton. "And of course it's going to be on the patio because people sometimes make messes."

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And because I can, here's some proof that sabering remains incredibly entertaining. My sister, accidentally knocking more than just the tippy-top off a bottle of prosecco on Thanksgiving. In slow motion:

It was more than a little traumatic. It wasn't her first rodeo, either. Tom and Cail gave us that saber for Christmas last year and Erin definitely got in on the sabering action. I actually think the above mess was my fault - I gave her a bottle that had been on its side, not standing up straight.

All was not lost, though. We had another bottle in the fridge, so we didn't have to go without. And the whole mess was much funnier since we were a) all (as in, everyone at the house, from Dixon to my 97-year old grandmother) watching from my parents' porch and b) taping the whole thing. Slow motion video is fabulous.

At any rate, I'm pretty sure the Waskom family proved Julie's point. We saber, we share, we have fun when we drink. It's a good time to be into wine.

Upcoming Eating

It's Halloween weekend, which means that I, along with most of America, am going to eat an unnatural number of tiny candy bars and then, for the next week, I'm going to find their little wrappers all over my house (courtesy of both Dixon and  Cooper).

But candy is not all I'll eat over the next few days - I also have a couple seriously amazing dinners lined up.

Today, I'm heading to Richmond, just for the night, where I will get to spend some QT with my new-ish niece, Virginia Catherine (she was born in July) - and where I will eat. Erin and Cail and I are going to a Fire, Flour and Fork dinner at Southbound tonight.

Fire, Flour and Fork is a multi-day food-oriented event that includes a bunch of lectures and tours, plus tons of collaborative dinners that bring together chefs from all over the place. The Southbound dinner, called Beardbound, includes four awesome chefs: Travis Grimes (the Exec Chef at Husk in Charleston), Justin Carlisle (the chef/owner of Ardent in Milwaukee, WI), Lee Gregory (owner of The Roosevelt in Richmond) and Joe Sparatta (owner of Heritage in Richmond). The Roosevelt and Heritage are two of Cail's favorite restaurants in Richmond and - overall - this dinner is sure to be incredible.

Speaking of collaborative efforts, one of my very favorite things about the Baltimore restaurant scene is how our chefs can't get enough of each other. I'm not sure if this happens in other cities, but the number of collaborative projects happening at all times in Baltimore makes me smile.

On Tuesday, we're going to the final Fork and Cork dinner. The series is a collaboration between Fleet Street Kitchen (where this one is held), Aggio and Wit + Wisdom. The chefs at all three (Chris Becker, Bryan Voltaggio and Zack Mills), along with their sommeliers (Tim Riley, Chris Coker and Julie Dalton) get together to put out serious meals, and serious pairings. We couldn't make the first two for logistical reasons and I am beyond excited to get to this one.

When chefs collaborate - whether they're from across the country or across the city - everybody really does win. In this case, I feel like I'm the biggest winner of all.

Straight Up Summer

As of today, summer has officially started Chez Pollard. School is out and we are shifting into vacation mode. (And by that I mean, Dixon starts his first camp on Monday.)

Of course, summer unofficially started a few weeks ago, with the earliest Memorial Day weekend imaginable. We went to Fenwick, where we had dinner with the Kennedys at Ropewalk and got to visit Jeff and Christine at their new house in Delaware. Plus, we started the weekend with a very nice, refined dinner at The Narrows and closed out with a fun lunch at Stoked in Cambridge (their wings...get them).

Since then, I have spent as much time as possible at the pool, drinking rose, and making the most of the huge amount of basil, mint and other herbs growing in our backyard. (All thanks to Cooper...I remain a non-gardener.)

This is what's been happening:

Top row, left to right: Dixon and his Sunsations/Maryland crab gun in Fenwick; braving the ocean; rose + pesto, which makes the best easy summer dinner

Middle: Dixon and Gray at Ropewalk Fenwick, where we had a fun, crazy dinner with the Kennedys and Missy and the girls; Mimi and Charlotte in the Ropewalk playground's picture board 

Bottom: Me with Mimi and Charlotte before Ropewalk (the matching stripes weren't even on purpose!); Dixon with a ginormous shrimp (shrimp cocktail is his new thing); Cooper getting his grill on with Maddy and her friend at the pool

Summer. It's just the best.

Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays!

Back in October, when I wrote about my mom's 65th birthday and Dixon's 8th birthday, I mentioned that around here, fall is birthday season. And is it ever - especially when you let "fall" stretch into early winter. 

Since those first two September birthdays, we have been in full-on celebration mode. This is just a taste of the fun.

October: Patsy, Cail, Xander and Bill

Clockwise from top left: Chicken tortilla soup; Chickens at the Stambaughs; Cail's cake in progress; Stambaugh chili; Cail's cake, the final product.

Cooper's mom's birthday celebration was low-key this year but Cail's was a little less so. My parents and I went down to Richmond to visit for the weekend and Cail's parents and her brother came up from New Orleans.

My brother threw Cail a surprise party in the private room at a cute wine bar called Secco and Cail's dad, who has made her birthday cake every year forever, outdid himself with a gorgeous pink and turquoise "drama queen" concoction. Mr. Moran is an architect and very artistic - watching him work was super cool.

Later in the month, we celebrated Nathan and Liz's son's birthday up at their house in the country. It was a gorgeous day to roam around their yard, checking out the chickens and eating their awesome food - including chili, hatch chili queso and root beer braised brisket. Oh, and apple pie moonshine. Because that is how they roll.

To wrap up October, we celebrated Bill's birthday on a Sunday afternoon at our house. I made a big batch of chicken tortilla soup, since it was starting to get chilly...and Bill likes Mexican food. It was one in a long string of fall Sundays that we spent at our house, surrounded by friends and delicious food. I could do that every day.

November: Mike

Seafood tower; Mike and I with our gifts; Stacy's first oyster.

In mid-November, Mike turned forty, giving us a great excuse to head to Thames Street Oyster House, where our friend/neighbor Teresa proved once again why she is one of the best servers in the city.

Bill was out of town but Stacy came down from New York, so with the Swartses, we were a group of seven. We did our best to order everything on the menu, including tons of oysters (and Stacy's first oyster ever!) and a suckling pig special that came with a side of oyster and butternut squash dressing. Ridiculousness.

I loved my monkfish entree but my favorite part of the night was a quail appetizer accessorized with chestnuts and quince puree. I absolutely couldn't stop thinking about it. They are so good at what they do there.

The night was funny, too. Alicia asked us each to come up with a story or two to roast Mike. Which...we did. I created a "strengths and weaknesses" roundup that was quite funny, if I do say so myself. I keep telling my friends that I'm funnier than they give me credit for. I stand by that.

December: Cooper, Tom and Me

Clockwise from top left: Cooper and Dixon at Parts and Labor; Corn fritters at Shoo-fly; Clay Davis mug from Patrick and Amanda; Me with Suzanne and Alison at Alison's party.

December is an especially busy month around here, with not just Christmas but also Cooper's birthday, Clark's birthday (the same day as Cooper's), my birthday and my brother's birthday.

We didn't celebrate with Clark this year (he was in DC, we were in Baltimore) but we did manage to have a bunch of good meals out. For Cooper's, he and Dixon and I went to Parts and Labor, which was just as good as everyone said it was. Tons of meat, beautifully cooked, in a super cool space. We'd already been to the butcher shop a few times, so we knew what to expect...and we're looking forward to going back

December birthdays are tough, since it's such a busy month. But it's also so much fun. Since we're in celebration mode, I usually get to see friends from all over the place either right before, on, or right after my birthday.

This year, my birthday was on a Monday but the celebrating really started on Saturday night with a party at my friend Alison's house. She's my high school friend and old roommate (from our Canton days) and her husband is one of Cooper's college friends. So the party was full of people I love.

The next day, I made my annual trip to McGarvey's, where a bunch of high school friends came to celebrate with Cooper, Dixon and me. We ate oysters and crab dip and burgers and crab cakes and drank a bunch of Aviators. Just like last year and the year before and many, many years before that.

That night, we came back up to Baltimore and got to hang out with Patrick and Amanda, of Paris fame (they have since moved back to Denver). They came over for crab soup and general revelry - and brought us an awesome Clay Davis mug made by someone they work with. We loved it and it was especially timely, what with the re-release of The Wire.

Finally, on my actual birthday, Dixon and Cooper and I drove through Hampden in the rain, then went to Shoo-fly for dinner and I remembered that I can't get enough of their corn fritters. They come with spicy honey and are just so good.

After Christmas, Tom, Cail, Erin and Clark all came up and stayed with us for a couple days. The 27th is Tom's birthday, so we met my parents at Clementine, where we got to have one last big family dinner before everyone returned to their respective homes.

Some of the Waskoms had been to Clementine for lunch or brunch, but not for dinner - and Cooper and I were happy to introduce them to some of our favorites, like the charcuterie and the basil-lime elixir. We all loved our meals, ending a big visit on a high note.

January: Kyle, Bert and Matt

Top row, left to right: Kyle's birthday at the Waterfront Hotel; Dinner in Deep Creek; Pear and bourbon cocktail. Middle row: Dixon at Wisp; Bert using the sabre; Puzzled in Deep Creek; Bottom row: The table at Matt's party; The entire Deep Creek crew; Matt and his "40" glasses.

We took a break for dinner at our house on New Year's Eve, then jumped right back into the birthday celebrations. Kyle's birthday is on January 4th - a Saturday this year. Immediately after our great dinner for Mike's fortieth, Kyle announced that he wanted to go back for his birthday. So we did.

Once again, it was fantastic. Alicia got the porgy, which is served standing up and is crazy good. Mike kept it simple with a lobster roll (outrageous) and I ordered against type, getting tuna, which was also delicious. The quail, again, was a show-stopper, as was the octopus, which I can never resist.

After dinner, we went to the Waterfront Hotel to watch the Ravens beat the Steelers (much to Mary's chagrin), finishing the night on an extra-sweet note.

A few weeks later, Cooper and Dixon and I headed off to Deep Creek, to celebrate our friend Bert's fortieth with a bunch of people I've known since high school or longer. (Bert's birthday is in December but we couldn't get it together to go away until January.)

It was four days of so much fun. We ate and drank way too much, did a bunch of puzzles, played some Cards Against Humanity, hung out in the snow, watched our kids bond and retold stories about stuff that happened two decades ago. And, of course, I got sentimental about how lucky I am to have so many great friends from high school and even elementary school.

Last Saturday, we got to celebrate with even more of those high school friends, when we went to a party for another fortieth - this one for my friend Matt. It was at his parents' house, near Severna Park, and was gorgeous. Matt's mom works at a flower shop; she and a friend often do flowers for weddings and they are so good at it. The party was catered by Mission BBQ, so the food was awesome, and was tons of fun, all the way around.

But the celebrations really aren't over. Because this is the year my high school class turns forty, we are in for a year full of parties and big nights out. Which is busy, it's true. But wow is it fun.

Year Ends, Year Begins

Unsurprisingly, we both ended 2014 and started 2015 with a lot of great food and fun and laughter. As busy as December always is for us, it's also stacked with family and friends.

And food. And booze.

Speaking of food and booze, the above is just a small taste of our Christmas festivities. My brother and sister, plus Cail and Clark, were all in Maryland for Christmas - it was the first time we were all together for the holiday. For logistical reasons, Bill didn't go home to his parents' until after Christmas, so he was there, as well.

Dinner at my parents' house was festive and fun. Oysters, prime rib dry-aged by my parents, cheesecake and lots of cookies. We came home and Bill spent the night and even made breakfast for us in the morning (Taylor pork roll!). That night, we went to Cooper's parents for red meat round two and more Christmas cheer.

The day after Christmas, Tom and Cail and Erin and Clark and Dixon and I had lunch at Carrol's Creek Cafe in Annapolis, then everyone came up to our house for post-Christmas festivities with our friends.

Tom and Cail gave us a sabre for Christmas, so we spent the whole week following the holiday knocking the tops of champagne bottles. Fun stuff.

A bunch of that sabreing took place on New Year's Eve, when, like last year, we had the Bargers and Kennedys and Swartses - and their kids - over for dinner.

Before dinner, we drank pomelder prosecco punch and ate Alicia's hot pimiento cheese dip, which was so good, in an old school sort of way, and a bunch of oysters (both raw and grilled).

With the reasoning that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, we stuck with last year's menu of tenderloin and crab imperial, plus cauliflower puree that is seriously so good. Alicia made chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes and we drank a couple bottles of Brunello that we've been saving...and more than a couple bottles of Montebuena Rioja. Plus, the champagne.

Kids had nuggets - with Dixon's special nugget sauce - and about six hundred candy canes. Dixon put himself to bed in the middle of the party (typical) and everyone else got to play with sparklers. It...was better for some than for others.

Last year, nearly all the kids held on until midnight. This year, there were meltdowns all around when 11 hit, so the only people who made it were the Swartses (and even then, Eva passed out, face down on the sofa, before midnight rolled around).

It was such a great way to kick off a new year - surrounded by friends and family. And eating such good food.

I hope everyone else's 2015 started out on such a great note!

Want: Bulls Bay OYRO

Garden and Gun just announced the winners of their 5th annual Made in the South Awards and, as usual, I am drooling. Especially over this:

It's the Bulls Bay OYRO, a wood-fired oyster cooker designed and built by a man named Oliver Thames who lives in McClellanville, South Carolina. And it is amazing.

As soon as I saw it, I emailed my family. Oysters are, after all, the food that connects us most.

From the time we were little kids, stealing my dad's smoked oysters wrapped in bacon, my brother and sister and I have thought of oysters as the best kind of family treat.

We have them at nearly every family event (during the "R" months, even though, yes, we know that's no longer an issue). We eat them raw, grilled, roasted, plain, or topped with our special family recipe.

For my dad's 50th birthday, my mom threw him an oyster roast at their neighborhood beach. The beach has a bunch of big stone grills - they used those to cook the oysters, while we all stood around slightly shivering (it was March) and loving it.

Basically, oysters are the Waskoms favorite food. I mean, we love crabs, too, but oysters? They belong to us.

Which is why, as my sister mentioned, it is absolutely crazy that Cooper and I don't already have an oyster cooker in our backyard. It doesn't have to be the Bulls Bay cooker...though I wouldn't say no to that kind of gift. But even something more haphazard, something homemade.

I think it's the right thing for us to do.

Birthday Babies

I am so behind in posts. Trust me, I'm feeling the anxiety, as I look at the photos I haven't shared and the recipes I haven't written about.

But it's been a busy few weeks - not least because we had back to back birthday weekends. First, my mom turned 65 and we celebrated by throwing a small party for her, at her house. My brother and sister and I collaborated (with help, of course, from Cooper, Clark and Cail), making way, way too much food and having a lot of fun.

Then, this past Monday, Dixon turned eight. Over the weekend, we had two parties - a boys-only get-together featuring a video game truck, lots of pizza, and a boatload of Nerf weaponry, followed by a tamer Sunday party with our little group of friends and a lot of cheeseburgers.

The parties:

Clockwise, starting at the top left: My brother's perfectly cooked tenderloin (#nofilter!!!); Dixon just before school on Monday morning; Cail's very simple, very delicious crab; the inside of the video game bus; the singing of happy birthday; a monster antipasto platter; Erin's homemade cheese straws at my mom's, 

At my mom's party, we started with a cocktail, dubbed "The Medicare Eligibility Elixir" - it was a combination of vodka, sparkling clementine juice, ginger beer and pomegranate juice. To eat, we had the crab, antipasto platter (lots of hearts of palm, which we all love), cheese and crackers, cheese straws, heart of palm dip, and parmesan and celery stuffed dates. THEN we had cider-braised pork with caramelized onions and Cooper's barbecue sauce, Tom's grilled tenderloin, Cail's garlicky mashed potatoes and a really bright cucumber and cabbage slaw by Erin.

At Dixon's party, the menu was not quite as fancy. Pizza from Pizans and some chips. 

They were equally well-received.

And of course, at both parties, there was cake:

For my mom, my sister made a chocolate hazelnut cake with buttercream frosting, topped with candied hazelnuts (Hazelnut and chocolate are my mom's go-to flavors. If she had a blog, it would be called Chocolate and Hazelnuts.) It was awesome, both flavor-wise and texturally.

For Dixon's birthday, he and Alicia collaborated on the main cake - for the fifth year in a row! This year's extravaganza was a camo cake made using Duff's cake mix (which I made), with buttercream frosting and silver sprinkles, topped with a giant Xbox controller made out of rice krispie treats and covered in fondant. It was impressive.

For Dixon's party #2 - the Sunday friends and family celebration - AKB made vanilla bean cupcakes with buttercream frosting topped with purple Ravens sprinkles. Some of her best work yet.

Two big weekends, back to back, can be exhausting. And it's not over yet! Yesterday was Cail's birthday and next Monday is Cooper's mom's. It's birthday season chez Pollard. Good thing we always have room for cake.

Making the Most of August

The end of summer means amazing food...and a mad rush to do everything everything everything before school starts again. Here's a smattering of what we've done and eaten recently, starting middle top and working clockwise:

1. We're sailing! Last weekend, for the first time all summer, I had a chance to go out on the boat with my dad and brother and sister - plus Cooper and Clark (Cail was on her way home from vacation, so she didn't make it). There was absolutely no wind but it was a beautiful day, so a good time was had by all.

2. Early August cupcakes at the pool. We've been all over the happy hour/dinner hour at the pool this summer, including one random Tuesday night in early August, when Alicia made some of her best cupcakes yet. They were snickerdoodle cake with light cocoa buttercream...and so good.

3. Jalapeno jelly time. Every year, Mary's parent's neighbors, Frito and Cindy, turn a bunch of their jalapenos into a kick-ass jelly to be served over cream cheese. A little spicy, a little sweet and old school in the very best way. It's awesome.

4. Haircuts. Our deal this summer was that as long as Dixon was good, we wouldn't make him have his hair cut until it was time to go back to school. It is now time to go back to school. Yesterday, he had his mop chopped off and styled at Salon Method...and it looks great in the cutest little boy band way. He is less enamored, since his fierce lax mullet is now gone. But he looks so cute! (And it will grow back.)

5. Pie! Post-sailing, Cail arrived at my parents' house, bringing lots of fun with her, in the form of her dad...and pie! She had been on vacation in Little Compton, Rhode Island (my brother was with her for a week then he had to go back to work, so her dad joined her for a week). In Little Compton, they frequent a pie stand called Wilma's at Walker's. She brought two pies for dinner - one blueberry and one peach raspberry. They were so good words can't do them justice. Seriously, just amazing.

6. Tooloulou at Belvedere Square. One of the city's most fun carry-outs, Tooloulou, has recently relocated to Belvedere Square. I'm thrilled that it's so close by. The other night, we gorged on fig and goat cheese pizza, a muffaletta sandwich, dirty rice and a whole lot of pecan pie. Welcome to the neighborhood, Tooloulou!

7. How 'bout them O's? Seriously, how about them? We're not huge baseball fans but I love all the energy around the Orioles right now. It's so fun. We took Dixon to his first game recently. Though he lost steam somewhere around the fourth inning, he was quite taken with the swag - and the food. His new fave snack: the pretz-cho. Soft pretzels, nacho cheese...what more could you really want?

8. Busting out the good stuff. Back in early 2006, just before I found out I was pregnant, we started buying Bordeaux futures from Wells. All of a sudden, this year, we realized that it was just about time to start actually drinking some of those wines, including the 2003 Cap de Faugeres - a part of our first big purchase. Early in August, we celebrated Mary's birthday with dinner at our house and a couple bottles of the wine. It was delicious, of course, and felt very special. It's weird to start actually drinking something you've been cellaring for years. Makes dinner feel super fancy.

9. Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes (in the center). We are growing them - successfully - but I also can't help buying them. They're just so gorgeous. And they taste so good. I'm in a rush to eat as many as possible before this gorgeous time of year ends.

Because it is ending...and soon. Dixon goes back to school next week and we will be back in our regular routines. I'm ready for the structure and I love the fall. But still, some days, it's easy to wish that summer would last forever.

My Grandma's Cheesecake

I mentioned last week that it was the sort of week that's not exactly conducive to blogging. The main reason for that, unfortunately, is that on Saturday the 15th, my grandmother - my dad's mom - died. She was 94.

My grandparents lived in Epping Forest, in Annapolis, until I was going into high school. That's where my dad grew up and it's on the Severn River, just up river a bit from Ben Oaks, the neighborhood where I grew up. In 1989, they moved to northern Virginia to be closer to their youngest daughter.

Since we lived so close by, I saw my grandparents fairly frequently. And at their house, we did a lot of eating.

Many of my memories are focused on seafood, since they lived on the water and their kitchen was a constant stream of crabs (caught off the pier) and oysters (not caught off the pier) - I wrote a little about that here.

But even more than seafood, my grandparents' house was filled with sweet things. My grandmother was a masterful baker - she was constantly making cookies, cakes and - especially - pies. Last Friday, at her funeral, two of my uncles and one cousin spoke about Grandma. Baked goods came up more than a few times.

Though for most of my life, she looked like a sweet, older lady bearing cookies, she was quite tough and very sharp. Somehow, I think that helped her in the kitchen.

At any rate, I did not inherit her baking gene, so what she did with pastry seems nothing short of magical to me.

Fortunately for my branch of the Waskoms, my sister did end up with whatever skill helps you turn flour and sugar into something delicious. Recently, she's dipped her toe into the pool of Grandma's recipes, starting with her famous-in-the-family cheesecake, which is pictured above.

I can usually take or leave cheesecake - but I do love this one. It's dense but not heavy, with just the right balance of sugar and tanginess.

It's an appropriate mix, that combination of sweet and sharp. So much like Grandma.

Patsy Waskom's Cheesecake

Graham cracker crumbs to dust
Butter for greasing
1 pound small curd cottage cheese
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 pint sour cream

All ingredients should be room temperature.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Grease springform an with butter and dust with graham cracker crumbs.

3. Run the cottage cheese through a sieve, discarding the solids.

4. In a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and cottage cheese.

5. Add the sugar and beaten eggs and mix to combine.

6. Add the corn starch, lemon juice, vanilla, melted butter and sour cream and mix until smooth. (A note from Erin, my sister: Do not over-mix. It will add too much air and you will have a disaster.)

7. Cook for one hour plus ten to twenty minutes at 325 degrees. DON'T OPEN THE OVEN.

8. Turn off the oven, leaving the cake inside. Let it sit, with the oven door closed, for two hours.

9. Cool in the pan and freeze or chill the cake for at least 24 hours.

Mother's Day Recap: The Extended Version

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a wonderful Mother's Day. The weather was beautiful and my day began with pancakes al fresco, courtesy of Cooper and Dixon. The boys set a very nice table on our deck, complete with roses from the yard, and gave me a champagne stopper along with VOLT ink, the new Voltaggio cookbook, which is beautiful (but complicated - the recipes are challenging, to say the least).

In the afternoon, my sister, her boyfriend and my mom all came over for dinner, and Cooper's parents stopped by for a bit. Unfortunately, my dad couldn't join us, as he's laid up in the hospital with a broken leg, but the good news there is that he's on the mend and hopefully will be home soon.

But I digress.

When everyone arrived in the afternoon, we started with Pimm's Cups - the recipe is here - and I got a chance to use these perfectly Marylandy cocktail napkins I picked up at Eddie's:

Mr. Acheson inspired more than the drinks -

I also made a couple of recipes from the "Snackies" section of his book.

These (blurry) Medjool dates are stuffed with a mixture of peeled and thinly sliced celery,

grated Parmesan cheese and olive oil:

I'm a fan of stuffed dates in general, but most of the recipes I come across either involve bacon or some type of cheese by itself. In this case, the celery added fresh flavor and crunch - they made the dates more interesting.

The Acheson cookbook also inspired this dish of ham, arugula and chilied mango:

Not only is the combination pretty, and tasty in that salty-sweet-spicy way,

it is just about the easiest thing ever.

All I did was cube some mango, sprinkle it with red pepper flakes and toss it with some very thinly sliced Virginia ham and a few sprigs of arugula. A tiny drizzle of olive oil and voila - finished. Seriously, so easy.

And last night, we used the leftovers for a spicy arugula and mango salad (dressed with a quick champagne vinaigrette) and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Not so boring for leftovers.

Not everything came from the Acheson cookbook, of course. No Waskom party is complete without a cheese or two, and pate (I got mine from Neopol). Plus, I did some more cooking.

The recipe for these pickled tomatoes and fennel came from and old Food and Wine:

They were simple as anything, but do require overnight marinating. They also weren't the biggest hit on the table, though I think they're pretty good.

We spent most of the afternoon snacking, but when we sat down for dinner, we had asparagus with hollandaise (which I didn't photograph!) and crab cakes with cocktail sauce:

When I first started M&G, I blogged my recipe for crab cakes, which is based on the Annapolis Junior League recipe. That was 2006. In the past 6 years, I've made those crab cakes many, many times and the recipe has evolved. So I'll be posting it again later this week (UPDATE: here it is).

After all of that, we still had dessert, courtesy of my sister, Erin - a lovely apple pie:

Erin started with this recipe, making a few adjustments here and there.

(The big one is that she used Whole Foods pie crust to save time - it was very good. Other revisions include adding cinammon and nutmeg to the mix, mixing some of the syrup with the apples before pouring the rest over the lattice and sprinkling the top with water and sugar before baking. She also tented foil over the pie while it was in the oven.)

As usual, I was thankful that I have a sister who likes to bake, since I wholeheartedly do not.

After the pie, we were all, understandably, stuffed to the gills. But the weather held and we all sat around the table chatting, until the bugs drove us inside. Where we sat and chatted some more.

Relaxing and delicious, start to finish (well, except for the 30 minutes right before my sister arrived, when I managed to clean the kitchen, wipe all the counters, sweep the floor, take a shower and dry my hair). Mostly relaxing, anyway.

And definitely delicious.

Throwdown: Carry-Out Crab Cakes

I have to be honest - my favorite crab cakes are the ones I make myself. I'm not trying to be obnoxious, really, and I think there are good crab cakes all over Maryland, but I happen to be partial to my own recipe.

They're easy to make, but they require a little planning ahead - they're best when I prep them in the morning, or even the night before, and let them sit for a while before cooking.

Since I'm not really big on planning ahead for dinner - who knows what we'll feel like eating tomorrow? - I often find myself hunting down crab cakes from local shops. I've been mixing it up a little recently, buying from different sources, and last week we went all out with a throwdown - one dinner, four locally prepared crab cakes, one big winner.

Well, actually, Cooper and I together were probably the two real big winners.

The crab cakes came from Eddie's (the one on Charles Street), Ikan in Belvedere Square, Pappas in Parkville and Conrad's, also in Parkville. They don't vary a whole lot in price and, ultimately, they're all good crab cakes. But again, there can be only one winner. So how do they stack up? My handy little chart will tell you:

Even though it was the smallest cake, and even though it fell apart a little in the pan, Conrad's was the winner - thanks to its taste. The crab was just sweeter - more Marylandy.

Of course, that doesn't mean I'll turn down a crab cake from any of the other spots. I'm not that foolish.

From Tree Stand to Table: Venison 5 Ways

As previously mentioned, this year, Cooper started hunting in earnest. He spent most of the winter focused on (mostly fruitless) goose hunting, both on the Eastern shore and in the country just north of Baltimore. At the end of January, though, he carved out a few days for deer hunting in Loch Raven.

I didn't get my hopes up - not that I don't have faith in Cooper's abilities, I just know that some days are luckier than others. As it turns out, one Monday a few weeks ago was a lucky one! So that is how we found ourselves, at the very end of January, with a freezer full of deer.

Though he sent most of the deer to Ridgely and Ferrens in Towson for processing, on that first night, Cooper cut out the tenderloin and the liver himself and brought those home directly. The next night, he soaked the liver in milk, dredged it in flour and fried it with a sliced onion:

He wanted - very badly - to like it. But...he didn't. Too much iron. And if it's got too much iron for Cooper, it's got too much iron for nearly everybody. So venison take one...not so successful.

Take two was better. The same night, I cooked half the tenderloin with a mushroom gravy - jaeger schnitzel using Hank Shaw's recipe as a guide:

Cooper liked the jaeger schnitzel very much, while I just...liked it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't my favorite preparation of venison, either. The sauce was great - earthy and savory - but the recipe involves pounding the meat into fairly thin pieces and in the end, I wasn't in love with the texture of the meat. My piece was a little chewy. But again, the sauce was very good.

About a week later, two Fridays ago, we got the rest of the deer back from Ridgeley and Ferrens, so we celebrated with a simple dinner of scalloped potatoes, greend beans and grilled steaks:

Cooper marinated the steaks in a combination of red wine, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and a few herbs and spices. Grilled to medium rare, it was tasty and tender. Not a complicated dinner, but a really good one.

But wait - there's more! In addition to steaks, our freezer is now full with pounds and pounds of ground venison, which is mixed with a little pork to add some fat. The following Sunday, we decided to put some of that ground to good use. Our parents came over, plus Kyle, Mary and Bill, and we made a giant pot of chili:

Actually, that photo shows the chili when the giant pot is nearly empty. I was so busy cooking, then eating, that I forgot to take any pictures. I didn't follow any specific recipe for the chili, but I did rely on those McCormick packets of chili spice, plus a little extra cayenne for good measure. A few pounds of venison, an equal amount of red kidney beans, some tomato sauce and tomato paste, onion, red pepper and jalapeno...that's about it.

We topped the chili with shredded cheddar, sour cream and chips - and ate nearly the whole pot.

And FINALLY...last night's dinner. Venison bourguignon a la Barefoot Contessa. I used her boeuf bourguignon recipe, which I've made a bunch of times, but using cubed venison steak and tenderloin in place of the beef:

The recipe is fairly simple and though it takes a couple of hours, it's not as time consuming as some boeuf bourguignon recipes. The end result, served with crusty bread, lightly toasted and rubbed with garlic, is rich and very satisfying. Real cold winter's night type food.

So there it is - one deer, four nights, five meals.

And the best part? The freezer is still pretty full.

Easy Autumn Recipe: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Once upon a time, this was a food blog. The kind that involved pictures and recipes - even recipes I developed on my own. At some point over the past six years, M&G turned into something else, but thanks to this recent cold snap, I'm back on a making-up-my-own-recipes kick. And you reap the rewards.

CHICKEN POT PIE
(serves 4, total time about 1 hour, active time about 30ish minutes)

Ingredients
3 carrots, chopped into small bite-sized pieces
4 small stalks of celery, chopped
4 medium red-skinned potatoes, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
1 onion, diced (not super fine)
7 tablespoons butter
2 cups chicken stock
6 tablespoons flour
3 cups rotisserie chicken, cubed into bite-sized pieces
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 sheet Pepperidge Farm puff pastry
1 egg
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Start by gathering the ingredients and getting all that chopping out of the way. You can start with the veg, then move on to the chicken and marjoram while you've got the first batch of stuff cooking. Plus, the vegetables and potatoes look pretty:

Festive fall colors! Kind of tablescape-inspirationy, no?

3. Pull the puff pastry out of the freezer and set it aside to defrost.

4. Steps 4 and 5 happen pretty much at the same time, so get ready. In one large pot - a stock pot or dutch oven - melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook until the onions are translucent and the carrots are tender - somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 minutes.

And the house smells like France!

5. At the same time, bring the chicken stock and potatoes to a boil over high heat. Turn down to a moderate boil - nothing frothy - and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

6. While everything's cooking, chop the chicken and marjoram. Don't forget to stir your pots occasionally and check on tenderness.

7. Once all the vegetables are tender, stir the flour into the carrot/onion pot, slowly. It'll be sticky. Then (also slowly), add the chicken stock, followed by the potatoes, stirring all the way. The result will be very thick and very sticky.

8. Add the chicken, cream, frozen peas and season with salt and pepper, combining thoroughly. At this point, the consistency should be gooey, so if it's too dry, add a bit of water. I added about 2/3 of a cup and this is what it looked like:

Yes, it's kind of ugly.

9.  Scoop the mixture into a pan that's roughly 9x13 (mine is a little smaller and a tiny bit deeper than the traditional):

Starting to look better now, though, right?

10. Using a rolling pin on a floured surface, roll out the puff pastry just a bit, so it will overhang your pan on each side by about 1/2-inch. Carefully lay the pastry over the mixture and press around the edges to create a seal.

11. Cut a few slits in the top of the pastry to let steam escape, then brush with an egg wash so it'll turn golden brown in the oven.

12. Place in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and crispy. Keep an eye on the pie - if the edges start turning brown, but the center still looks pale, cover the edges with foil and keep cooking.

13. Then, enjoy:

Gooey. Crispy.

Also, messy. But delicious.