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bavila

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Everything posted by bavila

  1. Good point, C. Lil told me she thought you might take this as a personal mission on your next trip
  2. Hi all, I'm posting for a friend whose living in Rome. Anyone know where to find fresh lemongrass? Thanks!
  3. Hey Y'all! C, I love your Gumbo Z'herbe blog entry. I actually had my first Gumbo Z last weekend in Richmond -- of all places (at the Black Sheep, whose owners used to work at Palace Cafe). And I couldn't remember from my cookbook reading if it had a roux. I think I'll add it to the repertoire. The restaurant offered smoked turkey, crab, and shrimp as add ons, all of which should go well, I'd think.
  4. Hi there everyone, just a couple to add to the list: Cynthia's in Severna Park. I went there recently for lunch, had the house salad and steak and blue cheese sandwich. It was excellent. The fries were really frites, and the bread on the sandwich was homemade. I tasted the chicken pot pie also which the waitress reported to be quite popular. The atmosphere is pretty staid (it is Severna Park after all), but the food is a huge consolation after Metropolitan closingCan't wait to go back for my birthday dinner. Next is Punk's Backyard Grill at the Annapolis Mall. They are situating themselves for chaindom, but I don't care. The food is simple and well executed and delish! Friday's dinner was the lamb skewers, today's lunch was Thai steak salad. Rockin' mac and cheese both times. Boylan's soda in the fountain -- who knew! This is where the kids will bring me for my birthday. Give me family friendly mixed with good food, and I am a very happy girl.
  5. Hi there everyone. Hubby and I will be bringing our 6yo and 3yo to visit our niece at Randolph Macon this weekend. Any suggestions for Saturday dinner and Sunday lunch for us all?
  6. I had my first MD ham at a party last week, and it was pretty good, imho. I'll ask my hostess where she got it and post the info here.
  7. One must not fear dark roux. It is a good thing.
  8. Bumpity! Hey y'all. Looking for a fabulous idea for a crawfish canape for my contribution to a Christmas Eve seven fishes soiree. I could fall back on etoufee in pastry shells, but I'd like to do something different. Any ideas?
  9. Looking for places to eat/see in Cape Cod in September. I'm going for an informal writers' retreat at a friend's house. We fly into Providence on Friday morning and will drive to the Cape, returning late Sunday evening. I've never been to Cape Cod, so of course I'm excited. Tell me what to eat!
  10. Hello there, my DelMarVa friends. I am delinquent in delivering an update for Annapolis area farmers' markets. I've been training for a triathlon early on Saturdays when I haven't been travelling, so my FM trips have been limited compared to my religious attendance last year. But, while I might be grousing about missing out on $4/dozen eggs because I get to the market so late, I am quite happy to report on the growth of FMs in town over the last few years. First, my favorite, the Anne Arundel County FM on Riva Rd. (Saturday and Tuesday mornings right now). The market extended its roof this year to protect the growing number of vendors who now populate the market. Beautiful breads are a welcome addition, and our organic vendors are growing their farms and their market selections. New this year are the market at Westfield Shopping Center (Sunday afternoons). Not limited to products from inside county lines, this market had fun items like pickles, smoked fish, and gourmet salts. I went on opening day (late again!) and I had the kids, so I couldn't explore as much as I'd like, but I will definitely go back. Also new is a Fresh Farm outlet at the City Dock (Sunday mornings). I haven't been there yet, so I can't comment on offerings. But I will say that the market is a big plus for downtown residents, who otherwise would have to drive to get produce of anykind (damned debacle of the Market House -- why oh why did the city screw up the deal with Dean and Deluca?!). For now, I am gorging myself on tomatoes and anxiously awaiting the arrival of crowder peas.
  11. Polyface in Virginia makes deliveries throughout the region. And Joel Salatin is a hoot.
  12. Grits and grillades -- dammit, Brooks, you always make me homesick. I am not a "brunch" person. I wake up at 6, 7 at the latest. I eat freakin' breakfast every day. By 11 or later, I don't want to look at eggs again.(Though I do like a make-your-own-bloody-mary-bar just fine, thank you.) Of course, maybe that's because I'm a Cajun. Or maybe it's because no one around here is going to cook up any of those crazy ass Brennan's egg dishes -- the photocopied recipes for which I've got skulking about my cookbooks. And don't get me started on buffets. Blech. My 5yo daughter was asking me what "brunch" was the other day, and I think I just confused her. A second breakfast? An early lunch? Who cares. Just pass me a biscuit.
  13. Hey Y'all, We'll be heading to Nags Head in a few weeks for a vacation with the extended family. I'm thinking that will be a good time to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary since we won't all be together again this year as we're spread out in Louisiana, Virginia and Maryland. Since we'll have a group ranging in ages from 2 to 81, I thought having a celebratory meal at our cottage would be preferable to a restaurant adventure. Any recommendations for a personal chef or caterer in the area to help us out? Thanks, Bridget PS non-food related -- PM me with photographer recs if you have any
  14. Chris, thanks for your thoughtful post. Insights like yours on what's gone right and what's gone wrong are most helpful. To be honest though, I'm not even sure that working with the schools will be the first undertaking. And remember, education isn't just a school's endeavor, right? There could be programs for the general public, CSA members, intern farmers, etc. In my mind, really, the first step is developing a mission statement out of which programming can grow. The farmer I'm working with has certain things she'd like to see funded from a nonprofit entity, but I hope to work with her to work on clarifying a vision first. In this case, I see something along the lines of: ...to raise awareness of sustainable agriculture practices and their impact on the Chesapeake Bay, to foster restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, and to train farmers in sustainable agriculture techniques. As for taking into consideration developmentally appropriate practice, I'm sensitive to that (though certainly not fluent) as a Pre-K Sunday school facilitator and mom of a Montessori kid (who is quite the little sous-chef with her little wavy knife, thank you very much). Off to process this some more. Thanks everyone for the links and comments. I plan to follow up with all the farms you're mentioning.
  15. Ha! Leftovers? What leftovers? Though I noticed this morning that the racoons feasted on remains. I could have made a bisque with all the nicely cleaned out thoraxes I found. As for the shipping prices, I guess Bayou Bounty just hasn't built up enough out of state traffic to get low shipping rates like Cajun Grocer. C'est la vie. I still appreciate the tip.
  16. Thanks djyee and Chris. This is good gouge. Chris, your list of concerns matches mine. One shot field-trips can be useful, but they're certainly not enough. My view is that the bulk of programming would have to be off the farm and in town someway -- a school or community center. Of course, there are hurdles in offering "help" to anyone who may not be looking for it. Particulars are useful, so please pass them on!
  17. I may be helping out a local organic farm start up a nonprofit for educational programs, and I'm wondering what others might have done already. There's the Edible Schoolyard approach, of course, cooking classes, and field trips. What have you seen that worked or didn't work?
  18. Hey y'all. Long time no post. But here I am to pass along a little 411 gained from my latest crawfish boil. I've ordered live crawfish from Cajun Grocer several times with good results. Last year, though, they annoyed me a bit by telling me that my boil seasonings would be included with the 100# of mudbugs I'd ordered. The shipment arrived 2 hours before I had 50 guests arriving, and NO SEASONING! Anyhoo, HungryC suggested that I try Bayou Bounty next time. So I called them the other day and was astounded by their shipping price -- $212 to ship 40#! More than double the $90 charge for the crawfish. If I'd wanted to drag my ass to BWI airport, shipping would have been only $65. So I sucked it up and ordered from Cajun Grocer -- $187 for 40#, including shipping! And this time, the seasoning was there. Yay. More about the boil and some pics are here.
  19. Hi Y'all. Just wanted to report that after checking out HungryC's suggestion (2 pounds of butter! ) I decided to just do Danno's recipe with 2 sticks of butter. It was quite yummy -- the dough was near the softness of a croissant, which made me very happy. I made 3 batches. Two went to the school which we filled with preserves only for simplicity's sake, and one stayed at home for us. I love cream cheese filling, and this year added a smattering of chocolate chips which I won't add again. Thanks! B
  20. I thought I'd add that Eastern Marketoutlets are partially open now. We had lunch at Market Lunch last Saturday (well, brunch really as we arrived before noon and they were still on their breakfast menu -- a real bummer to me, having gotten up at 6 to workout for an hour and a half in anticipation of a bacon cheeseburger) -- $40 for 3 adults and 2 kids. There are LOTS of options around there (we love the pupusas at Salvadoran place, what's the name? anyone?). You're not planning on having everyone sit down at the same time in the same restaurant, right? Oh, and as for the kids who will only eat hamburgers, sometimes they make brilliant career choices. Like the naval officer who served with my husband whose goal while on a Mediterranean deployment was to eat at McDonald's everywhere the ship went. Join the Navy and see the world, or just order a Big Mac. Sheesh.
  21. Happy Mardi Gras season everyone. I'm slated to make mini-king cakes again this year for my daughter's school, and I was wondering if anyone had any different recipes. Thing is, the brioche just always comes out drier than I'd like. I was thinking of morphing a rugelach recipe into a king cake (namely getting the cream cheese into the dough). Any thoughts?
  22. Oh good lord. How frat boy. Anyway...lots of greens and greenery in Annapolis this weekend. Crispins still had a full spread of roots and greens and apples. I was pretty surprised they still had so much. Mostly there are non-produce vendors now, though. Find of the day is a tie between some outrageously yummy caramels (I had to let my sample warm up in my pocket for a while before it was soft enough to eat -- they were rock solid from the cold by 10) and the greenery sold by Bay Weekly's Bay Gardener columnist Frank Gouin (former horticulture prof at College Park). I went to his farm in Deale today to pick out a lovely tree. He's got some nice looking peach trees whose fruit he sells at the Deale market on Thursdays. Will have to check that out next year...
  23. bavila

    Mila

    I got on the blog too, and ony found the initial entry that Todd mentioned. Maybe it will reappear shortly.
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