I love dinner parties. I think they're the bees knees, largely because they represent the amalgamation of many things I cherish in life (good company, good food, bountiful booze). I often find myself conjuring up delusions of grandeur day dreaming of hosting amazing dinner parties in the fabulous house that I bought while appearing on House Hunters International on HGTV. But then reality sets in, and that fantasy goes out the window when I realize that by the time I have the house and the big kitchen, I'll probably be too busy with a husband, a crumb snatcher or two, the poodle, and a job to even want to host a dinner party, let alone have the energy to do so. So to compensate for the fact that hosting my own amazing dinner parties isn't currently feasible, and its future feasibility is questionable, I let restaurants do the work for me, which is why I love Baltimore Restaurant Week. It provides the perfect opportunity to get together with friends and family and enjoy a fabulous 3 course meal for $35.11 (booze not included).
This year, the girls and I finally got our acts together, and made our way to Baltimore Winter Restaurant Week (and didn't get snowed out like last year). We went to Sascha's, a "Creative American Fare" restaurant with strong Mediterranean influences. I had been dying to eat there for ages, because it's just a few blocks from my apartment, and I'm glad I finally did. We had an amazing time! The food was fantastic, and the service was amazing, and the drinks were good enough to make me ignore their price tag. I personally can't wait to go this place again, and as soon as I free up some cash (post Spain), I will certainly be joining them for happy hour. Most of the pictures are courtesy of Keeley, as she is now part of "the girls", cuz she's awesome like that. And with warmer weather on the way, more girls get togethers are in the cards for the "bloggers are awesome" crew :)
*Pictures are couretsy of Keeley's way awesome camera
Keeley's caipirinha
My ginger martini
Hillary and Alihah order the pink panther martini.
And Toya is growing a baby, so water for her (not pictured)
How many different ways can you eat jamon? Just ask the Spanish, the possibilities, apparently, are endless! I've never eaten so much pork in my life, let alone in a two week span of time! Obviously, the Spaniards are into ham. and sausage. and eggs. and cheese. and potatoes. and bread. and more jamòn. and NOT vegetables. How they don't drop dead at age 50 is beyond me, but I'm going to chuck it up to all the olive oil, red wine, walking, and LIVING life rather than working it. Quite frankly, jamòn was a recurring theme on most restaurant menus, became a the running joke of our entire trip, and will now forever hold a special place in my heart. Thank You, Spain!
In general, the food was good. Not great, not life changing, [for life changing food, go to Italy, as I plan to to do again in the next three years!] but good. The food lacked variety, for obvious reasons, and they Spanish just didn't seem as passionate about fresh, quality ingredients as some of their other European neighbors. With that said, I'll share some of my favorite dishes with you.
Paella de Arroz Negro
I didn't eat as much seafood as I thought I would, especially in Barcelona, mostly because the Spanish are really into octopus, and I'm really NOT. But the this paella was amazing. Shrimp with the heads still on and mussels really freak me out. But this dish was so good, I just detached the heads and got over my fear of mussels and kept it moving. I even ate around the octopus pieces. It was THAT good.
Chorizo
I can't put my finger on what makes it so great. Maybe it's the light saltiness, or the smokiness, or the fact that it oozes bright orange oil. I dunno, but this chorizo and tomato bocadillo with olive oil from a small bar in Madrid was the tastiest sandwich I had in all of Spain. It was so simple, yet really really good. I even bought some chorizo here and recreated this sandwich, which I of course followed with some vegetables. It wasn't as good as the original, but darn close.
Patatas Bravas
This was the house specialty at the Argumosa restaurant in Madrid. They don't look like much, but that sauce was effin delicious. And, when the potatoes where all gone, we sopped up the rest of the sauce with bread. Yeah, son. It's like that.
¡Sobrasada!
hands down, my favorite dish in Spain.
Served on bread with melted manchego at some restaurant in El Puerto de Santa Maria. It was LIFE. CHANGING. It was SLAP YO' MAMA GOOD! I almost creamed my pants eating this dish. Seriously. I wanted to live in this sauce! I tried to buy some to bring home, but sadly, what they had at the market required refrigeration. But I think I may have found it on a website in a jar. But if that doesn't work out, I'm sure I can work my Spain connections if I get desperate. Right primo?
Ribs
I think this pictures pretty much says it all. Dinner at Parrilla in El Puerto de Santa Maria. It took me three days to finish them. 3 glorious days! And if you didn't know already, hear me know, the Spanish [and all other Spanish speaking people] KNOW how to work a pig. Keep that in mind when eating Latin food.
Vegetables!
The Moroccans understood the importance of vegetables, God bless them for it! I was so hard up for some plant based food, I ate vegetables that I typically hate, like beets and pumpkin, and loved them!
The pumpkin and beets were sweet, and chilled, and scrumptious. why can't they taste like that here?!
Lamb Tangine
Where do I start on this one. First, there were more vegetables, generously seasoned and deliciously cooked. And the lamb, it was so tender, I could cut it with my fork. This was an expensive dinner for our first night in Marrakech, but totally worth it.
Honey Pastries
These sweet treats were delicious! I don't know what they are called, the green one was filled with pistachio, the other was some sort of deep fried dough and tasted of and cinnamon and with a hint of cloves, both were drenched in honey! There were so many different types pastries in the market, I wish I had tried more! And I must mention the Moroccan honey. It had a distinct flowery flavor, it was a dark amber color, and tasted far better than any honey I've ever had here. I really wish I had made more of an effort to buy some, but that's what my next trip to Marrakech is for.
All in all, I enjoyed the food enough. And guess what, I've been craving jamòn for days, lol! I now present to you a slide show of the collective eatings of España and Morocco.
::side bar:: I'm well aware that salsa music is a Cuban original, not a Spanish one. But I love this song :)
Birthdays are always an interesting experience for me. Always. Sometimes they're bad interesting--like when my dog died 4 days before my birthday then my great grandmother died the week after. Sometimes they're outrageous, like the year I celebrated in NYC and this guy bit me on my shoulder[no bullshit!]--but I still had a GREAT time! This year's birthday experience was no different, as it had its share of dramatic events. But regardless of those events, my birthday overwhelmingly AWESOME. Thank you to all my family, friends, and random strangers/potential new friends who made it one I'll always remember :-)
Remember my networking event? It was great! I made some great connections, met some new potential friends, [which as you may know is really hard to do once you get out of school], and shamelessly flirted from time to time [remember there were drink specials...]
Alihah and I had such a great time, in fact, that we left the venue later than we should've, got caught up tax day post office traffic, and I missed the last train out of DC! Alihah had to drive me all the way back to bmore, then turn around and go back to Arlington--[that's what friends are foooor!]--and somehow we both made it into work the next day!
Friday, I found out I got my first blog award! Maddy from The Maddy Chronicles has bestowed upon me a Best Blogger Award! I am beaming from ear to ear! Thank You Maddy!! :-D
I'd like to thank the academy...(insert inappropriate Kathy Griffin style joke here) [I'm sorry Jesus, you know I love you, but it was funny!]
Saturday was my Birthday Dinner. Normally, I have gone to some club and drank/danced the night away--with mixed results. This year, I wanted something low key and easy to execute, not because I'm getting old, but because I'm not finished paying for my expensive ass amazing awesomely fantastic vacation. And I'd rather not resort to go-go dancing at the local gay bar in order to do so...then again some extra cash is always a good thing when I'm in Europe...but I digress...
Dress Reveal...
Just because I was only having a dinner didn't mean I couldn't dress to drop jaws,lol...
I owe a big THANK YOU to Jonesy over at The Bliss List for putting me on to www.asos.com where I got this dress for a price that was almost too good be true!
we laughed... OK...it turns out I don't have any great pics of us laughing...but I know somebody does
we drank...
we ate...
Tapas is one of my favorite dining experiences: small plates and lots of choices. We dined at Pazo, which in my opinion is the swankiest eatery in Baltimore. Its a huge converted warehouse space, the food is always on point, and the drinks will get ya drunk! Its one of the few places in Baltimore to see and be seen in. I recommend the veal and pork empanadas and the scallion bruschetta with goat cheese!
We drank some more
We laughed and ate a lot more...
a good time was had by all!
So I thought that 2X was going to be "my year." Well life didn't work out the way I thought it would [big surprise] but I was still a good year, I learned a LOT about myself, and all that jazz...
Well, I'm a year older, certainly a year wiser, and I can't wait to see what 2x+1 will bring...
After yet another fabulous Saturday night at my all time favorite watering hole in DC, Marvin, the next day I was in much need of good food and coffee. Thanks to my dear friend Alihah, who all too happily enables my food snobbery, I experienced this little slice of Paris on a beautiful, first Sunday of Spring. Don't get me wrong, NOTHING compares to the real deal--NOTHING. But the last (and first) time I was in Paris, it was January and constantly overcast. So imagine my delight on a glorious Sunday morning afternoon, to discover this organic, authentic Parisian jewel in the middle of Arlington, Va, aka the most suburban town in America.
Seriously one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had. Starbucks, you need to get your life together!
Alihah's Café au lait.
Basil Pesto & Parmesan Omelette.
I almost got the goat cheese and asparagus omelette, but since I always get "the one with goat cheese" I decided to expand my horizons. Well consider my horizons expound, this omelette was "Slap Yo' Mamma" good! The pesto was rich with fresh basil and light garlicy flavor, the parmesan was nutty and salty, and the eggs were fluffy*perfection. It was an orgasmic experience. Really. The organic mesclun salad had the perfect amount of vinegarette, which was light and acidic, but not overpowering.
This, my friends, is what a real** baguette should look like. A thick and crunchy, hearth baked crust, with a deliciously porous and chewy inside. The spread options included a hazelnut praline "Brunette" spread (pictured) a 4-redberry jam, and apricot jam. All were delicious, but c'mon does anything stand a chance to hazelnut praline?
[in case you were wondering, the answer is "hellz naw"]
Rather than wait the twenty minutes for an outdoor table, we decided to dine inside and were seated next to the pantry which was full of a variety of tasty (and pricey) spreads. I'm convinced that this was no accident, and that the hostess knew that I cannot resist the allure of gourmet spreads. I was strong enough to resist on Sunday [mostly because I'm low on spending money], but one day soon, I'm going back there to spend $10 on that brunette spread. And probably more stuff too, because let's be real, I'm not just going to buy 1 jar of spread.
*The fluffiness of organic eggs cannot be denied, they were like little clouds of joy. Next pay raise, I'm making that switch!
**Once you have an authentic baguette, you'll be pissed at those sticks of white bread they call baguettes in the grocery store, which are utter trash and why I shamelessly drench them in butter and olive oil . its the only way to make them edible.
