Valentine's Day

Every year, we decide last minute that we want to try to get away on Valentine's Day and make a feeble attempt at finding a good deal on a B&B within a couple hours of the DC Metro area. Needless to say, it usually falls through due to our lack of planning (note: it did work out excellently once, when we spent the weekend in a B&B near Luray, VA). Anyway, we inevitably end up staying in and cooking a delicious fancy meal. To be honest, cooking in is so much less stressful than planning a weekend away and ends up being more romantic!

Clockwise from left: roasted cauliflower, flowers from my honey, crab legs, and filet mignon

On this year's menu were Alaskan king crab legs, grilled filet mignon, and roasted cauliflower with dates. To start, we made a warm almond-crusted manchego cheese appetizer. Decadent, nutty, and unhealthy, it was the perfect way to start a romantic evening. I bought the king crab legs from Cameron's, a seafood market near my office. Don picked out the filets and decided to wrap his with bacon, obviously. The crab legs were steamed in beer, lemon, and garlic then served with melted garlic butter though they really didn't need anything. The filets were rubbed with a simple salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and olive oil mixture then grilled to medium-rare perfection.

For the appetizer recipe and meal pictures, see below.

Read more »

Woodberry Kitchen

My sister took us to this awesome restaurant last weekend when my parents were in town, so I thought it would be great if she were the one to post the review, having been there several times. Ladies and Gentlemen, enjoy her fabulous review of Baltimore's Woodberry Kitchen.

Read more »

Mozzarella Asparagus Crostinis

I had unexpected company come over one night, so had to make an appetizer from ingredients that were already in the fridge, since planning and shopping wasn't an option. Everyone has mozzarella cheese in some fashion or another, lemons, and bread. Add a vegetable and - voila! - crostinis! I used asparagus but really any tasty vegetable you like can be used (broccoli, spinach, or eggplant are some ideas).

For the simple recipe, see below:

Read more »

Avocado Henge

(a.k.a. Don's food art)


While we were waiting for a delicious Tex-Mex casserole thing to bake last night, Don cut the avocados for us and decided to really take his food art to the next level.

I almost didn't want to eat them! .....almost.