Charm City Cakes

Chris and I watch The Food Network. We love Ace of Cakes with Duff Goldman, although our favorite is his associate Geoff Manthorn. Geoff is my favorite because his sense of humor, he is hysterical in that dry serious kind of way. If you haven’t seen the show, you should, but besides that it is about this bakery that makes crazy cakes. Since Ace of Cakes is filmed in Baltimore we decided to go find it! (I was secretly hoping Geoff would be outside)

We knew we wouldn’t be able to knock or wave or disturb the cake makers but we just wanted to see the place. We typed Charm City Cakes into the iphone and off we went. Only about 5 minutes from the city we ended up in a residential neighborhood, I was thinking the iphone had failed us when… There it was! Shiny and just like on the television. We were like kids, running over to the door to get a picture. All the windows were blacked in and of course there was a buzzer to get in, but we didn’t bother anyone.

As we were leaving we did see one of the girls from the show, but she is our least favorite. I was so excited that I am sharing my excitement with you.

G & M

I desperately wanted Chris to have MD crab while we were in town. As we walked into G&M we were greeted by a newly renovated beautiful restaurant. The mix of older couples, young businessmen and chatty women told us that their food had to be good enough for all the different needs. We were excited. We were seated on the second floor which was only tables for two. There were flat screens everywhere but it wasn’t obnoxious and loud like a sports bar.

We ordered two crab cake sandwiches. The waitress was the epitome of a Baltimorean. Chris was surprised by her gruff demeanor mixed with pet names. I think it was a grand total of 4 minutes later that our crab cakes were placed on the table. We were still playing around taking pictures when they arrived. Man, they were beautiful. I had mine with chunky applesauce and Chris had crinkly French fries.

I immediately ditched the bun and went to town while Chris tried to pick his up and eat it like a sandwich, it was adorable and clumsy. He caught on and left the bun. It was crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside, flavorful, full of crab meat hunks and no oozing mayonnaise or other condiment. Perfection.

These weren’t budget sandwiches at 13 dollars apiece but for good crab cakes, it was worth it! Plus the dinner version went up to 25 dollars a serving. Full of delicious seafood comfort we piled back into the rental car and two cars were ready for our spot before I could even put her in reverse.

The Blue Moon Café

    Fells Point is an area of Baltimore known for its bars. There are a lot of bars; some amazing bars. Anytime you have bars clustered together you’re bound to find the most amazing bar food, which usually includes wings, pizza, or burgers. The Blue Moon Café on the other hand serves breakfast.

    Chris and I sought of the café after they were featured on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. It’s a small building right off of the main bar street. We sat at a cute little table in front of an old fireplace. The whole place is charming, like an old, warn in pair of jeans that you could probably update but love too much.

    We ordered the Captain Crunch French Toast and the Mexican Scramble. The Captain Crunch French Toast is their specialty. The cereal is crushed up and the toast is covered in it before it is cooked. It caramelizes and sweetens the outside while retaining the crunch, mmmm. It is served with fresh fruit. The Mexican scramble is eggs, chorizo, cheese, peppers, and spice served scrambled with hash 

browns and a biscuit.The biscuit came out before anything else. It was gigantic, that is a half of my biscuit in the picture. It’s served with butter and strawberry jam. It was flaky and delicious, bordering on better than mom’s homemade. Chris even liked it :)

    The food came out in a hurry, the whole place was working very quickly. It was amazing. Chris stopped talking completely to shovel French toast into his mouth before his stomach could tell him he was full. The home-made 

whipped cream serves as the syrup as it melted on the hot French toast. The Mexican

 Scramble was perfectly flavored. It was spicy and savory. The textures worked so well together, I even scrambled in some of my has

h browns for more of a crunch.We were so full we couldn’t finish our big servings but o

ur bill wasn’t inflated at all. We stumbled out into the street in a food coma, similar to a beer coma.

Engaged!

I haven't had a change to blog about all the amazing foodie experiences I had in Maryland, Pannsylvania, and New York because it has been the most exhausting trip. I needed a few days to rest when I got back.

Plus... Chris purposed while we were in New York. It was the best. :)

We went to MD so Chris could see where I grew up. We went up to NY for a little vacation. It was my first time in the city. We arrived on Saturday morning after a long ride on the train. It was delayed at least an hour! I was excited to spend some time with Chris alone before his friends Andrew and Melanie arrived to hang out with us. Chris was acting so weird and I was getting upset because our whole trip had been so busy we hadn't had muh time to just be together. I wanted him to be happy that we had some time alone but he seemed so stressed out. We wandered around NY and Chris kept texting Andrew. I was sad he didn't want to talk to me. When we met up with his friends he seemed to get a little happier so when they all insisted that we go to the Empire State Building immediately I just went along with it.

There was a long wait and I actually asked if we really wanted to wait. We got up to the top and it was so worth it. It was beautiful and stunning, we went to every side of the building and took all these pictures. It was cold and windy so I asked if we could go. Andrew said ok, lets just get one final video/picture. The next thing I knew Chris was on one knee and saying, "Will you marry me?" I was Shocked! I think I said yes and couldn't stop staring at my hand. I was shaking and I just couldn't believe it was real. There was a woman next to us who overheard and congratulated us, which was cute. Andrew and Melanie were ready to move on to the next event but I was so shaken I started crying at the bottom of the building.

It was amazing, I'm in love.

Mrs. Rowe's

In 2005 Southern Living featured an article "Brake for Breakfast". They featured a restaurant called Mrs. Rowe's in Staunton, Virginia. Seeing as I am in Staunton I figured I should check it out.

It was a cute little place right off the main highway. I went with a party of 5 and we were seated quickly. Coffee was hot, and the menu was printed right on our paper place-mats which is something I'm not used to in FL but it had a southern charm.

I ordered the egg sandwich with fried apples. It was delicious and southern and just as roadside breakfast should be, in my opinion. The coffee was hot and the waitress was sweet. So if you're ever in Staunton and your craving a ham, egg, ad cheese sandwhich on wheat; check out Mrs. Rowes.

I am in Staunton Virginia. My sister is graduating from Mary Baldwin College and I am in town to celebrate. Cassie's idea of starting the party included a tattoo. She decided to get Shakespeare's signature on her ankle. 

Mom and I went with her to watch her get her 3rd piece of body art. Mom was very nervous for her. We both thought the tattoo guys were friendly though  and had a nice chat about how they would feel about tattooing a woman's woo-ha. 

Airport Dining

Good Morning. Its bright and early and I am at the airport. Gate 123, as you can see. The airport is an odd place. I always feel as if I am walking down a runway when I walk by all the gates of people staring at the walkway. And I hate carrying my carry on, but that’s another thing altogether.

Besides that though there are many odd things to do with food here. It is 9 in the morning and yet the little bar behind me is hoppin. Personally I love to have a nice strong beverage before I fly, it helps me sleep on the plane but I just can’t justify an $11 martini at this hour. I’ll have to stick with my other addition, iced coffee.

The air is perfumed with the smell of biscuits and cinnamon rolls. Every other person is carrying a McDonalds bag and the boy a few rows down from me just had the breakfast of champions, Doritos. Why is it that we arrive hours before our flight to zoom through security, to eat. Eating is a very social activity for most Americans. They serve food here at the airport, so we must eat? I had my bowl of Special K before I left the house. Maybe parents feed their children at the airport so they will be quiet. Goodness children are loud at the airport. I think we should stop serving $6 egg McMuffins and stop eating just because we can. If people could only try eating delicious nutritious food because their body requires fuel, maybe they would like it. Or maybe we should just keep feeding children to be quiet.