Dirtbag. Contest. Tectonics.

First of all, I’m back. It’s good to get that out of the way. Second, nobody won the contest. Mario said it’s too hard and there’s not clear enough incentive to even participate. I’m going to present it again and try to make it easier. Third, I went to New Orleans and had a blast and saw some great art. Fourth, I have not stopped eating, but thank you all for your concern, I’ve just been sleeping on the blog. So now, on with it.

The contest:

These three people serve one food in common. What is it? That is the second prize question. Hint: it is not a crepe.

What are their three businesses called?or where are they located? or describe them in any identifying manner. That will get you the first prize.

Second prize: one of these people will feed you good food. First prize: you will be fed good food by two of them.

Email me the answers at wmnsbd@gmail.com   Now somebody win that shit, please.

I went to New Orleans to see Alyssa Dennis’ MFA thesis exhibition, Tectonics, at Tulane. It did not disappoint. Check out her work at alyssadennis.com. The work from this exhibit may not have made it to that site just yet. Go here http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/040611_art.cfm or here http://ericalambertsonphilippe.blogspot.com/2011/04/tectonics.html to see photos from the show.

While I was there I ate some good food. This is not exactly the essence of New Orleans, but it’s blogworthy nonetheless. Quinoa salad and BLT.

Here’s one I’ve been holding onto for a while: the dirtbag. Go to Five Guys, order a small fries (which is actually huge), get a complimentary cup and have soda water with lemon, and shell all the free peanuts you can handle. A fairly satisfying lunch for under $3.00.

For the love of god though, somebody please win this contest. Thank you.

The contest! Win something awesome!

I went to Orlando last weekend for a conference. If you ever have the opportunity to go to Orlando for a weekend conference, skip that shit. Florida is not my favorite place. I won’t trash talk, cause I like to keep it positive here in the blogosphere, so I’ll tell you what was cool.

I walked a trail along a black water river in a palm tree forest where I saw a bunch of crazy orange lichen. Maryland does not have these things. I saw an armadillo on the side of the road during a late night walk along a six-lane highway. Maryland doesn’t have armadillos either. The fact that the armadillo was not roadkill was doubly cool. On the other side of the road was the truck you see below, selling empanadas, tomales, and other things I would have eaten if I weren’t already stuffed from having had, for the first time, Ceviche for dinner. When I realized that the conference was a total waste of time and attention, I did the next worst thing. I went to Disney World alone. I took a good picture or two though.

Orange lichen!

Overall I think I made pretty much the best of the situation. Especially considering I finished two books I really enjoyed, ordered a few more that I’m enjoying now, planned a trip and booked a flight to New Orleans, and had a few good phone conversations with friends, calls I may not have made time for had I not been removed from all the stuff back home.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Florida has Cubans. Cubans make Cuban food. Cuban food is good. I know this because I ate some.

Okay, the contest. Here’s how it goes. Check out the three pictures and the rules below and email me your entry. There will be two winners. Second place wins something from one of the people below. First prize wins something from each of the other two.

Second place: Each of these three is the owner/operator of a business in Baltimore. Tell me what they have in common. There are lots of truthful answers, but very few that I will accept as a winner. That it has to do with food should be a given.

First place: Tell me where to find each of them/their business’ name/something to properly identify each of them. Hint: for this there are also a number of correct answers.

I will not tell you exactly what the prizes are, except to say that they are from these three people and that I wish I weren’t the guy holding this contest, because I wish I could be a winner.

Email your submission to wmnsbd@gmail.com to enter. The first correct answer for each prize will be the winner. It’s a correct answer if I say it is, bitches.

There you have it.

Freshness. Contest ness.

Oh, the salad bar. DIY made easy. After all the dense, individually wrapped, and just-add-boiling-water food I ate while hiking over the weekend, I was due some serious fresh, raw goodness. (Ooh baby I like it raw.)

Spinach and onion for vegetables, strawberry and dried cranberry for fruits, tomato for that something in between, and some pasta salad with olive and mozzarella for “other”. I dress her up in red wine and balsamic and boy does she satisfy.

I’m going from one Greenspring Avenue customer to another today and The Fresh Market is on the way. Hit the place up for anything from sushi to confectionery treats to kosher deli meats to Mexican Coke.

I will say that they don’t ever seem to have any local produce, but they have a lot of other redeeming qualities. The last time I was there I had a sandwich made and took my time picking out a couple of other things, only to get to the register and realize that I had left my wallet at home. The kind fellow in line behind me bought me my lunch and I was able to head back to my job site without going hungry.

For so many of life’s little favors and great gifts, I owe the cosmos more than I can ever repay. I will try my best though, and I will continue to be assisted by many kind people along the way, no doubt.

With that in mind, I am announcing that I’ll be holding a contest here on Workingman’s Bread. There will be two lucky winners, a first prize and a second prize, but the second prize winner will have first pick of their winnings, so while the first prize will be bigger, it will also be what the other person didn’t want, or just wanted less. Does that make sense?

Stay tuned about the contest. I am still seeking the generous support of one more vendor, and then we’ll be good to go.

P.S. In the title of this post I used the word “ness”. This suffix, I believe, as was suggested to me some years ago by a very good friend, has strength all on it’s own. I feel it requires no root word as it’s companion. It may be used synonymously with “je ne sais qua”, or in a number of other ways, and I encourage you all to seize an opportunity to use it in a conversation you’ll soon be having. If you would, please leave a comment on here recounting your usage. Thanks.

Book and Bookmark

I would have to say today has been pretty epic, as far as soups are concerned.

Is that how I wanted to start this post? How about this next one as an alternative….

When somebody wants to feed you, let them.

I like both. What do you think?

Today was my second day working at a home in Annapolis. The house isn’t right downtown, the only place to really grab a bite in Maryland’s fair capital, and I really had a lot to get done.  For a guy who almost never packs a lunch this spells trouble. Yesterday was pretty pathetic. I don’t want to knock Clif Builder’s bars- they’re tasty, have lots of vitamins and a good balance of protein and carbohydrate to fuel a very active lifestyle (over the weekend I walked more than 20 miles, went dancing, climbing, and helped a friend move)- but two Builder’s bars does not an awesome lunch make. That’s what I had yesterday, and today could have easily been just as bad, except today my customer offered up the soups that he was keeping warm on the stove all day. He and others were in and out of the house throughout the day and people were enjoying a bowl or a cup as they pleased. A bit before lunch, on his way out, he told me where the bowls were and said to feel free to help myself to some chicken vegetable soup or the beef stew. If you know me, that I am as one friend put it, “one of those people who can never turn down food”, then you know that when my customer said OR, I heard AND. Both soups were delicious. I also enjoyed two different ginger snaps and some Nilla Wafers that were out on the counter. When you’re on a job site (or anywhere) and you have the opportunity to eat whatever’s there, for free, rather than go somewhere else and spend money, do that. Just don’t go routing around in people’s cabinets uninvited.  Or if you do, tell me what happens when you get caught.

The beef stew, by the the way, was made with the meat of grass-fed cows. Most people would call this “grass-fed beef”, and I even considered writing “grass-fed beef stew”, but both phrases are ridiculous, the latter especially. It is a cow that feeds on grass, not beef (although I admit it would be pretty amazing to watch a teres major get ball-deep in a lawn), and certainly a stew will not be masticating blades anytime soon. I like to remember that when I’m eating chicken, it’s a bird. I ate mammal today. Just sayin’. Anyway, grass-fed, yeah, that’s where it’s at, forealiously.

This brings me to my next point, dinner. Two more soups, both sans meat.

Exhibit A: I’ve been thinking I need better photos for the blog.  Tonight Atwater’s threw me a bone with an Italian Vegetable soup. I’ve been reading a lot about the Appalachian Trail lately, planning a thru-hike next year, and it happens that my book matched my soup. Thanks, Lisa, for lending me the books. You said they were good food. You were right.  Lisa’s book and Italian vegetable.  One and the same?

Exhibit B: There were two vegetarian soups on the menu, so I had some of both. (I mean, how could I pass up the opportunity to have four soups in one day?) It happens that the other matched my new favorite bookmark. I got it from place called Leo’s in Chattanooga that sells local handmade goods and awesome records. It actually came with an envelope, so I guess it was meant as a card. So here they are, Leo’s card and curried butternut squash soup. Thanks, Leo.

Every good book deserves a good bookmark.

Reruns? No, leftovers!

Hold up, yo. Didn’t I already blog about Indian food? And didn’t I write about muffins too? Damn right I did. What, like Seinfeld isn’t just as great in reruns? Besides, I’m not rerunning shit anyway. This is all new Indian and all new muffins.

Last night I went to dinner at Cafe Spice in Towson with my old school homegirl, Naomi. She read some Workingman’s Bread and got inspired, and when she hopped in my hooptie ride to get our eat on she came packin’ some fresh baked muffins. Two in a bag, still warm. Since we were on our way to dinner and I had been snacking on roasted, unsalted almonds all day and had eaten half a burrito an hour before, I wasn’t tryin’ to spoil my little old appetite with these savory smelling muffins just then.

We headed off to the spot that some folks had really hyped up. Yelp made it sound expensive and we weren’t trying to spend a whole lot, so we showed up prepared to check the prices and bounce if things were looking a little too blingy. The joint seemed reasonable so we proceeded with the standards, you know, the things that any Indian joint should do well so that you can measure it against all the others. Samosa appetizers, palaak paneer and chicken tikka masala entree dishes, and some garlic naan to rock with. Creamy, complex and delicious. Satisfying for sure and enough to take some leftovers for lunch. That’s a sweet deal when, like me, you’ve got lots of big expensive plans in your future and you’re going broke fast.

So lunch today was the leftovers and Naomi’s muffin/biscuit hybrid. I texted her while I was chowing down to ask just what was in ’em. She said, “Shallots, red pepper, mushroom, garlic, CHEESE, and happiness.” This was her first run at it and it was a great success. Keep ’em comin’, I say. Thanks grrl.

BTW, I also snacked on some of Trader Joe’s “Just Mango”‘ dried, unsweetened, unsulfered mango with my lunch. It’s a regular snack for me, but with a little ethnic context from the Indian.

Wanna make me some food? Hit me up. I’m goin’ broke. I will eat mostly without discrimination if it’s free. I might tell you what I think too, which could be amusing.

Baltimore vs. Chattanooga

“Some people… some people like cupcakes exclusively, while I myself say there is naught nor ought there be nothing so exalted on the face of God’s grey earth as that prince of foods… The Muffin!” – Frank Zappa

In the summer of 2000 the late Jim Hinke bought a place on Harford Road that had long been Kim’s Carryout, a Chinese joint. Kim’s was closing their doors and moving on and Jim, an air traffic controller since the Reagan administration, decided that Harford Road needed it’s spirit lifted. He bought the building and pretty much everything in it and he opened Hinke’s Herring Run Cafe in that spot, right next to to the then new Safeway grocery store. He served quality seafood, quality beer, coffee, and something Harford Road had probably never seen at that time, vegetarian fare. Jim was well intended and a huge catalyst for the change that has occurred along that corridor since, but he was no restauranteur. The place lasted maybe a year. It was my privilege to know the man and to work there for him that first summer. I damn near sliced the tip of my finger tip off about five minutes prior to the grand opening and Jim, being the man that he was, took me to get fixed up at Union Memorial’s hand center instead of being there to see his baby come into the world. The place lasted long enough to attract a couple who saw the true potential of the place, and who, since taking up the location in 2001 have been serving up some of Baltimore’s finest cuisine, The Chameleon.

What does any of that have to do with muffins or Chattanooga? Well, today Harford Road is home to a number of awesome places slinging some killer eats. One place though that you might not suspect is the bookstore and cafe a couple doors South of The Chameleon, Red Canoe. I have to confess that I have not tried much of the menu but the muffins. I take it at the word of others that the other items are as delicious as I have heard, but myself, being a muffin man, I can never resist. If I ever want a muffin, this the place I go. If they’re not open, I will suffer the craving until the very next opportunity I have to get there during their business hours.

As hopefully you already know from previous posts, I was recently in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Looking for breakfast my first morning in town, I had to see what they had to offer in they way of my favorite baked good. I am quite pleased to have found a muffin that I would have to characterize as one of my two favorite muffins. Niedlov’s Breadworks makes too different a blueberry muffin from Red Canoe’s to really be compared in the same class. I don’t think one is necessarily better than the other. I consider them equals in parallel universes. Red Canoe is a processed sugary treat for sure, maybe sweetened with a little orange juice in the mix or something too, but Niedlov’s was very happy to tell me that theirs is sweetened with just a bit of honey and the blueberries themselves. Delicate, refreshing, and perfect to get your day going. Both places serve locally roasted coffees, which is also awesome.

There are a lot of interesting similarities between Baltimore and Chattanooga, but also a lot of wonderful differences. Get down there in them hills when you can.  Expect more postings relating to my Southern Adventure too.

Indian Buffet

Two things: eat great food, have great friends. These are important. I do both, for real. Also, have lots of fun. I’ve been eating great food and keeping up with my loved ones, but I’ve also been traveling and making new friends in new places and staying super busy. I’ve been taking pictures of lots of food, but haven’t had time to write. Look forward to a couple things from Chattanooga and some Birmingham goodness and maybe even a roadside strawberry shortcake soon.

Right now I’m hitting you up with Friday’s lunch, first thing in the morning on Saturday. Still I’m pressed for time, so quick and dirty, that’s how I’m gonna give it to you.

A group of my friends gets together almost every Friday at Kumari for the buffet. Simply put, you and your friends should do the same. There are two other Indian joints with a block of Kumari on Charles Street. Shown above is my second large plate of a variety of awesome foods.  Kumari usually goes something like this: get excited I’m going, grab the seat next to Ariel so I can make jokes quietly to her throughout lunch, eat until I’m not hungry, eat until I’m stuffed, pay, leave, FOOD COMA.

If you don’t want to be bothered by me and the raucous gang I dine with, go to one of the other spots. But if you want the best Indian buffet around and a hot tea that’s basically cream sweetened, spiced, and cut with a heavy dose of magical wonder, GO TO KUMARI. Leave a comment if you want to know some of my favorite items there or if you want to contest my assertion that it’s the best joint down there.

Day Two

This is not a work day lunch. Not that it couldn’t be, but today just isn’t a work day, it’s a climbing day. Little Rock City a.k.a. Stone Fort is a mecca of bouldering outside Chattanooga, Tennessee. The boulder field stands at the top of a mountain lining a fairway at Montlake golf course. It’s here today that little by little, in between climbs or attempts, I’m munching on fruits, vegetables, and some individually wrapped delicacies that are still frozen from being in my icebox of a Honda all night long in these freezing temperatures. Here they are in my lap on the blanket I was smart enough to stuff in my day pack.

It’s day two of climbing here for me. Tonight’s gonna bring a snow storm with it, so no climbing the next two days. My fingers and the rest of my body need the rest anyway. I’m heading up to Nashville in the morning (know anybody I can crash with for a night?) and then down to Birmingham on Tuesday. Can’t wait to check out the cities and then maybe find some of that backwoods old south authenticity. Here’s the view from where I was sitting when I started writing this post. I made an attempt at this climb, ate some broccoli, then climbed the shit out of that shit.

That’s not me climbing, but he and I both finished this climb, The Hulk. It was fun and tough and it was the only climb we did today that I got through before he did. He helped push me, and we’re gonna meet up in Alabama on Wednesday to climb through three days of good weather. Say some healing prayers for me in the mean time, and eat something great too.

Bonus!

Today I profess my allegiance to Greg’s bagels. Greg, I salute you. This guy’s got salmon coming out of every place you can imagine. (What!? That’s messed up.) I mean, he brings in the best stuff from all over.

I always go for the Jail Island with cream cheese and tomato on a toasted poppy. If you’re not in the mood for “Fish Mania” (the header on their extensive list of available salmon selections) another favorite is the smoked sausage with egg and cheddar. Filthy rich, that’s what I have to say.

I had that delicious bagel shown above, packed my car, and drove 300 miles to be where I am right now writing this. I had a second bagel on the road, chocolate chip with Greg’s Raspberry cream-cheese, what they call “melba”. What a treat!

Right here I gotta give some love to Greg’s wife, Kathy. She rules. She’s like a freaking samurai on the cash register. She hooked me up with an extra chocolate chip bagel, fresh from the oven, to sustain me on my journey. So here it is, my dinner.

I had to take a short break from the drive to Chattanooga, where I’ll be hanging out and climbing rocks (weather permitting) for much of the next week, to slap some peanut butter on this joint. Thanks Kathy.

an understated essential

Today, when the day’s grind is done, I’m heading to Earth Treks in Timonium to put in my last day of indoor climbing here before I take off for nine days to climb some real rocks in the South.  (The real south. Not this, “Maryland’s a line state.  Technically we’re Southern” crap.)  Friday after work I’m heading out toward Tennessee, and at some point I’ll be making my way into Alabama. This is a much needed and long awaited departure from the regular day-in day-out.

Here’s what I’m eating to get me through the day at work and have me fueled and still ready to go at five so I call pull plastic until I just can’t hold on to pull up any more.  It’s also fitting that I’m chowing down on the kind of stuff you  pack with you to carry on down the trail. Here though, instead of in a rucksack, you see it sitting on the van console. (That’s right, I said rucksack.)

For me, the grocery store is one of the best stops I can make for lunch. A good grocery store like Whole Foods has plenty of options for a substantial and exciting meal on the go. You can leave the house in the morning with a granola bar in your pocket and know that you have something to hold you over if things get crazy on the job site and you just can’t get away to hit the local barbecue shack, but if you take that and five minutes to run through a couple isles at the market, now you got a meal.

I had an organic banana on my way out of the office this morning, so I was on my way well, but I stopped and got myself some organic yogurt and some raw organic nuts to go with it and some kombucha. (Your not living till you’re drinking culture.)

Fruit, salad, nuts, prepared foods, whatevs- bottom line: don’t forget the grocery store when you’re looking for a place to grab a bite.