Eating Well in Crisfield – The Crab & Cruise

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Judy

Last month, we were kindly invited to a two-day celebration of Maryland seafood hosted by Greg Cain, proprietor of The Crab Place, a restaurant and seafood shipping business in Crisfield.  I had never been to Crisfield despite living in Maryland for 39 years and accounting for my share of the delicious products of Bay and ocean, so we took this opportunity to rectify that situation.

Greg told us that the shipping business has been established for 15 years, but the restaurant is only two years old.  The Crab & Cruise event is well on its way to becoming a tradition, attracting people from all over the U.S. and a few from abroad.

On Friday night, a seafood dinner was served under a huge tent set up next to the restaurant.  The seafood paella was cooked on the spot by Chef Max Hardy and several assistants.  It was excellent – clams, mussels, and jumbo shrimp nicely set off with sausage and vegetables in a spicy broth, served over rice.

Chef Max had come from Miami to cater this event.  For those who may not have cared for paella (I can’t imagine who), there were fish tacos featuring fried grouper.

Large filets of grouper were deep fried and garnished with a creamy sauce and piquant salsa.  Of course, one could have some of each.  Of course, I did.

 

Beer and wine were available, and also some excellent vodka cocktails sponsored by Van Gogh Vodka.  For dessert, a local specialty: Smith Island cake.  After dinner, a band played for dancing in the parking lot until midnight.

On Saturday afternoon, we returned to The Crab Place tent for a grand crab feast.  All the steamed crabs we could eat, plus steamed clams, fried clam strips, corn-on-the-cob, hush puppies, coleslaw, french fries, meatballs, and chicken wings.  Beer, of course, and soft drinks to wash down the food.  Oh, and more Smith Island cake for anyone with enough room left for it.

This cake has been designated as the official dessert of the state of Maryland.  It dates back to the 19th Century, developed by watermen’s wives on tiny Smith Island, which is accessible from the mainland only by passenger ferry.  From 8 to 15 thin layers of cake are stacked, separated by icing, then the finished cake is frosted.

I wish we had been able to go on the sunset cruise which followed, but we had to return home right after the crab feast, to get up early Sunday morning for the farmer’s market.  I hope next year we can make arrangements to stay over in Crisfield so as not to miss a minute of this event! Coming: What we did in between the eating – Saturday in Crisfield.

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Fancy Food Show Part 1: Show Floor

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Judy

The Fancy Food Show was held in the Washington Convention Center in June.  This annual event, open only to the trade, is a chance for specialty food producers to show their latest products, take orders, scope out their competition, and socialize.  It was a chance for me to wander the aisles looking for likely subjects to photograph, products to taste and people to meet!

The show is a mix of all sizes of producer, from the mom-and-pop shop with one or two highly specific products to the biggest corporations.  I found delicious products and clever presentations at all levels.

Here are some of the best visuals from the show floor.

The Yellow Tea Road

Bellocq Teas had an eye-catching display which made good use of their yellow packaging.  They have a highly rarefied line of teas and tisanes, and an atelier in Brooklyn.

The Jolly Truffle Hunters

Joe Czarnecki (on the right in the photo) and his son Stefan market a line of truffle-infused oil and sauces, under the name of The Czar’s Fine Foods.  They source their white truffles from Oregon, and claim to use only squirrels to find the underground mushrooms.  I will be writing more about them in a future post.

The Road to Morocco

There were many pavilions sponsored by countries, composed of individual manufacturer’s booths combined with a central feature; often a kitchen, sitting or sampling area, or combinations of same.  (First prize goes to the Italians for all three.)  Morocco, one of the smaller pavilions, had a tea pourer.  He was a very friendly chap, inviting visitors to sit down for a spell and join him while he poured tea from the wonderful silver tea service.

Jump Right In!

These folks not only had a terrific presentation – that is not a trick of perspective, they really were giant wine glasses full of chocolate sauce, available for sampling – but a catchy name: Somebody’s Mother’s Chocolate Sauce.  And here I quote their business card: “Naturally rich. Velvety. Perfect as a topping. Cold. Or hot. Especially good in the middle of the night.”  Even good in the middle of the show floor.

Keep On Truckin’

And speaking of big corporations, Lucini Italia and Delverde, a major Italian producer, drove a moving-van sized truck onto the show floor and held a Zonin Prosecco party at the end of the day.  The truck had a full kitchen, equipped with three chefs who turned out many tasty dishes using Delverde products.  They featured as special guest Top Chef: Texas Finalist Chef Lindsay Autry.  This was completely separate from the Italian pavilion, the hands-down pavilion winner as I mentioned above.  Viva Italia!

Natty Natalie’s

We wandered into Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company, attracted by the large backdrop of an orange grove and the coolers full of juice.  We stayed to chat with the exceedingly friendly salesmen, all tie-coordinated in wonderful tropical pastels.  They even posed willingly for a picture, all the while plying us with delicious juice and amazing facts (they’ve been voted “Best Tasting Orange Juice” by multiple polls).   We even met the CEO, Marygrace Sexton – the eponymous Natalie is her daughter.

More posts on the Fancy Food Show coming!  Stay tuned!

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Ah, Love! Ah Love: Ah Love Oil & Vinegar

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Judy

We took a field trip down to The Village at Shirlington, a chichi little shopping and dining district in Arlington, to visit the Ah Love Oil & Vinegar store, on the occasion of their first anniversary.  They were having chef demos and offering samples of their products and dishes made with them.

The shop carries a wide range of olive oil, vinegar, and a select assortment of specialty items.  I asked the owner, Cary Kelly, how she selected items to stock.  “I look for people who have their hands in their food,” she said.  Quality and integrity are her criteria.  “And the difference in olive oil speaks for itself.”

When she demonstrated how to make pesto in a food processor, that difference was apparent in the taste of the finished product.  Artisanal oil results in the noticeably superior taste of this combination of just a few ingredients.

 

 

Two of her suppliers were there, all the way from Sparta.  Diamontis and Dino Pierrakos import Laconiko olive oil.  When I asked them how old their trees are, they looked a little apologetic when admitting that they are only about 30 to 80 years old. ( In Greece, trees many hundreds of years old are still bearing.  Gives the growers in California something to emulate!)

The many plain and flavored olive oils are sold from large stainless steel air-tight fusti (Italian for tanks).  This arrangement facilitates tasting before purchase.  Cary encourages tasting as many as you like to assure satisfaction.

The tasting samples were delicious and plentiful.  They included popcorn with black truffle salt and white truffle olive oil; tortellini with tomato, Parmesan,  olive oil and za’atar; dark chocolate walnut zucchini cake with olio nuovo; fig and olive confit; and my favorite, dark chocolate topping for cream cheese with candied orange flowers and lavender sea salt.  And to drink, a little peach white balsamic vinegar mixed with Champagne.

There were friendly gourmets, tasty nibbles and interesting stories.  A fine time, and I left wishing we lived closer to the Village.

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The Petit Tour of Europe, Part 4: Slovenia

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Judy

The fourth and last (I promise!) entry about the EU Embassy Open House on May 12, 2012.

As our last embassy, we arrived at Slovenia.  Sometimes the small embassies are the most enthusiastic about welcoming folks and showing them a good time, and we found it to be true in the former mansion on California Street.

In one big room, the smallest space of all the embassies that we visited, they had crammed live music, dancing, a wine tasting table, tourist information, Slovenians in native costumes, food displays, a separate food demo table, and just a little room for circulation.  Luckily, it was beautiful weather to enjoy their nice wide deck.

Alas, we got there too late for the wine, but there was still some surprisingly tasty pumpkinseed oil.  A very dark color, it looked unpromising but was really very good.  The handouts claim that it can be used medicinally as well as with cheese, over ice cream (I imagine its effect would be similar to real, aged balsamic vinegar), and on salads and other dishes.  It would be a superb finishing oil, if only it were more widely available.

The Slovenians had actually published a schedule of food demonstrations on their website, so we tried to time our visit to catch at least one of them.  (It was a good thing that we had saved Slovenia for last, we realized, because we may not have ever left.  The food demos were scheduled from 10:30 right thru to 4:00 p.m.)  They were running a little late, so we were in time to catch the potica demonstration.

No, I didn’t know what it was either, so I’ll tell you: potica  (pronounced Po-teet-sa) is pastry rolled out thin and filled with a rich mixture of nuts, butter, cream, honey, sugar, and sometimes raisins. Rolled up like a jelly roll and baked, it is traditionally eaten on holidays.  It’s so rich, it only takes a little to satisfy your sweet tooth.

 

Nick Carmody and his mother, Mary, had traveled from Conifer, Colorado to demonstrate the art of potica making.  They have a small company, Rocky Mountain Potica, which will mail-order many flavors of this pastry, including Strawberry Rhubarb Cream Cheese, Hazelnut Milk Chocolate, and Cherries Jubilee.  See www.rockymountainpotica.com

They had only brought the traditional kind to taste, but no matter -the samples disappeared in no time.  Because their company makes every potica to order, they will try to accommodate special flavor orders.   Hmmm- I wonder if they would consider a pumpkinseed oil potica? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wegmans Opens Sunday In Columbia

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Judy

After waiting nearly a century for the ultimate food shopping experience in North America, it has finally arrived just down the road from Olney.  Wegmans, a chain of grocery stores from upstate New York with a cult following, has come to our neighborhood.

I was invited to see the new Wegmans store in Columbia yesterday.  I met two PR people, Cynthia Glover and Jo Natale, who gave me a guided tour.  I had been making pilgrimages to Hunt Valley and had been to another Wegmans once during a trip north, so I was ready for this store to impress me with the sheer vastness and variety of their offerings.  They did not disappoint!

It was fun to walk around the store watching the employees get ready for the opening.  They were busy stocking, cooking, weighing, planning, and bustling around with a sense of suppressed excitement, but also quiet professionalism.  For practice, they cook each other lunch.

Wegmans opened its first store in Rochester, NY in 1916, and has been evolving into a relatively small but impactful chain, still owned and operated by the founding family.  This store, at 135,000 square feet, is the second-largest in the chain.  It will actually be the fifth in Maryland, but the first convenient to us (we clocked it at 14 miles from Ashton, 25 minutes down Route 32).

Here are a few things that set Wegmans apart from other grocery stores: a large selection of prepared food, which can be taken out or eaten in the store – there is seating for 400 in several different areas;  the variety and quality of their produce offerings; specialty shops for sushi, pastry, breads, seafood, meat, natural and organic foods, tea, International foods, deli, cheese, and a Kosher deli.  Many offerings are produced in-house.

They offer a line of store-brand packaged goods with “wellness keys” on the labels to indicate various benefits such as gluten-free, high-fiber, low-fat, etc. They even publish a magazine, “Wegmans Menu,” full of recipes and coupons.  The take-out meal options include a set of mix-and-match meals priced from $6.00 to $10.00, depending on the cost of the entree.

The Columbia store plans to offer local produce whenever possible.  It includes a pharmacy, home goods, florist, books and magazines, and greeting cards, but then so do many stores.  It’s the food, service and fair pricing that make the difference.

One of their points of pride concern employee relations; they consistently place high in Fortune magazine’s “Best Places To Work” survey.  The new store manager, Wendy Webster, is a prime example – she has been with Wegmans 21 years, starting as a deli manager trainee.

I spoke to Adam Bowman, a Japan-trained sushi master who has come from another store to initiate the Columbia staff into the mysteries of raw fish and vinegar-infused rice.  He told me that Wegmans sources all their sushi rice from one farmer in California who mills it to their specifications.  In addition to offering traditional forms of sushi, they like to innovate.  I was the first customer to taste a new rice paper wrap flavored with pineapple and habanero peppers.  There will also be a mild mango wrap for the unadventurous.

Even the parking garage reveals a thoughtful mindset.  The rows of parking spaces are marked with vegetables.  We pulled out from the tomato row, anticipating many happy returns.

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Tea Towel, Ant Cake, Ghost Colonel

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Judy

Here is a collection of some oddities I’ve encountered in the last few weeks.

The Long, Dark Tea Towel of the Soul

Well, no, it’s actually quite a cheerful tea towel, but I couldn’t resist the Douglas Adams reference.  Unfortunately, the picture cuts off the legs of the pigeons.  They are goose-stepping.

I got it at the Sandy Spring Friends House White Elephant Sale (which itself would make a good D.N.A. book title).  It’s very nicely framed, and at first glance looked like a poster.  Closer inspection revealed its lineny character, and my resistance to yet another wall decoration faded.  It’s now leaning up against the wall on my stair landing, another addition to my tea towel collection.

A Few Shy of a Picnic

On our last visit to Wegman’s Hunt Valley store (digression: Wegman’s will open a store in Columbia next week!!  Watch for my inevitable post!!), I walked past the display of cakes disguised as watermelons without looking closely.  Only after a smart remark by my daughter did I go back for a second look.

Yes, those are hugely out-of-proportion plastic ants decorating the  trompe l’oeil confection.  I guess it would make a good joke to take to a picnic, but for my taste, it’s one bridge too far.

A Spectre Is Haunting Olney

Stranded on a concrete island between two shopping centers, an empty building sits forlorn, bereft of all indications of its erstwhile life, save one: the ghostly visage of Colonel Sanders etched into the window glass.

The former fried chicken emporium awaits a new tenant.  Dare we hope that the portraits of the Colonel will be preserved?  Alas, probably not.  But for now, there they are, looking out at us looking in.

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The Petit Tour of Europe, Part 3: Beer, Bread and Chocolate in Belgium

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Judy

From the friendly Finns, we walked a few blocks to Belgium, and bumped into – guess what?  another line!  This one moved at a slower pace than any of the others, but we were rewarded with a winding amble around the Embassy while being plied with two kinds of chocolate, a large display of products and samples from Le Pain Quotidien, and on the way out, four varieties of Belgian beer!

 

 

 

 

But the Belgians weren’t finished with us, no, it turned out that the tickets we were handed at the entrance were good for a serving of waffles from the carts in the courtyard.  This meant, of course, another line.

But it was worth it!  There were two kinds of waffle on offer, sugar waffles (a regional specialty of Liege), and chocolate-chip waffles drizzled with chocolate sauce.  We decided to go with one of each.  Consensus: chocolate wins.  Sorry, Liege!

And lastly, Belgian coffee.  It wasn’t bad, but not nearly as good as the chocolate, waffles and beer.

Next and last: Slovenia.

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The Petit Tour of Europe Part 2 – Finland

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Judy

At the Finnish Embassy, there was a longish line to get in, but it moved quickly.  We were teased by the smell of fish being  grilled at the bottom of the driveway.  Soon enough, we entered the monument to Finnish Modern architecture and were directed to the lower level, where a single, seemingly never-ending line snaked through the room, punctuated by tasting stations.

There were friendly Finns and interesting food in all directions.  The grilled fish resolved into “Open-Flame Cooked Trout, Lemon Mayo and Mustard Sauce on Archipelago-Style Bread.”  It takes longer to read than to eat.  The samples were small but plentiful.

There were plenty of opportunities to chat with Finns and fellow visitors while waiting.  The chef was manning one station, handing out goat cheese on crispbread.

Other stations held quirky snacks, Finnish-style donuts and non-alcoholic drinks made with yeast (an acquired taste).

We got the distinct impression that the Finns were trying to convince us that they have a sense of humor.   Well, this is the country of origin of Angry Birds!

Next: On to Belgium

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So Much For THAT Vegetable Garden!

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Judy

Remember the lettuce I wrote about in a previous post?  It did not live up to the promises of the Master Gardeners.  Here is what it looked like today:

It never became the thick, leafy plantation which the (greenhouse-grown) samples seemed to promise.  The surviving few plants are about to bolt, which foretells doom and bitterness in the world of genus Lactuca.   I’ve put the pitiful few usable leaves into a dish of pasta and greens with gravlax, which I cured a few days ago, for dinner.  I made up a mustard-based sauce and  threw in some fresh peas.

And in the future, I’m going to stick to herbs in pots.  I’ll buy my vegetables from the Farmer’s Market (NOW OPEN IN OLNEY!)

 

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The Petite Tour of Europe, Part 1: The Brits

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Judy

We had a chance last Saturday to do the Grand Tour without leaving Washington, but because of lines and distances, it turned out to be more of a Petite Tour.  Still, well worth it.

This is our third time for an Embassy Open House event.  Each one becomes more crowded and less rewarding in terms of free food offered at the Embassies.  In the past, generous tasting amounts were offered, but now the trend is towards food for sale with very small samples (if any,) for free.  I did my research and planned a route focusing on tasting as varied a menu as possible.

That said, we did not start in Sheridan Circle, where the embassies are densest.  We had done that for the last two tours, and decided it was time for a change.  Besides, I wanted to see the UK Embassy.  By the time we reached it on the last two attempts, the line outside was way too long.

We managed to get there just before the official starting time of 10:00 a.m. There was already a line, but not an unreasonable one.  It was brilliant!  We spent 1 1/2 hours enjoying the gardens and visiting the trade bazaar booths, the Jags, the Bentleys, the cricketers…  For food, they were setting up to sell (sell!) British specialties, but not expecting to be ready to serve until lunchtime.  The whisky tasting tent tenants, however, were more than happy to serve us some whisky punch with ginger and lime.  Just the thing for strolling in the gardens.

From the street, the UK Embassy looks unimpressive – a modern building behind a fence – but inside the fence one finds several acres of gardens surrounding a building designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens to resemble an English country house.  We progressed through a small woodland to the back of the house and the kitchen garden, planted with herbs, strawberries and the biggest fig tree I’ve seen in this area, already laden with good-sized fruit.  Fig envy ensued.  The gardener claimed it’s only about 10 years old.

 

 

From the kitchen garden we could get a glimpse into the Embassy, where a table had been set as for a formal dinner.  A display outside included a menu from an actual dinner honoring President George W. Bush.  It was a very British bill of fare indeed.

A walk lined with perennial borders, like a cottage garden, led past a lawn hosting trees planted by members of the royal family to the Gertrude Jekyll steps.  If one stands in the circle at the bottom of the steps and speaks, an echo effect like the Whispering Gallery at St. Paul’s can be heard.  Of course we both took our turns standing and declaiming.

 

Then we got to admire the formal rose gardens, and the lovely landscaping effects that complemented the building so nicely.

 

 

Then we looked at the time and realized that we had spent a long time in Britain.  We hotfooted it up the road to Finland.

Coming: Adventures in Finland, Belgium, and Slovenia.

 

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