Ahh, theme postings! I was going to include the bagels in an Odd Things article until the nice folks at Taylor Strategies offered to send me some samples of Guinness to write about, to which of course I said, “sure!” So:
Party in a Box
Obviously St. Patrick’s Day is a big deal for Guinness. I will not deny that it’s not only my favorite beer, but stout is the only style of beer I truly enjoy drinking. I didn’t expect to open the box to an explosion of green streamers and a strange little plastic cube that lights up green in addition to a Guinness glass and actual beer, but I’ll take it!
Erin Go Glow
Cube, Unlit
And After a Few Drinks
That green glow you see in the glass is actually the green cube, lit. It flashes in two speeds as well as stays on steadily until you press the button again. And raises many questions concerning its function and the level of taste of the Taylor folks, namely:
Am I supposed to put this in my beer? Will it turn the beer green?? If it does, will it flash hallucinogenically to convince everyone who sees it that they have had enough??? I’m getting a little punchy even thinking about it.
(I’m not going to. There’s no indication either way about whether it’s waterproof. I’m not taking any chances with my Guinness.)
There are two cans each of real Guinness and the new alcohol-free version. I intend to use the latter in shandys. The former I will drink straight or use in cooking. Stay tuned for a further report.
And now a rant:
Can There Be a Worse Cliché?
Erin Go Blech
Green Bagels. I swear. In Giant Food in Olney. In the next basket, Irish soda bread (actually passably edible). In the next basket, challah???
So as previously mentioned, the Barrel Aged Beer Event happened on February 11, brought to us by the good folks at the Olney Civic Fund.
The Grillmarx truck had their barbeque grill set up outside the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd at 5 p.m. and snacks were available inside, but the main event was the variety of beer and wine on offer.
Although one brewery had to cancel at the last minute and another only brought cans, there was still plenty on offer for an evening of expansive sampling. The variety of local beers being pulled seemed sufficient for anyone to get a good impression of the bounty of the county.
Crowded and Convivial
And there was a surprise: our very own District 14 Senator Craig Zucker pulling drafts for Waredaca. Very low-key: “Just doing friends a favor.”
Senator Craig Zucker (in White Collar) and Friends
I was familiar with (or at least had heard the name of) all the breweries represented, except for one: Landmade Farm Brewery, represented by Carlos, the farmer himself. He told me that most of the ingredients for the beer were raised by him, on the farm near Poolesville. Although I didn’t taste his offerings, any brewery that names its beers after their pets can’t be bad.
Farmer Carlos of Landmade Farm Brewery
Dawn from the Olney Winery was pouring samples. She assured me that the winery tasting room in Ashton was forging ahead in their drive to open soon. I’ll be waiting!
Dawn Dispensing Olney Wine
A table in the back provided a retail opportunity to take home your favorites in cans and bottles. Much brewery-related merch was raffled off to serve as souvenirs for some lucky participants.
Like It? Take It Home!
Music by the groups Marsh Lovers and Double Felix supplied a lively soundtrack for the event. There were 125 advance tickets sold out of the maximum of 150, and at least 10 walk-ins had appeared by the time I left at about 6 p.m., so the event must be deemed a rousing success. Next year, bigger and better? But a larger space will be a must!
In both time and space (to my house, that is). After months of little progress in finishing out their new space in Ashton, construction is once again full steam ahead. The Olney Winery is planning for an opening this Spring. When I talked to Ed Jarboe, one of the owners, last month, he was shooting for March.
I’ve been familiar with the winery since they opened ten years ago. Although they closed their original tasting room in Olney, they continue to make and bottle wines at their facility in Beltsville and sell them in stores and at events and festivals around the area. The full experience will soon be available once again at their new tasting room in Ashton.
There will be trivia nights, live music, private events (with a dedicated space), and fresh-baked pizza produced in a very impressive Italian oven imported from Naples. Also: a weekly yappy hour on the new patio. The “wine-making experience,” continuing from their first days, will allow everyone to mix their own ferments, then bottle the result using their personalized private label.
Their commitment to supporting local businesses is revealed in their sourcing of ingredients for their food offerings; an agreement with Lone Oak Brewery to provide beer; and one unique piece of furniture: a table from an old local mill, donated by Nichols Contracting (they used it as a conference table), a reminder of the first industrial development of Montgomery County.
Ed Shows Off the Table
The Short Side of the Table
And the Long Side
The latest news about the opening date will be available on their website and facebook page, which also has some photos of the work in progress.
The Olney Civic Fund, the folks who bring us Olney Days in April, are planning a fundraiser this Saturday evening. The Barrel Aged Beer Event will take place at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 11, at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd.
Each ticket will allow you to taste beer from eight local breweries. The GrillMarx food truck will be there, as well as small bites available for purchase. And there will be music! Marsh Lovers and Double Felix will perform.
These are the breweries expected:
The Brookeville Beer Farm
Elder Pine Brewing & Blending Company
Lone Oak Farm Brewing Company
Waredaca Brewing Company
Saints Row Brewing Company
True Respite Brewing Company
Landmade Farm Brewery
Denizens Brewing Company
And finally, for you non-beer lovers, wine will be provided by the Olney Winery (soon to open their new tasting room in Ashton).
This fundraiser will benefit Olney HELP, another fine local organization. Tickets are $35.00 in advance or $50.00 at the door. Purchase advance tickets at their website.
The nice folks at Taylor Strategies, the PR firm for Guinness in the US, sent me samples of two variations on the theme.
Old Fashioned Inspired Ale
Bourbon-barrel aged and finished with fruit flavors, this ale was inspired by the cocktail of the same name. I admit that, if challenged, I couldn’t come close to guessing that it was meant to recall that taste, but it doesn’t really need to reference any other drink to be a perfectly agreeable mouthful.
It presents as lighter in color than the classic stout, with a distinct cherry-red cast, and a good traditional head. Both of us tasting it agreed that it was a worthy addition to the Guinness family. I had had initial thoughts about using it in a ham glaze or a Guinness cake, but it was too tasty for that. We drank it all straight, with dinner.
It’s definitely something to look forward to when the nights start getting longer each year. I hope they are planning to bring it, or something close to it, back each holiday season.
Old Fashioned Inspired Ale: The Unboxing Picture
Guinness 0 Non-Alcoholic Draught
And just in time for Dry January (celebrating another vibe altogether): Guinness 0. An alcohol-free version of an icon is a little more fraught, and deserves a more nuanced consideration. Our samples came with a suggested recipe for a Black Velvet Mocktail (Guinness 0 and non-alcoholic sparkling wine). We tried it straight first, of course, then mixed with some leftover bubbly and also half-and-half with fizzy lemonade, for the favorite drink of my youth, a shandy.
Tasting G0 straight, the two of us had divergent opinions. We agreed that its appearance was indistinguishable from the classic pour, with dark, thick body and high head (what the nitro capsule in the can is for!) We also agreed that the mouth-feel recalled the classic product well.
Although Taster 1 enjoyed the taste when initially poured, they felt it became insipid upon standing. The BV was too sweet, but the shandy was very good.
Taster 2 was more negative towards the straight pour: oversimplified, with no nuance or complexity, especially missing the chocolate and coffee notes expected in the classic brew. They disliked the shandy, but very much did like the BV. No accounting for tastes!
Guinness 0 would be a great choice for a nondrinker out for a night with drinking friends. If I had to swear off alcohol for a time or forever, I would be grateful for the option, especially in the form of a shandy. But I hope I will be excused for hoping that that day never comes.
You don’t have to go far to find strange things these days – just browse your local main-line supermarket. I’m used to finding exotic ingredients and quirky imported products in ethnic markets, but here are three surprising things found in my local Harris Teeter and Giant Food.
Not-So-Southern Fried
For Thanksgiving, anyone with the death wish urge to deep-fry a Thanksgiving turkey had to look no further than the Olney Harris Teeter. Gallon containers of peanut oil were stacked in the aisle, complete with instructions printed on the sides. In case you thought that it was just the opportunity to score a lifetime supply.
Stock Up Now!
Helpful Directions
Stuff-Stuff With Heavy
Also in a celebratory mood, HT is offering frozen terduckens. I admit to being tempted by these. For years I listened to the Thanksgiving special on PBS which featured a clutch of famous chefs showing up for dinner, each bringing their specialties. It’s been awhile since I’ve heard it, and several of the chefs (Julia Child, Paul Prudhomme) are no longer with us, alas.
Chef Paul brought the terducken. He described it as a Cajun specialty. A chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey, each deboned, and the whole roasted. He made it sound scrumptious, but it has to be tricky to get the timing just right, avoiding dried-out meat (too long) and a health hazard (too short), not to mention deboning three fowl, both finicking and messy.
But now! Through the miracle of modern technology, you can buy a ready-made construction for only $37.99! This version uses the breasts only, which I guess makes the architecture easier, but could lead to an even greater drying-out hazard. This situation has been presumably circumvented by including a center core of sausage. Ingenious. I might have sprung for it, but the price was too high for my frugal soul.
Would Chef Paul Be Proud? Or Mortified?
The Paws That Refreshes
And speaking of frugal, Giant now carries packages of chicken feet. These are run-of-the-mill for any well-stocked Asian or kosher market. To see them in Giant is interesting, but what puts the icing on the cake is the name bestowed upon them by the packaging: CHICKEN PAWS. Excuse me? Does Giant think shoppers will look at the package and say, “Oh, my! I simply must feed my family this brand-new part of the chicken tonight! They’re so tired of all the breasts and drumsticks after all these years! Who knew chickens had paws!?”??!!
Keep Your Paws To Yourself!
(Sorry about all the punctuation. I couldn’t help it.) But then Giant goes and sobers up by stamping the price label with the cold hard truth. Chicken feet. Chicken paw stock; chicken foot stock. I guess it’s up to the consumer to decide: reality or fantasy?
Come to that, all three of these odd things have the element of fantasy to them. I don’t expect to deep-fry a turkey or debone three fowls to stuff them inside each other, but I might think about doing those things. I will not, however, in my wildest dreams, call chicken feet “paws.” And nobody else should, either.
Review: The Tempest and Related Comestibles at Round House Theatre
The magic of Round House’s current production goes far beyond the mere conjuring of a vasty storm at sea by a master of the very elements. No, this Tempest keeps the viewers amazed and amused by a constant stream of stage magic, harmonizing songs and fabulous acrobatics, all seamlessly integrated into the original text of the play. And all this is enhanced after perhaps indulging in some well-curated victuals.
Ever since Round House’s renovation added a café to its lobby, it has developed food and drink programs which complement each current production. For The Tempest, the Fourth Wall Bar & Café offers choices ranging from the Mediterranean (Prospero is Duke of Milan) to England (well, duh, Shakespeare). A tasting menu, served and described to us by Food and Beverage Manager Frank Manganello, gave us the chance to try several of the dishes and drinks.
Frank Manganello Pours for Us
We tried a dish of olives (meant to be a drink nibble, nothing special), Seasonal Roasted Vegetables, Kale and Chickpea Soup, and Beef Wellington. We finished with chocolate chip cookies, a fresh-baked staple of the café, no matter the current production!
Olives and Roasted Vegetables
Kale and Chickpea Soup and Beef Wellington
The best of these was the Tuscan-style soup. It had just the right proportion of kale and chickpeas, nicely seasoned. The Beef Wellington, which is classically prepared with beef fillet topped with duxelles and/or pate, and wrapped in puff pastry, lacked the fillet. It could have benefitted by an accompanying sauce.
The special drinks developed for The Tempest showed more touches of magic than the food. Tempest in a Teapot, composed of Beefeater gin, Pierre Ferrand curaçao, earl grey tea, lemon, and vanilla, was served in a fine china teapot, smoke pouring from its spout. It came with a delicate teacup for decanting. Mr. Manganello explained that the inspiration derived from London fog as well as Tuscan magic.
Holy Smoking Teapot! My Tablemate, Alessandra, Records for Her Instagram, @TastesoftheUnion
The tip-off for the prestidigitation involved in the Sleight of Hand (Tito’s vodka, butterfly pea flower, lemon, simple syrup) was the butterfly pea flower. I was aware that it changes color with a change of pH level, and so it did. It arrived blue. Adding the cloudy white contents of a small pitcher resulted in a mauvy-pink concoction. Both these drinks were very tasty, as well as entertaining.
Sleight of Hand Starts out Blue
And Turns Pink
Served with the cookies, my favorite tipple of the night was revealed to be “Card Trick” Ale. Here’s how it’s described by Round House’s website:
Dessert and Bespoke Ale
We’re pleased to announce a special collaboration with our friends at Astro Lab Brewing, who helped us create a truly magical brew for this show: “CARD TRICK” Ale, a delightful black IPA double dry hopped with El Dorado, Centennial, and Mosaic. Drink up, it’s a limited time offering. Cheers!
Would the drinks menu upstage the play? Assuredly not! The production mixed the charm of Shakespeare’s text with Teller’s captivating stage magic, a fabulous interpretation of the “monster” Caliban by Pilobolus, and the music of Tom Waits.
I would not have imagined that the classic stage illusions of the Twister Box and the Levitating Lady, among others, would work as well as they do here. Combined with the amazing card skills of Nate Dendy’s Ariel, the isle’s ambient “sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not,” are brought vividly to the stage.
Eric Hissom (Prospero) and Nate Dendy (Ariel) in The Tempest at Round House Theatre. Photo by Scott Suchman. Nate Dendy (Ariel), Megan Graves (Miranda), and Eric Hissom (Prospero) in The Tempest at Round House Theatre. Photo by Scott Suchman.
Music is provided by a 4-person band on the upper level. Vocals and percussion (including sound effects!) realize Shakespeare’s intentions for a production filled with music. The Tom Waits songs don’t mimic Elizabethan airs, but are fine replacements for them.
The cast of The Tempest at Round House Theatre. Photo by Scott Suchman.
Ryan Sellers (Caliban) and Hassiem Muhammad (Caliban) in The Tempest at Round House Theatre. Photo by Scott Suchman.
The acrobatic movements of the “monstrous” Caliban (Hassiem Muhammad and Ryan Sellers), courtesy of Pilobolus, never fail to mesmerize. In fact, if I have one criticism of this production, it’s that at times, there’s too much action on stage to follow all of it. I watched in constant fear of missing something.
Never mind. Go see it! And get a drink before the show!
In November the Embassy of Italy’s Istituto Italiano di Cultura – Washington celebrated the Week of Italian Food in America. That week also, coincidentally, saw the opening of the Carpaccio exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. To both events I say, Buon Appetito!
Lovely Baking
On behalf of the Istituto, I was invited to attend a Baking Masterclass taught by an Italian chef, Rita Monastero. Chef Rita has appeared on Italian television, written 11 cookbooks (alas, none in English, although one has been translated into Turkish), and has taught in-person classes throughout Italy and in Bangkok. She is known as LovelyCheffa, which might lose something in translation.
Most of the students in the class were the lucky winners of a lottery conducted on social media, so I was not the only one taking many pictures, intending to post a record online! But we did have to put down the camera (me) and phones (everybody else) because the class was hands-on with the dough.
Chef Rita started by demonstrating how to mix dough by making a well for the wet ingredients in the pile of flour on the table and attacking it with your hands until something forms that can be kneaded and left to rise. Although I understand that this is a traditional European technique, I usually opt for a bowl and sometimes even a dough hook when I bake. Chef didn’t disagree. “I usually use a machine at home,” she admitted. But she was good at it!
Chef Rita Demonstrates Mixing Dough
Recording Layering the Meat
The first project was a loaf of Semi-sweet Plaited Bread, filled with deli meat and cheese. Chef made one, with help from some of the students, but since it has two rises and bakes for one hour, the finished product was produced by the magic oven just before class was over. No one minded.
Chef Braids the Bread
Slicing the Finished Loaf
We also made Pumpkin Roman Buns, and got to practice a roll-up-and-tuck technique which promised to counteract the density of adding in mashed pumpkin. Since the class buns didn’t have time to rise, we once again had to take it on trust that ours would have turned out as perfect as Chef Rita’s precooked ones did.
Rolling and Folding Rolls
Rolling Lesson
Like This?
My Rolls with the Recipe
The last lesson was one we all enjoyed, not least because we all got to take home the finished product: Grissini, or Italian Breadsticks. We mixed a very simple dough and practiced fashioning sticks of varying thicknesses and lengths. Names on the baking paper ensured that the batches were not mixed up. Mine were delicious, if I say so myself.
Well, Not Bad for a First Try
At the end of the lesson, we indulged in a final round of recording the photogenic products. Then we ate those products for lunch.
Finished Photogenic Products
And Lovely But Disappointing
The National Gallery of Art opened a new exhibit: Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice. Now I don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression; I didn’t expect the pictures to be all about food, even though, when I hear “carpaccio” (and I think I’m not alone in this), what comes to mind is the dish of shaved raw meat dressed with vinaigrette.
This exhibit is rather a collection of the paintings of the appetizer’s namesake. The legend holds that Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy, invented the dish in 1963 to honor a patron who was ordered by her doctor to eat uncooked meat. The name came from the red pigments of the dresses in an exhibition of Carpaccio paintings near the restaurant.
Why was I disappointed? Because search though I might, I could find nary a reference to food or cooking in any of these fabulously sumptuous pictures. Full of detail as they were (and they were! Many of them reward the prolonged gaze), they were sadly bereft of pictures including my particular obsession. In only the very first example of Carpaccio’s work, at the entrance to the exhibit, did I notice any activity related to food gathering. Admittedly, that one was terrific – a group of gentlemen in boats on the lagoon, fishing with egrets.
The Gentlemen Fish While the Ladies Pose
I had to be satisfied for the rest of the exhibit with marveling at the paintings for themselves: St. George spearing the dragon, St Augustine in his study, a portrait of a fine young knight in armor half German and half Italian, according to our tour guide, Gretchen Hirschauer, curator of Italian and Spanish painting.
St George and the Unlucky DragonSt. Augustine and Curator HirschauerDragon Lives! As Wall Decoration
This exhibit of work by a Renaissance master not very well-known outside of Venice will be on view until February, 2023. Go see it, and don’t ask, “Where’s the beef?”
My good friends at Taylor Strategy wanted to be sure I was aware of this “day” dedicated to my favorite style of beer. They’re the PR firm for Guinness, so it makes perfect sense. When they offered to send me a couple of bottles of Extra Stout to use as inspiration for an article, I graciously accepted.
Unboxing the Guinness
I went to the Guinness website in search of inspiration for recipes using or compatible with stout. There are many; most of them either use beer as an ingredient or are designed to stand their ground with it by using bold, complementary flavors. I chose Curried Cauliflower Gratin as an easy dinner dish to go with stout. I added some sausage meat to make it a one-dish meal.
Cauliflower About to be Baked
And Ready to Eat
The recipe was easy to access from the Guinness site, which is not always a given. The layout on the recipe page is sometimes confusing, and ingredient usages are not always clearly specified. Be sure you read the recipe closely before you choose it!
The difficulty level for the cauliflower dish is given as “easy,” which is correct. This contrasts with the frankly “hard” rating for the featured recipe for Stout Day, contributed by Chef Kwame Onwuachi. The Ribeye Suya Skewers with Peanut and Guinness Extra-Stout Aioli is described as “elevated street food… sure to bring complex aromas and robust flavors to your home.” The complete dish involves preparing five separate recipes; the ingredient list for one of them could not be found on the site. And if you believe that the total prep time is only 25 minutes, I have a bridge you might be interested in purchasing. (Ironically, it’s the Peanut and Guinness Extra Stout Aioli ingredient list that’s missing – the only component that incorporates the ingredient of focus.)
But I digress. The cauliflower was delicious. It went very well with the Extra Stout. Happy International Stout Day, indeed!
The Jamaican funeral tradition of Nine Night shapes the current production at the Round House Theatre. Family matriarch Gloria has died and lies in state in her bedroom, while her family welcomes the community to celebrate her life with food, drink, dancing, and the airing of grievances. It falls on Gloria’s cousin, Maggie (Kim Bey), and daughter Lorraine (Lilian Oben), to carry on the tradition while trying to sort out their feelings for her and the rest of the family.
The revelry occurs mostly offstage while the audience is treated to crackling performances by Anita (Kaitlyn Boyer), Lorraine’s daughter, Robert (Avery Glymph), and Sophie, Robert’s wife (Katie Debuys). Family relationships are hashed over, and plans for the disposal of Gloria’s house proposed and contested.
Maggie has the best lines. When the cremation of Gloria’s body is suggested, she replies, “We don’t cook our people!” And another, and (I confess) rather baffling exclamation, “Don’t shoot the goose because the chicken never laid the egg!”
Robert, it appears, is a bit of a scam artist. He tries to persuade his uncle Vince (Doug Brown) to fall in with his plan to sell the house, which Lorraine opposes. She is trying to exorcize Gloria’s spirit from the house and her own psyche, when a visit from Trudy, Gloria’s daughter left behind years ago, makes an entrance which electrifies the play.
Trudy (Joy Demichelle) brings presents from Jamaica (including the all-important rum) for everyone, but more importantly, she’s a life-force which pushes all of the family towards confrontation of their personal demons. The resolution of old issues moves the play towards its climax, together with the final resting of Gloria’s perturbed spirit.
Round House is continuing its own tradition of matching the offerings in its Fourth Wall Bar and Café to the current production. It has partnered with Negril Jamaican Eatery, a venerable (over 40 years!) establishment with several locations in the area, to provide curries, patties, and coco bread together with one nod to the London setting of Nine Night, a banger sausage sandwich. For sweets and drinks, rum cake, sorrel (hibiscus) tea and Ting (Jamaican grapefruit soda) are available, along with three custom-designed bourbon and rum cocktails.
Avery Glymph (Robert), Doug Brown (Vince), Kaitlyn Boyer (Anita), Kim Bey (Maggie), and Lilian Oben (Lorraine) in Nine Night at Round House Theatre. Photo credit: Round House
Kaitlyn Boyer (Anita) and Joy DeMichelle (Trudy) in Nine Night at Round House Theatre. Photo credit: Round House
Cast, Director (Timothy Douglas) and Author (Natasha Gordon) at the Opening Night Party
