Spending Time in Baltimore

Or shall I say spending time eating in Baltimore!

Does that happen to anyone else?  It seems like all we did was eat, probably because we did, but this is how we got our time in with family and friends.  It was always a meal, and yes this is partially because that is a social activity, it is also a way to give clarity to an activity and time frame.  Since we need to fit time in with everyone, meal time is a set thing and a set activity to share with someone.  I find this is always how I do things because just going somewhere to hang out or shop is open ended and you wind up late to the next thing on your list.  I guess the ideal would be spend more time there but we just didn't have the time.  Of course we did not eat non-stop all day, it just looks like this from the pictures.  Ryan and I did do quite a bit of running errands and general running around while we were there.

Here is just a quick recap of all the yummy food we ate while in Baltimore:

Monday:

Breakfast at Goldberg's Bagels.  This is an egg and cheese sandwich on a poppy bagel.

 Lunch was with Ryan's Mom and Aunt, my mom and my grandma.  We ate at Mari Luna Latin Grille.  I really wanted to go here because I love the crab salad they serve.  It is crab, avocado, carrots and tomatoes on lettuce with some cheese cubes.  Lots and lots of good crab.

 Most of us ordered the salad, but Ryan's Aunt ordered the tortilla crusted tilapia.  I tried a piece and it was really good.

 Ryan had been craving Mexican food, so lucky for him it was Mexican Monday (they have a Mexican restaurant down the road with the same name, but this one is the Latin Grille).

 Dinner was at a classic Pikesville establishment known as Suburban House.  Too bad there was a massive senior citizen party going on and people were getting really crazy in there.  It resembled a circus, but at least it was nearing the end when we got there and we had good company at our own table.  This meal was shared with my grandparents visiting from Florida, my Aunt from New York, and Ryan's Mom and Aunt, who also travelled to Baltimore to see us off.

I had the cheese blintzes because that is what I always get here.

 Ryan's Aunt had another classic meal for this deli.  She had the Reuben.  

 That was a massive sandwich.

 I had to giggle a little when I asked Ryan what he ordered and he responded with "veggie burger".  He may have been on meat overload on the island and this made a nice break for him.  Just made me smile a little to know I married a guy who would order a veggie burger all on his own.

Tuesday:

Breakfast was a eat and drive kinda day.  We had to get the pets from Rachel's house and take to the vet for their health check and to fill out their travel docs for entry into Japan.  Japan is rabies free so both our pets had a 6 month in home quarantine back in Portugal and were ready for import into Japan.  There was just a lot of additional paperwork to have completed and I wanted to do this in Baltimore where I already had a vet.  So we grabbed some bagels on our way to her house.  

After the vet, Ryan and I headed to the country club where we got married to have a golf lesson.  It just seemed like a fun activity, and of course we did have a lot of fun.

After the lesson we headed to lunch at the Egyptian restaurant, Al Pacino Cafe (Cafe Isis) I worked at for many years.  I was so happy that both owners stopped in while I was there and a server I worked with back when I was in high school was working that day.  It is always nice to see old friends.

Ryan's mom and Aunt joined us before they got on the road back to NJ.

We started with some babaganoush.

 I had a cajun shrimp sandwich served in a fresh made pita.

 Ryan's mom ordered a crab cake.

 His Aunt ordered what they call the Natural.  It is eggplant and artichokes.

 For me, this is always a good place to go and I always feel right at home.  In fact, I found my cat under the dumpster out back.  She was born there.

Then Ryan and I headed downtown and caught a movie.  We had not been to a big screen theater in over 2 years, so this was a real treat.  We saw Harry Potter in 3D.  It was a great movie choice for our only US movie.

Afterwards we headed across the street to meet up with my mom, Joe and Rachel for dinner at Roy's, which is probably my all time favorite chain restaurant.

To start they bring out seasoned edamame.

 Since they serve this amazing chocolate soufflé  for dessert, and it comes on their 3 course pre fixe menu, we order from there.  The pre fixe menu comes with an appetizer, entree and dessert, and there are usually 3 appetizer choices, 4 entree choices and 2 desserts to pick from.  Also, they are usually very flexible as everything is made to order and can make changes for allergies and food prefs (like vegetarian).  Also, the menu changes a few times over the year, so there are always new choices.

We all started off with the same salad.  This is the compressed melon salad.

 Both my mom and I ordered the Garam Masala shrimp over crispy chickpeas.

 This dish was then topped with a vegetable gazpacho.  It was awesome!

 Ryan had the steelhead trout, which I tried and was very good.

 My sister ordered off the regular menu and enjoyed this very nice sushi roll.

 Last, but not least, Joe had the steak.

 Dessert was a nice treat.  Rachel was served some sorbets for her birthday dessert.

 The rest of us had the souffle, and had candles too for our birthdays.

 See when I made the reservation to begin with, it was just me and Ryan, and it was a belated birthday dinner since we were still on the island for this birthday.  Well then my mom called and added her and Joe to the reservation, and added my birthday to it, since this was the first time we were all together for birthdays.  Now, Joe's birthday was just after this dinner, so she had this as his birthday too.  After all that, Rachel asked to join, and of course we wanted her with us, so my mom added her and her birthday too (day after mine).  So my mom got sneaky and all of us had birthday cake.  Oh, and there was a card on the table too saying happy birthday from the restaurant.

What a very happy birthday and delicious dinner!

Wednesday:

This was our last full day in Baltimore, so there was lots to do.  Obviously we went for bagels again.  It is tough to get good bagels outside of the US, and this place is really good, so we love to go when we can. 

I was pleased to see that they are not using back fat in their yogurt.  I am not entirely sure where this was going, but I would assume that the yogurt is actually back.  We just thought it was really funny.

 Can you believe we skipped lunch?  Actually, breakfast was a little later.  Then we had lots of running around to do before checking on the pets and getting them ready for the flight the next morning, and then it was off to dinner with my dad and Suzie, plus Carla, my step-sister who was in town and able to join us.

 For dinner we headed to Little Italy.  We ate at Amicci's.

 I was seriously hungry at this point so I was glad to get some bread.

 We all started off with salads.

 I had some veggie pasta with a light cream sauce.  It was good, and not too creamy, which was good.

 Ryan had some eggplant parmesan.

After dinner, on the way back to the car, we stopped into Vaccaro's for dessert.  This is a fantastic bakery.

 Look at the cookie selection:

My dad and Suzie split a sundae.

 Ryan had some lemon granita, which is Italian ice.

 I had the mini canoli trio.

 Last, but not least, Carla enjoyed some gelato.

 Certainly all smiles after the yummy dessert.

 Here I am with my step sister Carla.  This was a great end to a great time home in Baltimore.

QUESTIONS:  Do you still live in your hometown?  What do you do to fit in time to see everyone?