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?

Leaving the island behind, Party in the USA!

Big news...I now officially live in Japan!

In other news, I am also so far behind in blog posts that I plan on jumping around a little bit.  I still have a lot left from the island, but I wanted to first share about our week long journey to move from the Azores to Japan.  The Azores are smack in the middle of the Atlantic, closer to Europe though than the US, and if you look at a map, just about as far away from Japan as you can get.  We decided to move there passing through the US so we could visit with family and friends as we made our way to Seattle to catch a flight that would take us to our new home in Japan.

The process was long, but luckily everything went as planned.  No issues with baggage, no issues with the dog and cat (yes, they flew with us all the way to Japan), not late for anything.  It was nice to avoid any added stress.

One major potential for stress was a going away (and welcome home) party my mom planned for us the night we arrived.  We got in mid-afternoon and the party was set for 6 pm.  If our plane was delayed at all we would have had serious problems...or at least just missed the party.  Luckily we were on time taking off and landed just a little early.

It was sad to go but I knew a new adventure was awaiting in Japan.  I will miss the island a lot as I really  took the time to make it my home over the past 2 years.

Here is my airplane meal.  I lucked out and there was a fish entree on board.  It was a nice little farewell meal from the island, although I am sure the fish was not fresh or caught on the island, but at least a reminder of island life.

Like I said, we got there right on time.  My mom was there ready to hand over an SUV so we could transport the pets to my sisters house since she was our pet sitter for the time we were in Baltimore.  After we dropped them off and got them settled down, we headed to my mom's to get ready for the party.  Of course I got excited immediately when I spotted the tent and everything set up out back and a few people already there to great us.

This wasn't just any ordinary party...this is Baltimore, so you can bet we had a big crab feast.  The mallets were ready to go.

 There was sangria, so you know the party was going to be great.

 Some UTZ potato ships ready to go.

 I love my mom's backyard.  I especially like the cute little pond.

 I was so busy saying hello to everyone and catching up, but I also wanted to scope out the kitchen.  Look at all the watermelon that was cut for the party!

 Tired as we may have been, we were ready for a good time.

 Here I am with my sister.

 Like I said, we were moving to Japan, so this was a welcome home and bon voyage party all in one, so that meant sushi was an appropriate addition to the menu.

 The party was not entirely catered, which is one thing I like about my mom's parties (she throws insanely awesome parties at her house).  Her friends are always so generous and good cooks, and we get all these different dishes to try out.  This was a peanut noodle dish.  It was super good.

 Here are some of my friends, including longtime family friends (my mom's friends).

 I tried out a few of the items while I waited for the crabs.

This homemade crab soup is amazing!

 And then there were crabs!  Welcome to Maryland!

 Here are some of my best friends enjoying their crabs.  That's my sister, Marie, Jenn and Mer.

 Here Carolyn and I join in the picture.

 Ryan's Mom and Aunt even came into town for the occasion, which was really cool.

I actually have tons more pictures because one of my mom's friends is really into photography and took lots of shots.  At this time the CD of pics is packed in my suitcase, so I will get those added later (like much later, after I jump back in time and finish up my island posts).

On to dessert...

Any idea what this might be?  This was a big hit at the party, which always leaves my sister giggling in a corner somewhere.  This is a vegan PB tofu pie.  Yes, this is vegan and made with tofu.  It was so good that people ate lots if it and had no idea they actually ate tofu.  This is my sister's signature party dish.

 But that wasn't all...

Someone made a red velvet cake.

Plus, we had fruit!  The cherries were so good!

Actually, everything was SO GOOD!  Fruit is a great way to end a meal.

That was about it for us for the day.  We tried to get some rest, but there was so much going on over the next few days.  I will be posting all of that first, but then I promise to go back to the island posts and finish those.  There are 2 food festivals from the island that I still need to post about.  

I am having some computer issues and LiveWriter is not working (I have no storage space on my computer and my external hard drive is packed in my belongings that are being shipped here from the island, so I am having a hard time getting pictures and things uploaded) so please bear with me.  I am hoping to be in some sort of normal routine sometime soon.

QUESTIONS:  Ever been to a crab feast?  What's your favorite party/BBQ dessert?  What is your hometown signature dish?

Finishing Up the Local Lifestyle

While there is still plenty more of the local lifestyle to come before I am finally up to date on my posts, here are some of the things we did in the final month or so before we left.

We fit in one more bullfight, and this one was on the beach.  It really wasn't that exciting this year, but we were there with friends so it was fun to hang out.

   

This was around the time of the Holy Spirit festival on the island, so there were big meals and celebrations, and lots of fancy decorations.

Also, this coincided with San Joaninas Festival, so there were major bullfights, yes real bullfights, however Portugal does not kill bulls.

   

Since we were trying to empty out the fridge and freezer, and trying to get in the last of the good bread and cheese, we decided one night to get a loaf of bread, some cheeses from the islands, and some olives.  

 

Yummy cheese!  Oh how I will miss the cheese.

 

Not sure why we never thought to enjoy this for a quite evening in before, but it really did make a nice dinner/movie food.

The next morning we used some of our neighbor's eggs to make french toast from the bread we had bought the day before.  It was so good.

 

I also had a few restaurants I still needed to visit before we left, since I have another blog of just activities and businesses on the island.  Although we had eaten at Caneta before I did not have any pictures, so we needed to go back.

 

They have an awesome courtyard area.

 

One thing I like here is that they also serve corn bread with the regular bread.

 

We had some cheese and olives to start.

Very cute and traditional inside.

 

Here we are enjoying a nice meal.

 

Ryan ordered the steak kebab.  He was told by our friend that he had to get this.  It was like a steak on a stick and they put garlic butter on the skewer at the top and it melts and drips down onto the meat.  Certainly not my thing, but I can see why the guys like it so much.

 

At least it came with some fruit on the side.

 

I had the boca negra, which is my favorite fish from the island.  It was very good.

 

Since I was in photo mode to get pictures for my other blog, I decided we should get some dessert.  Ryan had the ice cream filled crepe, which seems to really be an ice cream burrito.  I had some chocolate chip ice cream.

 

As usual, we ended the meal with some coffee, and then headed back home with a lovely coastal drive.

Still plenty more to come for the rest of the island, and then the trip back to the States.  I am in the US now, and actually I am on the plane.  Gotta love wifi on the plane!  I am hoping too that I can read and comment on some blogs since I really miss having the time for that.  Soon we will be settled and I will be back as I get into a new routine.

QUESTIONS:  Have you ever used wifi on a plane?  Can you drink coffee after dinner?