Category Archives: Local Businesses

Old Friends, New Friends

Posted on January 15, 2014 by AnnieRie

I always believe that life revolves around the friends we have. The things we love to do. The experiences. Looking for happiness and finding it.

I am not sure where my husband picked up this cartoon. I swear it is what he does. But, he did go to the blog party at Alexandra’s Turf Valley this evening.

Really good company. A great setting. Lots of conversations. Good food. Thanks, Turf Valley for treating us so well.

We haven’t been to a brunch there in a while. We are overdue. And need to get back there.

We saw dozens of blogging friends. Watched the bartenders make some really nice cocktails. Listened to good acoustic music.

Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday night. The Mangione family resort is one of the favorite places to dine, have weddings, reunions, anniversary parties, you name it.

They did a great job tonight hosting us.

hocoblogs@@@

3 Comments

Posted in Commentary, Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses and tagged commentary, community, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses. Bookmark the permalink.

Blog Party

Posted on January 13, 2014 by AnnieRie

Yep, another party for those of us who blog (and read blogs) in Howard County. This one, at Alexandra’s Turf Valley promises to be different.
The description.

Enjoy interesting conversation, tasty food and good music at a party for HoCo bloggers and their readers. Alexandra’s Restaurant, the party’s co-host, is offering complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a complimentary drink ticket for our party goers, happy hour specials and libations demonstrations from Bar Manager Kevin Tsui. Good music (Don Bellew on acoustic guitar) will be playing from 6 pm and into the evening. Come for a short stop or plan to stay longer. (Good news for wine — and bargain — lovers: Wednesday is also Alexandra’s half-price wine bottles night.)

For me, Alexandra’s is one of our local venues, with outdoor dining that overlooks a golf course, and not a parking lot. Not that we can dine outdoors in January. But Turf Valley is somewhere those of us out here in West Howard County can pop over to, if we want a good dinner. With music and half price wine on Wednesdays.

There are still a few spots left over at Eventbrite to sign up. Get there from hocoblogs.

Staying for dinner, maybe? These are restaurant weeks in the #hocomd.

I am thinking about the pork belly, sea scallops and coconut gelato myself.

hocoblogs@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Restaurants and tagged community, Food, foodie, hoco loco, hocoblogging, Howard County, local businesses. Bookmark the permalink.

Discovering Secolari

Posted on January 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

The new store in Columbia Mall. My husband was there Friday and picked up some of the Pappardelle pasta I have found to be so good, and so versatile.

This is the peppercorn trio lasagna noodle. Let’s say it amazed me, as it expands during the cooking. It gets wider so I only needed four of the six noodles I boiled.

These noodles, along with some homemade sauce with hot Italian sausage became the base for my latest venture into different lasagna recipes.

And, by base, I mean the bottom two layers. I ran out before I got to the top so I improvised. I had some vegan roasted pepper sauce from Roots in the cupboard so added that on the top layer.

We served it with a simple green salad, and a very nice Breaux wine. The “Trilogy”.

This was my Sunday “Eat Local” dinner. Much of this meal came from my freezer and fridge.

The sauce. Made with Larriland tomatoes. Copper Penny sausage. The last of my CSA onions. I put all three in a baking dish yesterday and slow roasted it until the sausage fell apart, the onions almost disintegrated and the tomatoes could be pureed. I then added a can of San Marsano crushed tomatoes and a cube of my pesto. To make a sauce.

Cooking from the freezer.

As for the cheese portion of the lasagna. Bowling Green Feta, chopped in the food processor. Chevre bought at Breezy Willow. One of their eggs. A splash of Trickling Springs milk. Pecorino Romano. Mixed up. I just eyeballed how much milk I needed to get it creamy enough to spread.

If I didn’t have those extra noodles, I would have been fine, but that third layer needed sauce, so I used about half the jar of that vegan roasted pepper sauce.

I spread extra Pecorino Romano on top, and added some dried Italian herb mix. Oregano, basil, thyme. Slow cooked covered in the oven while the 49ers beat the Panthers. Uncovered at a slightly higher oven temp to brown the top.

We will get two meals from this dish. It has a kick to it, from the hot Italian sausage and the peppercorn pasta.

My next foray into lasagna will probably be a butternut squash dish, to use more of these great noodles.

I will head back to Secolari to try their olive oils next. Thanks to HowChow for his post that reminded me they had opened at the Mall.

hocofood@@@

6 Comments

Posted in Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Foodie Friday

Posted on January 10, 2014 by AnnieRie

I think my foodie side won out today, over my locavore side. Although there were hints of local ingredients, and definitely locally supported businesses supplying the ingredients.

I think I found my favorite cookie, even surpassing those Berger things, and the Girl Scout cookies.

These oatmeal cookies arrived from Cooks Illustrated, via Smitten Kitchen.

They were modified originally to add white chocolate. I took that chocolate to new heights, using a Divine bar, bought at Roots.

Much of today’s cookie came from Roots.

Here is the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

1 cup all-purpose flour (King Arthur unbleached AP)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder (Rumford’s aluminum free)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt (I used Redmond Real Salt)
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened (the butter was bought at the Manheim market)
1 cup sugar (Florida cane sugar)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (Wholesome Organic)
1 large egg (South Mountain Creamery)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (bought at Roots, pure Madagascar)
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (Root’s bulk)

6 ounces good-quality white chocolate bar, chopped (I used Divine White Chocolate with Strawberry, bought at Roots)

Fleur de Sel, or flaked sea salt.

The white chocolate bar was a splurge. It made the cookies decadent. The sort of cookie you would pay $1 each to buy at Starbucks.

Whisk together the first four dry ingredients. Cream the butter and sugars in a stand mixer. Add the egg and the vanilla to the mixer. Then, slowly pour in the flour mix. Finally, the oats and the chocolate.

Trust me. You want a good heavy mixer to do this. The chocolate made my Kitchen Aid move on the counter top.

I got 28 drop cookies on two parchment paper covered sheets. Each drop cookie, about two tablespoons of dough, rolled into a ball, then dropped. Pressed slightly. With about 5-6 flakes Fleur de Sel on top.

Bake at 350 Degrees for about 16 minutes. Mine took a bit longer since I had the oven open a wee bit too long when rotating the cookie sheets.

They need to be golden brown.

These cookies are addictive. Shattering. With air pockets. Not cakey or chewy.

Perfect with a cup of tea, or coffee. Or, all by themselves.

I was in a serious cooking mode today. Tomorrow, I will cover dinner, and thanks to HowChow, the find at Secolari today. Handmade lasagna noodles.

Stick around and see what I make this weekend with those.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Food, Local Businesses and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, local businesses. Bookmark the permalink.

When It Rains, It Pours

Posted on January 9, 2014 by AnnieRie

Or should I say when it is zero degrees Fahrenheit, even what you consider to be insulated pipes don’t always survive.

The pipe that feeds our tub/shower in the upstairs hall bathroom. Where the crack was, but not where all the “rain” came from.

The powder room exhaust fan. To the right but under the hall bath. It started raining hot water Tuesday night. Thankfully, we grabbed a large trash can to catch much of it, before it ran its way out into the wooden floored rooms. Tile is easier to dry out.

But, we have six holes in the walls. A really messed up ceiling in a storage room in the basement, over an indoor/outdoor carpet. Somewhat simple to clean that up too, except we have to rip out all the dry wall from almost half that room, which was close to collapsing.

My husband was quick to turn off the water to the hot water heater and stop it all before we had massive damage.

Thankfully, too, Ken Griffin is one amazingly responsive plumbing company. Called them at 7 am. They were here an hour later. All buttoned up in time to take morning showers before noon.

Now, we just have to fix all the messed up dry wall.

Oh, and add the pick up to the other casualty of the record temperatures. Dead battery.

Less than three years old. So, Sears is replacing it for free.

We are so ready for spring!

hocoblogs@@@

2 Comments

Posted in Howard County, Local Businesses, Weather, West HoCo and tagged Howard County, local businesses, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Frigid Weather

Posted on January 6, 2014 by AnnieRie

The next few days are going to be tough to deal with, around these parts. Temperatures below zero degrees tomorrow night.

We have snow on the ground and the birds are pretty active looking for food under the patio table and around the deck. We have unfortunately also had a number of hawk attacks. Lost a few small birds.

I am keeping the bird bath full. It is amazing watching them get into the basin and fluff up their feathers after dunking themselves a few times.

We now have quite the collection of red bellied woodpeckers. There were three out there yesterday. I refilled the suet holders for them.

Tomorrow (today by the time I post this past midnight) is Little Christmas, the day I usually take down the decorations. I think that will occur later in the week when it warms up.

The tree needs to be taken out to the landfill later also. They recycle them into mulch. As for the garland, it will become a bed around the rhododendron, where the pine needles can continue to add some acidity to the soil.

I have been heavily using the crockpot, making another batch of venison chili today. I learned a lesson though. My method of putting frozen items in the pot has resulted in a hairline crack in the ceramic insert.

Thankfully, I do use the liners. Still, I have to buy a new insert. And stop putting the pot on high.

I am slowly making my way through the Larriland tomatoes in the freezer. Next year I will be getting many more than this time, as they make a world of difference when used in soups and chili.

As for the next few days, I think we will find some indoor projects to tackle. Until it warms up a bit.

Stay warm, and watch out for black ice. And, think of spring.

hocofood@@@

The Winter Locavore

Posted on December 30, 2013 by AnnieRie

I miss the Dark Days Challenge. Back two years ago when I thought it would be hard to find local foods to cook a meal.

These days, after learning how bountiful our area is, I miss the challenge as a way to connect to other bloggers, who value eating seasonally and locally.

It is simple to eat mostly local foods at every meal, here in the MidAtlantic.

Breezy Willow Eggs

Breakfast is simple, if you use local eggs, bacon, locally baked breads, butter, yogurt, milk.

Lunch, lots of simple salads with high tunnel greens. Sold at markets. Like the winter indoor Olney Market at the Sandy Spring Museum, or the Saturday Silver Spring Market. Things like potato salad. Beets. Spinach. Mock’s greenhouse tomatoes, arugula, basil, chard.

Fritattas. Chicken or turkey salad made with local meats.

We have a freezer full of local meats. Fruit picked at Larriland. Tomatoes from my garden. Pesto. Greens. Corn. Fava Beans.

I can easily use local food sources and my freezer to make meals most of the week. Saturday farm hours at Breezy Willow and Copper Penny. Saturday and Sunday at England Acres.

I just wish we still had that challenge to keep us interested in blogging about it. And, I am crossing my fingers that Mom’s in Jessup gets enough sign ups to make the winter CSA a go. We will know in about two weeks. CSA would start up again the week of the 20th.

As part of my resolution, I will cook a local meal most Sunday nights, and blog about it. Not a bad resolution.

hocofood@@@

2 Comments

Posted in CSA, Dark Days, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Winter Eat Local and tagged CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

The Birthday Dinner

Posted on December 29, 2013 by AnnieRie

OK, I already know I can cook better than most restaurants in the county. At least for 90% of the food available.

Today I easily made a feast. No real effort. Just good ingredients.

Starting with lobster.

Steamed lobster tails bought at Harris Teeter, and steamed here. Served with honey mustard butter.

Followed by sirloin tips from The Common Market in Frederick. Sides of tomatoes and potatoes. Tomatoes from Costco. Stuffed with basil and mozzarella. Potatoes from the CSA parboiled, then finished in the oven with honey mustard, onions, and mozzarella.

Served with a couple of lovely wines. One, the barrel select Chardonnay from Breaux. The other, a nine year old Merlot from California.

The rest of the white is in the fridge, waiting to be an aperitif tomorrow. The merlot. Later tonight will be dessert with some awesome dark chocolate bought at Roots.

This dinner, decadent as it was, was a fraction of the cost of going out. It took minimal effort to make. Fitting it in while watching the Ravens self destruct.

Seriously. Buy good ingredients. Make simple preparations. Serve with local wines.

hocofood@@@

My Local Little Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2013 by AnnieRie

This year I managed to buy almost every gift I gave from local artisans, farms, small businesses and people I know.

With the exception of regifting some books and some vintage jewelry from my late mother in law’s collection of fun costume stuff.

I didn’t post until after the presents have been given.

For me, reducing waste and my carbon footprint have driven me to look locally for my food, my services, my choices in giving, and just generally in how we live.

Call it that “greening” thing.

I still have a few indulgences that can’t be found locally. Like avocadoes. Spices. Citrus.

But, by and large, I prefer supporting people I know, all year round.

Some highlights.

Local wines. Taken to drink at my brother’s. And given as gifts. This year, it was mostly Big Cork.

Drinkable, approachable wines, to take to dinner when ham is on the menu. The Vidal Blanc and the Traminette.

Fun gifts. Like the soaps from Breezy Willow. Wild Woman is one of my favorites.

An alpaca scarf for my husband.

The greenery around the door from TLV Tree Farm. The tree from Greenway Farms. Not from North Carolina, but from right up the road.

The shrimp I took to my brother’s came from Boarman’s.

Dinner tonight featured many local items too. Tomorrow, my post will be about replacing those expensive dinners with easy to prepare local feasts.

To paraphrase, have yourself a local little Christmastime. Think about it as you get ready for New Year’s Eve. More on suggestions for the upcoming holiday later this weekend.

Makes for a lovely holiday week.

hocoblogs@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Community, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Wine and tagged community, cooking, farms, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, MD Wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

One Week Left

Posted on December 22, 2013 by AnnieRie

Until I turn 61 years old. This last week before my birthday has been pretty crazy. The weather has been amazing, with spring temperatures.

The last minute holiday baking and cooking has been intense. I got shrimp from Boarman’s the other day, in order to make steamed shrimp with Old Bay. The requested dish for my brother’s Christmas Eve party.

I made two kinds of cookies today. Chocolate pistachio and chocolate chocolate chunk.

These cookies again came from Bon Appetit. Hard to make. They tended to break up when slicing. But, very good. Particularly with red wine, for dessert tonight.

As for the weather, with the doors open today (it hit 72 degrees here), the starlings made a huge racket in the trees out back.

Thankfully, they weren’t nailing my bird feeders.

As for the last week of my 60th year, I did request that we try and go to the newly opening Highland Inn for brunch on my birthday. That is, if they open in time.

On the way home from Boarman’s yesterday, they looked like they were close to opening but who knows.

I saw their new menu on Facebook today. A bit pricey, but for special occasions, like those where we used to go to King’s Contrivance, they might be a new local special place.

We shall see.

hocofood@@@

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Category Archives: Local Businesses

Old Friends, New Friends

Blog Party

Discovering Secolari

Foodie Friday

When It Rains, It Pours

Frigid Weather

The Winter Locavore

The Birthday Dinner

My Local Little Christmas

One Week Left

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