Tag Archives: day trips

A Great Day for Lunch at Atwater’s

Posted on October 3, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today turned out nicely. Instead of doing yard work, we decided to drive down to Atwater’s Bakery for lunch, and then hit the Miller Library market on the way home.

Today’s Tiffin Box Lunch included either mushroom or southwestern tomato corn. I had the mushroom. In the box, also, were oatmeal raisin cookies and a lovely chunk of rosemary roll.

creamy mushroom soup

the rosemary roll

We sat outside and watched the bustle of downtown Catonsville, then went in to pick up a sliced loaf of sourdough for my soups, and the chili I want to make Friday.

Atwater’s sourdough bread

I do like to sit outside the bakery and watch the world drive by. There were also a large number of people walking along Frederick Road, at 1 PM. Clearly, Catonsville is one of those places where there is a real sense of community. Many people walking up past us with purchases from the Wednesday farmer’s market, that goes from 10-1 on Wednesday mornings until the day before Thanksgiving.

A fun place to sit and people watch. The old post office building in Catonsville. And, yes, the “You Scream” sign is an ice cream store right up the road. For those who love to indulge. While in Atwater’s, you can also pick up Trickling Springs dairy products.

atwaters outdoor seating

I will get a post up later about the great finds at the Howard County Miller Library market today, like the FRESH CHESTNUTS from Love Dove. I do have to go make dinner now, though.

hocofood@@@

Picking Blueberries at Butler’s Orchard

Posted on June 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yes, today was a rainy Tuesday. One of those cool dreary days but at least the garden is being watered by Mother Nature and not me. A little less work this week. I did check on the cukes this morning to see how they are progressing and found them happy for the rain. I will probably pick this one tonight and make cucumber salad to have with the greens from the garden and the CSA.

We were in the mood for blueberries. The local farms have them ripe already and many pick your own farms are open during the week. A better time to venture out then on the weekend. We had never been to Butler’s but had heard that they have a very large, well stocked market as well as the pick your own fields. Besides, they had pickling and canning supplies and more variety ready to pick.

Armed with that knowledge we took off when it wasn’t raining for the trip on the back roads to the farm in Germantown. These are really back roads, with barely enough room for cars to pass. We wandered in the market and picked up some English peas to bring home and shell. We talked to the owner about the availability of some of the veggies. You really have to call every day to see if something is picked out, or available.

Blueberries were very abundant. The rain subsided so we decided to go for it. You ride out to the fields in a tractor driven tram, so when it started raining while we were picking, we could run back to it and ride back protected from the shower.

We did get over 2 pounds of berries today, at $2.49 a pound these are a fraction of the cost of buying them at markets or the stores. This haul cost us $5.25.

The farm has lots for families to do. Slides, swings, play sets, picnic tables, a petting zoo and lots of room to spread out.

Black raspberries were also ripe, and the blackberries are not that far off. We rode past the blackberries on the way out to the blueberry plants.

The blueberries will be around for a few more weeks at least. The plants are full of berries right now.

Check here and at Larriland to see what they have. Often they have the same fruit but veggies may vary. We went to Butler’s specifically to find English peas and they had some just picked. They also had those fields open to pick English peas and sugar snap peas, while Larriland has beets available.

If you are into canning or freezing, these two farms can supplement what you grow, and they are a huge bargain compared to shopping farmer’s markets. We may be back at Butler’s Thursday to get black raspberries. They are very short seasoned.

Butler’s is off Woodfield Rd. on your way to Gaithersburg. It is less than 20 miles from west Howard County, and a pretty drive when the weather cooperates. The location is lovely, even in the rain.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Adventures, Community, Day Trips, Food, Hobbies, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Weather, West HoCo and tagged community, day trips, Food, local businesses, Locavore, real food, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

A Day at the Farm

Posted on May 26, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today was the first CSA picnic of the season. I took off this morning to drive up US 1 over the Conowingo Dam to visit one of the organic Amish farms that supply the Sandy Spring CSA, which delivers on Thursdays to Columbia. This is our second year of this CSA and a visit to the farms is a monthly treat in the summertime.

This organic farm is 12 acres of produce and 12 acres of pasture. There were baby chicks and ducks for the children to see, and lots of good food, brought by CSA members and cooked by the Amish families who supply us with our produce. Out of respect for the preference to not be photographed, I only took pics where the families were not present. So, no food pics or pics from the tour. We got lovely homemade ice cream from a farm up the road served with the berries from this farm. We all brought potluck to share.

This pic shows the kitchen garden that CSA members from as far away as Brooklyn NY were checking out. Notice the buggy that transported one of the neighbor families over to the farm for our picnic. We toured the barn and got baskets to go pick strawberries after touring the fields.

The view down the hill showing all the cars parked in a meadow. There were about a hundred of us there today. The CSA has 3500 member families in the Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop, about 500 of them are in Sandy Spring with us.

Strawberry picking on the hillside above the house and fields.

The strawberries are grown completely without sprays or treatments, all organic. That means little critters chew on the leaves but isn’t ugly fruit the best fruit?

This was a picture perfect day, and as I left I followed one of the neighbors up the hill.

By the time I got home, some of the berries were missing from my pint. Berries and ice cream for dessert tonight.

Can’t wait for next month, when we visit another farm.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore and tagged CSA, day trips, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Getting Ready for a Hectic Holiday Weekend

Posted on May 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

So much to do this weekend, with the holiday and with all the other events going on. What will tempt you to spend time out and about? Are you a beach goer? Or do you stay local?

Our weekend kicks off early with Wine in the Garden at the Conservancy tomorrow night. Cross your fingers for good weather. If you haven’t pre-purchased tickets, they will be selling them at the entrance. Come sip and taste in the loveliness of the Honors Garden.

Saturday I may be off to PA for a picnic at one of the farmers who supplies our CSA. It may be me and a friend, as my OldMan (OM in amateur radio speak) will be contesting and a weekend of listening to him calling “CQ Contest, CQ contest”, is hard to take. Oh wait, this is the CQ WW WPX CW contest, so all I get to hear is key clicks. Translation of the above, means it is the Morse Code only contest, and one where hams try to work as many unique prefixes, like JY, which is Jordan, or 9WA which is Malaysia.

Complicated, and easy to do if you have a unique prefix and everyone wants to call you, harder if you are a W something, like my hubby is. No one looking for him once they have worked W3LPL. He has to work hard to find all the unique prefixes out there. And, we only have wires, not towers.

Sunday I will wander back to Olney to get some fresh berries, and hope that the VA farmers there have cherries. We got our tentative list of what will be in this week’s CSA basket so I only need fruit to supplement the greens this week. I don’t want to touch the berries I processed while fresh goodies are still in the local markets. I will know tomorrow what I will be grilling if it stops threatening storms every night.

Monday we will be chilling out and avoiding those traffic clogged roads. Memorial Day traffic on the highways around here is crazy, so a day of grilling, chilling and drinking local wine sounds like a perfect ending to the holiday weekend.

Then, as retirees with nothing pressing to do later in the week, we will take a day to visit my hubby’s hometown and check on the grave sites for his dad and mom.

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Community, CSA, Day Trips, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Retirement and tagged amateur radio, community, CSA, day trips, farmer's markets, Food, grilling, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

A Day Trip to Lancaster

Posted on May 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

It was way too nice out to stay home. We decided to play hooky from yard work and spring cleaning and head out for a leisurely back roads drive to one of our favorite destinations, Lancaster.

We intended to drive by a few of the Amish barn, shed and outbuilding companies and also hit the Central Market. We got a late start so bagged the first part and just lingered on the second.

Ever since I was little my parents would take weekend drives with us, taking us to parks, cities, towns, whatever, just because they liked exploring. I don’t know when I first entered this building with them, but I was pretty small.

The building is really hidden now, as the city skyline changes around it. I keep forgetting where to turn to find the nearest parking.

You have to navigate carefully to get in this back way, but it puts your car really close so you can bring things out and wander the streets.

I did not take pics inside, as not to offend any of the Amish who don’t wish to have pictures taken of them. It is hard to selectively take pics and not get an inadvertent image. I respect their wishes so put the camera away. We hit many of our favorite stands, like Clyde Weavers for bacon and smoked kielbo.

I had to get goat cheese feta and mozzarella. These are not made by our local goat cheese purveyors and they are so good, and lactose free.

To use with the mozzarella, one of the stands was offering home grown, greenhouse ripened tomatoes. So much better looking than supermarket tomatoes, and cheaper than those sold at Silver Spring Market, or at Roots.

With the mozzarella, the tomatoes, and basil from Mock’s last Saturday, it looks like a Caprese salad some night soon. We had a snack, then wandered the new shops behind and across from the market. We couldn’t resist trying this, in lieu of making a sangria for a get together with friends. We needed something fun and low alcohol to complement spicy wings. This wine should do it. The PA wines made from fruits are fun, summertime light wines.

These two bottle packs are eco friendly, and the wines are just fun. We don’t always want heavy wines in the hot weather, and this one is a treat. The winery is just outside Lancaster, and they source the fruit from all over. This wine is slightly sweet, but the winery also makes dry varieties of wine. Nice people, a friendly tasting room, and we had a relaxing day riding the back roads of PA and MD. What we got today should tide us over until our Sandy Spring CSA starts next Thursday. We got an email today with specifics, including the first two picnics at the Amish farms near Lancaster. In May and June. Can’t wait.

Visiting Alex’s Snowball Stand in Lisbon … And Other Random Thoughts on West County Activities

Posted on April 30, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yesterday morning I posted that we would be going out to Sharp’s Farm to buy plants. While we were out, my husband wanted to try the snowball stand in Lisbon to see how they measure up to Woodstock, his favorite place for summer treats.

We spent about 30-45 minutes picking out plugs at Sharp’s, and it is warm and humid in the greenhouses, so a snowball sounded good.

After we settled up, I carefully wedged the plants in the back of the truck, I didn’t want them sliding around in the bed of the pickup. As you notice in this picture, these are not the two dozen flower plugs I bought, these are the pole beans, cucumbers and a few more exotic varieties of heirloom tomatoes. Somehow they enticed me, and now I need to rethink what goes where in the garden. The 3 inch pots at Sharp’s are only $1.50, a very good price for plants this large.

So, where are the snowballs? They are here.

They also sell ice cream and Nathan’s hot dogs. They have a children’s play area around back.

They are on the circle in Lisbon just up from the Town Grill and on the way to Larriland Farms. A really convenient spot to stop for a cooling ice cream or snowball after picking strawberries this May.

On the way home we stopped into Western Regional Park to see how it had grown. There are now five miles of trails in the park, paved and natural surfaces.

Weekends in West County. You also have lots of options for picnics. There are three locations where you can pick up foods to go and have a day in this less crowded Howard County park.

There is Vittorio’s.

Casual Gourmet.

And, Smokin’ Hot.

All in all, a good trip today. I am monitoring the updates on when the strawberries will be ready to pick at Larriland. In the meantime, my husband gave his egg custard snowball from Alex’s a thumbs up, for putting more than enough flavoring in it, and for the taste. We will be going back.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Community, Day Trips, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Nature, People, Restaurants, West HoCo and tagged community, day trips, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, nature, spring flowers, tomatoes, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Lunch at the Lunchbox

Posted on April 26, 2012 by AnnieRie

OK, so Frederick isn’t Hoco, but for those of us in West Hoco, it isn’t far to get there. Sometimes, with less traffic, I can be at the Costco or Wegmans there in less than half an hour. We had some errands to run this morning, and the weather wasn’t cooperating when it came to doing things around here.

We decided to check out Lunchbox. If you are a Top Chef fan, you know about Bryan Voltaggio and Volt. This past November, he opened a lunch place on Carroll Creek.

The menu is fairly simple. Soups, salads, pressed sandwiches, desserts. Decor is fun, too.

The sodas are a treat, like Cheerwine.

Little touches of whimsy like the bottle openers above the containers, and crates with “free” apples. Buy lunch, get an apple.

I did not take a picture of my meatloaf sandwich. Not great looking, but so tasty. I did like the set up in the corner that says it all.

Oh, and in good weather, you can dine al fresco with no views of parking lots or storm water management ponds. Frederick is really fun to visit. Take a trip out some day.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Day Trips, Food, Restaurants and tagged day trips, Food, frederick, hoco loco, restaurants. Bookmark the permalink.

Tasting Barrels …

Posted on April 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

… or is that barrel tasting. I forget after the 11th sample.

Today we spent a lovely day at the case club barrel tasting at Linden Vineyards.

I think everyone here knows I love Linden wines. I even have a tag in my tag clouds for them.

We have been collecting their wines for 20 years. They will drink beautifully for 10-15 years and some of them for 20. We drank our last 1990 a while back, still hanging in there.

The barrel tasting today was on a dull rainy day, not the lovely spring day we wished for.

No one out on the patio. After the tasting we ended up inside by the stove.

We tasted barrel samples of the three designated sourced Avenius, Hardscrabble, and Boisseau chardonnays. Plus the claret blend, all vintage 2011. There will be no designated reds this year, due to the huge amount of rain that we all experienced last September. The reds didn’t come to potential and will be mostly blended.

Wines from 2011 include the recently released Rose, which is made from the merlot.

We started out up in the new tasting room, the site of special events. We tasted a newly released sauvignon blanc with broiled mussels.

It has a view down into the tank room where we were tasting the claret sample. I took a couple of pics down there but in the darker venue didn’t want to use flash to bother people, and they didn’t turn out well.

Still, the whites will be good, decent wines, well made as usual. The 2008 and 2009 designated red wines were tasted side by side with very tasty paired food items from the Ashby Inn in Paris VA.

We also had a charcuterie board from Croftburn Market in Culpeper VA Their sausage made with fennel was really nice.

All in all, a lovely day, even though the weather did not cooperate. They have the most commanding view of the mountains, so I will leave you with a view from the patio a week ago, when it wasn’t raining.

Terroir

Posted on April 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

It really makes a difference. The earth. The soil. Are you partial to fruits and vegetables grown in your area?

Are you, like me, someone who craves Eastern Shore tomatoes, ‘lopes and watermelons, because they taste the way they do?

And, even though hydroponically grown tomatoes have flavor, it doesn’t pick up terroir, because there is no soil.

It is interesting that Glen Manor changed their web site this week. They have always featured the term “a sense of place”, which is what terroir roughly translates to mean. Their new web site has more detail on what that means to them.

Last Thursday night, I blogged about my pizza with a 2002 Linden Cabernet Franc. Full of fruit, hint of smoke.

Friday we drove to Front Royal to pick up our 2009 Hodder Hill allocation from Glen Manor. we had to get it quickly as it had just won the VA Governor’s Cup and was already in short supply.

We tasted the 2010 Cabernet Franc, and surprise, the same hint of smoke. Why? Because in 2002 the Linden Cabernet Franc consisted largely of Glen Manor’s grapes.

Terroir!

Jeff worked at Linden before going out on his own. He learned from one of the best in VA. His wines reflect that same commitment to using what nature gives you.

You can’t go wrong with either one of these vineyards. If you talk to either one of them, they will tell you first and foremost they are farmers. They grow grapes. They make amazing wines from those grapes.

I may sit down with friends this weekend if it stays warm and decide whose dry Rose is my favorite for a summer time wine. They both make great reds, but their style of Rose isn’t bad either.

If you want to visit two beautiful wineries and taste some of the best of VA, you can’t go wrong at either site. I love the fact, no limos, no large groups, no party people. Just simple folk who love wine.

Glen Manor

Linden Vineyards

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Posted in Day Trips, Locavore, Wine and tagged day trips, foodie, Linden Vineyards, Locavore, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Brighton Dam Azalea Gardens

Posted on April 15, 2012 by AnnieRie

The perfect place to spend Sunday afternoon. The azaleas are peaking early this year. There may not be much left in May.

We headed out to grab some food at Boarman’s including a couple of pulled pork sandwiches and iced tea to have a picnic and walk the gardens. Took along the cooler to put the rest of the groceries in, so we were consolidating shopping, dining and exercising.

The gardens were established when I was a very little girl. My parents brought us out here countless times to walk the five acres of gardens.

They are located on the Montgomery County side of the reservoir, and besides the gardens there is a rec area with picnic tables. On the rec area side is the only place you can have food, drink and pets. Most were just strolling, enjoying, taking pics like me, and just taking in the beauty of a spring day.

We found a few of our pollinating friends enjoying it too.

There are some very lovely specimens in colors other than the normal ones you see in azaleas, like this one, almost an apricot.

A few side paths were squeezed by the sheer size of the bushes, some of which are more than 50 years old.

We wandered for about an hour before returning to the car, just as things were beginning to get crowded. Go early or go during the week to avoid crowds.

This is one of our area’s best spring traditions and a fun day you can spend without paying anything. Take a picnic, wear your sneakers, bring your camera, and enjoy the flowers.