It's Carnival Time

For some reason, much like schools, all of the fire and safety crews outside of the metropolitan areas here have to raise their own funds.  This turns into a giant country folk-fest, called Carnivals.  They are like real carnivals, but without rides, and, from what I can tell, without corn dogs.  But it is amazing to see a whole community come together to have fun in the name of building a better place to live.  This one was the Rocky Ridge Carnival, which supports Alan's hometown, of which the only business of any type that exists is the Volunteer Fire Department.  Click here for the full album.

Chili Makin'!

I finally got around to making chili.  The results were good enough to cure my extreme need for some spice.  To see how its done, click here for the visual directions.

Rocky Ridge Disaster Night

Well, the Rocky Ridge carnival didn't turn out to be the good times I remember it, or maybe made up in my head.  But, that could have been due to injuries sustained.  Granted, I am not the kid that got impaled with an 8-inch piece of wood on the "big sliding board", but I did manage to slice two fingers to the bone on a broken bottle in a cooler.  You would think at a fundraiser for a volunteer fire company I would be tended to, but I did the doctoring myself, then promptly drank 3 beers to ease the pain.  I know it doesn't look that bad, but 1.  I am a pretty good doctor.  2.  In my attempt to "ease" my pain I became a horrible photographer and got one one of the giant blood stains that now consume my favorite jeans.  Maybe I'll show the wounds tomorrow.

Restaurant Week!

The most delicious week of the summer in Baltimore, this year running August 13-22, and from what I understand there are usually a few other weeks the pop up in the fall and spring.  During restaurant week patrons get to enjoy a three-course dinner from special prix-fixed menus for just $35.10.  This is probably a little more than you would spend on a single course at many of the restaurants, but if you choose wisely, you get a fantastic deal. 
We chose Blue Grass, a pretty high-end Bourbon bar that has only a rotating menu, just a block down the street.  It is so close that I have considered asking the valets to park my car for the entire night.  The only think that stays the same around here, aside from wine and cornbread, is the natural beauty of the staff.  I've never seen a male server, but I might not pay attention when you have a woman that bares striking resemblance to Famke Jansen waiting on you.  And not just by their looks, but their knowledge of the food and their pleasant attitudes, do the waitstaff here only add to the atmosphere.
Our Menu Options (click here for the full album):

I started with the scallop ceviche.

Second course:  Watermelon salad and chilled corn bisque.

Alan's third course, the hanger streak and roasted potatoes.

I had the Rockfish with sweet corn flan.

I started out with cucumber gin martini.It was the prefect refreshment for our outside seats.

 

Spoiler Alert--The Tiffany Miller Custom Design Is In!

I am so excited to get to make a trip back West for Labor Day weekend for a great wedding, a baby shower, and a family BBQ, not to mention, a much-needed visit with my BFF Breeann in Montana.  So, my fantastically talented cousin, Tiffany has designed my "sports themed" dress for Jenn's wedding that I am officiating in two weeks.  It was a task out of Project Runway... take my old hockey jerseys and make them into a dress befitting a wedding...and make it work.   Spoiler alert:  The pictures of this dress that I am in love with, are below, so if you don't want to see...just check out tiffany's other works.  Stop at the Etsy site link.

Tiffany Miller Designs

By the way... I am the proud owner of this shirt too!

Connected Threads, An Artistic Contribution to Worthy Causes

 Yeah... I own one of these too.

She also has an etsy site with amazing one-of-a-kind items.

Yeah... I have this one too.

But, wait for it... here are the picks of the fantastic dress I get to wear for Jenn's wedding.  These custom-design pieces can be acquired by visiting here.

Rub

We finished a pretty stellar weekend, starting Thursday at the Raven's game, followed by a weekend at the lake with dinner at Rub, a Texas-style BBQ about 5 blocks from our place on the South-End of Light St.  The building was in a perfect spot and had tons of room, unlike a lot of the former-row-house types that you mostly find in SoBo.  The wall was adorned with pictures drawn from kids professing their love for Rub, but don't let that make you think that this is a family-only joint.  The bar is plentiful and stocked not just with tons of tap and bottled beer and booze, but there are 15 or so different frozen beverages that you can get.  I tried to go with a margarita, but they were out, so I opted for something that was pina colada'ish.  It was really tasty, but after one I switch to beer.  The Sunday special had me pounding Coors Lights for only $2 a piece.
So, on to the food.  For 10-15 bucks you can get a platter with your favorite BBQ, but what is even better, especially as a first time visitor, is for $16 you can get three meats, plus two sides.  With two people there, that means you can try just about all the meats, and about 1/3 of the offered sides.  So here is the review of what we had.
Alan:
Sausage:  Good enough, neither of us would probably get this on its own, but it was spicy and the texture was a perfectly dry smoke
Smoked Turkey:  This is one of Alan's favorite meats and he wasn't disappointed.  It is always a little odd to me to eat turkey that tastes like ham, but with this one it didn't matter, and it didn't need any sauce, it was great on its own.
Brisket:  I think that I like my brisket to be cooked sloppy.  It just wasn't doing it for me to do the dry-rubbed with my own sauce.  To me, it is just too close to roast beef when it is done this way.
Beans:  Spicy and sweet, half texas-style pinto, and half baked beans with a BBQ-y thickness.
Coleslaw:  It was alright, kind of tasted like slaw you would get from the deli, but we are kind of ruined after tasting the slaw at Mother's.
Shannon:
Pulled Pork:  Good, but a bit vinegary for my taste, probably would only get it on a sandwich
Flat ribs:  Some of the...wait for it... best ribs I have ever had.  I am quite finicky about ribs and these were good.  The meat was just dry enough, but still fall-off-the-bone and was great with or without sauce.
Chicken:  Sweet and tender with good spices coating the outside.  I wouldn't get it again, based on how awesome the ribs were, but Alan said it was one of his favorites.
Corn Pudding:  I had just asked what this was a few days ago, so I was excited to try.  I was overly impressed, and Alan about lost himself in it.  It was a sweet and spicy concoction of bread, corn, Serrano peppers and milk.  I wouldn't be able to resist this ever.
Mac N Cheese:  Really good, very creamy the combo of pepper jack and American cheeses.  The garlic was a little harsh at first, but after a few bites it earned its keep.
Click here to see the whole album.

Raystown

We went to some real rural Pennsylvania this weekend, complete with "You'uns" and home taverns.  We finally got the Jet Ski on the water at Raystown Lake, a 35-mile stretch of Army Corps of Engineers dammed water.  The lake has plenty of space, even with the massive amounts of boats and PWC's on it, with some beaches and coves, but beware, it is, as stated above, rural.  We had no phone or data service, had to buy our beer at the one bar in town (10 miles away).  But, we did have some of the best white pizza ever at OIP: Original Italian Pizza.
I tried to run the economics of the $150 a month payment for our jet ski over 12 months of ownership, times 12 hours of usage... which seems kind of silly until we started calculating things like boats and RV's.  We did our first towing with it and it things were pretty perfect.  So I guess we are now forced to get the wakeboard going behind it.

Gage takes on the wake.

 

 

Click here for the full album... and note that Picasa auto-captioned many of the photos.  I would like this to stop ASAP... Thanks Picasa.