We love Football!

While I'm not a big Ravens Fan- Josh is. We scored tickets to a recent game:

Chicago Bears vs. Baltimore Ravens

and we WON! 31-7!

Check out the pics below:

The temperature was 20 degrees that night, and there was 2 FEET of snow the previous day!

We had a blast.

Hope everyone has a very Happy Holiday, and a safe New Year!

Hamilton's Great Eats!

After moving to Hamilton, we quickly scoped out the local hotspots for great eats. We've stumbled upon two gems of the Harford Main Street Revitalization project:

Hamilton Tavern

5517 Harford Rd

Baltimore, MD 21214
http://www.hamiltontavern.com/

and

Clementine

5402 Harford Rd
Baltimore, MD 21214
http://www.bmoreclementine.com/

1. Hamilton Tavern:

This local tavern is tied to the famous Brewer's Art and maintains a lot of the charm of the esthablishment. While they may not carry some of the expensive dinner specialities, they do have an regular menu with tasty offerings. My personal favorite is the CrossTown Burger ($10)- Roseda Farms beef, shredded iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion, & horseradish cheddar. It's always cooked perfectly, and arrives with a side of The Tavern's famous homemade potato chips. The Tavern also carries a variety of beer, with a rotating tap that always includes Brewer's Art's famous, Resurrection. I've never been disappointed in my 5+ visits to the location, and I anticipate many more happy times at this great local esthablishment.

2. Clementine:

A tiny little hole in the wall restaurant, recently featured on NPR's "Radio Kitchen"- this spot is a show-stopper. When you walk into the restaurant, you feel like you're sitting down in your grandmother's country kitchen- but the meals are far from downhome cooking. The menu features an array of intricate, delicate gourmet dishes, with a daily special dish that often includes smoked/grilled/or charred meats created in Clementine's own in-house Charcuterie. My personal favorite dish is the- "Smoked Then Grilled Pork Tenderloin" w/ Roasted Apple Maple Cream, Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes & Asparagus ($20). It's deliciously smoky, without being overwhelming, and the creamy mashed potatoes were perfect. While this restaurant is significantly pricier than many of the restaurants on the Harford Road Corridor, it's worth every penny.

Next Stop:

Big Bad Wolf's House of Barbeque

5713 Harford Rd

Baltimore, MD 21214

http://www.bigbadwolfbarbeque.com/

HOMEOWNERS!

We've been mulling the idea for some time now, and the $8,000 Government Tax Credit (expiring in November!) finally put us over the edge! We bought a house!

It's a lovely 3 bdr, 2 bth, Colonial Style, Single Family Home in the lovely neighborhood of Hamilton- a small suburb in Baltimore City. We love it.

We closed on the house October 5th, 2009, and we officially moved in October 24th, 2009. There's a ton of unpacking to do, and lots of new furniture to acquire- but so far, so good. We've done some painting so far, and we've got a lot to left to do- but the house looks great. We look forward to having everyone over very soon!

Our Engagement Annoucement!

In the Baltimore Jewish Times:

April 17, 2009

Forson –– Walters

Nicole Forson, daughter of John and Margaret Forson, and Joshua Walters, son of Richard and Judith Walters, announce their engagement.
Nicole, a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University, is employed at Montagu/Newhall Investment Associates in Owings Mills.
Joshua, a graduate of the University of Maryland and William and Mary Law School, is employed at Persels and Associates in Towson.
A June 2010 wedding is planned


YAY!!!!

The Drive In!

Josh and I went to 'Bengie's Drive-In' in Baltimore, MD and caught a flick on Friday Night. The drive in still holds it's 50's charm, and provides a great movie watching experience! Not to mention, they always have either double or triple features- so that's 3 (new) movies for 8 BUCKS! What a great deal! Their snack bar is fantastic too! Pics below!

CAKE!

Joshua and I went cake tasting at SugarBakers- a very popular upscale bakery here in Baltimore! The cake was AMAZING and we're thinking... a light and fresh, lemon mousse? What do you suggest?




This is officially, the BEST part of wedding planning. ;)

Rachel Getting Married!

My friend from summer camp, Rochel Moss, had a wedding this weekend- very orthodox, and very beautiful. Josh and I attended and had a blast!






I hope our wedding is as full of love and enthusiastic family as Rachel's wedding. So excited- less than a year away!

See you there!

Grocery Shopping is fun!

Went grocery shopping- had a blast...

Water Main Break

A water main broke near Josh's parents house...Here's a pic!



Pretty Crazy, Huh?

New York, New York!!

Traveled to NYC for work recently. Here are some pictures from my trip!


Traveling on the Train from Baltimore...Clearly not very excited about work.


My hotel was right on Broadway- the Marriott Marquis. VERY NICE!

The Taxi I took from the Train Station had a TV in it- with interactive touchscreen. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! I also was able to pay with a credit card- swipey swipey!


Hope everyone enjoys their Memorial Day weekend!

-Nana

Guess who's coming to Dinner?

We are now the number one search hit for 'Pickled Yam' on Google! That's right, we're in the big leagues, everybody! If you go to Google.com, search for 'Pickled Yam', the very first link you'll get will be our website! All right!

Seriously though, I feel a little guilty about this. While it took some work, some posts, some spreading around of the link to our website, we've now surpassed an actual recipe for Pickled Yam. And really, that's just not fair.

How frustrating is it, when someone is trying to make a dinner, does a search for something delicious and comes across a website that doesn't even pertain to what you're looking for?! We were just trying to be funny with the name- The Pickled Yam- since Josh is Jewish (Pickles) and I'm African (Yams)...but now the joke has gone too far. ;) In order to redeem ourselves, I've decided to post an actual recipe for Pickled Yam, here, on our website- so that no search is in vain (I also wanted to write a post with the words 'Pickled Yam' in it, several times, to secure our top seat.) - ;)

Hope all is well with everyone, and enjoy the Yam.

Pickled Yam

Ingredients

Suran / Yam – a small piece
Red Chillies – 5
Tamarind – a small ball
Coconut – 3 tsps (if desired)
Salt – to taste

Method:

1. Take a small piece of suren & cut it into thin strips, about 1/2" long. Apply salt & let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Then squeeze these & deep fry them till nice & crispy.

2. In the same oil deep fry the chillies till they turn slightly brown.

3. Now put the chillies & tamarind in a mixer & grind to a fine paste. Add water as required. Use as less water as possible.

4. At this stage you can add the coconut & grind in too or leave it. It does not matter. Adding coconut means you have to finish of this pickle in a weeks time. Minus the coconut it stays longer. Coconut just brings in a thickness to the pickle. I added some to the one I made.

5. Now transfer the ground paste to a bowl, add required salt & fried suran.If u want u can season with oil & mustard seeds.
Let it stay for a day before u can eat it, as all the chillies & salt will blend well & the suran wil get to soak well in this spicy mixture.

You can have this with idlis & dosas.. Yes, its spicy, add a drop of coconut oil on top & its heavenly!! Or just simply enjoy it with curd rice.. its delicious!!!!!!!!

gross.

The Boat that Rocked

What a beautiful weekend! Josh and I attempted to make the most of it by getting outside! We had a picnic on the lake yesterday- it was fantastic! Most people aren't aware that Baltimore (Towson, MD actually)- has great hidden spots like this. The spot is called the 'Loch Raven Fishing Center'- and you can rent a motor boat for $25 bucks, for the day. The boats are launched on the Baltimore County Reservoir (a huge 11 miles wide lake)- and there are lots of great little islands where you can dock, and picnic. It's a great time, everytime!







I hope everyone is enjoying this fantastic weather!

Anchorman

Josh and I were on the news last night! We stopped at our local Blockbuster to rent a video game, and were asked to be interviewed for a spot on Video Game Addiction (they couldn't have picked a better couple- Josh LOVES video games!). Here's a link to the clip:

http://wjz.com/video/?id=54242@wjz.dayport.com

Hope everyone is doing well, enjoying the nice weather- and Happy Earth Day!!!

Flight of the Conchords!

Last evening, Joshua and I went to see one of our favorite bands play- Flight of the Conchords. They're a Humor/Folk/Pop group, with their own show on HBO. It was quite a task trying to make it from Baltimore to D.C. in 30 minutes- and we failed miserably (crazy of us to think we could make it to downtown D.C. in half an hour!). We missed an hour of the show. Fortunately, these guys are so awesome, that the hour and a half that we did catch more than made up for it! It was a great time and we had a blast!





Pictures from our travels- gotta love The D.C. Metro System- Can't get downtown without it!










Hope everyone is well and enjoying the updates!

Philadelphia

Josh and I recently went to Philadelphia to celebrate Passover with his Aunt Ellen and Uncle Buzzy (more on that in a later Josh entry). While there we stopped and visited with my good friend, from JHU, Theodore. He's at UPenn Medical School, studying to How to Make a Million Trillion Dollars. We arrive around lunchtime, so we decided to go out and get...CHEESESTEAKS!!!! (according to Josh, 'Cheesesteak' doesn't have the word 'bread' in it- so it's Kosher for Passover) delicious.







There isn't much to a proper Philly Cheesesteak- ingredients-wise, but don't tell a native Philadelphian that, they would say it's a fine science (and honestly, if it is a science, the guys/gals at Jimmy's Steaks have it down!) Here's a simple recipe to recreate the delicious experience we had at Jimmy's. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 pound Rib Eye, frozen, then cut very thin
1 Onion
Mushrooms
Provolone Cheese or Cheese Whiz
4 Hoagie Rolls

Meat Make friends with your butcher. You need him to partially freeze a hunk of Rib Eye, and then slice it very thin. You want it sliced thin even though common sense tells us that thick is better. You can buy the hunk of rib eye and freeze and slice it yourself, but the butcher generally does a better job than I do. I can only get it about 1/8" thick and he does less

Bread This is the hard part. If you aren't in the Tristate area, and can't get AMOROSOS rolls (the only thing that is REALLY good on a cheesesteak) then you have to find a substitute. Squishy sub rolls will NOT do. They do not hold together under pressure. Refrain from buying those "hero" rolls too. A good hoagie roll is almost rubbery in texture, but quite soft. The best substitute I have found is a loaf of French bread. Not as good as the real thing, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

Toppings: All of this is personal choice. I like fried onions and mushrooms myself. Cheeses used vary - I hate to admit it but I think cheese whiz tastes the best. Provolone is awesome too and that's what I would use if I was afraid of the plastic orange stuff called whiz. Cooking the steak: In a cast iron frying pan, or a grill pan heat some oil. Saute toppings until pliable - make them however you like them. Remove them from pan and set aside. Pour some more oil in the pan (I use olive oil, but if you have access to the stuff they use in restaurants on grills it would taste even better) on medium high heat. Place 1/4 to 1/3 of a pound of meat in the pan, lying the pieces flat and overlapping to form a shape that will fit nicely in a bun. When the meat turns gray with doneness, flip it over and if you are using cheese slices now is the time to lie them on top of the meat. Add the other toppings back into the pan next to the meat and allow to reheat. Cover the pan to allow the cheese to melt. This should take 1-2 minutes. If the meat looks overcooked, that's OK - it should be GRAY.

This is the time to toast the bread if you so wish. I don't like mine toasted at all. Warmed is OK. If you are using cheese whiz, warm it in the microwave. Pick up meat and melted cheese with a spatula and deposit on the roll. IF using cheese whiz, use a butter knife or chopstick to smear whiz next to the meat.

Push the meat on one side of the roll and deposit the toppings next to it. This is important because if you put the toppings ON the meat, they will not be in the bottom of the sandwich, which really sucks. You should get meat, toppings and cheese in every bite.


YUM!

The Wedding Planner

Yes...?
By Joshua Walters

My Cheshire Love
My Playmate, My Joy
My Perfect Partner
The Girl to My Boy
I waited so long
now you have arrived
sleepwalking for years
but now I'm alive
I can't let you go
Our time cannot end
Inevitably
on knee I will bend
Please accept this ring
End uncertainty
And now let me know...
Will You Marry Me?

Yes.

(April 4th, 2009 @ 8pm!- Federal Hill Park, Baltimore MD)

American Pie

Josh started his new job, yesterday- and we decided to celebrate with a great big slice of pie. For this particular pie-outing, we decided to stop by Baltimore's famous Pie Shop:

Proprietor: Rodney Henry est. 2003

We drove over (its walking distance, but its so cold outside)- and got in the door, just a bit before closing time. The owner, Rodney Henry, was right at the register, taking an Apple pie out of the oven behind him (He was baking the entire time we were there!)

As a die-hard cake lover, I have to admit, the smell was intoxicating as a wafted from the pie display case and oven, through the door. I couldn't wait to sample the buttery crust, of a bubbling hot pie.

I ordered a slice of hot apple pie, and a glass of whole milk (I'm a skim milk drinker, but it seems like there's only one way to eat apple pie). I forgot to take a picture of the pie slice, until after I ate it- but I assure you, it was great looking and delicious.


Definitely one of Josh and I's new favorite places on "The Avenue" (West 36th Street in Baltimore, MD).