Downtown Ellicott City!

Since I moved here, one of my best friends has been telling me all about downtown Ellicott City and the amazingness you can find there. Now that I've taken a job in Ellicott City, I figured it was time to explore! My Baltimore BFF, CJ (you may remember her as Babe the Blue ox from a previous post!), and I decided to spend Saturday afternoon exploring. She was sort of my guide because she had been there before and knew where all the hot spots were! Finding street parking is just like in any city... you have to get lucky! But Main Street in Ellicott has a few, FREE, parking lots behind all the of the shops/cafes and they're pretty large and in charge so parking wasn't really an issue at all. 

WE WERE PARKED AND READY TO GET THE FUN STARTED! AHH!

First: LUNCH! 

We started walking down Main Street and spotted a nice little Italian place called Johnny's Bistro on Main. When you walk in, there's a little sign that says "Please order at counter" so we walked to this little counter and placed our order. They give you a number to place on your table and then you wait for your food. We did see some people walk in and just sit and order with the waitresses, so maybe you can do that too? Probably something the locals/regulars do? Who knows! Anyway... our food came and it was AMAZING. I can't even. CJ ordered the King of the Sea panini and it looked DELISH! It consisted of Smoked Alaskan salmon, dill havarti, cucumber, sweet onion and caper cream cheese. You can also get a side of Williamsburg slaw or shoe string fries, CJ got fries! I ordered the Grilled chicken caesar salad (hey, I have to get into a wedding dress in April, people!) and it was one of the best salads I have ever had. And I've had a lot of salads. I'm sort of a caesar salad expert in case y'all didn't know. CJ wanted to splurge so she ordered Creme Brulee. I highly, highly recommend lunching at this place. The next time I go, I'm going to order one of their personal pizzas because they looked like they were TO DIE FOR. 

King of the Sea Panini

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

Creme Brulee

OOOHH.MYYYY.GOOSSHHH. IT WAS SOOOO GOOOOD!!

After stuffing our faces, we mosied on down Main to check out some local shops. CJ raved about this one shop called Vintage Bliss. This place was certainly worth checking out. It had EVERYTHING. They had refurbished furniture, make your own jewelry stations, clothes, handmade items from vendors... I mean, EVERYTHING. Some of it was a little kooky but that made it even better for me. I LOVE finding unique things you will never find anywhere else. This shop also has paint parties using Milk Paint. You can bring pieces of your furniture in and they will teach you how to paint it or antique it. Super cool place if you want to redecorate your home! I'll definitely be visiting them again to spruce up our little house.

           

Here are a few pieces of Homemade jewelry. The necklace was super cool because it's made out of clock/watch faces!

Some pieces of clothing including homemade decorative bra straps. Ya know, in case you don't want to sport that strapless look, ladies!

This. This was so creepy. A bracelet made out of doll faces. DOLL FACES, Y'ALL!

A cute dresser and painted signs. Cute for a nursery! 

Our next venture was to Caplan's Department Store. The jewelry and dresses at Caplan's are seriously just the cutest! They also had a ton of cool kitchen/household gadgets. I couldn't get enough! 

We popped into a few other stores (I won't name every single thing we checked out) including a store for the pups called Work!Play!Bark! which was adorbs. CJ even bought a super cute birthday cake for her Boston Terrier, Prince. The birthday cakes are made from natural ingredients so the humans can nosh on them with their pooches! I don't know that I would eat one, but hey, to each their own! We also hit up a store called Love and Glitter that was going out of business and having a huge closeout sale so don't make plans to go there anytime soon, because it'll be gone! There's also a little Fair Trade store called HutCraft. The cool thing about HutCraft is they host painting parties! You can book them for private parties or just join an upcoming class. Not only do you get to bring home your own work of art, but you can bring your own wine or beer to drink while you paint! I don't know if that's the best idea for me because my artistic talents are pretty slim to none while I'm sober much less three sheets to the wind! 

We ran into Yoda while we were walking around. No big deal.

Downtown Ellicott City gets two thumbs up from me for sure and I can't wait to go back and see what else they have to offer! 

My First Maryland Crab Cake!

I have lived in Maryland for 5 months now and FINALLY tried my first crab cake this past Friday. I know, I know... BLASPHEMY! Anyway, all of the locals think they know where the best one is but one restaurant that was repeatedly brought up as having the BEST crab cake in the area was G&M Restaurant and Lounge so obviously, that's the one we decided on. Before we even sat down for dinner, things got interesting. We arrived a little before one of our fave couples that would be joining us, so C. and I propped ourselves up at the bar while we waited. There was an old man being helped to a seat and we assumed he was just elderly and needed help but not at all. He was just totally whiskey bent! So drunk he couldn't even stand and was still trying to drive home. Luckily the staff wouldn't let him leave and finally called him a ride home, which I thought was super responsible of them. Most restaurants and bars just let people walk out the door without giving it a second thought, so I was happy with that! Z. and S. arrived, so we were on our way to crab cake bliss at last but not before another bump in the road! Clumsy ol' Z. knocked S.'s beer right out of her hand when we were sitting down and her beer splattered all over a gentleman at the table next to us. He looked very unhappy to say the least, but the staff came over and we all threw in our napkins and got it all squared away. Totally Z.'s fault. And luckily, the guy was leaving so we didn't have to sit beside him all dinner making it totally awkward with him and his dinner companions glaring at us. 

OKOKOK...  I keep being side tracked from the real star of this post: THE CRAB CAKE. 

We barely skimmed the menu because, well, crab cakes. We were told the crab cakes here were HUGE so we decided on the single platter because you can make it a double serving of Maryland crab if you want. The dish comes with a salad, a vegetable and a starch. I also ordered a cup of the cream of crab soup, because, well, crab. I'm sure you're sensing the theme by now. I've probably said crab more times in this blog post than in my entire life. 

Anyway, the food arrived. Soup was pretty delish. Salad was a pretty standard issue salad with lettuce and the carrot, tomato bits. Then the waiter returned with our entrees and HOLY CRAB CAKE. It was seriously the biggest one I have ever seen. And the best part was, it wasn't breaded very much. Because sometimes when you order a crab cake, it's more breading and seasoning than it is crab. That is simply not the case at G&M. It was almost ALL giant lumps of crab and no breading. I was very pleased! The sides were pretty standard issue... I had a baked potato and coleslaw but I couldn't eat hardly any of it. I could only manage to eat HALF of my crab cake so maybe next time I'll skip the soup? The waiter was super friendly so the service there was pretty exceptional as well. We enjoyed the entire experience, including the drunk man at the bar and the sad, wet man we poured beer on. It was a really fun night! 

Here's a pic of their double platter.

Here's a pic of my single platter with a baked tater. 

In an attempt to jokingly burn the receipt, Z. actually burned the receipt so the waiter probably thinks we are hooligans. I'm OK with that because... we are. 

Don't worry, the men paid! 

Anyway, I highly recommend this place to anyone visiting the area. I will continue to keep trying crab cakes throughout Charm City just to compare but in the words of C.:

"STARTED FROM THE TOP, NOW I'M HERE!"

R&R Taqueria

It's been about a month since I've posted anything but I have been busy with wedding plans, prepping for Christmas festivities, C.'s graduation from graduate school and my big trip to New Orleans for New Years so please forgive my slackness. I have explored quite a few places in the past month, but today's post is about a hidden gem called R&R Taqueria.

R&R is in Elkridge, Maryland so it's just outside of Baltimore. I stumbled upon this hole-in-the-wall while pumping gas at the Shell Station literally 1 minute from my house. I noticed there was this looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong line coming from a small section of the gas station, but it wasn't going into the actual store so I became instantly curious. A gentleman pumping gas next to me clued me in when he noticed my craning neck and look of confusion. He informed me that it was a little "taco joint," as he put it. I then noticed a banner over the door with the name and decided I would come back when the line wasn't absurdly long. That time came and I ended up convincing C. and a friend to try it out with me. When we go there it was a little chaotic inside because it is VERY small and there seems to always be a group of people fumbling about. You see, the seating arrangement is 6 stools and a tiny little countertop. It's certainly not made for dining in, but a lucky few get there in time to grab a stool. Anywhooooo... We each got two tacos. I ordered one chicken and one pork belly and we ordered them to go! I was SO, SO excited to try these tacos because not only had the locals talked them up BUT this place had also been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. If you're not familiar, it's a Food Network show hosted by Guy Fieri. Not to mention, R&R has been visited by some pretty well known folks including a few NFL players... all of whom have signed the wall with their football numbers and teams. I can't read any of them but C. knew who some of them were and seemed to be in awe. BOYS! Now that I have gotten off track again, my point is... THIS PLACE WAS HYPED UP. Well, I bit into what was going to be the most amazing taco of my life only to be let down. It was cold, soggy and just not what I was expecting. I was so mad. I really didn't understand why everyone was so obsessed with this place so I just wrote it off as one of those mysteries of life and filed R&R under my "bad review" drafts. 

BUT THAT WAS SO WRONG!

That's right, folks. I have changed my mind. If you know me, then you shouldn't be surprised. I change my mind quite often. R&R Taqueria is actually amazing. The first time I went they must have been having an off day. Also, I think getting the food to go is a MISTAKE. If you eat the food there, in your car, or wherever you can find a place to shove it in your mouth... do it. It's so much better when the cheese hasn't cooled from that car ride home and the chicken hasn't fallen out of the shell because it's been sloshed around. I had dinner there just recently and cannot wait to go huddle inside that little gas station and get accidentally felt up by strangers because we can't all fit for another quesadilla. It was AMAZEBALLS. It was so simple too. Just cheese and chicken. But with the hot sauce and sour cream mixture... my tastebuds are doing cartwheels just thinking about it. I also just learned that R&R Taqueria has opened a new location in Perry Hall, Maryland and apparently that location is an actual sit down restaurant. I will definitely be venturing over that way to try it out... sitting down. 

This just goes to show that everyone deserves a second chance! 

There's Always a Downside...

Before I moved to Baltimore, everyone told me how incredibly terrifying and crime riddled it was and while that may be true for parts of Baltimore, it's certainly not true for all of it. Baltimore has some absolutely incredible places and lots of fun things to do. That being said, Charm City has a few less than charming qualities. If you rep Baltimore or if you are easily offended by 5 feet tall bloggers talking smack about it... stop reading now. For those of you still with me, here we go!

1. The very first thing I noticed when I moved here is how BAD everyone is at driving. Let's just say if I'm the standard of good driving, you're doing it wrong. YOU.ARE.DOING.IT.WRONG. 

I can tolerate speeding because I have been known to go a few miles over here and there BUT I cannot tolerate people who are reaching levels of fast that Vin Diesel would cringe at. Yeah... I made a Fast and Furious reference. Don't like it? TOOOOOOOOOO BAD! Seriously though... if I'm already doing 15 over, you shouldn't be zooming by me like I'm the slow poke. Here's another tip for all you crazy motorists: TURN YOUR BLINKERS ON! TURN THEM ON RIGHT EFFING NOW! It drives me insane (pun intended!) that the people here never use their turn signals! And it wouldn't be SO bad if they didn't just dart across 3 lanes of highway to cut you off because they missed their exit. I have had cars almost send me off the road because they just zig zag in and out of lanes all willy nilly and don't look where they're going. They just do what they want and expect the other person to adjust. If you're ever driving up here, please proceed with caution. This Chow meme used to be a joke about me because my friends think I'm a bad driver but... it doesn't compare. IT DOESN'T COMPARE.

2. The next thing I noticed in "Charm" city was just how UNcharming the general population is. There are obviously exceptions to this because I have met some pretty fabulous people here BUT the overall consensus? A-HOLES. Let me give you a few examples so you can see that I'm not just comparing it to the friendliness of South Carolina folks (oh wait, I am). The first week we moved in, I had no idea where anything was. I googled Wal-Mart (even though I have come to hate the superstore) because I just needed a few quick things and it was closer (or so I thought) than the Target. When I walked in, I immediately noticed this particular Wal-Mart was seriously lacking in cleanliness, for one thing, and in organization. It was laid out very poorly which led to me not being able to find a few things. While browsing, I asked A WAL-MART EMPLOYEE where I could find a lunch box (C. takes his lunch to work sometimes ... aww!) and instead of just guiding me in the right direction, this lady freaked out. She turned towards me and ripped her name tag off while she screamed: "DANG!! I NEED TO TAKE THIS SHIT OFF BECAUSE I AM OFF DUTY!" Of course, I stood there stunned as all get out because I had no idea how to react to this lunatic. When she realized I wasn't moving or speaking, she replied "I DON'T KNOW... IT'S IN THE HOME AREA SOMEWHERE." That was experience number one. Yes, there have been more. Needless to say, I have not stepped even a toe in that store since and I always go to Target, which I later found out was just on the other side of the highway. It just so happens that incident number two took place in Target! I was wandering about the aisles, collecting my items when I came to a shelf with something I needed. Unfortunately, there was a gentleman complete asshole standing right in front of what I needed. Oh, and just my luck! He was on the phone. I said "Excuse me" a few times before I finally tapped him to let him know I needed to grab the thing he was in front of. This douchehole turned around (still on his phone!) and says "JESUS CHRIST LADY! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M ON THE PHONE?" I was in complete shock that he raised his voice over something so tiny. My reply was simply, "I have said excuse me several times and you're blocking the product I need to get. If you don't need any of this stuff, you shouldn't be blocking the aisle and chatting while other people are waiting." He just threw his hands up, rolled his eyes and probably muttered several choice words about me to the person he was chatting with. I just don't understand it. Those were just a couple unfriendly encounters but I feel like I see them on a daily basis here. Even when I'm jogging or out walking the dogs, people are not quick to say hello or just throw up a wave. I mean, whatever happened to just being kind to each other. Sheesh! Like I said before, this negative quality isn't extended to ALL of Baltimore, but certainly a large part of it. If you're living in Charm City.... be charming. Dang. 

3. The crime and poverty in parts of the city are sometimes frightening but they are also very sad. I haven't encountered a lot of these areas but I have taken the occasional wrong turn and immediately navigated my way back to the good parts. There are a few bridges I drive by once in a while and see homeless people living under them using old, tattered couches for bedding. I even saw one man drinking puddle water during a rainstorm once. When we were deciding where to live in up here, I made the mistake (not really a mistake if you're looking for a safe part of town) of pulling up the Baltimore crime map and I was just floored. The crime varied in levels starting with purse snatchings and ending with the most brutal, rape and murder. There are exceptions like Fed Hill, Fells Point, The Inner Harbor etc. but if you don't know those places, make sure you learn them quickly! I mean, I always knew what people said about Bmore and I've seen some of The Wire, but it doesn't really hit you until you're about to live smack dab in it. Even when our real estate agent took us around to look at houses, we opted not to get out in some locations because it was so scary looking. I don't do drugs but from what I hear on the news and from locals, drugs are everywhere in certain parts of the city. To be clear, I've only driven through (at Vin Diesel speeds!) a few bad neighborhoods so I've never actually come face to face with it but I'm very aware of what parts of Baltimore I'm in and which parts I need to stay in whenever I go to the city. And that's just sad. I know there are several organizations and programs working hard to clean up the really bad neighborhoods and I can only hope they succeed. 

Tips: If you are ever in an area where there are blue alert lights all over the place or if you're in an area with a lot of vacant/boarded up rowhomes... probably not the best place to be unless you're looking for trouble.

Welp, there you have it. 

The Friend Zone

Despite the title of this post, it's not actually about getting friend zoned by that one person you think you're in love with. It's just about hanging out with friends on a Friday night in Odenton, Maryland. Odenton is about 20-30 minutes outside of Baltimore but C. and I have a good friend that resides in O-town and just typing the word "O'Town" has me flashing back to THIS. If you didn't click that link, you're missing out on a lot of spiked hair and denim. And now that I got that out of my system, back to Odenton. We met our homeboy and his girlfriend out for some good ol' Mexican food at a little place called Pachanga Grill and let me tell you.. the tequila was flowing! The food was pretty standard Mexican food but their queso was really good and not at all like the standard cheese dip most Mexican restaurants serve. Also, I had guacamole on my nachos and it was pretty delish! The real hoot was the argument about single margaritas versus ordering a pitcher. Our server told us that a pitcher was approximately 4 margs so after already gulping down 3 margs each, we ordered a pitcher to see just how many it actually was. There was a little more than 4 in a pitcher but certainly not THAT much more. After that many margaritas we were already feeling good but that didn't stop us. If anything, it encouraged more bad behavior like ZJ stealing the wooden spoon from the margarita pitcher (it was returned before we left!) and C. telling the waitress my "tiny tummy" just couldn't handle all the food there. I mean she probably thought we were all crazy. 

So what did we do after leaving Pachanga Grill? We obviously picked up some beer and headed back to ZJ's to continue the party. It was at his place that I learned why Lisa Left Eye Lopez was called "Left Eye." Apparently, she wore a condom on her left eye to promote safe sex. Yep, didn't know that!  It was also where we watched this hilarious video and brought this song back from the grave. There is always something to do in Baltimore because it's such a big city but sometimes you just want to have a ridiculous dinner with some close friends and hang out with the comforts of home and YouTube videos. 

Sidenote: I'm pretty sure I was the only one that didn't wake up with a hangover on Saturday. WINNING! 

Fed Hill-oween!

This post is going to be pretty short because there's really not a whole lot you can say about Halloween. I mean... you know the drill... COSTUMES, BOOZE, DANCING.

I can't even explain how I excited I get when Halloween rolls around. It is absolutely one of the funnest holidays to celebrate, especially as an adult! As a kid, Halloween is fun because you get to stuff your face full of candy and go into a sugar coma, whereas adults stuff their faces with alcohol and usually dress inappropriately for their ages... and sometimes body types. Even though it wasn't quite All Hallow's Eve yet, we celebrated last weekend in Fed Hill with one of my best friends and our main squeezes. CJ and her man went as Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox while C. and I went as Minions! We all looked super adorbs and ended up having so much fun. Federal Hill does Halloween up big with a celebration called Fed-Hill-Oween which is totally worth the $7 ($10 the night of) they charge you to participate. It's basically a bar crawl throughout the neighborhood and a super fun costume contest. We arrived around 7pm to the headquarters, Mother's. This is where we picked up our wristbands which is crucial! The wristband guarantees you discounted drink specials at each bar participating and when you pick up the wristband, you are also given a number. We put our number on C.'s back so people along the bar hop or just people on the street could text it in to vote for our costumes. The best part of the entire night was just people watching and judging everyone's ridiculous costumes. It was so much fun. Lots of drinking and dancing (including CJ and C.'s dance off at Ropewalk Tavern) and just a ton of fun. If you are ever in the Baltimore area for Halloween and you love dressing up... please participate! You won't regret it... unless your costume is bad. And trust me, there were some bad ones...

Below are some pictures of our shenanigans from the night. It's ok if you laugh at our ridiculousness... we did! :)

Babe the Blue Ox (CJ) and 2 crazy minions. Thanks for being my sidekick, C.!

Babe and Paul Bunyan! What a beautimous couple <3

CJ found Ted. Ted was so sad.... 

Double the Drinks, Double the Fun!

A few of our good friends have been telling us about a local bar nearby called Pub Dog and I suggested we try it out since we were looking for something to do for the football games this past weekend. They have two locations, one in Federal Hill and one in Columbia. Since Columbia is right around the corner from us, that's the location we opted for, but there's no difference in the two except for the geography and probably the age of people that frequent them.

Since our game was a noon game, it wasn't busy at all but they started filling up right around evening time when we rolled out. I'm told they get packed on weekend nights and after trying it out, I can see why. If you're looking for a 5 star dinner and some snooty wine, this isn't the place for you but if you're looking for a good beer (or two!), then pop in. And when I say a beer or two... I mean it. Pub Dog's claim to fame is when you order a beer, they bring you two! "Same time, Same kind" is how they word it on their menus, so don't order 2 different beers unless you want 4 mugs in front of you. This is what they call their "Dog Deal." It is only $4.50 and the beers are all their own, crafted right in house so it's definitely worth it. You aren't just seeing double with the beer either! If you order a water, they bring you 2. If you order a coke, they bring you 2. I think you get the picture by now, but if you've never been or if you weren't expecting it, it sort of throws you off a little. The beers were all pretty good but C. ordered a Raspberry Dog beer his first go-round and I have to say.. YUCKKKK! I'm sure there are some of you out there that would like it, but no one in our group liked it AT ALL. So just be warned. Anywayyyy, I'm sure you're thinking "Wow, they must really be trying to get people hammered if they bring you two beers at a time," but not at all. The trick is you are getting two mugs of beer, but it's not much different than ordering a pint because the mugs are only 8oz. Of course, they have to serve food with all that beer flowing from the taps and what goes better with booze than pizza?! Their menu consists mostly of personal thin crust pizzas and a few appetizers and salads. The pizzas were pretty decent. I had the Cajun Dog Pizza which was pretty good, but it wasn't the best pizza I've ever had. They also have a menu item called a pizza sandwich, where you pick two pizzas and they smash them together to make... well, a pizza sandwich. The atmosphere was a lot of fun (which is why I think most people go here).. we played shuffleboard, met a few nice people and watched the bartenders get drunk. Yeppp, they were drinking beers and taking shots with some of the customers... where do I apply, right?! We also learned that dogs are more than welcome here! And why not? I mean, it is called Pub DOG and all of their beers and pizzas have dog somewhere in the name. The dogs aren't allowed inside, but you can have them outside on the deck and they get served as well. The dogs are served up a bowl of water and dog biscuits. I love restaurants/bars that do this sort of thing because it gives me just one more excuse to take my dogs out with me! I had a really good time and will definitely be back... with my furry friends, of course. :)

A couple of other fun facts:

• They offer a "Kennel Club" lunch card. It's valid Monday-Saturday 11-3. You receive a "punch" whenever you order a salad or pizza. After 8 punches, the next pizza or salad is free! I have mine and received my first punch this past weekend. :)

• The Columbia location offers live trivia on Monday nights at 7:30. You can have a team of up to 12 people and you can win cash prizes. Definitely worth checking out of you're closer to the Columbia location!