The MFA and Parish Cafe - hey, a rhyme!

Holy schnikes, it's been a while since I posted. Moving to Boston will do that to you.

Joe and I uprooted from Baltimore in June to pursue some pretty awesome career opportunities in Beantown. And the short story is, we're LOVING it. Couldn't be happier. Although what is UP with it getting dark at 4:00pm and snowing in October??? Our little Southern bodies are confused!

And low and behold, my little sister, E, helped us move to Boston, fell in love with it during her 4 days here, and four weeks later, she'd uprooted from Virginia and has started a new life of her own here too. Two cousins also moved to Boston this summer for law school and physical therapy school. Just too exciting! Having family so close is a first for Joe and I. Love it.

And last night was just one of many chances we've had to take advantage of that. Joe and I met after work for a double date with E and her bf at the Museum of Fine Arts. Once a month, the MFA has Free Community Day where they open the whole museum, including the special exhibitions, to the public until 9:45pm. Perfect!

We'd been this summer on another free day (cheap-os!), but we didn't make it through the whole museum. And we still didn't last night. But we did get to see The Secrets of 10A: Egypt 2000 BC. Very, very cool. The coffin on display is the most elaborate coffin that has been recovered to date.

And we finally toured the Japan and Korea wing. But I'm a sucker for Impressionist art. It's magical to be in the same room with Renoir, Monet, Manet, Millet...And for the first time I actually reveled in the old European wing, dreaming about my recent visit to the Uffizi and wishing I were back there.

I was happy to see so many young people at the Museum. Guess that's what happens when they let you in for free :)

Off we went to the Parish Cafe, a new favorite of ours on Boylston, but a favorite to all who live here. The concierge at Hotel Marlowe (my home away from home with visiting colleagues) recommended it, so we tried it out a few weeks ago. The menu is all sandwiches and salads, but the recipes are collected from chefs all over town. The top four sandwich items never change (get the Rowdy or the Zuni roll), but the rest rotate, so you can always count on something new.

I ordered the beet salad and tomato and rice soup. I was so excited to get to New England and find BEETS on the menu! Heaven forbid you see them anywhere in Baltimore or Virginia. What's up with that? I love knowing I don't have to rely on just cooking them at home - they're perfectly acceptable in menus all over Boston.

Joe got the Campbell, some veal sandwich that looked pretty substantial. And then we meandered home to the Navy Yard. Good times in Boston.

Wine and cheese

Planned meals have temporarily ceased to exist at my house. Blame it on a crazy schedule, but wine and cheese have officially become my default dinner.

We've been in and out of our house dodging, um, visitors, I guess you can say, so cooking has taken a back seat. The last three dinners at home have featured a bottle of red and a block of something golden or white.

My girlfriend, Adriana, came over last week and brought some gorgeous cheese and fig spread while I supplied the Cabernet Sauvignon and crackers. My Extra Sharp Cracker Barrel cheese, courtesy of the Inner Harbor Lofts Convenience store next door, was quickly trumped by her European selection. After noshing and chatting for two hours, we decided that wine and cheese is THE perfect dinner. Anything more is just over achievement.

Guest blog post is up!

Check it out on Baltimore Magazine's "In Good Taste" page here.

Baltimore magazine guest blog

I just submitted my guest blog entry to the Food editor at Baltimore magazine for her blog, In Good Taste. The editor, a frequent PR pursuit mine, is going out for knee surgery and asked for guest bloggers during her recovery.

Shout out to Twitter for alerting me of the opportunity. @sunnye03 was all over it.

She was open-minded enough to give me the green light, so my post should appear sometime next week. I'll link to it when it goes live.

First foray into Robert Oliver Seafood

After every BSO performance, Joe and I marvel at the colorful water in the glass bar of Robert Oliver Seafood on Cathedral St. It never looks like anyone's in there, so we're curious but not compelled to peek in.

But we did on Saturday. We stepped in the front door and entered one of the few Manhattan-like settings I've found in Baltimore. Super chic and sleek. Gorgeous.

The interior color scheme is all neutral browns with black furniture for contrast. Design lines are straight and clean. A baby grand piano is perched sweetly at the top of the short steps up to the formal dining room, which is adjacent to a lounge area with stuffed chairs and knee-high tables.

The bar itself is completely out of sight from the dining room, so the rainbow of effervescent water doesn't clash with the decor. We headed to the bar for a post-show cocktail and were joined by a couple musicians straight off the BSO stage, including a cellist we'd been eyeing all night directly in front of our row.

The bar has a sloping wall of glass that peers into an outdoor courtyard in warmer weather. We parked ourselves on two bar stools and ordered drinks and calamari. The menu is pretty pricey, so we walked away with a pretty hefty bill given our light order. But the scene was cool and it was new to us, so we'll be back to try the dinner menu.

Note to self - they put that pretty baby grand to use each Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.

Spring Fling in Annapolis

My mom, dad, and sister came to Baltimore today to join me for Annapolis' Spring Fling off of State Circle. It was pretty steamy today, so we opted for a 90-minute cruise on a double-decker boat up the Severn River so that we could be outside with a constant breeze from the water.

The $20 boat ride came with food and drink bar on the first floor and then an audio tour of the scenery up the Severn River. Our family had been chatting with Captain Dean Scarborough before we left shore, and it came up that I work in PR. Guess he spotted my natural gift for bullshitting, so when the audio cd petered out on us 10 minutes into the tour, he asked if I'd be up for reading the script for the rest of the cruise. He promised me a beer for my troubles.

You mean I get to be a ham AND get free drinks? Where do I sign?

Long story short, I became an unofficial member of the Annapolitan II and taught the guests and myself about neighborhoods like Sherwood Forest with its mandatory green or brown painted houses and Epping Forest with its sprawling mansions built on a former golf course. Those homes along the river are just incredible. Everyone was out on their boats today, and the whole scene was bliss.

Once back on land, the four of us (Joe was on call) inquired about the wait time at Pusser's - an Annapolis "must" on nice days. Three to four HOURS for an outdoor table. Riiiiight. So on to Buddy's Crabs and Ribs, which was fine.

My girlfriend Kelly and hubby Devin met up with us downtown, and it wasn't until then that we realized we weren't close to the actual Spring Fling event at all. Whoopsie. So we strolled a few blocks over and found tented vendors, live music and foodies. A precious new street in Annapolis that I'd never been down!

After we parted ways with them, we took a stroll to "the Yard," the Naval Academy campus. My goodness, is that place gorgeous. Especially on a spring day today when the green grass and flowering trees were the only color against the otherwise gray stone buildings. We walked down the row with captain homes and turned right towards the domed chapel, which dad had been eyeing since our cruise earlier. The chapel doors were locked, but we got a narrow peek inside. Enormous and beautiful.

The whole day was wonderful, and Annapolis was buzzing with energy and people eager to break in their new shorts and sandals. My feet are aching from all the walking, but every step was worth it.

Paolo's at Reston Town Center

Friday night we had dinner with my best friend Ashley and her boyfriend, Frank. It was the first day of what was to be a gorgeous weekend, so our only recruitment was that they find a place outside for us to eat. So we met at Paolo's in Reston, which has lots of outdoor tables that were in direct sunlight.

I felt bad for our servers who all seemed to be getting reaccustomed to outdoor service as they dodged trees and each other to maneuver between the close tables. I had this great martini called Damn The Weather, and Joe and I shared the calamari, tortellin rose appetizer, caprese salad and cucumber carpaccio.

The cucumber carpaccio was screaming summertime to me, so I had to have it. It was so light and fresh. A layer of shaved cucumber was stacked with fennel, oranges, radishes, leeks and ricotta cheese with olive oil. I'm keeping this in mind for my summer recipe interpretations.

The Town Center has completely exploded recently with new, hopping restaurants and a new wine bar that we tried to weasel our way into. They stuck to their guns and told us to come back next week when they open. The Tasting Room looks like an awesome, chic bar with what are sure to be a wide selection of wines for every price range and taste. It will fill up fast, so we'll see how desperate I am to elbow my way to the front of a crowded bar.