Turnip fries

Now that fall is officially here, roots and tubers are turning up everywhere at markets. I HAD to find something to do with turnips. No one ever uses them, but they're a vegetable, so how bad can they be?

Try this for a quick, healthy finger food:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil
• Peel turnips and slice like French fries
• Toss in a large bowl with olive oil
• Put fries in a one-gallon freezer Ziploc and generously sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and dill (salt to your liking)
• Bake for 20-30 minutes until crispy

WARNING! These turnip fries are addicting, so they're best shared with friends.

Or maybe I'll make some tonight as I indulge in my just-purchased Sex and the City movie...

Love was in the air

Saturday my best friend surprised her parents with a 30th anniversary party and recommitment ceremony, so I went home to Virginia to help out. I was a little nervous about how they were going to react to the surprise nuptials, but everything turned out beautifully in the end. I'd never witnessed a vow renewal ceremony, and I was very touched by the celebration of two people who have actively lived their marital vows for 30 years. This wasn't doe-eyed romance - this was the product of for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, two kids and everything else in between. Very inspirational.

Saturday night I trained up to NYC for a Sunday wedding in Westchester, about an hour north of the city. Our Baltimore friends tied the knot at a gorgeous (albeit HOT) ceremony at a Japanese garden that you'd never know was there. The entire wedding was themed Asian with Chinese lanterns, a themed cake and bamboo everywhere.

These two are big foodies, too, and we knew they'd put a lot of thought into their wedding menu. Everything was delicious and chosen with such care, including a wide array of vegetarian options (!), but our favorite passed hors d'oeuvres were the zucchini patties with dill and the artichoke bruschetta. Dinner was stations of Caesar and Asian salads, pesto or butternut squash pasta, and steamed vegetables, potatoes and salmon, I believe. (Correct me if I'm wrong, lovebirds!)

But the star of the afternoon, after the bride of course, was the cake. Their good friend is a reknowned cake designer and created the most beautiful cake I've ever seen or, more importantly, tasted. The cake was decorated to look like a purple kimono to fit with the Asian theme. I had the raspberry creme layer, and it was heavenly. Apparently there was a chocolate peanut butter layer, too, and possibly others.

After the wedding, Joe and I headed back to NYC and had dinner at a Thai-French fusion restaurant in Hell's Kitchen. The sheer selection of restaurants in New York is enough to make you want to pack up and relocate on the spot. But we didn't. Back to Baltimore we went.

Home cooking

Finally got to be home all night and just unwind and cook. I found an entire bin in the fridge FULL of tomatoes. Again. And they needed to be used. So I made homemade marinara with eggplant, scallions and garlic. It was just ok.

Something I enjoyed more was taking baked sweet potatoes, mashing them and topping them with chopped peaches and tomatoes. Delicious! The warm mash with the cold, sweet fruit was just what I needed.

Joe also sauteed onion layers in balsamic vinaigrette and Herbs de Provence. Great for nibbling while you're stirring an endless pot of tomatoes :)

We made do with the random produce left in the fridge. We were totally out of olive oil, and I felt paralyzed! I had no idea how much we relied on olive oil to sauteed stuff or thin it out. Never again! I'm going to the store tonight!

New fall menu at Wine Market

Got together with a few girlfriends last night at Lime, the tequila bar on Fort Ave. Unlike my friend who drinks tequila like water, I'm not a fan. Tuesdays are 2-for-1 night on all drinks, if anyone's interested. They had one Chardonnay, which worked for me.

Joe met us at the bar later in the evening, and he and I headed down the block to the Wine Market. For once, we weren't at the Wine Market on a Monday night!

We immediately noticed a menu overhaul - much more fall-ish recipes. For example, I had a cup of the sweet potato and apple bisque. It was deliciously simple, and I immediately starting thinking about how we could re-create this at home. I had the vegetarian special, which was spaetzle with spinach and melted goat cheese. Good, but nothing to write home about. Joe got the mushroom omelette with truffle oil, which smelled almost as good as it tasted. Truffle oil on anything is guaranteed to be fantastic.

We ordered the monthly flight of wines, three 3-oz glasses for $11.75. The featured flight was Rhone Reds, a blend of Syrahs, Grenaches and Mourvedres. Very good, but overall a little peppery for my tastes. The flights are a great deal if you want to try multiple wines.

The Wine Market menu hasn't been updated on the website yet, but I'm looking forward to working with a new selection on our next undoubtedly Monday night visit.

Bicycle and a farewell

For the second time this week, we got together with our Italian stallion friend (ha!) and his lovely wife to say bon voyage to a UMMS attending who's leaving for a new hospital. After being little Betty Crocker inside all day, I was ready to do something civilized.

The five of us met at the Bicycle and were, I'm sure, the bain of our server's existence for the night. We were THAT table that, no matter how many times she came to take our order we were never ready, we returned the first bottle of wine because it wasn't what we thought, we never shut up long enough for her to offer us fresh pepper, and so on. However, I have no doubt her tip was good.

I got the chilled melon soup to start, and Joe got the sashimi tuna and avocado tartare. I know better than this! I should have gotten that too. It's the most incredible thing on the menu, hands down. We both got salads as our entrees, and before we knew it, two bottles of wine were down the hatch between the five of us.

Two things the Bicycle doesn't have: 1) mixed drinks and 2) espresso. For our Mexican friend, these were both travesties.

So dessert and coffee moved to our friends' house two blocks away. After two mottled attempts, we gave up on the vintage espresso machine and settled for multiple cups of coffee. Our friend opened this beautiful bottle of 10-year old Portugese Port. Very smooth.

Bonus! They had ripe figs growing on a tree in the back yard, so we did a little picking and had fresh figs and Port for dessert. That was my first fresh fig experience. What a gorgeous fruit - green on the outside and fleshy pink on the inside. Of course the Italian would have a fig tree in Baltimore. It's all or nothing, baby.

Stocking up for winter

The Ravens traffic around our house today reminded me that I'm not going to be able to enjoy fresh summer produce much longer. We hit the market this morning, and I came home with a plan to start preserving stuff to freeze.

After much Googling, I learned you apparently can't just throw stuff in the freezer and expect it to come out tasting good in December. That worked for the mint leaves, but not the corn or peaches.

If anyone's interested in a little summer preservation, PickYourOwn.org is a great site that gives directions for how to freeze pretty much any type of produce.

We also bought our first Canary (aka, Juan Canary) melon today. The bold yellow color was too appealing to walk away from. According to the farmer I spoke with, this melon is almost a hybrid between a cantaloupe and a honeydew melon. I wasn't able to find too many recipes for using it, but fresh chunks are always a winner (maybe with a touch of cinnamon on top), or chilled soup.

Red Canoe - coffee and books in Lauraville

I've been reading a ton about restaurants popping up in the Hamilton/Lauraville neighborhoods, but I had no idea where they were. So this morning, after referencing the September issue of Baltimore magazine, I jotted down directions to Clementine, and we hit the road seeking breakfast.

Long story short, I got distracted from my end goal when I saw Chameleon Cafe (another new restaurant I've heard tons about), so I parked and got out, only to find that they're closed on Sundays. Whoops. Fortunately, a bookstore and coffee shop called Red Canoe was next door and looked inviting.

Great find! The interior is super cozy, just like you'd imagine a bookstore and cafe to be. We decided to stay once we saw they had 1) breakfast burritos and 2) outdoor seating on a back deck. We pretty much had the back yard to ourselves, and we were happy to enjoy our accidental find. I would highly recommend the breakfast burrito with basil pesto. It gave a new flavor to a regular menu item.

I never did find Clementine, or Hamilton Tavern for that matter. But Red Canoe is worth a try. As we ordered, I could hear kids upstairs rehearsing music, and later a little ballerina came in for classes. Someone's making good use of all the floors of this rowhome.