Sunday SUPER Funday

Even though my New Years wasn't super exciting, Sunday definitely made up for it. A very close family friend has a friend who knows Bryan Voltaggio (aka the older brother and second place winner of Top Chef) and got a reservation at Bryan's restaurant Volt. Volt is actually only about 20-30 minutes from where my parents live and since everyone in my family loves Top Chef our friends invited us to go with them. Apparently because of the show it is pretty hard to get reservations lately so we were very lucky. We opted to go for brunch since it is expensive and the brunch is very reasonable ($25 for 3 courses.)

We had a large group (12 people) so we sat in this super cute private dining room. The restaurant is in an old mansion and has very chic antique meets modern decor. As soon as we sat down we saw Bryan walk by and then he was outside messing with a hose in the "yard." Of course we were all acting like idiots, giggling every time we saw him so he probably thought we were insane. He seems like a shy guy (like he did on Top Chef.) He was also a lot shorter in "real life."

The food was AMAZING. The cocktails were AMAZING. The service was AMAZING. Seriously, it's probably my new favorite restaurant.

When we were done eating my mom's friend asked if Bryan wouldn't mind coming in and saying hi, so our waiter went to check and told us all to come back for a little tour. Bryan was in the kitchen making rolls and let us get a picture of the kitchen, we asked if he wanted to get in it and he seems surprised. Definitely shy but very nice...I told him we were all big Top Chef fans because I couldn't think of anything else to say!

Anyways, here are some pictures...

So this is the first time I posting pics of family/friends but I figured what the hell.

From left to right we have my sister, my mom, sister's boyfriend (R), me, my brother, my mom's friend who came instead of my dad (he had to go to a wake), K, the family who got the reservation (their kids and daughters boyfriend) and B.Volt (my new nickname for him since we are BFFs)

B.Volt making something


The kitchen as seen from the chef's dining room

My first course, goat cheese ravioli in a brown butter sauce with mushrooms and butternut squash. So yummy!

Later that evening K and I went to see "Avatar" in 3-d, which was a very cool movie. In terms of plot it is basically "Dances with Wolves" meets "Fern Gully" meets "Pocahontas" but still worth seeing. It's very exciting and visually stunning. Waaaay better then "Sherlock Holmes!"

Carbs, Glorious Carbs

The past few weeks I have not been as good with eating low carb; I haven't been losing any weight but then again I haven't been gaining either. After I get back from the beach I plan on getting back on the wagon. That being said...I may have gained weight after my dinner last night.

One of my favorite things in Baltimore is Restaurant Week and K and I try to pick a new place to try every time it rolls around. Last night we asked my parents to come with us to Saute since they had never experienced the joy of Restaurant Week.

How it works is you pay $30.09 (and at Saute for $45 you got wine pairings with each course which we totally did) and then get an appetizer, dinner and desert.

Personally, I think my choices were the best...I had these amazing mussels with fries for the appetizer. Don't know if the fries were needed but they were delicious. Then spicy sausage pasta, and finally chocolate covered strawberries. Yum. I haven't eaten pasta in forever and it was soooo good, but I don't typically eat fries, pasta and bread (they had excellent olive bread) all in one meal!

Most cities seem to have Restaurant Weeks so if you haven't already...check it out!

Answers to your questions: Baltimore Edition

Here's another question/blog post idea I got from MMC at Black Labs and Lilly, she said: I would love to hear about your favorite things to do in Baltimore! I think it is such a cool city!

Baltimore is definitely a cool city and there are a ton of interesting things to do and see. However, when I was younger I really didn't spend much time there. My parents live in a very suburban area which is sort of a bubble and you really don't need to leave. Plus since neither of them are originally from MD they don't really know a ton about cool places in Baltimore and thus never took us kids to them (excluding the tourist-y type places everyone has to go to.)

Since being back here after I graduated from college and now that I don't live in the same bubble as my parents (I live in the less nice bubble next door and someday hope to migrate back to the nice bubble) I have tried to spend more time in Baltimore.

If you visit Baltimore, you definitely have to go to the Inner Harbor and the National Aquarium. But Fells Point and Canton are fun neighborhoods with lots of cute restaurants and bars and totally worth checking out. Make sure you know where you are going because Baltimore, while I really don't think it is as violent as some people say, definitely has some rough areas. Yes, all cities have rough areas, the thing about Baltimore is that the rough areas can be only a street over from the good areas...with no transition type areas.

Personally what brings me downtown the most is food; there are some awesome restaurants in Baltimore and there are two Restaurant Weeks each year which has let me and K try some fancy places we wouldn't go normally.

Pretty much anywhere in Little Italy is good but I really like Caesar's Den which is really close to the Inner Harbor. Nacho Mama's in Canton has amazing quesadillas and margaritas that come in a hubcab. We also like James Joyce, which is also close to the Inner Harbor. I haven't been to Fells Point a ton but Ryleigh's Oyster is really good.

K goes to school in Mt. Vernon which is a very neat, historical neighborhood and also has some more high end restaurants. Ixia is awesome, and has a very chic atmosphere.

So there is a little summary on my Baltimore experience so far...and now I need a snack. Hope that somewhat answers the question! Since I am trying to go more I will try to blog about other interesting things I do in Baltimore!

[Baltimore skyline pic found here]

Fogo de-licious

To celebrate the end of K's first year of law school we went to Fogo de Chao last night, well actually we went at 4:30 for more of a linner (lunch/dinner) since we knew it was going to be a huge meal...of meat. It was really good, and not just all the meat, I definitely fell into their trap of going to the amazing salad bar as well as eating the side dishes and these little cheesy bread ball things. We also had an excellent bottle of Estancia Meritage. Fogo is pretty expensive and not really a restaurant you would want to go to all time, but great for special occasions!

We ended the evening with a walk around the Inner Harbor and margaritas outside at Mex.
The weather has been amazing this weekend!

Today I am working on cleaning, so far I have cleaned out the fridge and the pantry and am working on the apartment. I can't get motivated to take on my closet so that will probably be postponed until a time when the mood strikes me.

Hope you all are having lovely weekends!