A Holiday Lunch at Family Meal: Bryan Voltaggio's Retro Casual Eatery

My favorite thing about the holiday season is the way I let myself relax and slow down. I realize this goes against the conventional wisdom: for many, this is a frantic time of year. Too many parties to attend, last-minute gifts to buy, family obligations that must be met, and so on.

But I don't really go in for all of that mania. For the last week or so of each year, I unwind. I only make engagements that I want to keep. I take deep breaths. I cook what I want, when I want. I take long walks with my dog. I enjoy some alone time. And if I'm very lucky, I get to go out for a rare weekday lunch with Poppa Trix.

Take Me Out To (Eat At) the Ballgame

The awesomeness that is bacon on a stick

The last place anyone would probably expect to find me is in a place where sports - particularly team sports - are played. I simply cannot get excited about cheering for a bunch of guys just because they happen to be wearing the right uniform.

That said, I will go just about anywhere to have a food adventure. And so when I was invited to take part in the Foodie Tour at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, I put all my sports ennui aside and threw myself into the spirit of the thing.

A South African Wine Journey: Five Course Pairing Dinner at the Explorer's Lounge at the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court

When you write about food for a living, many of the tastings and multi-course pairing dinners and cocktails and nibbles - even the best ones -  eventually blend into one another. The nuances and intensity of the flavors gradually fade from sense memory.

I love the rare exceptions to this phenomenon.

As Poppa Trix (who took all of these lovely shots) and I ate and drank our way through a recent five-course wine pairing dinner at the Explorer's Lounge at the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court in Baltimore, I knew that this was one of those special meals that would stick with me for a very long time.

To Poland, Mexico, & Austria ... in Just Two Days: Getting International at the Summer Fancy Foods Show

Meat!!!

As soon as you're granted press credentials for the Fancy Food Show, the offers start rolling in: Come visit booth X! Please make sure to sample [insert cracker company here] when you are at the show! Whatever you do, don't miss the [newest, hottest, trendiest] chocolate innovation! And then there are the invitations to the after show events: dinners, cocktail parties, tastings. It's a bit overwhelming.

I am not complaining, mind you, but there is a strategy to the whole thing. You don't want to say "yes" too soon, because what if something better comes along and you're already committed to something else? I know - such problems to have. Fortunately, my decision this year was pretty easy: I was invited to events pertinent to three countries I have recently visited, and loved: Poland, Mexico, and Austria. Done, done, and done.

Rare Tea Republic Tea Tasting at the Summer Fancy Food Show

I know the usual protocol after not posting on one's blog for a couple of weeks is to apologize profusely, make obsequious pronouncements as to one's unworthiness, and swear to never, ever stay away so long again. Well, the truth is: 1.) I am not so egotistical as to suppose that you have been pining away for me, 2.) I can't promise never to do it again, and 3.) I am not sorry.

Don't take that the wrong way - I have simply been having too much fun to feel regret. Case in point: The Summer Fancy Foods Show in DC. Unlike the previous year, when I went solo, this year Poppa Trix got press credentials and came along as my photographer (so all of the photos you see are his). As for me, I was in journalist mode - taking notes and eating lots of goodies. For research, you understand

Hansik: A Korean Pop Up Restaurant Experience with Chef Akira Back at the Summer Fancy Food Show, My Two-Year Blogoversary, & a Giveaway

Above: Me, chilling in the kitchen space of Hansik with Chef Akira Back (far right)and his staff

Below: A Korean treat wonderland in the Korea Pavilion

I am, at long last, back from my self-imposed two week blogging respite/hiatus ... and I come bearing gifts! There, that got your attention. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Now, I certainly wouldn't want to bore you with every last excruciating detail of the past two weeks, so I'll skip to the good stuff: I went as a member of the press (both as a food journalist and as a blogger ... so many personas, so little time) to the Summer Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., where I was faced with a dizzying array of foods from 2,400 exhibitors hailing from 80-plus countries. And I had to try to taste it all! The horror.

Grace Garden: Chinese Cuisine Prepared by a Master Chef

You may have noticed that we take birthdays pretty seriously around Casa de Trix. Remember how I recreated a Viennese heuriger feast for Poppa Trix, complete with  gnocchi baked in pumpkin cream and liptauer cheese? And made him a boatload of red velvet cupcakes?  Well, that was just on his actual birthday. The night before, for a surprise, I took him to Grace Garden, a place we had both been wanting to try for some time..

Going into it, I knew this would not be a typical romantic birthday meal.  It's located in a run down strip of storefronts in a pretty rough D.C. suburb. (In fact, we later found out that the same night we were there,  a pizza delivery driver was shot nearby - a fairly common occurrence. Gulp.) At first glance, Grace Garden looks like just another crappy Americanized Chinese takeout. But have a closer look, and you'll notice something a little different: Hanging on the walls of this Zagat-rated hole-in-the-wall are well-deserved awards, newspaper and magazine articles, and glowing reviews. And yet hardly anyone around here seems to know about the place. But now you will - and if you are ever in the area, you must, must, must check this place out.

Knives Down, Hands Up: I Judge an Iron Chef-Style Competition at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in D.C.

Secret Ingredients ...

Lightning fast prep work ...

Judging hijinks ... (from left: Josh Gibson, me, and Oren Molovinsky)

Anyone who has ever fantasized about trading places with Padma Lakshmi (guilty) or Tom Colicchio will understand how excited I was when I was invited to be a judge at a live chef-to-chef competition at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian's Living Earth Festival.  My excitement, I must confess, was tempered with a touch of tummy rumbling nervousness, as speaking in front of people is far from my favorite thing to do.  You see, just a couple of weeks prior to the Smithsonian competition,  I  sat in as a judge for another food competition in Baltimore for an Urbanite article, and I was a bit unnerved to have to speak into a microphone and make pronouncements about the dishes - right in front of the chefs.  Gulp.

Wedding Anniversary Dinner, Two Ways ... The First Way: Dinner Out at Zaytinya in DC

 

Ah, the view from the top ...

Poppa Trix and I love surprises, especially food-related ones.  So what better way to celebrate our  2nd anniversary than by taking turns surprising one another?  And Poppa came up with the perfect one for me: He took me to Zaytinya in Washington, DC, where Mike Isabella from last season's Top Chef cooks up some seriously good food. The specialty here is inventive Greek, Turkish, and Lebanese small plates, with a particularly strong selection of seafood dishes.

For Top Chef Fans: My Late December Lunch at Volt

Happy belated New Year everyone! (Did you miss me?)

Welcome to my first post since the 12 Days of Feasting ended two weeks ago.  Honestly, I think it's taken me this long to recover from posting every day, not to mention cooking (and eating!) all those medieval meals. ...  Let's just say I still have a lot of bread pudding, slices of Ember Day tart, and egg nog to work off.

For those of you following along at home, in my last post I promised to share the deets of my  late December lunch at Volt.  Top Chef fans will recognize Volt as the restaurant of finalist and first runner-up Bryan Voltaggio,  brother of winner Michael Voltaggio. If you don't watch the show, there's a good chance you've never heard of the place, unless you happen to live in Frederick or the Baltimore/DC metro area. That's too bad: The vibe at Volt is definitely more urban than the Western Maryland location would lead you to expect, and I'd happily drive double the hour-plus it takes me to get there to enjoy both the (mostly) spot-on food and the impeccable, knowledgeable service.