Restaurant Week....A trip to Blue Hill Tavern.

January 21st kicked off the first day of restaurant week for winter 2011 in Baltimore. We usually try to go to one place that we have never been before. Last night we went to Blue Hill Tavern in Brewers Hill. It was myself, Ron and my mom. My mom has been a few times with her job since they have had their office Christmas party there the last 2 years. I digress, the atmosphere made me feel like I was somewhere other than Baltimore. The decor was very casual but yet contemporary. So let's get to what this post is really about, the food. If you are a foodie I would recommend giving Blue Hill a try.

For the appetizer/salad course my mom had the Pork Belly which comes with braised granny smith apples, onion, and spiced anjou pear sauce. I tasted this divine piece of pork and it was beyond delicious.

Ron and I both had caesar salads. I know what you're thinking. Please don't judge us :)

Next came dinner. My mom had the Black Cod which was a 7oz Miso glazed filet of black cod with shrimp and spicy soy soba noodle stir-fry. The cod was very tender and had great flavor. I didn't taste the noodles but my mom said they were definitely spicy.

I had Shrimp and Grits :) This meal is described as stone ground grits, andouille, soffritto, shrimp ettoufee. It was absolutely one of the best meals I have eaten in a while. I could probably eat this meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Ron went a little traditional but with a classy flair and had the Tavern Burger. This burger is Kobe beef, brioche, aged cheddar, fried onion and spicy ketchup goodness. He added bacon to really complete the flavor profile.

Usually I am not a dessert person but since we were at a new place I figured, why not end on a good note. My mom and Ron both had the same thing, Chocolate Silken Pie which is Oreo crust with, decadent silken chocolate topped with vanilla chantilly. It taste as good as it looks. Ron was in a chocolate coma when we left.

I went with the Candy Bar, which has a pretzel cookie crust, peanut butter mousse, caramel, chocolate ganache and vanilla ice cream. It was the perfect pairing of salty and sweet. One of my favorite parts of the dessert was the dollop of marshmallow fluff on the plate as well.

Overall the food had great flavors and I would definitely go back to explore other items on the menu. I felt they were a bit pricey for the portion size(disclaimer: we didn't do the rw prefix menu). Our meal for 3 ran about $160 with tip and there was 1 cocktail which is not pictured. I think if you are up to try something from the new American cuisine than Blue Hill Tavern is where you want to go. Oh I almost forgot, they have complimentary valet which was nice since it was so frigid last night.

Another adventure in the kitchen.

I love, love, love to cook and bake so you should look forward to many post about new recipes I have discovered. I follow a few food blogs and one of my favorite blogs is The Pioneer Woman's blog. I highly recommend her blog and her cookbook.

So this past weekend I tried pioneer woman's recipe for chicken tortilla soup. I have only ever made Rachel Ray's recipe before so I was curious to see how pw's compared. Overall the flavor was pretty good. Ron said "It's no Qdoba but it's alright". My only complaint was the time it took to cook. Once everything is in the pot and simmering it was over an hour before we could dig in. Here is the recipe http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/chicken-tortilla-soup/. Here are a few pics for your visual pleasure....YUMMMMMMMMM

NFL pLayoffs week 2

So we all know that last week the Ravens went in to Kansas City and destroyed the Chiefs. Which means on the 15th they will be meeting up with the Steelers in Pittsburgh for the 3rd time this season.

The Ravens and Steelers rivalry is one of the best in the AFC if not the entire NFL. Both teams are about making a statement and playing smash mouth football for 60 minutes. The games are the type that have fans from both cities on the edge of their seats the entire time. Even though the players from both teams strongly dislike the other, there is still a shared respect for the way they each play the game. It's kind of like everyone in Baltimore hates Hines Ward but if he were a Raven we would love him.

I am completely and utterly nervous for Saturday at 4:30pm to get here. I have faith in my Ravens that they can pull out the win but we have to execute a next to flawless game. I am going to need Joe to keep our offense in the game like he did for the second half of the game with the Chiefs. The defense will have to shutdown Big Ben and the Steeler offense early or as I would like to say " steal their mojo " and get the crowd out of the game.

I can't post this without bringing up one of my favorite Ravens, Ed Reed. If you saw the video of Ed getting the game ball last week then you know he is playing this game for his brother Brian. With all he had on his plate this past weekend he came out and played one of his best games ever, just ask Mc Cluster. I take my hat off to Ed for playing last Sunday and coming back to Baltimore today for meetings and practice. Pittsburgh better watch out for the ball hawk because Ed Reed has a heavy heart and something to play for besides trying to get to the AFC championship and/or Super Bowl.

"What time is it ?".......GAME TIME!

My new hobby.

I know what you're thinking. What is Tia going to get into now ? Well I tried knitting a few years back and have only had the attention span to be able to create scarves so that went out the door pretty quick. Well folks my new hobby is photography.

I have always enjoyed just plain old pictures but as I have grown up many aspects of photography have caught my interest. I enjoy seeing how a photographer can capture a moment, a feeling or even just a simple smile in just a flash so to speak. 

Shortly after I quit my 2nd part-time job I decided I needed something to put some time into. I told Ron about my idea of photography and of course he was completely supportive. I have been reading a few photography blogs, doing research on dslr's( digital single-lens reflex cameras) and trying to gain some technique with our current point and shoot digital camera(Sony Cyber-shot 12.1 mega pixels). Ron bought me a really great book for Christmas called Better Photo Basics: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Taking Photos Like the Pro's. I love the way the author makes everything very simple for those of us with zero experience outside of taking lots of pictures at the bar :).

The other night I was playing around with the macro setting and taking pictures of my jewelry. I have to say I was pretty pleased. As time goes on I will share some of my photos with you all. Heck I might even be asking you to be my subject for a few shots!

I finally took the leap.

I had been thinking of starting a blog for a while now. After much thought and consideration I finally did it.  There is no true theme to the blog so you will see post that range from current events, cooking/baking, sports ( probably influenced by Ron) and just about anything that will be worth sharing with you.