Memorial Day Weekend 2008 -- Diagnosis: Fun!

by Xani and Erin

We hope all you readers out there enjoyed the long holiday weekend and the exceptional weather (at least here on the East Coast)! We certainly took advantage, and it all started with...

Pitango! Our loyal readers probably remember other posts about Pitango, the absolute best place for frozen treats anywhere in Bmore! It was the perfect treat to spend an hour on Friday afternoon to kick off the holiday weekend.
Xani got the strawberry sorbet and the mojito sorbet; EP got the coffee gelato and chocolate gelato. All were incredible, but the strawberry sorbet was especially amazing and a flavor we hadn't yet tried!

A few hours later, EP picked up her very special visitor for the weekend: Dr. Lee, a good friend from college who was very excited to experience all that Baltimore has to offer. (Phrase of the weekend: "Hell of a town!" [with fist pump]) We tried our hardest to ensure we crammed as many fun Bmore/Maryland activities into the weekend, and as you'll see, we think we did a damn good job.

We started with dinner at SoBo Cafe, a local fave, followed by dessert at Dangerously Delicious. Here we got to try a brand new flavor of pie they have created: The Baltimore Bomb, which is a pie that has Berger cookies inside of it. For non-Bmore folks, this may not mean much to you, but for anyone from the area, you should understand immediately that this is GENIUS. Dr. Lee, a big fan of The Wire, was hoping the evening would include a run by some of our famed "corners," but we decided to just eat some pie and call it a night.

The next morning Lee and Erin did a long walking tour of several areas of the city around the Inner Harbor, starting with Federal Hill, then going through the Harbor, then into Harbor East, and finally to Fells Point. Why did they stop in Fells? For more Pitango, of course! EP noticed that the flavors were different from the day before: no Coffee gelato this time, but they had Dark Chocolate gelato, which was amazing. (I suppose they don't expect people to stop in every day and notice the changes...ah well.)

Later that evening, we stopped for a quick drink or three at Little Havana before our dinner reservation. We sat on the patio and enjoyed sangria and mojitos in the sunshine.

Who needs a glass?

EP and the Good Dr.

Cheers!

Then it was off to Nick's Fish House for the highlight of the evening-- CRABS!! We gathered a crowd of friends, several of whom had never tried MD steamed crabs before ("crab virgins," as we called them), and threw back a couple dozen of the suckers, along with fries, onion rings, and, of course, beers!

Baltimore's Finest

EP & Lee

Alex & Rachel

Melanie & Katie

Lee and Liz-- it's their first time!

Kim and Xani- we're pros at this

Before

After!

All the "crab virgins" were really great sports and at least one (the fearless Dr. Lee!) was dismantling them like a pro by the end of the meal-- his medical training clearly came in handy.

After dinner the three of us headed up to the Brewer's Art in Mt. Vernon to let Lee taste some of Baltimore's best beers. Their seasonal Charm City Sour Cherry was on tap and was extra delicious. And, because crabs are more of an activity than a filling meal, we also got an order of their fantastic fries! On the cab ride home, we serenaded our driver with a stirring rendition of "Show Me the Way to Go Home" a la Jaws. We're sure he was moved.

The next morning we were up bright and early to meet the BCD parents for a drive out to Blackacre, their nearly completed new home in Taylor's Island, MD (about 20 minutes from Cambridge). We piled into the car and a quick two hours later, we were running through the house and squealing like idiots. The house is awesome, especially the kitchen (which we've tentatively nicknamed "Kitchen Stadium")! I can't even imagine what Sunday Dinners will be like once we're cooking with this stuff:

That's a lot of fridge!

Straight out of my dreams

With all the running around and squealing, we really worked up an appetite. So it was off to Portside, about 15 minutes away from Blackacre. We started the meal with their famous cream of crab soup and a special for the day, steamed soft shell clams. Also known as "pissers" or "piss clams" (not an appetizing nickname) these are OMG good. Simply steamed with a little Old Bay, you crack them open, dip them in melted butter and wolf them down. Good stuff. BCD Dad reports that these are available live at a local fish place, so you can bet we will soon be steaming our own! (Also, soft shell clams are what we used during this meal, when we fried them).

After a race back to Baltimore to make sure Lee got to his train on time (Bye Lee, we miss you! Come back and visit again soooon!), we rounded out the weekend with outdoors meals, BBQs and lounging poolside. What a way to kick off the summer! We hope everyone had a great weekend!

Happy Memorial Day!

X & EP