Black Coffee and a Soda??

by Xani

Let me begin by saying I have NOT received any money, products, services, or get-out-of-jail-free cards to endorse this product. I am endorsing it solely because I LOVE it, it is wonderful, economical, and earth-friendly, and I want all of you to buy one, too!

So, what am I talking about? What product could make me rave like more of a lunatic (and use more exclamation points) than usual? A little something called the Sodastream home soda maker!

"Home soda maker?" you ask, "how is that possible??" Well, let me give you a little info right from their website:

Making carbonated water and soft drinks is simple! Turn tap water into sparkling water in under 30 seconds, with no clean-up. Enjoy the freshness and convenience of homemade soda and protect the environment at the same time. No heavy bottles to carry, store at home or throw away. Fizz to your taste and add the flavor of your choice to make your favorite drink. Simple to clean and reuse. With a variety of colors and silhouettes, you'll be sure to find a soda maker to match with any decor.

Sounds pretty amazing, right? IT IS. I learned about this product from NYC-based buddy and guest-blogger Lauren, who's been a Sodastream aficionado for a few months now. As soon as I got home from our last trip to NYC, I ordered one of my own! I usually drink club soda (seltzer water) at home, and for a while now I've been frustrated that something that is literally just water plus bubbles costs so much, must be hauled home from the store, and creates so much waste. So Sodastream was the answer to my problems! As soon as it arrived I unpacked, assembled (super-easy) and started making my own seltzer, diet and regular sodas, from plain old tap water.

Perks of the Sodastream:
Value: Each liter of soda costs only about $.25 (try finding a deal like that at the grocery store). The initial cost for the machine/starter kit is very low, too. For about $90 you get the machine, 2 1-liter reusable bottles, 1 carbonator cartridge (makes 60 liters of soda), 2 bottles of SodaMix flavors (each makes 12 liters of soda), AND a sampler pack of 12 SodaMix flavors!
Convenience: Soda at your fingertips! No more buying, storing, lugging, running out, and disposing of bottles/cans. Plus, you can make any flavor you want at the touch of a button. Have a craving for cola and your partner wants diet? Make both! Empty carbonator cartridges can be left at your door and will be exchanged (milk man-style) for full ones (or they can be exchanged at local vendors such as Williams-Sonoma and Macy's).
Environmentally Friendly: Check out what SodaStream has to say about how their product can reduce your carbon footprint and save the world! (OK, maybe not, but its so much more than just less bottle to recycle.)
Fun, Easy, Delicious, Customizable: Sodastream is easy and quick to use, uses no electricity or batteries, and takes up very little room on the counter. It allows you to customize the bubbliness of your water/soda-- cool, right? They have a huge range of regular and diet flavors- diet flavors are sweetened with Splenda, not aspartame, and regular flavors contain no high-fructose corn syrup. They have over 30 flavors and I've tasted about 10 from my flavor sampler. While everyone has their personal preference, I'm partial to the Diet Pink Grapefruit (compares to Fresca).

Bubbles!

Soda water and Root Beer

What more can I say about this wonderful product? I'm thrilled with my purchase! I'm spreading the gospel of Sodastream and I urge you to join me! Can I get a witness! Testify!

OK, I'll stop now. But I'll answer questions in the comments, if anyone is looking for more info.

Happy soda-making,

X

Coffee-- it's kind of our thing

by Xani and Erin

Coffee is clearly essential to BCD-- it's half our name! We have a couple coffee-related items to share with you this week, whether you're in the Baltimore area, or anywhere else!

First off, Kahve Koffee, Boston-based coffee company, contacted us recently and offered to let us taste one of their many varieties of coffees. We selected the Peruvian FT Organic Viennese. They shipped us a bag of beautiful, fragrant beans which we ground up and sampled. Very tasty coffee! Khave has a large variety of coffees (which they roast themselves) and teas (if you are into that kind of thing). We highly recommend you peruse their website if you're looking for something exotic, or just looking for a new source for your everyday cup of coffee. Kahve has also offered us an exclusive blogger coupon code to share with our readers. Use "BLOG15" and save 15% of your entire coffee order!

In addition to having coffee shipped directly to our door, we enjoy venturing out into the world to drink a cup here or there. In our most recent article for the Federal Hill South Free News, we reviewed the local spots in our 'hood. We're reposting here for all you Baltimoreans (and visitors) who might be looking for a cup of joe in South Bmore.


First up, there's Koba Cafe (644 E. Fort Ave), a sunny cafe on Fort Ave and, in our opinion, a hidden gem of our neighborhood. We're always greeted with smiles from the staff and patrons alike, and the coffee is really, really good. It's strong and piping hot, and great when paired with a cranberry-orange muffin or croissant (which they'll heat up for you upon request). One of the best parts of Koba, however, is the upstairs section. While the downstairs is bustling with people grabbing their morning cup o' Joe, the upstairs is a serene living room with couches, chairs, and tables -- and free WiFi! We've spent time there to study, read, blog, or catch up with friends. Also a great place to stop after a morning jog to Fort McHenry. Opens at 6:30am on weekdays, 7:30am on weekends.

Next, there's Metropolitan Coffeehouse & Wine Bar (902 Charles St.). Perhaps best known for its awesome selection of beers and it's open-air bar, it also serves a mean cup of serve-yourself coffee. They also have an extensive menu of hearty breakfast meals when coffee alone just won't cut it. Hit up Metro either on a lazy Saturday or grab a cup of coffee on your way to work, on foot or by car.

Perhaps the most popular coffeeshop in our little 'hood is Spoons Coffee Cafe (24 E. Cross St.), a spacious and always-bustling morning joint amidst all the evening hot spots of Cross Street. The coffee at Spoons is organic and free trade, and they have a bottomless cup for $2.15. Also try their specialty coffee drinks -- one of my favorites is the iced mocha. Spoons lists quite a few breakfast items ranging from a variety of Eggs Benedicts to organic steel-cut oatmeal, but my go-to dish is the Huevos Verdes: eggs any way (I get over-medium) over two crispy, crunchy corn tortillas with black bean chili, monterey jack cheese, salsa verde (of course) and cilantro. But get there early and bring your City Paper - there's often a wait. Open every day at 7:00am.

After our article went to press we were reminded by a FHSFN reader about the delicious and exotic coffee at Baba's Mediterranean Kitchen (745 E. Fort Avenue). It has a hint of cardamom which is really special and different. Absolutely worth a try. Also, their food is fantastic and they have lots of yummy vegetarian options. Go check it out!

Last but not least, there's the classic: Dunkin' Donuts (1100 Light St.). My favorite thing about DD is that they'll fix up your coffee for you, no matter how weird you like it -- cream and 4 splendas? No problem. Black with 2 sugars? You got it. And the best part about DD: the munchkins. How can you resist those little guys??

As the weather becomes warmer, check out these neighborhood places, grab a coffee (maybe iced when it's really hot out), and take a stroll around our beautiful neighborhood. After all that snow, we deserve it!

Happy coffee hunting,
EP & X

Springtime for Rollos: Part 2 (or "Puddin' it be Rice?")

by Erin and Xani

After an outstanding first day in NYC, we had more big plans (eating AND non-eating, if you can believe it) for Day 2. We were going to go for a fancy, multi-course brunch but after all of our great meals the day before, we weren't quite ready for another biggie. I said to Lauren, "Isn't there someplace we can go and have a great cup of coffee and a croissant? Somewhere like Bouchon Bakery [Thomas Keller's famous bakery]?" Lauren, with one eyebrow raised, said "Uh, there is a Bouchon. It's like 5 blocks from here." HUZZAH!! We had our brunch place.

On our way over to the Time Warner Center, we met Eliot, a St. Bernard who lived nearby.

When we arrived at the Time Warner Center we went up to the 4th floor to Bouchon Bakery. In addition to our coffee, we ordered a croissant, a corn muffin, a linzer cookie, and a box of donut holes called "bouchkins"! How cute.



The croissant was light, flaky, and buttery - just what we were craving. The corn muffin was good too - slightly sweet, slightly savory, good texture.

The bouchkins were SO good - half had powdered sugar on the outside, half had cinnamon-sugar. Of course, we love our coffee and donuts!



And the coffee was good and strong. Mmmm.

After breakfast, we headed over towards the Museum of Modern Art to check out the Tim Burton exhibit. On our way, we stopped at Anthropologie and purchased a few goodies! Who can resist that place??

The Tim Burton exhibit was awesome. He had all kinds of pieces from sculpture to paintings on canvas to animated videos, plus there were a lot of pieces from his various movies, including Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks, and Sweenie Todd. It was REALLY crowded since the exhibit was closing the next week, but it was a great exhibit and we were really glad we could go.

Welcome to the Tim Burton exhibit...

After our museum visit, we needed to go back to the hotel to grab our bags, so while in the neighborhood we grabbed a NY slice at Famiglia Pizza. We got a slice of plain, a slice of veggie, and a slice of white pizza - all were good and really hit the spot after fighting through the crowds at the museum.





Excited for veggie pizza?

We then schlepped downtown to go meet Lauren's boyfriend, John, and his peeps at a bar near NYU. But we had one more stop to make before we did that: Rice to Riches. For three girls who really aren't big rice pudding fans, we were THRILLED to be headed to R2R for a sweet treat. Xani originally heard of this place on the relatively new show on Food Network, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." Upon further research, we discovered that this place had approximately 20 flavors of rice pudding, plus about 15 toppings to go on top. Decisions, decisions!





When we arrived at R2R, we first noticed the decor - the place was covered in fantastic sayings and instructions, like "Sleep till you're hungry, eat till you're sleepy," or "Eat Right. Exercise. Die Anyway." or "No Skinny Bitches!" Our kinda place.

We ordered two flavors of rice pudding with two toppings. First we ordered the French Toast flavor of rice pudding with a crumbly, buttery granola topping (this was the suggested flavor-topping combo on the TV show). Second, we made up our own combo and ordered the Mascarpone with Cherries flavor, plus the most genius topping ever: toasted poundcake CROUTONS! What?! Why didn't we think of that??

Mascarpone with Cherries and poundcake croutons

French Toast with Oatmeal Coconut Granola Topping

Both were excellent - sweet, complex flavors, good texture from the rice and the toppings, and everything was served chilled.

Lauren and Xani about to dig in!

So good EP was a'dancin'

Not surprisingly, we preferred our flavor combo to the one we saw on TV...not that we're biased or anything. It was a great treat but it definitely put us in a rice pudding coma for a few hours.

We hung out with Lauren's boyfriend and his friends for a little while, but then headed to Brooklyn to sit quietly and come out of the rice pudding haze. I'll save our amazing Greek dinner in Brooklyn for the next NYC post. Coming soon, I promise!

Happy rice pudding eating,

EP & X

Springtime for Rollos: Part 1

by Erin and Xani

This past weekend, Xani and I finally returned to NYC after a 9-month hiatus (loyal readers will recall our amazing visit last September, featuring visits to Porchetta, Yerba Buena, Prune, Burger Joint, and who could forget, Franny's). We did so much good eating -- the result of literally months of research -- and we can't wait to tell you about it!



Xani and I arrived via Bolt Bus around lunchtime on Friday. Since all of our NYC companions were working or otherwise occupied, Xani and I were on our own. In the big city. With no sense of direction and only our Blackberries to guide us. Scary, huh? We checked into our hotel and hopped into a cab downtown to Momofuku Noodle Bar.



We had read so much about David Chang and his collection of Momofuku restaurants (momofuku means "lucky peach," btw), we were beyond excited to finally get to one. We walked into the bustling restaurant, which had mostly a large bar to sit at, and a few tables for larger parties. We didn't wait more than 5 minutes before two seats at the bar opened up for the BCD girls. We had - in our opinion - the best seats in the house. We were literally 2 feet away from all the cooks in the kitchen and we could see how each dish was assembled and plated: beautifully and with great care.

She's a lucky peach to be sitting so close to the action!

Thank you for making such good food, boys!

We knew we definitely wanted to try the pork bun, a dish Chef Chang is famous for and is served at every one of his restaurants (even the dessert place!). The pork bun had a pillowy soft doughy outside, and inside were two scrumptious pieces of pork belly,* a delicious sauce, and a few pieces of pickled cucumber. We added a bit of the super-spicy hot sauce on the table and VOILA - total foodie nirvana. BEHOLD:

It was the single best bite of the trip. Mmmmm....

Ahem, anyway, we got three other fantastic dishes while at Momofuku. We tried some of the smoked chicken wings, cooked with pickled chili, garlic, and scallions. These were great but you know, the buns are a tough act to follow.



Of course, we had to get noodles at the noodle bar! We got the momofuku ramen with (more) pork belly, pork shoulder, and a poached egg. The noodles were perfectly cooked and the broth was super-rich and flavorful. Both forms of pork were delicious, as usual. It was very comforting and really hit the spot on that cloudy day after a 4-hour bus ride.





We also got the chilled spicy noodles with Sichuan spiced sausage, spinach, and sweet and crunchy cashews. Our waitress warned us that these noodles were spicy. We brushed her warning aside, thinking we didn't need any silly warning, we know what we're doing. Turns out, she was right! The noodles were chilled and chewy, and essentially swimming in a pool of extra-hot sesame oil - woof!! SOOO spicy and yet, so delicious. The noodles came with spicy Sichuan sausage (spicy in a different way), and fresh crisp (cooling) spinach, and sweet crunchy cashews. An amazing combination that left our mouths burning behind our smiles.

Chilled but OH so hot!

We wandered around for a few blocks and stopped in for a little Pinkberry, and then eventually made our way back to the hotel to meet up with bestie (and guest blogger extraordinaire) Lauren. We hit up a crappy Irish pub for a few beers to catch up on all the gossip, and we were sure to check in on Foursquare during this and all other stops throughout the weekend.

We parted ways with Lauren so she could attend the rainy Yankees game, whilst we headed uptown to Five Napkin Burger on the UWS for dinner with more of our favorites! We met up with cousins Ann, Steven, and (honorary) cousin Brian, plus Melody and Dr. Lee! What a crowd. We had to wait for quite a bit in the very busy restaurant (which recently won Best New Burger according to Time Out New York), but finally we were seated.

To start we ordered some mac n' cheese and some pork taquitos - both were tasty little bites.





Next, we each ordered a burger, and if I recall correctly, we all got the amazing "Original 5 Napkin Burger," a 10 oz patty with caramelized onions, gruyere cheese, and rosemary aioli. It was so good, and definitely juicy enough to warrant the 5 napkins. Apparently it was so good I forgot to take a picture of it - whoops! It was big and messy. I tried to eat the burger with a fork and knife and was shunned (by Lee, not by the 5 Napkin folks). Xani and I should have split the burger - it was pretty big (10 oz!) and we were still getting over our amazing lunch at Momofuku. Ah well, now we know for next time!

To accompany our burgers, we each got fries (they came with the burger), plus we ordered a stack of onion rings, and tater tots with a fluffy, herby filling. All were delicious - who doesn't love tater tots? No friend of mine.







A few folks got dessert - a brownie sundae and a black and white malted shake, to be exact - and we all nibbled away at them. We discussed the definition of a black and white shake, and determined it is made with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce/syrup, instead of chocolate ice cream.



By the end of dinner, the sky had opened up and it was pouring rain. Miraculously, we were able to get a cab instead of taking the scary subway, and we were soon in our cozy bed at our hotel. Yes, I said bed - singular. It's a long story involving a volcano erupting over Europe, but needless to say, with three of us (BCD girls plus Lauren) in the room and only one bed, we needed another place for someone to sleep. So, we requested a roll-away bed be put in our room. Somehow, in our giddiness, we started calling the bed the "rollo" and then Lauren bought us Rollos to put in the rollo! Hence, we came up with this picture:

Sleep tight in your rollo, Rollos!

We slept soundly (thanks in part to the curtain clips provided by the hotel) and woke up to another great day of eats. Stay tuned for part 2!!

EP & X


* We can't resist making a snarky comment about the girls sitting beside us at Momofuku. They ordered the pork buns and they actually removed the fat from the pork belly before eating it. Like, dissected it. I wish the chef had seen this and thrown them out! Blasphemy!

If You're Ever in Cleveland...

by Xani

You MUST visit Bar Symon. I went to Iron Chef Symon's new-ish casual eatery a few weeks back while visiting a dear friend, and it absolutely blew my MIND. Along with Lola, Lolita, and B Spot Burgers, Iron Chef Mike sure is making his mark in C-town. This meal was even better than the one I had last summer at Lolita. Onto the food!

First, a note about location. Bar Symon isn't in a trendy, hip neighborhood with no parking, like you might expect. Nope, it's a strip mall, in quasi-suburbia. But, don't let that deter you! Because inside, you'll find a long bar, tons of beer on tap, and some amazing eats. (and possibly a long wait. We were seated right away on a Friday night, but apparently the standard wait here is an hour. But WORTH IT!)

We started with a round of draft beers from their extensive selection, and then got down to ordering. My dining companions were gracious enough to let me to the ordering, and our fabulous server, Jessica, made sure everything was easily share-able-- sweet! The rundown:
For starters:
Pork Crackling . chile powder, sea salt & malt vinegar 5
Veal Bratwurst . Spicy Lamb . Pork & Fennel 3 for $17, Served with grilled bread, pickled vegetables & mustard
Mains:
Symon Fried Chicken . rapini, old bay & sriracha honey 15.
Michael’s Glory "Symwich". beef tongue, pierogi, horseradish, caramelized onion, Dijon & sourdough 10.
Duck Sloppy Joe . duck confit, pickled carrots, cilantro, sriracha mayo & bun 12.
Arctic Char special
Sides:
Lola Fries w/rosemary 4.
Fried Brussels sprouts 6.
Desserts:
Beer and Pretzel Sundae . Guinness ice cream, fudge and caramel sauce, pretzels 5.
House Made Sorbet or Ice Cream (Banana peanut butter, for us) 3.

Now, I normally don't list prices when I blog, but I just had to. This dinner was SO affordable, I couldn't believe it. For the quality (and quantity, we were all stuffed to the gills after), it can't be beat. Here's the pics/porn:

some sort of delicious amber beverage

crispity, crunchity, cracklins!

the pork board

amazing sammiches

Char

AMAZING fried chicken

we couldn't even finish the fries, everything else was SO good. they were served with a fantastic house-made spicy ketchup.

Desserts!

Another reason our server was FAB-- she came back to the table near the end of our meal and asked us a mysterious question, "do you like funny moustaches?" Well, the answer to that question is always YES! She handed us a sharpie, showed us the way, and many funny finger moustaches ensued!

What a fun and delicious meal. I would say my favorite items were the Michael’s Glory "Symwich"-- the man is a genius for putting tongue and pierogi on a sandwich!-- and the fried chicken. But EVERYTHING was good. If I lived in Cleveland, I would SO be a regular at this place. What will it take to get Symon to put a restaurant in Baltimore??

Thanks to my wonderful friend Hayley for being an awesome hostess. Let's start planning where will eat NEXT visit!

X

P.S. Just to make it a 100% Michael Symon weekend, we also went to Czuchraj Meats in the Westside Market to try the jerky he claimed was "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." And let me tell you, this is so GOOD jerky! And what a cool market. Again, if you live in or are visiting the Cleveland area, I highly recommend stopping by!