Diner, Drive-In or Dive #4: Brick Oven Pizza... a little slice of heaven

New York style. Chicago style. Thin crust. Deep dish. Stuffed crust. Red sauce. White sauce. Yep, we're talking about pizza! Originating in Neapolitan cuisine more than 200 years ago, pizza can now be found in almost every ethnic culture made with toppings common to geographical location and culture. Today's "Triple D" recommendation from Guy Fieri was Brick Oven Pizza in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland featuring good ol' fashioned American pizza.

Situated on a corner, Brick Oven Pizza's entrance is the corner of the restaurant. From the outside, it looks a little like a dive...  like most of the "Triple D" places.

Experts agree that a wood-burning brick oven and quality ingredients are essential to making the best pizza... and Brick Oven Pizza (BOP) has both. Their brick oven burns hardwood oak and maple 24/7 (yes, even when they're closed!) keeping the oven between 750° and 900°. The result is simply a most scrumptious pizza! The crust is crispy but not crunchy and hard. The sauce is delicious and the cheese is the stringiest I've had in awhile. MmmMmm!!

The inside of BOP is more like a diner than a dive. Murals on the walls along with an Internet Juke Box give it a very urban feel. 

We'll definitely be back- I want to try the mac-n-cheese pizza or the baked ziti pizza. BOP is the only pizza place I know of where you can build your own slice of pizza which is then baked fresh. Or you can get the 52 topping pizza (everything they have!) for $179. However you slice it, it's a terrific pizza pie!

Up, up and away!

Man has been fascinated with flying machines since first observing birds in the sky. Today we indulged our fascination with a trip to the National Air and Space Museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport, an annex of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. Our almost-seven-year-old grandson, Christopher, is visiting us this week and like boys everywhere, loves planes. He was not disappointed!

The Center features a large hangar with aircraft displayed on three levels. They have everything form hang-gliders and ultra-lites to the Concorde and Space Shuttle Enterprise and everything in-between. Flying machines of every shape and color are displayed on the floor or suspended over-head.

Christopher's favorite plane was the SR-71 Blackbird... the "spy plane" (bottom). There were LOTS of planes to see!

Almost everyone born before 1976 knows what they were doing when they first heard about the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986. The Center has the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the "test shuttle," on display. Two things impressed me: the infamous tiles are really pretty small and the entire shuttle is really BIG! The Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb (code-named "Little Boy") on Hiroshima, is also displayed. The Center is truly an amazing collection of history!

From prop planes to space rockets (prototype)... what's next?

We had lots of opportunities to chuckle, giggle and even guffaw. As we walked along a hallway on the lowest level, we happened to look up- and could see feet walking on a "glass" floor above us. Christopher's giggles were contagious and pretty soon we were all laughing! Aircraft art ranged from commercial (one looked like a Pepsi can!) to psychological (or comical?) like planes with "teeth" to convey fierceness. The IMAX movie "To Fly" had several humorous parts- like a church steeple painter dropping a can of paint on a couple when a hot air balloon came too close... maybe you had to be there!

Although Christopher's "Most Favorite" thing at the Center was the Gift Shop (LOL!), he also thought these were "pretty cool!" (Lower left photo is the rear end of the SR-71.)

After the museum we met Janne and Adam for dinner in Little Italy- and then headed to a favorite dessert place for frozen custard and Italian ice gelatis. I think Christopher has too much fun with his Auntie Janne and Uncle Adam!

We saw this gorgeous butterfly as we were walking up to Rita's. God's flying machines are so beautiful and delicate-looking!

Going Off-Road...

One of the most fun things about living somewhere new is "going off-road." You know, finding the non-touristy destinations you won't find in the AAA guidebook. To help us discover some of Maryland's "gems in the rough" I recently purchased Allison Blake's book, Maryland Curiosities, and today we set off to find two of her recommendations.

This is one place Guy Fieri hasn't discovered...yet. It looks like a dive- but wait until you get inside!

Ann's Dari-Creme opened in 1951 in Glen Burnie (about 20 miles east of us) and has been a popular eatery for the locals. Nestled next to a large modern shopping mall that opened in the 1980's, Ann's Dari-Creme looks a little out of place but Ann's owners opted not to move- much to the delight of the locals. In fact, there are photographs on the wall of long-time customers who have taken their Ann's Footlongs (specially wrapped, off course) as far away as southern California (to eat on the beach!). And a soldier stationed in Afghanistan took his with him but ended up eating it somewhere in Africa before he arrived in Afghanistan because it smelled sooooo good (aren't you glad you weren't on that plane?). So what makes this such a popular spot?

Yeah, it's still a dive when you get inside! But it's clean and the food is great! We had  Footlongs with everything (mustard, chili and onions), fries and a soda. The buns were delicious- as was the rest of our lunch!

As soon as you walk in the door, you are in line to order. I think the most important qualification for working at Ann's Dari-Creme is a great memory. After giving your order to the cashier, she turns around to tell the "cooks." No one writes it down, there is no electronic order board and the cashier keeps taking orders as long as there are people in line. While we were there, we watched them juggle as many as five or six orders at a time- and some were long and complex- without a single mistake. The women who work there seem to enjoy their job and have fun doing it. There are eight counter seats (that is the total inside seating!) and we were fortunate enough to get two seats together to watch "the show" while we ate. We'll have to go back to try the chocolate-dipped ice cream cones or a cherry milkshake- they looked fabulous!

Nothing says the 1950's like a dancing hotdog!

After lunch we headed to the tiny hamlet of Relay (just west of Elkridge) to see the Thomas Viaduct we had heard so much about at the B&O Railroad Museum a few weeks ago. The 612-foot bridge spans the Patapsco River between Elkridge and Relay and is the first multi-span (there are eight spans) masonry railroad bridge to be built on a curve. Many doubted such a bridge could be built and often jokingly called it "Latrobe's Folly" (Benjamin Latrobe was the designer) because they were skeptical it could even support its own weight. History, however, has had the last laugh since it not only survived the great flood of 1868 and Hurricane Agnes in 1972, it is still in use today carrying 300-ton diesel locomotive passenger trains (the MARC Camden line) and heavy freight trains every day. 

Although we couldn't find a place to view the entire viaduct, the part we could see was huge! As I took pictures, I was thinking about how old this structure is and what it would be like to build it in the 1830's without computer projections and heavy equipment (bulldozers, cement mixers, etc.). I wonder if modern transportation structures (freeways, bridges, etc.) will be not only photographed but also in daily use 175 years from now... I doubt it. The bridge was constructed using rough-dressed Maryland granite ashlar from Patapsco River quarries and took two years to complete at a cost of a little less than $143,000 (more than $2.8 million in today's dollars). It was the largest bridge in the nation when it was built and today remains the world's largest bridge of its kind as well as the world's oldest multiple-arched stone railroad bridge. Some folly!

Just a taste...

Over the weekend Janne, Adam, Richard and I journeyed to the Finger Lakes in New York to attend the Watkins Glen Wine Festival. We enjoy finding new vineyards and wineries, talking with the owners, tasting their favorite wines and thought this might be a fun experience. Boy, were we wrong! We assumed that offering people all the wine one can consume for a $30 admission fee would be a huge temptation for a few people and therefore expected some "tipsy" people. I guess we thought most people would be like us- tasters, not party animals. What we didn't expect was a crowd to rival that at a Nascar race (also held at Watkins Glen) and 90% of the people more than legally intoxicated before lunchtime. Noise levels grew until we couldn't hear each other even though we were standing side by side, some of the areas were gridlocked and you couldn't move, and more people poured into the tents making it hotter and hotter despite the fans and breeze from outside. It was time to leave.

We decided to just drive around Seneca Lake and perhaps stop at a few wineries. We are truly "tasters"- we share one tasting glass (not a 4 oz. glass of wine but a sample of about 1.5 oz!) between the four of us. Our goal is not to get plastered but to experience new tastes and find new wines to enjoy in moderation. The beautiful lake, plush foliage and a gentle breeze provided an inviting backdrop to our wine-tasting experience. People (both employees and customers) were pleasant to talk to. We took our time enjoying both the scenery and the tasting.

I walked around the vineyard at one winery and noticed that the vines that were overgrown with weeds and not pruned had produced only small bunches of grapes and not very many of those- like the one in the bottom left photo. But the vines that were well-pruned had produced lots of large bunches of grapes- like the top left photo. This reminded me of John 15:1-8 where Jesus says He is the vine and we are the branches and then talks about pruning the branches so it can produce more and better fruit. It was so easy to see the relationship between the vine, the branches and the fruit in this vineyard! When we allow God to clean out the weeds in our life and to prune the dead wood off our branches as we stay close to the vine, we can produce much fruit for Him.

As I thought about the Wine Festival and the multitudes of very inebriated people, I felt great sadness. There is so much more to life than just drinking for the sake of getting drunk. These people are wasting a precious gift.

Before this trip, when I thought of New York, the first thing to come to mind was a concrete jungle- noisy and crowded (hmm... perhaps the Wine Festival should not have been such a surprise!). This weekend we got to see the softer, gentler side of New York. The sparkling water of the lakes, lots of wildflowers still blooming, deer walking through backyards (we saw 4 or 5 deer during the day!) and the rolling hills were a welcome respite. We found Pennsylvania to be much the same way- acres and acres of corn, barns and silos, horse-drawn buggies and "Plain People," small towns with more American flags flying than are in the entire state of Arizona. 

We couldn't decide whether it would be nicer to live by Seneca Lake in New York or on a farm in Pennsylvania... until we remembered they both get a LOT of snow!

We enjoyed each other's company, good conversations (we learned about Elmira State Prison and why it's famous/important from Janne- you can check her blog for pictures!) and time to relax. It was a good weekend!

We watched magnificent sunsets every night!

Putting the Spice Back in Grocery Shopping

Moving across the country means having to find a new place to go grocery shopping. I was actually looking forward to this because I think I had gotten into a grocery shopping rut- always going to the same store, getting what I needed and not really looking at anything else. It had definitely become a mundane chore that I did not enjoy and I was hoping something new would spice it up. And to be honest, I was secretly hoping there would be Piggly Wiggly here because I think that is an awesome name for a grocery store... but, alas, there are no Piggly Wiggly's in Maryland.

I did a google search for grocery stores in the area and found seven that looked promising. I decided to try all of them before making a decision as to where I would do the bulk of my shopping. Safeway is the only store I could find that is also in Arizona and, in fact, is where I shop there. For me, going to Safeway is like eating chicken noodle soup... it's familiar and gives you warm fuzzies.

But I was really looking for someplace different. I tried Giant, Food Lion, Bloom, Harris Teeter, Wegmans and Super Fresh Superstore. Wegmans reminded me of AJ's- a nice store with those hard-to-find items but a bit over-priced and for me, too far (about an hour each way) to go often. Giant, Food Lion and Super Fresh Superstore were okay but the people weren't friendly- I would stop there to get milk on my way home but won't be doing the bulk of my shopping there. Bloom was too small- not enough selection- and I thought the store was poorly laid out.

And then there was Harris Teeter- the nicest, most reasonably priced grocery store I've been in! There are people throughout the store to help you find things or answer questions about products. They have more samples than Costco- and offer more samples at the deli, the bakery and the produce department. It's clean and has wide aisles. But the deciding factor was the Starbucks in the store- they make perfect cafe mistos AND give you a 10% discount with your Starbuck's Gold Card (no other place does that!). Yeah, you could say it was love at first sight.

In addition to handicapped parking spaces, they also have these specialty spaces. Interestingly, I've never seen anyone abuse them and the "special needs" one is often empty.

According to the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER), an organization recognized by the US Census Bureau, Phoenix has a cost of living composite index slightly higher (101.0) than the national average (100.0) while Baltimore's is higher yet (118.6). They use six components (like grocery items, housing, etc.) unequally weighted to derive a composite index. In the "grocery items" category, Phoenix rates 100.5 while Baltimore is 106.8. And in case you were wondering, Manhattan, NY has the highest composite index (214.3!!!) and Omaha, NE has the lowest (88.9).

Given the above data, I would expect groceries, in general, to be more expensive in the Baltimore area than they are in Phoenix. For my comparison I chose five items that stores in both cities had "on special" over the 4th of July weekend: cherries, watermelon, yellow/white corn on the cob, Johnsonville Brats and store brand hot dog buns. I found that all but two of the items were more expensive (by about 20%) in Maryland. The exceptions were Johnsonville Brats which were exactly the same price at every store and yellow/white corn on the cob which was 200% higher in ARIZONA- where corn is one of the "Five C's!" 

Besides price, another difference in grocery shopping is the availability of certain products. For example,  diced jalapeno and whole green chilis are extremely rare commodities here. On the other hand, these are found in every store:

I guess you could say that grocery shopping has been "spicier" for me since we've been here... or at least an adventure!

Happy 4th of July!

Columbia has a huge fireworks show at Lake Kittamaqundi and we watched it from the rooftop of our parking garage. It was awesome!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!!

Ellicott City... aka Ellicott's Mills

Ellicott City is about six miles north of Columbia, Maryland (where we live!) and is a place I go frequently to shop. It's where the bigger Target,  Barnes and Noble and the car dealership where I take my car is located. It's a big city with a charming history and beautiful historical area.

It seems that every little boy (and even some who are not-so-little!) loves playing with trains. I'm not sure what the fascination is with watching a string of cars go round and round and round a track... but I did enjoy learning some railroad history at the B&O Railroad Museum located in the railroad station in Ellicott City- or Ellicott's Mills as it was known until 1867. Built in 1831, it is the oldest surviving railroad station in America and was the terminus of the B&O's first 13 miles of commercial track.

Scheduled passenger service started in 1830 (before the station was built) with horse-drawn railroad cars between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills. Passenger service ended in 1949 but freight service continued until 1972 when it was discontinued due to devastation from Hurricane Agnes.

Tracks and a clock and a caboose... oh my!

The clock is located on Main Street just outside the station and was used as the "official time" for the railroad. Down the tracks from the station house is an old caboose- I'm standing by it and Richard is sitting in it. The seats are narrow and small without much leg room- kind of like US Airways flights! The platform to the tracks, on the back side of the station house, is lined with wooden benches and looks very old-fashioned.

Every boy's delight- a model train!

The old Freight House now houses a working HO model scale train layout of the first 13 miles of the B&O Railroad- from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills. The 40-foot display was enchanting to old and young alike as we watched the trains go round and round and round!

Bridge over the beautiful Patapsco River in Ellicott City

The Patapsco River ambles 52 miles from its headwaters in central Maryland through Ellicott City to its mouth on the western edge of the Chesapeake Bay. It has been used for fishing, for transportation and for power (for the many mills located along its banks). Most of the time it is as peaceful as it looks in this picture but there have been several major floods through the centuries, most notably the Flood of 1868 and flooding due to Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

The signs on the post by the railroad bridge, which is above the river bridge in the previous picture and which we are standing on, indicate flood stages above the river (below us) from various floods. 

I cannot imagine the terror the Flood of 1868 caused. The river reached a maximum height of 40 feet with the water level rising 5 feet in just 10 minutes. There were quite a few casualties and several deaths. The cause? A severe rainstorm causing flash flooding along the Atlantic slope.  What impressed me, though, is the resilience of the people of Ellicott City- to rebuild their town and their lives. 

"I'm forever blowing bubbles..."

We stopped to watch this street performer for awhile. He was able to make humongous bubbles as well as teeny tiny ones. Kids of all ages were fascinated... and most tried to pop them or catch them. It was a fun way to end our excursion to Ellicott City.

Diner, Drive-In or Dive #3

Today was a beautiful day in Maryland... more like spring than summer. Deciding it was too nice to stay inside, we ventured off to find another of Guy Fieri's "Triple D" favorites. Four freeways and 30 minutes later, we arrived!

Stoney Creek Inn is known by the locals for their crab cakes "made fresh daily with the biggest jumbo lump crab meat we can find and our secret ingredients."

The indoor seating area is small and we opted to eat on the patio where we could watch the boats sail up and down Stoney Creek. The tables are wood picnic tables with oilcloth tablecloths- covered with butcher paper if you have the steamed crabs. There is nothing fancy or pretentious here. Having found what we thought were the world's best crab cakes at a different eatery in Baltimore, we were skeptical that these would be "the best jumbo lump crab cakes in Maryland" as they boasted but we gave them a try.

WOW! They were right- this is the best crab cake sandwich!

We both tried the SMALL crab cake sandwich- Richard had cole slaw and I tried the sweet potato fries (served with cinnamon sugar for dipping!). The crab cakes were quite flavorful and moist- and without a doubt, the best we've had. The cole slaw was tasty with the right amount of tartness and the cinnamon sugar a delightful accompaniment to the sweet potato fries. Definitely two thumbs up here!

After lunch, we walked down to the creek- really a river by Arizona standards. Stoney Creek runs into Chesapeake Bay not far from here. A large drawbridge crosses the creek and we drove over it on our way home. Just as we got to it, the drawbridge was raised and lots of cars stopped in both directions to let one boat go through... I guess he who has the biggest toy wins!

Left- Richard by Stoney Creek (see, it's big!) and the drawbridge

Middle- Waiting in line with the drawbridge raised

Right- The line of cars behind us (from my side-view mirror)

Progress

When I first graduated from nursing school- a long time ago- I worked on an orthopedic floor taking care of post-surgical patients. Shoulder surgeries generally required about a week's stay in the hospital and months and months of rehab/physical therapy. Richard had shoulder surgery (repair of a torn rotator cuff and shredded biceps tendon) last week- and was in the hospital a total of SIX HOURS! A surgery that would have had a huge incision when I worked now has just three tiny incisions covered with steri-strips, not even sutured!

Richard came home in a sling with strict instructions not to move his arm out of the position it was in- but could wiggle his fingers all he wanted. The sling had two accessories- a bolster to keep his arm slightly away from his body and a red rubber ball. The bolster kept his arm in the most comfortable position; the red rubber ball was for entertainment. Richard couldn't decide if it was to throw for any  dogs he might see (to play fetch) or to throw at me when he wanted something. The first couple of days were painful making "Iceman" and pain pills a huge blessing. "Iceman" is the blue cooler (filled with ice/water) attached to a hose and pad in the pictures below. It provides continuous icy coldness for about 4 hours, then it's time to refill it. While Richard rested his biceps, mine have gotten quite a workout lugging 20 pounds of ice up two flights of stairs every day to feed "Ice man!" By the third day, Richard was able to do pretty much whatever he wanted- as long he didn't need to use his left arm AT ALL.

A glimpse of Richard's day!

Richard returned to the surgeon on Tuesday (a week after his surgery) and got the "all clear" to begin physical therapy. The doctor also removed the bolster from the sling and reminded him to keep his arm at 90° until therapy instructed him differently. The incisions are pretty much healed and he graduated from sleeping upright in a chair to sleeping more prone in a bed. He also uses bags of frozen veggies for a quick ice-down during the day and uses "Iceman" just at night. Progress!!

First work... then a reward!

The physical therapist extends his arm and works his shoulder after first reminding Richard that he is NOT to do ANY of the work. It's called passive range of motion... and is a love-hate relationship. It's hurts at first, but then feels much better. The session ends with ice and TENS, a nerve stimulation device that reduces pain. After Richard's first work-out, we went to Rita's for a"gelati"- frozen custard and Italian Ice- to celebrate a good work-out.

The healing process has begun and now just takes time. Thank you to all of you have called or sent cards and email- they are a great encouragement!

❝Oh what a beautiful morning... oh what a beautiful day...❞

On average, July is the hottest, most humid month in Maryland and to be perfectly honest, I've been dreading it. Having grown up in Arizona, I'm used to heat... but it's a dry heat. High humidity slaps you in the face like a wet blanket- definitely not my idea of fun!

But today, July 1st, the Lord gave me a gift- and some encouragement! The day dawned clear and bright... and COOL! It was just 68° and DRY on my balcony as I had my coffee this morning. WOO-HOO!! This was cause for celebration!

We went to Baja Fresh for lunch... AND ATE OUTSIDE!!

In fact, the whole day was kind of a "fluke", weather-wise. The high today was only 83° (average is 86°- and believe me, those three degrees make a difference!) and the relative humidity has been below 40% all day. In other words, it was an absolutely gorgeous day, one that reminded me of Psalm 148:7-8- "Praise the Lord from the earth... snow and storm, wind and weather that obey Him."