Turkey day approaches - Are you prepared?

In just over three weeks, Thanksgiving will be upon us. I'm guessing that many of you cooking dinner for family and friends have given thought to the feast you'll prepare. I myself have been invited to a dinner and only have to think about a side dish (or two). Maybe my aunt's pumpkin roll recipe? But certainly something savory too. Need to figure this one out!

Anyway, I wanted to write a post for those interested in landing a local and sustainable bird that will most certainly be the centerpiece of your dinner. The MD Dept of Agriculture has a nice listing of MD turkey farms. The list is sorted by county and many provide a description of the type of turkeys that are still available.

You'll need to be committed to this since it does not appear that these farms deliver. But you do have some choices in both Montgomery and PG counties.

In addition, if you act before November 8 (this Sunday), South Mountain Creamery - located just north of Fredrick - will deliver a turkey right to your doorstep. Their delivery charge is just $3.75 and the birds are raised on a family farm in Thurmont, MD. The turkeys range in price from $30 for the smallest ones to around $80 for the really big birds.

I haven't ordered from SMC in a while, but those are good folks who run the farm. They have definitely have good quality products. If you do order, you should do yourself a favor and get some egg nog too. We drank a lot of this last holiday season. Tasty!

I know it's more costly to purchase a bird from a local farm, but I feel confident in the short-run (taste) and the long run (your family's health) it will be a wise choice.

Hello, candy corn-infused vodka...

it's me, SoCo. Guess what? Success! I had to trek about a mile from my office to Walgreens, but I found some appropriate candy.

As any sugar/corn syrup aficionado will notice this is not Candy Corn, but another Brach's product called Indian Corn. The top of real Candy Corn is yellow. The top of a piece of Indian Corn is brown.

But I think this will do to induce my sugary sweet vodka buzz on Saturday night. Indian Corn is made with cocoa (or so claims the bag), so perhaps this is a healthier version. That's the way I see it.

Either way, I'm looking forward to mixing a batch of this for Halloween night. I'm thinking though that I might pull back on the 1/2 cup of Corn to mix with 1 1/2 cups of vodka. I don't want the drinks to be too sickeningly sweet. I'm guessing more like 1/3 cup. I mean who wants to get sick on sweets 0n Halloween night, right? OK, now repeat with an eye roll.

I'll report next week on the results of the drink and how many trick or treaters end up doing Candy (or Indian) Corn cordial shots with us. Now beware of EVIL homes.

Three Days and Counting ++ Halloween drink recipe

Halloween will be upon us in three short days. So I hope you have hit Safeway before they run out of treats. I stopped by last night and they had some good deals going -- some 2 for $5! For starters, I picked up Raisinets, Milk Duds (spousal request), Twizzlers, Twix and some Hershey’s.

Also for old-time sake I grabbed a pack of Good & Plenty. Wasn’t sure if those were still made. I’m guessing there won’t be many requests for those. Too bad! Little brats should be grateful they’re getting anything. I mean, what have they done for me lately. And another thing – oops, I’m going off a bit here.

And check out this old G&P commercial from days gone by. Pretty cool. Maybe I’ll be Choo Choo Charlie this year? I just hope all his costumes are not sold out already.



Look for me on my porch with other tipsy friends passing out candy and trying to lay off the ghoulish cocktails I plan on concocting. I'll also pimp out my yard some with carved pumpkins, other misc decorations (one recent purchase is to the right) and scary music as the backdrop. Maybe Bauhaus? I've pulled out Throbbing Gristle in the past too. Not sure about this year yet.

And by the way, here's one drink recipe I'm definitely gonna try on Halloween night:

Candy Corn Cordial

Infused vodka: 1/2 cup candy corn and 1 1/2 cups vodka
Cordials: 2 ounces orange liqueur (or triple sec if you want to go cheap), juice of 1/2 lemon,1 large egg white, and then candy corn for garnish.

You'll need to infuse the vodka with the candy corns in an airtight container for a few hours and then strain. To make the cordials you'll need to add 4 ounces of the candy corn vodka, the orange liqueur/triple sec, lemon juice and egg white to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds. Strain into 2 chilled martini glasses and garnish with candy corn.

I'll obviously need to triple this recipe since I'm expecting some real boozies on Saturday night. OK, be careful out there.

A couple updates - 8407 and Pacci's

Got an update from Nancy Mola last week at the SS Farmer's Market on 8407. Nancy and Pedro were working the crowd and cooking up some lavender chicken - in addition to dishing up a fabulous little apple, endive and blue cheese salad. Here she is hard at work.

And by the way, these were serious local dishes. The chicken came straight from Evensong Farm, the lavender from Welsh Gardens, the apples from Quaker Valley Orchards and the blue cheese from Firefly Farms. I think that is great.

According to Nancy, they are hoping to open the doors at 8407 some time next month. If you have walked by the restaurant you have undoubtedly seen all the new windows that have been installed on both the top and bottom floor. The place is really coming around. I am sure there are a lot of folks looking forward to getting Pedro back in the kitchen on a full-time basis. Here he is last Saturday preparing the lavender chicken - which by the way I did NOT get to try.

So much for customer service! I don't know why they couldn't work around my schedule, right?

Here's hoping 8407 throws its doors open in November. Lord knows the old Nicaro has yet to live up to the high bar that Pedro previously established.

Update number two. Got a text on Thursday from Spiro at Pacci's - the new wood-fired pizza place opening next to the World Building on Georgia Ave. He received the necessary permits on Wednesday and they are moving at "full speed" to get the place ready to go.

It should be an exciting couple of months in the 'hood. Get your discretionary income ready!

Hold on, pizza is on the way -- Pacci's

For all those who’ve moaned and groaned about not having anywhere to turn for really good thin crust pizza in the ‘hood (although I still think Vicino bakes a good pie – ask for it extra crispy), it appears your prayers will be answered soon. You’ll no longer have to trek into town to 2 Amy’s or RedRocks, you’ll now have Pacci’s.

As I wrote back in July on the blog, Pacci’s will open up shop at 8113 Georgia Ave, just south of the World Building. Anyone who walks/drives by at the moment certainly won’t see a place that’s ready to throw open its doors, but I have been told that as soon as the necessary approvals are secured from the County (and that may be this week), then you’ll begin to see some serious work taking place.

Pacci’s will be run by Spiro Gioldasis, currently the GM at Mrs. K’s Toll House. The longtime establishment at the corner of Dale Drive and Colesville Rd. Spiro is hopeful to begin serving pizza as early as mid-November. Pretty exciting, huh?

And although mid-November is not that far away, I think we can be confident that the place will be up and running shortly since all the furniture and equipment they need has already been purchased and is being warehoused close by for quick delivery and installation. This is not to say there’s not a fair amount of exterior (and interior work) that will be need to be completed beyond furniture and equipment. But, I am holding out hope they have a good contractor lined up to do this work.

Besides wood-fired brick oven pizza, Spiro says they’ll also be doing salads, appetizers and, I hope you’re sitting down, gelati. If I can get maybe some good cured meats or perhaps some marinated veggies to start, then a nice funghi pizza and to end a pistachio gelato and of course an espresso, I may never leave. And for us drinkers, we’ll also be able to quaff beer and wine (no hard stuff yet). I'm hoping that Spiro serves some decent Chianti and Montelpuciano D’Abruzzo.

It’s also worth noting that Pacci’s plans to have an outdoor patio - by the looks of it on the north side of the building. It will seat 60-80 people. This seems pretty big to me. It’s likely they’ll need this since it doesn’t look terribly roomy on the inside – although the place is quite deep. Not sure what the plans are for the south side of the property with the huge awning. Maybe that goes? What else, turned into a drive through window?

And while Spiro did not mention any local vendors in particular, he did inform me that he will try to support our local farmers. This is certainly good news in my book. So I am hopeful we’ll see cheeses, veggies and meats from around the area. That’s not to say I’ll turn down a fine Italian cheese, but we’ve got some kick-ass cheese producers locally. Has anyone tried Blue Ridge Dairy’s fresh mozzarella or ricotta? Both are excellent. Let’s hope these make it on the menu.

OK, I’m ready to order.

South SS Block Party - this Saturday

Just wanted to spread the word about this Saturday's (Oct. 3) South SS Block Party. It will be held in Bethesda - just kidding. The festivities will be happening on Newell St, right off East-West Hwy and close to the intersection of Kennett St. You can go to the South SS block party web site for a map.

Head on over after you finish buying your grub at the Farmer's market and the Fenton Street Market. You'll need some lunch after all that, right?

In addition to good beer from Hook & Ladder, local restaurants will also be serving up their fare. They include Ghar-E-Kabab, Mamma Lucia, and Taste of Jerusalem. The party will be running from 1:00-6:00 pm. Hope you can make it and support the community.

A Great Meal

Last weekend, for the first time in probably about three years, my wife and I, along with a friend, dined at Jackie's (8081 Georgia Ave, entrance on Sligo). The long drought was partly due to the opening of Nicaro, but we also became a bit soured on Jackie's because we thought the prices did not match the quality, as well as a hit or miss wait staff. In addition, when we last ate at Jackie's neither one of us was eating meat (outside of fish), which left most of the menu untouchable.

However, we are both now experimenting with humanely-raised meats which makes Jackie's really an ideal place to dine. But first, I'll start by saying that as we walked south on the Avenue, we did make an attempt to check out the new Nicaro. But you know what, we could not make our way through the door. There was just something about it that didn't sit right. And then when we reviewed the menu and saw a fish sub as one of the featured dishes, that kinda clinched it for us.

Now that may sound a bit harsh, and don't get me wrong, I have no problems with a good submarine sandwich, but this is not what I think of when I think of Nicaro. But I guess I'm thinking of the old Nicaro. However, after reading their review in the Gazette last week, I'm glad we kept walking to Jackie's. The typically easy to please Gazette found a Nicaro steak, "undercooked, tough and chewy with a significant rim of fat" along with a less than impressive wait staff. In addition, the Gazette stated that Nicaro adds an 18% gratuity to all parties of four or more. Unbelievable. While customers can ask for the gratuity to be removed, it is unacceptable that it even shows up at all.

All right, enough of that. I do want to give Jackie's plenty of props for a terrific meal. First off, even on a busy Friday night with no reservation, we were seated quickly. It was nice the host remembered us after all this time. Second, while perusing the menu we quickly noticed the more than reasonable wine prices. These prices were not just reasonable for DC, but SS too. At least two of our choices - a Malbec and a Tempranillo were $6 and $7 respectively. And not just for short pours either.

So far so good. And given our expanded diet, there was a lot more on the menu from which to choose. I will say for those who don't eat meat or fish, the menu is limited. I believe that night there was only one veggie entree. However, I would not be surprised at all if you asked, or called ahead, that the chef would not be able to put together a veggie plate. We all had plenty of good veggies with our entrees, so you might want to give this a try.

We started with three appetizers - the sauteed peppers to the left, a nice beet salad, and a plate of fried oysters with pickled veggies. All three were winners. The peppers were served with a pesto-like sauce and corn bread. These were more mild than hot peppers, and full of flavor. The beet salad was simple, but very fresh and not drowned in dressing that often can ruin a salad. And how can you go wrong with fried oysters? These plump little devils had a thin layer of breading and were perfectly cooked. I would have been happy to eat an entire plate as my entree.

For our main courses we did two meats and one fish. The two meats were a skirt steak and a pork loin. And to be sure of their origin, I checked with the server and both were local and humanely-raised. My wife went with a Carolina Wreckfish - a member of the bass family and listed as a "best choice" by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Of the three, I think my pork loin was everyone's least favorite, nonetheless it was still a great piece of pork. It just had trouble competing with the medium-rare and juicy steak along with the flaky and very tasty Wreckfish. Now I do want to be clear, all three of these entrees were still above the $20 mark, but given the quality of the dishes, the wonderful sides that accompanied them, and knowing that they came from local farms (at least the meats), we had no problem paying those prices. It made it easier knowing the wine we ordered was at such good prices.

The meal ended with a couple Tawny ports. Was a fabulous way to round off a great meal. We'll certainly be back soon to see what else Jackie's has to offer. If you have a little money to drop on dinner and don't want to head to the city - and you're OK with meat - I would heartily recommend Jackie's as an option.