The Feast approaches

We are just over 3 weeks out from the Feast of Seven Fishes. And I must say, I'm getting pretty excited. For those of you unfamiliar with La Festa dei Sette Pesci, it is celebrated by Italians and those of Italian descent all over the world on Christmas eve. It is believed to commemorate the 7 sacraments. And to do this, seven seafood/fish dishes are prepared for family and friends. My wife and I will be hosting our 3rd annual celebration this year. And with Thanksgiving behind us, I am all about thinking of the dishes we'll serve this year.

So with that in mind, I did some experimenting on Sunday night. I was pretty excited that the fish monger at Whole Foods gave me a couple big fish heads (just ask them) to make stock. I've made veggie and chicken stock before, and they've turned out great. By the way, if you have the time it's cheaper and you'll consume a lot less sodium if you can make your own stock as opposed to the store bought versions. And it's so easy. But with fish stock I learned, there's a bit of a learning curve.

I threw both heads (I think one was red snapper) in with several cups of water with some garlic, onion, carrot, salt, fennel leaves, pepper corns and a bay leaf thinking I was well on my way to having some killer fish stock. After a simmer of about 45 minutes my wife walked into the house and almost fainted. I think her words were, "what the hell are you cooking?" I had not noticed the strong odor, but it hit her like a ton of bricks.

I turned off the burner after about an hour and let it cool on my deck to start the defunkifcation of the house. I then filled a couple big plastic containers and stuck it in the fridge still hoping for the best. And while it wasn't the worst stock around, it was in fact quite strong. Some might say overwhelming. But I still wanted to use it in a dish I'm considering for the Feast - cioppino.

But, I want to make a modified cioppino. This is due to a dish I had in Spain a few months ago called arroz caldoso (soupy rice). It was kind of like cioppino, but with rice and it had a lot of fabulous seafood/tomato broth. Trust me, it was to die for.

Anyway, my attempt fell woefully short. Although I bet you're saying - it looks pretty good.

I used arborio rice in the dish and man, did it ever suck up the 3 cups or so of fish stock (which I had reduced some) I poured in. It was still edible, I mean the fish, mussels and clams were all good, but the rice really did overwhelm everything else. So at this point, this dish is definitely not Feast-worthy. Back to the drawing board. I think for my next attempt I'll try it with shrimp stock. Wish me luck.

Bolivians storm downtown, plus other news

Sorry for the long hiatus. Had to say goodbye to the person who helped nurture my love of food for the first couple decades of my life - my Dad. He was 84. And since I was the youngest and essentially an only child while growing up, I got the benefit of a little better standard of living than my brothers. This meant dinners out pretty much once a week. For the most part they weren't fancy, but my folks did love their seafood, and this for sure rubbed off on me. I'm just thankful that only a month before he was admitted to the hospital, my wife and I visited my folks for a long weekend and we all enjoyed a terrific Italian meal together. It started with mussels, then antipasti and of course pasta. My Dad had a hard time not ordering frutti di mare at any place that offered it. He certainly knew how to enjoy his food. Ciao ciao papa.

OK, on to another topic. Thanksgiving arrives tomorrow, and this past weekend I'm sure most folks know we had the SS Thanksgiving parade. I bet many of you were in attendance. We had a nice day for it - certainly better than last year. Folks lined Georgia Ave to get a glimpse of all the dancers, bands, floats, politicians and some of our four-legged friends. It was a good event.

Similar to last year, the Bolivian dance troupes were out. If you haven't seen them yet, do yourselves a favor and check them out next year. They're great. While I think there were 5 or 6 different groups out this year, we failed to match the number who danced last year. Are they too busy with other parades? Was there a mass exodus of Bolivians from the area? I don't know. But either way, we did get a nice sampling of dancers - men and women and very young and older folks.

I'm not sure what the county might allow, but the parade would be a perfect location for a vendor or two selling snacks to all us parade watchers. If those snacks paired nicely with the participants in the parade so much the better. But even if they didn't, I bet someone could clean up offering hand held treats. The kids most definitely clean up with all the candy that's tossed around. So what about us?

In other news, it looks like we have at least a couple months to go before we get any new dining additions to the 'hood. While Pacci's had hoped to open by mid-November, it looks more like the first part of 2010. Behind them will follow 8407 and Hook & Ladder. I know son of Nicaro, AKA 8407, was hoping to open this fall - but I now hear they still have a few months to go. Maybe Feb? My prediction will be that H&L opens last. While I haven't tried to poke my head in to see the internal progress lately, on my drive by this morning it seems they've got a ways to go.

But I guess that's OK, I'm not going anywhere and neither is my appetite. Have a great Thanksgiving. Safe travels if you're driving and hope you have the opportunity to eat some good locals meats and veggies with your dinner tomorrow. I'm told I'll have an free-range Amish turkey sitting at my table. Maybe sitting is not the right word, but you know what I mean.

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.