weekend update

Saturday we drove down to Annapolis to visit the much-ballyhooed Caffe Pronto.  Morgan got the flat white (which I had not heard of previously, and if you had told me it was a latte, I would have believed you), and I got the Panama Mama Cata.  It really did taste like blueberry jam.  We also picked up 12 oz of the Giddy-Up Cowboy, which is pretty good, but I don't really taste the chocolate.  Best beans we've had so far probably are still the Peet's that Morgan picked up in San Diego.

It was a lovely day (finally a break both from the torrential downpours of the previous week and from the record-breaking heat of all summer), so we took some time to walk around historic downtown Annapolis.  A new spice and tea shop had opened up since the last time we were there.  We had lunch at the Market House: I got the chicken, goat cheese, apple, and honey sandwich; Morgan got what purported to be the Best Crabcake in Maryland.

I made Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, from Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals, for dinner, and went to the grocery store Saturday night.  Pros of going Saturday night: there's nobody there (unlike Sunday afternoon), and the shelves are well-stocked (unlike Monday night).  Cons: there's nobody working, either, so I inexpertly packed my groceries in my reusable bags at the self-checkout.  Nothing broke, but I felt a little bad for the people behind me.  (Shoppers seems to assume that you have a bagger with you who can bag at the end of the conveyor belt while you continue to scan your purchases, as opposed to Whole Foods, whose set-up is more amenable to letting you put your groceries in the bag at the site of scanning.)

Saturday night I started making Yeasted Coffee Cake from How to Cook Everything.  I let it rise overnight in the fridge, and finished making it Sunday morning.

I had been worried that the yeast, whose expiration date was this past March, had died, but as you can see, my anxieties were misplaced.

Sunday afternoon I went in to lab briefly.  When it finally stopped raining, we took a walk, and visited Roy's for their Aloha Hour (we had never been there before).  I got The Original Hawaiian Martini, which looked like a martini but tasted like a piña colada, Morgan got the Roy's Island Mai Tai, and we shared the Tempura Crusted Spicy Ahi Roll and the Wagyu Beef Sliders.  I especially liked the sliders: each was a perfect little hamburger on its own little pretzel roll.  It was very swank, and we'll have to go back sometime.

Sunday night I made Seared Cod with Grapefruit Slaw, from Every Day with Rachael Ray.

I think I'm going to just quit trying to work with citrus.  It can be one of those items I get only at restaurants, like butter pie crusts.

I didn't dry the cod quite enough, so it was more steamed than seared.  But Morgan really liked it.