weekend update: Grand Prix

Friday evening we walked a bit around the racecourse to see what we could see, which was: a bit through the chain-link fence at Sharp and Conway, a bit through the chain-link fence at Lee and Light, and really quite a nice view from the foot of the hairpin on Light Street: you could see the cars coming straight down Light, and Light slopes a bit upward there, so it had a bit of a stadium-seating effect there.  But by the time we made it down there the racing had stopped for the day, so we went to dinner in Federal Hill, which seemed eerily deserted, especially for a Friday night.  (Probably because no one could get there, because Light Street was closed.)  We went to the Abbey Burger Bistro, where I risked Aristotelian evil (wishing for bad things and getting them) by building my own burger featuring the meat of the month: medium rare duck on a pretzel bun, with sauteed onions, mushrooms, brie, and white truffle oil, with the macaroni and cheese on the side.  It was quite rich, but really delicious.

Saturday we tried again to walk around downtown, which involved, as Jean Marbella said, walking miles but only going blocks, without seeing much besides the gulag-end of the fences, which got pretty tiring.  I concocted something for dinner inspired by Farm-Stand-Vegetable Green Curry, from Every Day with Rachael Ray, but used eggplant and zucchini instead of broccoli and bell peppers (because that's what the farmers market had Thursday), and non-green curry (because that's the only curry paste I could find at the Fresh & Green).  I served it with the last of our quinoa.

It was ok: Morgan was more taken with it than I was.  (I'm still looking for curry that tastes like the yellow curry at Noodles Etc.)

Sunday we went to Whole Foods to get groceries (add that as another cost of the race: it was impossible to leave our neighborhood by car, and Whole Foods is the only grocery store within walking distance, seeing as we live in one of those urban food deserts), and I made Lime and Honey Glazed Salmon with Warm Black Bean and Corn Salad, from Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats.

It was pretty delicious, but because the salmon was from Whole Foods, it was also quite pricey.  Probably not any more than you would pay for a comparable dish at a restaurant, though, and at least I'm pretty confident that it actually was wild Alaskan salmon.  I'll make it again the next time I have company.