Breakfast with Bayliss…and $47 cupcakes… October 1, 2010

early morning at Xoco...a Rick Bayliss restaurant...

The lovely Jennifer, my daughter-in-law, was in Chicago for a business trip this week…and this morning, she was stepping outside her comfort zone and walking to Xoco to meet her aunt Connie in Chi-town for an early morning breakfast(she sent me the pic above this morning). She was also super-excited as was I…we are both big fans of Rick Bayliss. If you saw him on Top Chef Masters…he was the one who was the master of Tex-Mex and Mexican cuisine. Always calm, unflappable, and kind…not at all what you’d expect from a big name chef.

Get in here with your little jam pots!!

She and I share a love of a good room service breakfast when you travel….at a nice hotel anyway. I remember one experience where they brought plastic cutlery…NOOOOOOOOOO! But when a nice table covered with white linen rattles in, with a silver coffee pot and creamer, nice china and hot eggs and bacon….while you’re in your bathrobe….it’s a little slice of heaven. But one doesn’t give up a chance to go to a Rick Bayliss place.

Hey little sister!!

 XOCO(which is slang for “little sister”)specializes in Mexican street food from one of America’s top chefs(which means you’re not nervous about eating it).

Mmmmmmm.....churros...and coffee...

 Churros, tortas, caldos..and mmmm…hot frothy Mexican hot chocolate. I was jealous.

Jen and my son are passing through Baltie briefly tonight…dinner, crash at our house, and then off to Annapolis early tomorrow morning for a wedding and straight back to New York. So this morning, while Jen was enjoying hot from the fryer churros…I was changing the sheets in the guest room and throwing shoes in the closet. Don’t really have to worry about dinner…we’ll eat out…probably 13.5% Wine Bar in Hampden which is close to work,(though I’ve got to mix it up a little-last time I was there, the waiter saw me and said “It must be Friday“…how predictable am I?) and lots of fun, and not too expensive. (Hey, when you’re paying for dinner for 5 wine-drinking adults…that’s important).

Cupcakes....what's not to like?

And this afternoon I’m headed down to Charm City Cupcakes to use my Groupon there! One dozen cupcakes(4 key lime, 4 red velvet, and 4 chocolate mousse Pimlico) at half price…dig it…so we can have dessert at home. I want a cupcake right now.(Side note-just returned from downtown where I parked in a no parking zone for 5 minutes to run in and grab cupcakes…got a $32 ticket. So $15 groupon + $32=$47 cupcakes…sigh. This is no fault of Charm City Cupcakes-just my being a dumbo.)

Hope you’ve all dried out a little from the torrential downpour yesterday…one of my neighbors had an 80 foot spruce tree come down onto the power lines in front of his house(yikes)….luckily it spared his home, but it was such a gorgeous tree. Hope all of you escaped unscathed. It’s Friday people…I hope you’re enjoying your family as much as I’ll enjoy mine(briefly)…play nice, don’t throw rocks and come home safe…’cause we miss you!

Rescue from a nightmare “rescue farm”…and it’s Friday people! September 17, 2010

This horse weighed 900 pounds in July, now down to 700..

Ok, this is a story you must see tonight on 11 News at Five….about horses that were given to a “horse rescue”  place in West Virginia….because the owners couldn’t care for them anymore, but here’s the catch. The woman who runs the “rescue” place….puts these horses out to pasture with no feed and no water. They were slowly dying from hunger and dehydration. What a terrible cruelty…and worse because the place accepted healthy animals and starved them. Who would do such a thing? Collect money to care for animals and then deny them any sustenance? 

This vet said, "He's just bones covered by skin."

Luckily an investigation led to their true rescue…those in worst shape were taken to Day’s End Farm (here’s a link)in Howard County…where the horses are being rehydrated and fed, and hopefully, brought back to health.  As the vet in the story said about these horses…”They’re just bones covered by skin“.  Even these people at Days End who are used to seeing malnourished and abused animals, were shocked. 

Worker at Day's End Farm....

Honestly, it just makes me very very sad…and then very very mad. There’s just no excuse at all…I hope you’ll watch Rob Roblin’s story at five. Rob asked me  if we should warn viewers that the video might be disturbing….I told him people should be disturbed. That if you can see something like that and NOT be disturbed something is wrong with you.  So if you’re disturbed tonight, you can blame me.  Here’s a link for more details about Rob’s story…

OK, enough about that,,,happy thoughts, happy thoughts…it’s Friday people!! Friday after a somewhat stressful week. I’m gonna have dinner with my sweet daughter tonight(135% Wine Bar in Hampden), and Auburn plays Clemson Saturday night…hollah!! We’re doing bison burgers with a choice of toppings(tba toppings)…sweet potato fries and a black bean salad. And, something for dessert(hello, Sugarbakers?)…so all is well. Hope all of you have a great weekend…play nice, don’t throw rocks, and come home safe(that all takes on special significance to me after this week)…’cause we miss you.