LoveFeast Table

Hamden, Hon!  Home of Cafe Hon, Golden West Cafe, Red Tree, In Watermelon Sugar and many other favorite shopping boutiques!  It is an area that has been blooming and blossoming into a little hub of creative activity!  It is a bit reminiscent of the hipster Williamsburg area in Brooklyn, NY.  I have to say, Hamden gives me just a little hope, that Baltimore can emerge to be a fun city with some true personality!  Ok, enough said.

My husband and I were approached about a year ago, about opening a wine bar.  We racked our brains trying to figure out where in the Maryland area a wine bar would thrive.  The only place we landed on, was Hamden.  Fast forward a couple of months later, word on the street was that a new wine bar would be opening next to Golden West Cafe!  (We called it!)

Last night, I headed down to see if 13.5% Wine Bar would be all I was hoping and praying it would be.  You see, I’m not a business owner in Hamden, but knowing the shops that are down there, and the traffic those shops are starting to attract…I thought that a bit of an upscale, unique menu, type wine bar would be a welcome addition.  Now, I had heard from a little birdie, that the renovations that went into 13.5% Wine Bar were quite remarkable.  With a reported $25,000 going into the bar design alone.  I didn’t want to set my expectations too high, but I had my fingers crossed!

I met a good friend for a much needed (okay, third one this week) girl’s night out!  The place was busy.  The bar was full as were all the tables inside.  I found the manager, who was also the hostess and she asked if we’d like to sit outside.  We hopped up into these cool, retro, orange stools, only to discover they were on the verge of tipping if you moved the slightest way, left of center.  I really didn’t want to spend my entire evening in a balancing act, so we headed inside.  A table had just opened up and we slid into solidly grounded chairs!

We were quickly greeted by our kind server.  He brought us drinks and took our wine order.  We ordered a bottle of  Clos la Coutale 2006 Malbec, Merlot from France.  I was leaning towards ordering a flight, as the prices were so reasonable, but I thought I’d save that experience for a night out with Devon!  We began to pour over the menu.  There were a number of salads and starters.  The cheese tray brought table side, looked appealing…but, again, better with Devon and a flight of wine!  They had a long list of paninis and a number of entrees, one of which caught my eye!  Honey, garlic hen with fresh peach compote and arugula.  Can I just tell you, the balance of ingredients and the way they are put together, are right up my alley!  This is how my husband cooks!  I didn’t order this entree (I will go back).  I ordered my server’s recommendation instead.  He said The Scooch was his personal favorite!  It was a panini with natural capricollo, spicy sopressata and prima donna cheese drizzled with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, red peppers and wilted baby greens.  My friend, Laura ordered the Spicy Napolean stack.  This was a layered medley of marinated eggplant, zucchini, roasted red pepper, and sriracha whipped potatoes.

The food was beautiful!  The flavor combinations blended nicely.  The food perfectly seasoned.  The execution, not pretentious.  I really enjoyed my sandwich and it went well with the Malbec.  I would’ve given this a total thumbs up, if my sandwich had been hot.  It was just shy of lukewarm.  Because I ordered a panini, I fully anticipated a warm sandwich.  Laura, was not as impressed with her stack.  She said, “It was okay…not a wow.”  Looking at her plate, it was beautiful.  I personally thought it could be rounded out with just a little side of a micro or baby green salad…just my opinion.  There were two things that impressed me with the 13.5% menu…one, the prices are reasonable!  All the menu items were under $10.  Two, the menu is interesting and diverse.  Some wine bars get into these small plates of cheese, fruit and pates, but sometimes a girl wants just a bit more to choose from.

The atmosphere was urban chic.  I loved the flag stone wall that was flanked by the wire shelves of bottles of wine.  The round club chairs looked comfy and orange always stimulates appetite!

The service was top notch!  I’m sorry to say, I did not get our server’s name, but I will say, whatever training the management of 13.5% Wine Bar did to prepare their servers, it paid off!  Our server has been at 13.5% Wine Bar since it opened in July.  He was attentive and thoughtful.  He kept our glasses full without interrupting our conversation and carefully made inquiries when we paused.  I did not feel rushed, at all!  In fact, I think we lingered for close to four hours.

It is a new gem of a find in my Baltimore Black Book.  I will definitely been setting a date with my husband!

One week ago, I was looking at this lovely view.   I was in New Mexico at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, on the Santa Ana Pueblo.  It was the perfect day to hike, or swim, or sunbathe and read a book.  It turned out to be the perfect day to bake Pueblo Oven Bread.

This is the perfect oven to bake this bread in.  This is a horno.  This one is heated by gas.  When the oven has reached 500 degrees, the gas is turned off and the mud bricks of the horno bake the bread.  It has holes in it, so you can view and control the baking process. Wet rags can close up the holes to create better browning.  I learned all this from Nan, a member of the Santa Ana Pueblo,  a very experienced bread baker and therefor the perfect teacher.

Nan and her family make this bread for their family members.  She said it is often eaten on feast days and  with red or green chili stew.  Typically, Nan makes about 30 loaves from a 25 pound bag of flour in her horno at home, which is heated with wood.  But, this day she made it with 11 hotel guests and one camera toting, picture snapping, question asking food blogger.

The guests gathered around Nan’s table and she began to teach them how to feel the consistency of the dough.

They added water and kneaded up their balls mixed with lard.  Lard?  What if you can’t get lard?   Nan chuckled, and added, “well around here you can”.

Then, after everyone mixed their dough up, she gave each person a new dough to work with.  This dough had already gone through the rising process and was ready to be shaped, into a traditional flower and baked.

An artist named, John, created this non-traditional face.

The face shaped bread went into the oven.

And, came out looking like this.

This is the Pueblo Oven Bread Recipe used at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Hotel, checked and verified by the ladies of the village of the Santa Ana Pueblo, who would never need to follow a recipe card.

Pueblo Oven Bread

Approximately 9 cups of white flour

1 Package of Dry Yeast

2 Tablespoons of Salt

2 Tablespoons of Lard (you can substitute with butter)

2 Cups of Water

Soften and dissolve yeast in warm water.  Mix lard, flour, salt and dissolved yeast in a large bowl.  Add warm water a little at a time kneading and rolling to even out all ingredients.  Let dough rise in bowl, covered with cloth.  Set near warm place of approximately 5-6 hours.  After dough has risen knead the dough and let rise once more for approximately 20-30 minutes.  After the dough has risen a second time knead the dough for 2-3 more minutes.  Shape into balls and other shapes and put in greased baking pans.  Cover with a cloth and let rise one more time in a warm place.  Bake in 400 degree oven 50-60 minutes or until tops are browned and loaves sound hallow when tapped.

A couple of months ago, as I was visiting Honey and Jam’s blog, my eyes fell on a Cinnamon Swirl Bread recipe and it caused me to pause…to salivate…to dream and plan (’cause sometimes it take a bit of planning to make bread with my crazy schedule).  Yes, it took me a couple of months to slide it in, but boy am I (and my family!!) glad I did!  If you’ve never attempted to make a loaf of homemade cinnamon bread, I encourage you to try!  Making bread sounds daunting to many, but once you get the hang of it, it really is easy and well worth the time.

There are a couple of bread making tips I’ve learned along the way.  I’ll share them with you, but then you have to promise me, you will attempt to make bread, you will rise to the challenge and just do it!  Really, people have been making bread for thousands of years!  You can do it!  Your husbands will fall madly in love with you, your children will worship the ground you walk on and your neighbors will be bringing you fresh produce from their gardens in hope of just getting a slice of this bread!  So, dig down deep, find the inner domestic diva and get to baking!

1.  When proofing your dough, I recommend heating your oven to 225 degrees F but, then turn the oven off.  This will set up a “proofing oven”.  It makes it just warm enough to encourage the dough to rise.

2.  If kneading dough in a kitchen aid, keep kneading until the dough pulls away from the sides and begins to pool at the bottom.

3.  Dough is done kneading when it is slightly tacky to touch, but not sticking to your hands.

4.  Pull that dough out of the bowl, flour it and knead with your hands for a bit…just for the primal, organic feeling of making bread

5.  With this recipe, I had ooey, gooey goodness pouring out of the dough when cooking.  I didn’t seal in the cinnamon and sugar enough with rolling dough up.  Make sure you do!  But, just in case, put a sheet tray underneath the loaves to catch the juice!

6.  I did not add raisins.  (A little something about me, when I was 5, I went to a friend’s house and her dad made me sit there and eat a bowl of raisins.  I have hated raisins ever since.)

7.  Loaves should cool before eating, but good luck with this!  Once everyone catches a whiff of the baking bread, you will have a hard time warding them off!

I shared these loaves with family and neighbors.  One neighbor, hid a piece and got up early the next morning and turned it into french toast!  He said it was unbelievable!  It was definitely a LoveFeast moment!

The color and the texture at a Farmer’s Market always inspire me.

Farmer’s Markets’ say linger, look, stroll, savor, and relax.

Only two people asked me why I was taking pictures at the market.

One was an old farmer who when I answered, “I have a food blog”, shrugged, as in, whatever floats your boat.

The other was a young tween boy, who I answered, “I’m taking pictures for fun”.  He replied, that’s weird.

One of my favorite stops at the Prior Lake Farmer’s Market is Cocoa & Fig.

Brioche for Breakfast anyone?

This is the Prior Lake Farmer’s Market.

What’s your favorite farmer’s market treat?

We had heard good things about Miss Irene’s and when friends of our asked us to go, we jumped at the chance!

We arrived, were warmly greeted and escorted up to the upstairs dining room.  We started out with a cheese plate and other antipasti and began to pour the wine!  Malbecs have been up there with my favs lately, so we ordered a bottle of Malbec and settled in for a fun evening!

Our server Rusty and his counterpart, were on top of things from the very beginning.  Devon and I like service that is attentive but not over bearing.  Servers that anticipate our needs before we have them…servers who enhance our dining experience, not take away from it.  We don’t mind a little conversation.  In fact, we like to know a little about out servers and we like to see their personalities come through.  I have to tell you, our server experience on the second floor of Miss Irene’s was one of the best I’ve had in a long time.  Rusty is the real deal.  He’s an actor, who supports himself by being a professional waiter.  I felt like we were in his dining room (no offense to the owners!) and he was taking care of us.  Our glasses stayed poured and napkins folded! (Sign of good service is refolding your napkin when you get up to use the restrooms!)

The calamari was delicious!

I ordered the rockfish.  I would like to say that it was amazing, but I really can’t.  It was so heavily salted, I could not even begin to finish it.  Typically I would send it back, but this was the first time, the service redeemed the dinner!  I was having such a good time, I let the salty fish slide.

My husband had the lamb shank and can I just say, he was in his own little world…just him and his lamb.  Really!  He was enjoying every bite!

We ordered a couple of desserts.  They were good.  But, quickly overshadowed by a round of drinks we shared with Rusty and friend after our dishes were cleared.  They must have zoned in on our “foodie” ways and knew that a little after dinner love would leave us with a great impression!  It worked.  We were sold!

So, for the record, the food was good.  The prices reasonable.  The atmosphere warm and inviting.  But, the service was excellent!  I just hope the owners at Miss Irene’s know what a great job their servers are doing!  They did their job so well, that we left with a good impression, even though I couldn’t finish my dinner!