Frog Legs, the other white meat?

I'm currently in New Jersey with my dad, who is a world traveler and a health nut. My second swaray into frog legs came because both of those things. My dad doesn't eat so I'm foodless, which means I'm not cooking, hence the lack of posts. Last night, after finally getting some food into the house, my dad brough to my attention the fact that he had frog legs and I took it as a challenge. I found a recipe for frog legs and here we go.

1pound of frog legs(I used one set of legs)
1/2 cup of soy sauce (amino acids)
1/2 cup of honey (agave nectar)
1 pinch of ground ginger (1 teaspoon of fresh ginger, chopped in a food processor)
1 clove garlic (1 tablespoon garlic oil)
salt and pepper to taste
flour
green onion (I used toasted sesame)

Mix the soy sauce and honey in a bowl for marinade, chop the ginger or add the ground ginger, and garlic. Add the frog legs and allow to soak for an hour (I could only hold out for a half hour)

Once the hour is up, fry the frog legs on each side for about 5 minutes, or until golden brown. In another pot, warm the marinade and allow to simmer. Once the legs are done cooking, add to the marinade and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from marinade and place on platter. Pour sauce over frog legs and garnish with sesame seeds or onions.

My thoughts:

Although cooking the frog legs was a challenge of sorts, I still had a problem with cooking and eating it. The thought the I was touching and eating frog legs was in the back of my mind but they taste like chicken. Literally. Sometimes they have a different taste to them, but they tasted like chicken. Be careful with the marinade. When I made the marinade, the soy-nectar ratio was balanced but after I let it simmer, it tasted a bit salty.

Wine, Pizza, and Hummus

What do these things all have in common? It's what I ate yesterday.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so a friend and I decided to go to the harbor. He wanted to walk around, I didn't because it was cold, so I decided we should eat. I was in the mood for some grilled pizza and I often passed Bagby's Pizza in Harbor East, so I decided why not? But on the way there, I stopped in Whole Foods for my first taste of Hummus. Why didn't anyone tell me it was so good? On my next food shopping trip, I'm going to get some Hummus.


But anyway, we ordered a Tennessee Honey Chicken with mozzarella, provolone, ricotta, roasted red peppers, artichokes, and honey chicken. I had mine with a glass of red Belmondo Pinot Noir. I didn't know how to order it and felt a bit dumb but I wanted to feel like I was in Italy. A glass of wine and pizza, nothing beats it. My friend had a Bud Light Lime. Whatever. The pizza took about 15 minutes and it was amazing. I usually don't eat peppers but I made a vow to enjoy all the flavors. The pizza was sweet and smokey at the same time. The textures were different and all blended well. Everything was complimented by the crispy crust. The crust was like a cracker, so good and flaky.

Afterwards we had Haagan Daas ice cream. I had a raspberry-mango sorbet smoothie. So good. Everything was so good. I felt like I was in Italy.

My Lobster Truck Story

Working in DC provides a lot of opportunities for interesting eating. Although there are a lot of food trucks in Baltimore, there are twice as many in DC. One of the trucks I had the pleasure of trying was the Red Hook.

Red Hook is famous for the Maine style Lobster rolls, so famous that line was half a block long and it took my 2 weeks to find the right time to get a roll. The day finally came when the truck was about 3 blocks from my job and I had the opportunity to try the roll.

I waited in line for about 20 minutes and the roll was alright. The Maine style roll is basically Lobster salad on a buttery bun that was too small for $15. Yes, I paid $15r a six inch roll. I felt ripped off but apparently people love it. Too add insult to injury, a few days later, I ended up with a lip rash.

My Mediterranean food excursion

Thanks to Baltimore's rich immigrant heritage, I was able to experience Italian and Greek food without my passport.

My first stop was Trinacria, a small Italian market in west Baltimore. The store is in the Lexington Market district on a forgotten blog. So forgotten that I missed the store because all of the other buildings are abandoned, good thing my friend saw it. After settling in awkwardly place parking on a right turn lane that was totally legal, we entered a piece of Italy. The Trinancria market is over 100 years old and has the off the boat feel. When we opened the door, we were greeted by the smell of fresh herbs and baked goods. I don't think that is a accurate description of the smells. The smells were amazing. After browsing the market for a few minutes I bought some Biscotti, a black bottom cupcake, breaded eggplant for my moussaka, a loaf of fresh garlic bread that is still bringing the smell of fresh garlic and herbs to the cabinet a day later, and some Trofi Liguri' imported from Italy. All of it came to about $12. Not bad. I wish the market was bigger though.

Next, we headed to little Italy for some pasta. I wanted pasta, he wanted harbor but I got my way-sort of. After riding for ten minutes of Eastern Avenue, we found Greektown and settled on some Greek. At the recommendation of some locals(?) we settled on a spot called Samos. Upon entering we were told to seat ourselves. I didn't think much of it but we waited ten minutes before anyone acknowledged we existed and that was only after I began talking about how we weren't seated when others were. After my complaining, things sped up a bit and we finally got menus and a cold waitress. I don't think she introduced herself at all; scratch that, I know she didn't. We ordered appetitizers, or mezedes, because they're cheaper and I'm trying to eat more while eating less. I ordered the shrimp halloumi, which was seasoned grilled shrimp, warm pita bread, rice, and fried Halloumi cheese. It was amazing, although I didn't really touch the rice. My friend had Shrimp pie, which was philo crust with feta and shrimp. That was great also. The food was amazing but I don't think I'll go back because of the service. Only one person greeted us and we felt unwelcomed. I enjoyed the food but I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Tonight I'm making a variation of shrimp pie:

I have left over shrimp and egg roll wrappers, so I'm combining them with herbs and feta cheese to make my own version of shrimp pie.