Drew, Nikki, and Zack Visit!

A fourth of July weekend to remember. Shouts out to our great friends, Yaboy, Nikki, and Zack coming all the way to Baltimore to hang with us! We did a little bit of everything. Evidenced by this recap, it was awesome! 

Drew Nikki Zack Visit from Robert on Vimeo.

Philip, Jenn, Jason, Bryson, and many others... This could be you! Come visit us! 

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Couple O' Crabs in Camden Yards

For what seemed like the first time all season, the Orioles had an home during the weekend! We jumped on Seat Geek (their sponsorship of The Bill Simmons Podcast Network must be working). And when I say "we" I mean both of us bought a pair of tickets. Classic miscommunication! 

But first, a quick detour: On Friday night we walked out of some forgettable restaurant and into a little establishment called Puppies! That was the name of the store! And they even sold puppies! HUGE MISTAKE! We fell hard for the coolest fanciest French Bulldog of all time. Unfortunately we left in pure devastation for the following reasons:

• She would have looked down on Draper for having muggle parents 
• Our apartment lease agreement only allows for one dog
• It seemed like it would have been a rash unplanned life decision
• Oh, and she cost $3,846 (roughly $641 per pound) 

Peggy from Robert on Vimeo.

Pickle's Pub

Back to the fun part of the weekend! Saturday, we drove into the city Ben Eiden Style (6 hours prior to first pitch) so we had some time to kill. And this wouldn't be a Crabicurious post without us ingesting crab meat in a unique and opposite-of-healthy fashion. Pickles Pub, described as an "Orioles Game Day Institution" is located a few blocks from the stadium. To get the full experience we went with the crab meat and cheese covered Pickles Pretzel! I can think of no better way to start off a 90 degree day in the sun.

Baltimore Crushes are quickly becoming a Mrs. Crabicurious favorite

Pickles Pretzel pictured above. Not sure what the "P" stands for. 

Crabicurious Rating: 4.5 crabs out of 5!

Seadog Inner Harbor Boat Tour Gone Wrong

Okay, only 5 more hours until kickoff... we started walking toward the harbor and saw a kiosk for a river boat tour of the city. We thought we could gather some good trivia bits for when people came in town. Our tour guide, who called himself "Brown Sugar" used to hang around with Jada Pinkett Smith (allegedly). We saw where Francis Scott Key (the greatest rapper of his time according to Brown Sugar) wrote our nations anthem. 

The trip was going great UNTIL all of the sudden smoke started billowing from the back and the captain forced everyone to the front of the boat. I was worried what might happen if my camera got wet, why I didn't get the insurance on the lens I rented for the weekend, and for the safety of my wife, and of course not in that order! 

Coolant had leaked into the engine so: tour over, back to shore, full refund, memorable experience. 

Orioles v. Blue Jays

After one more round of crushes, it was finally time to make our way to the game. Camden Yards was the nicest sporting facility I've seen: Cool brick accents and buildings everywhere, super clean, lots of different foods. We enjoyed some ball park dogs and watched our O's get the W. Only a billion more baseball games left in the season, so it was good to get this important win! Below are some shots from the game sans Leslie's narrating charm... but peep the sick 3-4-3 double play at the 24 second mark... WEB GEM!

Orioles Game from Robert on Vimeo.

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Leslie Joins the Candy Club

What can I say? I love candy...and chocolate...and SUgAr! Since leaving the chocolate business I have an unquenchable craving for sweets! I thought what better way to satisfy the craving than with 60 bucks worth of confections every month delivered right to my door! 

Candy Club Unboxing from Robert on Vimeo.

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A Moveable Feast: One Day of Decadence in Baltimore by Meg Kennedy

By Meg Kennedy

1,210 Miles

49 Hours

5 Restaurants (Not Counting Arby’s)

3 States

4 Friends**

Ben and I left for our weekend in Baltimore, quite literally, as soon as possible—with Ben even showering at my office while I finished up the day’s work to cut down on time.  After weeks of anticipation and an endlessly dragging week, we hopped into the car at 5:07pm on Friday afternoon to begin our journey from Crestwood, KY.  You might be asking, “How long of a drive is that?”  Well, I’ll tell you:  it depends.  Google Maps might tell you it takes approximately 9 hours.  But they don’t take into account who’s driving (Ben), conditions (pitch black midnight in the hills of West Virginia), and speed (a casual 90 mph).  Clocking in at 8 hours and 39 minutes, Ben would say we made good time.  I would say those are years off my life I’ll never get back.  Still, there were highlights during those dark hours between 9pm and 2am.  Most notably:

• My inexplicable decision to (1) eat Arby’s for dinner, and (2) forego any normal meal and order two sandwiches for dinner (Oh, look!  They put nacho cheese all over my roast beef!).
• Passing a biker gang of tubby white men, all sporting matching vests reading “Pagan’s [sic].”  Also, Ben’s offhand comment, “What if I hit one of them?” Pause.  “My parents would never find my body.”
• My attempts to set an all-time record for not blinking, in an attempt to use my mind powers to prevent our imminent demise in a fiery crash and/or eventual eating by hill people.

Suffice it to say, the thought of being welcomed into the warm, clean rooms of Robert’s and Leslie’s home saw us through.  And we were not disappointed upon arrival.  I mean, not one but two Maryland-themed koozies for Benno?  A pack of tampons for Meg, where each tampon is its own individual flask capable of holding a shot?  These are people who get us.

After a warm reunion—and several handfuls of Old Bay potato chips—everyone got a bit of shuteye to prepare for the following day.

Ben and I came to Baltimore fully expecting to spend quality time with two of our very best friends, but knowing next to nothing about the city and having very little in the way of expectations for sightseeing.  So what happened over the next day truly blew us away.  Our friends took us on a thoughtfully curated crawl through the neighborhoods of Baltimore, with an eye for giving us a taste of the eclectic moods of the city and a willingness to answer all of our brash questions.  If I was a praying person, I’d say we were #blessed.

1. The day began with reservations at Woodbury Kitchen, rife with hip flatbread and tiny cast iron skillets.  The breakfast food was good, and the perspective on pre-noon cocktails was divine.  With my breakfast I had a Whiskey Smash—fresh, not-too-sweet, with a sprig of rosemary.  You know, for medicinal purposes.
2. We left the hip part of town and headed to the historic part.  We wandered through the cobblestone streets through the day’s heat, hitting the main historical landmarks and spending a quality 20 minutes cooling off in the Walters Art Museum.
3. Back at Robert and Leslie’s luxurious pad, we cooled off and watched a couple episodes of Broad City to fortify ourselves for the evening ahead.
4. After a quick caffeine pit-stop, Robert and Leslie took us to one of their favorite old haunts, right across the street from their old apartment building in Fell’s Point.  The Red Star gave me the most incredible crab dip I’ve ever put in my mouth, and for that, I thank them.  I thank them also for their unpretentious ambience, extensive and creative signature cocktail selections, and The Colby (Citrus Vodka, Ginger Liqueur, Muddled Lemon and Cucumber…did I mention Vodka?).
5. We walked along the water the Robert McClintock gallery, somewhat because of The Wire and mostly because his colorful portraits of dogs were irresistible to two sets of fur parents.
6. Conveniently located across the street from the gallery is Penny Black, where we sat on the patio with a breeze off the water.  There I had an orange crush and what I will affectionately call The World’s Best Crabcake.  I was skeptical when they arrived at the table looking rather like drop biscuits, but they full of big chunks of crab meat with nary a breadcrumb in sight.
7. The World’s Best Crabcake was enough to tide me over as we walked to Inner Harbor, past two separate weddings overlooking the water, to Loch Bar.  Beautiful piles of oysters, shining black and white tiles, bowties on the bartenders.  We upped our classiness level here with a charcuterie board and a few Collingwood cocktails.
8. Somehow still feeling a bit peckish, we moved away from the water toward Fleet Street Kitchen for a farm-to-table experience.  Again I was skeptical—coming from Louisville, a city renowned for its culinary scene and a stone’s throw from some of the richest farms in the country.  I remained skeptical when the waiter brought out deep super-mod bowls with tiny dollops of food in the bottom.  With one bite, the judgemental conga line in my head shut up hard.  The hearty Mushroom Agnolotti and tender Lamb Ragu were delicious and completely satisfying.  Not only that, but Kazem’s Mule blew me away with the fresh spiciness of its house ginger beer.
9. Our kind waitress from Fleet Street Kitchen pointed us toward Pier Six to walk down the canal to the music of the Avett Brothers.  
10. Finally, we followed the water back to Fell’s Point while the last rays of the day died away.  As the street lamps came on, the Wharf Rat welcomed us in with a casual neighborhood vibe and most excellent pizza, before sending us home with full bellies.

The drive to Kentucky the next morning, though in daylight, was a bit quieter, a bit shorter, and certainly a bit sadder.  One bright spot:  those of you who’ve driven with Ben know how glad I was when the classical music station mercifully moved out of broadcast range.  We arrived in Shelbyville, KY, to pick up our fur children around 6pm, a mere 49 hours from leaving Kentucky, still missing our friends, but luckily not missing the latest episode of Game of Thrones.

Thanks again, Robert and Leslie!  Those crabs are lucky to have you!

**Also 2.6 Billion Kleenexes personally used by yours truly, due to an unforeseen sinus infection which was graciously tolerated by Ben, Robert, Leslie, and the Entire Restaurant-Frequenting Population of Baltimore.

Ben and Meg Bar Crawl from Robert on Vimeo.

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A Crabicurious Long Weekend

A Weekend of Big Plans

This weekend we had planned to go to "Brew at the Zoo" at the Maryland Zoo, but when we arrived, there were like 10,000 people waiting in line for the beer section. So we opted to just check out the Zoo portion only and it was pretty fun, but super hot.

On Sunday, we had planned to be productive, but instead binge watched 10 hours of LOST. "We have to go back Kate!" 

On Monday, we had planned to go to an Orioles game, but there was a chance of rain so we bailed on that too, opting for a mini bar crawl in our old stomping ground of Fell's Point. All in all, the weekend was a success!

Memorial Day Weekend from Robert Rixman on Vimeo.

This ICEE goes out to you Bryson! 

Just a couple of Baltimoreans

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