Follow that {lobster} truck!

I love lobstah. Particularly when it's delivered to my belly in the form of a Maine lobster roll. Lordy— I cannot get enough. 

My obsession with these delicious little sandwiches started a few years ago on a trip to Cape Cod... and {thankfully} continues in the DC area all because of Red Hook Lobster Pound, a restaurant serving up authentic New England goodies. Last summer, RHLP brilliantly unleashed a food truck on DC... and seriously stepped up the city's food truck game. 

The truck tweets its lunchtime spots to thousands of lunch-going followers hoping it'll be parked within walking distance. Of course, they're more than prepared to spend a decent amount of their breaks waiting in line. Such is life. 

I've been fortunate enough to stalk run into the lobster truck a few times now, and it never disappoints. Yesterday was the mister's first foray into the stalkery... pretty sure he's on the bandwagon now. 

Sorry, blue crab. 

Where I started in line... 

15 minutes later... {still not at the front}

 10 minutes after that... completely worth it. 

 Yeahhh, that's a whole lobster in there ::drool::

Mm mm mmm... sadly, the chicken I have out for dinner has just completely lost its appeal. Oops.

Breakfast: Blue Moon Cafe

Who doesn't love mid-week breakfast dates? Even more enjoyable when we finally get to try a place I've been wanting to since the first season of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. 


Quick tip about yours truly—Food Network, Travel Channel, and James Beard highly influence my "must-eat" list. 


Blue Moon Cafe is a teeny tiny little spot in the Fells Point area of Baltimore city. It's in a converted rowhouse and has about 10 tables {along with four seats at the "bar"}. It's oozing personality—which I wish I'd gotten more photos of, but my mind was squarely on the food. 

Speaking of food... 

Hers-- Country Omelet: sausage and cheddar, topped with sausage gravy. Served with a side of crispy hash browns. nom. 

His-- Sweet Baby Jesus: hash browns, lump crabmeat, cheese, and eggs smothered in hollandaise. 

Ours-- Cinnamon rolls {we actually had one a piece, don't judge.} Do you eat yours with a knife and fork or tackle with sticky fingers? 

Full belly = happiness {and that face, swoon}. 

Oh yeah-- here's some of that personality I mentioned before...

...and another shot of a cinnamon roll just for good measure!

Blue Moon Cafe was WELL worth the wait! I'm excited to get back to Baltimore for our next feast :)

Date Night

As you may recall, about three weeks ago Amwilli propositioned me with this oh-so-enticing invitation:

"I need to get on your calendar for Sunday June 27th in the evening, b/c I'm taking you out yo"

Now, I'm always excited when the Mister puts a little preparation into anything, but I didn't have the highest hopes for this one (could've had something to do with receiving the request via gchat). I couldn't have been more wrong—and I certainly don't willingly admit that very often!

We ended up at VOLT, the restaurant owned by Chef Bryan Voltaggio. Bryan competed on the Las Vegas season of Bravo's Top Chef— and through doing so really put VOLT on the map (subsequently making dinner reservations a hot ticket item). I've had the opportunity to experience VOLT for lunch, but dinner is just a whole other animal— and it was perfection.

The restaurant is in the center of Historic Frederick, Maryland— on a tree-lined street that's filled with restaurants, bars and shops. VOLT sits at the end of one block in a converted mansion from the 1890s.

These photos are pretty dark, so you'll have use your imagination...

My courses:

split pea soup | lobster, crème fraîche

cherry glen farm goat cheese ravioli | celeriac, maitake mushrooms, sage brown butter

pineland farm beef strip loin | new potatoes, ramps, chanterelle mushrooms

meyer lemon tart | lemon curd, raspberry purée, mousse

Amwilli's courses:

asparagus salad | (I don't remember what was in it, but it was delicious)

cherry glen farm goat cheese ravioli | celeriac, maitake mushrooms, sage brown butter

sturgeon | cauliflower, beluga lentil, verjus, crisp onion

textures of chocolate | bitter chocolate ganache, chocolate caramel, pistachio, raw organic cocoa

I didn't want to be the weirdo snapping shots of all the dishes, but I managed to get a couple of our desserts:

meyer lemon tart

textures of chocolate

We were sent home with raspberry pound cake (which will be a fantastic way to end tonight's dinner)

Overall, dinner was prettttty fantastic— easily one of the best meals I have ever had. The food was spectacular, the service was impeccable— Amwilli has even deemed it his new favorite restaurant in the area. Along with the food, I think all the "courtesy of the kitchen" goodies (amuse bouche, luscious post-dessert bites, raspberry pound cake) may have had something to do with it.

My absolute favorite part of the evening? My date, of course ;-)

♡

✳✳✳

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Friday in a nutshell

The day began with some sweet mother-daughter bonding at the outlets, and continued with a serious shoe safari courtesy of DSW.

A full day of shopping works up quite the appetite, so when Miss B hit me up with the proposition of meeting for some grub, I said absolutely but with ONE condition— our dinner spot had to be near fro yo (since my stomach is ALWAYS thinking at least one step ahead).

Miss B, in her infinite wisdom, chose the perfect place: Uncle Julio's.

Highlights:

Free chips and salsa just aren't complete w/o non-free queso and guac!

BBQ Chicken Quesadilla... or at least what's left of it.

Pretty, pretty swirl

Highest Light:
Splitting an entrée... the good (for-my-body) deed negates ALL those pesky calories right?!

Lowlights:

Yup, two of these.

Lowest light:
Managed to forget snapshots of US hoovering the deliciousness AND the only healthful thing we had all evening... we shall meet again YogiBerry.

And there you have it... another fabulous Friday in the books— hope everyone else is weekending in style!