Last week it was our friend Brooks’s birthday and we invited him, his wife Sharon and her mom Connie over for dinner to celebrate. Connie grew up in Havre de Grace, outside of Baltimore and loves crab cakes so much her brother sends her a batch every birthday from her favorite restaurant. She had told us where to get them in Maryland and we thought it was Faidley’s; Zeke was dying for her to try his version, but with the Pandemic we hadn’t had a chance to see her.

This was a simple dinner.

The appetizer was a crab dip we’d had at Marker 88, that the waiter wrote down for me, served with pita chips and sliced veggies. Sides were coleslaw (Shorty’s), cucumber salad (with cucumbers and dill from my garden), Connie’s delicious potato salad and boiled corn on the cob. The crab cakes were served with lemon wedges and homemade tartar sauce. Dessert was Key Lime pie I made with a prepared graham cracker crust. I did decorate the top with fresh whipped cream and sugared cranberries.

Everyone enjoyed the crab cakes and dinner. Ironically, we found out that Faidley’s wasn’t the restaurant Connie had recommended (it was H & M) but she pronounced these crab cakes as good as her favorites. Zeke bought the crabmeat at Publix. He bought Claw crab meat for the dip and Lump (the most expensive) for the crab cakes. This comes in a plastic container, in the refrigerated section of the grocery store (not in a can).

Although this recipe says “These take a while to make, but are worth it”, I think the recipe is quite easy.

FAIDLEY’S WORLD FAMOUS CRAB CAKES from Food.com

• 1 lb lump crabmeat, picked over
• 1 cup crushed saltines (put in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 dash Tabasco sauce

TARTAR SAUCE

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup finely chopped dill pickle (or dill relish)
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon pickle juice

DIRECTIONS

Crab cakes: Spread the crab meat out on a flat pan and sprinkle the crushed saltines over the top.

In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, egg, mustard, Worcestershire and tabasco.

Pour the mayonnaise over the crab mat and gently toss or fold the ingredients together, taking care not to break up the lumps of crab meat.

Let the mixture 2 – 3 minutes before forming the cakes.

Form the cakes by hand or with an ice cream scoop into 8 mounds about 3″ in diameter and 3/4″ thick.

Do NOT pack the mixture too firmly.

The cakes should be as loose as possible, yet still hold their shape.

Place the cakes on a tray or platter lined with parchment paper, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cooking.

Tartar sauce: In a bowl, mix mayonnaise, dill pickles, onion, parsley and dill pickle juice. Chill for at least 1 hour.

To broil: Slip them under a preheated broiler until nicely browned, turning to cooke evenly about 4 to 5 minutes on each side.

Serve at once with tartar sauce on the side.

Makes 4 servings.

I wish I would’ve thought to take a photo of our group but it’s hard to take a selfie when you’re staying 6 feet apart!

“That’s the story of every marriage,” I said to Zeke, who was driving, as I navigated.

“Maybe if Bill had compromised more, you’d still be married,” he said.

Who knows?

My first marriage wasn’t as much a Democracy as a Dictatorship (and not a benevolent one) with my husband in charge. After 17 long years, I defected. I will be married to Zeke 17 years next year (God willing) and, so far, so good. At 60, I’ve now been married more than half my life.

Compromise and negotiations are essential in every marriage, which can sometimes make it seem more like a business deal than a merging of two hearts, but these are necessary skills for any successful relationship; I would argue that marriage is the most important relationship in life and finding the right partner is essential. You’ve got to find your groove, however, and sometimes, it take time.

Take vacation, for example.

In normal (non-Pandemic) times, I like to wake up around 8, take my time getting up, stretch, drink my coffee in bed and write in my journal. Zeke wakes up earlier (like 6), goes to the gym and works out, comes back and showers. Sometimes he brings me coffee from the lobby or his walk. On this trip, however, most of the hotel gyms were closed and some of the places we stayed at weren’t safe to walk around, so Zeke would wake up early, then pace around our room like a caged tiger on steroids. It was rather stressful to have someone awake, fully dressed and ready to go, as I lay in bed, still in my nightgown and trying to wake up. Plus, I need “alone” time to do my own thing; consequently I hardly got any writing done.

We arrived in Annapolis at lunchtime, after spending a day and night in Baltimore, Maryland. I’d heard Baltimore was a fun city, with a great Foodie scene, lots of history and great architecture. It’s also home to Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner, baseball compound Camden Yards and master of Macabre Edgar Allen Poe’s hometown and final resting place.

We’d stopped first at Faidley’s, world renowned as the place to get the best Crab Cakes in the World. They were awesome, but the neighborhood where Faidley’s was located left something to be desired. I flat-out refused to walk back around the block we’d walked to get there, so we found a back entrance to the parking garage and left. As we were driving to our hotel, we drove through more questionable neighborhoods, which prompted me to ask the Front Desk lady at our pretty B & B, the Carrolton Inn.

“Is this neighborhood safe?”

“When you walk out the front door, just go right,” she answered.

So we went right, to Little Italy, Fell’s Point and the Inner Harbor. We walked around for a couple hours, had raw oysters and a cold drink at the Thames Oyster Bar, then came home and changed for dinner at Gia’s in Little Italy. We had a lovely breakfast in the courtyard of the Carrollton Inn, our B & B, checked out and drove to Federal Hill to visit the park before we left. It was a perfect spot, high up above on a hill, where we could see all of Downtown Maryland. Our last stop was to Edgar Allen Poe’s Grave at Westminister Presbyterian Church and then we were on our way to Annapolis.

Unfortunately, as was the case in Harper’s Ferry, the Visitor’s Center in Annapolis was closed, which is how we found ourselves Wazing it to The Boatyard, recommended on Yelp as a good place for lunch. On our many Road Trips, Zeke is the driver and I am the navigator. The Boatyard, normally an inside bar/restaurant, got creative and turned their parking lot into a dining area. They laid down a ton of pebbles, put plastic tables and chairs out and decorated it with potted palms, under a big tent, with fans. Instead of “paving Paradise and putting up a parking lot”, they did the opposite.

We had an excellent lunch, with local fresh oysters (our favorites of the trip) and local beer. Zeke LOVED his crab cake sandwich and said the crab cake was comparable to Faidley’s, which is high praise. Since we had time to kill, we checked out St. John’s College, which was of course, closed but we walked around the campus. We then attempted to visit the U.S. Naval Academy, but got stopped at the guard gate by a no-nonsense military man demanding Zeke’s driver’s license and eyeing our rented minivan suspiciously. After he checked out our license plate (with an armed guard watching us), he dismissed us, telling us to come again “when this is all over.”

Our dinner at Preserve on the main street was very good. I got crab cakes served on a bed of sautéed corn, basil, basil oil and cherrby tomatoes, Zeke got a burger and we split a bottle of wine. As we walked across the bridge to check out the boats and marina in Annapolis, we attempted to walk around a swaggering, maskless guy on the street.

“You think I’ve got COVID?” he screamed at us. “Yeah, I’ve got COVID up my ass.”

We kept walking, avoiding a confrontation. I think alcohol may have been a factor in this guy’s extreme reaction. It was interesting to see how the different states handled the COVID situation. Most restaurants and hotels were very good about mask-wearing and social distancing, but out on the streets, it was every man for him/her selves, with about half of the people wearing masks and a lot of them not wearing them correctly. A mask on the hand is not worth two in the bush.

We had a great breakfast at The Iron Rooster in Annapolis and hit the road for St. Micheal’s, a city a friend had told me was a charming little Chesapeake Bay town where her brother had worked at a resort. As we made our way to St. Micheal’s, Waze directed us to: “Make a slight left on Harmony Road.” With my coffee in my drink holder and my notebook paper in my lap to write, it felt like we’d hit our vacation groove and Harmony Road.

“I listen to the wind, to the wind of my soul. Where I’ll end up, I think God really knows.”

Cat Stevens

Up Next: Hamburger Pizza

On the Road Again…

When I was a Flight Attendant for Air Florida, I flew to London on a regular basis and this song played as we were embarking and disembarking on our transatlantic flights. After quarantining for five months, I was finally able to be “on the road again”, on a Road Trip in a rented mini-van to take Lauren to Washington D.C. to start Georgetown for her LLM. Along the way, Zeke and I hit seven states and nine cities; we ate many excellent meals, while sampling food in the South and Mid-Atlantic states, so here are my recommendations.

Best Overall Meal: Husk, Charleston, SC.

It’s kind of a bummer when you’re first meal is your best on a vacation, but this was the case on our Road Trip. The welcoming atmosphere, friendly and professional staff, attention to detail, delicious affordable Southern fare and the overall impression- from wine selections, to appetizers, entrees and desserts, made Husk my best overall meal on our Road Trip. Recommended dishes: Skillet Corn Bread, Kentuckyaki Glazed Pig Ears & Heritage Pork with Pink Peas, Peaches and Arugula.

First things first. All you hear about when you travel to Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay Area, is about the crab, the crab cakes and the oysters. Zeke was going on a streak (eventually broken) where he was eating a crab cake every day. Again, the best Crab Cake for me was the first one I tried on our trip, at the Mecca of Crab Cakes.

Best Crab Cake: Faidley’s, Baltimore, MD

This market, which is not really a restaurant (although they do have stand up tables) was recommended to us by our friend Sharon’s mother Connie, who is from Havre de Grace, outside Baltimore. You order your Crab Cake, with sides if desired, pay and it’s delivered to you. The crab cake comes out, golden brown, baseball shaped, heaping in the middle, bursting with jumbo lump crab meat and, very little filler. These 8 ounce crab cakes are rich, meaty and slightly decadent. I got the coleslaw on the side, Zeke got the cucumber salad. Both were good, but the crab cake was definitely the star of this show.

Best Raw Oyster: Patty’s Fatty’s, the House Oyster at The Boatyard, Annapolis, MD

Since Zeke and I both love raw oysters, we tried them in almost every place we ate on this trip, and especially wanted to try the local oysters from the Chesapeake Bay. These Patty’s Fatty’s stood out in our memory as special and they lived up to their name, being plump and briny, with a mild taste. I also liked that The Boatyard labeled their oysters with little wooden skewers, taking the guesswork out of which oyster you’re eating, as I usually forget what the waiter tells me they are, within seconds of him walking away.

Most Unique Meal: Steamed Crabs at the Crab and Steak House, St. Micheals, MD.

When we bought our boat from Todd at Unique Marine, he told us was had to try the crabs while in the area, where he’s originally from. Not the crab cakes, he explained, but the whole Steamed Maryland Blue Crabs, where you crack them open, dig the meat out and feast.

“It’s messy and a lot of work,” he explained. “But there’s nothing like it.”

Todd

So, being the adventurous eaters we are, we did it.

I ordered a 1/2 dozen Steamed Maryland Crabs (market price), Zeke got a dozen and we really over-ordered. The waiter came and dumped the Old Bay encrusted Steamed Crabs from a red, plastic tray onto our paper-covered table. He showed us how to eat them, and then we were on our own. You flip the crab over, remove a little section, flip it over again, remove the red shell. You pull out the “black muck”, pull off its legs (dismember it) and then, start eating. A wooden mallet is provided for cracking into hard-to-getting the crab meat out of hard to get to spots- the honeycomb-like body was the most challenging area of the crab. It was a fun, once-in-a-lifetime experience, I don’t ever want to do again.

Best Drink: Thames Oyster House‘s Summer Negroni Slushie, Baltimore, MD.

Maybe it was because we’d walked around for hours in 90 degree heat in the Inner Harbor, maybe it was the charming little courtyard away from the maddening crowd of Fell’s Point, or maybe it was our accommodating waiter, but I loved this place, that seemed like a Secret Garden hidden in the middle of Downtown Baltimore. The couples around us were all apparently in a party mood and, when I saw the Summer Negroni Slushie on the menu, it had my name all over it. Gin, sweet vermouth, lemon and grapefruit juice combined with crushed ice made for an awfully refreshing drink. I’ll have another.

Best Appetizer: Foie Gras Parfait at Le Diplomate, Washington D.C.

While this was my favorite appetizer on our trip, the manager was such an unhelpful jerk, it almost seemed like we were actually in Paris. This tainted my experience of Le Diplomat. But forget all that, in the name of journalism and listening to my stomach, I loved this dish of smooth, whipped pate in a jar, covered with a wine gelee and served with fat slices of rich brioche. The Foie Gras Parfait was reminiscent of a grown-up peanut butter and jelly sandwich, as you spread it on the toast; it was a perfect bite with a glass of French Chardonnay. The French fries, which came on Zeke Steak Frites, were awfully good as well.

Best Breakfast: Iron Rooster, Annapolis, MD.

We stayed at several Bed and Breakfasts on this trip, which supplied tasty starts to our day, but our favorite breakfast, by far, was at the Iron Rooster in Annapolis, Maryland. We both got the same exact breakfast- two over-easy eggs, with hash browns, Canadian Bacon and a huge biscuit. The eggs were cooked perfectly, the hash browns non-greasy and delicious and the Canadian Bacon was the best we’ve ever had. This was no Jones skinny, colorless patty, but a fat slab of pink meat, with a nice char from being on the flat top. Good coffee and service as well, with a view of the harbor.

Best Lunch: Agave, Lewes, Delaware.

I’d heard a lot about Rehoboth Beach, so booked a night there in Delaware, but didn’t really understand what the fuss was about. We walked the Boardwalk and ate Boardwalk Food (Grotto Pizza). I’m so glad we stopped at the nearby beach town of Lewes (the first town in the first state) for lunch! It was a charming town, full of history, book and antique shops and Agave, an excellent Mexican restaurant. I got the BEST margarita there- Ancho Chili with Patron Citronge and Ancho Poblano Chili Liqueur, rimmed with spicy salt. Zeke loved his Chicken Mole Enchiladas, smothered in sauce and my Blue Cheese and Steak Quesadillas, filled with rare filet mignon slices and carmelized onions, was to die for.

Best Entree for Dinner: Chicken and Waffles at Founding Farmers, D.C.

This was one of my last meals on our Road Trip, on our return trip to D.C. and it was delicious. My crunchy fried chicken, creamy macaroni and cheese and flavorful green beans were so darned good, I didn’t even get around to eating my waffles. There were plenty of leftovers for Lauren to take back to her apartment in D.C. The service here was friendly, the food affordable, definitely a repeat when we return to D.C.

Best Pasta Meal: Gnocchi with Shrimp at Gia’s, Baltimore, MD.

Every trip has to feature a trip to an Italian restaurant and when we asked the Front Desk lady at our Baltimore B & B to recommend a spot in Little Italy, she recommended Gia’s, owned by a friend. We’d walked by it before, as I noticed the colorful mural on the way to our hotel. I got the homemade Gnocchi with Shrimp, which was a huge portion of al dente gnocchi and fresh shrimp, which were cut into the same size as the gnocchi, which led to a fun experience, of not knowing if the bite you were taking would be pasta or shrimp. These gnocchi were made with ricotta (the way my Aunt Josie used to make them), so they’re lighter and the sauce was fresh tomatoes, arugula and spicy prosciutto paste, topped with burrata. Mama Gia- I loved this dish! And our waitress was helpful and lovely, as well.

Best Dessert: Peach Cobbler at Old Ebbit Grill

I’m glad that it was Washington D.C. Restaurant Week and that Zeke ordered the prix fixe meal (with Caesar salad and Crab Cake), because I got to taste his Peach Cobbler, which came a la mode. The cinnamon-scented peaches were hot and slick, covered with a crunchy, nutty and crumbly filling that went perfectly with the scoop of vanilla ice cream.

So, if you get a chance in the near future to visit any of these cities/states (and I hope you do!), these are my recommendations. Also, overall, I felt traveling to these states was very safe, with a few exceptions, which I’ll talk about in a future post. Thanks to Beth and Mireya for recommendations of places to visit on our trip.

Up Next: Faidely’s Crab Cake Recipe.