Culinary Cocktails, Navajo Tacos, Macarons, and More: A Wrap Up of My First Four Urbanite Food & Drink Issues!

The Queen Bee Cocktail: Belvedere vodka, yuzu, elderflower syrup, and honey water .. mmmm
It's been a month since my weekly Web zine for the Urbanite launched, so I thought I'd do a little wrap up and show you why I have been so frazzled lately! I cannot believe that in such a short time I have eaten so much food and had so many cocktails:



Market Flatbread Pizza at B & O American Brasserie: smoked ricotta, potatoes, peas, and a fried egg




The Margarita Goes Upscale: the Oaxaca at Baltimore's Grand Cru
I've had the chance to go in the kitchen with master patissier Joseph Poupon of Patisserie Poupon and learn how to make perfect macarons (well, I tried anyway):



Watching a master pipe the perfect macs


The results of his labors!
I explored the difficulties involved in choosing sustainable seafood, and met some local purveyors along the way:



A bronzini from Salt River Lobster Company
I particularly enjoyed spending time at a Native American Pow Wow, where I learned about Navajo and Lumbee frybreads:



Pow Wow Participants




Frybread, Three Ways


Lumbee frybread (l) & Lumbee taco (r)
Yes, I had to eat all the frybread. It's research, you understand.



I've also learned - and shared - some really cool recipes from local chefs, like Baltimore peach cake and a gourmet peanut butter cup. And there's plenty more where that came from ... I just have to make sure to get on that treadmill every day.  Seriously. Hopefully now you'll understand why I haven't been stopping by all of your lovely blogs as much as I'd like - but I am catching up, slowly but surely.



And if any of you happen to be in the D.C. area, I'm judging an Iron-Chef style cooking competition for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian's Living Earth Festival on Sunday, August 8 at 3 pm. You can find all the info here. Come on out if you can - I'd love to meet some of my bloggy friends in person!