Holy Marble Countertops Batman!  That kitchen is goregous.  Via House Beautiful

It’s time for the weekend and it’s freezing cold here in Massachusetts.  I hope that people in other parts aren’t quite as cold as I am today.

Do you have any decor resolutions this year?  Projects you need to finish or things you want to change?  Me too!  See mine here

A lighter halibut and chickpea salad so you can get back into your clothes after the holiday party season and the binge eating that goes with it

Don’t you think it’s time you got a new calendar?

First historic home profile of 2009

Maryland Crab Cakes hit the spot

West Elm has some new eco chic that lives up to the name

See you on Monday!

A recipe for Crab Cakes from the Martha Stewart show.  Enjoy!

So yeah, Maryland is known for its crab cakes. I’m a huge fan of crab, and my family did plenty of crabbin’ when I was a kid, but I’ve never liked anything besides just straight-up crab. Crab cakes in my home state of Washington generally have onions in them, and if you’re observant you may have noticed that my Xbox 360 gamertag is onionsaregross – ’nuff said.

My friend Chris has been urging, nay, requiring me to try out G&M Restaurant & Lounge, which is the most famous place around for Maryland crab cakes. After a less-than-stellar trip to Crab Towne USA, I was ready to give Maryland’s blue crabs another try. G&M ships their crab cakes, and they get all sorts of awards, so they must be damn good, right?

Chris had told me to order a double platter (pictured above, $23) and split it with my wife, since it’s cheaper than both of us getting the single $17 platter. Screw that shit, I ate the whole thing myself. There’s no better feeling than getting full off of crab, if you ask me. The cakes themselves are really nothing more than oodles of crabmeat barely held together by breading and what I like to call “crab guts”. I ate my two with a little trouble near the end, and Janey only ate half of her single platter, so I think from now on we will follow Chris’ advice but I’ll eat the half that my wife doesn’t.

This was by far the best crab-related food that wasn’t straight crab that I’ve ever eaten in my whole life. Happy now, Chris? I am.

Got a chance to try out a new restaurant last night called Open City, a bistro – bar – rooftop in Midtown.  The downstairs decor is nice and soothing while the upstairs has a relaxing atmosphere.  We were able to get seated on the rooftop and there was a great view of downtown from our table that added to the ambiance.

Their famous Frozen Mojito was okay.  It was very minty tasting, which made it quite refreshing, but it really didn’t have any other outstanding flavors to it.  The wine list was not that extensive, but the ones they did have were quite good.  By the glass had even less options, but I was able to make do with a Pinot Grigio.

We started out with the Blackened Shrimp with a tasty cream dipping sauce.  The salads were quite big and I can see myself just having it as my entree.  I had the Maryland Crab Cakes which came with garlic mashed potatoes and very tasty green beans in caramelized garlic.  The crab cakes were shredded, and while I prefer lump crab for this type of dish, they were still tasty.  It was topped with some sort of cream sauce that just added to the tastiness.  The mountain of mashed potatoes were evil as you wanted to just eat the whole pile…I somehow managed not to!  Other dishes that I sneaked some bites on were the Spinach Fettucini with roasted tomatoes, portabellos, asparagus goat cheese and garlic – which was dangerously delicious; Hazlenut Crusted Trout – this was really bland and needed some spices, or salt and black pepper at the very least; and Salad with Grilled Salmon – the salmon was tasty and had a good texture.

One thing that was cool and a bit annoying at the same time was the live DJ they had on the rooftop.  The DJ started up about 8:30pm, which was right in the middle of our dinner and we had to start yelling a bit across the table to be heard.  The music was really good though, so we didn’t mind too much.  I think it’s a great place to hang out on the rooftop with drinks in hand!  I’ll definitely be revisiting this place for the food (upscale comfort food), the drinks and the ambiance. 

P.S.  The “Screaming” in the title is in reference to a mural in part of the lounge area on the rooftop that looked like the background from Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” painting.