Baltimore21201.Com - The Blog

There'll Be Ice in 21201 on February 12th. Guaranteed.

There will also be ice on February 19th and 26th.

 

Large-scale ice sculpture demonstrations will be presented all three days in Downtown Baltimore's Premier Green Space, Charles Center. Fayette Street between Charles and Liberty Streets.

The fun begins a noon, all three days.

The February 12th event marks the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln and one of the sculptures will be a likeness of our 16th President.

Note: The sculpture image above is from Hot Ice, Inc. They're local and serve Baltimore, DC, and Virginia.

In a Snow Cloud - The 21201 View

 

The snow is so dense this morning it's almost like seeing things in black and white.

 

And the silence is amazing. From what the weather folks are saying, this is just the beginning of a one, two, three punch. Let is snow, let it snow. let it snow.

To Our SuperFresh Market @ 21201: Thanks to the Meat Manager

Jacob and I have created standard food plans for our holidays. They've been perfected over the years -- lots of years. While they are not written in stone, and still evolve, Christmas Eve is usually a solid meal that takes some serious cooking time. And, our special eggnog recipe.

Christmas Day is appetizers, hors d'oeuvres, finger food, and cocktails that don't take a great deal of prep.

Shopping for the Christmas Eve meal, Jacob was at our SuperFresh on Charles Street & Saratoga. He found a bone-in 2-rib roast; a hefty 4.75-pound beauty for less than $5 a pound. Awesome. Here's how it looked right out of the package, the shrink wrap.

 

I've blogged before about Regan's Meats in Lexington Market. It's our favorite meat market. However, I'm always amazed and thrilled when an urban supermarket really delivers the goods. SuperFresh just keeps getting better and better.

This was an an extraordinary piece of beef from a supermarket. And I treated it as such. Simply. Here's my recipe for a perfect standing rib roast (or Prime Rib Roast) of any size:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees (Exactly 200 Degrees)
• Bring the Standing Rib Roast to room temperature (Extremely important & it takes time)
• Coat with olive oil
• With rib side up, coat top --the fat pad -- with a mix of sea salt, pepper, celery salt, garlic powder and let rest for an additional 30-minutes until the crust is moist and solid
• Put rib roast in preheated oven, on a sheet pan rib side up, and cook for 45-minutes per pound without opening the oven
• When your timer goes off, let the roast rest, out of the oven, for 30 minutes or more... and you'll get a magnificent rib roast.

  
It will have the perfect internal red color, edge to edge... just like the finest steak houses. It slices like cake and couldn't be more tender. It takes a bit of time; the result is perfection.

Merry Christmas to You All.
Stephen & Jacob

NOTE: Cooking this way doesn't shrink the meat, keeps all of the juices inside, and doesn't allow for photos of the inside slice...when you cut it you just have to eat it. Baltimore's best horseradish is an addition, but not necessary.

Men of Honor at Baltimore's City Center Park Tomorrow - August 20th

I'd normally write, "Yippee, another Movie Night!" However, this film seems to be an iffy addition to the City Center's 2008 Summer line-up. It seems a tad divisive. But, then again, I just came back from jury duty. I may be way too sensitive. It happens.

Amazon Reviewer, Jeff Shannon says, "Men of Honor presents a great role model for younger viewers, yet it's rated R due to abundant use of the F word. With appropriate discretion, parents should allow their preteen and teenage children to see this rousing if altogether conventional biopic inspired by the life of Carl Brashear. Played with gravity and gumption by Cuba Gooding Jr., Brashear was the first African American to become a master diver in the U.S. Navy, despite the lingering effects of segregation, opposition from Navy brass, and the amputation of his left leg following a tragic on-duty accident. Robert De Niro adds marquee value and salty bluster as Billy Sunday, the drunken, redneck (and fictionalized) Master Chief who watches, with gradual admiration, as Brashear attains his ultimate goal through sheer force of will.

"This is all quite uplifting on its surface, but in attempting to hit the requisite highlights of an inspiring biography, director George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food) reduces Brashear's achievement to a succession of clichés, forcing Gooding and De Niro to battle sentiment with their noteworthy performances. As Sunday's neglected wife, Charlize Theron is completely extraneous; Hal Holbrook's diving-school commander is a ranting caricature; and newcomer Aunjanue Ellis barely registers as Brashear's wife (in part because their obligatory romance is handled with an utter lack of finesse). There's no question that Brashear's efforts are heroic and worthy of recognition, so Men of Honor serves its basic purpose. Still, one can't help but wonder if Brashear's story would be even more impressive with a more authentic treatment."

The New York Times gives a qualified Thumbs-up. Other reviews are on the low end of the scale.

According to the Downtown Partnership the event is, as always: Free. It Starts at 9 PM, Food and Beverages available for purchase. I can tell you that the screen is giant, the color & contrast is super, the sound is loud, and folks seem to have a great time.

So Long, Baltimore Sun. Your Light Is Barely a Flicker. What a Paper You Were.

If you've read this blog even once, you know that we love all things Balimore. And this blog is intended to support our favorite city. Baltimore is home, that's why we moved back here in the winter of 2006.

When Jacob and I lived 3,000 miles away we subscribed to the daily print version of the Baltimore Sun. It was an expensive subscription back then. The paper was big, fat and rich with local content. It was well and cleverly written by local reporters. It spoke to Baltimore residents (and former residents living far away) in an insightful, historical, yet progressive way. The paper reached out and spoke to its readers.

Our once great Baltimore daily paper which was known the world over by the tag-line, Light for All, looks to me like it's doomed.

Just in this afternoon from the Baltimore Business Journal...

"The Baltimore Sun will eliminate its weekday Maryland section as part of a redesign that the newspaper will debut Aug. 24." Read the full BBJ story here. I won't even attempt to pull more info. Read the story and weep.

Check back. I'll post more on this sorry issue shortly. Examiner anyone?

Young Mr. Oliver Meets His Boogyman. Up 26 Floors!

YMO gets really excited when he sees a ladybug, or a moth, or a mayfly on the outside of a window here. And we have lots of windows facing three directions. He'd never seen a grasshopper before this event and he simply froze in place. YMO tracked the creature with his eyes.

It's odd that such a face-to-face happened in the first place. Odder still was that the cat & bug stare-down went on for nearly 20-minutes. Hence, my having time to get the camera.

The bug moved a bit. Young Mr. Oliver didn't. Yeaaah, Oliver!

Detour Alert from Downtown Partnership

The Get Around Downtown Baltimore service from Baltimore's Downtown Partnership sent out an email press release this morning advising that Saratoga Street will be closed, between Charles and Cathedral Streets, for about a month. According to their detour directions, here's my map.

The reason for the closure was listed as Trigen Repairs. Yeah, OK. What's that?

Ah yes, Trigen is the company that supplies steam for heat (1,363,000 steam pounds per hour), chilled water for cooling (6,500 tons per hour), hot water (200,000 MBtus) and electricity (2.1 Megawatts) to a whole bunch of buildings in downtown Baltimore. I found these stats from a cached Trigen press release. Apparently Trigen was acquired by Veolia Energy some time ago.

You can find lots of interesting information on the Veolia Energy website if you're interested in infrastructure. Get lost in the data at your own peril.

How Our Inner Harbor Changed the World's Port Cities. No, Really! I'm Serious.

If you missed this last night, be certain to set your Tivo or DVR to record Maryland Public Television at 9PM July 22nd. (Channels 22 and 67)

Global Harbors: A Waterfront Renaissance is an outstanding piece of documentary work.

Baltimore Sun's architecture critic, Edward Gunts writes, "In many ways, Global Harbors is the Un-Wire. It doesn't deny the existence of crime and poverty and dysfunction in the city, but it starts with the premise that the glass is half-full. It shows Baltimore as a place where good things can happen when people put their minds to it. It dares to suggest that 50 years of rebuilding may be paying off."

I think Global Harbors' premise is that the glass is way, way more than half-full and that 50 years of rebuilding started paying off 50 years ago. It certainly did for the urban pioneers who, decades ago, bought their homes in Otterbein for a dollar.

In the Examiner, Michael Olesker notes, "What most of us didn’t know — but learn from the documentary — is the profound effect Harborplace has had on urban harbors around the world, with municipal leaders having taken their cues from the Baltimore model." I like Olesker's take, as I usually do, best.

Like all good documentaries should, this one has a website. And, if that Tivo crashes or Comcast goes down you can buy the DVD online. Trust me, it's a keeper. Spend the twenty-bucks.

Finally. After months, NEW SPIRITS in downtown Baltimore. And at great prices, too.

After months of anticipation and waiting - on my part - Jim Amato's Urban Cellars is finally open next door to the Peanut Shoppe's new location and just a few steps away from 21201's new SuperFresh grocery store at 222 N Charles Street, Baltimore.

I've written before about the oddness of having to go to RiteAid for a bottle of wine or scotch when friends were coming over.

No longer do we, as residents of downtown Baltimore's City Center, have to buy our Band-Aids and Brandy and Benedryl in the same store. That change is a wonderful, wonderful thing!

Here's the very best news: Jacob and I were at Urban Cellars last week shopping for our Friday cocktail party and for our private New Year's Eve celebration. Jacob had been to Urban Cellars before. I hadn't. He asked me to check the shelf prices and I expected them to be high due to the store's location.

THEY WERE NOT!

Every bottle of wine (Urban Cellars has an International Collection), every six-pack of beer (Urban Cellars offers the finest and coldest and some of the most unusual), and every bottle of liquor (their selection blew my socks off) was priced equal to or less than what you'd pay at any Maryland liquor store. And, certainly less than you'd pay at the drug store.

Stay tuned. Amato tells me that Urban Cellars is planning some extradorinary tastings and events.

21201 Snow Later in the Day

Earlier today I mentioned the new lights in the trees at Charles Center. Here are a couple of photos taken just a short while ago.

Our 7.5 million-dollar front yard is special. Who could ask for anything more? And, we don't have to mow the grass, water the trees or clean the snow on the walk ways.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, etc.

If you visited this blog last winter, then you know that we love the snow. And, this year we need it more than ever. On a practical level, with the ground water shortage on the eastern seaboard so very low, I'd be happy to see it snow all winter. On a personal level... It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas! I'll let a couple of photos say the rest.

Beautiful from inside our house.

The new Charles Center park could not look more set for the holidays.

There are tiny Christmas lights in all of the trees. Come to City Center and visit our front yard!

Charles Plaza Attracting Nuts

Almonds, peanuts, macadamias. Brazilnuts, filberts, walnuts and pistichios. Pecans, chestnuts and seeds of all kinds. And my favorite, warm salted cashews -- extra large, please!

Bonnie Scible opened her Peanut Shoppe at 101 W Lexington some years ago and was forced to move to make way for Baltimore's promised Westside redevelopment. She reopened next to the Mechanic Theatre at 13 W Baltimore Street. Now that the Mechanic is headed for redevelopment Bonnie's moving once again. She's planning to reopen at 222 N Charles Street, in Charles Plaza, by the end of November.

The Peanut Shoppe will be located next door to Jim Amato's new Urban Cellars, also opening soon. Now, that's what I call a prime location. We all can pick up some great wine and cocktail fixins and go next door to grab wasabi coverd peanuts for our next cocktail party.

Welcome to Charles Center, Bonnie. Now, warm up those cashews -- extra large, please!

Is 21201 Becoming Too Pricey?

Looking at the direct mail we've been receiving from the newest downtown apartment buildings and from some of the recent classic building conversions... I'M JUST WONDERING...

Is this the wave of the future?

Reviewing the prices of of Bozzuto's newest construction, the Zenith, where prices per square-foot seem rather New-Yorkish and where the apartments seem cramped on each floor, I hope this is not where we're headed.

I'm also hoping that Baltimore's westside Super-Block project will finally come about and level the playing field by increasing inventory.

At the moment many of the new City-Center apartments rent for what would be a starting mortgage payment. I'm hoping that all of this cools down until the proposed Baltimore/DC MagLev train makes Charm City a viable suburb of our Nation's Capitol. Then, it will all be fair game.

And, yes I know, I've been doing a whole lot of looking, reviewing and hoping.

Free Movie Tonight - Charles Plaza

Living in Downtown Baltimore is a wonderful thing. Last Friday we were invited to a dinner party and we walked to it. Just four blocks. And after our fair share of great company and conversation, awesome food, and several exceptional wines we walked home. The air was cool and had that clean and earthy smell that reminded us that the true Baltimore autumn is just around the corner.

Today an email arrived from the Downtown Partnership. There's a free movie, Night at the Museum, tonight at Charles Center Plaza.

It's family fare, fun and fanciful. The cast includes Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Robin Williams, Paul Rudd, and Anne Meara. Oh yes, and Brad Garrett as the voice of the Easter Island head. What's not to like?

Bring a chair or blanket, grab some food at EATS - our local food court - and enjoy what looks to be a balmy and beautiful autumn evening.

It all begins a 8PM.

Southern Management's 39 West Lex - New Website & Hot Floorplans Now Online

I've been watching the progress at the old BG&E building on the corners of Fayette, Liberty and Lexington Streets for many months with some sense of awe. The grand dame of a structure has been receiving some tender loving care at the hands of some amazingly skilled workers by way of it's conversion from an office building, built in 1916, to new apartment homes known as 39 West Lex.

David Hillman and his Southern Management Co., under the supervision of the National Park Service, are restoring the 22-story, neoclassical building to the standards of the National Register of Historic Places. (Jacob and I belong to the National Trust for Histoic Preservation. Trust me, such a project is not easy and, for a project of this size, is blazingly expensive.)

Today I had my first look at the online floorplans. I'd feared that, to maximize income, there would be many, many small apartments per floor as is the case in quite a few historic conversions. Oh, that's not the case here. The building has a true penthouse level with 2-bedroom + den units, on two floors, topping out at a startling 1799 square feet. The entire project has a maximum of 10 units per floor.

And, no creaky spiral staircases here. At 39 West Lex you get the real deal.

By way of total disclosure, we live in a Southern Management property, the Park Charles, and have no plans of moving anytime soon. What Hillman's company has done to improve the unban landscape of downtown Baltimore requires some serious loyalty. Besides, young Mr. Oliver loves the view.

An Envelope on Our Front Door! What's This?

Was the music too loud last night? Were our computer speakers pumped-up with too much bass? No, that couldn't be it. Those types of messages wouldn't be in an envelope neatly placed under the door-knocker.

Could it be?

Yes, it could. It was an INVITATION.

In the dog days of August all invitations are welcome -- Especially an invite to a downtown Luau hosted by your landlord.

Actually Southern Management, the company behind Park Charles, Charles Towers, and many other apartment communities in Baltimore's City Center are more than generous when it comes to parties for residents.

While this may seem like a lame endorsement of an apartment building or a management company: It isn't.

Invitations to a sponsored event arrive every few months.

And last year, on October 31st, residents here came home to a bag of Trick-or-Treat candy hanging over their doorknobs with clever little cards from the building staff. It's a little thing... and also one that means so much.

Now then, I'll be away this coming Friday evening. Hopefully I won't be the only one in a grass skirt.

UPDATE: Urban Wine Cellars

Last February I wrote about the possibility of Roland Park Wine & Liquors opening a high-end wine store, Urban Wine Cellars, at Charles Center.

Today I received an email from RPW&L's proprietor, Jim Amato, and it looks as though delays were caused by Baltimore's offices of City Permits. He's had the Liquor License in hand since February, HOWEVER...

Amato says that it has taken over two months just to get approval for interior renovations on what was an unimproved retail space in a 30-year-old building. Amato looks forward to opening shortly after Labor Day.

When we all return from the Eastern Shore after the holiday weekend, let's order a case from Urban Wine Cellars. (They've already hosted a downtown wine tasting... and, it was not so well attended. Let's change that.)

Once again, WELCOME JIM!

The Generosity of Urban Cellars: Sadly, UNAPPRECIATED!

When the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore invites you to an evening wine tasting, you mark your calendar.

When the Historic Charles Street Association invites you to the same event, you make it a MUST-ATTEND.

When Southern Management tucks a 4-color invite under your door... Well, you start picking out your wardrobe. At least that's what we did.

With cameras on our shoulders, Jacob and I headed out to enjoy the party in the newly configured Charles Center Plaza Park.

Where was the crowd? We saw folks from Downtown Partnership - their employees.

Where were the wine experts?

I asked a wine rep behind one of the serving tables (he was promoting a group of Australian and New Zealand wines) what made his Shiraz special. He said, "What? What are you asking"?

Yikes! Sell me on something.

The assembly of vintners was darn good. Over-all, their reps were not so good. Attendance was sadder than anything that I've seen in Baltimore's City Center. We must do better. We MUST support our downtown Baltimore partners... Each and everyone of them.