Category Archives: French Bakery

Rose’s Luxury – Another unique place in DC

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Last week, the hungry women were shopping for Halloween decoration preparing for a big party. And of course, in between errands, what do we talk about in the car?? FOOD and WINE!

We started fantasizing about duck fat and what kind of trouble could we get into …One idea was to make fried chicken with duck fat! Can you imagine? HOME. MADE. FRIED. CHICKEN. FRIED. IN. DUCK. FAT. We absolutely have to try it (Dear Lord: I promise I will go to the gym every day if I we eat this).

Then we started to wonder where in MD could we buy duck fat as the new mission was set.

We all agreed: JESSICA WOULD KNOW! (the same Jessica that owns this fabulous bakery in Severna Park we blogged about previously). So we texted her asking if she had any idea where we could get duck fat locally, She proceeds to tell us that she would have a 5lbs duck fat container dropped at her Bakery by Tuesday.

Well I’d be damned, that woman knows people… it almost sounded like we were doing something illegal.

I tell ya, all over the world, not just in the US, it is not about what you know; it is about who you know. Knowing someone who can deliver a bucket of duck fat within days is Numero UNO on my list at the present time! Now I have someone in my rolodex that can indulge me with duck fat for life (I even told her that I wouldn’t know what I would do without her, her answer was “you’d eat regular fat”, nah I pass, you are stuck with me Missy).

Side note: Did you ever notice that, in the English language, most disease finish with “itis”? appendicitis, arthritis, conjunctivitis, meningitis, etc..

I had to come up with something that describes our disease, been thinking about it for days, came up with some ideas, no of them clicked…Then I mentioned my issue to Jessica. It took her only a couple of hours to come up with this:  CANARDVINITIS!  (Why didn’t I think of that???).

Since we are addicted to canard and vino, Canardvinitis is simply perfect. All the hungry women suffers from it. There is no cure (except for a bucket of duck fat that supposedly can last you for a while, I will let you know…).

So while we were talking to Jessica, she mentioned that she was going to open a bottle of 1994 Saint Emilion and because we have ZERO shame in our game, we simply invited ourselves (Are you kidding me?  Under no circumstances you can put the words Saint and Emilion in the same sentence and expect me not to show up). On top of it, it was Sherry’s anniversary that day and we almost gave no choice to her poor husband. He was going to hang out with the Hungry Women in DC, on his anniversary (told you, zero shame).

We got to Jessica’s place, got molested by the wonderful doggies, drank the liquid velvet and went to Dinner. Jessica told us we needed to try this new place called “Rose’s Luxury” on Capitol Hill (http://rosesluxury.com/).

It was 6 of us, no reservations and we were the luckiest people in this entire restaurant: we got to sit front row of heaven’s kitchen, as if you were in front of the stage of your favorite rock band concert. See for yourself:

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Our setup was actually comical, since we were spread apart in one row; we kept getting up from our chair to try other people dishes. Just picture women going back and forth with a spoon in their hand…We are definitely a funny bunch.

We had Vietnamese Pate, herbs and garlic bread (LOVED IT) ; pork sausage, habanero  and lychee salad (LOVED IT TOO!), porcorn soup with grilled lobster, spaghetti with strawberry and ricotta (that was different, I didn’t care of that too much but our friend Sarah loved it!) and the pickled brined fried chicken and trimmings.

2 highlights:

Number one: The popcorn soup with grilled lobster. To all the ladies that were with me that night: please add your comments at the end of this blog because I am speechless on this one. BEST SOUP I EVER HAD. It was almost like eating my crème brulee but in a popcorn soup version of it.

20131012_200842 IMAG0130Notice the group picture? What am I doing? Eating this divine concoction and paying zero attention to the camera…

Number two: the Fried Chicken: I have been on a quest lately to find a place that have an excellent fried chicken (yeah, I am French and I love fried chicken, sue me!). My quest has ended, best fried chicken I have had so far (I almost asked the chef if he ever tried it with duck fat but I didn’t want him to know about it before we tried it ourselves).

I must admit, we were a little disappointed with the desserts as it was the least favorite part of the meal. We tried 3 different ones and we did not care for any of them.  I really hope that Rose’s Luxury reads our blog. I know a fabulous pastry Chef that might be willing to consult (hint hint, wink wink).

Overall, we all agreed, we will most definitely be back!

Leave it up to Jessica to find these unique places. Keep it up Woman!

Stay hungry!

 

Aida.

Hawthorne Fine Breakfast Pastry – A taste of France in Severna Park, MD

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Question of the day: Do you know what I use to miss the most from where I grew up??

The picture probably gave it away, yes, The pastry!   Aaah, the croissants (plain, chocolate, almonds..), the fruit tarts…

See, I was raised on buttery croissants. That’s is what we had for breakfast (either that or some awesome bread with -real- butter and jam, I emphasize of real butter, not that white crap they serve you in restaurants or what you find in regular grocery stores).

Back in 2001, I was working for an IT company in Pikesville, MD. My supervisor Phyllis (who became a really good friend afterwards) had a birthday coming up. I wanted to do something special for her so I asked one of my co-worker where to find a really good birthday cake. Without hesitation, she told me that Miss Dessert was the best in town and that I wouldn’t be disappointed (I think that was the name, I tried to look them up but couldn’t find them so maybe that place doesn’t exist anymore, it was near Liberty road if I recall).

Anyway, during our lunch break, I asked her if we could go to that bakery and check out what they had. She agreed and off we went.The bakery wasn’t too far from the office so it didn’t take us long to get there. We entered the bakery and there was a display room, with   -very- colorful cakes everywhere: Orange, yellow, blue and all in between. They all looked the same to me, just a different color.

Silly French me, I was convinced that every color was associated with a flavor. For example, yellow would be lemon, blue would be blueberry or some other berry, orange would be orange, you get the picture. I called a salesperson over and pointed to the yellow one ( I happen to like lemon), and I asked  “What is this one?”, he replied: “It’s a yellow cake Ma’am”.

Here is how the conversation went:

Me: “I can see it’s yellow, but what is it?”

Salesperson: “It’s a yellow cake Ma’am”

Me (getting frustrated): “I understand, but what flavor?”

Salesperson: “I don’t know what to tell you Ma’am, it’s a yellow cake”

Me (done with the yellow one, pointing now to the blue one): “So what’s this one?”

Salesperson: “It’s a yellow cake Ma’am”

Me (now looking at my co-worker with the WTF look, and now pointing to the orange one): “and this one?”

Salesperson: “It’s a yellow cake Ma’am”.

Now I am pissed off, either Americans are color blind, or everything is yellow in this country. I was so confused. My co-worker proceeds to explain to me that icing makes the color, but they all taste the same, and that I had to trust her and just pick a color, and that everyone would like it. Not knowing any better, I did pick a yellow, yellow cake, had them write “Happy Birthday Phyllis” on it and off we went. Back to the office, we sneaked in the kitchen, displayed the yellow, yellow cake, lit some candles, brought everyone in, then someone else brought Phyllis afterwards, we sang Happy Birthday, she was touched, we cut the cake, and everyone had a piece, including me. It was horrible. The end. (everyone else seemed to enjoy it though so I guess my co-worker was right by saying that it would be a hit).

And this was the beginning of my disappointment about bakeries in general in the US. I had croissants here and there but couldn’t get satisfied as nothing came close to what I was used to.

My quest began. Throughout the years, I did find some good places, Bonjour French Bakery Cafe on Falls road (http://www.bonjourbakerycafe.com/, very cute place with good espresso and croissants), Patisserie Poupon downtown Baltimore on East Baltimore Street (http://www.patisseriepoupon.net/, I even ordered my wedding cake from there and they speak french! they have fruit tarts to die for).

I thought that Patisserie Poupon was probably as close as I was going to get..Until I had the privilege to meet Jessica Knudsen, Executive Pastry Chef/Owner of Hawthorne Fine Breakfast Pastry in Severna Park, MD. I met Jessica a couple of years ago, she was convinced that I had a cheese business (because I always brought Cheese and bread to a party). Her first question to me when we finally had a conversation was where did I import all my cheeses from. My answer was Victoria’s Fancy Foods (http://victoriasfancyfoods.com/, I will be blogging about this place too!), Whole Foods or Wegmans. She thought I was joking, I was actually dead serious. I told her I actually owned an IT Company, she thought that was boring, and that was the beginning of an awesome friendship.

She told me about her job, actually not her job, her passion and started to describe what she does. Jessica is probably one of the most passionate person I have ever met, and it shows,  in every single pieces of arts she makes in that little heaven of hers.

I am happy to report that my quest is over. I found France in Severna Park.  I couldn’t believe it. I had to sample. and I did. Over, and over again. I fell in love!

Check out her website: http://hawthornefinebreakfastpastry.com/ and the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HawthornePastry, and look at all the pictures, especially the last one she posted yesterday:

526390_614532525243678_555129757_nNew Danish, house-made lemon curd filled pastry, baked with a caramelized lemon sugar crust. Topped with fresh strawberries and glazed with hot strawberry jam. Damn you Jessica! I feel like I am getting fat just looking at the pictures! ( I haven’t sampled this one yet, I hope she will get the hint!).

Please know that Hawthorne Fine Breakfast Pastry is STRICTLY wholesale, which means that you can’t just go there and pick up what you want. You can however visit any of the places she sells to : http://hawthornefinebreakfastpastry.com/where-to-find-us/.

I personally wished she had one little retail store front, I’d be there every single morning!

So here is my advice for the day:  if any restaurants, caterers or any specialty coffee houses are reading this blog, HIRE HAWTHORNE FINE BREAKFAST PASTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Probably the best business decision you will ever make!

Stay hungry my friends!

(Man, I am dying for a croissant and a cappuccino just about now….)

Aida