BLT 2.0

This sandwich is amazing.  It is basically a huge upgrade on the traditional BLT.  It comes from getting rid of the bread.  There is absolutely no need for it.  The bread gets replaced with awesome crispy fried green tomatoes.  When I initially made this I only intended to eat two of them, but I ended up eating all of them because it is so tasty.  I also cheated on the traditional recipe by adding in a bit of smoked Gouda.  Everything in this sings together.  You can also make it vegetarian by subbing in Tempeh bacon or smart bacon.

I’m only going to include the method of the fried green tomatoes themselves.  I combine it with some arugula, mayo, bacon and cheese to make a sandwich.

Ingredients:

• 2 Medium Green Tomatoes
• Creole Seasoning to taste
• 1/8 Cup Panko
• 1/8 Cup Cornmeal
• ¼ Cup Buttermilk
• ¼ Cup All Purpose Flour
• Oil for frying (If you’re using regular bacon you can just use the bacon grease)

Method:

1. Slice the tomatoes to 1/4 inch thick slices.
2. Season one side with creole seasoning and place that side down on a cooling sheet for 15-30 minutes.  Season the other side and flip and let sit on the cooling sheet for 15-30 minutes.  (This is to draw some of the moisture out.  If you’re just making fried green tomatoes it’s not fried green tomatoes the wait is not necessary, but in order to keep the sandwich a little neater and make the tomatoes a little drier and more bread-like.)
3. Dry off excess moisture from the tomatoes
4. Combine the cornmeal and panko.
5. Dredge the tomatoes in the flour.  Coat them in the buttermilk and then the panko cornmeal mixture.
6. Fry over medium heat for about two minutes each side until golden brown

Go Cubs Go!

I used Park Whiz in order to get my parking space for the Cubs game at the Nationals.  The parking that I would get was in a Safeway parking lot about half a mile away from the park itself.  It was my first time at Nationals Park.  It's my 7th MLB park, which totally reminds me that I have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to seeing MLB stadiums.

I made the mistake of getting dressed without knowing how cold it was outside and 65 was just a little bit too cold for the stadium weather.  Not to mention the fact that it was very windy at the Stadium.  I got there extremely early though.  I thought that the 2pm game started at 1:30.  It gave me a good chance to walk around the stadium and get some good pictures though.  I still had a very good view of the field from the the section I sat in 200 level off of the first base line.  I couldn't beat the price either.  $12 off of Stub Hub.  My only complaint about where I was siting is that you couldn't really see the catcher and part of the batter.  Though it wasn't like I was sitting close enough to be calling balls and strikes anyway.

I ended up trying the garlic Parmesan fries and they came with a smoky bacon sauce.  They were pretty tasty but the line to get them was slightly absurd.  I must have waited for about 20 mins, but there wasn't anything going on at the time so I didn't really mind that much.  It seemed as though every place there that didn't serve the standard ball park fare had an extremely unreasonable line.  The best beer I could find there was a Blue Moon which isn't too shabby.

After leaving the park I had dinner at Founding Farmers.  I really wanted to try the Deviled Eggs and Pot Roast, since I had seen both on TV, but I wasn't really in the mood for either.  I took some time looking over the menu and the great thing I liked about it was that they had designations for menu items that were vegetarian, vegan and nut free.  It shows real care.

Fried Green Tomatoes

I ended up trying the fried green tomatoes.  They were nice and crispy and just a little bit spicy.  They came with this cream cheese spread.  It's a very good combination because you get that spicy kick tagging along with the creaminess of the cheese just slightly cut through by the acidity of the tomatoes.  They were fried just right and weren't at all greasy.

Along with my appetizer, I enjoyed the Chelsea's Manhattan it was the priciest drink on the menu but it was well worth it.  A Manhattan is usually my drink of choice, and this particular version had a chai-infused Dolin Rouge Vermouth, which is one of the better Vermouths that you can buy.  It added a subtle hint of spice to the drink.  I also got to try a whiskey that I have never tried before in the drink, The Black Maple Hill 8 yr. Bourbon.  This drink had a lot of character  strong and not very sweet.  Just the way I like it.

Chicken and Waffles

Then came out the very crisp Chicken and Waffles.  I ended up getting the green beans as a side.  The green beans were cooked nicely and came with some candied lemon that added some sweetness and acidity at the same time.  The mac and cheese that came alongside it wasn't that great in my personal opinion.  I did like the blend of cheeses on it but I could have gone without it all together.  It is an unnecessary and unadvertised extra starch when you already have waffles.  The chicken was good and crisp.  I really liked the gravy that was 

After dinner, I left to visit my friend Sam’s work.  I couldn't believe that that jerk worked right across the street from a Dogfish Head Ale House.  Who does that honestly?  He also claims that he didn't know it was a big deal.  I mean seriously?!  I got to see his work which is actually pretty interesting.  Sam works at a research reactor.  It’s pretty cool to watch that reactor generate power for experiments that many people do.  Many of the researchers get approval to do their projects as the scientists review the experiments to basically see if they are worth preforming.  Then they either pay to use the time there if they want to keep their findings private or it’s free if they choose to share their findings.  It seems like a pretty laid back gig.

I went over to the Dogfish Alehouse for a  beer before heading back to Sam’s house to crash for a few hours before catching the plane home.  I was awake well before they woke up and was up and checked through security about a hour before my flight.  United has flights going from DC to Chicago just about every hour or so.  While I was there some huge jerk got all mad because he missed his flight.  The flight he was on had closed the doors about 10 minutes early.  He gave some angry excuse about how it took him a long time to get through security.  I guess he didn't think that a major airport would be busy on a Monday morning.  Anyhow his meltdown granted me with some much needed entertainment before my flight, which also ended up being the flight that he would be on started to board.