Bistro Blanc - Glenelg

 Bistro Blanc is a restaurant and wine bar located in the Glenelg area of Howard County. The restaurant specializes in Modern American cuisine served "tapas" style. 

All of their dishes are rooted in local and seasonal farm fresh ingredients. 

It has a very cozy atmosphere with dim lights and comfortable chairs

Although our parents been several times to Bistro Blanc, this was our first visit. So, we went on a Wednesday night  - half priced burger night (beef or lamb).  

honey bay leaf butter, fig mustard dip, and
olive oil & balsamic vinegar dip

Artisanal Bread basket 

 We started by ordering the bread plate - a basket of warm homemade artisanal breads accompanied by three dips. 

 My brother and I both ordered the T. L.V. Farm’s Beef Burger with homemade rosemary parmigiano garlic frites. These garlic fries just blew me away. They were crisp, soft, delectable and had just the right amount of garlic.

 The beef, from Glenelg's Triadelphia Lake View Farm, was tender, flavorful
juicy meat cooked just right. The burger was topped with caramelized onions, melted gruyère cheese encased in a homemade brioche bun with a smear of peppercorn aioli sauce.

Bistro Blanc definitely lived up to its reputation about using local, farm fresh ingredients.  Everything we tasted was pure delicious - felt homemade for sure

- Charles

hocofood @@@ 

Celebrating our birthdays

Charles's homemade strawberry shortcake birthday cake

Charles and I are now 14 and 16 years old. We celebrated our birthdays in two different, but fun food-filled ways.

Charles recently had a sleepover birthday party this month. He invited his friends out to Tokyo Seafood Buffet for dinner. Afterwords, Charles and his friends ate strawberry shortcake at our house courtesy of my Grandma, who always makes great cakes for our birthdays. My brother said that Grandma's home-made cake was fantastic, and the best part was that the 3-layer cake was huge! Even in the morning, his friends were still trying to finish off the gargantuan cake.

Grandma's Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Coincidentally, my 14th birthday fell upon the same date as my Cousin Olivia's First Holy Communion. So I decided to celebrate my birthday by going up North to see her First Holy Communion with my family.












After the Communion ceremony, my Cousin's parents held a reception back at their house. I had a blast visiting my New York family and eating great tasting food! Who could ask for anything more?

 Cousin Olivia at her 1st Holy Communion 

 When they brought out the desserts, I thought it was more food to celebrate Olivia's big day. However, to my surprise, they had a whole cassata cake to commemorate my birthday. They all sang me happy birthday too.

A cassata cake is a traditional Sicilian sweet, found in most Italian bakeries, and used in many Italian family celebrations. Cassata cakes have cannoli cream filling and are frosted with a sweet cream and decorated with sliced almonds. 

-Thomas

hoco @@@