Looking for a great new restaurant to try or dish for take-out? Make sure you’re subscribing to Charm City Cook’s FREE (and ad-free!) newsletter. Amy Langrehr (aka Charm City Cook) created the newsletter as a way of supporting the struggling restaurant community during the pandemic. Each week, she shares news, specials, and more. It’s our secret to knowing where and what to eat! Sign-up through the Charm City Cook website. The email comes out each weekend! Photo by Amy Langrehr.
“I was overwhelmed,” said Hannah Rodewald, owner of The Pleasure of Your Company and co-founder of Women’s Daily Post. “Trying to keep the businesses, and Writes for Women, and my work with United Way, and life, … trying to keep it all straight was daunting.” Overwhelmed and daunted are two self-descriptors I frequently hear when talking to moms. Realities of modern day #momlife. It’s how we handle those feelings that matter. Hannah handled it by starting a bullet journal. What is bullet journaling? A customizable — and forgiving — organizational system. For some of us, it might be the holy grail of goal management. Notice I said goal management, not time management. If you have a lot of daily appointments that you need to keep straight, it probably won’t take the place of your planner or calendar. It could be a to-do list, sketchbook, notebook, and diary. Or all of those things. “I…
We are fresh off a week of beautiful fall weather. It could not have been more perfect for enjoying hiking and sports, and playing with the dogs and kids outdoors – or just visiting and reading in the warm sunshine. But the rain has come and it won’t be long before we move mostly indoors. Some of the things that we are used to enjoying in colder weather will not be available to us in this COVID year. So it’s important to have lots of good books and activities on hand to fight off the blues. The theme of this week’s edition of Our Favorite Things, developed in partnership with (cool) progeny, is creativity unleashed! Time to unplug and release your inner creative. Turn off the computers, put down the phones, and get making! All of these are hands on – just add imagination. No computers (mostly… one exception), no…
Comfort Food. Even just the words are calming and welcome. No matter what the outcome of the election is, this week will be a stressful one, full of ups and downs – a perfect one to pull out the recipes for our most soothing comfort food. But what exactly does it mean to be a “comfort food”? Is it familiar and welcoming – the right combination of salty and sweet, smooth and creamy? Does it feel like a good ending to a happy day… like burgers, potato salad and baked beans after a day at the beach? Or does it warm your soul … like a warm slice of Chicken Pot Pie after a brisk afternoon raking leaves? Does it make you feel better after a difficult day… like a warm cup of tea? Does it evoke memories of childhood and home? It’s hard to define what is and what…
The American Grilled Cheese sandwich is thought to have shown up in the 1920’s, when sliced white bread and sliced American cheese became available in grocery stores. It quickly became popular for Sunday night suppers. One hundred years later, Grilled Cheese is still ranked near the top of comfort foods and go-to in many homes for a quick, satisfying meal. There is nothing wrong with the basic recipe: two slices of country white bread with a couple slices of American or cheddar cheese in between, buttered on the outside and cooked in a non-stick skillet until the bread is golden brown and the cheese deliciously oozes. But what fun you can have experimenting and adding ingredients for new flavors! Try different breads – sourdough, rye, baguettes, potato bread, crusty Italian, ciabatta, Challah, Hawaiian – and combinations of cheese – Cheddar, brie, gorgonzola, Monterey Jack, Italian Fontina, Mozzarella, Bleu cheese, Gruyère,…
Welcome to the first edition of “Our Favorite Things.” We’re collaborating with the team at (cool) progeny to share a new list each week — products, gift ideas, and more — to help you (re)connect with the important people in your life. COVID-19 has been the worst of times, but occasionally the best of times. From grandparents to front-line workers, people have stepped up to inspire us to make the best of it. That’s why we’re celebrating the best of the best this week! Some of this week’s favorite things encourage conversation about one of our inspirational heroes. If we didn’t pick your favorites to feature, most of the shops and stores that we linked to have other selections. This Week’s Favorite Things: Who Inspires You? Edition Mr. Boddington’s Activist in Training Kit Gift BoxBy Mr. Boddington’s Studio All the bits a clever youth needs to write the White House,…
In 2019 (which feels like once upon a time, oh, so long ago), if someone asked us who inspires us, the likely answers would have been chosen from a list of well-known people. The current leaders in government and politics are on the list, along with men and women who have made their mark in business, fashion, literature, entertainment and sports. This year is different. In a world that has been turned upside down by a pandemic, the most inspiring people are the ones who have just plain shown up and kept going and figured out things and taken care of us. The doctors and nurses and hospital administrators who have had to totally reconfigure hospitals – internally and how they work with each other – and navigate a crisis that they have never seen the likes of before. The first responders, and the staffs of government agencies who have…
The “She Inspires” campaign, launched this spring at Green Spring Station, is helping to raise awareness and much-needed funding for some of the stores’ favorite causes and charities. Bridget Stickline, owner of Wee Chic, has long supported the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, and proposed them. The mission statement of Baltimore Child Abuse Center, a non-profit subsidiary of LifeBridge Health, is to provide victims of child sexual abuse, trauma, and other Adverse Childhood Experiences in Baltimore and their non-offending caretakers with comprehensive forensic interviews, medical treatment, and mental health treatment with a goal of preventing future trauma. “It is important for people to understand that child abuse impacts everyone, in all demographics. One in four girls and one in six boys experience sexual abuse, often by someone they already know,” says LaDonna Morgan, Director of Strategy and Operations at Baltimore Child Abuse Center. Children who have suffered child abuse can be…
COVID-19 Stay at Home Goals: On to becoming a Master Gardener! Staying at home during the COVID-19 crisis brought out the desire to be a Domestic Goddess in many of us. Did you bake bread? Order sourdough starter? All of the grocery stores are still out of yeast and low on flour, so apparently many have now perfected those skills. Cleaned out the closets, reorganized the pantry and alphabetized the spices? Tried new recipes? Now that the weather is nice, we can move outside and turn our attention to becoming Master Gardeners. For several years, I have admired Carol Jean Young’s gorgeous zinnia garden in Cockeysville, Maryland, and wished I had one. Zinnias are the perfect garden annual to grow. They are low-maintenance, and tolerate heat and drought well. Give them a spot with full sun and they will reward you all summer with colorful blooms – and the more…
Shawn Nocher and Kelly Gill met each other 30 years ago, as mothers of young children with their whole lives ahead of them. They couldn’t have known then that years later, their bond would become “mothers of addicted children” and that they would form an organization, Love in the Trenches, to help other parents whose children are suffering from the disease of addiction, either in active addiction or in recovery, or who have died from drug use. For several years, Shawn and Kelly were each other’s lifeline as their sons moved through addiction and recovery at different times. Kelly’s son was in recovery, while Shawn’s son was somewhere out west, actively using. In one of the ironic, unpredictable twists of addiction, at the same time that Shawn’s son moved into a recovery phase that he has maintained, Kelly’s son relapsed and tragically died of an overdose. Their stories are only…