Sometimes I don’t talk about food and gluten on this blog.  Today is going to be one of those days.

Earlier this spring, my friend, Jen, encouraged (ok, forced) David and me to watch ‘The Wire.’ A year or two earlier we attempted tackling this show via our Netflix queue and I couldn’t get through the first two episodes.  I wrote ‘The Wire’ off as too violent, too many F-bombs and too confusing.  Jen doesn’t like a quitter so she made us give it another try.

Five months later, we’ve watched all five seasons of this HBO drama based on the city of Baltimore, where David and I lived during our first two years of marriage.  (The suburb of Lutherville that we called home was drastically different than the corners where the show takes place.)

I have to admit, during the first few episodes, I had no idea what was going on and I hated it.  I hated the show; I hated its violence; I detested the cursing; I couldn’t figure out who the characters were and what was happening with the story line.  It made me feel stupid and wimpy.

That being said, on Sunday night David and I stayed up until midnight (that’s about two hours later than I normally go to bed), watching the final episode.  I’m relieved it’s over so I can move on with my life.

There’s no way that I can adequately describe ‘The Wire’ in a post and do it justice.  I very much have a love/hate relationship with this show and the characters that consumed my waking and sleeping for the last five months.  Gritty and brutal,‘The Wire’ traces the intertwined lives of fictional Baltimore city cops, drug dealers, addicts, politicians and even children.

Each season has a different theme: drugs, the docks, politics, journalism.  Of course my favorite theme was education, during the fourth season.  The brokenness of the public school systems as well as the inability for children to break out of the world they’re born into was absolutely heartbreaking.  I felt utterly hopeless as I watched.  I think this season particularly affected me because I taught in Baltimore, but in a very different setting.  I worked in a private school for affluent families and students who had infinitely more opportunities than Randy, Dukie, Namon and Michael on ‘The Wire,’ despite living only 15 minutes apart.

I neglected to mention when I wrote about our anniversary, that just before dinner, we watched the final two episodes of the fourth season and I hysterically cried only thirty minutes before our fancy evening out.  Yes, I know these people aren’t real, but it’s all too real nonetheless.  The Towers and the corners are such a foreign, yet close, world, and the people and children unwillingly affected by it are hauntingly real.  For the bulk of our ‘Wire viewing,’ Jen has been in Europe, living the life of an ex-pat, reading, journaling and sight seeing.  Meanwhile, I’m in Atlanta, Georgia, literally weeping while watching this show.  Thanks, Jen.

I’m not quite sure who I would recommend ‘The Wire’ to.  In the last five months, I’ve always been excited to find someone else that watched the show.  (Before we got hooked, people who watched ‘The Wire’ annoyed me.)  The other night, we discovered that our friend, Amy Julia and her husband watched ‘The Wire,’ and I felt an immediate bond because we’d shared five seasons of murder, drugs, fraud, hope and hopelessness through the lives of Daniels, Omar, Bubbles, McNulty, and Presbo.  I feel smart and accomplished for making it through the series (Is that bad?) and I don’t regret watching it.  I will never watch the show again, however, and I even vowed on four different occasions while watching the show that I would never watch another episode.

The final episode was bittersweet but it was time.  Time to say goodbye to the Corners, to the Greek, to the completely flawed police officers I’d come to know for the previous 57 episodes.  It would have been nice, however, to have a little more closure in the final episode.  Of course I was still left with many questions.  Why did we barely see Presbo in the last season?  What happened to Randy?  Does Kema spend more time with her son?  Does McNulty get clean?  What happens to Cutty?

Do you watch ‘The Wire?’ Favorite characters?  Is it hopeful or hopeless?  Do you get annoyed with people who are obsessed with talking about ‘The Wire?’ Thoughts?

Recently, David and I wanted to enjoy the spring weather so we decided to head to Decatur, wander around, and get a drink.  We had no plans of dining out, thinking that we would just eat a later dinner when we got home.

We stopped at the Iberian Pig, a relatively new restaurant in Decatur, and grabbed a seat at the bar.  This modern, Spanish restaurant offers many options on its menu, including cured meats, cheeses, small plates as well as entrees.  We placed ourselves directly in front of a fancy meat slicer that managed to grab our attention.  The bartenders were very attentive, and the vibe at the bar was professional, yet quirky.  All bartenders wear white button downs, black vests and ties, yet I think it’s a requirement that you must also have multiple tattoos and piercings to work at the bar.  I ordered a glass of Pinot from their relatively large wine selection.  David decided to try an Old Fashioned, in honor of Don Draper from our new favorite show, ‘Mad Men.’  (Well, it’s tied for first with ‘The Wire.’)  After sitting at the bar for a few minutes, we knew we liked the Iberian Pig simply because of the atmosphere and the Old Fashioned made by the bartender.  Who knew an Old Fashioned comes with one huge ice cube?

Of course I took a look at the menu even though food wasn’t part of the plan.  I immediately saw the “BWDs,” bacon wrapped dates stuffed with Manchego cheese and walnuts.  Wow.  Sounded potentially gluten-free, so figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.  The bartender said Iberian Pig actually was making a GF menu so he called over the owner, Frederico Castellucci.  He was very eager to serve us and went through some of our options with us while another waitress brought us the gluten-free menu.

Much to my happiness, the BWDs are naturally gluten-free so we placed an order.  These bites of tastiness were a perfect treat.  As you know, I love the dates and cheese combination, and bacon makes everything taste better, right?

BWDs...Amazing

We also ordered the Patatas al Valdeon, crunchy potatoes with an aioli sauce.  They blanch, bake and then fry the potatoes but they use a fryer that doesn’t fry breaded items.  (I would still double check with your waiter when you go because they could change fryers.)  These crunchy morsels of goodness were amazing and for once, I actually felt like I could eat ‘bar food.’  No salads or sauteed vegetables for this girl!  The sauce went perfectly with the potatoes but didn’t sog them up too much.  David generously let me enjoy way more than half my share.

Patatas

While I didn’t end up ordering an entrée because the tapas plates were plenty for me, there were multiple items that caught my eye on the gluten-free menu.  That just means I’ll have to go back.  Here are some of the other things I like about Iberian Pig that have nothing to do with gluten:

• The menu lists where they get all of their meat from so you know what you’re ordering.
• It’s busy on a Friday night but you can still hear the person sitting next to you.
• Good people watching
• We got great attention for the servers, bartender, and even the owner.
• The cool meat slicer is fascinating.

It was such a great surprise to stumble upon a restaurant that was eager to accommodate and even had a prepared gluten-free menu.  Celiac makes me have to be such a planner, so it’s always a relief when I can just happen upon a meal, and not have to think about what I’m doing or where I’m going far in advance.  The Iberian Pig is definitely worth the trip to Decatur, even just for cocktails and appetizers.  They have outside seating as well so enjoy a nice spring evening on their patio.  I think I prefer the bar though.

The Iberian Pig – 121 Sycamore St – Decatur, GA 30030 – (404) 371-8800

“Crabcakes and football! That’s what Maryland does.” As a former Baltimore resident myself, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I heard this line in the great comedy, Wedding Crashers. I don’t know if I agree with the football part, but Marylanders definitely take great pride in their crab cakes, and rightfully so.  After two years of living in Maryland, David and I remain quite biased in favor of the Commonwealth of Virginia since that’s where we were born and raised.  We even tend to be a bit tough on the state of Maryland.  We do have fond memories of our first two years of marriage in Baltimore, our friends, students, favorite local spots (Nacho’s Mama’s!), and of course, crab cakes.

You probably don’t know this, but the 2006 Miss USA Pageant was actually filmed in Baltimore.  (Isn’t that exciting?)  I think David and I might have been the only people to watch the pageant at all, let alone it’s entirety.  Seeing the host, Carson Kressley (remember, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy?) prancing around Baltimore, enthusiastically shouting about all of the beautiful sights and tourist attractions was mind numbing, yet we couldn’t stop watching.  (Who knew Baltimore had so many things to see?)  While I might not be moving back to Baltimore in the near future,  to quote the 2006 Miss USA Pageant Host, Carson’s comment to co-host, Nancy O’Dell of Access Hollywood, “We’ll Always Have Baltimore.”  Yes, we’ll always have Baltimore.

Last week, Jen (a Baltimore native and avid fan of The Wire), invited David and me over for homemade crab cakes, using fresh Chesapeake Bay crab meat sent by her mom.  Since restaurant-made crab cakes contain breadcrumbs as the binder for the crab meat, I was so excited about the rare opportunity to enjoy a gluten-free crab cake, triggering Baltimore and Eastern Shore nostalgia. Jen’s family recipe calls for Saltines but she used Glutino crackers instead. Absolutely delicious. Even the gluten eaters didn’t notice a difference. I love the use of Old Bay in this recipe.  It just wouldn’t be right to not include this great seasoning spice in a Maryland crab recipe.

The Lalley’s Maryland Crab Cakes:

• 1 lb jumbo lump crab meat
• 3 T mayonnaise
• 1 egg
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 t Old Bay seasoning
• 6 crumbled Glutino Crackers
• Fresh chopped parsley

Pick out any pieces of shell in crab cakes. (It wouldn’t be authentic if there wasn’t a little bit of shell. Mix all of ingredients together and mold into crab cakes.

Sautee cakes in butter on medium heat until slightly browned on both sides. You could alternatively broil them. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

We enjoyed our crab cakes with asparagus and a delicious salad made by Maury, the salad expert. Such a great spring meal!  We’ll always have Baltimore…