The House That Pork Chops Built

I stumbled across this image while perusing the Internet this morning. It is actually the logo of something called the Lovedale Long Lunch. Having no idea what that was but curious since I was borrowing the image, I had to look.

The Web site says… “The Lovedale Long Lunch is an annual event, held on the third weekend in May. It is a progressive-type lunch where visitors wine and dine their way around the seven participating wineries over the weekend enjoying a glass of wine, gourmet food, fabulous music and art.”

The logo is cool, but the lunch sounds cooler! I doubt I’ll ever get to experience it, though. It only happens once a year (in May) and it takes place in New South Wales, which according to Wikipedia, is “Australia’s most populous state.”

Now that THAT is out of the way…

Yesterday was Thirsty Third Thursday. It is a sort of holiday that Shannon, Amy and I invented as an excuse to get together. We always have a good time when we do, and it never seemed to happen often enough, so we created our own holiday. We’ve pretty much stuck to it all year, although sometimes it has happened on the fourth Wednesday.

July’s TTT was not the same without Amy, who is away in Virginia for the summer. We missed you, Amy! (She is one of my most-loyal readers.) But Shannon and I couldn’t let our holiday pass uncelebrated, so we went without her.

I have to give Shannon full credit for introducing me to Helen’s Garden, a cool little restaurant “on the square” in Canton, one of Baltimore’s more famous neighborhoods. We celebrated TTT there earlier this year.

They have a “notorious” happy hour Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. (by the bar clock) where you get half price glasses of wine at the bar only. As Shannon says, “they have nice pours”, too. That means they don’t skimp on the portions, even if they are letting me steal a $13 glass of wine for $6.50.

Not only do we get to enjoy good company, we get to try all different kinds of wine, too. Even beyond those we purchased, it turned out, because we were there WAY early and were the only folks at the bar besides Gordon, the wineseller, and Tim the bartender. (Amy, I got there first!)

Gordon and Tim were, of course, discussing the different wines. We joined the discussion and got to enjoy some samples. Now I know what “earthy” means. And that if you feel the sweetness on the tip of your tongue it is from the sugar in the wine, but if you feel the sweetness all over the tongue, it is from the fruit.

I also learned, finally, that their Pork Chops au Poivre are TO DIE FOR. According to Baltimore Eats, they “are bathed for two days in a unique brine of salt and spices then grilled with a brown sugar bourbon glaze.” They’re served over garlic smashed potatoes. Fabulous.

Apparently everyone else thinks so, too. The dish is so popular, in fact, that the owners have a sign in front of their Rehoboth (a Delaware beach town) house that says, “The House That Pork Chops Built.”

Now that I FINALLY revealed the origin of today’s odd title, I have to go find some naproxen…