The 2007 Middle East Peace Summit is coming to our own dear Annapolis this Tuesday. Monday, Day One, will be held in Washington, Day Two in Annapolis. Day Three back in D.C. Probably not such a bad thing, because Naptown could use some buffing up, culinarily speaking.

While I had originally thought our food was ready for primetime, on closer inspection, that might not be the case. Kosher kitchen rules are extraordinarily strict. Likewise Halal-approved menus for Muslims. Kosher rules forbid crabcakes -- quelle horreur!  Halal laws allow seafood, but no alcohol, and the meats must be halal-certified, tough to find around here.

Fish, anyone? Can we at least agree on fish? And a smoothie?

Holiday newsletters are pouring into Foodie Central, so if you're still rushing about for Thanksgiving as I am, here are some suggestions for great foods, great time-savers:

• Caroline's Cakes checked in to remind us that you can round out the dessert table with a fab cake. In addition to all the traditional faves, they have two new carrot cakes. Have you visited the store? It's in the Jemal's Bay 50 shopping center just on the western side of the Bay Bridge.

• Last I checked, The Butcher's Block in Annapolis had heritage turkeys available. Pricey, but this year's "it" bird. They have a bunch of side dishes as well. Whole Foods had fresh free range turkeys.

• Hair-o-the-Dog, the ever-hip wine and spirits stores in Easton had two cool six-packs of wine all put together for your Thanksgiving ease. The Hand Turkey Six pack includes "pre-dinner bottle of Charles de Fere sparkling Chardonnay; two bottles of St. Hallet “Poacher’s Blend” of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling; two bottles of gorgeous Hob Nob Pinot Noir; and a beautiful Spanish dessert Monastrell from Castano." Member price is about $70, but it costs nothing to join. Super pack is about $100, with upscale wines to match: Soligo Prosecco for before dinner, followed by two bottles each of Oregon’s St. Innocent Pinot Gris and Merieu Touraine Gamay for dinner and "a sublime Kracher Auslese dessert Riesling." They'll even be open Thurs. am. 

• Tried the Beaujolais Nouveau at Wine Cellars of Annapolis, 2007 Beaujolais Primeur G. Descombes. Nice! And nice price, too, around $11. While you're there, stop in next door for an elegant, out-of-the-ordinary cheese selection at Tastings Gourmet Market. You'll probably see about a zillion other things you want too, but their cheese is superb. Ask about the America prosciutto.

• The Chestertown Farmer's Market, usually open Saturdays, will also be open this Wed., from 11 am to 3 pm. Lockbriar Farms will be there and I hope other regulars, as well.
  

 

 Anybody know anything else that procrastinators need? Write to me and I'll pass along!

"Are you doing Thanksgiving?" This is when cooks get all dreamy and families get all jittery. No matter what new things you want to try, you might as well forget it. Thanksgiving is all about tradition. Sweet potatoes with curry spices? Where are the marshmallows? Pumpkin pie with an orange-ginger whipped cream? Where's the Cool Whip? (Tell them it's in the jello.)

But if you want to talk roots, one person who's harkening back literally centuries is Dolly Baker, a farmer on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Dolly keeps Black Spaniard Heritage Turkeys, and not nearly enough of them. The offspring available at White House Farm are promised to customers by mid-September. 

Her heritage turkeys, she says, are grass-fed, leaner and organic. People who like dark meat will like them. And fortunately more people are becoming interested in the heritage breeds, of which there are several, so finding them next year may be easier. We'll try to give you a heads-up. So when you push back from the table this year, you can inform your family that you have something different in mind for 2008. That should give them plenty of time to prepare for a new tradition.

Yes, well, it was meant to catch your attention. This week, a debate bubbled away regarding how important the environs are to the restaurant experience. A friend proposed that, to her, a beautiful ambience is helps to make for a beautiful meal. It could be the excitement of the city street as you enter the little bistro, or relax overlooking the water with your seared tuna and a crisp sauvignon blanc. Me, I get my kicks finding a great little mom-and-pop place in a strip mall. There's something so cozy, unpretentious and true to the very concept of a restaurant — a talented person in the kitchen who can't rely on atmosphere to please his patrons. My friend responded that perhaps it's the thrill of "the find" that I enjoy so much. Perhaps.

Regardless, this month, you're going to hear about one of my favorite strip mall restaurants, Moulin de Paris. Part French patisserie, part Asian-French restaurant, part coffee shop, with a big dollop of talent and dedication swirled in. Stay tuned.

P.S. No turkeys, anybody interested in chickens? The local producers of heritage turkeys have almost all had their stock "accounted for" for months now, it seems. But we'll try to find out more about them anyway, maybe next year!

Meanwhile, a friend of mine in the mid-Eastern Shore area wants to get a few people together who can raise maybe a dozen or two grassfed chickens each, and can pool their chickens at processing time. Interesting. She's thinking of doing this in the spring, so email me if you want to find out more, and I'll pass your name along.

 

• Thumbs up: The Tastbuds event in Annapolis. 24 restaurants dished up great little dishes to benefit the beautification of downtown. Lots of folks, fancy locale (in the Westin) and fine little plates. Special note: Ramshead's Diver Scallop (yes, the Ramshead!), Moulin de Paris' Lamb Chop with Bordelaise Sauce, (the mini crabcakes went too fast), Yellowfin's superb seared tuna. Thumbs waggling? Mills Wines and Wine Cellars for their wine offerings. A red with a taste of "forest floor"? No kidding. Ah, well. It's got to be tough to be the wine guys everyone turns to for charity events.

• Thumbs flip-flopping for Sado on Kent Island. A sushi place on the Eastern Shore at last! And a sincerely enthusiastic thumbs up for the food, once you get it. On a busy, very busy, Friday night, six weeks into their opening, the place was packed as the hosts and wait staff dithered. We seated ourselves at the empty sushi bar, and had to flag down help until the executive chef came to our rescue. Two wines we ordered weren't available, and it took a while to figure that out. The sushi? Fabulous. Beautiful sashimi with just a hint of citrus or  flavored oil, and melted in our mouths. The rolls are excellent too, and different. Hope they're just working out the kinks regarding service.

• Thumbs up again for Osteria Alfredo, located next to Acme in a little strip mall in Easton. Honest to Pete, I love this place. We stopped in on a cold Saturday afternoon and warmed up with a deeply delicious minestrone soup, and a thick sandwich of rosemary roasted pork with caramelized onion, provolone and sauerkraut. Chef Alfredo Ferretti came to say hello and talk food, with no idea we'd be blogging about him. Please visit these people. Note to Alfredo's, how about expanding wine by the glasses?

• Also picked up some Snow Hill Chincoteague farmed oysters at the Easton Farmer's Market that our friend Glenn May of Kennedyville Inn will be experimenting with this week. Warm up your thumbs for that one.