if you're a reality tv watcher, chef bryan voltaggio is most likely a familiar face!  we've been watching top chef since season 1 and would say we're self-proclaimed foodies, which i also think is really annoying....but anyway!  seeing a dc'er on the show isn't a crazy thing, but seeing a marylander is pretty impressive...and to top that, someone from frederick?!?  wow!  we knew we had to go to his restaurant, VOLT and SOON after he began doing so well in all the challenges!  we made reservations, which wasn't too difficult...we could've gone sooner but people who live here know how crazy getting up 270 during rush hour can be!

i think reality food tv is interesting.  i mean, you're basing an opinion on which contestant you want to win based on the LOOK of food and the personality of the chef.  right?  i mean, you can't actually taste the food.  so imagine our excitement to get to taste it!  i felt a little weird bringing a camera in and definitely didn't want to appear that we were there because of the show, but let's face it...it's the truth, and such is the case with 3/4 of the other diners (if not all!) there.

we walked in a little early and waited in the bar area until our table was ready.  it's a pretty loud area, but you stlil can talk to the person next to you without yelling.  on the far wall of the bar, they have a flat screen tv that is a live-feed of what's going on in the kitchen, which i thought was pretty neat.  while we were waiting, there were constant servers serving drinks and food, but you can imagine the surprise when chef voltaggio walked in!  he was carrying a plate to two girls sitting in the "lounge" area of the bar.  i don't know what they ordered where it was "hand delivered" by the chef, but pretty neat!  what was even more amusing was the girls faces after they ate the food.  if it weren't totally rude, i would've made matt take a picture.  too funny.  

so a couple other things about the restaurant.  you can gather all this stuff from the website, but it was still a little confusing so here's the "kim" version.  there are three dining areas...the main dining area, the kitchen dining area and table 21 (which is literally right inside the kitchen.)  a pointer if you're going to go...definitely reserve a spot in the kitchen dining area as opposed to the main dining area.  definitely a cool view of the kitchen area...we were green with envy!  if you want to do table 21, definitely do it.  because truly, if you're dining a la carte, you're going to be spending about $121 anyway (with wine/cocktails included), so might as well do it up! 

ok - so what we ordered. 

before you even begin, they bring out some yummy homemade breadsticks dusted with sea salt and fennel powder.  then they bring out a complimentary ceviche and then more homemade rolls.  can we say almost full already?

1st course:
matt : tasting tuscarora farm beets : he said it was good. definitely could've used a bit more balsamic dressing, but still good.
kim : market vegatable salad :  simple, but so good. i think the dressing had matt wishing he had ordered mine instead.

2nd course:
matt : i don't think what he ordered is on the menu.  i think it was a pork belly or something.  i wasn't really paying attention to his food.  ;)
kim : cherry glen farm goat cheese ravioli : based on the recommendation of someone who recently went.  and GOOD recommendation. 

3rd cousre:
matt : border springs farm lamb : matt said it was good, but he wouldn't order it again.  he said he "didn't find anything wrong with the taste...it's just not something i'd order again..."
kim : wellington farms roasted chicken : ok, so this is going to sound like i'm not playing nicely, but this was only ok for me.  i have mostly eaten a chicken-only diet for the last 10 years so i've eaten a LOT of chicken..especially roasted chicken.  when we went to west end bistro, i thought mine was too salty.  here?  too moist.  is that bad that i said that?? it was just really maybe a bit too much where it was squeaking against my back teeth, which to me is like fingernails on a chalkboard. to be fair, i think we were close to being very full already...so maybe we would've felt differently had we been served this course first.

final course:
matt : dulce de leche : very good, but not as good as mine. ;)
kim : chocolate peanut butter mousse : i'm pretty sure this is what i got.  it had a banana ice cream with it, which is different from what's online.  this was super tasty..there was a crunchy shell on the bottom that made the dessert for me...i would say texturally, it was awesome, but i wasn't loving the stringy cilantro that got caught in my teeth! :)

we were so stuffed we couldn't even really finish dessert...which is a shame because that meant we could barely finish the complimentary ice cream sandwiches they brought out at the end!  and thank goodness the chocolate chip coffee cake was intended to take home...otherwise..well, nevermind.  :)  oh, and truly the best part of the dinner?  when the check came, my co-workers had pre-paid for our meal!  those sweet sneaks!

ok, this has gone on way too long.  and it makes it sound like it was just ok, but it was good and for the "celeb" factor, it definitely is fun to go.  here's a video i should've posted at the beginning....maybe would've saved you from all of this babbling.  :)

maryland people!  look out!  if you are texting on your phone while driving, you could get fined $500.  And if you are under 18 and on your phone,  there's now a law in place!  so, be careful!  here's a link for more info: http://www.drivinglaws.org/maryland.php  this is eff. 10/1/09.

so, matt got to use his camera! (see the last post) but instead of taking pictures, he shot video.  it's definitely a different kind of "video" shooting...matt said shooting is all manual and handheld (which means you're both focusing and shooting while trying to hold it steady) and it's definitely his first attempt, but here it is!  pretty impressive!  again, of andy zipf. 

• went camping this weekend. weather was PERFECT.  matt went fishing/caught his first fish ever in his life.  gutted it, filleted and ate it.  pictures may follow in about 6 months.  for now you can see pictures that becky took here (if she made them public).  the pictures in the beginning of the set are from a cabin getaway during labor day weekend to berkeley springs for a 80th birthday celebration for my grandmother.
• matt ran a 5 miler today!  he probably will kill me for posting about it!  but i'm really proud of him!  he's been running pretty consistently for about two months now.  he's worked his way up to 8 miles, but he's had a bum knee and foot for a little while (think it broke but never healed correctly) and has been going back down to 6 miles due to the pain.  he got there late, had to run to the other side of the pentagon where the race began (about a mile away), ran to registration and then ran the race that had already begun.  he came in 599/~1500 (not quite sure how many there were total and can't find it online yet.)  very proud of him since the last time he ran competitively (another 5 miler), he couldn't run the whole way....and this time he said there were two monstrous hills!  he wanted to get in a race before the big 3-0 next week!
• speaking of his birthday, i was a sucker and gave him his present early.  i was going to be really good and wait and play my usual self - the self that doesn't get anything because i'm so worried he won't like what i get so it's usually just a "you're gonna get *insert item here* but i don't know if you want it...." deal.  but!  he has a friend coming over to record on tuesday and he mentioned taking some pictures of him so i decided i'd go ahead and give it to him today.  i've been waiting a LONG time for this order to come in!  i put my name on a waiting list 2 months ago and began calling, on average, pretty much about twice a week.  when i called about a week ago, someone finally said, "you know, you can pre-pay and that bumps you up on the list..."  why didn't anyone tell me?  anyway, as soon as i ordered, i saw that canon has a new camera coming out soon, but of course that will also be on back-order, but it's about $1000 less.  i mentioned the new camera to matt and began to see the drool form but he said he didn't want it because it wasn't full frame.  phew.  so anyway, i noticed that same evening that b&h had the camera body i had ordered IN STOCK last week.  of course the next day i call the place i ordered from and nothing was in stock.  this made me practically swear to never buy from a local place again, since i'm guessing b&h probably gets the most inventory out of anyone.  but lo and behold, friday afternoon i got a call and it was in!  i held off all weekend, fearing they'd accidentally give it away, but i zipped down to get it and surprised matt with an early gift!  the canon 5d mark II.  hopefully this will satiate his appetite for a little while!
• other than all this, life is really busy.  work is insane and when i look at the calendar, all i see is BUSY.  we are trying to take advantage of the cool, fall weather and pack in as much camping as possible.  which at this point, i'm hoping we get to go at least two or three more times.  we'll have to see. 
• oh!  and is anyone else watching top chef???  we are so proud of our local contestant (at first i wrote yokel because i think i say that a lot but then i googled it and didn't realize it was so derogatory!  whoops!), bryan voltaggio!  i don't know him but friends of friends do and we are psyched about how well he's doing!  we're hoping to get to go to Volt SOON.  wish we had before the show, as i'm guessing it's more difficult to get reservations now!  :)