Buzz

Baltimore's "Ace of Cakes" and the Food Network are parting ways, but Baltimore baker and star of the show Duff Goldman tells the Associated Press that he has three other shows in development that will hopefully get picked up by the Food Network.

Goldman and his team at Charm City Cakes are known for creating elaborate sugar concoctions using a blowtorch, saw, and other instruments you might use to build a house rather than a cake. The show's 10th season will begin airing in January.

You can read the rest of the story, featured in the San Jose Mercury News, here.

One of the country's top five new pie shops to open in 2010 was started by none other than Baltimore's Rodney Henry, according to Budget Travel magazine.

Henry is the owner of Dangerously Delicious Pies, long known among Baltimoreans. Last year, Henry opened a Washington, D.C. store.

The November issue of Budget Travel magazine recognizes the DC shop along with others in Chicago, Portland, Ore., San Francisco and New York. You can read the entire story here.

Slowly but surely, word is getting out that Baltimore is more than a compendium of competing images from "The Wire" and John Waters' films. The most recent convert is a journalist from the Bay Area Reporter who's spreading the good news -- Baltimore's got charm!

Here's an excerpt:

"It may not seem like it at first, but Baltimore � known as "Charm City," among other nicknames � does indeed have some charm to it.

There's more to the Maryland city, settled in the early 17th century, than the scenery that filmmaker John Waters made famous in camp favorites like Pink Flamingos and Hairspray .

Among the brick row houses and restaurants serving crab cakes, visitors can also find an art museum where a giant pink poodle is the star, and a cafe that celebrates women in beehives and leopard print jackets."

Read the entire article here.

A model train running in circles along a track below the Christmas tree was once a holiday must. And while it has faded from favor in most homes, anyone interested in experiencing the joys of a model train holiday display could head down to D.C.

But why bother when there's a much more convenient and dazzling display at the B&O Railroad Museum?

Here's an excerpt:

"The B&O Railroad Museum is home to the oldest, most comprehensive collection of railroad artifacts in the Western Hemisphere and within its iconic Roundhouse, surrounded 360-degrees by true historic engines, some of the most interesting of model train layouts are found.

Some people travel the world creating art. Others take their talents on the road to design buildings. Still others study different cultures to bring new zing to their culinary creations. For Baltimore resident Brian Strumke, it's all about beer.

Here's an excerpt:

"Love & Regret, which Strumke brewed at the 'Hofbrouwerijke brewery in Beerzel, Belgium, in February, is a saison (farmhouse-style ale) spiced with heather, chamomile, lavender and dandelion. It accompanied the first course of a beer dinner at Pizzeria Paradiso two weeks ago. (Stillwater is expanding its market to encompass 18 cities nationwide, and I caught up with Strumke in the midst of a road trip that had already taken him to Vermont, Boston and New York City.)

None of the unusual ingredients stands out by itself, but Love & Regret has a delightful floral perfume that wafts up the back of one's throat and fills the sinuses. It measures 7.2 percent alcohol by volume (reasonable by the standards of today's high-octane "imperial" beers) and offers a crisp aftertaste that perks up the appetite."

Read the entire article.

Travelers to Baltimore usually had to choose between a bed and breakfast or a large chain hotel, according to the New York Times.

Now, tourists can stay at the Hotel Monaco, the boutique downtown Charles Street property that opened last year. The New York Times featured the Monaco in its Maryland travel guide.

"The cavernous entrance features grand Tiffany stained-glass windows and a sweeping marble staircase that's been carefully preserved," the Times reports.

You can read the rest of the story here.

IBM wants to help cities better use technology. And Baltimore is on its radar.

The company will spend $50 million over the next three years on IT grants that will benefit cities like Austin, Rio de Janeioro, and Baltimore, writes the Associated Press in Business Week.

You can read the rest of the story here.

It's part of an IBM program called Smarter Cities that aims to help cities use technology to better manage their resources.

Locust Point made it onto WalletPop's list of the 29 safest big city neighborhoods in the country. The South Baltimore community came in No. 3.

Here's an excerpt:

"Using exclusive neighborhood crime data developed by Dr. Andrew Schiller's team at NeighborhoodScout.com, and based on FBI data from all 17,000 local law enforcement agencies, they crunched the numbers to reveal the safest neighborhoods in every major American city. As it turns out, some big cities contain neighborhoods that are among the safest of any place in the nation, hopefully breaking stereotypes."

Read the entire article.

According to Travel + Leisure magazine, Baltimore is one of travelers' favorite American cities.

Here's an excerpt:

"Last summer, we asked our users to rate 35 cities around the U.S., from San Diego to Seattle and from Boston down to Miami � and a lot of hot spots in between � in 54 categories. For example, which city is the best for relaxing? (Both Portlands � Maine and Oregon � made the top 10.) Where should you go if you want an active vacation? (Apparently, not New Orleans.) And once you're there, how friendly � or rude � are the locals you'll meet? (Let's just say New York didn't fare well.)"


Here's the article.
Check out the city's rankings.
Watch the video:

Baltimore natives don't bat an eyelash when a heaping bowl of sauerkraut is placed among other goodies on the Thanksgiving table. For transplants or visitors, however, the tangy side dish causes more than a few raised eyebrows. Ever wonder how the German staple became a Bmore tradition?

Here's an excerpt:

"Growing up, I had no idea that sauerkraut is not, to most Americans, a traditional Thanksgiving dish. It was always there, on the sideboard, as inevitable as turkey. That's part of the condition of being a kid: Your family, no matter the oddities or inconsistencies, still seems perfectly normal. Adulthood came late for me, because it was only five years ago when I learned that my family's sauerkraut could be considered weird, when the man who is now my husband spent his first holiday with us staring in puzzlement at the bowl of it.

I didn't know what to say that day to explain our tradition, but I've since done some research, and I now know where it comes from: Baltimore. Serving sauerkraut at Thanksgiving is an old tradition there, rooted in the homes of the city's German immigrants. In 1863, when Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, about a quarter of Baltimore's population was German. Sauerkraut was a given on their celebratory table..."

Read the entire article.

Food tastes better if you work harder for it. That's according to a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University researchers, highlighted in an article in the Hartford Courant.

"That's the finding of a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Their experiment focused on two groups of mice. One group had to push a lever once to get a morsel of food. The other had to push the lever 15 times before getting their reward � a morsel of the same kind of food.The mice that worked harder ate more of the food and seemed to enjoy it more (based on their 'licking behavior')."

You can read the story here.

It's not a roadtrip through California wine country, but it's just as good. Using Woodhall's Cabernet Franc as the launching point, a New Yorker has a surprisingly good weekend in Charm City.

Here's an excerpt:

"Then again, if I've learned anything from Baltimore over the years, it's that it is surprising. Known far and wide for many things that do not perhaps add up to a justifiable reason to run into its arms � kooky icons like John Waters or as the setting for multiple David Simon projects, to name two � there is the Baltimore the world sees, and then there is the city behind the image, just dying to be let out. Relaxed, modern, fun � far more appealing than the pile-up of depressing commercialism down on the Inner Harbor. Also, because it is Baltimore, people are generally really friendly.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor continues to be a shining example of what city government and private enterprise can accomplish when they come together. This Buffalo TV Station takes a look at Bmore's crowning jewel to see what they can do with their city's harbor area.

Here's an excerpt:

"Baltimore's waterfront is living it up, while Buffalo's lingers in limbo. So how come other cities can make a success of these prime pieces of property?

News 4 went to "America's Comeback City" to check it out.

"This was still all industrial pier," said Downtown Partnership of Baltimore's Mike Evitz.

From the 1970's, to today.

"It was just bare land," said President & CEO of Maryland Science Center Van Reiner.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor has a whole new look. It's no bigger in size than Buffalo's Inner Harbor and Erie Basin Marina, but more than a hundred shops and restaurants have sprouted up here in the past 30 years."

Read the entire story.

Maryland Technology Development Corporation's new head, Robert A. Rosenbaum, took a little time out to talk with The Washington Post about his plans for the agency.

Here's an excerpt:

"Rosenbaum, a former managing director of Baltimore-based Nobska Ventures, also is pushing to close a gap in how the money is handed out. Too often, early-stage companies are left gasping for funds as they mature. If funding permits, he wants Tedco to fill that gap by following up on its seed investments with a second infusion of cash to help promising companies grow."

Read the entire article.

If you haven't been to Harbor East recently, then you've been missing out on the latest additions to one of Baltimore's most dynamic communities. The city's newest neighborhood continues to evolve and gain kudos for Baltimore.

Here's an excerpt:

"In the last six years, in the hands of the Baltimore-based H&S Properties Development Corporation, the area has sprouted towering condo, hotel and office buildings along with gleaming restaurants and shops, some of which possess a spiffed-up, cookie-cutter Mall of America feel.

Harbor East has proven such a draw that its borders have expanded far beyond what was first planned as an eight-block area, bumping up against neighboring Little Italy."

Read the entire article here.