Here’s a great segment with Bryan on our Good Morning Maryland ABC local channel. And this cooking segment is a perfect example of why we eat out - an incredible, sunny dessert you’ll most likely never make at home. ABC Cooking Segment.

Correction on the previous post, we are taking reservations for the courtyard. As for my cocktailing friends without reservations, don’t fret, we are working on a special place for you.

And with the warm weather approaching, we’ve been busy in the courtyard brining it to life. I admit, last year was a mess with the courtyard. I picked the exact wrong location and the exact wrong plants to plant them in. So this year I enlisted help from a friend, Michael Judd.

Michael attended Colorado State University, where he studied forestry, worked in Colorado on an organic farm, as well as in North Carolina, Spain, Argentina and Costa Rica. He finally settled in Nicaragua where he purchased 40 acres of pasture land and created a demonstration farm to show the local people how to diversify their diet of beans and rice to include fruits, nuts and vegetables, and how to do it organically.

So I’m a little more hopeful that this year’s plantings will bear more fruit that last year’s. We’re going for the all edible garden theme.

These are three fan espaliers he made out of bamboo. Growing on them are gooseberries with a ground cover of strawberries.

This is Michael working on the beginnings of our 2 tree orchard. It involved a whole day of building the trellis for the trees. This here is, his very proud of, black locust tree trunk that he cut from his family’s property. Not sure if his mom was very happy with him cutting down her tree for our courtyard but he said nothing’s better than black locust to build a trellis with so here we are. Black locust is one of the toughest woods out there and are rot resistant and have great structural integrity. I’ve heard carpenters salivate over them so they must be special.

Here we go, our orchard of two:

What’s really special about these two trees is they are ninja grafted trees. The one on the left is the pear tree and the one on the right is the apple. Each tree has been grafted with a different variety on each arm. The pear includes the Asian varieties Chojuro, Hosui, Shinseiki and 20th Century. The apple has Red Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith and Golden Delicious.

We have more planned. But Michael had to leave for New York where he’s living in a yurt for a month - yes, I said it, he’s living in a yurt in NY!

With so many cocktail concoctions out there and the whole whatever-tini craze I thought it a good time to remind you to not forget the classics. Stop in at the volt lounge or make a few tonight at home.

Recipes courtesy of N.C. Dundee

Old Fashioned:
In a rocks glass mudle one orange slice and one maraschino cherry with a half bar spoon of granulated sugar and 4 dashes of bitters. We make our own Orange bitters here at VOLT.
Add ice over the fruit mixture and pour 2 ounces of your favorite bourbon. We use Maker’s Mark. Top with club soda (non-flavored) Garnish with an orange slice and maraschino cherry.

Mojito:
In the bottom of a mixing glass muddle 4 mint leaves and 1 ounce simple syrup. Add 3/4 ounce of lime juice and 2 ounces of Barcardi Silver Rum. Shake over ice and strain over ice in a highball glass. Top with soda water (non-flavored) and garnish with a lime wedge.

Manhattan:
In a mixing glass with ice pour 2 ounces of whiskey or bourbon. Add 1 ounce of Italian sweet vermouth and 2 dashes of bitters. Stir the drink 20 times and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Martini:
In a mixing glass with ice pour 4 ounces of gin and 1/2 ounce of Italian dry vermouth. Stir 20 times and then strain into a chiled Martini glass. Garnish with olives.

Note: you do need to stir 20 times. I lost count of my stirs after a few too many and they just didn’t taste the same:)

Cheers!

Our courtyard is officially now open for lunch and dinner or just a cocktail. No reservations necessary. Please come out and enjoy the weather and dining a la VOLT AIR.

May brings not only May flowers but also free acupuncture. Ok so this has nothing to do with anything except this great deal from Jessica from the Turning Point Inn on W Patrick Street.

They are offering free acupuncture to everybody on Saturday, May 1st from 8 am - 1 pm. Appointments can be scheduled by calling 240-405-7878 or visiting their website. Tell them you’re a volt fan for extra needles. Haha. Just kidding.

hilda.

Well, Bryan got the Keys to the City from the Mayor the other night and it was very cool.

But I got the Purple Party Wagon from our official FGOB for a night out on the town! WooHoo!

You haven’t experienced a limo ride until you’ve ridden in the purple party wagon - decked out in a fully restored 1970’s interior.

Thanks Blaine! You Rock. Anyone looking for a ride to volt? Call our official transportation company- Frederick’s Yellow Cab (301) 662-2250. And they do have other means of transport besides the purple party wagon.

Oh and if you’re still trying to figure out what FGOB stands for, well, I guess you’re really not from around here.

This is the first time Frederick City has presented a key to the City to anyone so our Mayor had one especially made for this occasion to present one to Bryan and this is what it looks like

And this is the really wonderful part of the Mayor’s speech paraphrased “On behalf of the Alderman and myself it is my privilege to present the key to the city to a local merchant who has helped put Frederick city on national tv and has done so with grace, humility and very good food.”

But what was really great were all the funnies I heard from friends about the key because you can only joke about someone you really love and well, i guess there is a lot of love out there. My favorite came from the group of people who were curious about which doors the key opened, handful of jokes about getting the keys to Bushwallers for after hours drinking, some April fools jokes, someone was sure that it meant he could go to anyone’s house in the City and eat their chips and beer and watch tv on their couch and of course my favorite - wondering if he was going to sport the key Flavor Flav style around his neck (that one came from me):)