Don't call it a comeback

Welcome readers! Much has happened in our absence. First of all, Pinterest was invented, ruining or enhancing the lives of cubicle drones everywhere with beautiful pictures of food, fashion, home goods, beautiful places... like we don't get enough visual stimulation by looking at computers for hours a day, we now have envy over those perfectly executed cupcakes, "easy freezer meals", the World's Best Macaroni and Cheese, and swoon worthy cocktails. But we can't look away. So thus it's time to throw our hats into the ring yet again and breathe some life into this creaky url. Thanks, Pinterest, for keeping the pilot light of cooking alive in our hearts. And just in time too, as Google Reader is slowly being phased out over the next few months...

But this is not a tech blog! You came to eat. And eat I did last night, at my first outing at Girl and the Goat. Wow guys. This place is the real deal. First of all, it's gorgeous on the inside, and was totally packed but not too loud at all. The space didn't feel cramped, the servers were attentive, and the wide front windows allow a perfect view of Randolph Street in all of its pre-Spring glory. The food was wonderful, small plates but everything cooked with care and attention. My dining companion and I shared:

• Wheat bread with peanut butter butter (not a typo, freakin' delicious) and honey
• Chickpea fritters (at the recommendation of Martha)
• Broccoli with bleu cheese (tasted like some kind of smoked meat, amazing and taste-bud befuddling)
• Diver scallops and of course
• Goat belly with crab and lobster

All in all, fantastic! I think the chickpea fritters were the most filling, the broccoli the most surprising, and the goat belly was  tender and crispy and amazing all at once.

The only odd part was our reservations were for 4:30. And they had been made in January.  We were totally done by 6 pm, which was great ... but a little strange. What's a girl to do?

...Wander down to the first annual Fete Market, of course! I had gotten an email from my old pals at Tasting Table a while back about this event but had not planned on attending due to my work schedule. Thankfully things got shifted around and I was able to attend. Holy guacamole. I've never seen so many people crammed into such a small space. After paying a $5 entrance fee I hung up my coat and took it all in.  The first floor had a few food stands such as Mama's Nuts, Co-Op Hot Sauce, 5 Rabbit beer, Maria's Packaged Goods, etc, as well as some clothing, dinner ware, and a book store. (Marcel the Shell!)  But upstairs was rockin' and rollin' beyond belief!  It was tons of restaurants and bars and everything all crammed into the upstairs floor of the warehouse with me and 1000 of my non-closest friends in super close-friend territory, aka "all up in my biz."

I did happen to find my friend who was bartending at Longman & Eagle and we shout-chatted at each other a bit. I started to feel overwhelmed after a while by the madness and escaped to Firecakes where, inspired by Miss Fats (click to see pictures), I picked out a butterscotch praline filled doughnut. I cradled it all the way home, the long way down the Ashland bus, and ate it with a delicious mug of milk.  Perfect end to the night.... foodie heaven.

Just another manic Monday

So this blog is really, really sad. I think we post about once a month. Obviously our contributions to the world of cooking and baking are not earth-shattering, BAM-inspiring, or food-network-type genius, but darnit, I'm going to update this blog more regularly. I like writing on the internet, even if nobody reads it, because I like food and I like writing, and that's all there is to it.

After a weekend of hardcore partying (truthfully, it was just a string of late nights due to poor movie time decisions and ...babysitting) I woke up quite late on Sunday morning/early afternoon. I walked for a while and toyed with the idea of going out to breakfast but eventually was won over by a place I walked by with a vegan friend of mine a few weeks ago, Chicago's Dog House. (Why we did not go in together should be self-explanatory via the menu.) Lured in by the tantalizing idea of bratwurst (I'm a sucker for meat! this is difficult because I'm taking a food justice class and it just makes me want to go all out vegetarian but to give up hamburgers and bacon and sausage just seems like too much for me right now), I ended up going for a Wild Boar Dog, with melted brie and raspberry sauce, topped with sauteed mushrooms. I went all out and ordered a side of "frips" which are basicaly just pieces of potato curled through an apple peeler corer slicer and fried up (sweet potato frips... mmm) and the side turned out to be an entire basket, which I also devoured in short order.

Since my phone is a piece and I don't carry my camera with me at all times, you'll just have to believe me that this was a phenomenal lunch and completely hit the spot at 2 pm on a Sunday when I should have been eating an omelette or something a little more appropriate. Whatever.

Later that evening I went to potluck at M's and we had delicious chili, cornbread, broccoli slaw, and brownies with Reese's in the middle. It was wonderful. I'm hoping to start eating at home more because it's just ridiculous how little I cook when it's just me, and then I wonder why I feel like crud all the time. Plus, despite what Hollywood tells you, kids, real grownups do NOT go out to eat 24/7.

Tonight I'm hoping to make half a spaghetti squash and maybe some garlic cheese bread or something. It's sunny and the sky is quite blue but it's also a bit colder than I would like, so to tuck in with that sounds like my idea of a nice evening. Ah, not having a television really is quite eye-opening sometimes. Amish country feels closer every day.


talk soon,
a

The best freaking sandwich of your life

Tonight when I got home from work the apartment was approximately 9000 degrees. Poor Tobias is so hot all the time he just lays around and stares at you with his big beautiful eyes, begging to be put in an ice bath or something equally pleasant. I turned on the a/c and a few fans and tried to think of what I could possibly make for dinner that wouldn't be too difficult or hot.

I had the whole train ride home to ruminate, and I had switched back and forth from pasta to sandwich back to pasta but walking in the door and the wave of heat that awaited me was all the convincing I needed to switch back to sandwich for good. I had been making garlic bread with mozzarella on it for the past few nights and I decided a grilled cheese would hit the spot.

I don't usually experiment in the kitchen because it turns out horribly and just not as good as I imagined but grilled cheese is pretty hard to mess up. I melted some butter and sprinkled in herbs and garlic salt and mixed it up really well. Then I cut up the fresh mozzarella (which is the best mozzarella I have ever had, by the way.... I got it from Whole Foods and it has taken every ounce of will power not to eat the entire tub in one sitting... it's so good it doesn't even need anything on it, not even olive oil! I just eat it with a fork. om nom nom) and some (prepared, I'm ashamed to admit) pesto. At the last minute I threw a spoonful of tomato sauce on the other slice of bread, which already was layered with mozzarella. I heated the pan and put the two halves of the sandwich over high heat. I turned it down to almost nothing and covered the pan, and everything got nice and melty and bubbly. Then I flipped one side on top of the other and voila! Deliciousness.

I gobbled the whole thing immediately, and it was wonderful. I felt like a human being for the first time all day, and the prep and cook took maybe 15 minutes. If you're feeling less crazy ravenous, and would like to be more healthy (always a good thing), you could skip the butter and use olive oil instead. Otherwise, this is a good meatless dish, and the possibilities are endless: a place near our old apartment had M and I going for their brie, turkey, and apple paninis. Mmmm.

Thursday is the farmer's market at Daley Plaza, so expect updates from that soon :) I'm feeling a little fruit and veggie deprived. Last night I made some frozen green beans and was a bit sad. I was going to try and save some of that delectable mozzarella for a tomato salad thinger but I'm pretty sure that last piece of cheese will meet it's match sooner than Thursday. We shall see... in the meantime, keep on munching.

Holy Guacamole!

I made guacamole this evening. Despite the amount of lime and red chili pepper flakes I put in it, it didn't quite have the kick that I so love in the MADE RIGHT AT YOUR TABLE guac at Adobo Grill. Nevertheless, I'll provide my recipe below and include what I would do differently next time.

3 ripe avocados
In the future, for the amount of the other ingredients I used, and the fact that I only made this for myself, I could have used 2 avocados (since they were large)
1/2 red onion
I could have used more! This is something I would add to taste as they provide great flavor.
1 roma tomato
Ahem, make sure you mash up the avocados BEFORE adding the tomatoes...
The juice of 1/2 lime
Fresh grown cilantro to taste
Next time, MORE cilantro. I definitely needed more kick, it's just extremely difficult to chop little leaves into little pieces.
Salt to taste
Red chili pepper flakes to taste

Second Helpings: Two Restaurant Reviews

After not eating out for (almost) a month, I have unfortunately(?) been to quite a few restaurants since the beginning of May. Working at the bakery has me there for about 10 - 12 hours each day and when I get home I do not want to cook or even look at food unless I'm about to eat it, so I have been digging around to places I've seen on other blogs and on my bike rides around town.

Franks N Dawgs, despite its corny name and perhaps cornier catch phrase (Five Star Dining on a Bun) was quite surprisingly delicious. I first read about them on Elizabites and noticed one day riding to work that it's much closer than I imagined. I went one night after work with J, and we were pretty much the only people in there. I discovered later that they close at 730 and it was at this point 7 pm. The man behind the counter was extremely friendly and could not stop talking about how amazing the hot dogs were. I got a hot dog of the month, made by a celebrity chef I don't know, but it was incredible. It had a fried egg on top and maple mayo on the side. Yes, that's right people, maple. mayo. I had to use a fork and knife to eat it and it was so totally worth it. J had the Andoiulle N'Awlins Dawg and I didn't even get a taste because it was apparently too delicious to share. Bonus points: we got free fries because I asked nicely :) Double bonus points: the bread they use for buns is the best I have ever eaten (and I work at a bakery).

Up next: Old Town Social. This place has always been on my list of hip new places to check out, and after reading about it in pretty much every magazine and newspaper around, I figured it was way out of my price range and probably pretentious. So I would walk by, sigh to myself, and head to other culinary delights like Boston Market or Dunkin' Donuts. Or Marcello's, which isn't really that bad, after all. But I was finally able to go a few weeks ago and it was delicious. I ordered a pork belly sandwich because I was feeling adventurous, and oh em geezilla was it amazing. Pork belly is just like a gigantic slab of bacon and even more tender and scrumptious than I could even imagine. I know a lot of people have a problem eating meat, but I have yet to have those qualms. Also, I'm pretty sure Old Town Social is hip enough to use locally raised, humanely treated meat. They are part charcuterie, after all.

Stay hungry, my friends :) We'll see you soon.

What's the Story, Wishbone?

Or, how to get back on track with blogging...

As M pointed out last night, we went to go see Julie/Julia. I've been reading her blog religiously while I should be working, also in my mid (low?) level bureaucratic job, wishing for a better life. I found that the portrayal of her in the film was flimsy and not as strong as her blog posts read, but what can ya do? That's Hollywood, right?

Anyway, before the movie J and I went to Wishbone. It's by our new place omg! so that's exciting. M had already visited a few weeks ago and said it was delicious, so I had to check it out for myself. My god, I didn't even realize how hungry I was! I ate everything in sight. I ordered the meatloaf, and I don't even really like meatloaf all that much? But for some reason, I had a bad day or something, I don't know, and I just craved comfort food. It was fantastic. J said meatloaf just tastes like grandma, and I couldn't agree more. I had been so wary of it for so long, meatloaf. My mom would make it all the time when I was younger when my dad was out of town. She even got this godforesaken cookbook, how to cook meatloaf 365 ways or something, so my memories of the stuff were not fond in the slightest. But this stuff was wonderful.

I got to pick two sides, so I chose mashed sweet potatoes and spinach. Spinach I have never eaten before, really, but Julie's been cooking it (I'm currently in Spring of 2003) and I thought it would be nice to try, so I did. I didn't like it, so the waitress brought out some mac and cheese as a replacement. Very good substitute, but on the mushy side... sometimes that happens with mac and cheese.

Bonus points: walked around the Whole Foods that is literally 500 ft from our new place. It is beautiful. Small and jam packed with amazingness. We're going to start eating way better and cooking way more. Hooray!

More blogging in the future. The whole freaking world is going to start food blogging, I'm sure of it.

Not your Mama's pancakes: Crepe and Coffee Palace/Icosium Kafe

While coffee and pancakes are standard diner fare around the Lincoln Park area, variations on America’s favorite breakfast are a little harder to find.  Luckily, authentic crepes and Turkish coffee are just down Fullerton at Clark at the Crepe and Coffee Palace, also called the Icosium Kafe.  It is easy to walk past the restaurant and take no notice, but those of us who have discovered the small gem will not likely forget its bright and welcoming interior or its decadent crepes.

The setting of the Crepe and Coffee Palace is intimate, and the walls are covered with exotic tapestries, mirrors, and maps of Algeria.  Beaded lamps and shiny coffee pots bring additional charm.  The mood is completed with the soft sounds of Arabic music.

The Crepe and Coffee Palace offers a wide range of meal and dessert crepes.  Meal crepes run around $8.50 and include a side soup, while sweet dessert crepes are between $4 and $7.  We ordered two sweet crepes: Crepe D’Amour, with raspberries and our choice of Belgian or Nutella chocolate (we chose Nutella), and Crepe Icosium, with raisins, pears, rosewater, and pistachios.  Ice cream is available on the side for an additional $2 (but sometimes they throw it in for free).

When the crepes arrived, we were impressed before we even reached for our forks.  The crepes were drizzled with chocolate and adorned with a paper umbrella.  For birthday occasions, the Palace is known to center an intricately cut strawberry atop the mound of chocolate and fruit with a birthday candle placed in the center of the strawberry.

The crepe was warm and fluffy, the fruit was fresh and sweet, and the chocolate was melted to the perfect consistency.  They were just the right size to fill our hungry stomachs, and were washed down by many glasses of water, with a cucumber floating in each glass for extra crispness.

The waitress was very friendly and urged us to come back in the morning for some Turkish coffee, which is thick and rich, and comes in a very small pot.  There is also a wide selection of teas and sodas, including Orangina, usually only found in Europe.  The drinks complement the wide range of mouth-watering crepes.

We highly recommend the Coffee and Crepe Palace to anyone with a sweet tooth and an appreciation for international cuisine.  The Palace is east on Fullerton, and another short distance north on Clark at 2433 N. Clark Street.  A new location of the Crepe and Coffee Palace has opened at 5200 N. Clark Street.  Although the Crepe and Coffee Palace is not open for late night dessert, the delicious crepes, charming setting, and friendly waiters are not likely to disappoint at this Mediterranean café at any time of the day.