Shrimp on the grill

Dinner

of stuffed chicken, roasted herby potatoes and homemade green goddess dressed romaine salad, with toasted pecans, listening to the Cult

Chicago drinks

Violet Hour, speakeasy

Green Mill, Xoco, the Billy Goat Tavern

Chicago out and about

Intelligentsia

Chicago eats

Here are a few pics from our recent visit to Chicago. What a fun town. LOTS of places to eat and drink. I would love to have stayed longer, but it's kind of a blessing in disguise (for my system) that it had to end.

Top row = Wiener's Circle, great dogs, similar to the "soup nazi" in that you have to know how to order, or you might get yelled at, and not get your food. We did it right.
Middle row = Wishbone.. "Southern Reconstruction Cooking" It was delicious, with several meat and vegetarian options, and great shirts.
Third row = Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill. damn good! So good I did not want to interrupt it by taking too many pictures. Most notable items I tasted: the margaritas, sangrita, pinto beans, queso fundido with chorizo, and the vanilla bean ice cream with cajeta (pictured). Yum!

Salad Crazy

Aside from the usual goals like 30 minutes of exercise daily, 10 minutes of reading, try and make a dent in my tivo list, etc. I have some new ones!
1. Grow another food item in my awesome new Sunset pot. I think I've decided on mint because it should be easy, it will look good, and it's just so fresh and tasty!
2. Go salad crazy! That is, dig up a variety of interesting new salads and dressings in my many cookbooks and go for it! I was just telling some friends about one of my favorite cooking classes -- the salad class -- and how it was such a great day for me. Why not have that kind of excitement in my own kitchen? Plus it's Spring, eating a plethora of veggies just sounds refreshing right now. So, look for some salad posts shortly. My recent newsletter from Rancho Gordo has added to my motivation with their inspirational summer salad recipes.


Also- just got back from a fabulous trip to Chicago. I will have photos and restaurant reports to post later in the week. PS - the Chicago trip is another motivator in wanting to eat more veggies right now. I mean, if I lived there, I'd be big as a house! Chicago dogs, deep dish, Rick Bayless restaurants, cheeseborgers, no coke, pepsi.....

Caduceus

We went wine tasting over the weekend at Silverlake Wine. The tasting was a special event with the winemaker from Caduceus Cellars, in other words: Maynard from TOOL! We tasted five wines, all from the vineyards in Arizona. They also had delicious food pairings from Heirloom LA. Great way to spend a Sunday. I may have to plan a trip to Arizona, just to see this operation first hand! And to visit the new tasting room at Caduceus.

Weeknight salmon

marinated, seared and then baked salmon. with easy trader joe's frozen brown rice (just 3 minutes in the microwave, and still chewy and tasty!). and a lovely fresh arugula and spinach salad with toasted pecans and feta cheese with a chimichurri-vinaigrette. using up some of the delicious sauces i made for the chicken the other day. spicy peanut sauce and chimichurri sauce transform a basic meal!