Recipe FAIL
I wouldn’t call myself a gourmet chef, and I don’t really make up recipes off the top of my head… so I generally spend a little time each week perusing my small collection of cookbooks, or cooking websites for recipes that I can use for dinner. My most recent exciting discovery is The Nest website (sequel to “The Knot” for brides-to-be, prequel to “The Bump” for moms-to-be and so on… they seriously have you set up for life) filled with articles and information for newly-weds from decorating to cooking for two or buying a new home. I’ve had some fun searching through their recipes database and decided to try this one out last night for dinner: Meatballs and Snowpeas Unfortunately, it didn’t work out as…
Cook in the Kitchen
Our freezer is more than stocked with plenty of meat and fish from the holidays — thank goodness for Omaha Steak and generous family members! But here’s the dilemma: I don’t want to cook plain ol’ steak for the next two months, and I really don’t have a ton of fish recipes to make use of. So…any special recipes or suggestions? One of my New Year’s resolutions is to be proactive about weekly meal-planning… didn’t quite start on cue this week, but I am sitting down this morning to set out a plan for the next four evenings (weekends are freebies, except Sunday dinner). I’ll keep you posted as to how things go!
The Bourgeois Pig
Met a friend here for coffee today: The Bourgeois Pig(I always have trouble spelling that word–“bourgeois” not pig) It’s a quaint little coffee cafe off Fullerton in the heart of Lincoln Park, and right next door to the DePaul campus. This may have been the reason it was a tad crowded in the main room. We did not venture upstairs to the “additional seating” area, although from the pictures onlineit appears to be pretty cozy. The extensive menu includes a variety of salads, soups, hot & cold sandwiches, and a host of coffees concoctions and teas. I ordered a Pumpkin Spice Latte. I have no previous experience with this drink for comparison (no, I have not had the Starbucks version although I hear it is…
Marge’s Still
This has been a favorite place of mine to eat lately, whether it be a late lunch (and my lunches usually are), or a Sunday brunch. Marge’s offers a concise menu of fresh salads (including my favorite: Grilled Salmon Salad), traditional hot sandwiches, great big burgers and some delish entrees (or so I’m told). My only dilemma in visiting Marge’s Still is that we usually go on a Sunday, when they offer their weekend brunch buffet — and it is enticingly hard to resist. Offered with or without a selection of breakfast plates (Eggs Benedict is the fav), the buffet includes fresh fruit, waffles, sausage links/bacon, bagels & lox, a selection of cold salads, and a variety of yummy desserts. Like I said: hard to…
Future of Forestry
I know I like a song when it gives me goosebumps…. or when, after I’ve listened to it once, it keeps re-playing over and over in my head and I can’t wait to hear it again. Every single one of Future of Forestry‘s songs is exactly like that. Somehow, I stumbled across this amazing band while searching for another album that I really enjoy (Fires of Life by Cool Hand Luke), and was so pleased to discover that the “Alt Christian” music niche is much wider and deeper than I expected.Eric Owyoung’s voice (lead singer) reminds me of Matt Hales (Aqualung); the melodies are distinctly original, though hint of something like Switchfoot…but better; some of the riffs even echo faintly of a band like Mae,…