Scene of the Crime

Somebody stole some kind of thing from some kind of people and the photograph above shows some of the stuff they didn't want. Veronica Mars would have something to say about this.

Lunch After Museum

After the museum we went to George Mitchell's Artist's Cafe. From the outside I always assumed it would be a bit seedy and dinery but in a wonderful downtown kind of way. It wasn't quite seedy and not all that dinery, at least in terms of the prices. I had a cheeseburger and a cappucino. It was fine. I liked it. Not all that spectacular. The boyfriend's panini didn't seem quite right (wasn't grilled on the outside) and his sister's bruchetta also was slightly different than one would assume. I liked the cappucino.

Museum

On Monday we went to the museum and saw the latest special exhibition. Paintings put together on the basis of an important French dealer of the time...Picasso, Degas, Cezanne, Van Gogh...guys like that. It was good to see, especially since it was free for me.

Hunka Burnin' Hama Matsu

I haven't been going out to eat as much as when the boyfriend was in Chicago. This is probably for the best but it did lead to my feeling the need to make up for lost eating.
We made our trek to Hama Matsu and shared a seaweed salad. The boyfriend had a sushi mold and some helpings of my sushi and sashimi combination...and of course wasabi tobbiko and ikura. I have a tendency to maki but it's always nice to remember what the fish tastes like without all that rice.

Walk Along The Lake

After dim sum the boyfriend/sister/her boyfriend and I walked home along the lake. This past weekend really warmed up. It's colder now but we had at least two sixty degree days.
These pilings (or whatever they are) looked much different last time we saw them.

Dim Sum c/o Furama Part 35?

On Sunday She-Who, Exploded Viewer, Mousehead, the boyfriend, his sister, her boyfriend and I had ourselves some dim sum. We were enough for a lazy susan (that's spinning jenny to the boyfriend) and that always makes it, somehow, more fun. We stuffed ourselves and then parted ways.

Volo

On Friday night the posse and I went to Volo for dinner. The boyfriend and I had been eyeing it back when he was still here and then Rachelle went there and took such nice photographs (how, exactly, I don't know but look at them for the lamb pot pie and stuffed calamari) that we thought this would be a nice place to try ... especially since it was a belated birthday dinner for the boyfriend's sister care of their parents....thank you boyfriend's parents for a very nice meal. Volo serves tapas like plates that you are encouraged to share. For the most part we did share but I wanted the majority of the Lyonnaise salad to myself. The lardon was thick and flavorful and the dressing nice but not smothering. I'm not sure I preferred this rendition to La Tache's but it wasn't shabby.
We also, not in this order, had the encrusted scallops with sweetbreads.
Below are the beets (far left), steak tar tar (middle) and andouille stuffed calamari (you figure it out).
Prince Edward Island Mussels in rich broth.
Cheese plate!
Overall I found Volo fine. All the plates were good but not many really lived up to my expectations. The exception to this let down feeling was, most definitely, the cheese plate. We chose from their 8 or 9 cheese roster and went with the Humbolt Fog, Epoisses du Bourgogne and an aged gouda (for nine dollars...you can try all of them for 16) and I just couldn't have enough of the epoisses and fog. The gouda was also unlike any other gouda, far more pungent and not of the soft variety. Our server was friendly and knowledgable. Volo has a large list of wines to choose from and many a flight...I was tempted by the $16 champagne flight. The posse drank a Malbec and I had a glass and a half of Vouvray.

Jackson Park

On Saturday the boyfriend, his sister, her boyfriend and I went to Jackson Park. This expedition is, to date, the farthest south I've gone in Chicago (I know, I'm super lame). We walked around the large and in charge Museum of Science and Industry and made faint whisperings about going inside...but didn't. Once on the back side of the building we got some Jesus geese walk on water and hop up stairs.


Then we meandered over to the lagoon (please say lagoon out loud four or five times to find the beauty and pleasure of the word) and the Osaka garden.


(Rachel, I thought of you and your boots).

This was, pretty much, the last day of traces of ice and snow on the ground. Sure, there are still definitely shards on Lake Michigan but it has been a warm three days (yeah 70 degrees! fight that winter!).

Visitors=Good Food

The boyfriend flew into O'Hare airport on Thursday night. Friday morning he and I picked up his sister and his sister's boyfriend at Midway airport. Then we went to Turkish Bakery & Cuisine. We sat at the same table as my other visit to the restaurant but we had a different server. I had the shepherd's salad and the Etli Bamya. The salad was lovely, the tomatoes could have been a bit more ripe but I understand.
The etli bamya was good. I remembered really liking it when the boyfriend had it our last visit. This time around I felt like the lamb wasn't as tender as I expected it and, at moments, tasted more like steak. I enjoyed the okra's petite size and density.
The boyfriend had the kasarli pide and I was quite taken with its bready cheesy goodness. The boyfriend's sister and her boyfriend had a zucchini appetizer that wasn't half bad, the best part was the yogurt dipping sauce.

Soup at Trattoria #10

On Thursday I met up with So Misunderstood and M. Lady for lunch at Trattoria #10. It was near where So Misunderstood worked and it was a completely different caliber of restaurant from my usual downtown dining experience. Lots of suits and ties. I was pretty sure many of the other patrons made a fair amount of money and were talking about business or finance. I can't say for sure since I didn't actually listen in on anyone's conversation. Instead I had the soup of the day (mushroom) and the sausage ravioli. The soup was really incredible. The rich, true flavor of slightly upscale mushrooms just, forgive the phrase, melted on your tongue in a taste sensation. My, it was a good soup. I didn't manage to take a good photograph of the ravioli. The dish wasn't bad but its flavor palette wasn't nearly as subtle and rich as that of the soup.

Your Mother is a Potsticker

Making lame, and often inappropriate, mother jokes is a signature move on my part. I know I did it in college but I'm beginning to wonder if it was a high school thing too. Who knows. The other day I ate your mom with dipping sauce and she was delicious.

I Eat Therefore I'm Not

Another night Tonguethruster made herself some taco materials and had extra. I was glad she offered a taco to me because it had smelled very good...and it was.

Food As Well

Another night, for dinner, I had the urge to finish up the red pepper languishing in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator. So I chopped it up and made another omelet...this one had parmesan cheese and avocado as well. I liked it.

Food

Sunday I felt the need to finally finish up the eggplant in the refrigerator. So I sliced it, egged it, floured it and fried it. Meanwhile I pressed some garlic and sauteed it in olive oil. Into the garlicky olive oil I added a few chopped cherry tomatoes. Then I constructed these free standing eggplant parmagiana type things. Tasty.

Winey

To read about the wine tasting I participated in last week go here.

McDonalds, Though an Evil Corporation, Does, Some Times, Hit The Spot

Saturday night No Longer Wayward and I went to Edgewater Lounge for some drinks. That night they had a three dollar special on Red Seal, so we started with that. Then I had a seven dollar Leffe Blonde. We sat at the horseshoe shaped bar and chatted about this, that and the other thing. We were given complimentary half pints of a Pilsner by the bartender then had a 37 year old man offer to buy us drinks then proceed to tell us how young we were and what he thought of art students. We left and made a pitstop at McDonalds because it seemed like a very good idea. It was a very good idea. We brought our booty home and hung out with Tonguethruster for a while. I had a double quarter pounder with cheese and Wayward had chicken mcnuggets.

Forgotten Meal

Last month I had an overpowering hankering for sushi. I sent out a sushi alert and got three willing participants, She-Who, Tonguethruster and No Longer Wayward. We went to Hama Matsu and I had white tuna, ikura, wasabi roe, spicy salmon maki and a special soft shell crab roll. I felt very tired and happy at the end of it. It took me a while to post because all the photographs were lackluster. I've done my second best with photoshop but I really don't know the best way to go about making a photograph look better with a computer. I do the best I can.
Looking at these photographs makes me, strangely enough, have a relatively tame hankering for sushi.

Breakfast For Dinner

Last night I whisked three eggs and a little milk and put it in my cast iron frying pan (coated with olive oil) and then added half a red pepper minced and a small helping of mozzarella cheese. It cooked and then I ate it and the resulting omelet was delicious.

I Did it Like They Told Me To

Another helping of udon from Golden Pacific. This time, instead of using miso or tom yum starter, I used the package of seasoning that came with the noodles. A little fishy, a little seaweedy but in low enough proportions that I liked it...I do like fish and seaweed so it shouldn't be all that surprising.

A Three Parter

So, in the tradition of posts past, a question: Painted whore or crazy person...oh, wait this just in...a new category has been added...okay, so, a question: painted whore, crazy person or person going to a wine tasting and trying to seem like a grown up.