Brunch at M. Henry

So on Tuesday night we started thinking about what the next day would hold in store for us. The high school friend asked about the possibility of brunch. I thought that M. Henry would be a properly impressive place to go and it didn't disappoint. I had two eggs in a basket with cheese and chives. The high school friend's boyfriend had the french toast piled with strawberries and the friend had the 'blackberry blisscakes'. We were all satisfied and, once again, I picked a place that made them both go: oooooh, aaaaaah.

Sushi and Revelation

On Tuesday the high school friend and her boyfriend came up from Fort Wayne themselves. I had talked a big game about Hama Matsu during Easter so we went there. I believe they were satisfied and impressed. We went a little overboard having appetizers and then so so so so so much sushi. In the end, I must admit, a few pieces were wasted because if we had tried stuffing one more maki into our mouths nothing, and I mean nothing, good would have come with it. I have, I think, mentioned that Hama Matsu's lighting drives me crazy. It's extremely low lit and often the turn it down even more within minutes of my arrival. Luckily the high school friend is a lighting designer who carries maglites with her all the time. I plan on doing this too because look how pretty:

Return From Fort Wayne

I got up very early in the morning (or at least it was very early central time/since I went to sleep late after a pretty hedonistic night) so I could get back to Chicago in time for the class-I-hate-to-go-to-but-have-to-attend. At one point traffic stopped for about twenty minutes because of this:

Easter Part II

So after the egg hunt there was fresh guacamole made by the high school friend and martinis. I made mine small and dirty with three olives.
For dinner there were artichokes, duck, leeks and asparagus. I forgot (until I remembered) how absolutely awesome and satisfying a whole artichoke is...especially when it's accompanied by a Hollandaise sauce made by the high school friend. So good!
Actually, everything was "so good". The duck came with an orangey sauce and was grilled on the barbeque.
I'll say it again (or for the first time, I can't remember) thanks so much to the hosts...it was an amazing day.

Easter Part 1 1/2

For the record I would like to say that it is snowing. And, also, this is a video of the egg search.

Easter, Part I

Yesterday was Easter. I got up early in the morning and drove the three (and a little) hours to Fort Wayne, Indiana to the home of a high school friend's boyfriend. Within minutes of my arrival I was offered prosciutto and melon, yummy Spanish ham and delightful champagne.
We dyed Easter eggs while waiting for the Easter lunch to be cooked.
The Easter lunch, or perhaps "dinner", was amazing. Leg of lamb, roasted potatoes and green beans paired with really superb Burgundies...though I don't know which kind.


The lamb and veggies were followed by a cheese course.
And a lamb cake.

The meal ended with espresso and cognac. Or, actually, I had the Calvados (1963 Calvados, no less).
Panda the dog enjoyed running about.
We had an Easter egg hunt which truly was 'diabolical'. I found a lot of golf balls and, actually, the most eggs.
After about an hour of searching (maybe less I'm a little unclear) the friend's boyfriend's father (ie the hoster with the moster) brought out photographs of each egg. These photographs were taken at interesting angles that didn't make it obvious where the egg was but did give you an idea of where to look. The friend was so sure she recognized something that, in this picture, you can see that she has taken off at a run to get there before anybody else. I'm not sure if she was successful or not.
I found eggs.
The high school friend briefly put an egg in her mouth.
Panda got the lamb bone.
This is only the first part because there is a second part. Imagine.

Cheeseburger Lounge

On Saturday I met up with A-No-Longer-Wayward-Saicer, Mousehead and She-Who at Edgwater Lounge for drinks and socialization. I also had a cheeseburger. It was actually pretty tasty.

Chez Nous

Dinner on Friday maybe? Eggs and half a tomato fried in olive oil accompanied by steamed asparagus.

A Cat Is A Cat, Of Cat Of Cat

I'm going to try to refrain from putting up any more photographs of Zul for awhile. But this was a batch from last week that, well, I'm putting up.

Big Ups and Shout Outs To....

The weekend of the ziti/twizzler nubbin/Neil Diamond impersonator was a lovely night moreso because Exploded Viewer got the idea that owning the domain "mealsihaveeaten" would be a good thing to do. At the time I agreed but since I am always a bit lazy and, at that moment, a bit intoxicated I wasn't going to do anything about it. Luckily (for me) Exploded Viewer is far less lazy and so he got it for me! Which means that from this day forward (or, actually, that day forward) you can get to my blog simply by typing in mealsihaveeaten.com. So big ups to exploded viewer. I thank you from the bottom of my blog.

And also a thank you/shout out to Player With Words, who bought the dinner I had at That Little Mexican Cafe.

That Little Mexican Cafe

On Tuesday night Player With Words and I met up for a bit of dinner at That Little Mexican Cafe. We started with margaritas that rely on fresh squeezed lime juice, not sour mix, for their citrussy-ness. It was decent, I actually thought it was a little on the weak side.
We shared an order of guacamole that was made right in front of us. It was pretty good, all fresh ingredients, enough lime juice and everything else. Really great thinking going on right here, can't you tell?
I was disappointed by the chille rellenos. I had one 'veggie' and one 'chorizo' and neither were very satisfying. I guess this is mainly because they didn't have a cheese ooze factor. But the veggie one had potatoes, carrots and peas and, frankly, I thought it was weird and the veggies didn't taste all that great. The chorizo one had a whole lotta meat but somehow was equally unsatisfying. I would try it one more time for an enchilada or burrito, I think, but...

Milky

To learn about a lovely, romantic, slightly dated way to start your morning go here.

Yeah, romantic may not really fit the bill. It's just the name of the dish screams romantic to me. I'm beginning to think that may not be an obvious correlation. Oh well.

I'm Obsessed

So, after an extended absence from Zul's hourly life, I'm back. Though I'm constantly living in fear of him loving Tonguethruster more than me (yes, I am a petty cat owner) I think he's adjusting well and it's good that he loves Tonguethruster. He spent a good number of hours lying in bed with me last night and actually came in this morning and curled up in the space between my legs just like Meowcat used to do...this made me very happy though it lasted about forty five seconds. He has explored both the front and back porch...these photos are of him on the backporch. He's still a bit skittish about the porches but less so in the rest of the apartment. He goes around like he rents the place...it's just a matter of a few more weeks and he'll go around like he owns it but not quite yet. He makes me happy and is a wonderful addition to my life.

Not Part of the Quest, Technically Speaking

Yesterday I didn't make it downtown for class. I was, instead, cleaning up the dogs' apartment so it would be fit for their owner's return and doing one last load of lovely laundry. Hopefully I did a good job (did I?). I did, however, go out and get a bacon, egg and cheese bagel from The Great American Bagel. I actually planned on getting an everything bagel with salmon cream cheese but the lady behind the counter recommended that I try the cream cheese before committing to it...so I did, and I'm glad since the stuff tasted more like old tuna and catfood than lox of any kind. So I went with the sandwich though it can't truly be part of the quest since it's nowhere near where I go to school. And it made me feel kind of gross. I didn't finish it actually. Yick.

I Am a Glutton

Well. I'm embarassed to admit that I ordered Chinese food again on Saturday, maybe it was Sunday? Yes it was Sunday. I think. Again it was delivered care of Yen's and again I was happy with the tofu/broccoli. Though it wasn't actually the exact same dish as the time before. Their dumplings were less good. In fact I wouldn't order them again.
I can slightly rationalize this additional delivered meal by saying that Yen's won't deliver to my apartment and so I had to get my fill while I could. Yes, that's my rationalization. What are you going to do about it? Silently judging are you? Oh yeah, well, I can't hear it so how do I know it's really happening!? Buuuuuurrrrrrn!

Breakfast Geometry

The next morning I made myself some pesto eggs. I borrowed (well I'm not giving it back so it's more like I took) a wrap type thing and two slices of turkey bacon from the dogs' owner and then used her George Foreman grill type thing to make a pseduo egg and cheese panini. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I think it's because I added too much cheese to the eggs and they never really got fluffy. The pesto addition, however, was a nice improvement.

The Latter Part of Friday

After the ziti, nubbins, wine and brownies we tried to meet up with Player with Words and Tonguethrust at a bar in Lakeview. We got confused about its intersection and found ourselves in the midst of Boystown at one o'clock in the morning asking dudes if they knew where we were trying to go was. They didn't. But the guy above did, I'm not exactly sure on how this came up, tell us he was a Neil Diamond impersonator. I, as I am wont to do, encouraged him to sing Sweet Caroline to Mousehead and myself. I have video of this but I'm not sure if it's worth sharing or if it's more embarassing than hilarious. Of course it could be both.

Inside Fun

On Friday She-Who, Mousehead and Exploded Viewer came over and I made a little baked ziti. It was cheesalicious if you ask me.
She Who made a wine run and came back with twizzler nubbins, wine and brownie mix.
Her dream of playing twizzler nubbin mouth basketball came, for a few moments, true. I believe I caught one...but I was better with the free throws as opposed to the catching.

Mousehead did the brownie work and everything was lovely.

Handsome Son of a Bitch

The title says it all, don't you think?