Food for Thought

Posted By under Food Thoughts

Ready for a rub-down

  • One of our favorite local restaurants has a kale salad on their menu that is hands-down one of the best salads we’ve ever eaten. Kale is amazingly healthy, but it can be pretty strong in both flavor and texture. Our attempts to recreate our favorite kale dish at home weren’t very successful, at least until we discovered the secret to delicious kale salad: massage! Turns out, if you massage the kale leaves (cut them away from the stems first) by rubbing them gently with your hands for a few minutes, the kale’s cellulose structure begins to break down and the texture and flavor will soften. You can add flavor during the massage by using a little olive oil, lemon juice, or even avocado. Relaxed kale is happy kale and makes a much better salad.
  • Because we are a family of two, we often cut recipes in half when they are intended to serve four or more people. Because neither math nor memorization are among my strong skills, I usually need a little help when it comes to converting ingredient amounts. This kitchen conversion guide is extremely handy for a cook like me. For example, measuring spoon sets don’t include a spoon for half a tablespoon. But according to the conversion guide, 1 tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons, therefore 1/2 tablespoon equals 1 1/2 teaspoons. Genius! The guide includes conversions for just about every unit of measure used in cooking (at least all the ones I know of) and links them together for cross-converting (technical term). It’s also a really cool graphic that would look great framed and hung on a wall in the kitchen as useful art.
  • We’re generally not very adventurous when it comes to odd-food-pairing experiments, but this list of unexpected flavor combinations that (supposedly) work really well is interesting. We’ll have to take their word for it on some of them though. Salmon + licorice? No and no. Oysters + watermelon makes a little more sense, as does butternut squash + lime. If you’ve tried any of these or know of any other bizarre food combinations that actually taste good, feel free to share!

Friday Favorites

Posted By under Friday Favorites

Some food-related (mostly) things we enjoyed this week:

Not so secret garden

We discovered a wonderful garden center last weekend—one of the largest we’ve ever seen, with a huge selection of every variety of plant you could imagine. We don’t have much outdoor space and bought just a few plants, but it’s a beautiful place to visit and stroll through, even if you don’t buy anything.

Condo garden

We planted flowers and a couple of jalapeí±o plants in the small bed that runs along the windows to our bedroom. It’s amazing how big a difference even a little bit of colorful nature can make in daily life.

You got a lotta balls coming in here

We are slowly eating our way around our neighborhood, building our catalog of favorite places and dishes. The meatball appetizer at Trattoria Demi has officially earned its spot on our top 10 list so far. Their arancine (crisp, breaded risotto balls) aren’t bad either, especially when dipped in the sauce from the meatballs.

I can keep the first aid kit in my basket!

The traditional gifts to commemorate the ninth year of wedded bliss are pottery and willow, and the modern gift is leather. We decided to go with bicycles because nothing says “happy anniversary!” better than a potential trip to the emergency room. I am neither coordinated nor athletic in the least and can’t even remember the last time I rode a bike, so I was pretty nervous about our first ride. Turns out it’s true what they say: riding a bike is just like riding a bike. Once you’ve learned how, you truly don’t forget. Here’s to us, and many many more rides, and years, together!

 

Friday Favorites

Posted By under Friday Favorites

Some food-related (mostly) things we enjoyed this week:

First of many beach days

Our first official beach day over the long weekend was a tremendous success. FINALLY, we understand why people actually live here.

Eggrolls

 We found yet another great local Asian restaurant: Koco Table. This one specializes in Korean food, and Dan-the-kimchi-conniosseur gives it two chopsticks up.

Fuchsia

 The fuchsia flowering plant is one of my favorites for spring. Until now, I’ve only found them as hanging plants. But our grocery store had the topiary version, and I couldn’t resist getting one for our balcony.

Lyfe Kitchen

 Our effort to eat more fruits and vegetables (especially before 6:00 p.m.) gets a boost from a new restaurant called Lyfe Kitchen, which specializes in healthy foods, including tons of vegan and gluten-free options. We give them four (meat-loving-and-missing) thumbs up.

Condo drama

We had a little excitement (for lack of a better word) at the condo this week, when the building-wide fire alarms went off, notifying us that a fire had been detected and we needed to evacuate the building. It was a small grease fire in our neighbor’s kitchen. Thank goodness that the fire was quickly contained and our neighbor is fine, other than a few burns on her hand. And thanks to the Evanston fire department for responding so quickly with multiple trucks and firefighters. The experience is also a good reminder to everyone to keep a fire extinguisher readily available in the kitchen.

Slow-Cooker Buffalo Chicken

Posted By under Main Courses, Main Ingredient, Poultry, Recipes

Martha Stewart’s got nothing on our sister-in-law in Brooklyn. When we recently visited her, Dan’s brother and their adorable boys, she made her own version of Martha’s slow-cooker buffalo chicken recipe, and we were most impressed. After just a few bites, we knew it was a crave-worthy dish that would be added to our regular meal rotation. And we were excited to share it with pretty much anyone we know who cooks and happens to like the spicy, tangy goodness that is buffalo sauce. Our first attempt turned out a little more BBQ than buffalo (I think because I went off-recipe and used chicken stock instead of water to de-glaze), but we loved the classic, low & slow cooking that resulted in tender, juicy, flavorful “pulled” chicken without the use of a smoker or grill. After minimal prep steps of browning the chicken, sauteing the onions and mixing up the sauce ingredients (which can be adapted to the spice and tang levels of your liking), the slow-cooker does all the work, making this dish as easy as it is delicious. We envision ourselves making buffalo chicken often this summer—setting it up in the morning to cook for hours while we read/relax/play at the (lakeside) beach, then strolling home to a mouthwatering dinner that requires no more effort than shredding fork-tender chicken, spooning it onto buns and opening a chilled bottle of Rose wine. As Martha herself would say, “It’s a good thing.” Indeed.

Continue reading “Slow-Cooker Buffalo Chicken”

Friday Favorites

Posted By under Friday Favorites

Some food-related (mostly) things we enjoyed the last couple of weeks:

Girl & the Goat

Thanks to a gifted reservation and friends who appreciate food as much as we do, we finally got to eat at a restaurant where we’ve wanted to go for years, Girl and the Goat. Everything was so good that we have trouble singling out a favorite, but if we were forced to choose, it would probably be the goat liver mousse.

Tiptoe through

 Unfiltered photo of gorgeous tulips in a sidewalk planter during our walk to dinner one evening.

Sepia

We took the train into the city to meet friends for dinner at a great restaurant called Sepia. We originally thought our friend picked the place because it’s close to the train station and he knows we are new to finding our way around downtown, but it turns out that he picked a Michelin star winning restaurant with amazing food where we enjoyed a lovely dinner.

Farmer's market

 The local farmer’s market is officially open! You’ll find us there pretty much every Saturday morning.

Ready for summer

With new window shades and a couple of ceiling fans (expertly installed by Dan himself!), our condo is ready for summer. Which we hear should arrive any day now. Even though it snowed last Friday morning.

Jasper's

 We left snowy Chicago for a much-needed weekend in Dallas reconnecting with old friends and dining out on various patios around town, including Jasper’s.

Chuy's

For us, no trip to Dallas is complete without a stop at Chuy’s for the best chips & salsa, Tex-Mex and margaritas around.

Tatanka

While in Dallas, we took a quick side trip to Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma for a nice dinner and gambling with dear friends, as one does.

 

Food for Thought

Posted By under Food Thoughts

Fridge

  • A fascinating peek into the items that 11 New York chefs keep in their refrigerators at home. Randomly, two of the chefs had Asian Kit Kat candy bars in their fridges. And one of the chefs has to tape his refrigerator door shut to keep his cat from opening it and stealing meat from inside. Who says cats aren’t smart?
  • We’re intrigued by Mark Bittman’s recommended “vegan before 6 p.m.” diet (actually more of a lifestyle) that helped him lose weight, reduced his cholesterol and blood sugar and cured his sleep apnea. As Bittman points out, “Science says that we should be eating more foods from the plant kingdom and less processed food and fewer animal products.” Adding more fruits and vegetables to our diet certainly can’t hurt, so we bought his new cookbook for recipes and inspiration.
  • We are fortunate to be able to procure those fruits and vegetables at a farmer’s market within walking distance of our condo. And we can look here for a preview of what fruits and veggies will be at their peak in the coming months. Type the name of the fruit or veg in the search bar, or click on the “what’s in season right now” link to get information for the current month. The green areas show peak ripeness, yellow means less ripe and red means the fruit or veg is not in season.

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