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Lupita’s

The day began with a thunderstorm, but by 10am the rain had moved through leaving things hot and steamy, with intermittent sunshine.

I walked down to Main Street, towing the shopping basket behind me, and killed time at the newsstand until Lupita’s was open. It’s the third Mexican restaurant I’ve tried in Evanston, and saying it’s the best isn’t saying much. It certainly wasn’t worth the long, hot walk. It’s weird that just a couple of miles farther south there are all kinds of neat little hole in the wall Mexican cafes, but none up near the university.

On the way back I stopped at Jewel and stocked up on Diet Coke for Dani, then bought salmon for dinner at Whole Foods.

By mid-afternoon the rain had settled back in, and it was hard to believe I was getting sunburned on my morning walk.

I had a variety of different plans for the salmon, but in the end decided to keep it simple, sauteing it with seafood rub, and accompanying it with basmati rice. It turns out Jewel carries bread from LaBrea Bakery in Los Angeles. It’s better than any of the bread from Whole Foods. Who would have thought?

It’s a Crock

It was sprinkling lightly this morning, and was almost cool, but it soon cleared off.

At the office, Loren and Crystal organized a baby shower for Joy, and among the gifts were several Alcorn McBride inspired joke garments and this fabulous boat bassinet.

While Dani’s chemistry tutor was here I walked over to what I thought was a small used and rare bookstore off of an alley, and appropriately called Bookman’s Alley. What a shock! The place goes on for room after room, stacked high with mostly well organized old books. I kept coming upon artifacts, like an old printing press, a magic lantern, and the proprietor himself, who is as old as most of his books. The place had quite a few customers, but it’s such a labyrinth that it was always a surprise to stumble upon one. Of course I bought books. The most interesting were signed copies of Marguerite Henry’s Brighty of Grand Canyon, and a 1929 Who’s Who in Music that I got for Tommy.

Tonight I’m revisiting the Crock Pot BBQ Shortrib recipe, but cheating, in that I saved the sauce from the last batch as a starter. But I’ve added shortribs, leftover pork from The Stained Glass, potatoes, pearl onions, bacon, mushrooms and carrots, plus more wine and BBQ sauce. I started early in the morning, making a large batch so that hopefully this time the leftovers will include meat, and I can freeze it in small batches for Dani to use later.

Olive Mountain

I walked around Evanston a bit today, having breakfast at Einstein’s and running errands to CVS and Whole Foods.

Lunch was at Olive Mountain, a new Middle Eastern place on Davis, a couple blocks from the condo. They offer at least a dozen lunch combos with an entree and choice of hummus or salad plus a drink for $5.95, with sit down service. Needless to say, the place was packed. The falafel sandwich was excellent, and the hummus was the best I’ve had, seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice and various bits of herbs. Much better than Pomegranate.

For dinner I fixed tarragon chicken, using some fresh herbs I bought last week, and accompanying it with brown sugar carrots, broccoli, Caesar salad and cranberry walnut bread.

The Cellar

Not much happening here today. Dani’s been reading, and I’ve been installing WordPress on my website. Once it’s up I’ll transfer all these journal entries over from the iPad.

We went to Chili’s for lunch; Dani had a craving.

For dinner we went to The Cellar. It’s a place I’ve passed a dozen times on the walk from The Hilton Garden Inn. It’s a really narrow storefront on Clark, just around the corner from The Stained Glass. What I didn’t realize is that it’s owned by them. It’s a casual place that serves essentially the same food, tapas style. In fact, they had exactly the same special as at the Stained Glass last night, and many of the same desserts. It was terrific, and inexpensive, and everything is served the same way that we order at the Stained Glass anyway. It’s a definite must for your next visit.

A Perfectly (Awful) Musical

We had a quiet day of reading. We went to Kansaku for lunch and had the salmon ceviche roll again. We also had a north shore blvd roll, which was rolled in soy paper rather then seaweed, something I never had before. We had dinner at The Stained Glass, and then went to see Not Wanted on the Voyage at NU.

The show was unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. The score is beautiful, the casting great, the performers flawless, the set and lighting design interesting, costumes great, and direction thoughtful and inventive. The result was terrible. A hundred ideas, none of them integrated, all coming together in a meaningless train wreck. I can’t say one bad thing about the production. It simply should never have been made. I can’t imagine how so much talent could be applied without a foundation. Weird.

Amaranths and Argos

Since tomorrow is the chemistry final, Dani had Lee come over for three hours today to review for the test, so I had plenty of time for a long walk. I went to Ace Hardware, which it turns out can cut the roll-up blinds to order. Unfortunately I already ordered one on Amazon, but haven’t heard a shipping date.

I stopped at Amaranth Books, a “Used and Rare” bookstore on Davis. The owner seems like a bit of a jerk. They don’t really carry much in the way of fiction, but what they do they consider used, not rare, so I bought two $1 books for Dani that I enjoyed a while back as audiobooks.

Since I’m running out of coffee places (and haven’t yet stooped to going to Starbucks) I tried Argo Tea, where I had an espresso that was good but very bitter. Like Starbucks, they’re mostly interested in selling high calorie sweetened beverages, so I guess it doesn’t matter if the ingredients are bitter.

On the way home I stocked up on the last few Vidalia onions of the season at Whole Foods. Tonight we’ll try chicken with the Tiger Tiger butter sauce from World Market.

Addis Abeba

I did the laundry this morning (wow, that’s a big washer) and then walked down Chicago about half a mile to Addis Abeba, an Ethiopian restaurant. It was delicious. I had a variety of vegetarian items: spicy chick peas, mild yellow lentils, spicy red lentils, marinated cabbage, and salad. There are no utensils in Ethiopian restaurants; you tear off pieces of the crepe-like bread and use it to scoop things up. Excellent service and iced tea. I’ll definitely be going back to this place.

For dinner I made meatloaf. The new secret ingredient is five spice.

Walker Bros. The Original Pancake House

I took advantage of my last day with a car and drove north to places that would be difficult to reach without one. First stop was Walker Bros. The Original Pancake House, the most famous link in the 180 store chain.

It’s easy to believe this is the most popular; the sprawling place was packed at 9AM on a Tuesday. The menu is extensive and well designed, and has actually been recognized by James Beard. I had an omelet which, with the right ingredients, could have been like one of Harold’s. The pancakes that came with it were definitely the star of the show. They sell their famous apple pancake (which looks more like an exploded fritter) frozen, to go, so I brought one home for Dani.

After breakfast I drove north past the Skokie Lagoons, a pretty series of linked ponds, to Glencoe, a hilly suburb of estate homes and country clubs. Then back down through Winnetka, another neatly kept township, stopping at Wilmette Village on my way home to take photos of some of the quaint shops. This whole area north of Evanston is more suburban, but also more upscale, interspersed with little shopping districts. All the serious businesses such as supermarkets are on Green Bay Drive, the road that parallels the Metra tracks in a straight line from here to Wisconsin.

Back in town, I returned the rental car and walked home.

In the afternoon, while Dani’s tutor was here, I walked down to Main Street to work off the apple pancake, and had a coffee at The Brothers K, which was unremarkable.

La Cazuela Mariscos

I took advantage of still having the rental car and ran lots of errands. Sam’s Club for ziploc bags and gum, the market for Diet Coke, the gourmet shop for some caramels Dani likes and some artisan bread.

I went south on Clarke about 5 miles to the Mexican district and tried La Cazuela Mariscos. It had great reviews on the Internet, so I was expecting a bit fancier place than the simple storefront and counter, but it was delicious, and almost free. My torta de pescadero (fish sandwich) was $4.99, and hand made delicious guacamole was $2.50. I felt bad that I was the only customer. My bill with a Diet Coke came to less than $9, but I left a $20.

Dinner was homemade fish sticks using a recipe I got from Scott Joseph’s blog: tilapia, coated with beaten egg, Japanese panko breadcrumbs, dill, seasoning and spray grape seed oil. Very tasty.

Moto

We went to Chicago for lunch, a play and dinner. Lunch was at Petterino’s, in the heart of the theatre district. It’s a lot like Sardi’s, right down to the decor.

After lunch we walked across the street to see Billy Elliot at the Oriental Theater. It was interesting to see it in America after seeing the original London production several times. Minor changes to the presentation and blocking had been made throughout, and there was some background provided in the introductory film clip. All of these changes worked well. The only thing that didn’t quite work was the accents, which seemed to come and go. Overall, the cast was very good, and it’s an excellent show that was very well received by the audience.

After the show we went to Moto, which is just an incredibly fun restaurant, where molecular gastronomy turns things into completely different things, all tasty, and served without any stuffy pretense. It was nice to see them very busy, they deserve it.

Les Nomades

Today was the hottest day so far this summer, at 93. I guess Linda brought both the rain and the heat from Florida. For lunch we walked down to Davis Street Fishmarket, which has a wide range of non-fish items. Incompetent waiter.

For dinner we drove into Chicago and went to Les Nomades, the city’s top rated French restaurant. the five course meal was excellent, and one of the most beautiful I’ve experienced, in terms of the composition of each plate. However, we couldn’t help but compare it to the pleasure we had the previous night at The Stained Glass, at one fourth the price.

The Stained Glass

It was rainy today, and the fire alarm went off, so Linda and I fled up to Central Avenue and shopped at the Spice House and gourmet store. Then we went to Kansaku for a sushi lunch. The spicy tuna, fiesta and salmon ceviche rolls were all delicious.

For dinner we walked to her favorite, The Stained Glass. We had a superb meal, as always. In particular, the foie gras BLT was a stunner. It was served on the kind of brioche they used to have at V&A, and accompanied by a drizzle of lemon truffle mayo and a dot of balsamic. Wow. We also had our favorite server, Scot Morton, who is a wine lecturer who works at the restaurant Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday night. Scot has an amazing pallet and personality (he’s also a voice over artist).

Our favorites:

House Charcuterie
Surf Flight (ceviche, tartare, smoked mousse)
Foie gras BLT
Tuna, tuna, tuna (tartare, carpaccio, seared)
Pork Belly
Filet Mignon with shortrib “pot-au-feu”

Also, their house-made gelato sampler and creme brulee sampler are great, and you can finish with a snifter of Nonino Amaro.

A Very Short Cruise with Linda

I rented a car. Because I wanted one with an audio jack (so I could use the TomTom nav program in the iPhone) I ended up with a Toyota Prius. It takes a bit of getting used to driving a hybrid, but it’s a decent car.

I picked Linda up at Midway and we slogged through lots of traffic to get to Topolobampo, Rick Bayless’ high end Mexican restaurant. The guacamole and Linda’s ceviche sampler were particularly good, as was my molé.

We spent a couple of hours at the Field Museum, mostly looking at the Egyptian relics. It’s a good collection that they’ve tried to put in context by creating a fake tomb, but the experience doesn’t really work, and there isn’t any successful storytelling. Also, the signage is not really good for kids or scholars, just sort of wordy but shallow.

We drove to Navy Pier for a dinner cruise. It was a beautiful evening that afforded a great view of Chicago as the sun set. The food was okay, except for the entree, and the Odyssey ship was nice.. They were using only one of three decks, but the live trio played all styles of music. (Apparently on busy nights they have a different band on each deck.) After dinner there were impressive fireworks launched from a barge about 200 yards away.

Bastardized Curry

I tried vacuuming this morning, but I don’t think much of Dani’s vacuum; it doesn’t suck.

While her chemistry tutor was here I went out to the Unicorn Cafe for coffee. It’s funny how that place is always packed, since the coffee isn’t as good as at Peet’s and the ambience isn’t as good as Kafein. I guess it’s the location on Sherman. The oatmeal raisin cookies are tasty, though.

For dinner I fixed an Indian curry dish that was a combination of two Geeta’s spice and stir sauces: medium Karai Bhuna and spicy Jalfrezi; plus sauteed chicken, onions, peas, carrots, and potatoes, served over rice biryani.

Books by the Pound

The place that sells used books by the pound, Market Fresh Books, has opened a second location only two blocks from their original spot. The rents must be cheap on theses abandoned storefronts. I bought 12 ounces of book this afternoon.

I fixed a couple of quiches for dinner and to freeze the leftovers. They turned out really good. The ingredients were ham, bacon, brocollini, green onions and the secret ingredient: Chinese five spice.

Chef’s Station

We had a quiet day at home while Dani got caught up on her online chemistry study and prepped for her Monday lab. We walked over to the Celtic Knot for lunch, where I had a ploughman’s lunch, which is cheese, bread and salad. Oddly, the music was Cajun. It’s not a completely authentic Irish pub, though, because it lacks one food we encountered at every pub we visited in Ireland: nachos.

I downloaded a free app for the Mac called Jing, and used it to make a demo video of my ed2go processing app, which I sent off to see if there is any interest in it; it’s sure saved me a lot of time over the past few months.

For dinner we tried a place called the Chef’s Station that is under the train station. They have a nice outside area and it was a beautiful evening. Good food, used to be the highest Zagat rating in Evanston, but I suspect The Stained Glass has surpassed it. On the way to dinner we crossed through a bike race, with the pace car, a hundred cyclists and a chase motorcycle going round and round downtown Evanston.

The Doobie Brothers and Chicago

I walked up to Windy City Garden Center on Green Bay Road. It’s basically a fenced lot with some tables of flowers. My goal was to find some flowers to put into the two planters where the seeds I planted are doing nothing (the third planter now has little sprouts coming up). So I bought a flat of impatiens and carted them back in the wheeled shopping basket and planted them. It’s nice to have a bit of color on the porch. I asked the guy at the garden center if anything I could plant would come back after the winter. He just laughed.

Dani felt good about her chemistry midterm.

In the evening we went to The Stained Glass (superb, as always) and then caught a limo to the Charter One Pavilion on the shore of Lake Michigan to see The Doobie Brothers and Chicago. The important members of both bands are still kicking, and it was a good show, and we had excellent seats, fifth row center (ear plugs required). The best part was the last half hour, when all sixteen members of the two bands came on stage and played non-stop hits.

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

This morning I replaced a cracked toilet seat with one I got on Amazon. The new tool-less design is much better.

I usually spend the afternoon at a coffee bar when Dani’s Chemistry tutor is here. Today it was Kafein. Good ambiance, only fair coffee. Other possibilities are Peet’s Coffee (sterile ambiance, STRONG coffee), and Cafe Mozart (good coffee, LOUD yogurt machine). They’re all within two blocks of each other.

The Library

Bonnie Wilson, our realtor, came over to see the condo today, and we went to lunch at a grill with an outside patio in the rear, down Sherman a few blocks. It’s called Prairie Moon. The blackened fish tacos were quite good.

I walked back, and on the way stopped at the Evanston Library, which is gorgeous. It’s huge, light and airy, with a faintly oriental or national park lodge feel. They have some extensive collections, including newspapers, magazines, audiobooks, and sheet music.

Dinner is going to be BBQ spare ribs.

Brussel Sprouts Are Edible. Who Knew?

I walked down to Jewel and bought their pesticide-laced bananas because they taste better than Whole Foods‘ organic ones. On the way back I spent an hour at Cafe Mozart sipping coffee and reading articles from Instapaper, including an interesting one about an art forger named Biro. Then at whole Foods I picked up supplies to make basil chicken and oven roasted brussels sprouts, which turned out surprisingly good.

What Part of the Pig is the “Nugget”?

I walked over to the west of the tracks, took some photos, and finally ate at Flat Top. There’s a new place next door that Dani recommended called Andy’s Frozen Custard, which sounded good at 195 calories per serving — until I got home and looked it up on the web and discovered there are three servings in a small!

She wanted stuffing for dinner, so she had to tell me how to make it. We’re also having a “ham nugget” from Whole Foods that is spherical.

Spiaggia

We took advantage of having a car and drove North to Wilmette, a rather tony suburb, where we had lunch at Hackney’s, an old fashioned restaurant that reminded me of the places we used to go when I was a kid. Next door we shopped at Trader Joe’s, and then stopped at Sam’s Club.

For dinner we went to Spiaggia, which is supposed to be the best Italian/Continental restaurant in Chicago, although it is owned by Levy Restaurants, which is a bit worrisome. Spiaggia was good, not life changing. The place is a bit like Per Se, but with an Italian focus. Their tasting menu had an interesting theme, of the development of balsamic vinegar, with each course using a vinegar from farther along in the life cycle. The wine pairings were mostly so-so. It was a nice evening.

James Taylor and Carole King

Dani said that her final exam went well. It took all three hours for her to do it and check it.

We rented a car and picked up the footstools I bought at World Market, which are very nice.

It’s really a challenge to find a place to park the car, though. I think we’ll use it tomorrow and then return it rather than try to figure out what to do with it until Sunday.

We drove down to little Italy and strolled up and down restaurant-laden Taylor street, finally choosing Francesca’s. Great choice. We had an authentic Italian meal, a great bottle of Barbera, and one of the best desserts I’ve ever had, an ice cream and nut and caramel and Oreo crust concoction that combined salty, bitter, sweet, warm, cold, crunchy and soft all in each amazing bite. The restaurant was packed, with many patrons headed for  the same concert.

After dinner, we went to United Center to see James Taylor and Carole King.  What a terrific concert they put on. It’s amazing that he’s 62 and she’s 68! They played for three hours, with their original band from their 1971 Troubador show plus many others. I had forgotten how many hits she wrote, all the way back to 1960. The concert had robotic video cameras all over the arena, high def screens, LED walls, and good sound (for an arena). Yet even with probably 20,000 people, it seemed quite intimate, and it was clear that they were really enjoying playing, and enjoying the enthusiastic audience response. Dani really enjoyed it, too.

Frontera Chili

Not too much to report today. I tried to duplicate Yellow Dog Eats tuna for lunch, with cranberries, almonds and allspice, but it really needs five spice, which I bought later at Whole Foods.

While Dani was being tutored I went to Peet’s Coffee and read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which, after a slow start, has gotten good. Much like Harry Potter, it has the feel of a new author learning the ropes in the first third of the book.

For dinner I made chili, starting with a jar of Frontera Grill chili mix and adding:

Browned hamburger
Onion
Ketchup
More ketchup
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Moroccan spice
Beef seasoning salt
Sugar

I left it in the crock pot all afternoon and it was damn good. Served with Boudin bread.

Would You Like Arsenic With That Wasabi?

We spent the day at the condo. Dani is writing a report analyzing the results of her spectroscopic study of arsenic and iron in seaweed from different species and locations. I’m reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which is decent enough, but it’s hard to figure out how it got published, let alone became a hit and got turned into a movie. The author’s handling of viewpoint, and excessive use of exposition seems dubious.