Category: Lifestyle

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.

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.

Let’s Celebrate By Blowing Stuff Up

A quiet 4th at the condo, particularly since the Comcast cable/telephone/Internet was out for seven hours. It hasn’t been quiet on the street, though, with sirens every 15 minutes or so.  Lots of people busy blowing off their fingers, I suppose.

We grilled burgers and had Dani’s special 4th of July cake for dinner.

Last night there was a Disney-quality fireworks show visible from the balcony. It must have been up at the stadium. Tonight the crowds headed past the condo for the show at Clark Street Beach. It was a surprise benefit of Dani’s condo that we could see the whole show from the balcony. They were really close, and really big.

You’re a Mediocre Musical, Charlie Brown

My diverticulosis has been acting up, this time on my left side, so I took it easy today. We walked up to the theatre to see a student production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. They did a good job with the show, which, given the weak material, was as good as it could be. My side is still bothering me, so we’re getting dinner delivered by Thai Sookdee, (which has terrible food, but this weird dish they call Pad Thai that isn’t Pad Thai but is quite tasty!) It’s hard to get used to being able to order food in at 9:30.

Railings and Ribs

They’re replacing the wood railing tops on the building. In the morning they come and saw up the old railing, then in the evening they haul up a replacement and attach it. It’s a shame they’re just replacing the wood with more wood, rather than using recycled plastic planks. Actually, it’s a shame they’re replacing them at all, because it looks great without the wood; the view is much better.

I’m using the leftover Coq Au Vin sauce as the starter for barbecue short ribs.

Sturdy Chips

A quiet day today. I walked over to “That Little Mexican Cafe” on Davis for lunch. Decent fish tacos, sturdy chips, very mild salsa. In the afternoon I walked down to a wine shop called Vinica that’s just a block beyond Whole Foods. Nice shop, but not much in the way of high end wines. At Whole Foods I bought ingredients to make Smoked Salmon in puff pastry. It didn’t turn out that great, although Dani was loyal.

Central Street

Today I went on a five mile walk, up through the Northwestern campus to North Beach and the lighthouse, then across Central to a charming area of shops. I stopped at Mustard’s Last Stand by the stadium for a hot dog. Central Street is a lot more like an old downtown than Main Street was. There’s a stationery store, a gelato and espresso place, a gourmet shop and a wonderful smelling store called The Spice House.

I walked back to the “real” downtown Evanston and bought the makings for Coq Au Vin at Whole Foods. It takes six hours in the crock pot. I hadn’t made it before, but it turned out well.

Main Street

Dani and I walked down to Main Street, about a mile south, and explored. We found an impressive rock shop, Dave’s Down to Earth Rock Shop, that had what must be a multi-million dollar fossil collection / museum in the basement. We had a good lunch at a Japanese restaurant, Kuni, and stopped at a delightfully dusty old used book store, Book Den, before picking up some groceries (not the good-for-you organic kind they have at Whole Foods) at Jewel, and walking home.

In the evening we went to what I thought was going to be a play, the first in the Northwestern summer series. But it turned out to be a jazz concert by Luis Rosen and Capathia Jenkins. Dani and I both enjoyed it, and we bought two of their CDs, which they signed. Dani liked South Side Stories for its storytelling, and I liked The Ache of Possibility for its jazz chords and bass riffs.

Afterward, we went to the Celtic Knot for a late dinner. It’s one of the few places in Evanston that’s open after 10pm.

iPhone 4, Part 2

Today was iPhone 4 launch day. Dani’s and mine showed up in a box shipped from my office, because they came a day early but I couldn’t get them sent here. I must say the new display, at four times the density of the old one, is impressive. And it will be nice to have a useful camera.

We had lunch at a new, inexpensive sushi restaurant that is only a block away. It’s called Sashimi Sashimi. You order at the counter, but they make it to order. It’s probably the best sushi in town.

I made teriyaki chicken and grilled brocollini on the barbecue for dinner.

Burgers and Bolts

This morning started out rainy, but by noon it had cleared up enough for me to make a run to Whole Foods to pick up chicken breasts, corn on the cob and ground chuck to give us a choice for dinner. While I was out I grabbed a Chicago dog at Wild Dogz. A Chicago dog has mustard, relish, dill spear, tomato wedges and sport peppers on a sesame seed hot dog bun. Not bad.

Burgers, corn in the husk and baked sweet potatoes for dinner, barbecued during a heck of a lightning storm. It went on for hours, giant bolts striking the lake just offshore, and up north of the campus. It’s weird that there’s no thunderhead to go with it, just overcast or torrential rain.

Evanston Handyman

I spent most of the day waiting for UPS to deliver my box from Orlando and some things I ordered, then went to Whole Foods while Dani’s chemistry tutor was here. Of course, as soon as I left the boxes came. One of them was a rack for hanging kitchen utensils, which I installed near the barbecue.

On my walk I also swung past World Market, where Linda will be delighted to learn I found the discontinued poultry seasoning she loves.

Evanston Errands

A very busy day. After seeing Dani off to the first day of chemistry class, I rearranged the pantry and fixed some shelves in the laundry, knocked apart the old table on the porch and threw it in the dumpster.

I walked down to Davis and over to the other side of the tracks to the Turin Bicycle shop to get a bolt to fix Dani’s bike. Next door I bought some decent wines at Evanston 1st Liquors. (They have an amazing beer selection, but city code doesn’t let you mix and match bottles, and I don’t want six of anything.) Across the street, at Lemoi Ace Hardware, I bought a washer to try to complete the repair, but I think I’ll need to go back and get a lock washer, too.

On my way back I stopped at Lulu’s Noodle Shop and had a delicious bento box and black currant iced tea. I also stopped at CVS for cleaning supplies.

Back at the condo I cleaned the shower (so you know it must have been bad) and the sliding doors.

Then I walked up onto the Northwestern campus to Norris to deposit some money to Dani’s account for her tuition. I noticed that her old dorm now has air conditioners, but also that there is major reconstruction going on next door.

After some computer time, I walked down to Whole Foods to pick up some lamb chops, Moroccan seasoning, and tropical fruits for dinner. I was looking for flowers or plants to put into the planters on the balcony, but it looks like that will have to wait for a trip to Lowe’s.

Whole Foods doesn’t carry many diet products because they use artificial sweeteners, so I was a bit skeptical when I selected a bottle of Galeos Miso Caesar dressing. It turned out to be the best bottle of Caesar dressing I’ve every tasted! It has almost no calories, since it contains no oil, yet it has a rich, creamy taste, with lots of lemon and garlic. I won’t be making my own Caesar dressing anymore!

Tomorrow will be quieter, because I have to wait for some deliveries.

Father’s Day in Evanston

We headed to the airport this morning to fly (on Southwest Airlines) to Midway Airport. The flight was slightly delayed, but was very quick. In fact, because of some kind of traffic tie-up it took almost as long in the limo (actually a Ford SUV) as the plane. The driver finally gave up on the freeway and drove over to Lakeshore.

Dani spent the afternoon studying chemistry for her summer intensive that starts tomorrow, and I spent it setting up her iMac to be just like mine at home and work. Thank goodness for Dropbox and Mobile Me.

Lunch was sourdough bread and epoisses from Whole Foods, and dinner was Falafel at Pomegranate.