getting our gay on

Maybe a few months' break is a very good thing.

I'm tired. It's gone 11, and I've been up since not long after 6 this morning. Yes, yes, I had a nap this afternoon, but I blame Conrad for his devastatingly effective tactic of spooning around me. Puts me to sleep every single time.

Anyway, a few months' break is what we've had since our last real dinner party. I think. I can't recall anything bigger then three or four of us sitting in the kitchen. Tonight we had six of us, so we were forced to use the dining room and clean the house accordingly.

You know what, though? Sometimes I rock. Oh, I'll give credit to Conrad - he's support and encouragement and he cleans the place well. But seriously folks (all three of you who read this): tonight I did well in the kitchen. Nice to know that I still can. Mayve the break helped.

We got our gay on tonight, setting a table in a rainbow of colours. In the kitchen I had more plates and the like lined up for dishing up the various courses. We started prep last night, and consequently had a fairly easy day of it today.


In fact, with over a half hour to go until the guests were due to arrive we had sufficient time to pose for shots.

All in all, it was an easy evening, and I can brag and say that clean up got completely done a good 45 minutes ago almost.

Up first, some radishes, ricotta salata, olives, tomatoes, and walnuts to munch on out on the balcony. We enjoyed these with some Sokol Blosser Evolution.

Everyone came inside after that, and along with a bottle of a Venturi Schulze Schönburger we had a chilled green pea and mint soup with sour cream.


And then on to the main course. Conrad photographed me plating it. Red wine glazed back ribs with steamed Swiss chard and a chick pea salad. I used a whole bottle of the Payva we drank alongside it - a Spanish Tempranillo - to make the glaze. A little dry, but all in all I was pleased with the ribs, as well as with the sides.




Ah, and then the cake. Can I confess? I SUCK at cake decorating. This represents a good effort for me, and let's be objective: it's not pretty. Also, the cake was dry, but that was mitigated by the frosting and homemade ice cream. Dessert then: Yellow cake with cocoa frosting and raspberry swirl ice cream.


Six of us, as I said. Dan, Bryan, John in the one photo. Jim in the next. Conrad in the last. The temperature was quite ideal for sitting outdoors.



We must owe a lot of people dinner at our place, though next weekend will simply, happily, be CG and Martin. I hope we might sit outdoors again.

Meanwhile, a closing a shot of the tulips I picked up yesterday. So springlike, but somehow the way Conrad captured them here makes them seem so much more a sophisticated flower.

last breakfast with the NBF

Conrad is still in bed - it IS before 7:00 on a Saturday, after all. Heck, if he could, he'd be in bed EVERY morning later than this. But really, it's his own fault for taking up with an irrepressibly (and irritatingly) morning person like me.

His dozing, though, means I can't be too loud out here in the kitchen. I have butter softening to make some cake layers for tonight's dinner, but until he's up, the KitchenAid stays silenced. Time, instead, for me to read the morning news, check Facebook for messages (a new friend this morning - yay!), and continue the catching up with the blog efforts.

Let's go back to last Sunday, then, and our last breakfast with the NBF and Brett. The vote was against anything too fancy (and pricey), and happily a longtime-ago favourite came to mind.

The swim team used to go to Ann Sather all the time when I first came to Chicago (wow, waaaaaay back in 2000). Eventually it became too tough to get a big table, and we shifted to other restaurants. Also, I have to say that the food wasn't good. The point of Ann Sather was the cinnamon rolls that came as a side with every egg dish. They were good, slathered with icing and warm. The rest? Passable at best, disgusting in the case of the side potatoes.

It's the cinnamon rolls that lured us back, and since we were up reasonably early on the Sunday, we headed down there. You know what? It's still busy, but the food has improved nicely. We all enjoyed it, and we have the photos to prove it. And look, I'm all appropriately Swedished up, wearing that t-shirt!

An errant beard hair. Um, ow?


Brett deals with the indignity of being fed some cinnamon roll. No, that is not my finger. Much as I may crush on the man, I, too, have some dignity.



Breakfast. No, I'm not detailing what each item is. Eggs. Egg-related stuff.




Look, other people photograph their food, too!

The wide-eyed look - cute in a chipmunk way.

The woman behind Jeph looks a little angry, no? Also, let's pretend Conrad's eyes are open.

date night: tapas

Wait, if this is a date night, shouldn't I be getting to second base (or beyond) instead of blogging the dinner?

A point to ponder. For now, some dining out photos. I was lazy, and Conrad doesn't cook. Hence, a date night. He had suggested some sushi at Wakamono, but we tend to turn to various Asian cuisines when we want to order in or have a quick dinner all too often. Either that, or we head to Whole Foods. I wasn't in the mood for either. Middle of the afternoon today, though, and inspiration struck me: Spanish.

We. Freakin'. Loved. Spain. Alright, I'll amend that and say we just don't get why people think Seville is so terrific - we didn't care for it at all. But we loved almost everything else about the two weeks we spent in Spain in 2004. Cordoba, Granada, Ronda, Madrid. Side trips to other towns for a day. The food. The food. Ahhhhh, the food. Yep, date night would be a walk down to a restaurant, Arco de Cuchilleros, we haven't popped into in years. Shame on us. We'll be back, I hope.

So then, photos of us, happy to have a night together (and starting out with some manzanilla sherry).
I really like that shirt of mine. Why yes, I am vain, why do you ask?

And the food...

Marinated olives.

A cheese plate.

Sole on sauteed spinach.

Cod with a lot of garlic. Oh so much garlic. This was lovely, truly.


Chicken in a sauce of red pepper and wine.

Artichokes with pancetta (wait, that's Italian).

All of it was good, and to top it all (and the wine), we came home to have some white chocolate chip cookies. So much for me being in good shape for the reunion this summer!

And now, back to my date...

two KC dinners (and a post-dinner stroll)

Me again, still catching up on bygone times. So then, back to the KC weekend (and yes, even more to be posted - hey, we take a heck of a lot of photos!)...

Kansas City gave us the opportunity to have a couple of nice meals together with Conrad's family. His mother was down from the UP for the weekend before her birthday while Conrad's nephew, Justin, and his wife, Tonna, are KC residents. Happily, that meant that we had local knowledge of where to dine. On the Friday night, their suggestion was quite fine.

Blue Bird Bistro is a funky place that was not nearly so busy on a Friday night as it deserves to be. It was one of those places where I read the menu and I am boggled because there are so many enticing options. In the end, the plating was not refined, but we left very happy. We almost decided to go back the next evening!

But on to dinner there, and fine group it was to dine with.

House cured salmon. Flavoured with lime, jalapenos, and cilantro served over organic mixed greens and sprinkled with chipotle-orange vinaigrette. Conrad and I shared it.

Conrad's dinner: American wild-caught scallops, pan-seared and served with seasoned rice and raosted asparagus, drizzled with cumin brown butter. It didn't look refined, but the cumin brown butter was delightfully fragrant, providing some evocative flavour to the meal.

My dinner: Grass fed bison tenderloin prepared in a Boulevard Wheat (beer) reduction, greens and roasted potatoes.

We declined to have dessert (though there were some attractive choices). Ah well. Our wine was a bottle of Seghesio Zinfandel. A fine dinner, and again, we were dismayed that the palce was not packed when we left. If you got to KC, drop by this place - it's worth it.


The next night - a finer restaurant and a little bit less casual a look. You know, I'm really loving wearing the ties these days.

Saturday dinner was at Starker's Restaurant down in Country Club Plaza. How interesting that KC has a shopping precinct like that - so far from downtown but so much like a downtown, not a mall. The restaurant itself is a little finer, known for its wine. The light fixture gives that away.

So we all made ourselves pretty...



Again, a lot of interesting menu options. We all started, though, with a non-menu item: an amuse-bouche of asparagus soup. Tasty!

We didn't photograph everyone's meals as we wanted them to enjoy their meals while warm. Rest assured, they all enjoyed what they had. As for us, well, first up for me was foie gras. This came just a day or two after Chicago repealed its (frankly silly) ban on selling it within the city. Justin had never tried it before, and he was surprised, when I offered him a bite, to find that he liked it.

Conrad had a crab duo for an appetizer. Alas, the photos were not good. Ah well. Instead, here's his dinner: Free range veal rib chop with wilted local greens, grilled spring onions, English peas, and crawfish Bordelaise.

My dinner of Circle 7 Ranch sprng lamb "en crepinette" with potato puree, fava beans, local mushrooms, and picholine olive puree. It doesn't look pretty, I concede, but gosh darn was it substantial and good.

Conrad, by the way, famously (in our house) hates peas (also sweet peppers, and he's not wild on liver). He was a good boy that night.

After dinner we walked around the Plaza neighbourhood. Brush Creek runs through the area, and walking along it in the twilight was a good way to regain space for a stop in a gelato shop for dessert.