no oven, please!

I don't know what the Saturday high temperature was in Chicago. The actual number is immaterial to me. Hot. That's what it was. And yes, I do know it was far from the hottest it's been or even that I've known it to be. I am a polar creature, I think, and I prefer cooler temperatures.

And yet, I never object to the opportunity to dine out on the balcony. Friday night with Heather and Arek, Saturday night a mini-date night with Conrad. Bliss!






In this weather, I avoid turning on the oven (though I will likely get cookies for the conference roomies, TK and Martin, baked before I head to DC midweek). That being the case, Saturday dinner was a near repeat of Friday. Things that require scant cooking on the stove. No oven, please!

Salad-y things were the order of the day, and we're both fine with that. Some mixed nuts, a small dish of olives. A well-chilled Chardonnay. I set out a salad of mixed baby greens and some herbs with tomatoes, dressed with white truffle oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. White truffle oil is my magic go-to ingredient of this year, it seems. Rough life Peter. I also had a dish of asparagus, cooked and chilled, a drizzle of the oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and then a grating of Spanish Mahon Curado cheese atop. Alongside this were a dozen plump shrimp I'd barely and gently poached in rose wine with peppercorns and a pinch of a spot prawn flavoured salt. The shrimp were chilled as well. Dessert? A bowl of cherries.

An ideal dinner - light fare with minimal fuss. Loading the dishwasher probably took longer than the salad, for example. And, happily, it keeps the apartment cool for the much-welcome night of EC.

Simple, easy food for an er-lee summer evening. Conrad and I just munched and sipped and chatted and were grateful for these simple pleasures.

could be honeycomb...

Sometimes it's better just to let the photos speak for themselves. I'll see about pulling the images from the real camera, but I think these iPhone shots capture nicely how lovely an evening it was. Sitting out on the balcony, noting the change of colour of surrounding buildings as the light softened. Clouds blushing orange and pink. Summer in Chicago.






"Every sleepy light
Must say goodbye
To the day before it dies"

sometimes I cook good food

Every once in a while I make a meal where I don't find myself thinking, "Hmmmm... next time I should do this..." or "Thank goodness we don't have guests over to eat this crap!"

Wednesday night was one of those times.

Mini date night out on the balcony, a warm evening, Conrad to keep me company. And this:

Roasted halibut and Swiss chard with a shallot and dried porcini sauce, roasted trumpet mushrooms, peas, and crispy fried shallots.


Once in a while, I rock.



(oh! peaches and raspberries with mint, Greek yogurt, and chopped pistachios for dessert)


Let's not even discuss the Thursday night dinner of "salad" concocted out of things I found in the fridge, however...

Dinner Like no Other (8th annual)

(it occurs to me that it's actually a very nice thing that I have had to wait until a night when Conrad is out of town overnight for work to write this blog post)

This year marks the 8th time Rick Bayless and company have staged the Dinner Like No Other, a fundraiser for the Frontera Farmer Foundation. I think we've been to nearly all of them and enjoyed them hugely, not least because of the great people we've dined with. This year was no different.

Conrad and I got ourselves prettied up,
then headed downtown where we joined RAD again. He had assembled a table of familiar faces, so Jim (on the right with RAD) was there, and so was his wife Dianne. Glen and Sue had come down from Milwaukee. Andrew couldn't make it, but Susan and Conrad had a hoot all night long chatting away at their end of the table. We were sitting in the Frontera side again, and the mood around the table was spirited. And heck, that was even before they had poured us each a Copa Mundial Margarita (Tres Generaciones blanco tequila, Moon on the Water sake, Klug Farm strawberries, fresh lime). We sipped, Rick Bayless spoke to the assembled guests, introduced some of the farmers,
and then on to the food!

An Asian influence spun through the menu this year, mostly with good effect. I know now everyone cares for kimchi, but I for one rather like it. The amuse went down well. Tostadita Asiatica - City Farm radish kimchi, Nichols green onions, Alaskan king crab, crispy tortilla.

The courses are paired with wines, but this year there were two changes. First, Jill (the sommelier - we LOVE her) was not there, having worked the afternoon event. I hope she got the bottle of wine we brought for her. Second, the first course was paired with a local beer. Frankly, the pairing was a little lost on me - not at all bad, but the food just outshone the ale so very much. Our salad, then. Ensalada de Esparragos - grilled Klug Farm asparagus in miso butter. Pasilla chile compote, egg yolk custard, Gunthorp bacon, Bayless microgreens. Paired with 2010 Goose Island "Sophie" Belgian-style farmhouse ale.

When I saw the menu, it was the soup course I zeroed in on. Nettles. Cool! Plus, I'd had a chilled soup at the last wine pairing dinner at Frontera, and it was a wonder. This was no less delightful - look at that colour! The wine was an excellent match in this case. Sopa Verde - chilled soup of Spence Farm nettles and roasted poblano chiles. Whipped ricotta cheese, fermented black garlic, slow-cooked Iron Creek tomatoes, brioche croutons. Paired with 2009 Dona Paula Torrontes, Argentina.

I think Frontera Grill is one of the best places in the city to get seafood, but I think this was the weakest course of the night. The fish was fine in itself, and the go alongs were alright. But that was the problem: I wanted more than alright. I wanted Zap! Pow! It didn't happen. I will say that the wine was even better when sipped with the food. Halibut con Frijoles Negros - wood-grilled Alaskan halibut with Three Sisters Garden black beans and fermented black bean broth. Spicy Nichols snow peas, peanuts, crispy onions, furikake. Paired with 2008 Cono Sur "Vison" Pinot Noir, Chile.

Ah, but while the fish was fine, the pork was delicious. All those herbs singing together on my tongue, and a rich red wine that could handle them. This was a great end to the savoury portion of the meal. Puerco al Coco - Maple Creek pork shoulder braised in coconut water. Green papaya-mango salad with banana blossoms, Spence Farm quelites, homemade rice noodles, Living Waters herbs. Paired with 2009 Boekenhoutskloof "The Wolftrap", South Africa.

Ah dessert, bringing us full circle with the strawberries. Was it the angelica that had the unfamiliar and wonderful flavour? I'm not sure. I really liked this a lot, though. Isla Flotante de Fresa - Little Farm egg white meringue, Klug Farm/Seedling strawberries, peppercorn natilla, Bayless garden angelica, Living Waters micro basil.

With dessert, a pour of Tres Generaciones anejo tequila. I sipped some of it, but I didn't need it, and again, the nuances of tequila can be lost on me.

The night isn't just about food, though. There are raffles (we didn't win anything YET AGAIN). There is a silent auction (we sort of won, as a table, a cocktail party in the Bayless' garden) in which Jim successfully bid on the chef's jacket Rick Bayless wore to cook a recent state dinner at the White House. So there were were, a few of us (Robert and his wife Katie came by, the two lovely young women at the next table - I forget their names), trying it on, having a laugh.




The night wound down and left me thinking it's too seldom that Conrad and I make it down there to dine, much as we love it. Maybe some time next month (not-so-subtle hint coming up) I'll get in an early or belated 40th birthday nosh there. We'll see.

small hint of dinner past

This is odd for me, but I may just spend most of the evening offline. Maybe not. That's a tough thing for me.

The Sunday Frontera Foundation dinner was remarkable and fun as always. It's also a lot of work to recap the courses. Tomorrow night, perhaps. For now, a small teaser - me in the jacket Rick Bayless wore to cook at a recent state dinner at the White House. And someone, helpfully, pointing out the stain from the black mole.

More to come...

benefits

Conrad has many many fine qualities for which I love him dearly. But I must confess, among them is the fact that I can forage in his closet for things to wear when I tire of my own closet. That we're a similar size is a lovely benefit. And really, this shirt is both funky and cute. Suits me nicely.




Oh, come on, no jeering - my vanity has been well-established on this blog already!

Yoshi's (short list)

Before I forget completely, a short note on the Yoshi's dinner last Friday night. A list, in fact:

1. I've never had the wagyu beef skewers before. Cooked on a hot stone at the table. Sort of like a mini-Korean bbq for an appetizer. Fun!



2. We sat outside instead of at the bar. It happens. Lovely night for it.


3. Chris, the waiter, is indeed cute, and an absolute sweetheart. He was nursing a shoulder injury that night, poor guy. Conrad and I will always be grateful to him for his winning recommendation of the Domaine Chandon Pinot Meunier a few years back.


A terrific date night at Yoshi's. But then, what else did we expect?

Saturday night in

The streak of date nights with Conrad continues. Friday night he and I sat outside at Yoshi's (oh, shoot, I haven't posted about that, have I? Hmmmm...), and last night it was dinner in.

I kept things simple last night. No sauce-making, only a few things on the plate. I'd been doing housecleaning all day, after all, and it wasn't so much laziness on my part at the end of all that (though it has been established here that I AM lazy) as it was just a craving for a few simple ingredients that could stand nicely on their own.

I started out by washing raspberries and strawberries, cutting up the strawberries, tossing them all in a glass bowl with some sugar and chopped fresh lavender leaves, and leaving that to sit a few hours. I had an idea in mind that I stole from CG, and I know Conrad loves berries.

For dinner, I rubbed a pork tenderloin with some oil, salt flavoured with wild mushroom, pepper, thyme, and some crumbled dried porcini. Seared that in a pan, popped it into a hot oven to finish there. Once it was done enough, I rested it a bit.

On the side, some corn. It's been so sweet so far this late spring, so I went with it again. I know, I know - as has been pointed out to me, it's becoming the Swiss chard of June 2010. I say, if it ain't broke...

The other side was a very simple salad, a mix of young greens tossed with a drizzle of truffle oil, some balsamic vinegar from Venturi-Shulze, a bit of the same salt from the pork, and a grind of pepper.

Once on the plate, the corn and pork got a wee drizzle of truffle oil. Just a wee bit.
The scent filled the kitchen where we were dining (thanks to on-and-off wet weather), Conrad and I sipped a 2006 Adelsheim Pinot Noir and munched happily.

After dinner we moved outside for a while - the skies had brightened though it was cool enough outside to warrant layers. We each had books and bit more wine to sip. When we got a little too chilly and the light was getting low, I came in and put dessert together: the berries topped with a healthy dollop of Greek yogurt, sprinkled with chopped walnuts, a drizzle of the juices from the maceration, then a bit of bittersweet chocolate atop that.
The fun part, of course, is stirring it all into one glorious mess in the bowl then devouring it.

We finished off the wine. I'd been on top of dishes all along, so that left us with a bit of reading in bed and lights out to cap a very relaxing dinner night in.