Girl and the Goat with Amy, Andrew, and Ed

I've blogged the Rose Mary dinner, now for the other Top Chef meal.  Girl and the Goat, now a Chicago establishment, the flagship for Stephanie Izard since she became the first woman (and first Chicago chef) to win the show back in season 4.  I hadn't been in years although I had been to the LA outpost with Conrad and Van and had also been to Little Goat a couple of times when that was still open.  It would prove to be a welcome return.

I am a fan of Chef Izard.  During her season, she showed time and again that she was creative, technically skilled, managed her time well, and wasn't into drama.  Immensely likable on television, small wonder there was such buzz for Girl and the Goat when it opened - the fans wanted it.  And she delivered.  The first time we went there many years back, Conrad and I were joined by vegetarian friends.  For a restaurant that has goat as part of its name and identity, Girl and the Goat delivered on vegetables.  We had a wonderful meal.  Since the restaurant wasn't too far a walk from work, I went a few times after that for early bites with friends.  I don't think, however, that I had been back since we moved to SoCal.

Sunday dinner at conference was a nice little group affair, with Amy, Andrew, and Ed joining me and Conrad.  Three friends I absolutely treasure, and I know they all like good food, so I was excited about our meal.  The five of us rode the green line several stops, then walked on down to the restaurant.  We had a nice table tucked just inside the door, which gave us a view of the street or the busy restaurant interior.  We ordered cocktails - the Sun Kid for me

- and then food.  Ready? Here we go:

Green garlic brioche. 

Who doesn't love starting with some bread?  This was tasty!

Chickpea fritters. 

Oh, I loved these.  These were a surprise - no one was wowed about them on seeing them on the menu, but my gosh were they tender and good.

Goat empanadas. 

And I loved these as well.  A cocktail, two rounds of these, and a green vegetable, and we would have been happy with just that.

Roasted asparagus. 

Quite fine.

Pan-roasted halibut. 

Cooked nicely, and it was good, but it was also just halibut.  Happily, I rather like halibut.

Roasted pig face. 

Yum!  So good.  I love that they are getting that meat and using it.

I didn't get photos of the other four savoury dishes, but we had kohlrabi salad, grilled kalbi short ribs, wood fired chicken, and crispy pork belly.  The pork belly was good - I often find that pork belly is crispy outside and then a ton of fat, and this wasn't nearly so fatty.  The ribs were my least favourite course.  Not bad, just kind of chewy and alright.

For dessert, we got all of them.  All four. 

I wish that restaurants would post their dessert menus online more consistently.  I can't remember what all four were, but there was one that I think was an homage to ball parks with caramel and corn involved,  It was also the best of the four.  I liked the desserts, but they all struck me as more or less some sort of cake base with an ice cream, and some greater variety would have been terrific.  But I quibble, and we did finish off all of those desserts, after all. 

All in all, a terrific meal.  A couple of items that didn't shine as brightly, but nothing at all that I didn't like, and lots more that I would have been happy to try.  Aside from our friends being such good company, a group meant we could try and share a lot more from the menu than just two of us would.  We had such a nice night, then capped it off with drinks back at the hotel with some others.  And oh yes, I'd be very happy to go back to Girl and the Goat again some day. 

third weekend in June

Weekend wrap-up time, my friends.  You've already had the Friday holiday report.  Now for the weekend proper.  Here we go!

Where did we start Saturday?  I mean, after the walk, that is (and a shorter walk than usual - it was on Saturday morning that we really noticed the smell of smoke from the warehouse fire in Los Angeles).  Amara Cafe, of course!  I wasn't very hungry thanks to the lamb dinner the night before, so I stuck with an empanada

and a decaf latte and that was entirely enough.

But gosh, we got a lot done on Saturday:  the walk, groceries, four loads of laundry, two open houses (we are kind of sort of not really looking at condos), more travel planning, running the dishwasher, a stop for ice cream at Afters,

dinner and some television, a nap.  It's nice to feel accomplished, and we did.

Yesterday was lower key.  Not because we were tired or anything, no.  The air quality was still not great, and we wanted a bit of a lazy morning, so we stayed in and had coffee and ate lightly.  I did some sorting of things in my drawers and Conrad did some paperwork at his computer.  I also made some dinners for him so that when I'm at Van's tonight, he won't go hungry!  All in all, low key.  Shall I confess that I was listening to Christmas music to take an afternoon nap?  Hardly a surprise to anyone who knows me, I think.

We did, however, venture out yesterday evening.  Van came by, and the three of us went over to Union for an early dinner reservation. 

I can't recall the last time we ate there.  I have enjoyed it in the past, but I was also a little startled to see that their menu hasn't changed much.  I know, I know:  the Maestro menu hasn't changed substantively in years, and we still go and enjoy that.  I will say that the carrots were nice

and that the olive oil cake was good (and quite a portion!)

and that the bread was crusty. 

The meatballs were fine if a little solid and might have included a little more sauce. 

The spaghetti was also fine, but I remember it being plated more tidily and just having a little something better about it that I can't quite put my finger on.  The restaurant has expanded as well, opening up a back dining area that a friend had told us she rather didn't like.  I agree.  The front has a cool Italian bistro feel, the back is like being in a side room at a brewpub restaurant.  A disconnect between the spaces.  I did like that it was a little quieter and more spacious, though.

After that we wandered to the movies.  27 fricking minutes of commercials and previews later, the show started.  Stop! That! Train!  It was light and amusing.  A fun diversion.  Nice to see various drag queens and other familiar faces.

We got home, and that was that.  Van headed back to Olive, Conrad and I headed to bed.  A three-day weekend had finished, and it wasn't half bad, I have to say! 

ah... the best laid plans

It's the weekend that was post, but with a bit of  difference.  You see, I sit here at Van's place not having done much of anything since late yesterday morning.  Why, you ask?

That's why.  There are two steps down from Van's home's entrance to the living room.  And when I took that second step yesterday, I rolled my left ankle hard.  Cursing, crying, icing.  I've run the gamut.  And now I'll baby it for the week ahead so that it's (I hope!) at least a little ok by the time we head to Nashville on Friday.

Sigh.

What's frustrating is that I'd been ramping up the morning walks, going harder and faster and longer.  7+ miles on Friday morning,

with Conrad joining me about four miles in,

9 miles on Saturday

with Olive and Conrad joining me for the last 3/4 mile. 

Good step counts through the week.  Feeling good about it.  And now this.

Alright, enough moaning and gurning on about such things.  Let it heal, Peter, and tell your gentle readers how the rest of the weekend was.

There was that good walk on Friday morning.  Conrad and I eventually made our way to Amara Cafe for a little breakfast

before I had to get home for an online meeting (that, it turned out, I didn't need to attend, and so I didn't).  I worked from home the rest of the day while Conrad spent the day with Olive, then he and I met up back at the condo to head for a light, quick dinner at Maestro.

I love when Rigo and Marco try out new cocktails.  It's always fun to see what they've come up with.  We only had one cocktail each at the bar there, but it was a terrific new one, a clarified pineapple daiquiri with a whipped matcha topping. 

Sweet, not too sweet, a little fresh.  I could have had more easily. 

Instead, we kept ourselves to the one round along with some guacamole

and plantain chips as well as the grilled octopus with fideo and nopales. 

Then it was back to Van's to rescue Olive

and feed her.  We had an easy time of it the rest of the evening.

Conrad has been taking care of me since Saturday morning, and thank goodness.  His cooking is rudimentary at best, but it's care, and I appreciate it a lot.  It's mid-afternoon on Sunday as I write this, and I think I may soon go back to sitting on the bed with my ankle propped up.  I'll avoid going in to work the next couple of days so as not to have to aggravate things.  Van comes home tomorrow, and the three of us have some travel ahead.

Onward with Sunday! 

Amara/Mama M

I'll soon have to grab a small suitcase from the storage locker and get to packing for a couple of nights away.  Conrad and I have been for a short (2-mile) walk, and have had coffee, and it's still a while before Van picks us up to head to the desert, though.  So, let me post quickly from yesterday.  Warning:  it was a very mild day.

What did we do?  In no particular order, then.... A little laundry and dishes.  Some things online.  Fixed the blinds in the front room.  Read and listened to music.  Watched Rental Family during and after dinner.  Went for a walk and then another with Conrad.  Takeaway sushi from Mama M. 

Breakfast at Amara.

  

I'm delighted that Amara and her husband have said they'll come to our party in May.  Yay!  Meanwhile, I look forward to the next time I see Chef Jack and his wife, Joy, at Mama M so that we can share more of our Thailand planning with them.

Alright, Van has messaged.  He is awake!  Now to get things organized to head out of town until Tuesday. 

a weekend was had

Yep, it was a weekend, and not at all a bad one.  There are remnants of my cold lingering even now, but for the most part, I'm doing alright and was that way through the past weekend.  And that meant, happily, some welcome and familiar things.

Such as dinner at Maestro on Friday night!  It was a nice, warm evening, so Conrad and I sat outside.  I've been having a mostly dry month, so I had a mocktail made with coconut, pineapple juice, and cafe de olla syrup. 

We shared guacamole and plantain chips, a roasted beet salad,

and the black bean and huitlacoche tetela. 

It was only toward the end of dinner that we realized that we'd had a vegetarian meal.  Great!  It was nice to be back.

Saturday morning we walked.  After a few days of inactivity, I was sluggish, I admit.  But we hauled ourselves around Old Pasadena for a couple of miles and landed at Amara for a light breakfast. 

On  the way home afterward, I stopped to get a shot or two of the "snow" of fallen tabebuia blooms on the sidewalk. 

From a distant, they looked like crumpled caution tape.  Really striking.

We got things done at home and at the bank (but ugh, I won't go into the whole story, just...grrrr), and eventually I got into the kitchen to make us a simple dinner of pork tenderloin and cabbage. 

And after the bank thing I thought, you know what?  I will join Conrad in a cocktail with dinner.  And so I did!

I have no photos from yesterday, alas.  A much lazier day, and I wish I had slept better the night before.  The time change over a week ago is still kicking my butt, and my sleeping hours have been wonkier than I would like.  We ultimately ended up at Van's in the afternoon for a handful of hours of watching the Oscars and then dinner together.  Nice time of it, but nothing that I captured with a lens.

this past weekend

It's weekend round-up time!  And what a weekend it was.  Just kidding.  It was a mild one, for the most part, and I didn't take photos at the one social activity (a birthday party for Conrad's colleague) because a) I didn't want to and b) it felt presumptuous (and icky) to do so if my only intention in doing so was to get blog content.

But it was a decent weekend otherwise. A walk and Amara Cafe on Saturday morning. 

A massage later that day, then shopping for new shoes so that the walks may keep going.  The birthday party that afternoon (but here we are, ready to head off to it). 

Sunday, walking again, and then test-driving new vehicles.  An afternoon nap.  Then out to dinner with Van and his nephew and nephew's girlfriend at Saltie Girl over in WeHo (or, I guess, LA, but darn close to WeHo).  A nice return there, and I'm glad Conrad enjoyed it.  We dined on the early side, and so we made it in time for the happy hour mini-tinis. 

Everyone but Van shared oysters,

and my shrimp and crab roll was satisfying.

It's honestly been a mostly quiet and dull life lately, alas.  Things will ramp up in the next few weeks, but for now, there's just not much to blog about.