dinner in honour of Brian

Sad, but true: our friend/neighbour/teammate Brian is leaving Chicago. His partner, Giuseppe, will be in Chicago next weekend to help Brian finish off the last bits that need finishing and then export him out of the country. No more Project Runway nights or other casual dinners out. A nice piece of our social lives here in Chicago, gone.

Happily for us, though, Brian is moving to Vancouver. Last night's dinner in honour of him promises not to be the last dinner I make for him.

I think it may only have been once that I made us food for a Project Runway night at Brian's place, and it was a bunch of baby back ribs. When Brian, Daniel, Conrad and I were together recently - was it at Nightwood or a team brunch - the recollection of those ribs came up, and we decided that I would make us more on the evening of the team going-away party. Food first, then off to a gay bar. I rather enjoy ribs, so I was up for it.

Four of us became five with the addition of Rudy, and Conrad and I shifted plans for dining from the kitchen to the dining table. Cooking and set-up was not too difficult, and by the time the guys arrived (and nope, no photos of them, sorry), we were relaxing. A bottle of Champagne chilled, a few things to nibble on. Conversation started.

As for the food, well, it was fine enough. A rundown:

When I make ribs, I season them with salt and pepper, wrap them in foil, and bake in a low oven for 2+ hours. I don't have a standard sauce recipe. I usually mix up some sweet, some sour, some salty, and taste as I go along. The sauce yesterday had a mixture of garlic, ginger, sriracha, ketchup brown sugar, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and white wine vinegar. I usually unwrap the ribs then brush on the sauce a few times as they cook a while longer.

I don't make rice or pasta or potatoes for me and Conrad when we're alone, but I made up rice yesterday, returning in spirit to something we used to do at the restaurant, firecracker rice. I cooked basmati then tossed it with green onion, pine nuts, currants, diced red pepper, and a sauce mix. I reheated the rice before serving and placed mounds on each plate.

I'm a brassica fan - the vegetable sides give me away. Broccoli unadorned to add some green to the plate. A red cabbage slaw to add some purple. The slaw used a vinaigrette with a bit of sesame oil to tie it to the vaguely Asian flavours of the ribs and rice.

It all made for a satisfying plate of food, I think, I hope. And I didn't stop there, of course. A simple dessert of a ginger cake plated with a thin, quick creme anglaise and dried sour cherries soaked twice in brandy.
Best part of that is that there is a nice, big piece of extra cake leftover, and I'm mildly tempted this morning, before Conrad gets up, to slice a bit and toast it up for my breakfast.

A good meal, and as I noted, not the last meal I make for Brian, I am sure. As for Daniel and Rudy, well, they both liked the food AND cleaned their plates, thereby meeting the the conditions for being invited back.

about cooking and eating

So here I sit on a Thursday evening. I've had a simple dinner. Well, I think it's simple. Not photo-worthy. Never mind what it was. Conrad returns late tomorrow night, and I'm in an oddly reflective mood.

I have an interesting relationship with food, with eating. It's not hidden that I was once much bigger. Much much bigger. No, I won't post the photos from those days, nor will I tell you how much I weighed then. Imagine me now with a Soviet Bloc gymnast or figure skater added to my body and that will give you an idea of it. So I approach food both hungrily and greedily as well as cautiously. Ever wonder why I bake so much yet share it outwardly with friends and others? To satisfy the urge to cook, to be with the food and yet maintain a reasonable weight. The deal I've had to make with myself.

That sounds alarming, as if I don't eat. Readers of this blog over the years will know that oh yes, I eat and relish in it. When I lived in my hometown years ago, though, and went from a fat guy just out of undergrad to my mid-twenties and many pounds lighter, I would get occasional inquiries.

Are you sick?
Are you eating?

The implications were clear, or what I read into them was clear to me. No, I had no wasting disease of any sort. Yes, I was eating. Eating disorders were not my route to losing weight (much as Ruth, bless her, frets over my nutrition bar lunches - that's not starving myself, that's expediency).

But it does require vigilance. And I'll tell you this - and ask you to indulge and even forgive me: once fat, always fat. You never lose that mindset, that mental image.

Is it irony or cosmic black humour that I spent several years cooking professionally, that I currently review cookbooks and bake scones for teammates and dine at some of Chicago's finest restaurants with Conrad?

Ah well. As I said, a reflective mood tonight. I genuinely feel good about myself, and while I've been eating lazily (not poorly) while Conrad is out of town for work, I still can muster up a half-decent plate of food from time to time. Salmon last weekend when Frank came to dinner. The wheels in my head are spinning planning a dinner of ribs for Brian and Daniel this weekend. My peculiar relationship to cooking and eating lives on, and maybe, just maybe, it's working for me.

what are the criteria?

So here I sit, finishing off dinner (Conrad is in LA until Friday night late), and I find myself in a conversation conducted through comments on a photo on Facebook. Over what? Cookies, specifically a recent shipment to a few friends.

I love to bake for people far more than I love to bake for myself. I knocked out four different types of cookies on the weekend and sent off a few parcels. It's gratifying to know that people enjoy them.

I get asked by people how they can get cookies or such. Or friends get asked how they can get my cookies or such. It's a tricky question. I can't even explain how I go about it all the time. You just kind of have to accept it. But here are a few helpful hints in case you do want to try my baking (and please, it's just average fare - it's nice to get homebaked stuff, I know, but any bakery can kick my butt):

1. be my best friend, or
2. live in the US (mailing cookies to Canada or elsewhere could be tricky) and
3. take me up on my offers (this round of baking I offered to friends in exchange for supporting a book tour for Josh, whom I met in Baltimore last winter), or
4. catch me in the right mood.

The rules change about, I am capricious at times. Here's what you don't do:

• do not tell me that Whole Foods makes better scones than I do (thank you, though, Luis for giving me THAT to aspire to).

In the end, though, there's nor hard and fast rule other than #1 and, to a lesser extent (I would be glad to bake in Vancouver), #2. If baking comes your way, roll with it. It's not the worst thing to be subjected to. Or so I hope! ;-)

wine pairing dinner

Following the overindulgent evening at Nightwood this past weekend, we took a few nights off, more or less, dining a little bit lighter and more simply. Back to that again after last night. Maybe back to that for a good little while to come.

I am an unabashed fan of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, and the yearly series of late winter/early spring wine pairing dinners are an especially good reason for us to dine there. Last night was the first of this year's (we also have reservations for the April dinner), and as usual, it was really something. Here's a rundown of the evening that was:

• a cooking demo upstairs in the test kitchen. Rick Bayless showing us how to make achiote shrimp.
  I am firmly of the opinion that the man is an excellent teacher, and even though I have some reasonable knowledge of Mexican food, I come away from these demos having learned new things. Also, we all get to sip darn good margaritas while we watch and listen. And then a small serving of the shrimp for each of us before heading down to the Morales Room for the meal.
• wines from Bethel Heights Vineyard in Oregon. The Casteel sisters were in attendance to talk about the wines and meet the guests. Our favourite? The Chardonnay paired with the second course. We asked Jill for more at the end of the night and were thrilled to be given some.
• the first course, ceviche verde. Sashimi-grade Hawaiian bigeye tuna tossed with avocado, jicama, charred fennel, cucumber, lime, cilantro, and roasted garlic. Bayless garden Ruby Streaks radish micron, pinenut crunch. Quite good, with the crunch being most memorable (which is an odd thing to say, but I did like it!).
• the second course, pampano en mole verde. Garlic-marinated pompano served with classic green pumpkinseed mole. Enchilada of hoja santa-flavoured mashed potato, grilled frisee, crispy kale. I want buckets of that sauce, and I'd love some eggs with it. Or a bath. Conrad and I agreed that it was our favourite pairing.
• the third course, puerco en salsa de pasilla y huitlacoche. Adobo-marinated pork with full-flavoured sauce of pasillas and huitlacoche. Iroquois white corn torta, grilled green beans, crispy black trumpet mushrooms. HUITLACOCHE! YES!!! Another sauce I want buckets of, thank you.
• the dessert, pastel de chocolate y naranja rosa. Gooey clourless chocolate cake layered with dark chocolate-lemongrass crema and blood orange "curd". Candied and fresh blood oranges, caramelized cocoa nibs. I used to like-not-love the desserts at Frontera, but for a couple of years now I've been blown away by them, and this was the case last night.

Other things that were great about last night included the company. RAD was next to me, and there were other familiar faces from past dinners at the table. We had a terrific time and good conversation.





And then there's Jill. I don't think I've sung her praises on the blog in a very long time, and that's just wrong. Jill remains one of our favourite people, and a trip to Frontera means we get to talk with her a bit. Plus, frankly, she looked gorgeous in that patterned blouse last night. (that's her, standing behind our table - the only decent photo I had of her)

So cheers, here's to my expanding waistline and my lack of self-discipline. It's a bean, cauliflower, and tomato soup for us tonight for dinner, and I intend to get to a rare (for me) Thursday night swim practice to atone for overdoing it midweek.

But oh man, it really really was worth it...

(more photos from last night are up on Flickr!)

Tuesday assignment

Liz and Adrian welcomed their third son earlier this month, and many of us (if not all) on the swim team are so very delighted for them. And with that happy news, Ruth kicked into gear. Meal coordination. You do not want to let Ruth down!

Because of our recent travel, I opted to take today's date on the meal delivery schedule. Midweeks are not too bad for us, and since I had research and other work I could stay at home to take care of, it was easy for me to take care of a bit of cookery and then let it sit or bake or what-have-you while I took care of the work itself. We were ready for a 6:30 delivery without problem.

This is another instance where I was glad for past restaurant experience and the recipes I still turn to. I'd debated over and over the past few days what I would make before settling on a vegetarian version of torta rustica. Usually I make it as the recipe calls for: with layers of chicken breast meat. Since Liz and Adrian and family are vegetarian, I took out the chicken, added a bit more cheese, and added a bit of sauteed cauliflower. I hope they are enjoying it.

The funny thing, though, was that when I went to grab the cookbook, it wasn't there. Ooops. Where did I put that darn thing. I was pretty sure I didn't take it to Vancouver. And then I remembered - dimly - that we had had friends over for dinner last month, and I made pizzas for us.
They had enjoyed the meal, and I loaned them the cookbook. Grrr. I needed that recipe. Time to put the librarian skills to use online.

I won't tell you the lengths I went to, but it almost involved a long distance call following consultation with one of the best librarians I know. Ultimately, however, I found the darn thing.

It turned out nicely, I think.


In addition to the torta, I cooked up some Israeli couscous and wild rice and made a grain salad. I also baked a batch of cookie dough so I could pack a baggie of chocolate gingerbreads along. Conrad and I arrived pretty much at 6:30 on the dot, delivered our food, met the new baby, and left them all to have a family meal together.

And after all that, I'm hoping there will be another assignment soon so I can dig up a different, favoured recipe and bring it over. Cumin-stewed lentils? Cauliflower couscous pie? Let me go think on it some....

Nightwood

As I write this on Sunday morning, just before we head off to meet Darth and Heidi for brunch, I have to admit, I'm feeling a little overindulged today. Read that as "hungover" if you must (though I think that's not quite the case), but know that we had a terrific, late meal with Brian and Daniel last night. We said we would make it back to Nightwood after our first visit there this year, and sure enough, we did.

Michael was the one who first suggested it as a nice dinner out for us - I think he saw it on "Check Please" some time before that and had been intrigued. We agreed on a midweek evening, and given reasonable winter weather, Conrad and I were able to walk there from the Library.

Arriving a bit early, we ordered some fun cocktails from the bar and were soon joined my Laura and Michael. They, too, ordered drinks, and eventually we made it over to our table. The menu looked great, we had some Pinot Noir to sip, and the food turned out to be really very good. Fried smelts as my appetizer - like popcorn! A duck confit for my dinner. Warm cookies to share for dessert - all of them delectable, not a dud in the assortment. Conrad and I agreed that we very much wanted to come back.

And then the opportunity quickly arose.

Last night was something of a going-away dinner for Brian. Sort of. A last chance for a good meal out in Chicago before he moves, though we know we will get to see him in Vancouver in times ahead. Daniel was there, too, another enjoyable dining companion. We started out with a cocktail at nearby Skylark, then made our way to Nightwood for a 9:00 reservation.

The restaurant was jampacked, and we had to park at the bar for a short wait for the table. We ordered a bottle of a Pinot and a plate of fried lemon slices with aioli, and - of course - no sooner had we ordered than the table was ready.

I've got an image of the menu from last night from the restaurant pasted in here. It changes, perhaps nightly, though I think that some things are somewhat constant in idea even if the sides change. There was the duck confit again, though served with different accompaniments (Brian had that). The chicken was Conrad's choice the first time we went (he had the steak last night). We shared a plate of the smelts (once again good), and then I opted for the pate. The sardines were the obvious choice (to me) for my meal, and they were very good - three of them, grilled. I love sardines. As for dessert, I ordered the sticky fig cake (the brittle with it was the best part, the cake was fine but not exceptional), while we had a plate of cookies for the table (all of them again good) and Brian ordered a scoop of peanut butter gelato (truly peanut buttery, not especially sweet).

The only dud of the evening was my last glass of wine, a red blend I thought would be a rich finish to the evening. It tasted completely maderized, and I was brought a replacement that was better but not satisfying. We noticed this with the first bottle of wine (we had two with dinner): too warm. The second bottle had a bit of a chill on it and was much better for it. I should have said something to them - they seem to store their reds in too warm a spot.

Wine incident aside, we will go back.

It was a late night. A 9:00 reservation down in Pilsen meant that Conrad and I crawled into bed, overindulged, at 1:00. That is so far from our normal habits, and I'm afraid to admit it: I'm getting old.

typical Saturday

You know, if it weren't for Smelts - and especially post-practice brunch - I wouldn't have known Conrad. 10 years ago last month, in fact, he showed up at a Smelts practice when we were offering a stroke clinic to the public and then came along to brunch at Ann Sather with the team afterward. We sat across from each other, chatted, I thought he was cute, nine months later we started dating. All in good time, right?

Brunch with the team was an essential part of our weekend for many years, but for a while, it wasn't happening. Ann Sather was tough to get in to, and to be honest, beyond the cinnamon rolls, the breakfasts were not that terrific. Nookies was our regular team spot for a while, but we were coming in large groups and finding ourselves divided up among small tables. We suffered a few poor meals there and interest in returning waned. Horizon opened near the pool, but it was a real love-it-or-hate it kind of place with the team. Uncommon Grounds and the Bagel were a bit of a hike, and the prices didn't always sit well with us. For a while Conrad and I were skipping brunch altogether. A sad state of affairs.

The arrival of Whole Foods and the Center on Halsted meant good things. The former has a hot bar (and salad and coffee and more). The latter has seating. The team has resumed brunching, sometimes in substantial numbers.

We were there this morning.




We're there most Saturday mornings we're in Chicago. Even when I was marathon training last year, I'd come down to have breakfast with the team after my runs.

It's not cheap, sometimes the food is cold (and the eggs can be terribly overcooked in those steamer pans). That said, it feels like OUR place, our community. It's a good place.

And there was Conrad today, sitting across from me. Ten years. Ten years. By gosh is he still so very cute.

recent trip to BC

So we're sitting here, post-dinner, on our laptops on a Friday night. Conrad is fishing around for potential dinner reservations for us for a trip to NYC next month, while I'm mentally composing a blog entry. Our lives always revolve around food, I know. Small wonder I'm in a soft and doughy phase right now. Back to the gym with me!

Ah, but I wouldn't blog about the gym because I am not certain how successfully I could take photos there (even assuming I would want to put up photos of me in gym gear!). Food it is. And other stuff.

It was a funny trip up in the sense that it wasn't really a vacation. Conrad and I were so very often on the go, appointments to keep, things to accomplish. I'm not complaining, I promise. We did have good meetings with our wedding planner, catering manager from the Club, hotel manager from the Club, and our DJ company. We also nailed down a photographer and a marriage commissioner and ordered rings. Am I forgetting anything? That seems quite enough for a short trip. But no, what was kind of funny in my mind was that we didn't shop or dine out extravagantly (yes, yes, I know: Valentine's dinner at the Club including a bottle of Champagne, but that doesn't count) or see as many people as we usually like to, but we did somehow take a good number of photos of the city. And even that is despite some fairly typical wet winter weather.

I'm going to steer Conrad toward bed soon, and there's an autobiography I want to finish so that I can start another book by Josh, whom I met last winter at Buster's birthday. So, for now, some shots from the city, and a link to all the photos from the recent trip. Ah, if only I were turning off the laptop, turning to my book, and letting the lights of Main Street and downtown Vancouver shine in the background as I read.

why yes, this IS a blog entry

Oh gosh, I know, I know. Let's not count the months. Let's just talk food.
I have just re-read Todd's excellent, mouthwatering, truly delightful account of the dinner he and Michael had at Posh. I'm floored. Not simply because my best friend should have been writing a blog on his food adventures for some time now given his narrative, no. TK had quite a meal, and I can't compete.

But blogging is not competition, or not in my opinion. Our meal tonight can't measure up, but at least I can honour his meal (and ours) a little by once aGAIN turning to the blog.

Conrad and I are in Vancouver for a few days. Wedding planning, that sort of thing. Escaping the recent snow in Chicago, enduring the typical winter rains back west. Loving it. Much coffee consumed. I promise, we've been in the pool, too.

Our Valentine's date night was at the same place as last year, in fact: the Terminal City Club, in its dining room, 1892. We put on suits, hopped in a cab, and headed downtown in pouring rain. I'd seen the special menu beforehand, and I had a few ideas in mind as to what I thought might make for a nice night.

A few points before I describe the food:

• it's good to be back in a place in Vancouver where we are recognized and welcomed back. That's part of the reason we love Safari Cafe in the mornings, so.
• with the exception of special events, photography is not permitted in the club. A shame, because the food is often plated quite nicely.
• we rejected the special menu.

That last one was tough. Halibut cheeks? Oh my, yes, please. But we were lukewarm on the red meat options, and there weren't swap-outs possible. Also, Conrad is a huge chocolate freak, but I merely like it, and it wasn't my mood tonight. The table next to us (whom we overheard all too well, sometimes amusingly so) did have the special menu, and the chocolate desserts looked gorgeous. Tellingly, however, they couldn't finish them.

Some lengthy deliberation and negotiation, and Conrad and I had decided:

• a bottle of Bruno Paillard Champagne Brut Premiere Cuvée. This opened up so delightfully as we went along, progressing from a fruity, lemony start to toasty apple notes later. Splendid.

• baked oysters with spinach and gouda for Conrad
• celeriac veloute with wild mushrooms for me

• a shared Bibb lettuce salad with a light gogonzola dressing

• seared ahi tuna with a crab and potato hash and a lemongrass cream sauce for Conrad
• pan seared sablefish with spotted prawns and maitake miso broth for me

• a trio of cheeses with a glass of a Rioja for Conrad and a glass of the Joie Noble Blend for me

• two raspberry and two cassis truffles.

There's the outline, now the commentary...

I didn't taste Conrad's oysters, but to judge by how meticulous he was at cleaning out each half shell, I'd say they were good. My soup? Delicious. A certain meatiness from the mushrooms, and I gleefully swabbed out the last bits with some of the bread provided.

The salad was fine. I mean, look, we wanted greens, we wanted simple. We got it. I just wish the little slivers of apple and celery had had more flavour.

My fish kicked serious butt on his. Beet greens, tempura mushrooms, the unctuous sablefish? So much better than his nice but a little overcooked tuna.

The cheeses were fine, but the wines with them were each rather lovely. I think Conrad's richly fragrant red might have been the winner.

Oh, the truffles, the truffles...

A fine night, and a leisurely pace. The meal of the trip, though it's up aGAINst boil in a bag from ViJ's and last night's fun sushi with random service at Zipang.



What will tomorrow bring?

And that, friends, brings me back to blogging. For tonight. Happy Valentine's Day, what remains of it. I have the love of Conrad, and I revel in what I share with friends and family whom I love so dearly as well. And, it must be said, in the very good meals I get to enjoy time and aGAIN.