Chicken with chanterelles

A last-minute invitation arrived in my in-box yesterday mid-afternoon. Dan and Scott were offering us seats at their table for dinner with a couple of other teammates. Conrad and I - fortunately - have a rule that favours invitations to homecooked dinners, so we readily cancelled a dinner reservation to enjoy a meal with friends.

As mentioned in an early post, Dan and Scott are good guys through and through. They are also good cooks, excellent party hosts, and owners of a lovely condo with terrific views south to downtown. We arrived at 7 and settled in to snacking on bread, cheeses, ham and salami, pickles, mustards, and homemade crispy sweet potato ribbons. Dan mixed some cocktails using vodka that they'd infused with pumpkin, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. Tasty!Alas, the only photo I have of them that turned out halfway alright hardly shows them or their kitchen to best effect. Here's an older shot from early June that gives you a better look at them, though not their lovely home.

Chuck and Dom were there as well - the dinner was something of a thank you to Chuck for house and dogsitting while Dan and Scott were in Spain. The company and conversation were lively all night long, though I fear Conrad got a little lost in the Gilmoresian quality of it. Ah well. I'll get him started on the DVDs of the show and work on his whip-smart pop culture references.

Our dinner was chicken with chanterelles, fingerling potatoes, and fennel. Dominic, of all people, not only ate all his fennel, but he WASN'T a fennel virgin. We were shocked! It was a filling and entirely satisfying meal, enjoyed with a French syrah. Dessert consisted of individual fruit crumbles piping hot from the oven and some coffee.

Conrad and I managed to avoid doing dishes, for which I feel slightly guilty (but I'll get over it) and made it home a little after midnight following a nice saunter on a mild night up the Drive. I should note that less than an hour before we went over to Dan and Scott's a huge storm blew through that had the city's emergency sirens signalling the danger of tornados. I wonder, just wonder, if any were sighted in the end.

A big meal plus booze equals a bad night of sleep, especially given how very sore I am today from having gone to the gym on Thursday morning for the first time in over four years. Ugh. Swimming in less than an hour, and then maybe a nap? Laundry is more likely. But then: a homecooked dinner at a friend's a second night! We're living a charmed weekend, somehow!

Happy Birthday Allison!

Yes, you met here in this blog mere weeks ago, but I've known her for just over 8 years now. I recall baking cookies to bring in for her at school on her birthday way back in 1998. Good times.

The photo above is from younger days as well. I was in Toronto visiting her in 2001 at the end of September. Good visit: we managed to get to a Travis concert, as I recall. Ah, to be that young again. I was 31, she was younger than that!

:-P

Happy birthday Allison! We hope to get up there and visit before toooooo long!

Dave's post-Big Shoulders barbecue (better late than never!)

If anyone had any doubt that Chicago's summer was winding down, the day of Big Shoulders should have offered a telling clue. More than the race conditions themselves, the cold, windy backyard barbecue at Dave's was evidence. Coats, anyone? Everyone? Were we really at a mid-November tailate party?

Happily, Dave has an excellent touch with the country style ribs. Also happily, Dom was in his cups, tongues were loosened, and Kaleb learned some valuable life lessons!

Photos, over a week after the event, but better late than never....

And man, that Dave can cook (though I submit the cupcakes as proof that I have a recipe or two up my sleeve as well)!



The designated eaters:













Not Smelts, but very welcome guests:

Ribs (catching up on older news and photos)

First of a couple of posts - since e-mail is all fouled up STILL (I shall refrain from commenting on the quality of the university's IT department!) I have time enough to post some lingering things.

First up, and more recent, dinner last Friday. Our friend Bradley came over - it's been a good half-year (well, not so good given all that he and we have been through in our past months) since last we saw him, so it was a treat catching up. I got home early from work and put together some back ribs. Mmmmmm. Ribs. Yum. Rather than a typical vinegar or tomato barbecue sauce (and please: no southerners or St. Louisians or Kansas Cityites telling me what proper barbecue is!), I started out with a "splash" from the book the NBF sent. Sadly, it tasted rather like a sharpy, lemony salad dressing, and as I had two salads as the side dishes, I modified the splash with a big whack of honey. Hmmm, maybe I wasn't that far off a vinegar sauce, then. No matter, the ribs were darn tasty, a bit sticky, and the meat was sliding off the bone nicely.

We killed two bottles of wine over cheese and crackers and tapenade then dinner. We polished it all off with the fregolata I had baked the night before, accompanied by cheese, chocolate, and a sweet black plum. And more wine!

:-)

North Pond

Ahhhhhhhhh....

Just home a short time ago from a leisurely dinner at North Pond Restaurant in Lincoln Park. It was our first visit there, dining with our friends Bryan and John. In fact, the dinner was arranged so that I could properly thank Bryan in particular for the time he spent holding my hand in the emergency room in July and getting information to Conrad who was stuck overnight on the west coast. I had heard good things about the place, so it was my pleasure to treat them to dinner there.

I only wish all the photos had turned out! Nonetheless, onwards we go....

The thing that caught my eye on the menu was not something I ended up having. Frogs legs were on the menu, and I do like them. Paired with sweet corn in some way, they sounded rather appealing; I saw two servings brought to an adjacent table, and I was tantalized. However, all four of us decided to have the seasonal tasting menu, and this may have been the wiser choice.

We started with a bottle of a French Sauvignon Blanc from a wine list that had a number of very moderately-priced options. John drinks only modestly and Bryan almost never, so in practice that meant that Conrad and I largely shared the bottle. Happily, dinner was not rushed, so I don't think we'll feel any aftereffects.

Up first: seared Hawaiian ohno on a watermelon salad with a scattering of fresh herbs. Lovely little start.

Course #1: a deconstructed salad niçoise, but with cold smoked salmon and cured shallots on haricots verts, heirloom potatoes, olives, cheery tomatoes, and a horseradish cream. Nice.

Course #2: Alaskan halibut topped with a cucumber mint salad in a fennel broth. Clean tasting, subtle.

Course #3: heirloom tomatoes with a ravioli filled with Walla Walla onion soup, topped with prosciutto and parmesan. This was where I really took notice of the food - the tomatoes were marvellous, but the ravioli was inspired. A shame the photo isn't so good.

Palate cleanser: anise and hyssop sorbet. If the tomato salad bumped the dinner up a notch from a pleasant start, the simple sorbet jolted it harder. Sweet, tangy, a slight tingle on the tongue. The sorbet was the colour of a deep green tea ice cream. Not a full course, but an amazing little treat. I won't upload the shot of it here - just not at all great.

Course #4: meat, three ways. The centre of the plate was dominated by a medallion of very tender, very rare beef tenderloin garnished with a bit of salt and situated near a tomato relish. To its left was a ground filet patty served with a corn relish and a streak of arugula puree. To its right was a piece of meat I shall not name for legal reasons served atop some beans that must have been cooked with bacon or something like it (darn good!) and a streak of beet puree. John was rhapsodic at this point. Conrad and I were enjoying a glass each of an Australian shiraz at this point. Another photo I'm sorry turned out poorly, so I will not post it here.

Course #5: frozen peach souffle atop Italian meringue, topped with diced peach and a choclate peach sauce. We joked about needing bread to mop up the plate, but we thought a piece of cake on a stick, like a cotton swab - a Cake-Tip, would have been a helpful thing. John and I also had decafs to wind down. And as above, the better the food, the worse the photo!

Afters: a little plate on which were macaroons sandwiched with white port raspberry jam and chocolate coriander truffles. When the waiter came round to see if we needed anything else, I laughingly suggested another plate of the treats; he obliged quite kindly and indulgently. I very much hope I tipped him sufficiently.

So, a meal in a lovely setting (a prairie style building in the park) that began pleasantly though not exceptionally ended up wowing us with three courses and two extras. In other words, we'd love to go back!

It's a gorgeous night out: mild night air (warmer outside than in the well air-conditioned restaurant) and the skyline view from the front of the restaurant would sway anyone to a good mood. Our bellies are full, and we are hoping for a satisfying night of sleep ahead!

AIDS Walk 2006

Summer has its last hurrah here in Chicago - not too hot, mind you, just a nicely warm September Saturday morning. I could have been at the pool, but I chose to walk instead.

The day I started back to swimming in August, a former, original Smelt was there to ask the team to support a local organization, Better Existence with HIV (BEHIV). I hadn't heard of it before, but they were doing some things I liked the sound of: education for kids in school, care and support for people in Chicago who are dealing with HIV and AIDS. The local-focus of their programs appealed to me; yes, there's needs to be a cure for HIV/AIDS, but a lot needs doing for the day-to-day reality of those with the disease. I was gratified to hear that by entering a team in the AIDS Walk, they'd receive 75% of the monies they raised. It's long past time that the Smelts renvolved themselves in community efforts like this, and I decided instantly to participate.

Support from my friends has been marvellous. As I write this, they have donated just short of $800, what I see as an astonishingly generous sum. I am grateful to all of them. Whether it's because they support me, or they looked at what BEHIV is doing and thought well of it, they made a sunny day brighter. Corny, but true.

Ah, so the walk. Quite a crowd, and unmissable amongst them was a huge group of Loyola students clad in a colour that Conrad would consider painting the apartment! They had cheers and pep leaders with bullhorns. Quite a spirit they showed. Though I was part of the BEHIV team, I walked the 5 km with two other Smelts, Scott and Dan. Good guys, through and through! We eventually had to get a little beyond the Loyola kids if only to hear our own conversation above the bullhorns.

An hour and a half after the start, we were done. I think I have a light sunburn, very light, but that's fine. I hadn't saved the world, but I did a small something, and I felt in a buoyant mood. I parted company with Dan and Scott near the Art Institute and continued on to meet Conrad on the Institute steps. From there we walked through Millennium Park and on to Macy's for lunch and a bit of shopping. By the time we got home, a nap was in order, and I think it was well-earned!