eating Thai

Dinner last night was a fun meal of Thai food over at Tac Quick with Dominic, Chuck,
and Sam (on the left, with Chuck). We had plenty of wine for the table (it's BYOB - I don't think places in BC can do that, and that's a shame) and healthy appetites. I hadn't seen Dom in ages, nor Chuck and Sam for that matter, so it was terrific to catch up on things with them. Swim team gossip, the usual sort of thing.

We forgot to photograph the appetizers, but we did take some quick shots when the meals came out. That plate of food with no one in the shot? My wild boar curry. I was sweating nicely by the time I finished that one off.

In any case, we may take lots of photos of food, but the gentlemen we dined with were the star attractions of the evening. Handsome guys, n'est-ce pas?

wetter still

We're having a bedtime lull in the storms. Little wind, no rain, no lightning. But jeepers, for a handful of hours there, things were mighty awesome in a truer sense of the word. The result: enormous puddles, flooded streets, flooded basements (including the basement of our highrise), power outages (the block across the street from us, for example), branches torn from trees, trees blown over, even streetlights and traffic lights blown over. A real mess.

Oh, and for about 10 to 15 minutes at the end of my workday, everyone in the building was herded into the central stairwells - a tornado had been reported in the suburbs and an alert was issued for the city.

I caught a few shots out the window at one especially wet period around dinner time.



I opened the balcony door to get shots outside, unhampered by the splatter of drops on a window. Mistake! Wind whipped rain at me and I immediately retreated inside. I did catch some shots of an impressive sunset.
No lightning photos, though, this despite a stretch of a few hours where five minutes could not pass without a bolt lighting the sky.

baaaaa

Smart of me: I cooked dinner this morning before we took off for Milwaukee. When we got in the door just before 6, it was a simple matter to reheat and serve.

Lamb tonight. Mmmm, tasty baby animal. Will my vegetarian friends get me for saying that? Ah well. It was tasty. I seasoned two shanks with salt and pepper, browned them, then braised them in red wine and chicken broth along with some dried chanterelles. I like the expensive mushrooms only, remember?

The result was marvelously tender and tasty served atop a pretty decent ratatouille. I didn't care for the French Pinot Noir as much as I liked last night's wine at Yoshi's, but I also know that the bottle - previously opened, so we need to drink it before it fades and dies - likely was not the best pairing for the dish.

the wettest month

I read in the newspaper not all that long ago that August is usually the wettest month of the year in Chicago. This year is proving not to be an exception, and if we haven't hit our monthly average yet, last night, today, and tonight will help a good bit. It's odd that things wake me in the night, so soundly do I sleep, but the rain against the windows last night roused me. And at various times today I've been glad to be in the car or in a building looking out.

I won't call these stellar pieces of photographic artistry by any means, but they do convey the downpour around lunchtime when we set out to take Conrad's mother to the airport in Milwaukee.






Milwaukee was not so wet. It looked as though it had rained a little but by the time we'd seen Conrad's mother off and then headed into the city to shop at the Spice House, things were dry. Gloomy, grey, cool. But dry.

I like Milwaukee. When I was set to move to Chicago, friends in Montreal asked me why I was moving to the Midwest. As I told Conrad today, I think that Milwaukee (and other Midwest cities - Minneapolis comes to mind) is underappreciated. We spent only a little time there today, down in the Third Ward district, but I always enjoy visiting. The shots, alas, are more of the taken-from-the-car-while-passing-through genre, so they don't flatter the city, but at least, for those who don't know it beyond Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, they put a face on the place.

dinner at Yoshi's (yes, again)

I think I've blogged dining at Yoshi's often enough that I don't really need to add much narrative here. Good food, our favourite restaurant. Always nice to see Yoshi and Nobuko and whomever else may be there. Conrad's mother loves to see them when she comes to town, so of course we went.

In brief:
Conrad's appetizer of tuna tartare and an oyster shooter

My appetizer of duck liver mousse pâté

Edamame for all of us

Salmon with asparagus, crab croquet, and a balsamic reduction (Conrad and I each had this)

Conrad's mother's roast half chicken with potato wedges

Conrad's molten chocolate cake

My lemon tart with roasted figs and chocolate crust

We enjoyed it all, immensely (and though I have no shot of it, we also shared a bottle of a good California Pinot Noir Yoshi recommended). And best of all - a good late morning today!

:-)

Shedd Aquarium

It's true of many people, I think: we only see the tourist sights and sites in the cities and towns where we live when people come to visit from out of town. So it was today. I hadn't been to the Shedd Aquariumin years (maybe not since 2002 or 2003). Today, though, we stood in line and made our way in because Conrad's mother rather likes the place.

I was glad to go, in fact. I don't get to cultural institutions and the like in Chicago at all often. Hardly ever. So, after a morning that consisted of a good 17-mile run, Starbucks, a bit of a nap, and some food, I accompanied the two of them down to the museum campus.



A nice time at the Aquarium, though I honestly didn't want to deal with crowds. Ah well. The dolphins were great.



The other funny thing is that it was my third time down that way today. This morning my training run took me around aquariumand more than a mile south of it to the lakeshore alongside McCormick Place.

A grey, cloudy, and ultimately cool day in the city. Great for running, but I think Conrad's mother was hoping for better weather, a warm-weather visit for a change.

I want mussels

I need to get that song on my iTunes. I am gay, remember?

So, let's see. Nothing really in the fridge. A Whole Foods situated near the end of my bus ride home. Hmmmm. Maybe I'll buy something and cook it up for dinner. How, I don't know, French!

Mussels tonight. I haven't had them in some time, and I haven't cooked them in even longer. I made a broth of coconut milk flavoured with minced ginger, shallots, and garlic. Some brown sugar, salt, and green curry paste all added their magic to it as well. The kitchen smelled wonderfully good.

Asparagus, snow peas, sliced white onion, and red pepper pieces went into the broth for a minute or so, then the mussels followed. I tossed in some chopped fresh basil and squeezed in half a lime at the end. All of this I dished into warmed bowls at the bottom of which were some halved cherry tomatoes and more basil. Simple, really, and very tasty.
Most of the mussels were fine - there's always a dud or two - and we had a lovely dinner of them with some French rosé.

And now Conrad is doing dishes. Once in a while, I really really appreciate it. Quite a nice life I'm leading tonight!