We went to see the Decemberists on the Friday night of our last Chicago cultural weekend; 3/27, my brother’s birthday. It was my call – I wanted to see them. I like the Decemberists because they’ve played with the other artists who I really follow – Peter Buck and Robyn Hitchcock, primarily. And, although I […]
Lunch at Au Cheval We had burgers – they’re messy, with egg and aioli. The aioli is really good. I should’ve gotten bacon on mine and maybe skipped the egg. I liked the sweeter pickles that came in my Bloody Mary better than the ones that came on the burger – so I swapped them. […]
I wanted to go to Brobagel, on North Ave., because it’s one of the Jacobs Bros. Bagels brothers and they were my favorite Chicago bagel when I lived here 20 years ago. We rode up there on the red & blue lines, a surprisingly easy trip, even with Shamrock Shufflers going home from the race. […]
We conducted a number of cooking experiments on Sunday, with mixed success. The Food 52 Sara’s Granola Bars, that I’ve been meaning to make probably since the recipe was posted in 2011, are delicious. My lime & white chocolate blondies recipe worked just fine with coconut oil instead of butter – but they’re still not […]
Yesterday was kind of hosed – it started with 4 advising appointments back to back, the first in-person, so I had to be in the office by 8:00 AM, the rest by phone. Then I dashed off to a meeting at 11:00 – deadly stuff, HR policies – but they gave us lunch. I had […]
I’ve read a few things recently about how creative people, and everyone really, need downtime to re-charge. I feel like I get the illustration of lack of downtime every semester, when I think oh, I’m going to re-vamp this course, and I have all these creative ideas … and then, in the rush to get […]
On Saturday, I put pork chops rubbed with rosemary and garlic, and carrots rubbed with chile spice into the oven to roast on timer, and we went to see a pretty hilarious movie, What we do in the shadows. I made a pot of soft polenta, and and covered it and left it on the […]
I’m making Joel Robuchon bittersweet chocolate tart – on the first sunny, relatively warm (40°) day in March, when I probably should be out walking. It’s kind of a blast from the past; I think I first made it in the late ’80s sometime when the recipe was published in one of the cooking mags, […]
We came down to Chicago on Friday. I’d picked this weekend because it was the first one when I thought I could stay over till Monday since the library conference/Super Bowl/blizzard weekend. We walked over Publican straight from the train and it was kind of a miracle. One minute we were standing there with all […]