February 2011
71 posts
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January 2011
76 posts
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Coldcut sandwich
Intended to spend just a couple hours working from home before heading out. Ended up working into the afternoon. Luckily I picked up this miracle pack of meats:
So naturally, I made a sandwich with a slice of each — bologna, ham and turkey. Put a little mayo on one side and a pickle slice on the other. Side of Trader Joe’s Veggie Chips.
I’m not gonna lie. It wasn’t...
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Bagel and coffee
Got an early start on the week and did something unusual — ate breakfast. Nothin’ special. Just an everything bagel, with onion and chive cream cheese, and a cup of Metropolis coffee.
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His and Hers chili mac
Ah yes, my signature dish. So when the Missus said she had a craving for chili mac, and asked me to fix dinner, I hopped-to.
It’s a simple concoction; a bachelor’s gourmet. Hormel’s bean-less, hot chili over spaghetti noodles topped with cheddar cheese. For hers, however, I used a can of organic vegetarian chili from Trader Joe’s. I can’t vouch for it, but she said...
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Homemade skillet
After yesterday’s failed attempt at satisfying my skillet urge, the Missus made one for me this morning. I didn’t even mind that it was meatless.
Potatoes, onion, tomato, two eggs overeasy, American cheese and an English muffin on top.
Perfect!
On the side, some fruit for health and mini-cinnamon roll for dessert.
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Owen & Engine, Chicago, Ill.
After skipping lunch, the Missus and I were pretty hungry. So when my brother called and asked if we wanted to go to an early dinner, we said, “Sure.”
Well, truth be told, I said sure. She was mid-nap and sort of snortled/grunted when I posed the question to her, softly.
We decided to go two-for-two with Chicago fancy-pubs that include an ampersand in their name, and made a...
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Golden Nugget, Chicago, Ill.
I’d been itchin’ for a skillet for a few weeks. My itch finally got scratched, via this “Guadalajara skillet,” featuring chorizo, potatoes, peppers, two over easy eggs.
Kinda wasn’t what I wanted. Barely ate half. And that cheese was the rubberiest, tasteless cheese I’ve ever had the displeasure of stretching from my plate to six inches above my head.
But I...
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Longman & Eagle, Chicago, Ill.
After having gone ages since seeing one of our favorite couples, the Missus and I organized a little meet-up at Logan Square’s classiest gastropub with an ampersand in the title: Longman & Eagle.
I swear, if they didn’t serve things with truffles and have The Shins playing in the background, this place would more closely resemble something from There Will Be Blood.
Speaking of...
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Edzo's Burger Shop, Evanston, Ill.
Met up with the buddy I accidentally stiffed yesterday for lunch. We went to Edzo’s for a burger and talk discuss some business.
Business is best discussed over a chocolate malt, right?
And there’s little a chocolate malt goes better with (other than an enormous belly) than a burger. Here’s the Edzo’s double, no cheese, with “everything” — onions,...
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Panera Bread, Skokie, Ill.
Got to work a little early today, since I’m getting the afternoon off. Nice!
Also nice: A free pastry from Panera Bread, thanks to my fancy club card there. I’m pretty much their best customer, so it figures I’d get something for free every once in a while.
This Friday has started off just right.
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Taco Bell, Glenview, Ill.
After I heard about Taco Bell’s newest creation — a burrito with crunchy Frito chips inside it — I made a mental note to give it a try. Then, when the fast food chain got sued over an allegation that its meat is actually closer to vegetarian that carnivorous, that sealed the deal.
That and I happened to drive by one while I was hungry.
That right there is a hardshell taco,...
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Sadness sandwich
I’m a jerk.
Especially if being forgetful makes someone a jerk, which it sometimes does.
See, I had plans to grab a burger today with a friend. I was working on my computer at home when my phone buzzed. “Still on for lunch today?” read the text message.
G’dammit. It was 30 minutes after I said I’d pick him up at his place. I totally spaced it. After apologizing,...
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Papa John's, Chicago, Ill.
All day I was so excited about coming home and ordering Papa John’s pizza. It was a staple of my college experience, but since the chains don’t really operate too far from university campuses, I haven’t had it in nearly a decade.
So when one opened up literally a half-mile from my house, I started making plans.
Then I call.
The Missus and I were looking for a quiet night in...
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Ken's Diner and Grill, Skokie, Ill.
Had a little time around lunch, having been put in limbo by my editor about a possible story assignment, I decided to try someplace new. And I only had to go the wrong way down a one-way street once to get there.
Ken’s Diner and Grill is a storefront kosher fast food restaurant, complete with signed baseball bats and pop culture kitsch on the walls. Ample seating, but not ample parking...
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Panera Bread, Wilmette, Ill.
The usual, from the usual.
Today hasn’t been a high watermark for the blog. But you know what? I ain’t starvin’. I’m getting by just fine. These meals are filling me up.
What I’m trying to say is this: I’m not hungry.
Maybe that’s the problem.
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Turkey sandwich and veggie chips
Ladies and gentlemen, let me please introduce you to the world’s blandest sandwich:
Turkey on wheat. Mustard. A gelatinous slice of American cheese. No mayo — the Missus used it all to make deviled eggs for last weekend’s Chicago Bears game.
The bread was kinda dry, and I’m pretty sure it was past-dated.
It’s a sad state of affairs when the Trader Joe’s...
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Leftover Chinese
Working from home means eatin’ on the cheap. I just hope these Chinese leftovers from the other night keep me full until dinnertime.
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D'Agostino's Pizza, Chicago, Ill.
Normally, when you watch football in the United States, you order the pizza before the game. Not us. We waited until later — after all the parents with kids went home — to order a pepperoni pizza for us meat-eaters and a pineapple pizza for the vegetarians.
I gotta say — D’Agostino’s, I usually love your sweet sauce and thin crust pizzas, but today you were off...
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Chicago Bears football party
None of my friends, nor I, are football fans. But when the Chicago Bears get one game away from the Super Bowl, the city goes bonkers. So when a good buddy of mine invited a bunch of people over to watch the game, I figured it’d be a good excuse to eat some bratwursts, Chicago-style.
There were also plenty of chips and dips.
The Bears lost to their bitter Midwestern rivals, the Green...
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China Fast Wok, Chicago, Ill.
After a long, grueling day of errands (“maybe we’ll go to Bed, Bath and Beyond. I don’t know. I don’t know if we’ll have enough time”) the Missus and I had a near-catastrophe, dinner-wise.
We parked and decided to pop in for a quick bite at this one particular restaurant that keeps the most idiotic hours possible, Fullerton Family Restaurant. We parked, paid...
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McMuffin casserole
The Missus got up a little earlier than me and did some experimentin’ in the kitchen.
Success! Baked English muffin, surrounded by eggs, sliced Canadian bacon, cheddar cheese and a thin layer of onion and chive cream cheese.
The muffin held in a considerable amount of heat, so this delectable dish really tested my patience — I was forced to wait for it to cool off or risk burning...
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Zen Noodles, Chicago, Ill.
After basically skipping lunch, I was pretty hungry by the time the Missus returned home from work. For some reason, however, we couldn’t decide on what to do for dinner. Ended up ordering some Asian food from Zen Noodles. I got the Singapore noodles, which boasts “thin egg noodles with ginger, onion, garlic, ground chicken in a light (yellow) curry sauce.”
Holy cow I could...
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Bagel snack
After a fairly uneventful morning that included picking my car up from the mechanic with a slightly more expensive than expected bill, then a trip to Trader Joe’s which also cost a pretty penny, I returned home to do — what else — more work.
At a certain point I realized: “I haven’t eaten lunch.” So, not wanting to ruin my eventual dinner, I toasted up an...
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Blue Max Coffee, Forest Park, Ill.
Had to drop my car off at the mechanic this morning, so I walked three or four icy, windy blocks to Blue Max Coffee for some coffee and free wifi.
My belly got the better of my and I ordered a breakfast sandwich with ham and egg. Pretty good, but nothing I couldn’t make at home. The potatoes — a mixture of regular and sweet potatoes, were cold. I didn’t even say anything. I...
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Leftover mishmash
Right here we’ve got some leftover bacon/onion flatbread and a hunk of monkey bread from our dinner the other night at The Bristol, some leftover arugula pasta from Sunday and some carrots, just to make sure it’s healthy-ish.
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Turkey sandwich rerun
Look familiar?
Actually, this time I toasted the bread and didn’t use mustard. Crazy, I know. That’s how I roll.
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The Bristol, Chicago, Ill.
The Missus and I decided to re-enact our engagement evening, which was exactly a year ago.
(Actually, a year ago yesterday, but I had to work late last night…)
Last year, with a ring in my coat pocket, I took her to The Bristol, a restaurant she’d been wanting to try for ages. I intended on proposing during dinner, after cleverly moving the conversation into a romantic and...
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Turkey sandwich and Munchies
Pretty standard sandwich — turkey on wheat, with mayo, mustard and a gelatinous slice of American cheese.
These “Totally Ranch” Munchies require some explaining.
I was at the local grocery store with the Missus, who instructed me to pick out some chips. With such a boundary-less task, I choked. I somehow temporarily inhabited the brain of a pot-stained college dropout and...
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Irving's for Red Hot Lovers, Wilmette, Ill.
Ever get a fierce craving for a hot dog, french fries and a cup of cheese-topped chili?
No?
Well, I do. And since I was in the area, I stopped at Wilmette’s most prominent (only?) hot dog restaurant, Irving’s for Red Hot Lovers and satisfied my unusual hunger pangs.
First thing you do is mix the cheese (Merkt’s cheddar, which is an acquired taste which I’m starting to...
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Panera Bread, Wilmette, Ill.
Today was supposed to start out slow, but it’s been high octane from the moment I got out of the shower.
Needing a relatively quiet place to sit and write for a few hours, I popped into Panera Bread and ordered a salad, with the crazy notion of injecting a little nutrition into my diet.
The Thai chopped chicken salad with low-fat chili vinaigrette dressing. Long, thin slices of grilled...
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Leftovers
Decided to save some money and help clean out the fridge by eating leftovers tonight. Remember the other night, when I was whining about an over-priced and over-salted dish I got? Here’s what $45 looks like three days later:
That looks like a Charles Manson murder scene. Holy cow that’s scary. Instead of throwing this in the — appropriately named — garbage can, I should...
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Corner Bakery, Wilmette, Ill.
Why don’t I listen to my instincts? My gut — while telling me I was hungry — also told me to stay away from this place. But what do I do? I walk right in and order a club panini on sourdough.
Bland and limp and disappointing. And hey Corner Bakery — don’t go knocking yourselves out with the amount of chips you give. Pathetic. I barely had enough to last me through...
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Dinner party for four
The Missus and I did what other married couples do from time to time. (No! Not THAT!) We invited another married couple over for (No! Stop interrupting me! You’re wrong again!) dinner.
They brought the wine. We (read: the Missus) cooked the food. We had arugula pasta with a garlic oil sauce and some salad.
Then we had chocolate hazelnut gelato.
Then we did what you were thinking...
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Sunday brunch potluck
Potlucks can go either way. And since the main person hosting this one was vegetarian, I had my doubts.
But his roommate — bless his soul — eats the meat, and made this ham and cheese scone that is haunting my dreams. I could have one of these every morning and be perfectly happy.
The Missus prepped some blueberry pancakes, which were delightful:
A friend who had just been in...
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Cooking Class
As a wedding present, a friend of mine got the Missus and me a gift certificate to take a cooking class at Cooking Fools, in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. We chose one on how to make pasta from scratch.
It was us and 14 other pairs. I thought it’d be all couples, but the majority were women taking the class with a friend. Weird. The two ladies who shared our prep table were...
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Niko's Gyros, Chicago, Ill.
Oh man, I was craving a skillet for brunch. Instead, I got a burrito.
The Missus and I were doing some Saturday errands. I was lobbying pretty hard for Golden Nugget, because I wanted two eggs, over easy, on top of hash browns and chorizo. Sounded like heaven. She somehow persuaded me to pull the car into Niko’s Gyros.
Why? I have no idea. She hates these places normally. It’s your...
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Bella Notte, Chicago, Ill.
The Missus and I wanted to celebrate, and I’d had Bella Notte on my list for a while as a quasi-fancy Italian place to try.
And I’m sad to say the place kind of let me down. Waiter was not as friendly as one would expect from a $100 meal.
The Missus and I shared the Italian salad to start. It was great. And not nearly as blurry as this photo makes it appear.
Garbanzo beans,...
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Panera Bread, Skokie, Ill.
This Panera Bread is my favorite one. Nice and spacious. Fairly quiet. An inviting place to pull over, order a cup of coffee and a croissant and do some writing.
To be honest, though, the croissant was a little old and crusty. But whatever. Got my work done in record time and was able to hit the road for home at the same time a normal working man might call it a day.
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KFC, Vernon Hills, Ill.
News always seems to break on the morning after you’ve been out drinking. It’s sort of a journalist’s karma kind of thing. ‘Twas no different today. I had no time to eat, between tracking down comments and driving here and there. On my way from the office to the courthouse, I decided I needed to eat, and I only had time to eat in the car. I spotted a McDonald’s.
...
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Sub Tender, Forest Park, Ill.
I skipped dinner in order to drink. It’s a journalism thing.
Met some former colleagues out in the western ‘burbs to toast the recently shutdown newspaper we all once worked for. Then, once we’d sufficiently been reminded of “the good ol’ days,” we decided to hit up our favorite late-night grease joint, Submarine Tender.
I ordered the eponymous “sub...
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Best Sub #2, Chicago, Ill.
I kept meaning to leave the house, but the work kept piling up. So I made a quick trip to Best Sub #2, the cheapest and greasiest place within a mile radius of my house.
I’d always wondered what their hamburger called the “Whopper” was. I mean, they’re just itching for a lawsuit from Burger King — one of which is literally two blocks away.
Now, you’ll...
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Coucous and vegetables
Quick and simple, healthy and delicious.
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Mrs. D's Diner, Wilmette, Ill.
How amazing does this look:
It’s the “breakfast hash, add sausage” from Mrs. D’s Diner in Wilmette. I felt like treating myself to something special today, so I grabbed a booth in this comfy diner, did a little writing and took my time with this dish. Normally it has mushrooms, but I told them to hold ‘em. It’s got tomatoes, zucchini, green pepper and onions,...
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Arby's, Chicago, Ill.
Skipped breakfast as I rushed out the door this morning to catch a bus to a train to Chicago’s Loop to cover a downtown event for the paper.
Wouldn’t you know it? The event ran long, so I didn’t have a chance to eat until 12:30 p.m. or so. Not the biggest deal in the world, but my belly was protesting. So while it snowed big puffy flakes outside, I used Chicago’s...