summer dinners with a boy

My boyfriend was off climbing mountains in Colorado, and now he’s livin’ it up in chicago. I’m v. jealous (by which I’m v. sad I’m busy taking Biochemistry and couldn’t tag along) and also missing him just a bit.

So, I thought I’d recap some of the culinary fun we’ve been up to of late. Eating meals with Steve is really great, because instead of hemming and hawing about what to order, worrying whether there’ll be too much food, and so on; or when at home instead of limiting meal plans to one or two items; I have the thoroughly impressive appetite of Steve at my disposal. There can be enormous piles of food on the table and it matters not. All will be eaten and savored.

Steve’s second to last day in town we decided to have ourselves a proper date. First we took a looooooooooong walk along my favorite trail, stopping along the way to pick lotsa raspberries (the insane amount of raspberries appearing here in Virginia will definitely get their own post). On the outset of our walk, the sun shone brightly in the sky, but then ominous clouds began lurking across the horizon. Suffice it to say that we ended up sooooooooooaked to the skin. Drenched! Drowned rat looking!

However, as abruptly as the rain had begun, it ended, and we made our way back into the town of Vienna, where we’d parked, to have a nice early dinner. The sun semi-dried us along the way, and we also simply wrung water out of our clothes as we could.

We ended up at Alegria, which turned out to be an AMAZING Mexican restaurant. The area where I live is wonderfully diverse. If you fancy Korean barbecue, Peruvian chicken, or Vietnamese pho, you’re set. However, for whatever reason, likely having to do with immigration trends, Mexican restaurants are woefully lacking. This is a wonderful exception to that.

Loved the menu:

 

Loved the look of the space- dramatic arches, vaguely industrial looking yet beautiful light fixtures, neat paintings and ornaments hanging about. Pretty flowery whatsits. Bricks with character.

The open kitchen made for an entertaining view as we waited for our meals to be served.

I think the caliber of a Mexican restaurant can often be determined simply by tasting its salsa. (Though Taco Bell does have that delicious fire sauce…)

Both of these salsas were SPLENDID. The green (verde) one had clearly been prepared using fresh tomatillos and burst with favor. Not too spicy, just really fresh! The one on the right had that slow-cooked, intensely flavorful chipotle fabulousness. Heavenly. And of course the chips were freshly fried.

 

Alegria has a happy hour with not extraordinary deals but at least interesting options. Depending on the day of the week, you can get various flavors of margaritas (the day we went the option was tamarindo, and though for one semester of college I had a Mexican roommate and tried to sample the tamarindo candy she brought from home with gusto, I think it’s one of those flavors upon which you have to be raised to truly appreciate it). You can also get a food special each day, and this particular day there were taquitos. The boyfriend was right on that.

 

I only had a taste because I just didn’t feel like eating anything fried (fairly shocking for me; perhaps the endless procession of deep-fried awesome in New Orleans finally satiated that urge for a bit?) but anyway, they were delicious. An impressive quantity of shredded, flavorful beef and wonderful crema atop.

Then it was time to go to TACO TOOOOOOOOOOOWN! (That video pretty much sums up my boyfriend. When together, we quote it at least once a day.)

I was SO pleased with my order. You get three tacos for $12, which is a pretty good deal if you consider the caliber and size of these tacos. And of course the overall classiness of the restaurant :)

Remember that thing I said about not feeling like fried food? Clearly joking. The first taco I consumed, and possibly my favorite (though all were delicious) was the fried fish taco. The PERFECTLY fried fish taco. The astonishingly crunchy beer-battered awesomeness on the outside, zippy slaw beneath perfectly balancing the flavors, lovely and tender and flavorful fish taco.

In the center, the fish taco a la plancha, with the fish grilled, accompanied by the most wonderful, satisfyingly non-mushy veggies, with a zippy sauce atop.

And the dark, poorly lit one is the grilled portabella mushroom taco, complete with caramelized onions and a delightful crunch from pepitas.

Rounding out the plate was some rice and beans on the side, which I mostly gave to Steve.

So so so so good!

Now let’s talk home cooking. In Steve’s apartment, now vacated, he had a cute little patio outside and a cute little tiny Weber grill on it. We spent many a relaxing evening out there, having dinner or sometimes just a glass of wine.

In lieu of deck furniture, we just moved the coffee table outside!

 

(Note: forgot my camera and Steve was nice enough to let me use the phone on his camera. The scene was too pleasant not to capture, but the light was a little dim!) 

This particular evening, Steve took the lead on the menu.

It included:

- Grilled peppers stuffed with a flavorful rice mixture, topped with cheese
- Grilled corn on the cob

- Foil packets, placed on the grill, one of a DUH-LICIOUS dill and butter and potato combination; and another of squash with herbs 

- Homemade pico de gallo (two variations, one of which included a mango habanero hot sauce that Steve picked up in New Orleans). Lettuce wrappers in lieu of chips, to make whatever exciting combinations we felt like.

Quite the feast!

Another, indoor meal (likely there were too many bugs and/or there was too little light). I’d been eyeing this Cooking Light recipe for chilled butter bean soup ever since I’d gotten the June issue in the mail. A trip to HMart later, I had fresh fava beans (mmmmmm) rather than the butter beans called for, but I felt no fear.

This was WAY good! The relish gives it a nice welcome chew and fresh basil makes everything more delicious.

Speaking of fresh basil, I used this as an opportunity to make the first PESTO of the summer! Always such a wonderful milestone. (I also had my first tomato salad of the summer last week, and that was an absolute joy as well!)

This pesto was particularly amazing for two reasons, both involving Steve:

1. It was served atop Steve’s homemade pasta, which he has become a BEAST at making! I have a pasta maker inherited from my cousin (who inherited it from my grandmother) that I rarely use, but with which Steve has fallen in love. He’s been making pasta at least every week, often more, and has come up with the most delicious variations (with a sweet potato-flax incarnation being particularly noteable).

2. I made a blenderful of pesto [oh, oh, additional good thing about Steve- he always has pine nuts!] and it was a big ol’ batch so I was thinking we’d have some on the pasta and have some leftover. Well, Steve, as a nonbeliever in leftovers, just dumped it all on the pasta. So it was essentially equal parts pasta and pesto. If you love pesto (and how could you not?!) this is a really delicious idea.

Helpful Steve also took on cheese grating duty

southern fried birthday

My baby sister graduated from college, turned 22, and recovered from knee surgery. So we had a party. Summer parties are the bessssst because you can set things up outside.

Let me tell you, trying to fit 18 people on our deck involved some exciting furniture movement. Thanks boyfriend, for bringing that extremely heavy bench up from the backyard with me! There was also rearrangement of the plants that usually take up most of the deck. An attempt to use a mosquito defogger resulted in some leaf trauma. Blessedly, they seem to’ve recovered.

Foodwise opted for a decidedly non heart healthy Southern theme. The menu included:

- Pulled pork barbecue on buns
- Coleslaw
- Creamed corn with bacon
- Cornbread
- Pimiento cheese with veggies (SO GOOD!)
- Green bean casserole
- Green salad
- Various pickly guys, in a vain attempt to contribute a flavor that wasn’t fatty :)

And then there was a whoooole saga with the baked beans that were also meant to be served. In that they cooked for like 15 hours and showed no softening whatsoever. Bizarre.

Anyway, it was still a heavily laden table. Because when we invite over 18 people, we make food for 50. Just in case.

    

Everyone knows you have to put the coleslaw on top of the pork, or there’s just no point.

My plate.Yknow, minus the gobs of pimiento cheese I’d already consumed. The cornbread was a definite highlight. So sweet and creamy and moist it was almost like little squares of corn pudding. There were lots of diabolical leftovers calling me from the kitchen at all hours.

 

Malindi’s godparents were nice enough to get her TWO cakes! One for birthday and one for graduation, I spose. Chocolate, pictured below, and a lovely lemon one as well. They were bee-yoo-tiful!

On Malindi’s actual birthday, I made her pancakes (by which I mean I got up four hours earlier than she and left pancakes for her in the toaster oven). Then I cursed a blue streak in my head prayed to the heathen chemistry gods suffered through took my organic chemistry final.

Blessedly, it was over. I went on a wonderfully carefree shopping spree for my sister. I’m proud of many of my purchases (a Snuggy magnet, attachable snakeskin gel nails, etc.) but the item I knew my sister would both love most and use a great deal was:

Yep. Then Malindi was off hittin’ the club with her friends that night, so I joined Steve’s cousin and we headed off to Freddie’s Beach Bar, the gay bar that employed my boyfriend for a few months this summer (he has now departed). It was a BLAST. There was karaoke! I sang Every Rose Has its Thorn. Naiiiiiiled it.

Since we’re discussing birthdays, why not include a belated Mother’s Day update? Sure! Our tradition is to get Vietnamese food, specifically banh mi at a great deli not too far from our house. Tragically, the last time I ate banh mi I was receiving injections of a medication that caused me to be intensely nauseous. So my stomach needs a little while to bounce back. BUT, I thoroughly enjoyed a Vietnamese iced coffee and the desserts we brought home to share:

 

On the right is a dish that’ll be familiar to some: it’s just coconut sticky rice wrapped around banana and steamed. That coconut milk by it is for optional dipping- highly delicious.

As for these taco-esque looking items…

A rice wrapper contained layers of rice and sweet bean; some sort of mysterious pancakey thing and coconut. The secret bringing it all together was the little baggie on the right, which contains sesame seeds, salt, and sugar. The combination of flavors (and the sesame crunch) elevates these little tacos to excellence.

the family wedding

Apologies for the lengthy radio silence. Something called Organic Chemistry happened. Yeah. Yeah. I feel lucky to be alive and sane, let alone to’ve pulled off a B. Anyway, recaps of the past several weeks of my life are forthcoming.

Beginning with a lovely trip to Chicago for a wedding! The title of this post is a bit of a misnomer-  it is a family wedding, but Steve’s family! Some of whom feel like family now, actually :)

For instance, my beloved Midnight, my honorary cat.

He’s missing a leg, some of his tail, and the tips of his ears (poor little guy- it’s the result of a dramatic saga involving getting lost in a blizzard) but he’s super duper mega sweet!

Along with Midnight, Steve’s parents are also great. Their first display of generosity was paying for a room for us to stop in Ohio so we’d be able to leave on a Thursday night (after yours truly got out of Biochemistry), drive the first part of the trip, then proceed the rest of the way to Chicago at a leisurely pace on Friday, well rested. This, rather than what Steve initially suggested, leaving at the crack of dawn on Friday to somehow make it on time to the rehearsal (!) because Steve was a member of the wedding party (!!) hoping that we wouldn’t run into any traffic or accident delays, or, yknow, STOP TO GO TO THE BATHROOM. This plan was much, much nicer.

I didn’t photograph the rehearsal dinner cause it just seemed too awk, but it was at Maggiano’s Little Italy and was very nice indeed.

I got a wonderful night’s sleep in the comfy guest room at Steve’s parents’ house, and then his mother made us the most FANTASTIC quiche for breakfast. I don’t know all of the details, but I know it involved zucchini and a plethora of the most wonderful, flavorful fresh herbs. She said mostly parsley and WOW- I really need to recreate it. It was a fantastic twist on quiche.

Plus grapes ‘n tea. Quite well balanced!

    

Then we were off to the wedding itself. Steve was up at the front doing the groomsman thing, so I hung out with his cousin Melissa and her wife, also Melissa. Their adorable and precocious just-shy-of-two-years-old daughter was the flower girl, and we were all awed and delighted when she pulled it off. Then she was charmingly well behaved during the ceremony, with only a tiny incident in which she whacked one of her moms in the head with her shiny pinwheel and it started flashing like a strobe light. Like, during the vows :) Our whole section of the church was giggling under our breath. She is SUCH a CUTIE!

Steve’s cousin Mandy, the bride, had the most bee-yoo-tiful dress, which I tried to capture with only some success.

 

Mandy has been a MACHINE at wedding planning! We are Facebook friends and I’ve been enthralled reading her near-daily updates on the status of purchases for the candy buffet, re-mailings of save the dates, custom dance mixes for the reception, personalized bottles of liquor for the winners of the bouquet and garter tosses, etc.

Then, lucky me, I got to get a sneak peek at the reception beforehand. Truthfully, I had been a little nervous about the wedding proceedings because Steve was going to be occupied taking pictures and so on with the rest of the wedding party and what was I gonna do during the hours between the wedding ceremony and reception, huh?! I went so far as to bring my organic chem book to study (ha.) What ended up happening was that I first went around with Steve’s mom and aunt and got a sneak peek at the reception where everything was being set up…

And then, when I proved myself to be thoroughly useless in the decorating department (seriously), I went and hung out with Steve’s relatives in their hotel room and everyone had a fair amount of drinks and junk food. It was lovely and relaxing and everyone reminded me so much of my own family. An example of this is that Steve’s cousin’s husband Tom was playing with his new machine that makes fart noises… which is identical to the one owned by my uncle. Happy families are all alike, eh?

Steve’s cousins Micky (who was until recently living in DC and whom I just adore) and Melissa (mother of the adorable flower girl who lives in Chicago and it was so great to see again) who are sisters, posed with their matching beer purses as we climbed into the shuttle to the reception. (They also have matching babies, but since their babies were with their respective grandparents, they got to let loose!)

At the door, we were greeted with a harbinger of the Pinterest-osity to come with our customized champagne bottles that also served as place cards.

The centerpieces involved branches, lemons, and tea lights and were absolutely beautiful! The color scheme was perfect and unique. (In the reception room next door to Mandy’s wedding’s, I took a peek at the decor, and wow some people really love bright purple! I think Mandy did a nice job embracing subtle elegance)

Place settings were beautiful. Below is my mini beef Wellington appetizer which was kee-razy good.

The cake was lovely and had the same nice, simple, clean colors of the rest of the scheme.

 

After the cutting of the cake (smearing on noses occured), Mandy wheeled out her surprise for Kenny: cheesecake from his favorite bakery! The picture is a little blurry, but I thought it was too sweet (in both senses of the word) not to share.

 

Now, the wedding was at a country club, and with my current nonexistent income I don’t generally hang out at country clubs, as y’all may have guessed. So I didn’t really know anything about how the food would be, and I in general tend to be skeptical about institutional foods.

Well. That was FOOLISH OF ME, let me tell you.

Look at the gourmet-ness of this menu, just as a preview of the majesty to come.

Numero uno, we have this salad. I’m sure Steve was up there at the head table rejoicing, because HEAVENS, there was a generous quantity of bacon. The nuts were phenomenal, the dressing was delicious and judiciously applied rather than glopped, as is so often the case. And I am notorious for eating garnishes, and this was no exception, as I adore Belgian endive and hardy ever get to eat it.

Then arrived the palate-cleansing sorbet, ooh la la. Beautiful starfruit garnish.

Eating my words for a second time regarding my entree. Steve had mailed back the invitation reply in auto mode, feeling rushed for some odd reason, so consulted me for neither the song request (uncool)  nor the food request. So he got me the sea bass when I would’ve preferred to order the ravioli.

Well, Steve, you were right. Yeah, I said it.

The most MELTINGLY tender, PERFECTLY cooked, subtly crisp on the outside, cream and butter and lemon drenched awesomeness. It was absolutely delicious and go figure I was really glad Steve picked it for me. After all my bitching justified objections to having something ordered without my consultation.

 

Speaking of Steve, he was sweet enough to come visit me at this point in the meal… and then proceeded to be bequested everyone’s leftover food. The portions were large, and everyone knows how Steve eats :) Everything looked absolutely delicious- there were choices of chicken and steak in addition to the bass. The vegetarian option was ravioli… which was also served with mashed potatoes ;) I love my carbs, but I think even for me that may’ve been overkill.

In addition to cake (and more, to be discussed later) there was a plated dessert. I only like white chocolate in small quantities, so I simply hollowed this specimen out and inhaaaaaaled the perfectly tart, wonderfully creamy key lime mousse within, which was perfectly matched by the raspberry sauce. Mmmmm.

As for the rest of the wedding, well, I’m sure the photographer’s pictures will be epic.

There were dancing props:

And picture posing props (including the seemingly ubiquitous moustache, one of which I wore to the chagrin of my boyfriend).

And there was a great DJ who played Backstreet’s Back and I awed everyone with my complete memorization of the lyrics to that and every other BSB song!

And there was a candy buffet!

And there was late night food! A few hours into the frenzied dancing (oh, and it was frenzied), hot dishes of chicken strips and mini burgers (!!!) were put out. As I put it to Steve as I inhaled a slider (or, erm, more), “This is the best thing I have ever tasted”. Guys, when I dance, I DANCE. I require refueling for that kind of physical commitment.

Mandy and Kenny were just so thoughtful of their guests. They’d left a welcome bag with snacks in our hotel rooms, they had floss and hairspray and any other necessity you could think of in the bathroom for touchups mid-reception, they personally greeted every table and were clearly just so happy to have all of us there with them. And they’re also a great couple! I wish them the absolute best in their marriage- they bought a house together and have spent the past gazillion months (or so I’m sure it seems to them) making it beautiful, and now I hope it’ll be wonderful for them to come home from the well-deserved rest of their honeymoon and enjoy it!

Like most wedding receptions, there was a lot of alcohol to be had, though I behaved with restraint mostly because alcohol just isn’t really interesting me much these days. The alarmingly tan bartender decided he was going to make me a “How you Doin’” (…) which was suspiciously pink and cavity-inducingly sweet. I took a few sips and knew I’d be on the train to drunk and nauseous town if I had any more of that, so I didn’t and hid it in a corner since I didn’t know where to put it. And I had a few sips of various things throughout the night but the only thing of which I actually consumed a full serving was the glass (well, mug, as the hotel room was low on stemware) of wine I had in Steve’s aunt and uncle’s room prior to the reception.

So I felt fully in control of my mental faculties, unlike some people…

(Seriously, the shuttle ride back to the hotel was wild. Glad some of the groomsmen had a designated driver.)

And then there was even MORE eating and drinking at the hotel, and amusing family stories including Steve’s great aunt’s tale of asking her friends whether they liked Menage a Trois to their stunned silence. (FYI, she meant the wine, teehee!).

Anyway, the combination of the late night chips and queso… and the mini burgers.. and the cake pops (!!!!!!!!! GOD those things are good)… and the candy buffet… and the full dinner… and the dancing… and the too-many-different types of alcohol. Well. Suffice it to say that my stomach was just a little too overwhelmed.

It all worked out fine. I woke up bright and bushy tailed the next morning, and thoroughly enjoyed the hotel’s breakfast buffet.

And thennnnnn it was off to downtown Chicago! Traffic on Lakeshore Drive is no problem to me as I use it as an opportunity for a photoshoot. What a wonderful thing to have an artery to get you around the city with absolutely lovely lake views.

We met up with Steve’s bestest buddy Hector and headed out to explore.

Street art!

Our destination was the as-yet-unfinished Bloomingdale Trail, an old rail line being turned into a public walkway, a la the High Line in New York City. It felt a bit trespassing-y making our way up to it, but once we did there were a fair number of people around.

It was a really cool way to see the city. Chicago definitely has a neighborhoody feeling all its own. I like the abundance of balconies!

And it’s just fun looking at things from a higher view. It gives you a cool perspective. (Cool being an inaccurate word to use since it was roughly ten thousand degrees that day).

 

The path was… not yet entirely pedestrian friendly, as there was a substantial amount of broken glass about.

 

The boys had fun doing acrobatics on the remaining rail.

Then we got to spy on Rick Bayless’s backyard! This woman told us to keep our eye out, and it was pretty epic. There’s an enormous vegetable garden. I imagine he gets some of the ingredients for his show from it (I know he films there).

 

Can you spot the beehive?! Hint: it is wooden.

Hector is a GENIUS, because he suggested getting these Mexican ice pops. Good life decision.

The boys both got lime. I got pineapple. Mine was better. Smirk.

Despite its somewhat suspect garish color, there was definitely real fruit in it because it got satisfyingly pulpy towards the end.

We made our way to the “beach” (it’s on a lake, Midwesterners. Get real) which was also quite a hot trip. The beach was absurdly crowded and we were also in a rush to eat and then get back to Steve’s family in the evening so we stayed there for… about thirty seconds. Silly. But it’s pretty! I think crack of dawn is the way to go in the future. Cooler and less packed.

So my best friend recommended Native Foods for dinner. Her boyf is also from the Chicago area, so she’s spent a fair amount of time there, and she’d been to this place and loved it. It’s a chain, but I take food recommendations from Lydia seriously. It was also geographically convenient. And Steve went on and on about how much he wanted to eat healthy food after all of our weekend indulging. SO. I thought it was super adorable.

And loved their signs.

And loved my lavender lemonade (it was quite sweet, but I was PARCHED, and the lavender flavor was fab).

 

And I loved loved loved my entree!

Sesame Kale Macro Bowl
Grilled Native Tempeh atop steamed kale, brown rice, creamy ginger sesame sauce, tangy sauerkraut, gomasio and toasted sesame seeds. Green onion garnish and crunchy cucumber seaweed salad on the side.

Along with being SO virtuous, it was SO flavorful. Everything was perfectly cooked. It’s totally the kind of food I (and my best friend) love to eat.

Here’s the thing about my best friend and I: we are both girls. We eat little meat (well, I eat little, she eats none). We don’t go out to eat a lot or eat a lot of junky, high-fat food. You know what’s another way of saying junky, high-fat food? Boy food.

So… Steve and his friend Hector hated it :) I think some of it was ordering (Steve got a sandwich which ended up basically being a piece of fried tofu on a bun which was neither healthy nor particularly flavorful) and some of it was just that it was chick food :) Anyway, I loved it. Did I mention that? Steve’s in Chicago again now (for a long time, without me, *sob*) and he ate deep dish last night, so he’s fine.

Anyway, our trip was another speedy one so it was time, early the next morning, to turn around and make our way home again. After a false start (yknow, cause someone named me left her phone and all of her medications on the bedside table, arrrgh) we actually made really really good time.

A final confession: EVERY SINGLE BILLBOARD IN THE MIDWEST (well okay that’s not true, a lot of them were for Jesus and also strip clubs) but A LOT OF THEM boasted this deal at McDonalds for soft serve for 49 cents. Being a child of the modern era, I am absurdly susceptible to advertising tactics and became obsessed with getting some to enjoy on the hot summer day. I restrained myself, we wanted to make good time, yada yada. But when a gas and bathroom break became necessary, Steve, great guy that he is, pulled up and this happened:

But here’s the thing: IT WASN’T 49 CENTS!

It also wasn’t that good.

Duh, Lele, it’s McDonalds.

The last time I went to McDonalds (I think) was in college, when my friend Katie hosted a birthday dinner there. It was genuinely fun, pretending McDonalds was a nice restaurant (“I don’t understand… where is my waiter?”) but that was about… 2007? 2008? So now I won’t have to go to McDonalds again for another 5-6 years. Sounds about right.