took a trip down to the new space today at 809 west randolph, first visit in a few weeks. they were sandblasting which meant no visitors allowed. oddly made me think of a line from miss piggy, 'you have to use your imaginaseeeon' (random i know but this is how my mind works). without a little imagination it may just look like a cleaned up warehouse with holes in the floor where stairs are supposed to be. but i could see it. i could see the bar with cool old fireplace fronts holding liquor bottles that our designers at 555 design found. i could see the killer wood burning oven at the back of the space where the open kitchen will be. and of course i could see lots of happy customers around, sitting in chairs that we have yet to decide on.
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i feel like i say this about a lot of vegetables, but i really hated brussels sprouts when i was growing up. and my dog, dr. pepper, was not a fan either so the whole feed the dog under the table thing was not happening. this was probably because my mom always bought frozen brussels sprouts and steamed them until they had no texture—well, they had the texture of mush—so i’d coat them with a ton of butter and try to swallow them down, quickly following up with a sip of coke. now that i eat beautiful fresh brussels sprouts, cooked right, i love them! i also just love them for looking like baby heads of cabbage.
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it is not often that i find myself walking around millenium park taking sips from a wine bottle without my handy paper bag cover up, but that was me this past saturday at the 2009 chicago gourmet festival. hey if you set my demo table with multiple wine bottles and a wine key, then take the wine glasses away, this is bound to happen. just how i roll i guess. but of course there was much more to my experience than that.
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sweet and hot peppers are still available at the market and are a great way to end the summer and roll into fall. i am a spice wuss, so when i ate a big slice of these hot peppers, thinking they were sweet, i was in for a not so nice surprise. but once they are hit with a bit of vinegar and sugar, the heat mellows a bit and they take on a whole new flavor. great on a rich steak to cut through the fat, but also taste great on other proteins and fish as well as in salads.
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seems steve jobs and apple computers might get more attention these days, but lets not forget about the edible kind. apples have been widely grown and consumed for thousands of years. they even have appeared in many religions, often as the forbidden fruit symbolizing temptation and sin, among other things. these days apples seem to have lost that stigma and eating this fruit is widely accepted....and thankfully so, since i love this fruit and have enough to worry about other than gluttonous sins!
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