Yummy "Milk and Honey" granola

It would seem from the past two postings that I am obsessed with honey.

But in fact Milk and Honey is the name of a cute little cafe here in the Wicker Park area of Chicago where they serve very good breakfast/brunch/lunch. (They also own Milk and Honey Bake Shop where they have yummy cupcakes.) But what they are really known for these days is their homemade granola. Originally used as a topping for the cafe's yogurt parfaits, the granola grew in popularity and demand, and soon were available for purchase at the cafe. You might have seen their granola packaged for purchase in specialty food stores or maybe even your regular grocery store. (They have them at the Whole Foods in my neighborhood where they sell the granola both packaged and in bulk. But then again, we are in Chicago where Milk and Honey Cafe is based). 

I usually like granola anyway, but the Milk and Honey granola blows the rest of the field away. It tastes like manna sprinkled with ambrosia - or at least what that would taste like (which makes me wonder it it has a lot of sugar, but it's so good I'll probably eat it notwithstanding - the website says it is made with whole grain oats, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, almonds and dried cherries combined with hints of coconut, honey and brown sugar.) It's a perfect complement to my super-sour homemade yogurt. 

(pic from milkandhoneygranola.com)

Milk and Honey Cafe
1920 W Division St
Chicago, IL

Milk and Honey Bake Shop
1543 N Damen Ave
Chicago, IL

Vanilla honey bee Haagen-Dazs

Did you know that Haagen-Dazs has a flavor called vanilla honey bee?

I saw it in the supermarket aisle yesterday and couldn't resist. So now I'm on my second scoop in as many days....  It's vanilla, honey and ice cream in all their yummy goodness - it is amazing how the vanilla and the honey flavors really come through yet the flavors are still quite subtle. 

Yum yum yum yum yum~

              

(pic from Haagen-dazs)

My continued love affair with Southport Grocery and Cafe

I've mentioned a handful of times already (or maybe just a couple) the vanilla cupcakes at Southport Grocery and Cafe. I think everyone that I know (who likes plain vanilla cupcakes) has proclaimed them the best if not one of the best cupcakes that they have ever had. To quote our florist "I thought my grandmother made the best frosting ever and no one has ever come close. So I was doubtful when someone said this place has the best frosting. But now I stand corrected. Southport Grocery really does have the best buttercream frosting." 

Well, as much as I love cupcakes, one cannot exist on cupcakes alone.... We need real food... like hamburgers. And guess what? Southport Grocery has amazing hamburgers as well. They have fresh thick juicy patties that are molded perfectly with a firm but not too firm hand, seasoned perfectly without much filler. I love their burger buns too, which are not the standard burger buns, with great texture and flavor. And topped with caramelized onions, blue cheese (or Chipotle cheddar), and sour cream. Yum, yum and yum!

We can never have a meal there without ordering one of these burgers and they never fail to satisfy my hunger or my tastebuds. And you know what? They are even tasty as leftovers the next day, as I just found out.

(my photo of my leftover Southport Grocery and Cafe burger - still looks good!)

Southport grocery and cafe
3552 N Southport
Chicago, IL
(773)665-0100

PS. I feel like a walking PR machine for this place. Maybe I should demand some payment in the form of cupcakes?

Martha, you disappoint me...

with your choices for your favorite cupcakes.

(Swirlz' chocolate passion cupcake - pic from marthastewart.com)

I cannot believe that one of your picks for your favorite cupcakes is Swirlz, where cupcakes are pretty, yes, but not particularly of the tasty variety. I remember my friend Sue - a major cupcake connoisseur - and I ordering a bunch of cupcakes and being so disappointed at the waxy texture and tastelessness. This makes me wary of what you promote on the show.... Did you (or your crew) actually taste all the cupcakes before you featured them, or did you just like the way they looked?

If you are going to have cupcakes from Chicago, you should have done your research and had cupcakes from either - Southport Grocery and Cafe, Sensational Bites, Sweet Mandy B's, Alliance Bakery or Milk and Honey Bake Shop...

Please do your research next time.

You know I don't like chain restaurants...

As many of my friends know, I have an aversion to restaurant chains. 

To me, they are impersonal, uninspirational and serve usually mediocre and bland if not over-sauced fare. I mean, let's face it, your chefs and servers in these chain restaurants don't really care about the food and how to improve the restaurant and the food.  If I ever do go into an Appleby's, Chili's, TGI Friday's or anything else out there, it's not of my own accord and I couldn't do anything to prevent it.  I would rather go to an unproved run-down looking local joint any day. 

Which brings me to last night's little surprise... Shaw's Crab house. I know that it's not your run of the mill chain restaurant with locations all over the country with frozen fries coming straight from a box. But they are a huge restaurant institution, with a dining room, oyster bar and a regular bar in two locations, one in the suburbs in Schaumburg and owned by Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (which owns 33 restaurants, some really chain-like with multiple locations like Maggiano's and some definitely not chain-like like Everest or Tru). And anytime, the management of a restaurant goes above the duties of managing just one restaurant, I tend to see them more like a chain, as in the case of Shaw's. 

I had been avoiding Shaw's since my arrival in Chicago, preferring to go to smaller places like Davis Street Fishmarket for my fix of oysters (which from my previous posts about oysters you might have guessed are some of my favorite food and I get a craving for it quite often). However, with the limitation of time and distance (due to our 8:15 tickets to Juno at the downtown AMC) and my huge craving for oysters the whole day yesterday, we decided to give Shaw's a try. Another thing that added in our decision was the happy hour oyster special - 1/2 off oysters from 4pm to 6pm. How in the world could I resist that??

Instead of the main dining room, we opted for the oyster bar, of course. It was pretty full, I am guessing due to all the oyster affectionados swooping down like vultures for the oyster happy hour. We had pretty good oysters. They were very fresh but not the best, which might be due more to the type of oysters that we had gotten - Island Creek and Kumamotos. Both tasty but not quite as briny and flavorful as what I had wanted... (I think I was craving the ones we had in Korea... I'll have to find out what varietal it was...) But definitely better than most of the oysters that I have gotten in Chicago.  The king crab legs were absolutely delicious too. Perfectly cooked and seasoned, so I was licking my fingers and sucking on the shells in the end. But what won me over more than the food, was actually the atmosphere - the whole room centering around the huge oyster bar, with a ton of retro charm.  

Did this change my view on chain restaurants? 

Most definitely not. Just made me think that Shaw's is not a chain restaurant. And I can't wait to go back for the next "oyster" happy hour!

PS. How do you like the photos taken with my new Nikkor 50mm f/1.8? Still experimenting, but I likey likey so far!!

Shaw's Crab House (and Oyster Bar)

21 E Hubbard St

Chicago, IL

(312) 527-2722

Martha Stewart

My guilty pleasure when I work from home.....

is watching the Martha Stewart show while I eat lunch. (MS runs from 12-1 so I eat at 12:30 and watch it on my Tivo).  I don't think that I particularly like her per se, but there is no denying that she has impeccable taste and has great ideas. (She was of particular help when I was wedding planning)

Not sure that most Martha fans were as excited as me about today's episode, since it seems her fans are more interested in crafts.... But I was so thrilled to see Eric Ripert, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Daniel Boulud all on the same episode cooking! They are the acclaimed French chefs of Le Bernadin, Jean Georges and Daniel, respectively, which have all garnered lofty praise from diners and critics alike (all receiving 28/30 on Zagat and all receiving *** from Michelin reviews (** for Daniel)). Have I eaten at any of the restaurants? No. But they are very high on the list of my places to eat, and I hope to some day once we live a schedule where we know what we are going to do precisely the next month. (Every time we've gone to NYC we've had to eat at more nondescript restaurants since we didn't make reservations in advance....)

Anyway, like the superstars that they were they made things look so easy that I think that in the coming weeks, I'll be trying the recipes that they brought along with them on Martha. 

They are

• Braised halibut and peas a la francaise
• Roasted chicken
• Salmon with salsify

Can't wait to try them. And can't wait to take some good pics with my new Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens that performs amazingly in low light! 

Stay tuned!

PS. If you are a cupcake junkie like me, you might enjoy next week's - Cupcake week on Martha Stewart!

The secret to great pancakes

For breakfast this morning we had some of the best pancakes that we have ever had.

Where, you might ask? Actually, we had them right here at home.

Usually, we go with the easy pre-made mixes. We frequently use Uncle Tom's wholewheat pancake mix, or Arrowhead Mills multigrain pancake and waffle mix or even Aunt Jemima's whole wheat pancake mix. But today, with fresh blueberries to toss in, we were in the mood for pancakes - but with no pancake mix!  

So instead of tossing the towel in, we decide to turn to my favorite cooking consultant, America's Test Kitchen, who spurts out a pancake recipe that looks fairly easy, but one that calls for buttermilk, which of course we do not have. But what is great about my consultant is that they always give you a great option for substitution. So instead of 2 cups of buttermilk, we use 2 cups of milk plus 2 Ts of lemon juice, as suggested. The rest of the ingredients were pretty standard, 2 cups of flour (which we used AM whole wheat flour), 2 ts baking powder, 1/2 ts baking soda, 2 Ts sugar (which we substituted Splenda for) and 3 Ts of melted butter. (I usually use canola oil for the oil requirements of the pancakes but from today's experience,  I think that butter is the way to go.) And into this we stir in the lemon-milk mix. 

I've made pancakes from scratch before and usually, they turn out a little flat and tasteless. But today's pancakes were better than any I have ever made from a mix or even had at a brunch place. I think it has to do with the butter and the lemon. Mostly the lemon, which adds flavor as well as altering the texture of the milk, making it slightly curdly. 

So the morale of this story today is, try mixing some lemon into your milk when making pancakes. It makes a world of difference. 

Good Friday means....

Fish and chips for me!

This is a habit that I picked  up in Toronto, which unfortunately is difficult to keep up in a fish-n-chip poor town like Chicago. There are no fish-n-chip shops that I know of anywhere. Pretty much the only places that have fish-n-chips here are the bars, which usually serve mediocre fish-n-chips (at best). There are some that are better than others, but for the most part, the fish-n-chips here tastes... (for lack of a better word) stale. It lacks the lightness packed with flavor. It's usually flavorful but greasy or soggy, crispy and light but tasteless. It is so bad, that the best place that I have found for fish-n-chips was the food court at Marshall Field's on State Street (now Macy's). Pretty surprising in a town full of Irish immigrants, and town filled with so many great cheap eateries. But then again, I guess this is the meat and potatoes kind of town....

So tonight, I am making my own. Wish me luck. But better yet, if you know of a great fish-n-chip place in Chicago, let me know!

You want curry with that?

Since St. Paddy's day is just around the corner, we got into the Irish mood of things by going to one of our favorite Irish bars, Cullens. 

Of course, I had my fav bar grub, fish and chips. And as I was about to order, I noticed the entry of curry fries on the menu. Sounds a little disgusting...... but interesting. So I ordered a side of curry sauce along with my order of fish and chips and a pint of Smithwick's.

What we expected was an interesting way to eat fries...

What we got was one of the most delicious, delectable ways to eat fries. 

I can see why the British and the Irish love fries with curry. (btw, it almost tastes like gravy but better since it has a kick).

(pic from simplycurries.com)

Cullen's Bar and Grill

3741 N. Southport Ave. 

Chicago, IL

(773)975-0600

Saint Patrick's Day celebration alternative

With age, beer chugging on St. Paddy's has lost its appeal.... 

At least for me. 

Maybe it's time to do something else - like a St. Paddy's tea party with these adorable sweets?

You can find the recipes for these goodies at marthastewart.com.

(photography from marthastewart.com)

Homemade yogurt

I have finally made my first batch of homemade yogurt! (*pat on the back)

It is so fresh and yummy, albeit quite sour without any sweeteners. But it is really amazingly easy to do with my new Salton yogurt maker. Just heat the milk, add the culture, keep it warm in the yogurt maker. And voila!  

It definitely tastes better than the store bought yogurt, and it's better for your body with all the active bacteria cultures that are beneficial to your digestive and immune systems. As an added benefit, you can also shed some pounds by eating homemade yogurt in lieu of your normal snack/ breakfast according to Mireille Giuliano, author of French Women Don't Get Fat. I wouldn't mind that little added bonus... 

(photograph from mylifetime.com)

All chocolates are not created equal

The only things that I have brought back from Europe on this trip

- with the dollar being useless against the euro- are the free chocolate bars that we got on the flight on Lufthansa between Frankfurt and Madrid. 

(photography from mitoledo.com)

Although I love love love chocolate, I did not have high hopes for the chocolate bars, since they were mass produced chocolate, and they were given out for free. But guess what? They were actually very very good. Much better than some of the specialty chocolate that I get in the US that I pay quite a bit of money for. 

What is it about European chocolate that makes it so much better than American chocolate? To me, American chocolate tastes rubbery and tasteless compared to its creamy European counterpart.  Surely, I am not the only one who thinks this?

I have heard that it has to do with the sugar content, with Americans using more sugar. To my palate, it tastes like there is difference in the cream....

Does anyone know why European and American chocolates taste so different?

Tosta de gambas

My favorite thing to eat in Madrid!

Shrimp atop garlic mayonnaise (aioli) smeared toast. Simple yet delicious.

We had it in every tapas place that we visited. And it never disappointed.... Although there were some places that did it better than others. 

My favorite place for tosta de gambas was near our hotel (Palace Hotel) in the Huertas area called Cerveceria Cervantes. They also had some of the best pulpos (boiled octopus). Mmmm.... I miss it already!

Cerveceria Cervantes

Plaza del Jesus 7

Madrid

Postcard from Madrid.

Got back from Madrid yesterday morning and was too tired to do anything besides check email and finish my book....

Today, I've uploaded all my pictures and have made a little postcard-like image in memory of Madrid.  

What I will remember most is:

1. The unbelievable weather. 60s-70s during the day. Mornings and early evenings were pretty mild too. And gorgeous skies throughout the day. Folks, if you need to get away from the winter blues (like I did) and don't want to go to the beach, Madrid is a wonderful option. 
   
2. The incredible art museums and the art. Madrid has three world class museums all in the city center, all clustered together. We only had 3 days but we managed to go to the Prado and the Thyssen Bornemisza. (Unfortunately, no Reina Sofia to see the Guernica). The Museo del Prado, of course, houses the best of Goya and Velazquez as well as many other of the old masters - Reubens, Boticelli etc.   Modern art is housed in the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen Bornemisza.  Luckily for us, they were having a special exhibit at the Thyssen of "Modigliani and his times", which was one of the most amazing art exhibits that I have seen in recent years. Kinda made up for the disappointment of not being able to make it to the Reina Sofia. 
   
3. Food. All the jamon, queso, chorizo, pulpos (octopus), tostas de gambas.... And all the beer, vino tinto and cava to wash it all down. We came back with our pants unbuckled....

I think overall, I might prefer Barcelona for the sights and architecture (and maybe food), but Madrid is perfect for the art lover. 

Lemon, anyone?

Have you heard that lemons that you get at the restaurant or bar contains germs?

A total of 25 germs were found in 53 out of 76 lemons sampled in a study run Dr. Anne LaGrange Loving. Some germs were even fecal in origin! (You can read an article about this on MSN.com)

As much as I love lemon, you betcha that I will only be having lemons wedges or slices in the comforts of my own home. And you?

(Photography by Declan McCullagh)

On a separate note, how pretty is this photo of a lemon slice?

Trendy restaurants...

Last night we had dinner at Japonais. 

(photo from Gusto.com)

Japonais is a popular Japanese restaurant here in Chicago. So popular in fact that they have opened new posts in NYC and Las Vegas. Although I hear that Chicago is still their best location. 

I had been there a few times before, once for dinner and a few times to have drinks in the lounge downstairs. The lounge is actually fabulous for drinks especially in the summer with the patio opening up to the Chicago River, although the drinks tend to be pricey for Chicago.

But the restaurant?

Not my favorite place to have sushi, or other dishes for that matter. It's not that the dishes are bad. Because most dishes are pretty tasty, and the sushi is good (although not great). In fact, the spring rolls we had with lobster yesterday were some of the best spring rolls we had were some of the best spring rolls I have had and the filet mignon with the uni butter was cooked to perfection and enhanced with the scrumptuous sauce. 

  

It might be that dishes feel overpriced? I know that for the exact same dish, I can get the same dish from Mirai (another Japanese place from the same owners) for cheaper. Especially, in terms of sushi, I can get it better and cheaper at Mirai (and other sushi joints such as my fav Katsu). It might be that the dishes usually feel gimicky (like "The Rock") and over-sauced (like the oyster appetizer). But more than anything, I think it has to do with the fact that they are too trendy, seemingly caring too much about cool decor rather than service or the food. 

Is it a sign that I am getting old that I am not liking the super-trendy restaurants?

Japonais

600 W Chicago Ave

Chicago, IL

(312)822-9600

Waiting for the ice cream

I did it. 

I put the pear concoction into the ice cream maker and I am now eagerly awaiting the pear sorbet to become ready for consumption. 

Will it be anywhere close to Berthillon's pear sorbet?

I am hoping it'll taste like Berthillon's and look like this pic by one of my fav food photographers, Tina Rupp.

Am I expecting too much of my 1st frozen creation?? 

(pic by Tina Rupp)

Berthillon ice cream

I had an overwhelming craving for ice cream today as we were running errands. 

So we stopped by DQ and got a small ice cream cone. But it didn't quite quench the craving......

I think what I really want is something from Berthillon in Paris.

(pics from pomelohome.wordpress.com)

Eating ice cream/sorbet from Berthillon, for me, was unlike any other ice cream experience. Yes it was cold and soft like ice cream/sorbet, but the taste was like eating the essence of whatever flavor ice cream we had. Eating peach sorbet was like eating a ripe peach. Eating pear was like eating a ripe pear. In other words, just simply incredibly intense taste in yummy goodness.

I don't think there is any place like that in Chicago, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. So I think my next culinary endeavor will be to try making pear or peach sorbet in the new ice cream maker that we received as a wedding gift!  Wish me luck!

Berthillon

31, Rue Saint Louis-en-l'Ile

75004 Paris

The best restaurants

Just came back from dinner at a local tapas restaurant, Azucar.  

(although as always, it wasn't quite a "local" restaurant for us, but rather a 15 minute drive away in Logan Square.) 

It just made me realize yet again that the best restaurants aren't necessarily the most expensive, most experimental or the most lauded restaurants. But rather the restaurants that really care about the food and the customers. And the ones that you really feel comfortable in. 

We had what is some of the best pork tenderloin that we have had in a while, without breaking the bank. The presentation, preparation, the flavor combination was what I would have expected from an entree that costs $30 in a **** restaurant.  But, it cost us only $10 and we didn't need a reservation, nice clothes or a big checkbook. 

These places, are in my opinion, the best restaurants (even if some of their other stuff was not quite as stellar as the pork)!

Darn! Wish I had taken some photos!

Azucar Tapas Restaurant and Cocktail Bar

2647 N. Kedzie

Chicago, IL

(773) 486-6464 

Craving cupcakes

(image from Southportgrocery.com)

Staying at home today. 

Don't get me wrong. It's actually one of those days that I am so busy that I can't even spare the time to go into the office (or the lab in my case). Funny though that I can find time to blog...

Sitting at home, I've been craving cupcakes. Not just any cupcakes, but cupcakes from Southport grocery and cafe - proclaimed as having "the best cupcakes in Chicago" by many - including Chicago magazine and myself. It's quite easy to get these cravings at home since Southport Grocery is only a couple blocks away. 

The pic looks good doesn't it? I can tell you that these cupcakes taste even better than they look, especially the vanilla. They stick with the basics at Southport Grocery, only making chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. But sometimes simplicity allows you to really appreciate the flavors and textures. The cake itself is soft, moist and light. And the buttercream is rich and sugary yet surprisingly light. 

The best cupcake I've ever had! And the one I'm craving.

PS. Yes. I have had Magnolia's cupcakes in NY and they don't even come close!  

Southport grocery and cafe

3552 N Southport

Chicago, IL

(773)665-0100