Food Maker, Chef, and Traveling Diner
So as I mentioned before I went to Washington to attend a couple of good friends of mines wedding. I extended my visit from a couple days to about a week and was lucky enough to be able to attend my friend Ashley’s bridal shower. …
As I return from Washington I have so many beautiful memories to share, beautiful memories of nature, food, friendship, and travel. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. Taking this trip to the Bellevue and Seattle area of Washington was so beautiful. …
A very dear friend of mine asked me about a month ago if I would be able to help cater his 26th birthday for about 14 people. Of course I obliged, birthdays are my very favorite times to cook for others. As you’ve seen I’ve cooked for about every family member’s birthday I can lately but it was nice to do a sort of family and friends style elegant dining which I believe was our theme. We upped the stakes with a multitude of dishes complementing the flavors of summer in California. I worked with the very talented and awesome Chef Tony who attended culinary school and decided to work in a different field but still enjoys cooking for other very much. I hope to work with him again someday, thank you for all your hard work Tony, beautiful job! I want to thank Guy for giving us the opportunity to work in his beautiful home and just being an amazing friend. Guy and I have been friends since the 6th grade, he shares a deep passion for awesome food. I love you Guy may life be enjoyed with love, happiness, friendship, of course food, and fun.
The menu was as follows
Appetizers
Pancetta Wrapped Gorgonzola Stuffed Shrimp
Crostini – (Roasted Mushroom and Parmesan, Sweet Pepper & Caper, Zucchini & Gorgonzola, and Brie & Pear)
Caprese Bruschetta
Salads
Beet Salad – Baby Spinach Marinated in Ginger Citrus Vinaigrette, Red & Golden Beets w/ Candied Walnuts and Goat Cheese
Baby Mixed Green and Arugula Salad with Mango Pico de Gallo, Roasted Red Peppers, Cayenne Croutons and Passion Fruit Vinaigrette
Entrée
Homemade Balsamic BBQ Chicken Breast
Mixed Veggie Skewers (Red Onion, Mushroom, Tomato, Peppers, Zucchini)
Moroccan Spiced Lamb Kebab with Chimichurri
Pan-Seared Scallops w/ Lemon Beurre Blanc and Sauteed Asparagus and Bacon
Sides
Roasted Cauliflower with Artichoke, Parmesan, and Pistachio
Whole Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Roasted Garlic and Herbs
Saffron Curry Rice
As I return from the multitude of trips (Seattle and Mammoth Lakes, Ca) I’ve had this month and also my birthday which just passed on the 20th I have so much to share. I hope you all haven’t gone too far because I have so much to offer in the coming weeks. I hope all is well and you’re taking full advantage of the beautiful summer which is so swiftly dissapearing.
All my love and gratitude
Cheers
Unrivaledkitch
Sometimes I think to myself I’m so terrible with keeping up with content but there’s so much to write about when it comes to food, life, and fun. And every day I’m so fortunate to be able to share the things I love and eat …
Yesterday I presented some of the best food I’ve ever made. In my cooking experience this is what it comes down to, delivering something with love and something so honest as the things you grew up with, or just love yourself that the food you’ve …
Saturday. My ending in the windy city
Saturday we woke up and prepared to get out on the town to see as much as we could on my last day in the city.
We took a walk and took pictures at Millennium Park with all the people lining up on the streets. Also Chicago was booming with people that day because it was the opening day of the Taste of Chicago. After our pictures we walked around to find a good spot to enter the food fare. Like anything some things were good and something not so much. here’s what we had
Bourbon Chicken
Mustard fried catfish
Red Beans and Rice with Grilled Jerk Chicken
After eating ourselves in a coma we had to head back to museum park so we could go to The Field Museum of natural history. They had a really amazing exhibit on whales and the biggest put together T-Rex in the country or maybe even the world I forget. We mused about there till it closed and finally I said my last good byes to grant park, museum park, and millennium park taking a couple pictures along the way.
We went back to our hotel and had a couple of drinks in the room determined not to spend too much money which we did anyway. And after that we went to the Signature Bar in the John Hancock Observatory. It was really beautiful to see the sky lit up at night so high up. We had a drink and then went to our final dinner suggested by the door man at Ditka’s a steak house.
Ditkas we had
seafood platter
king crab, oysters, big eye tuna, shrimp
Mikes Salad pecans, apples, cranberries, goat cheese, balsamic vinaigrette
Fillet three ways Horseradish, Oscar (béarnaise and asparagus) style, Blue Cheese
broccoli and mashed potatoes
We also had drinks which were ginger and peach vodka and ginger and vodka
The meal was satisfying and really filling but a wonderful way to end the evening, nothing too out of the ordinary just a good steak house dinner.
And with that my travels in Chicago ended
A early train ride into O’hare and I was back in LA in no time. I can’t wait till my next trip. I’ll be headed to Seattle August 3-9th
Thank you guys so much for coming along on my memories 🙂
As we got our stuffed together to exit the Belden Stratford Hotel, I looked out to the beautiful view of Lake Michigan with a happy feeling. This was by far one of the nicest places I’ve ever stayed. I’m very glad that we stayed outside …
Sprout is a beautiful restaurant situated on West Fullerton. The street is filled with small places to eat, convenience stores, and homes which if you blink twice you may miss the green banners for Sprout. I did the 1st day I was in town, I …
As I walked through the many miles of culture and community that Chicago has to offer I was struck in awe but the simple beauty of a big city by the lake. It was all such an amazing group of places situated in the heart of commerce and business but with an airy feeling of art and style. I love it.
On Wednesday before Girl and the Goat I situated myself at the Shedd Aquarium, looking like a child at jelly fish, beluga whales, and all sorts of other marine life. It made me feel young again, though I’m not too old let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. After the animal life I decided to make my way over to the Skydeck of Willis Tower and see the city from above, it was like nothing I’ve ever witnessed before to be so high up and everything looks so small almost like being in a plane traveling over the city. You could see the rain washing through the suburbs and the lights just start to peek out through the clouds. A truly amazing day I’ll never forget.
Thursday, I woke up and headed to the train station but on my way I decided I would like a tea so I stopped into the Bourgeois Pig. This adorable little cafe serves a multitude of different items from coffees and teas as well as in house baked goods and some really awesome sounding sandwiches and salads to choose from. I just stopped in for a Chai Latte but I couldn’t help myself I got a beautifully just made still gooey in the center snicker doodle to go with it. It was the perfect sugary way to start my day. There’s something about a well done foamy hot Chai that I just love. This place was just perfect for a mid afternoon chat with friends or to get some work done with two levels of seating and free wifi.
I walked over to the train station and I decided to head back over to Museum Park to see the Adler Planetarium . Getting in all I could was necessary but at least this time I knew where I was going. I thought the planetarium was really interesting. I love seeing those IMAX versions of the sky with millions of little lights flickering above. One of my favorite past times is to stare into a starry sky. I miss Moorpark for just those occasions but I’ll be going to mammoth in August and I’ll have all the stars I could ever want. I wondered about for a while there taking in all the sky and its discoveries.
After that I found myself on Magnificent Mile walking with a plethora of shops and craziness. I’m not much of a shopper, I spend my money on food or drinks and the like so I did a little window shopping and walked around looking at all the people going up and down the street. I decided a nice glass of wine would be in order I stopped into The Purple Pig was sat right next to where the food was coming out. These guys are pulling off a miracle with burners that are electric and a small 3 foot grill but the food looked amazing. I decided i would have to have an appetizer while I was there and decided on the mortadella smear over crusty baguette topped with aged balsamic, and arugula. I love mortadella is the Italian version of Bologna so I could see how people might be turned off by it but i adore it. From the days of working in an Italian deli I love that stuff. So anyways this was a smear which kind of reminded me off almost ham butter. It was so delicate and fluffy that it was almost a moose. I really enjoyed the richness cut with the balsamic and arugula it went really well with my red Italian wine from Perugia. A perfect afternoon snack. The restaurant itself was jammed packed with people just grabbing a bite after working or tourists checking out the Chicago River outside. The bone marrow looked particularly interesting as well as many of their small plates and cheese
boards.
After all that I then headed back towards Lincoln Park waiting for my 9pm reservation at Sprout as well as my friend Michelle. I stopped for a beer at Ravens which is a small pub on Clark Street with a mystic quality and 4 dollar pints and is open till 4am. I wrote a little pen and paper action for myself. Michelle ended up running late from her dinner with her fellow butterfly conference attendees so I headed down Fullerton to Sprout myself.
Stay Tuned
To see the rest of Chicago click
day one, day two, Girl and the goat, Frontera
Unrivaledkitch
GIRL AND THE GOAT Stephanie Izard has been on my list of brilliant female chefs for a long time now. I love her demeanor, her presence, her comedy, the whole shebang. She’s got it and now I just love her even more. As female chefs …
