Chicago Fall

 New Pinkberry in Old Town

Astor St

Poor man's curry

Not aware of how curry is made from scratch but here's how I do it when I'm craving Indian. Potatoes boiled down to a pulp and this guy..

Added frozen peas

And a chicken thigh.

Many many minutes of simmering later..

Voila!

Patatas bravas

Although I lovvveee seafood and bacon wrapped dates,IMHO, the best tapas dish is simply patatas bravas: fried potato and mayo. Here's my attempt at this recipe. I'm a big spud lover, so I couldn't really go wrong but the aioli (with 6 gloves of garlic) is not for the faint of heart. Key to the potato is: drying them off with paper towel before hitting the pan, and LOTS of oil. Bonus points coz I finally got to use the paprika I paid like a bajillion forints for in Hungary months ago! 

 

^ iPhone pic

vs. 

EPM-1 pic \/

Bamboo shoot salad

"New/weird food" post. 

I often pick up some weird new food to try to cook with but don't always get around to it before the food rots. Luckily these bamboo shoots were canned, so they've been sitting in the pantry until I've felt adventurous. I felt particularly adventurous as the hamster that I've been co-habitating with was finally taken away by management (not our pet hamster, a mysterious hamster that showed up in the vent). The hamster particularly liked hiding in the kitchen hence I've been avoiding it. Now the kitchen is mine again. 

Anyway, here are the whole bamboo shoots. These taste like absolutely nothing by themselves and thus take up whatever flavor you add. 

I found the most Asian-y ingredients I had. Garlic, rice vinegar, chili flakes, sesame oil and my flowering cilantro plant (shakes fist..within 1 week my basil plant died, my orchid dropped all it's flowers and the dumb cilantro has been flowering for a while). 

 Here it is. A nice change from my usual mesclun salad but not for every day. What to do next? There are basically no dishes for bamboo shoots on foodgawker.

End of fall!

Giving nature another shot..

Black and white

A few of my favorite accessories

Second string

Pictures/dishes that didn't quite make the cut the first time around

 Mark Bittman's bean/cilantro/red onion/sweet potato salad

A dish I love so much I never remember to take a proper picture of before eating.

Combined ramen and canned soup. Not really something I recommend. Just something you eat after you've been traveling and don't have anything in the fridge.  

Peach. Self explanatory. 

Cilantro that has become weird like this. Someone tell me what is going on with it please.

Start of my potato and leek soup

"Food blog JV"

Mushroom and Red Bell Pepper Frittata

Despite his initial reaction to the groceries I had left at his apartment "What do I do with this red thing"? Will made a beautiful frittata and took pictures!

Will can now make 4 things (the other 3 being egg sandwich, pasta with marinara and cereal)! I'm so proud.