Food

Sitting next to the stove, the stove which I’ve rarely used as of late, is a gigantic bottle of vodka I bought for my brother’s wedding (which nobody drank, btw…wtf).  And as I’m cooking some plain penne noodles for E, I remember …

Penne alla Vodka from the Soprano’s Family Cookbook.  A totally random cookbook purchase but a very tasty meal.  This and a Rigatoni w/Broccoli dish were made at least once a month.

This meal is made with garlic, prosciutto (which Cari often skipped mainly because I don’t think she knew what it was), a can of italian peeled tomatoes, crushed red pepper, heavy cream, vodka and a pound of penne.  I probably could have recited that from memory but I went and got the cookbook anyways.

I cooked it first.  That’s usually how it went.  I was the cook @ the beginning.  She kept to the basics.  She cooked it for the first time when we lived up by wrigley.  I remember her either not having the cream or not enough so I ran over to Jewel as quick as I possibly could.  She was kind of sensitive when it came to cooking so it was a close call.  She didn’t want to mess up.  But ever since then we make it numerous times.

She was getting really good when it came to preparing meals though.  It was tough for me to work and come home and cook since my commute was like 1.5 hours ea way.  I think I’m crazy to deal with the commute especially since, in my opinion, I’m underpaid and very much underutilized.  But given the state of the economy I can’t complain…because it’s certainly better than nothing.  Although if I had the income I wouldn’t mind ditching the job for a while…a long while.  Anyways, back to cooking.  I really tried my hardest to get her to enjoy it.  It’s pretty easy to do once you have directions in front of you and a little confidence.  I always tried to get her to understand that it never mattered if ended up tasting like crap b’cuz we could always order pizza.  I certainly have cooked a bunch of sub-par dishes but it never bothered me.  I would just throw it out and cook something else.  She, on the other hand, didn’t want to disappoint so it was a challenge.  But we were getting there.  We would have gotten there.   And we should have been given the chance to get there.

Now I’m preparing meals for just me and the kids.  I really can’t believe she’s no longer here.

Dining out or eating in, food was a big part of our life.  We stayed away from most of the chains and fast food places.  We found restaurants we frequented because something about it made us come back.  Some we haven’t visited in a while but they still rank high on our lists.

Here’s some of our fav’s

Late night – Taco Burrito House
Dine-in Mexican – Uncle Julio’s Hacienda
Italian – Rose Angelis
Pizza – Palermo’s and Ledo’s…among many others
Steak – Chicago Chop House & Jack Gibbon’s
Chinese – Chi Tung and PF Changs 
Sandwiches – Jimmy John’s & Portillo’s
Wings – Bird’s Nest
Soup – Soup Box
Thai – Penny’s Noodles
Stir-Fry – Mongolian Grill
Burgers – Muskie’s
Tapas – Cafe Ba-ba-reeba

What she liked to eat.  I probably didn’t pay the best attention to the little details, but here’s my shot at it.

Thai – Beef Pad Thai & more recently Hot Pepper Noodle as well as Japanese Gyoza’s and Spring Rolls
Chinese – Beef Fried Rice & Vegetable Egg Roll, Mongolian Beef, Orange Chicken
Ice Cream – Brownie Sundae’s with Cookie Dough, Whip Cream & Nuts (the cherry went to me).  Most recently Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey and Half Baked
Soups – French Onion
Burgers – Cheese w/ketchup & lettuce & French Fries
Steak – Rib Eye (Chop House), Prime Rib (Gibbons)
Sandwiches – #2 @ Jimmy Johns (Roast Beef) & potato chips
Pizza  – Cheese
Breakfast – Crepes with Strawberries

Drinks

Beer – Miller Lite / Bud Light
Wines – Johannesburg Riesling, Pinot Nior
Pop – Diet Pepsi (even for breakfast sometimes)

This is still a work in progress, so more to come

Probably our favorite restaurant all time is Rose Angelis in Lincoln Park.  I shouldn’t say probably because this would have absolutely been top on both our lists.  I can’t even tell you how many times we’ve been there.  Even when we moved to the burbs we still made it a point to make specific trips just to eat there or to stop by when we were already in the city.

Cari’s favorite dish was Mezzalune al burro- spinach pasta half moons stuffed with ricotta and pesto served in a seasoned brown butter sauce with sundries tomatoes, toasted pine nuts and parmagiana.  My favorite weekday dish (because they only served it Sun – Thurs) was Aged New York Strip medium rare, peppercorn crusted 16 oz steak finished with gorgonzola and sautéed onions served with grilled asparagus and sun dried tomato mashed potatoes.  My weekend dish varied.  I would always wait to hear the specials and would often choose the Manicotti.  But the Lasagna is great too.  Oh yeah, and their seasonal specials with pears, apples, or pumpkin are always top picks. 

And then there’s the desert.  Besides the amazing food and ambiance are the deserts.  We never (well maybe just once) went there and didn’t save room for desert.  We always ordered the chocolate and carmel covered strawberries.  Sometimes we would get more, especially for Cari if there was something with a brownie or a tempting chocolate dish.  She definitely had a sweet tooth.  I think one of the first times, if not the first time, we were there and the service was a little questionable.  The waitress ended up giving us two deserts for free.  I think we were sold without the extra length they went to make sure we were happy, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

And then there’s Maeve, the bar across the street.  We, as well as many others, would walk over to Maeve while waiting for a table.  Rose Angelis doesn’t normally take reservations so the wait is around an hour or more at peak times on the weekends.  Maeve made it so that the wait didn’t matter.  We’d hang out for a martini or two and would just sit and chat til our table was called.

We really loved going here.