The first step in our plot to get to our Italian paradise was to stop off in Croatia, where we met our friend Derek, the consummate host. The food was amazingly good, as was the wine!
Our friend Bob Tobin was passing through town and brought our new friend Tim Styles along. They came over for our potluck and treated the lucky attendees to a lovely impromptu concert. And of course, the food was amazing, along with the company, as always!!!
I think it was a great deal all around!
Video coming soon…
Corn and peaches were the seasonal ingredients of the night! Corn chowder and corn pudding, and peach cobbler and peach tart with chestnut flour crust.
Today, Victor had a craving, and I was the lucky beneficiary! 😛 Although he’s thwarting my attempts to lean into being vegan.
Sunday’s Late Lunch
While at Alon’s to get cheese for Monday’s potluck, he developed a hankering for a grilled cheese sandwich and homemade potato chips. So he grabbed a beautiful loaf of focaccia, came home and got to work. First he started the chips, shaving the potatoes paper-thin on the mandoline. Wish I’d snapped a photo during the process, as there were these gorgeous, delicate slices piled atop the cookie sheets waiting to be tossed into the oil. He fried them to a crisp, and hit them with just a whisper of smoked applewood salt. And into the iron skillet went the focaccia, piled high with cheese and topped with fresh raw sweet onions, then pressed flat and grilled stovetop. After that, the sammie went into the oven to get more golden and delicious, cheese oozing out ever so slightly.
Feeling the need to have a little green to pretend I was making it healthier, I added a little arugula and sorrel to mine, along with a drizzle of truffle oil, ala Toscano & Sons‘ famous Giovanna. The gooey cheese nestled happily between the focaccia sheets and the greens added a nice little pop of lemony, peppery freshness to the sweet onion and salty, luscious cheese. I thought the focaccia was a great choice, as it didn’t get too crunchy as some breads can tend to do, and it gives way, allowing easier biting and melding of the flavors of the rosemary-scented bread into the rest of that yumminess!
The potato chips were truly the star of the plate: little lacey, almost see-through slices of comfort that melted almost the minute they hit the tongue, although with such a nice satisfying little crunch. Lighter than air, they were. So that even after consuming a crazy big pile of them, you feel like you just had a virtuous meal. And you did. Or I did. Yum.
What’s for dinner, honey?!
Pranzo e un bicchiere di vino
Fixed a quick lunch of riso nero with sautéed onions, leeks & carrot served with a gently fried egg (directions from John Besh on the Splendid Table) topped with a pesto of spring greens and toasted walnuts and garnished with thinly sliced carrots from Crystal Organic Farm.
This was another great potluck, with special finds!
Sam & Cornelia brought a portion of their bounty – morel mushrooms foraged earlier in the day! – to share with us. Sam sautéed them in a little butter and that’s about it… and all they needed! They were mouthwatering.
And we harvested our few not-so-little oyster mushrooms grown from the bag they gave us. We may have more growing in the floorboards of our guest room, as that’s where we put the bag for safekeeping from the rambunctious Luce. When I checked on it, the table and floor were white with spores, but we had the beautiful crop for use in our dinner.
Apologies to all, as I’ve now forgotten what the other dishes were (posting this after the fact), EVEN the one we made with the oyster ‘shrooms. If you snapped a pic of the dishes, please forward to me. OR let me know and I’ll make you a contributor to the blog so you can post them yourself! 🙂
Victor made a lovely brunch of poached eggs on a bed of Swiss chard and white beans.
So, Victor has been jonesing for a sailing trip. Who’d have guessed he’d get it in Chicago?
Captain Victor at the helm
Our friends Cornelia and Sam coerced us (took a lot of arm-twisting…) to go with them to the Next restaurant adventure: this season’s theme being Vegan (that deserves its own post entirely)! When we contacted our set designer friend Collette to let her know we’d be in the area, her reply was something to the effect “we’ll be leaving town the day you arrive… but, if you want to come a couple of days earlier, we have a sailboat reserved.” Just the impetus it took to get Victor to commit to a couple of extra days in the Windy City. And oh, yeah, she and obliging hubby Mark offered their amazing home for us to stay in, both while they were there and after they left us.
Between the ritzy accommodations (a stunning remodel in the hip and convenient Lincoln Square) and the scenic sailboat tour, the trip was a triumph. On arrival, Collette took us on a stroll down to Julius Meinl, where we munched on yummy spaetzle (putting on temporary hiatus my moratorium on wheat!) and Victor’s omniscient grilled cheese. Then it was off to an architectural emporium, where many items were added to the wish lists. Then back to the casa for Aperol Spritzes, who emitted their siren song to call Mark to join us. And then to the Lake, but not before a stop (well, detour really) by Mana for take-away nosh for onboard dining later.
The calm before the storm
The view of the city from the lake morphed as we floated, breaking open first the wine (even though the boat was missing a corkscrew, and we had to improvise to get into the bottles!), then the food, and enjoying a lovely repast – totally worth the extra time we took for the detour to pick it up. Luckily, after we were all stuffed, we put away the remaining food, what little there was, and broke open another bottle of vino. On one side of the lake was the remnants of a beautiful sunset, on the other, a few angry looking storm clouds. To Collette’s query, Mark thought we would be able to stay south of them. With apologies to Mark… this was a little optimistic. Suddenly, the clouds must have changed direction, as the skies opened up right over our heads, and with no warning… buckets!
Collette and I did the only sensible thing: grabbed the wine and made for cover. We managed to save all but one glass, which Mark told us to leave (presumably so he’d have some to swill as he fought the rising waves). We tossed rain gear out to the guys and sat below deck, as women should, sipping our wine and chatting amiably as the boat rocked and the guys fought our way back to shore. It was nice to be able to deny the tempest that was happening above us, save for the glimpses of the dark horizon and the crashing waves through the portholes behind Collette’s head… which I tried to ignore. It was actually a little scary at times, had we not had the illusion created by being in the dry cabin.
The calm after the storm
Finally, the storm subsided and the guys glided the boat into the dock, where we sat for a few glorious moments, Mark gamely downing the rain-drenched glass of wine that had been left on board in the storm, despite our protests that we would pour him a fresh, undiluted glass. I imagined it was rather like consuming the beast that he had conquered!
The next day’s sail was longer, but much less eventful. The weather? PERFECT! Warm and mostly sunny, but with some cloud cover and a cool breeze, almost dangerously so for someone like me: a fair flower unaccustomed to the sun’s rays! The wind? Not strong enough to make it exciting, but only just enough to keep us moving and make for a very peaceful day. The rocking of the waves, the warmth of the sun, the gently energetic music coming through the speakers courtesy of Collette and Pandora, comfortable conversation. All in all, a perfect 24-hours on the water.
Our sincere thanks to our gracious hosts, Mark & Collette!
Lunch for Dr. J and Lisa
Our vet, Dr. Karen Jordan, rocks! A mobile vet, she comes to our house, reducing the amount of stress on my beloved Bobka, who was diagnosed with renal disease a little over a year ago, at an age that shall remain nameless so as to preserve his youthful appearance (and maintain my denial a little longer). Dr. J uses “alternative” vet methods on him (which we consider traditional, but more on that later). She swears he tolerates acupuncture better than most of her patients. And I gotta say, how much more can a mommy want but for the vet to ooh and ahh over your baby? I’m inserting a photo here so as to demonstrate how well-deserved it is in this case!
Bobka, Love of my life
My human innamorata, Vittorio, understands that he plays second fiddle to the first love of my life, so anyone who takes such great care of him is very important to me by default. The fact that Dr. J truly gets the magnificence that is “Mr B” only further endears her to me.
We are currently administering sub-q (vetspeak for subcutaneous) fluids for my baby, and because I’m squeamish about giving them at this point, and also because Dr. J is so fantastic to come do it as a “drive-by,” we all get to see each other at least once a week, and twice every 3 weeks or so for the acupuncture session. At this juncture, I must also give a tip of the hat and intro to the fabulous Lisa, vet tech extraordinaire! If I didn’t give her accolades before (oh, but I did), I’m even more apt to heap praise upon her after she was out sick for an appointment during which we needed to take blood from Mr. B, and I got to fill in as vet tech. Harder than it looks!
There is a food point to the story here, and here it comes.
Last week, when Dr. J and Lisa arrived, I was cooking the last of the 4 pounds of chanterelles our friends Sam & Cornelia graciously donated to us (and which became several amazing dinners!). The night before, Victor and I had painstakingly washed and oven dried the remaining 1 1/2 – 2 pounds we hadn’t yet cooked, determined not to let them get too old to use. Then that morning, I sautèed them up in a little olive oil and vegan butter. The house was filled with the aromas of slowly cooking onions, garlic and those delectable fungi. So my dynamic duo were intoxicated, especially since it was almost lunchtime! We talked at great length about the mushrooms, and about the Mushroom Club of GA, of which our friend Cornelia is the president, and her husband Sam treasurer.
So this morning, as I was looking for produce in the fridge to make my version of the Dr. Oz juice, realized that I had leftover risotto bursting with those pre-cooked beauties, along with some lovely fresh English peas). We had made it for dinner a few nights earlier with our friends Clay & Anne, to get us in the mood while plotting our next Italian adventure. I also had tried to turn the mushroom sauté that went with it into a true mushroom ragú, a delicacy we’ve not yet quite perfected (there’s a stunning example of it, the best we’ve had, at La Tavola). It hadn’t quite gotten there. But I threw on the risotto to start warming, about half an hour before they were due to arrive, and put the mushroom ragu into the small cast iron skillet, and doctored it up with a little white wine, balsamic, and veggie stock.
Then while those were working, I put together a small tomato peach salad, copied from my innamorata’s efforts of earlier in the week. The peaches were just starting to get a little wrinkly, so I debated about whether to peel them, but decided to just toss them in, and dressed it all. And something amazing happened: those little orange nuggets started to absorb all that lovely dressing, along with the tomatoes’ juices, and plumped right back up! Yum. After I set up the plating (since I had time to do so!), I realized I needed a little something else on the plate, so put just a few parsley leaves drizzled with a little Strippaggio Cask 10 balsamic, and a few drops of their Gold Medal olive oil. Beautiful, if I do say so myself. Added just the right touch of color.
The ragú, ragúing!
It turned out they were a little delayed getting there, so the risotto lost a little in the texture department, but certainly not in flavor. And that ragú? It finally did what a good ragú should: came together and got all cozy-like. So it actually benefited from the extra time. Note to self: long, long, slow cooking is essential.
When they arrived, I had everything ready to go. But it turns out she’s been on a strict food plan, mostly juicing and avoiding any but brown and wild rices. I portioned it out pretty small, so she still decided to have some. Hope it was worth it! The juice, though, was a big hit, as was the tomato peach salad!
Dr. Oz juice is here. I added celery, fennel and ginger for good measure.
Summery Tomato-Peach Salad
Amazing food with amazing friends!