HamJam 2010

Great times were had by all at HamJam 2010, a fantastic party thrown by the amazing parents of my friend Kris. He and his wife Rachael invited Andrew and I up for the combo pig roast / jam sesh in Michigan, and we were so happy we were able to make it up there. I tagged this post "holidays" because HamJam is a day I'd be happy to celebrate every year!

It was so fun hanging out with all our new friends. Here are some shots of the day:

Rachael with her adorable son Dru

Andrew and I, ready to eat some more!

Party!!! Kris is in the foreground, wearing a green shirt and playing guitar

Now for some fabulous food!

The chefs preparing to do battle

Grandpa checking the sitch

So many sauce options! I went with the Voodoo Vinegar (far left)

My plate - tri-tip, pork sandwich, corn casserole, mac & cheese, cheesy potatoes, baked beans...hollerrr!

Andrew's plate - a lot more tri-tip, pork sammy, corn casserole, green bean casserole, baked beans

I didn't get pictures of dessert, but if I can get the secret recipe for Blueberry Delight and permission to publish, I wouldn't be surprised if that recipe goes viral in 2 hours. It's that amazing.

The beautiful, fun-loving, incomparable Wollets

Kellie - whose amazing photographic talents I've spread liberally throughout this post!

We had such a wonderful weekend - Kris, Rachael, and their families were so welcoming and made us feel a part of the group. The food was spectacular, the music was wonderful, and the company was even better. Happy HamJam!

*Chicago*

Andrew and I took an amazing trip to Chicago last weekend to visit our friend Dan.  We spent the weekend with Dan, his super nice roommate Phil, and Phil's awesome girlfriend Jess, and were sometimes joined by Dan and Phil's friend Brian.  I had never been to Chicago, and I loved the experience - we walked everywhere, drank way too much, and of course, ate our faces off.

I've got a lot of food to show you, so settle in.  :)

We landed at O'Hare at 8:30 on Friday night.  We headed for dinner at Penny's Noodle Shop around 10 pm - we are lots of late dinners that weekend, which suits us perfectly.  Six of us ate together, but we apparently aren't very creative - we only ended up trying three menu items, as some of us ordered the same things as one another.

Jess and I had the Pad Thai, which was delicious.

Phil opted for the Thai Ravioli - homemade shrimp and pork dumplings - which looked amazing.

 

 

Dan, Andrew, and Brian all ordered the Sliced Beef, a noodle dish with soy, peanuts, and veggies.

Saturday night, the six of us who had dinner together on Friday night again got together to eat Peking duck at Sun Wah Bar-B-Que.  Sun-Wah doesn't have a website, but the Chicago Reader called it the "Best Bang for Your Buck" in Chicago.

We opted for the multi-course Peking duck dinner.  For the six of us, we opted to get one duck and supplement it with sides.  Here's a photo of Laura (our chef and co-owner of the restaurant) carving the duck tableside.

I think I saw her take at least twenty ducks to task while we were eating.  She was amazing! 

We got a beautiful plate of duck...

...plus egg rolls, bok choy, steamed rolls for duck sandwiches, fresh veggies...

...duck fried rice, duck soup, chow fun, hot tea, and fortune cookies for dessert.

I'm full again just thinking about it.

On Sunday, Dan took Andrew and I to Pho 777 for brunch.  You may think pho (a Vietnamese soup made with noodles and a fragrant broth) is a weird dish to eat as your first meal of the day, but if you're at all hungover, try it.  You'll thank me.  And really, you should be thanking Dan, because it was his advice.

A picture from our train stop. 

We were seated in a semi-private back room, which was perfect, because we were able to slurp our pho and I was able to take photos!  The condiments that come with pho are truly amazing.  The red bottle is sriracha sauce, next to it is hoisin, then two types of soy sauce.  Across the front of the condiment tray are various chili sauces.  The plate in front has bean sprouts, jalapenos, and two types of basil.

We opted for an appetizer of spring rolls - each one had three large shrimp in it, was wrapped in rice paper, and was served with a peanut sauce. 

 Below is my pho - lots of basil, torn up to release the flavor, delicious noodles, thin slices of beef that were still cooking when they hit the table.  The combination of spice and steam are a great remedy for a headache (or your sinuses!) and it tastes fantastic too.

After brunch, Dan took us to a Thai grocery store.  I had a blast browsing the aisles, but I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself by taking pictures.  I did photograph the haul I brought home though.  Check it out!

From the top left clockwise, I got a box of jasmine tea bags, a marble mortar and pestle, a box of loose green tea, a bag of star anise, a packet of seasoning for rice/veggies, and a pound of ground white pepper.  I paid $15 cash for all that stuff!  If I had access to this store all the time, you can bet I'd be shopping there often!

Next, we headed into downtown Chicago.  We wandered up and down the famed Michigan Avenue - a shopping mecca.  We checked out some of the historic buildings, walked all over the place, and had a pretty fantastic day. 

Light peeking through the buildings over the Chicago River.

Sunshine on the Wrigley Building.

We met up with Phil and Jess for some drinks - Mother Hubbard's was a fun sports bar where we ate chips, watched football, and drank beer.  They had some fun sports trivia worksheets that Jess and I tried valiantly to fill out while the boys gave half-hearted answers.  Here's our group.

For dinner on Sunday night, Dan took Andrew and I to Tango Sur.  If you're still with me at this point in what may be my longest post ever, let me tell you something.  If you ever go to Chicago, any part of Chicago (and it's a sprawling city), you MUST somehow get yourself to Tango Sur for dinner.  Though the card I grabbed from the restaurant listed a website, I'm having a tough time finding it online.  You can check out this info instead. 

Basically, Tango Sur is a small, dark, super-romantic Argentine steakhouse.  You must show up in person to put your name in, and the doorman will call your cell phone in an hour.  Or two.  Or longer.  Yes, people wait that long for a hunk of beef.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but after an hour of waiting for our phone call (we were seated at 9:45 on a Sunday night) and another hour of waiting for our entree, here is the main event:

Giant, right?  We brought home leftovers.

All in all, we had a fantastic time in Chicago.  I met some fun people, got to know others better, and of course, Andrew and I got to spend quality time with Dan.  What a great city to live, work, play, and EAT in!

Restaurant Review: Aha Sushi

During our trip to Chicago, I had the opportunity to meet up with some friends of mine, Rachael and Kris, who just had a baby in December.  It was so fun to hang out with them, meet the baby, and of course, EAT!  They took me to Aha Sushi in Gurnee, Illinois.  The food was fantastic and the service was superb.

First up, the appetizers!  We shared two orders of "Canon Balls" - crab meat, scallions, and cream cheese, deep fried and drizzled with blackberry sauce.  Can I just say, I could have eaten both plates by myself - these are like little balls of heaven!

We also shared an order of the Chef's Special that day - Bulgogi Rolls. Slices of bulgogi (a Korean barbecued beef) wrapped sushi-style with veggies, rice, and nori.  Delicious!

I opted for my favorite - a spicy tuna roll - then asked the waiter for a recommendation on the second roll.  He suggested his favorite, the Gurnee roll, a combination of crab meat, tempura crunch, cucumber, masago, and special sauce.  I loved them both!  In the photo below, the Gurnee roll is on the left, the spicy tuna roll on the right.

Kris's parents were out to lunch with us, and his mom opted for the Chicago Roll - a combination of cooked shrimp, crab meat, avocado, masago, cucumber, tempura crunch, and special sauce, with a drizzle of unagi sauce. 

As a non-raw fish eater, Rachael chose the Beef Udon, which looked really good!  She had a ton leftover to take home with her.

Kris and his father both got the same thing - the Sushi & Sashimi Combo.  It was a beautiful array of food!

I didn't get a picture of our dessert, but if you go to Aha Sushi's website, you can see it in the slideshow on the main page.  Basically, it was ice cream wrapped in a shell of crushed rice.  The texture of the shell was really odd - Rachael and I were not big fans.  Everyone at the table got one, half of us chose mango, half got strawberry.  Kris's dad skipped dessert due to his ulterior motive - unchallenged baby-holding time!  Luckily, we went back to Rachael and Kris's house and I got to hold the baby for a while too.  What a cutie, huh?

All in all, we had a great experience at Aha Sushi and I would definitely eat there again anytime I get to visit Gurnee.

Restaurant Review: Grace

 Andrew and I went to Portland, Maine almost two months ago, and we stayed with our friends Greg and Emilia.  We had a great time hanging out with them, exploring the city, and of course, eating at some fantastic places.  The first night we were in town, I made Seafood Linguine for dinner.

On our second night, we ate dinner at one restaurant, then started to head home.  At the last minute, we decided to go to Grace for drinks and dessert.  We were all so happy that we went - Greg and Emilia had eaten dinner there before, and had raved about the atmosphere, so Andrew and I were looking forward to seeing it.  Previously the Chestnut Street Church, the building that houses Grace is on the National Register of Historic Places.

I loved all the little touches that tied in the building's history - the pulpit has been repurposed as the hostess station, an upstairs bar takes the place of the organ, and the altar has been removed to make way for an open-air kitchen.  This combination of church and state feels a little sacrilege, but in a most delicious way.

Emilia and I opted for drinks from the highly amusing bar menu.  I chose "Redemption" - a nutmeggy white sangria with seasonal fruits, and Emilia decided on the "Holier Than Thou", a champagne and orange juice concoction.  We convinced the guys to split desserts with us.  I chose the Brown Sugar Cake, which was served with poached pears, pear chutney, cardamom ice cream, and candied walnuts.  Emilia opted for the Peanut Butter Cup - a combination of chocolate mousse, chocolate macaroon, peanut brittle, and peanut ice cream.  Both were beautifully plated and tasted delicious, but everyone agreed that Emilia's choice beat mine!

The cocktails we had were superb, the service was friendly, and the desserts were divine.  The next time we're in Portland, Andrew and I would love to return to Grace to try more of their menu.

**The first image on this post is from Grace's Facebook site, the rest are personal photos.

Spooky Spiders

Spooky Spiders are a Halloween treat that harkens back to my childhood.  My mom always made them in the week or so leading up to Halloween, and my friends (especially Kristi!) would vie to sneak them off the tray before the Halloween festivities got under way.

These are an easy treat and make a nice addition to any Halloween get-together. 


Spooky Spiders

1 bag chow mein noodles

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave.

Mix chow mein noodles into the melted chocolate.

Use two forks to drop "spiders" onto wax paper covered cookie sheets. 

Allow to cool and harden completely.

Spooky Spiders are a great Halloween treat!  Crunchy, chocolatey, small enough to shove a whole one in my mouth and hold two more in my hot little hand.  I packaged some up to send to friends, along with a few other treats - I'll share those recipes in the next few days as we get closer to Halloween!!!

One Hundred Posts!

What better way to celebrate my one hundredth post than with a FAIR? Now, anyone who knows me knows that I love a great fair, carnival, festival, or any event that involves rides, games, animals, and most importantly, food!

Andrew and I made our first trip to the Geauga County Fair on Sunday, and let me tell you, we're not in Connecticut anymore Toto! Our favorite fair has always been The Eastern States Exposition, aka "The Big E", and right off the bat, I noticed a few differences between my beloved Big E and the County Fair.

1. WAY more fried food! If it's possible, the Geauga County Fair has an even larger offering of fried foods than the Big E. Andrew and I, along with his dad, step-mom, sister, brother, aunt, and cousin, enjoyed many of the deep fat offerings, including fried Oreos and fried Twinkies!

In addition to all the fried goodies, we enjoyed steak sandwiches,

balsalmic pork loin sandwiches,

gyros, ice cream cones, french fries, cheese hot dogs, corndogs, and one of the most unique fair foods: cavetelli with meatballs from Corbo's in Cleveland's Little Italy. As you may recall, we love to get cavatelli from Corbo's during The Feast, so seeing their booth at the fair was a nice surprise.

2. Rides named after members of our party! Andrew's cousin Quade was convinced that the "Quadzilla" was actually pronounced just like his name (with a hard "a" - rhymes with spade). He wanted to ride it, but quickly pronounced it a "little kid ride" when he saw that it was basically glorified bumper cars.

Quade with his amazing gigantic strawberry-bubblegum snow cone:

3. I was SO bummed I didn't get a photo of the best sign at the fair - it was in a corner of the parking lot, and it read: "Amish Buggy Parking". Having grown up in the Northeast, I'm still not used to seeing the Amish in my everday life, and this sign really made me giggle! There were about eight buggys parked next to it!

I did find a picture that kind of represents the buggy parking lot:

Crazy stuff, right?

4. Games you'd actually want to play. Andrew and Quade jousted American Gladiator style, then Andrew took on his brother Jimmy. Andrew would want it known that Quade beat him, then Andrew beat Jimmy.

All in all, we really enjoyed our night at the fair. The Geauga County Fair is the oldest county fair in Ohio. This year marked the 186th anniversary of the fair. Though it's much smaller and shorter - just one weekend, as opposed the the three weeks of the Big E - this county fair is so much fun. We had a great time hanging out with family and eating our faces off!

As the sun set, we watched the hot air balloons launch and float off into the distance - a pretty perfect way to end a day at the fair!

I'm so glad to be posting my 100th post - thanks to those of you who keep reading, especially during and now after my slight hiatus. Now that I'm fully moved back to Ohio and settled in my job, I will get back to posting more often, so keep checking back for more frequent updates. Hooray for my readers, and hooray for the Petite Filet!