What’s the purpose of these colorful cups in my drab cube? Argo Tea came over today and gave everyone in my office free samples. I tasted the chai, which I’d tried a free sample of before, the hibiscus and the mango. The hibiscus was sweet and refreshing. I really like the chai. I tried for a while to like the chai at Starbucks and couldn’t. The first time I had it at Argo, I was sold. The mango.. eh. It didn’t taste mango-y to me.
finished 05.13.09
This is the second in the series. I liked it. I noticed that on the HBO show, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, they changed a few things from the books. Also, each episode is like a whole book. I keep thinking I should let the shows queue up on our DVR but not watch them til I’ve read more books. Then again, with the changes, it’s not like the show is completely giving the books away.
Tags:alexander mccall smith·Books·tears of the giraffe·the no 1 ladies detective agency
This is great cheese! I bought it at Provenance Food & Wine, a little wine and specialty food shop in Logan Square. They had both a spring cheddar and a fall cheddar. I asked the guy working in the shop what the difference was and he said that depending on when the cheese is made it will taste different because the cows have been grazing on different kinds of grasses and stuff depending on the season. Sure enough, from the Otter Creek Organic Farm site:
Each season’s cheddar has a unique flavor and fat content—they are all very different.
In the spring, the herd is grazed on pastures of clover, rye and young grasses; in Summer, the pasture is full of orchard grass, young corn, and sorghum. Fall brings mature rye, alfalfa, and clover. In Winter, the pasture is full of snow, so the herd eats sileage and bailage, made of fermented alfalfa and grasses cut from the farm’s pastures.
It’s not just the feed—the milk changes in fat content and hormones based on the season: lower fat in the warmer months, and higher fat in colder months.
Oh, and the farm where this cheese is made is located in WI!
Salted butter & red wine truffle butter
Duo of Tartar, tuna and salmon, jalapeño lime vinaigrette, avocado puree, wasabi sorbet
Back Fin Crab Cakes, arugula-kohlrabi salad, mango sorbet, and remoulade sauce
Maytag blue cheesecake, arugula, spiced pecans vanilla poached rhubarb, rhubarb sorbet
Smoked Spring Chicken, frenched breast, wild ramp risotto, asparagus, date sauce
Smoked day boat Scallops, pistachio crust, curried cous cous, blood orange brown butter sauce
Raspberry, chocolate, strawberry sorbet (partially eaten!)
Flight of Cupcakes, chocolate five spice with peanut butter icing, lavendar vanilla with earl grey icing, carrot with orange ginger icing
For our anniversary Dallas and I decided to check out May Street Market for dinner. I’d always wanted to go and we had a gift certificate to use. I loved the blue cheesecake and the tartars. The crabcakes were not the best I had, but acceptable. I loved my scallops. I haven’t had really a really good scallop dinner for a long time and was happy they were so tasty. Can’t wait until our trip to Hawaii for fresh seafood! Dallas said his chicken and risotto were good. I got the flight of cupcakes for dessert. I found the chocolate/peanut butter cupcake to be really dense and surprisingly not my favorite. I loved the lavendar/vanilla/earl grey cupcake. So light and delicate.
I would go back to May Street. The food was good, the service was good. On the Tuesday night we were there, the place was empty. One table seated when we arrived and when we left there were probably only a few other tables taken in the restaurant. I hope this is just because it was a slow night!
Note: These photos first appeared on Chicagoist.
This week Dallas and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. We have a pretty great life together and I couldn’t imagine it without him.
Tags:anniversary·dallas