I saw these Wrigley Field nachos by Azteca sold at Strack and Van Til. I thought it was odd that they were not even in the refrigerated section. I bet they are disgusting!
Entries from September 8th, 2009
The Nachos Served at Wrigley Field
September 11th, 2009 · 3 Comments
Tags:azteca·baseball·bucktown·Chicago·cubs·nachos·Shopping·strack and van til·wrigley field
Siggi’s Icelandic Yogurt vs. Fage Greek Yogurt
September 10th, 2009 · 17 Comments
I’ve been eating Fage nonfat Greek yogurt every day with fruit for years. This year I started hearing a lot about Siggi’s Icelandic style nonfat yogurt and how much better than Fage. On a recent trip to Whole Foods I saw Siggi’s so I grabbed a container to try.
Both of these yogurts are strained and thick, both have a smooth textures, both have very few and only natural ingredients, both have a bit of a yogurt tang. To be honest, when I added my farmers market raspberries and a bit of granola I couldn’t tell much difference. I think that Siggi’s was slightly thicker.
Here’s the big decider – price. Fage is already a splurge. I pay $2 per container of it and eat it every day. That’s $10/week not counting the fruit or berries or granola I add. I justify the expense because I love it so much and because it’s a very healthy way to start my day each morning. So, the fact that Siggi’s is about $0.70 more per container.. that’s a deal breaker for me.. especially when I couldn’t tell a dramatic difference to begin with.
Tags:comparison·fage·greek yogurt·icelandic yogurt·siggi's·whole foods·yogurt
Key Lime Pie Cookies
September 9th, 2009 · 1 Comment
I’ve been reading the website Culinary Concoctions by Peabody for more than a year and have ogled over the food photography and recipes there, but have never made anything. Until recently. Peabody bakes a lot and I love to bake, so a lot of her recipes strike me. I saw this one in the beginning of August forKey Lime Pie Cookies and we had a barbecue that weekend, so I made them. They were fun. You make one dough that is like a crust with cinnamon and whole wheat flour and one that is lime-flavored. Roll one around the other and you’ve got full key lime pie flavor in a small cookie form.
Key Lime Pie Cookies
Key Lime Ice Box Cookie
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2/3 cups granulated sugar
zest of one lime
3 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup key lime juice
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl place the sugar and lime zest together. Using your hands, rub the lime zest into the sugar to release the lime oil into it. Run sugar through a sifter to remove lime zest pieces. Using a standing mixer, with paddle attachment, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat on medium high speed the egg yolk and key lime juice. Scrape down bowl. Switch to low speed and add flour mixture. Blend until mixture comes together. It will look a little crumble but will stick together when you press it.
Graham Cracker Ice Box Cookie
3/4 cup graham flour (use whole wheat if can’t find, but does make a difference)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
3 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 egg yolk
2 TBSP honey
In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Using a stand mixer, with paddle attachment, cream together the butter, honey, and brown sugar, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg yolk, and beat until fully incorporated. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture. Blend until mixture comes together in a ball.
To assemble the cookies:
Start with the key lime layer. Set out a long piece of wax paper. Pat out the dough into a long rectangle, about 18-inches long and 6-8 inches wide. Roll the graham cracker dough into a long tube and place it down the center of the key lime dough. Kind of like a hot dog. Using the wax paper to help you, roll the key lime dough over the graham cracker dough, so that the graham cracker dough will be in the middle of the cookie. Once graham cracker dough is completely covered, roll cookie dough into desired shape…round, square, somewhere in between like what I have. 
Roll up in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375°. Unwrap the cookie dough and cut into slices about ¼-inch thick and bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until lightly browned around the edges, about 12 minutes. Cool the cookies on a rack and store in an airtight container.
Tags:cookies·cooking and baking·culinary concoctions by peabody·key lime·key lime pie cookies
Birthday Flowers
September 8th, 2009 · No Comments
I wasn’t sure if I’d be getting birthday flowers delivered this year because my dad is coming down for a visit today, but here they are, just like clockwork. Score. This is the 8th year in a row my parents have sent me flowers on my birthday. I love them. Usually they’re the only flowers I get all year!
This year’s bouquet has a very purplish theme. I love the rectangle vase!
I was looking through all of the photos of my flowers on previous years and it’s funny to see my different desks and things that were on my desks so I decided to take a photo of my whole desk this year too.
And here are flowers from the previous years:
- 2008
- 2007
- 2006
- 2005
- 2004
- 2003
- 2002
Finally, my coworker Dan insisted on taking this photo of me. Cute, huh?
Tags:birthday·Chicago·daisy·flowers·gerbera daisy·river north·roundarch
Surprise!
September 8th, 2009 · 4 Comments
On Sunday Dallas and I planned to spend the day together. In the morning we didn’t really do anything. Just hung around the house, picked up a little bit. At about noon we left. He was going to help me get an iPhone for my birthday so we went to the AT&T store and then to a few other store in the shopping center.. Game Stop, Bath & Body Works.. nothing crazy. We stopped for a quick bite at Taco Bell (secretly love!) and then bought some groceries at Dominick’s. I was having a good time just doing nothing and hanging out with Dallas. We don’t often run these kinds of errands together or go shopping together. I remember commenting about it and how it was nice. Little did I know, we were just killing time while people assembled at our house. I thought the plan was to run these errands, go home and chill for a while, then go to a movie. But when we got home I opened the door, and SURPRISE!
There were about 15 people standing in our living room when I opened the door. I remember being so in shock. Dallas and I were just discussing what movie to see as we pulled into the garage! I couldn’t even take it all in. Everyone yelling “SURPRISE!,” Cory was standing on a chair taking my photo. A few people had never been to our place and I remember thinking that I hadn’t cleaned. And there was a cake with candles on the counter. This was running through my head instantly that first second. I didn’t even know what to do. SHOCK. 30 minutes later my hands were still a little shaky, my heart beating a little fast. Get me a beer – STAT!
Dallas is pretty laid back and “no nonsense” about birthdays and holidays. He doesn’t really care if a gift is given or a celebration is held right on the day. He doesn’t really plan ahead, what he wants to get or do. When it’s my birthday or Christmas, I’ll tell him what I want and he’ll go buy it, or we’ll go together and he’ll pay for it. With restaurants or parties, I usually say where I want to go, or what I want to do, then we do it. I’ve gotten pretty used to this over the last 5 years. I think this was half the shock. How did he manage to actually PLAN something, prepare everything ahead of time, and not only that, pull it off. I honestly had NO IDEA anything was going on. Of course, in hindsight I put two and two together on a lot of things…. why are you texting so much while driving? Why do we have to buy all this cream at Dominick’s? Things that didn’t seem odd when they happened but when you added them all up…
To plan for this, Dallas had secret lunches with Jess to talk about details and to give her keys. That Friday when he was just hanging out with Danny? They slow cooked 14 pounds of pork in the smoker to make pulled pork for the party. Danny also made a cold corn soup that was to die for. That pulled pork was gone lickity split. 14 pounds! It was soooo delicious. And Jess made me a birthday cake. Probably the first birthday cake that I’ve had in … I don’t know? A decade? Did I mention the cake was double chocolate Kahlua? The bar has been knocked up so high, I don’t know how we’re ever going to top this dinner!
Killian took these nice photos of me blowing out my candles. I was so happy I’d taken a shower that day. And dried my hair. And put on a trace of makeup. I didn’t get to jewelry or a nice outfit, but it could have been worse.
The party was great. We hung around inside. We hung out on the roof deck. It was nice out, not too hot, not too cold. We played cornhole all night. Our upstairs neighbors came down and made me do shots at their house. We played Rock Band later in the night. I hadn’t played Rock Band for so long and was having a great time doing it. Such an overwhelming day. Honestly, it felt like 3 am, but it was only 11 pm. Here’s a video of me dancing around holding a bottle of champagne and singing along to the song “Buddy Holly,” by Weezer. The video is kind of messed up because Danny was laying on the ground messing with my iPhone. Maybe also because we were all taking swigs directly from that bottle of champagne.
I had the best time and most of all it felt really great that everyone went through the extra trouble. For me! For my birthday. And I didn’t really lift a finger. I’m not used to that! It was so nice. I have the best friends and the best boyfriend! Thanks everyone for such a great day!
(Cory took more photos of the party. I’ll have to get them from her and post them later. It felt really weird that I was not the photographer for once!)
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Update (11/09): Here are the photos Cory sent me.
Surprise!
Killian, Jessica, Kate, Emily, Alden, Paul
Kate, Emily, Alden, Paul, Chris, Jill, Cousin
Brian & Limey
Geoff & Christina
Brian & Jill (& Halle!)
Cory & Chris got me this pimp cup
Liz & Killian
Jessica, Paul, Kate
Steve trying to kill a bee with Liz’s shoe
Cousin & Malachy
Tags:at&t·bath & body works·birthday·buddy holly·Chicago·cornhole·cory·dallas·danny·dominicks·game stop·iphone·jess·killian·logan square·rock band·taco bell·weezer