Entries Tagged as 'jeannette'

Working in New York

January 9th, 2011 · 1 Comment

Last week I was working in New York again. It was long, long hours, but I did manage one night to meet up with Jeannette, Tien and Jessica for dinner. Jess had suggested maybe going to Hill Country Barbecue for dinner. Tien said that there was a spot across the street they opened called Hill Country Chicken that specialized in fried chicken and he’s been wanting to try it. I’ve been trying to eat better this new year for the wedding, so in the end we did a 360 and decided to check out Takahachi for sushi dinner. It was good and reasonably priced and didn’t make me feel bad about what I ate. But then…..

I’d told Tien earlier that I’d always wanted to go to a Momofuku restaurant. I actually mention in a 2008 blog post that I always wanted to go there. So Tien took us to the Momofuku Milk Bar for dessert. I didn’t feel bad, though. We ordered and split several things and everything was so delicious, it was so worth it.

Jess ordered old fashioned donut soft serve and it tasted exactly like a donut. Jeannette got a cornflake-marshmallow-chocolate chip cookie and horchata soft serve. Tien got a salty pistachio “fancy” milkshake which was spiked liberally with butterscotch schnapps and was delicious. Tien also got this:

Cereal milk? I didn’t get it. Then I took a sip. Wow. It tastes EXACTLY how your milk tastes after you eat your cereal out of it. Crazy.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to get. It seemed like the thing to do was to get the “crack pie,” so that’s what I did. OMG. Crack. It’s so rich and sweet.. and totally addictive… like crack (or so I hear).

This crack pie is amazing. I’m kind of obsessed now. Thanks, Tien! I have located the recipe for crack pie and I vow to make it as soon as I can (after the wedding). Oh, and I just found this clip of Andersoon Cooper going on and on about how he loves crack pie. “I sent it to my mom,” he said. “My mom’s now addicted to crack — pie. And uh, yeah, seriously, my teeth are going to fall out. It’s like doing crack. After a while of doing it your teeth will fall out.” FYI, Anderson Cooper’s mom is Gloria Vanderbilt.

Ah. And watch this… when Martha Stewart visits the Milk Bar and the pastry chef there, Christina Tosi, makes crack pie with Momofuku chef/owner David Chang.

Zowie! And now I just found out you can order Milk Bar’s cookies and pies online. This is no good. Don’t do crack kids, even if it’s just a crack pie. Moral of the story.

Anyway….. what else?

I mostly just worked and worked. The Bloomberg office is at 59th and Lexington and on this trip I stayed at the Renaissance New York Hotel 57 on 57th and Lexington. It was nice and close and they had these cute mirrors in the elevators.

Small rooms, but clean and modern. Pretty bathrooms. I liked it.

I ate probably half or more of my meals at Picnic on 57th. Everything at Picnic is good and it is close to the hotel, close to the office. I didn’t have to think about where to go. One of my coworkers goes here every single day and orders the same salad. While the salads at Picnic are great, I got a few, they also have really good sandwiches, soups and sushi. And my favorite yogurt for breakfast, too!

And on Thursday… LGA waiting for the plane to take off. It was such a long week. I just stared at this thing for like 20 minutes.

Finally. Sky Mall. I saw these shoes. In the ad they are described as having a “slick speed of life logo,” but all I could think is that the logo looks like sperm.

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Our First Thanksgiving Turkey

November 28th, 2010 · 3 Comments

This year for Thanksgiving Dallas and I decided to try to make our own Thanksgiving dinner. I’d made Thanksgiving dinner with Kelly and Jeff and Aunt Sue many times (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006), but I never made the turkey before. We started out by brining the turkey overnight in a mixture of salt, broth, orange juice, and spices.

Jeannette used to make a pre-Thanksgiving feast when I lived in New York, so I asked her for some turkey guidance and she delivered! She sent us all kinds of tips, mostly from Cooks Illustrated.

We quickly learned that the big secret is….. BUTTER! Buttering the skin. Dallas also lifted the skin a little and shoved butter between the skin and the meat.

After the first check, this is what the turkey looked like.

We rotated it on all 4 sides to get even browning. Each time we rotated, we applied more butter.

And then one time we cut off some fresh sprigs of rosemary and stuck them in.

More butter!

Finished. Perfectly browned skin.

We stuffed the turkey with onions, carrots, celery, thyme and rosemary.

I made some gravy with the giblets.. another recipe from Jeannette. Dallas browned the bits in the pan so I could add them to the gravy. By the way, this gravy was kind of a pain and took a long time, but it was like the best gravy EVER.

Dallas then carved the turkey.

And we could see that it was cooked perfectly all the way through.

This was our whole Thanksgiving dinner.

I’ll have a few recipes to share in the upcoming weeks. As for the turkey? It was SO good. Very moist and flavorful. All in all, we agreed that this was one of our favorite meals we’ve ever cooked together. I know we won’t cook Thanksgiving dinner every year, but it’s nice to know that we can!

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Sola Brunch

October 30th, 2010 · 1 Comment


Malasadas, Sola, North Center, Chicago

On the last day of our weekend together we all went out to drink my favorite drink at Sola. (According to the bachelorette quiz, Dallas thinks my favorite drink is coffee.) I insisted that we start off by sharing a couple plates of malasadas, a Portuguese doughnut that is popular in Hawaii. At Sola the malasadas are served with raspberry coulis and hot fudge. Awesome way to start off the day.


Rachelle

Jess B and I decided to indulge in a couple more drinks. Sola has a wasabi bloody mary but when I asked the waiter about it, he said he preferred the classic bloody mary and the wasabi one was more of a gimmick. I took his recommendation and it was great. Jess B got one of the mimosas, I believe.


Jess B

All of the brunch entrees on the Sola menu looked so delicious. I was sitting by Jill and Amanda and we all flip-flopped so much. In the end I got the kalua pork hash (poached eggs, pico de gallo, guacamole). It was good, but I’ve had a ton of kalua pig in Hawaii and it wasn’t as good as there. Jeannette also got the kalua pork hash.


Kalua Pork Hash (poached eggs, pico de gallo, guacamole)

Kristin got the classic eggs benedict (poached eggs, house made canadian bacon, hollandaise, english muffin), Amanda got the short rib benedict (poached eggs, cheddar biscuits, pesto, hollandaise), Jill got the ham and cheese french toast (mustard honey, plum preserves), Jess G shocked her system with vegetables by ordering the chicken salad (napa cabbage, carrots, snow peas, bean sprouts, miso vinaigrette, crisp wontons), and Jess B got the wild mushroom omelet (leeks, asparagus, prairie fruits farm goat cheese).


Wild Mushroom Omelet (leeks, asparagus, prairie fruits farm goat cheese)

After brunch we were all outside chatting. It was such a nice day. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. For some reason flashbulbs started going off on Jill and I.


Rachelle & Jill

Another angle!


Rachelle & Jill

Then someone suggested we all take a photo together.


Jess B, Jess G, Rachelle, Jill, Jeannette, Kristin, Amanda

What a fun way to end the weekend! Thanks to everyone for the planning they did and for the out-of-town guests for coming to Chicago to help me celebrate!

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Ricochet’s Tavern

October 30th, 2010 · No Comments


Dallas’s side of the family – Caroline & Cory

After our cooking class at The Chopping Block we headed out to go to a bar in Lincoln Square. I’d sort of intended to go to Tiny Lounge in North Center, then someone suggested that we bar hop our way there. As we walked down Lincoln Avenue all of the bars were so packed that we could hardly walk in, let alone sit all 10 of us together. And then we walked past the dive bar, Ricochet’s Tavern. No one had really intended for Ricochet’s to be our after-party, but it wasn’t packed and there was plenty of space for us to all sit together. It did the trick.


Jessica & Kelly – Dangerous Duo!


Jess set up a game. Kelly kept score.


Jess G asking questions


Jeannette got me a vodka + lemon shot. She obviously wasn’t there during the vodka lemonade Summer of Rachelle!


Vodka & Lemon wedge. Blech!

Jess G surprised me with a game that she planned ahead of time. She asked Dallas 20 questions and got the answers. The game was for me to answer the questions and see if our answers matched. Or, more like, to answer the questions in the way I thought Dallas would have answered them. Each of my friends was to say how many answers they thought I’d get right. The winner got to do a celebratory shot with me. Oh. And? I had to drink a shot for every answer I got wrong.


Rachelle & Jess


Long distance apple pucker shots from Ted


More questions!


More shots!

Also? A bunch of the questions were really obscure. How old is Dallas’s oldest pair of underwear? And a bunch of the questions he answered “I don’t know.” Or said the answer then said, “She won’t know this.” Meaning I drank a lot of shots. At one point the bartender said “You’re going to kill that girl” because every 5 minutes my friends were up at the bar buying another shot.


Hilarious!


Something is hilarious!

Interspersed with the questions, I had to do a bachelorette scavenger hunt. First I had to find a guy in the bar named Phil. There weren’t any. I even asked the bouncer who was checking IDs. But funny thing…. right after we asked him, like the next guy coming in was named Phil!


Asking some dudes if anyone is named Phil. They lied and said YES.


Looking for a guy named Phil.


PHIL!!


Kelly made me drink Irish whiskey.

Then? I had to find a penny from the year that Dallas and I met: 2004. Funny thing… Phil had the penny! I found out later on he was set up. It was really Amanda that had the penny. What a let down! I thought Phil was my go-to guy.


Amanda setting up a trick!


Asking guys if they had a penny from 2004. The year Dallas and I met.


Penny from 2004?


No, but this guy had funny stories.


Everyone wants a photo with the bachelorette


See?


Jill made me drink butterscotch schnapps


And peach schnapps.


I think I had 7 shots total. The bartender told my friends they were going to kill me.

When I had to find an unused condom, guess who I asked? Phil, my go-to guy! But he didn’t have one. And get this, I talked to every guy in Ricochet’s. No one had a condom. We were not asking to take it… we just wanted to see one. Not one guy!! Shame, shame.


Help me find a condom


Sean? I put him to work trying to find a condom.


Do you have a condom?


Do you have a condom?


Do you have a condom? No, but I’m flattered you asked.

At the end of the night Kristin and Jill tied at guessing how many questions I’d get right: 7.


We asked Dallas 20 questions. How many do you think Rachelle will answer correctly?

Kristin couldn’t drink any more because of her medication so she somehow recruited Amanda to drink her celebratory shot for her. I have never seen Amanda drink before this night and I surely had never seen her do a shot. Luckily, Cory took a quick video of this momentous occasion:


Winning Shots. Jill and Kristin tied for the win. Amanda drank Kristin’s shot for her. Pigs flew.


Leftover shot!


Leftover shot for the game-leader

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The Chopping Block Totally Hands-On Cooking Class

October 29th, 2010 · No Comments

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do on Saturday night of my girls’ weekend. I knew what I didn’t want to do. I didn’t want to dress slutty and drink from penis straws and barhop around downtown. No way. So what do you do? I started researching a few alternate things and decided to do a cooking class at The Chopping Block.


Who could it be now?


Jess?


Jess?


Jeannette, Jessica, Rachelle


The recipes


Jessica, Jeannette & Amanda picking out a wine


This was really good! Gougenheim Malbec 2009

















































Cooking is something I’m really interested in and that I do a lot, so it was fun to do it with 8 of my closest friends. The class we took was actually supposed to be a couples cooking class, but we totally crashed that. The Chopping Block was awesome. They gave us two large tables in the class and pushed them together with 4 people working at each table. Kristin, Kelly, Amanda and Caroline were working at one table and Jessica B, Jeannette, Cory and I were at another table. Jessica G. brought the magic to both teams, helping out wherever needed.

For dinner we made:

  • White Bean and Swiss Chard Soup With Sage
  • Sweet Potato and Gruyere Cheese Gratin
  • Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Dried Fruit and Port Wine Reduction
  • Spiced Apple Bread Pudding

Here is a link to all of the recipes (PDF).

By “we,” I mean, most of the rest of my team! I did stuff, but Jess and Jeannette really held it together while I talked a lot, floated around and drank a lot of wine out of whatever glass was the nearest to my hand.

Luckily The Chopping Block made it easy by pre-measuring a lot of things and by having 3 instructors going around making sure everything goes smoothly. At the end we all got to sit down and eat the meal we prepared. I loved the potatoes we made. The soup and pork were very good too.

Most people did not really care for the bread pudding, though. I don’t know if we made it wrong or what. At the end of the night we were getting our group photo taken and Jess G said “bread pudding face!” and we all made a horrible face!
The Chopping Block class was a great time. Everyone was saying how much fun they had. I think it’s good for parties or couples or anyone. Any occasion .. or even just a random night. Check it out.

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