Rogers Park Winery Horseshit Red

One of my coworkers, Eric, makes wine every year. I’d heard about this process for years but it wasn’t until a couple months ago that I finally got to try one of his wines. Eric lives in Rogers Park, hence Rogers Park Winery.

As for the name of the wine, Horseshit Red, Eric said when they first opened the wine it was awful, but as they let it age and then breath it turned out not so bad. This is so true that they added this warning to the label: “Warning: This wine used to taste like horseshit but it has taken a turn for the better after aging two and a half years. For best results, open the bottle and let it breathe before drinking.”

I thought the wine was pretty decent. Eric can bring wine for sampling any time he wants!

Everything Cast Iron

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Cinnamon and Andrew :: Rogers Park, Chicago

Cinnamon is writing a cookbook about cooking with cast-iron cookware called “Everything Cast Iron.” The book is to include 300 recipes and is on a tight deadline. What does this mean for all of Cinnamon’s friends? Lots of food to eat! Cinnamon made menus, posted them on a schedule, and all we had to do was sign up for a day to go over, share drinks with friends, and sample her experiments.

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Sweet Potato Sticks

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Jamaican Grilled Okra

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Friends :: Rogers Park, Chicago

Last Sunday I headed over to Cinnamon and Andrew’s condo up in Rogers Park. Cinnamon was manning the kitchen and Andrew was manning a grill (with a cast iron grill plate). Since it was so beautiful outside and since the condo doesn’t have air conditioning, all of the friends gathered in their cute little lawn. We were not allowed to bring food, but were instructed to bring drinks of choice.

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Asian Potatoes with Chile and Shallots

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Spicy West African Yassa Chicken

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Yassa Tibs Ethiopian Sauteed Fish

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Chuck, Rachelle, Marcus :: Rogers Park, Chicago

I met a lot of new people and visited with other friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Marcus was all salty since I left Roscoe Village behind, a neighborhood we shared, and moved on to Logan Square. Chuck was our odd uncle trying not to fall asleep between courses while he sat drinking his beer in a comfortable chair. And of course the food! These are all photos of all the food we ate. Now, we didn’t eat full servings, but everyone got to at least try a taste of every dish that was made. Then we had a comment card to write what we thought about the dishes.

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Cornbread

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James and Rose

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Truly Blackened Catfish

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Cajun Shrimp (with Rice, not shown)

I know we were helping Cinnamon out, but thanks so much to her and Andrew for having us all over and making this all a party at the same time! I had a fun, delicious time! It still boggles my mind a bit that Cinnamon and Andrew were able to turn out this much food in one evening. I can’t imagine how much they’re cooking to make a 300-recipe cookbook. And it’s exciting to be a part of the process. I can’t wait for “Everything Cast Iron” to come out. I’m for sure buying a copy… or two!

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Fried Ravioli

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Anne and Marcus :: Rogers Park, Chicago

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Cinnamon and Andrew’s friends’ baby was only 3 weeks old :: Rogers Park, Chicago

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My favorite of the night: Fig Balsamic Vinegar Dessert Sauce. Served with vanilla ice cream and freshly picked in Rogers Park June berries.

Bhabi’s Kitchen

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Pistachio Naan, Bhabi’s Kitchen, Rogers Park, Chicago

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Chicken Masala, Bhabi’s Kitchen, Rogers Park, Chicago

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Colorful Dining Room at Bhabi’s Kitchen, Rogers Park, Chicago

This month Erin and Cinnamon and I went to dinner up in Cinnamon’s neighborhood, Rogers Park. Cinnamon recommended Bhabi’s Kitchen, an Indian restaurant that I’ve heard a lot about but had never visited. I was excited to try Bhabi’s, but also excited just to eat Indian food. I love it and don’t get to eat it much in Chicago. In New York the Indian restaurants were disbursed around the city everywhere. In Chicago there are only a few that come to mind that are not very far north on Devon Avenue. Guess what, though? Devon is not that far when you have a car!

We tried the pakoda (chickpea flour nuggets with onion, fenugreek and spices) as an appetizer. Bite-sized fried pieces with three different sauces. Yum! For my entree I got my old favorite, chicken masala (chicken with a special spicy gravy). I’m used to the dish being prepared with a cream like yogurt mixed in the sauce and with boneless chicken. Here the dish is more of a red sauce and with whole chicken pieces.. so not my favorite preparation, but I still enjoyed the taste of the sauce a lot. Erin loved the bagarey balgan (fresh Indian eggplant cooked with secret spices). I tried a bit and it was delicious. Cinnamon got the saag paneer (fresh spinach cooked with spices and cheese cubes). I’m not a huge fan of spinach cooked down, but I think if you’re a saag paneer fan you’d like this dish. I tried a bit and it was good.

I especially enjoyed Bhabi’s Kitchen’s unique selection of breads. According to this Smithsonian Magazine article, there are 20 varieties of bread made with six different flours. We tried the makal corn flour bread and the pistachio naan (with mixed dried fruits and sprinkled with powdered sugar). We ordered the pistachio bread off a recommendation Erin had read in that same article. It was so good I wanted to eat the entire thing myself! The bread was sweet enough to be a dessert, but I found that their entrees tended to be pretty spicy, so eating them with the sweet bread cut the heat a bit. I want to go back just to try all of the breads. I think I say that every single time I go out for Indian food. I’m in love even with the most basic naan.

As always, dinner with Erin and Cinnamon was great. I enjoy hanging out with the ladies and am very grateful we make the time to get together on a regular basis. Every single time, no matter what, we sit and talk and talk until the restaurant closes and we are forced to leave. We have to be some of the most well connected people online and we still find a million things to talk about when we meet up.

2 Parties, 1 Night


Steve, Rachelle, Dallas :: Rogers Park, Chicago

Party 1: Dallas’ college friend Steve and his wife Amy are moving to New Jersey at the end of the month. His going away party was on Saturday night. We played a lot of video games and talked about New Jersey and New York a lot. We don’t see Steve and Amy as much as we should here in Chicago, so wouldn’t it be funny if we get to see them more when we go on trips to the east coast? Oh, also, Steve and Amy have a really, really large and beautiful condo in Rogers Park. It’s for sale if anyone is interested! I wish I had their bathroom. I could live in it. The shower is enormous and includes a huge soaking tub and as if the rain shower head isn’t enough, it also has spouts that spray straight out from the wall!


Chris and Cory :: Humboldt Park, Chicago

Party 2: Dallas’ cousin Cory got engaged to her boyfriend Chris recently while they were on a trip to Vail. Chris’ brother and his fiance threw a party for them to celebrate. I didn’t drink at the first party, but for some reason when we got to the second party I hit the champagne cava big time and played the role of Drunk Girl. I don’t think I did anything too embarassing, but I’m sure I’ll be hearing about it anyway the next time I see all of Dallas’ cousins. FYI, the stuff below is super tasty, but lethal.


Marques de Gelida Cava :: Humboldt Park, Chicago