Sunny & 70's...Finally!

Wow, what a beautiful weekend.  I've got a case of the Sunday Blues tonight knowing that Monday is coming and that the sunny, warm weather isn't here to stay. 

Lots of entertaining myself this past weekend.  An impromptu night in Tosa & wine at Ruby Tap with the Miller's, rummaging with Anna, Liam, Tara & Chris at the subdivision near my house (people sell food & drink too), taking an afternoon drive with Chris and finding a beach in Oak Creek (Bender Park), playing basketball with Liam in our driveway, dirt sundaes with the Torres family at Georgie Porgies, potting my fresh herbs, grilling out and finally getting to eat outside.

Spring has finally sprung.  I was getting worried about our plants around the deck and in just the last week they have shot up.  Many dishes on our menu this week included fresh herbs so we headed to our local garden center and bought basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, spearmint and chive.  I also bought two roma tomato plants.   

We got back to our Big Sunday Meal tradition and made spare ribs, baked beans and a

Grilled Vegetable Orzo Salad from the April 2013 Taste of Home Magazine.  Chris boiled the ribs in beer & onions, brushed them with bbq sauce and finished them on the grill.  We got to use our handy dandy grill rack for the veggies which worked perfectly.  We didn't know how hot the handle would get, so the Ove Glove from my parents even got some use.  lol.  As usual, the salad was my favorite part of the meal, I definitely recommend the recipe.     

 

The best part: dining al fresco.

 

Mother's Day 2013

To celebrate Mother's Day as well as Chris and Mike's birthdays, we had dinner at Parkside 23 in Brookfield on Saturday night.  Local, farm fresh, food-to-table is their focus which is really the trend right now it seems.  What makes PS23 unique is that their vegetable crops are behind the restaurant.  I loved the rustic yet modern atmosphere and will definitely go back to eat on their patio. 

Their menu is broken down by price, rather than by course.  You can add your choice of protein to any dish as well. 

True to Foreseasons form, we tried many items....my favorite being the creamed corn of which I read and our server confirmed is their most popular dish.  Other things we tried were the vegetable risotto, roasted vegetable stuffed red pepper, italian flatbread, pulled pork flatbread and pretzel crusted veal.  Their water glasses were little jelly/mason jars and the vanilla cake dessert below was layered in a mason jar as well and I loved that rustic touch.    

On Sunday we had my family over for a brunch and while it was cooler, we did get outside for a few pics.  I'm so happy our trees are finally blooming!

As usual, Liam was our main source of entertainment.  I love these pics of Liam with his grandma and grandpa.

We focused on a casual brunch menu with a bunch of different items to sample:  mini quiche with sausage, mushroom & asparagus, vanilla yogurt parfaits with berries, granola & chocolate chips (Tara), hot ham & rolls (Anna), spinach & mozzarella fritters and baked nutella french toast (I highly recommend the nutella french toast, we will be making this again).

 

 

Of course, Daytona joined us as well.  Liam's sister will be here mid-June which is also very exciting.  We've got $9 big bucks in a pool for the winner who predicted her birthday correct today.  We also got some cute pics with our godson who we adore so much.  "He" sent me a cute Happy Godmother's Day card earlier this week too! 

 

Chicago: Big Fish Musical & Del Frisco's Steak House

We headed back down to Chicago this past Saturday to celebrate Chris' birthday by seeing the Big Fish Broadway Musical and having dinner at Del Frisco's Steak House. 

Downtown's Theatre District

The musical was at the Ford Oriental Theatre and based on the 1998 novel and 2003 film Big Fish.  It follows the "tall tales" of the central character, Edward Bloom as his son struggles to understand what's real and what's not now that his father is dying after years of estrangement.  He described his relationship with him as a "stranger that I know very well".  I hadn't seen the movie since 2003, so I'm not sure even how much of the story was changed.  Chris hadn't seen the movie at all, so now we want to watch it.  When it started, they lifted the curtain to unveil the orchestra on three levels behind the stage instead of in an orchestra pit.  It was so cool, it took my breath away.  I think we were both 50/50 engaged in it after Act I, but Act II got so much better.  There were many sad/touching parts in it and if I was by myself, I could have totally broken down in tears.  Overall we were both impressed, however we aren't wholeheartedly into the "musical" part of it.  We both agreed we could do without all the singing.  Lol, I suppose that is why they call it a musical....

We had some time before the 2:00 show so walked to Millennium Park again to enjoy the beautiful day.

Afterwards we had reservations at Del Frisco's Steak House in the Gold Coast neighborhood.  It is part of a collection of restaurants, but new to Chicago and it came recommended from my friend Amanda who likes fabulous things, so I knew it would be worth it.  Hello...., Gold Coast neighborhood is fancy, schmancy pants.  All designer, high-end stores: Balenciaga, Hermes, Jimmy Choo, Prada, Kate Spade, etc.  I did no shopping, but very cool neighborhood!

 

Del Frisco's is in the old Esquire Theater and is 3 floors.  You take two escalators just to get up to the hostess.  We then walked up a floor to another dining area.  All stunning decor and very modern with wide open space.  I liked our table as we could see the chefs in the kitchen.  The wine cellar going up the entire place was pretty sweet too.

We aren't big red meat eaters lately, but we both ordered the filets since we were at a steak house.  I got the Gold Coast style which came with a crab cake and a light cajun sauce on top. 

Chris ordered his Oscar Style with the traditional hollandaise sauce, crab and asparagus.  We also ordered sides of the lobster mac & cheese and creamed spinach. 

We were full after dinner, but one look at the dessert menu and we were suddenly hungry enough to order their signature lemon doberge cake.  Six layers of lemon cake, filling and fondant frosting.  Since we weren't staying overnight, it was nice that we could take all the leftovers home. 

It was a great day to get in and out of town and still be home at night to relax and catch SNL.  As I sat on the couch in my nightly "uniform" of my Door County sweatshirt and pajama pants, we both had to laugh at the fact that we had seriously been gussied up and wining and dining ourselves just a few hours earlier.  It is great that Chicago is so close and yet still gives us the feeling like we've really been on "vacation", but get to sleep in our own bed.

Blogger Gals at Ruby Tap

We planned another blogger get-together to celebrate Molly & Alysha's birthdays earlier this week.  It worked out perfectly as the day turned out to be over 80 degrees and added to the cheerfulness of being out for the night.  Since Wauwatosa is a central spot from where we all live, we decided on meeting at The Ruby Tap for wine and then have dinner at Firefly, both right in the Tosa Village. 

 

Ruby Tap is definitely something new for Milwaukee.  Super duper cool if you ask me.  Instead of ordering wine by the glass/bottle, you can sample different wines on tap in the dispensary machines (32 in total).   I especially like it because it lets me try a bunch of things instead of committing to one which I have really been digging lately.  You serve yourself, so you choose your wine, the size of the pour and better yet, you don't have to share a bottle with anyone!  At the end, they swipe your Ruby Tap card and then you pay for all of your charges on your debit/credit card that they are holding.  It is a place to easily get carried away at, with being able to just get up and basically "pour" your own wine.  I really wish I had gotten a better picture of someone filling their glass, darnit. 

 

I'm always a sucker for red decor.

 

They offer light snacks that pair well with wine, of course. 

 

We kept our eye out for an outdoor spot and snagged it at first chance. 

Karis, Molly, Alysha, Abby and Inger. 

(Photo courtesy of Karis)

 

Firefly's patio is a bit small, so we weren't able to eat outside, but we did wind up getting this private dining area around this chic table.  And I didn't even have to say we were "food blogger geeks" to get it.  haha.

 

(Photo courtesy of Karis)

 

The menu at Firefly is pretty common and I really did enjoy my meal.  I try to order things that I wouldn't make at home or don't make at home well.  Risotto is high on that list.  I made it a few weeks ago and it took me over an hour and I thought it still tasted crunchy.  I love it though so if I see it on a menu at a restaurant, I always order it.  I got the mushroom & parmesan risotto "lollipops" (rolled in panko and served with a dijon aoili) and half order of the Crunch salad which had bok choy, cabbage, wasabi peas, sesame onion wafers and sunflower seeds with a buttermilk dressing. 

 

 

I had fun trying out The Ruby Tap, eating and laughing with the girls.  A nice break during the week.  Finally, I'm surprised I'm beating the rest of them at blogging about this?!?! 

Weekend Recap: Martinis, Zumba, Kale and Ice Cream...

Along with the rest of Wisconsin, I'm coming off the high of our first weekend with what actually felt like spring weather.  We left this one open with no plans and managed to fill it up with whatever we felt like doing and I still feel relaxed which made Monday not so bad.   

We can hardly stand the traffic to and from work anymore, so we typically fill our evenings with exercise, acupuncture, softball or other entertainment in order to avoid the 5:00 rush hour.  This past week was super hectic so we decided on Friday night to stick around downtown and go for sushi at Screaming Tuna.  It is right on the river and very modern, almost like you aren't in Milwaukee.  We split some maki rolls (my fave being the Champion with scallop, avocado & cream cheese) and tried something different;  sake ceviche.  I also polished off two martinis....it was a stressful week!  

Later, I got a quick visit in with my little bff Liam.  We played outside for a bit and then read some stories before bed.  He is so funny to read to, because not only does he memorize a lot of his books, he also repeats/echos you as you are reading.  He is now potty trained and took to it pretty well, even though mommy was stressed for a week or so there!  Here is a pic of Anna's where Liam was rewarded with some ice cream for a job well done. 

I did two back to back Zumba classes at B-Fit on Saturday morning and then hit up Bayshore for some shopping.  I didn't plan ahead and was a sweaty mess so ended up changing into the first shirt I bought just to look a bit more presentable.  While at Bayshore, I also hit up my new favorite spot, Trader Joe's.  We are trail mix junkies lately and they have such a huge selection, I like to go there and stock up on bags and bags of it.  I can't go often though as I end up straying from our grocery list and doubling our grocery tab for the week.  I'm also becoming a junkie for the Trader Joe's brand, as everything just seems healthier.  At least I hope that is the case?  I was dog-tired from the day, but never one to sit home on a Sat night, we decided to go see the movie Oz.  We both enjoyed it.  Beautiful visual effects, the Oz story was set-up neatly and I liked getting lost in the fantasy for two hours. 

On Sunday we stuck close to home doing stuff around the house with the exception of getting to the Y to get back to swimming.  We tried making a deep dish quiche and dough from scratch that I'm thinking we'll make again for Mother's Day.  We also did a beer-can chicken on the grill for dinner and served it with a warm farro and kale salad.  We had the salad with shredded chix leftover for lunch today and the salad is now high on my list for the spring/summer. 

The recipe is adapted from one of our Cuisine at Home magazines.

 

Warm Farro & Kale Salad with Basil Lemon Vinaigrette:

1.  Make approx 1 cup farro (I used 10 min farro from Trader Joe's)

2.  Saute:

     *1 diced shallot

     *1 garlic minced

     *red pepper flakes depending how much heat you want

3.  Stir in:

     *5 cups chopped kale (I also mixed in arugula & red cabbage I had on hand)

     *1/4 water or so to help wilt the kale

     *halved grape tomatoes

     *drizzle some balsamic vinegar on top

     *salt/pepper to taste

4.  Add:

     *cooked farro

     *shredded romano

     *lemon zest

5.  Make vinaigrette and toss with salad 

     *chopped fresh basil

     *1/4 cup EVOO

     *juice from 1 lemon

     *salt/pepper to taste

   

During dinner I said to Chris, "guess what I'm in the mood for" which is my casual way of saying I want ice cream (for the record, Chris guessed right).  Instead of hitting up our tried and true Georgie Porgies, we went to Yo-Fresh which is somewhat new to our area.  My kind of ice cream spot since I prefer to go the "tapas" route trying a bit of everything.  I filled my cup with three different kinds of ice cream: chocolate with twix topping, strawberry with graham cracker & caramel topping and angel food cake with oreo topping.  We sat outside to eat it and even though we were both a bit chilly by the end, it was worth it. 

Chicago Eats: RPM and Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe

For Christmas I had asked Chris for dinner in Chicago at Giuliana and Bill Rancic's co-owned restaurant, RPM.  I got my wish for Christmas, in addition to an overnight stay in Chicago.  We are approx a 1.5 hour drive from downtown Chicago and our plan was to get there late afternoon, shop on Michigan Ave, have dinner at RPM and attend a comedy sketch show at Second City. 

It was a brisk day to be walking around in late April, but at least the sun was out finally!

We stayed at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel.  A very modern hotel, located across from Millennium Park and just a short walk to the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Ave.  Spacious rooms and the lobby was gorgeous, just really elegant and comforting.  A great spot to sit in front of the long fireplace and relax.

 

Next up was dinner.  Ah, RPM.  Love, loved this experience.  Eating dinner out is the thing I get most excited about when in different cities.  To be honest, yes I was drawn to the place because of the publicity due to Giuliana & Bill.  I admire both of their individual success business-wise and love them even more as a couple on their reality show. It is no secret I like my reality TV, but I am also inspired by their fertility struggle, successful surrogacy and playful, loving marriage. In their last season they were working on co-owning and opening this new restaurant in Chicago and being the foodie and celebrity gawker that I am, I had to go check it out. 

 

Reservations were booked 8 weeks out, so our only option was to eat in the "first come, first serve" large bar area.  We struck gold and got there just as two ladies were leaving and scored seats right at the bar and we kept that precious real estate for the next two hours.  In our typical fashion we went the small plate route so that we could try many items and eat in shifts. Food was reasonably priced, in fact, Chris' $15 glass of wine was the most expensive item we ordered. 

 

 

We started with a wood-oven pizzette with cremini mushrooms and fontina cheese.  Lots of flavor and in addition you got to further season it yourself (in the ramekin behind).  This was the favorite for us both. 

 

Roman Artichokes.  Check out the presentation!

Next course:  Arancini stuffed with prosciutto and fontina cheese.  This was the first time I've had arancini.  They are basically fried rice balls, stuffed with some kind of ooey-gooeyness and coated in breadcrumbs.  We also got the provolone stuffed red peppers. 

 

I had to get Mama DePandi's Bucatini Pomodoro.  It is Giuliana's Mother's red sauce recipe from Italy (as seen on their show). 

 

Sweet Pea Agnolotti

A form of ravioli stuffed with pureed sweet pea mixture in a parmesan butter sauce with black truffle.

Dessert was a throwback to our Italy trip.  Limoncello and Tartufo.  In Italy, Limoncello is served after dinner as a digestif which we often partook in. It is strong and tastes somewhat like gasoline...but it works, lol.  One night in Rome I had tartufo for dessert which was my favorite.  It is hazelnut ice cream with a hardened chocolate shell, with crumbled hazelnuts.    

 

I like how you can see the silverware in the wine glass here.   

 

Man, Chris looks fantastic here. 

 

It was a late night for us as the comedy sketch show didn't start until 11:00, so it was almost 2:00 by the time we got back to our hotel.  We had gone to Second City back when we started dating, so it was fun to go again. If you like SNL, I suggest going to Second City as it is where a lot of current and past SNL stars got their start.  And laughing is always good for the soul! 

 

The next morning we had a breakfast plan too.  I read about this place Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe on TripAdvisor as it was rated #1.  It was just a few blocks from our hotel and across from Millennium Park.  Wildberry lives up to its reputation because it. was. packed.  You can check out their menu here if you want to begin drooling. 

 

Meet the best glass of juice I have ever had:  Wildberry Orange Juice.  Fresh squeezed orange juice with a berry puree of blackberries, strawberries & blueberries.  Definitely worth it at $3.50 a glass.

 

 Florence Egg Benedict with spinach and bacon

Of course, we couldn't eat at Wildberry Pancakes without getting a side of their signature berry bliss pancakes.  Layered with wildberry marscapone and topped with  vanilla anglaise and a blackberry coulis/sauce.  I totally had to google the deliciousness that is "anglaise" which means English cream - sugar, egg yolks and hot milk. 

 

To keep ourselves busy during the 45 minute wait for breakfast, we walked around Millennium Park and checked out the infamous "Bean" at Cloud Gate.  There is a huge outdoor theater in the Park and we both wondered aloud what plays there.  Would be neat to see live music there sometime. 

All our pictures on this trip were taken with this new bad boy.  Chris bought it as a birthday gift to himself with help in researching it from his brother who runs his own production company.  While it makes me nervous to use because I'm afraid I'll break it, so far I am loving it.  It will take fab pictures of food and scenery on our vacations. 

 

Healthier Living

For several reasons, we've been on a healthier eating kick lately (the last 3 weeks).  More plant based foods, whole grains, legumes, nuts, soy based products and vegetables.  We've been cooking with some firsts in our house: quinoa, millet, tempeh, tamari, tahini, brussel sprouts, kale, edamame, almond butter and sprouted bread to name a few.  We've been buying spinach, chickpeas, greek yogurt and tofu like crazy it seems. 

It wasn't too hard of a switch diet-wise as we do eat a lot of vegetables, tofu, etc. and not a lot of red meat.  The hard part was really knocking out my sweetooth habit that has been in full-force since Halloween candy hit the shelves in like September. I haven't eaten a piece of chocolate from the candy bowl at work in three weeks. That is a huge feat for me as I was up to 4 mini candy bars a day sometimes and my butt was paying for it.

We followed a meal plan that my acupuncturist shared with me and substituted other meals that I've seen on different healthy living blogs and the diets like the Whole Living Challenge.  There are several that have become "keepers" that I really enjoyed. 

To share some of the meal choices:

• Roasted free range organic chicken with a greek salad.  Then "planned over" (another word for leftovers) shredded chicken pitas for lunch the next day.  We even made our own whole wheat pitas in the bread maker.  I'd give them a B- (a little crunchy).
• Pan roasted wild salmon with brown rice and roasted veggies.  We make an extra salmon filet for a salmon salad for lunch the next day.  I combine a mashed avocado, greek yogurt, lemon, fresh dill and then fold the salmon into the mixture.  Serve over spinach salad (below).
• I make a huge salad for lunches during the week inspired by a salad I saw on Karis' blog, by Trader Joe's.  Spinach, quinoa, chickpeas, shredded carrot, chickpeas, edamame and grape tomatoes.    
• This grilled shrimp, avocado, fennel and orange salad.  One of my favorites. 
• Lots of tofu and veggie stir frys
• Vegetarian chili (black, chili and cannellini beans, corn, tomatoes and tofu)
• Moroccan chickpea, sweet potato & millet soup.  We made this in the slow cooker and it turned out nice and thick.  Topped with greek yogurt and cilantro.
• Quinoa burgers that I will pass on in the future as they kind of fell apart. 
• Fritattas and smoothies for breakfast that I usually have to choke down.  I'm not really an egg fan so much and its hard for me to drink a lot of liquid in the morning.

Another thing I started eating was cereal.  A cinnamon Kashi kind that is actually pretty good.  The first day I had a bowl of cereal, Chris started laughing as said that is the first time he's ever seen me eat a bowl of cereal.  It is no Count Chocula, but it will do.

Believe it or not, french toast was part of the menu.  Last weekend I bought some thick bread from Trader Joe's and on Sunday we made ourselves some french toast.  Instead of syrup and butter, we cut up fresh strawberries that we put in a blender with some orange juice to sweeten it and pureed our own strawberry sauce.

Another one of my favorite meals was a broccoli and chickpea salad from the 30 Day Whole Living Challenge that I switched up a bit.  I added some leftover fennel and marinated some cubed tempeh in some tamari and then sauteed it for a few minutes.  Tempeh is soy based and spongy similar to tofu, but has a denser/meatier texture.   The pine nuts and the honey dijon dressing were a perfect match for this salad.  Something I want to make over again, but Chris didn't care much for the tempeh, he thought it tasted bitter. 

  

So, how do I feel after all this change?  Hmmm.  The verdict is still out on that.  Do I enjoy the meal planning and eating better?  Yes.  Have I lost weight?  Scale-wise, not really.  Body image-wise, maybe.  But do I feel better about myself?  Yes.  Do I want to break into the box of Girl Scout thin mints in my freezer?  Not really.  I think I kicked the habit of wanting to go for ice cream every night at Georgie Porgies.... 

 

I'm also hesitant to answer how I feel as I've been doing more zumba, trying piloxing and yoga and have been having problems with my calves, almost what feels like shin splints.  So, its hard to say I feel better when my legs have been aching everyday!

 

We still splurge on the weekends as you've got to live a little, but I would like to keep it up and at least keep some of our favorites on the regular rotation.  I've got to start to see some payoff though!!