Botanic Garden Wine Festival

Last Sunday I went to the wine festival at the Chicago Botanic Gardens with Ursula, Dale, Mary Beth, Gary and Joe. Of course, I was too busy sampling wine to actually take any photos of the gorgeous flowers - but the wine was good! One of my favorites of the day was actually the mead from Wild Blossom - and look at the cute wine cork that they were giving out!

Panzanella!

Lunch is ready for the upcoming week! I actually bought fresh bread & let it go stale on purpose so that I could make this wonderful bread salad!

Best Neighbors!

Alex & Claudio are the best. Tonight they brought me a dish of fresh watermelon and had some yummy treats for Otis, too!

Who needs the farmer's market?...

... when you can just go to mom & dad's backyard?

Currently being harvested: fresh lettuce, spinach, green onions and peppers.

Future Dog-sitter

I was looking through one of mom & dad's photo albums today and came across this snapshot. It brought a huge smile to my face. I think I need to give miss Jenna a call and see if she wants some practice for her future career.

A picture is worth a 1000 words

I saw the Swedish film "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" on Saturday night. Similar to the book, it was amazing! I already knew that the book was gripping and graphically narrated, but it was so powerful to see some of the key scenes on the big screen.

Rainy Friday Night = "It's Complicated" "Loving Frank"

It was raining cats & dogs on Friday night, so I spent the evening cozy at home.

Potato Pancake

Leftover mashed potatoes

+ a little bit of egg

+ fresh oregano and parsley

+ sour cream

= one scrumptious breakfast!

Polenta Wedges & Mushrooms

I love it when an unplanned meal turns into something magical.

I had some leftover polenta in the fridge, along with some mushrooms that needed to be used up before they went bad. So, I decided cut the polenta into wedges and pan-fry it. I took the mushrooms, along with some onion & herbs de provence to serve on top the polenta. It doesn't look like much, but let me assure you, it tasted absolutely wonderful!

Taco Salad

Bachman hosted a BBQ the other evening and I volunteered to bring a taco salad. Just in case there weren't any leftovers, I set aside a few ingredients for myself. Yum! I mean, how CAN you go wrong when a salad is topped with Doritos????

Poor Puppy

Poor Otis. He had an allergic reaction to something - still don't know what. But, this is how he looked last Thursday morning when he woke up.

I had never given him Benedryl before, so was a bit hesitant to give him anything without talking to the vet. By the time I took him in later that day, the inflammation in his face had gone down, but he still had a little swelling in his throat.

Turns out I could have given him Benedryl myself, but felt better hearing this directly from the vet. After just a couple of doses of medicine he was back to normal and much happier that he appeared in these photos!

Hmmm....Gnocchi

This gnocchi recipe is one of my favorite dishes to make and eat! It's just a combination of gnocchi, brown butter, sage and a dusting of Parmesan cheese. I combined this with a side of mixed vegetables. What a wonderful dinner.

Fish Tacos

I was at Trader Joe's and overheard a wife say to her husband "Honey, do you want to have fish tacos tonight?" - and immediately, I got a craving to make them myself. Luckily, I was at the store, so I just picked up all the ingredients. :)

I pan fried a fillet of fish and combined it with a salad of tomatoes, onion, lettuce, oil, vinegar, sour cream and a touch of lemon juice.

I should listen in on other grocery store conversations more often. :)

Let's file this under "Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant".

Let me explain the title....

I'm currently reading a book called "Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant" - it's a compilation of short stories from various authors and foodies about their secret pleasures/indulgences when they cook for themselves. For one of the featured authors, the indulgence of choice is eggplant - lots of eggplant - in various preparations. Dishes that she would never make for guests, but flavors/textures that are just simply comforting and yummy. For another author it was a simple preparation of black beans.

When I make this dish, I immediately thought of the book. This dish was such an odd combination of things in my fridge - but it was so absolutely wonderful. Leftover red beans and rice, topped with scrambled eggs and sour cream. I think I even put some Cholua hot sauce on it after I took the photo. So tasty!

Asparagus Season!

I've been eating lots of asparagus lately - I love the abundance of this in the spring/early summer - it's a pleasant, early sign that the bounty of summer gardens is on the way. For this meal, I roasted some asparagus with oil, salt & pepper - placed it on top of a bed of creamy polenta and topped it all off with a few poached eggs. Divine!

Just Peachy

I picked up some wine at Wine Styles and my location also has a small selection of beer - yum! I've always loved lambic beers in the summertime (hello.... Lindeman's Framboise..... can you get any better than this?) Well, maybe you can - I tried this peach lambic beer - so amazing!

Caprese Salad

As the weather gets warmer outside, I love, love, love having a simple dinner of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. I topped this caprese salad off with a touch of olive oil and balsamic syrup.