Chicago, Day 2

(August 12th, 2012) Chica-Go! 

That thought flashed through my head, and probably came out loud, a few dozen times that morning.  I was doing my long run along the lake and happened to stumble through two races.  The first was a 5k that was just finishing up...nothing special...the second was a Women's Race Against Breast Cancer.  Thus the Chica-Go! shouts of encouragement from me.  Seemed fitting, but perhaps I'm getting too corny in my old age...luckily, no one objected.

That long run was probably the first sign that I was getting sick again (God only knows with what, but I'm going to call it a cold and leave it at that).  I don't think that I've ever been quite so miserable at the end of a run as I was that day.  I even had to stop a few times to build up energy to finish...the last half of that run I'd like to block out of my memory now.

The saving grace for the morning, though, was the Little Branch Cafe.  After I showered, scarfed down a first brunch from the hotel restaurant, and stumbled back out onto the street, I made my way to a locally well rated cafe.  If I was 15 years younger, I'd be saying "ZOMG that was SOOOO good!!! =)".  That smiley face is important.  Perhaps my memory was colored by the contrast between the cafe and the run, but I managed to send two other colleagues there during our trip, and they had the same reaction. 

The Little Branch Cafe was a pretty simple, small place, but definitely a hidden neighborhood gem worth checking out if you're ever in the middle of Chicago by the museums and all.

Brunch at the Little Branch Cafe

Brunch for me was the prosciutto and fig jam sandwich (prosciutto + fig jam = heaven for future reference), that was served with arugula and shaved Parmesan on a ciabatta bun, home fries (I was famished afterall, even though this was second brunch) made from red potatoes with garlic and seasonings, and the Bluebird smoothie, which is a mix of peaches, apple juice, bananas and blueberries.  I often wonder if I'm becoming the gastronomical equivalent of a hobbit...the concept of breakfast, first brunch, second brunch, afternoon tea, lupper and dinner doesn't sound so bad...provided that the meals are all the right sizes of course...

I can't begin to describe how good everything was that day, nor could I possibly describe quite how hungry I was after that run that we won't mention again (save for maybe a later post about running in Chicago).  But, just like when I was there, I shall not dwell on the Little Branch Cafe for long...

After eating, I had to quickly make my way over to meet my intern/mentee Robert Flicek, who I was taking out to a Cubs game.  By some stroke of negligence on my part (confusing the time zones that is), we managed to arrive an hour later than we had planned...consequently, the game itself, for a baseball game, went by *really* quickly.

Wrigley Field

Wrigley field, in and of itself, is an experience that I often think Dad would've loved.  He used to keep a long mental list of all the classic stadiums that he'd been to, taking extra pride in telling us about the ones that aren't around anymore such as Old Ebbet Field.  Every time I wonder if he'd made it to this relic of baseball lore, I naturally leap to the conclusion that I could find out: he probably saved all of his baseball tickets in a box that Elizabeth had shipped to Albuquerque for me.  Until this moment I had forgotten that I have an entire room filled with antiques and boxes waiting for me to sort through them.  

After the game, Rob and I headed south to the next James Beard Award winning restaurant: Hot Chocolate.  This was a treat.  Young Rob had much to learn about fine dining, but I think he learned by the end of the night not to order a burger when you can get a dish like below (plus I shared, so he was well fed).

Mushrooms and Pork Belly

First up: Wild King Mushrooms sauteed with lardons and fois gras butter as a starter, followed by the pork belly - a composed salad of local arugula, Gunthorp Farms pork belly, peaches and shaved parmesan.  The wild king mushrooms were phenomenal.  Slightly chewy, but just melted in your mouth along with the fois gras butter.  And the pork belly...after farro, pork belly is my second favorite ingredient that I've learned to work with this summer...and the peaches accenting the flavors?  Perfect.

Steamed Mussels

Main course: steamed mussles - old Milwaukee and Kilgus cream broth, red onion, jalapeno and grilled sourdough baguette.  I'm not sure about the rest of you, but mussels are a dish that are either good, or not.  I have a hard time differentiating between good and very good, as the broths usually depend on what exactly you're in the mood for.  That being said, these fell in the good category...I suppose a quantifiable measure would be how much broth is left at the end compared to the start...did I soak up every last drop with the bread?  Or did I even just throw etiquette to the wind and slurp down the few last drops?  Not here, but I'm sure it happened once or twice earlier this summer...

Rob's dessert, a skillet souffle

And that naturally brings us to the specialty of Hot Chocolate...desserts.  First up, Rob's skillet souffle.  This looked and smelled deliscous...I almost ordered it too after reading it's description as a "goeey, chocolate skillet souffle, salted caramel ice cream, pretzels."  But I held out for the Beautiful Berries...

Beautiful Berries, part 1: the cocktail

Beautiful Berries is a dessert that comes in five parts.  First was the cocktail, shown above: ron pampero aniversario rum, madeira, citrus, muddled berries.  Good - light and refreshing, but not nearly as decadent as the other drink I ordered (below a bit...but I bet you can guess what it is!)

Beautiful Berries, parts 2-5.

Parts 2-5 were the bulk of the dessert, with the following descriptions (left to right in the photo above): 2. blueberry: sour cream sherbet, warm blueberries, brown sugar, 3. raspberry: frambois, red velvet cake, raspberry cream, cheese butter cream. 4. blackberry: brown butter galette, sweet corn cream. 5. strawberry: chocolate wafer and strawberry preserve ice cream sandwich.  Each mini-dessert was fantastic in its own way.  I had a hard time identifying the sweet corn taste in the fourth dessert, but everything else did a fantastic job of embodying its description.  Favorite one of them?  I'm partial to blueberries, but the raspberry cream was really good...

Hot Chocolate...how could I not?

Last, but not least, the restaurant's name sake, Hot Chocolate.  This was a rich, decadent drink that I couldn't even finish.  That marshmallow you see...that's about 1.5 inches on the long side and an inch on the other two for some perspective.  We're not talking an 8 oz cup here folks!  They had a half dozen different varieties of hot chocolate.  The New Mexican in me insisted on the Mexican style for a little bit of spice.

Feeling pleasantly full and warm inside, this is how day 2 ended (with a few more bus rides thrown in for good measure to get back to the hotel).

After this the actual work began for this trip, so the next few posts, with an exception or two, should be a bit more condensed...

Chicago, Day 1

(August 11th, 2012)  I'm tempted to just throw the entire trip to Chicago into one, long post...but I shudder at the thought of what having so many pictures in the post writing software would do...So, I'll keep to my usual practice of going a day at a time.

My trip to Chicago, work aside, was all about the food.  I didn't spend much time in advance, but more than enough to identify a handful of James Beard Award winning restaurants that I had to try.  Unfortunately, there was no way that I was getting into Alinea, much less affording it if I did manage to get a ticket (they sell tickets instead of reservations, so you pay up front and have no money exchange hands in the restaurant itself...).  Instead, I came up with some pretty good alternatives.

The first stop was the North Pond Restaurant.  My colleague, Mike Starr, joined me for this one, and it proved to be the most expensive meal of his life.  And it was somewhere close to that for me too...but worth every penny.  Admittedly, since we were there together, we probably splurged a little bit...but that's beside the point.

Pork terrine.

To start, the chef sent us a pork terrine.  I always like those little touches at a restaurant...some small, but fancy dish sent out from the kitchen as a gift from the chef.  Although, since Mike is a vegetarian (technically a piscetarian, but we won't be nit-picky here), it ended up not being that small for me as I got to finish his off too.  Terrines are always a little strange...that cold gelatinous texture doesn't necessarily do anything for me...but the flavors, mmmm, the flavors of this dish were just fine.

Farm Egg, Beans.

You may think the captions I'm giving these photos to be a bit odd...well, the North Pond actually called each dish this way, so these are straight from the menu.  It's as if they're introducing two ingredients....Farm Egg, meat Beans.  Beans, meet Farm Egg.  In a way, that's precisely what they are doing...Mike's salad, for lack of a better description, was the afore mentioned beans with a soft-boiled farm egg, spin rossa polenta, green beans, cherry tomatoes, french fingerlings, and herb emulsion.  I can't comment too much on how it was, other than that I was lucky to take a picture of it as it was gone by the next time that I looked up.

Squid, Zucchini.

Next up, my appetizer...squid and zucchini, with squid ink farro, pickled onions, carrots,and a few other things.  Have I mentioned before how much I like farro?  I think I have, but I just thought I'd mention it again.  It took me a long while, but I eventually managed to find some farro in Albuquerque right before I left...so I can only dream of the fun that I will have with it when I get back home.  As for this inky farro...c'est magnifique.  The squid was really good too.

Alaskan Halibut, Summer Squash.

Slightly out of order, but that's okay.  For my main course I had the summer squash with slow-roasted Alaskan halibut filet, citrus butter, green zucchini “pasta”, shrimp mousseline-stuffed cadeau, gold coulis, basil.  I'm not sure what half of the ingredients I just wrote are, but it was good.  I've had zucchini pasta a few times now.  Interesting...it's like a very fresh spaghetti, but with a distinctly vegetable flavor.  After all, it's is long strands of zucchini...Mike and I both agreed that the halibut was the better of the two fishes we ordered for main courses.

Salmon, Grilled Peach.

Mike, being a vegetarian that's recently started experimenting with eating fish again, still complains that fish tastes "fishy."  I suppose it's something of an acquired taste when you're not sued to it.  Mike's main course, though, was actually pretty good...salmon, grilled peach, pesto aoli, and succatash.  No pancenta in the succatash, but still good.

Desserts.

And, of course, dessert.  This is where I got into a bit of trouble.  We all know the phrase "curiosity killed the cat."  Well, this evening I ordered out of a morbid curiosity.  I knew it wasn't going to turn out well, but I couldn't stop myself...It really was a slow motion train wreck as seen in the movies, but I digress...On the left we have Mike's perfectly normal and good dessert: nectarine, mint with roasted nectarine, cucumber-mint sorbets; noyaux ice cream; macarons, nectarines, streusel.  Very good actually.  Too bad he wouldn't share as much as I would've liked!  But Mike is somewhat similar to my sister...if he orders something, he doesn't necessarily want to share...

My dessert, on the right, was a different story.  This was the chef's version of a BLT for dessert.  And I knew that before ordering it.  The hostess did a very good job of selling the dessert as something that sounds weird, but is actually really, really, good.  After trying it, I'm not sold on that thought, but it was very creative and interesting...tomato, chèvre  with goat cheese-white chocolate cream, vanilla, heirloom tomato sorbet, bacon, arugula, toasted brioche.  Of all those ingredients...the one that just didn't work was the tomato sorbet.  It would have been a wonderful appetizer, but as a dessert, it was like a cold tomato soup...the dollops of bacon, on the other hand, were surprisingly good!

That, and two bus rides back to the hotel, is how the night came to a close.

Soon I'll be only about a month behind (once I finish Chicago I think?), and then we'll start getting back into interesting narratives instead of short descriptions as I play catch up. 

Training Log, 7/30-8/12

Almost forgot, didn't I?  That would've been a shame, because of all the good stories I have to tell.  Now I'm sure that some of you aren't as rapt about my running habits as others, but these two weeks were a mini-running Renaissance between bouts of sickness.  The first part I've alluded to already: running in California.  Livermore, believe it or not, is a lot of fun to run in.  They seem to have dozens of trail systems for you to enjoy, which if you only want to get in five or six miles should be sufficient.  But the one bit of grief that I always have is that they just aren't interconnected.  Four miles of trails here.  A two mile loop there.  A three mile long path on the other side of the highway.  But no easy way to get between each of them. 

This last visit to Livermore, I stayed near the Bluebell golf course.  It's more or less a suburb on the North side of town with undeveloped land bordering it.  So, it really wasn't much of a surprise that my runs brought me face to face with a family of skunks (no getting sprayed luckily!), a possum or two, and relatively few people.  One of the highlights was heading out early in the morning to run up Brushy Peak.  Gorgeous view from up there, and I highly recommend a visit to that nature area for anyone in Livermore.  The other major run was my long run out along Altamont Pass Road.  The name should have been the first warning sign that it wasn't exactly what I was looking for since I had been hoping for flat and fast.  Well, I got the fast all right as I was running on the shoulder with trucks flying by at 45 miles an hour (thinking back to this, why am I being timid about running through the streets of Oxford?  It can't possibly be worse can it?).  That made for a long morning, but worth it.

The rest of the runs in California varied a bit.  While in Berkley I ran up the "Scenic Panorama Trail," which pretty much went straight up the side of a mountain.  (and here I thought that there were no mountains worth speaking of out that way...).  The best thing about this run, though, the banana slugs.  Eight to ten inches long, the width of two fingers, and everywhere I looked over a one mile stretch of the trail that saw few people traversing it.  I knew that the banana slug was the mascot of a UC system school (UC Santa Cruz to be precise), but I hadn't realized that it was because those things actually existed (as opposed to be the delusion of an intoxicated mass of students). 

Now imagine a forest filled with bigger versions of this guy...

There rest of running in California was good too...Cloverdale was pleasantly quiet and peaceful for a nice long run on Sunday morning, with the exception of the local crazy...I don't know how I manage to find these people...There I am, getting my run on, when a car pulls up beside me and the window rolls down.  "Praise the Lord brother for this beautiful day."  Thinking that that would be all, I smile, nod, and say Amen to that.  But, I was wrong.  He then went on to talk to me about how the world was going to ruin.  "And scientists..."  I could just see it now when he said that....some global warming denier blaming scientists for our problems?  But no, I was wrong.  "And scientists say that the end times in the book of Revelations is upon us!"  Yeah, didn't quite see that twist coming.  After about a half mile he left me...only to have me catch up to him again at a stop sign.  Why me?  At that point, he started talking about the trials and tribulations of Job.  So, I decided to turn down the first one way street that I could find so that he couldn't follow me anymore...

After California it was back to Albuquerque for a rather uneventful week.  The totals for the two weeks were:

7/30-8/5: 77 miles
8/6-8/12: 84 miles
Last 365 days: 3086 miles

Next stop: Chicago!

Mid August Miscellany

Just a few thoughts from mid August's (well, mainly but not all) pictures.

1. Everyone loves Bandit.  How could you not?  Especially since he loves everyone back!

Pets love Bandit...

Bandit loves people, and people love Bandit...

And Bandit loves treats!  Nomnomnomnomnom...

Yes, I'm missing my fur ball while in Oxford...

Second, somehow without me really noticing, my go-to meal for this summer has been my quiche with pancetta, leeks, and tomatoes.  Pair that with a fresh salad, some just-out-of-the-oven French bread and cheese (stinky blues and smooth bries please), and maybe even an onion soup...mmm, delicious.  If I manage to find puff pastry in England, I'll be making this one night very soon...I'm sure my flatmates won't complain!

Update 11/5/12: More pets love Bandit!

It's official, everyone loves Bandit.

California, Part 4

(August 5th, 2012) Still maintaining about a two month delay in posts, but after this one get's out the door, and assuming I get up to the next one quickly enough, I'll be, surprise surprise, only a month and a half behind!  Progress.  Of a sorts.

Anyways, the last post in the triumvirate of my California weekend blogging...Now, in the last few posts I had mentioned that everything (or rather almost everything) had been planned very last second.  Well, the few exceptions to that were the bed and breakfast (which we booked a whole day in advance!), and Ridge, half of the reason we went to Sonoma instead of Napa. 

'What is Ridge?' you might ask.  Well, let me tell you...

Ridge Vineyards is the creme de la creme of roughly affordable Zinfandels (at least in my, and several other well respected wine aficionados' opinions). 

Zinfandel grapes

If you look closely, you can see that the grapes have a black spot, like a belly button of sorts, on their tips...that's how you know that these are Zinfandel grapes. I wanted to try a free sample in the fields, but even though our guide was pretty laid back, I have a feeling he wouldn't have liked that too much...
 

The Ridge Vineyard at Lytton Springs

Now, you might think that this photo is about the flowers and nice rolling hills in the background, but in reality, it's actually about those gnarly vines you see.  Those aren't weird black smudges on the camera or strange, sun bathing gypsy moth nests, but rather really old growth vines (for California at least).  I love how twisted and gnarly they get after fifty or sixty years...

And inside the building...so clean and shiny!

The Lytton Springs tasting room was a pretty interesting building in and of itself.  The walls were made out of recycled bales of hay, it was (or close to being) energy neutral with its solar panels and natural cooling, and, best of all, it was a tasting room.  Oh, that was a good afternoon (if only just barely afternoon at some point along the way) of wine.  Some of their varieties are just...how should I put this...scrumdiddilydidillyumptious?  I think that conveys my feelings.  I won't tell you what we came away from there with, but it was worth every penny.

The last stop (prior to the Oakland airport that is) for the trip was to see an old friend from college.  Ken Weaver, in case you've heard me mention him before or if you were at college with me, and his wife are now living in that Sonoma Valley/Santa Rosa part of California, and he's managed to turn his love of beer and creative writing into a mostly full time paying job.  The big piece of news on that front is that Ken has just published his first book!  Not the creative fiction that I was expecting, but something far more utile: The Northern California Craft Beer Guide.  I highly recommend it for you if you'll be in that part of the country, or if you like a book with pretty pictures (all taken by his talented wife) and nice words about beer. I don't live in California, but I have it prominently next to my bed for evening reading material.  So, go click the above link and get your loved one an early Christmas present.  I'll wait.

Back from ordering on Amazon?  Okay, let's continue.

Ken, Kim, and I got together at ... at ... well, I can't remember the name of the little Italian restaurant that we ate at...it was good, but the company was more important.  Unfortunately Ali (his wife) wasn't able to make it, but we caught up after not having seen each other in person for some six or seven years?  Far too long.

Anyways, documented proof:

Me and Ken, down by the Italian cafe...

Maybe you can use your keen powers of observation and let me know the name of the restaurant, inferred from the photograph.  For now, though, it's time for me to head off to bed...

California, Part 3

(August 4th, 2012)  From the table to the vineyards.  Maybe that's the opposite progression of the eating philosophy that we subscribe to, but when traveling Northward in California, you'd be remiss for not making a foray into Sonoma or Napa.

And so, to Sonoma we drove.  First stop: Gundlach Bundschu.  Funny name, especially when it gets abbreviated to Gun Bun, but the easy mnemonic comes in the form of a pictogram:

Gun. Lock. Bun. Shoe.  Simple, ey?

One of the nice things about Sonoma is that you could rent a bike and tour all of the wineries that way, without worrying about driving after drinking.  But, for those of you inspired by that, be mindful that apparently you can be ticketed for biking under the influence there...I kid you not.  Go in a group, that will make things easier.

We, on the other hand, drove.  We had a picnic lunch that we had put together in Oakland the day before, and decided to enjoy a few glasses of wine over a lazy afternoon there.  Apparently I don't do the wine touring quite right as I just visit about one vineyard a day instead of the recommended 'as many as you possibly can...'  But, we had a good experience...until the bees found us.

The picturesque view from our picnic table at Gundlach Bundschu.

We ended up leaving there with a bottle of Mountain Cuvee to take home (thank goodness that we were flying Southwest: the first checked bag is free!).

Afterwards, we headed up to Cloverdale to get situated at our B&B (Auberge on the Vineyard).  Everything about this trip was planned pretty last second (as in, day of in most cases), so I'm still surprised on how lucky we were.  Auberge on the Vineyard was a wonderful and sweet little place...somewhat isolated, but perfect for running and relaxing.  The only complaint, really, was how far North it was...but if you're doing things leisurely, this isn't an issue.

View from the B&B.  Our window/balcony had a less obstructed view of the vineyard, but I liked this view just fine.

Dinner that evening was at Diavola Pizzeria and Salumeria in Geyserville.  Another hidden gem of the Sonoma valley!  First off, the restaurant was cute/well or simply decorated:

Above our table.

At our table.

 Second, the food was fantastic (I did say it was a gem, remember!)

Octopus!

The Inferno plus Prosciutto

Affogato.  Yumm.

Appetizer was grilled Mediterranean octopus, with fingerling potatoes, fennel, olio nuovo, celery heart, parsley, bottarga, and mandarins.  Grilling the octopus was a nice change from how you usually have it.  Highly recommended method for cooking eight legs from now on!

The main course was the Inferno Pizza, with roasted red peppers, tomato, basil, mozzarella, spicy italian peppers, and prosciutto added at our request.  We are carnivores after all, and our meal (not counting the octopus), was awfully light on meat.  The spice was just right.

And for dessert, Affogato.  You take the coffee, pour it over the ice cream, and dunk in the biscotti.  How had I never had this before this summer?  Where was I raised, inside an affogato hating cave?  Who knows, but I'm certainly making up for lost time...

Now, if only I had a bowl of Affogato for dessert tonight...

California, Part 2

(August 3rd, 2012) You may be wondering what happened to "California, Part 1."  Well, my visit to Livermore was a relatively uneventful work trip punctuated by sushi with Nate and 40 some miles of running over the three days there.  It was nice catching up with Mr. Young, as always, but I shant go into details of that here...and the running?  Well, I'll talk about that later...

So, "California, Part 2!"

After leaving Livermore (and fueling up at Panera...I can't begin to describe how happy I am to have them in ABQ finally!!!), I picked up Kim at the airport and eventually made my way to Chez Panisse.  Yes, the same Chez Panisse that is the holy grail of farm to table cooking and slow food.  After hearing about Alice Waters for years, I couldn't, in good conscience pass up any opportunity to finally dine there. 

You'll be pleased to know that the food lived up to, and even exceeded some, expectations.  One consequence, though, of waiting so long before writing up my thoughts is that I tend to forget some of the finer details.  But, for you dear readers, I shall endeavor to recall as best I can...

The quaint entrance to this dining mecca, located in downtown Berkeley, CA.

Shaved fennel and sweet pepper salad with green olives and spicy pistachios

Braised and grilled Watson Ranch lamb leg with corn, summer squash, tomatillos, and padron peppers

Clams, shrimp, and squid roasted in the wood oven with chorizo, new potatoes, and allioli

Buttermilk panna cotta with mulberry sauce

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?  The salad, shaved fennel and sweet pepper salad with green olives and spicy pistachios, didn't sound like the most delicious thing on the menu, but it certainly sounded like one of the most interesting that night.  I always enjoy a good fennel dish from time to time, so I figured why not?  It didn't disappoint.  The licorice-flavor of the fennel blended in so well with the other subtle and big flavors in the salad.  Who would've guessed?

Next, the main courses were the lamb and the clams/shrimp/squid.  The lamb had been cooked just right for my taste, and the tomatillos - oh, how good they were.  Small little things like that always go a long way towards accenting a dish and putting that something extra there to make it fantastic.  Kim's dish (the clams/shrimp/squid) was good from what I remember, but at this point my memory is failing me.  Sure, I could tell you that the squid was chewy like you'd expect, but I'm not sure that really helps...

Last up, the panna cotta with mulberry sauce...fried dough, sweet berry sauce, and panna cotta, how could you go wrong?

The rest of the trip to Berkley continued the high bar that Chez Panisse set.  Just around the corner was Alegio Chocolate.  This hidden gem proved to be a genuine find.  Very artistically crafted chocolates with ganaches that were simply amazing...

Alegio Chocolate

Pretty chocolates abound...

Then last, but not least, was our hotel.  Somehow we managed to get a last minute deal on a local resort, so we spent next to nothing to stay at the Claremont Resort.  This place oozed luxury, we could hardly believe that we managed to luck out and get a room there on a moment's notice (for some reason, we hadn't even tried to book a hotel until around lunch time...).  The picture, blatantly borrowed from their website, shows you some of the grandeur:

The Claremont Hotel and Spa.

 And for your orientation, it was in the hills overlooking Berkeley.

Okay, on to Sonoma with the next post...more about Berkeley and the banana slugs when I get to writing about running in California...