Chicago on company time

‘Bee Healthy, Bee Happy’, I am sporting my t-shirt, obviously, there’s a bee on it, the same little bugger from the Honey Nut Cheerios box. A gift from a Food Tradeshow, yes, this is the part of my ‘other life’ as a food scientist/product developer for that conglomerate food company. I am just trying to pay the bills, folks, at least for now. Anyways, I attended the show to support our company and showcase my newly developed products, this year in lovely, Chicago. Wooo-hoooo, yes this entails extraordinary meals and endless drinks on the company….!!!! Okay, I failed to mention these big companies have gignormous perks. This being my third appearance in Chicago, I researched, googling the best restaurants. The first night, with company peeps, they chose the Palm, decent steaks and sides, but there are much better steakhouses out there. Let’s talk my choices, next night, the North Pond. The restaurant situated in Lincoln Park overlooks nonetheless a pond with fireflies blinking restlessly, reminiscent of youth, a scene so picturesque, I couldn’t help but sip on a glass of Prosecco to start. Aa solid meal indeed. Nominated James Beard (the Oscars of food), Chef Bruce Sherman was expediting himself! For the last night, a great meal of Pan-Asian at Aria, see picture. Lobster and scallop stir fry with noodles, plus a great mezze plate of Daal, Tatziki, and Hummus with fresh Naan bread. With vast food options and chefs to choose from, Chicago is cool town. A city that is extremely manageable, where the people are actually friendly, and borders one of the great lakes, I’d really consider moving there. Wait, weather….right, I am dying when the temperature is below 50 degrees in LA…no way would I survive the winter…and yes, the humidity, killed me. I am way too spoiled in LA!

New York, New York: the 4th, Food, and Karoke

I have been to New York quite a bit but since cooking has entered my life, I see New York in a totally differently light. This is why I had to go there with a mission, not only to see friends of course, but indulge myself in a food ‘tour’ of the city that never sleeps. With the help of my dear friend, Gerlyn, we devised a list of restaurants and New York type of ‘eats’ we were going to conquer. She made reservations and put together a list of friends to invite while I came up with other things to do during my stay. We ate well. See the summaries of all meals!
July 4th

Brunch: Courtesy of Gerlyn and Kirstin

What: All-European Meal and taste test of US Nutella vs. European Nutella

Dinner: BBQ on rooftop, started off with a frenzy in Fairway Market

What: All-American Meal of Burgers, Dogs, Potato Salad, Chips

Late night eats: Korean BBQ

July 5th
Lunch: Famed 53rd St. vendor

What: Chicken Gyro

Verdict: YUMMY for$4.00!

Dinner: Spotted Pig

What: Duck Egg with Tuna Bottarga, Chicken Liver Toast, Sheep’s Ricotta Gnudi with Brown Butter & Sage, Berkshire Pork Rillette with Cornichons & Mustard, Pan Roasted Halibut with Pea Puree & Escarole, Pot Roast Rabbit with Spring Garlic & Fresh Peas

Verdict: I made everyone try the Chicken Liver Toast and they loved it! The Gnudi was the highlight of the meal, light and fluffy but with loads of flavor! Overall, great Gastropub food!

July 6th:

Lunch: Bouchon Bakery

What: Brioche and TKOC - Thomas Keller's Oreo cookie

Verdict: I love a great brioche and this was good but a tad on the dry side.

Dinner: Degustation

What: 5 course tasting Menu

Verdict: Fantastic meal, well worth the $50! The set up was counter service style where you could see the Chef preparing the food. Highlights were Stuffed Calamari with Braised beef Chorizo Lentil Hash, Breaded Soft Shell crab with Romesco sauce, Philly style sirloin beef (not pictured below), and finally a solid cheese plate.

July 7th

Lunch: Sylvia’s Soul Food

What: Ribs, Fried Chicken, Collard Greens, Cornbread

Verdict: Cornbread, Collards and Ribs were the highlight. Meal was heavy since it was hot outside, especially during our hike!

July 8th

Brunch: Balthazaar

What: Steak Frites, Bloody Mary, Poached Eggs over Polenta

Verdict: Such the the novelty restaurant of NY with mediocre food, overrated and overpriced.

In between, we managed to watch the Fireworks, the most beautiful I’ve seen even with the rain, karaoked to what seemed to be a million songs, visited the MOMA, did an Urban Hike, and saw many friends, Amanda, Vin, Suzy, Dave, and cousin Michelle. A very special thanks to Kirsten and Gerlyn who gave me room and board for those days. Great conversation and coffee!

New York, New York: The Urban Hike

With all the eating, there must be exercise. Not sure how I came up with this idiotic idea but I proposed that we walk the entire island of Manahattan. Manhattan is 13 miles long from the Bronx to Battery Park. It would be fun! I imagined us stopping and eating different types of NY snacks, not to mention pit stops for drinks. I start this post, admitting that I tried to re-neg on the whole ‘urban hike’ the morning of. I was feeling lethargic from the festivies of the night before (bad Sake)! Nonetheless, dragged by Vin and Gerlyn, I found myself in a freight elevator headed towards the Bronx, New York. We started off at 215th St., our first stop would be in Harlem at Sylvia’s Soul food, known for their Fried Chicken. Along the way, we saw Dominica influence, stands of 'fruit' juice, chichorones, roasted pork, and a man selling banana leaves wrapped around tamales out of a shopping cart. There were streets closed down for block parties, kids running through sprinklers, and a plethoria of boom boxes playing old skool rap, just like in the movies. As we approached Sylvia’s, there were parts of Harlem that were beautiful and revitalized.

After a mean portion of Ribs, Fried Chicken, Collard Greens, Mac n' Cheese, and Corn bread we heading on our way again and our oasis this time would be Central Park. We’d meet my cousin at the famed Boat House for a drink. With its lush green grass, huge American Elms and hoards of New Yorkers, one could understand why Central Park is world renowned.

The cold beer and people watching at the Boat House slowed us down a bit but we continued on. We thought about stopping for Gelato but instead, cousin Michelle grabbed a Chicken gyro from the famed vendor on 53rd st. and Vin decided to snack on a childhood goodie, the Rocket Pop (or Red, White, Blue Popsicle). This seemed to be the longest portion, weaving our way through tourists on 5th Ave and Madison Park, not to mention I was pissed...my sunglasses fell of my head and into the toilet at our last stop...not funny! Anyways, onwards through SoHo and Tribecca where we got coffee and purchased a lottery ticket with the dollar we literally stumbled onto at the beginning of the hike. On the last leg, I kept on wanting to stop for a slice of that NY pizza and even in general but was co-ersed to ‘move on’. Finally, the site of the Trade Towers, Battery Park, and Lady Liberty as the sun set. Exhausted, sweaty, and hungry ….I couldn’t help but think….is this what immigrants felt when they first arrived to America? 13 miles with 4 stops, 5 bathroom breaks and picking up another hiker, we did it in 9 hours! Crazy but a good story indeed!

Week 1 - Going Green

Anyways, here I am after a week of going green. I found myself carrying a re-usable shopping bag to Bristol Farms today. In case of you who didn’t know, Bristol Farms double their prices compared to any supermarket in SoCal. They cater to the ‘high class’ clientale and am awe how they survive. I feel bad for shopping there but only bought 3 items worth $12. I couldn’t resist buying Spider rolls with soft shell crab, afterall, where I am going to get my fix for this seasonal delight. My point is I balanced everything by shopping at the Farmer’s Market this morning at the neighboring town of Alhambra.

Back to the point of this post, I did well this week. Cooking ‘green’ 4 times, both at home and at work. The rest of times, eating out, at other people’s homes, eating cereal, and cooking at work non-green. I made a few new dishes like open face vegetable sandwiches with broccoli, caramelized onions, roasted corn, and tomatoes, ricotta and red sauce pasta with summer vegetables, a meal for my cousin -stone fruit summer salad with golden beets, caramelized balsamic pine nuts, tandoori chicken (locally grown) with zucchini and balsmati rice and my last meal of the week RAW fava bean, green beans, and broccoli salad. Oh and get this, I even got coffee at a few local places around the corner. GO ME!

What I learned in week #1:
1.The people who mock you for doing this…secretly want to do it themselves.
2. Locations of all farmer’s markets are in the city of LA, proper, not in the I.E. (Inland Empire)
3.Go green in other ways like not drying clothes, walking/biking, composting, gardening.
4. Bananas, pineapples, or mangoes are not local to LA.

Weeks 2 and 3….and 4??? – Going Green

Alright, week 2 was a bit tough as I had visitors, dad, step-mom, and half-bro, also the old Philly roommate, Sarah. I admit I fell off the wagon earlier in the week and bought food from McDonalds and Del Taco after a late night of going out….ahhh….gasp, you say. I feel the same way and knew that taking a picture of yuckiness would ensure that I’d never want to eat it again. This didn’t stop me from eating In N’ Out! Oh, come on, it was after a Dodgers game!!! I had to show my bro the true LA experience! FYI, I know the company who sells equipment to the company who mass produces those deliciously FRESH RAW beef patties and yes, the fries are fresh too, come on, they are soggy! Have I redeemed myself slightly???

Week 3, I went to New York, and had an eating extravaganza (upcoming NY Tour post soon)!!! So, here I sit, beginning of week 4, with the nearest farmer’s market not til Thursday. Hence, I break down and visit Von’s where I try to find local produce or at least California grown. I find white peaches, thank goodness! I mosey over to the Rainier Cherries, so sweet and the bag reads, ‘made in the U.S.’ These beauties are named after Mount Rainier in Washington State. Oh, throw me a bone, they are the BEST at this time of year, hopefully they were imported from there! Then I site spinach which I love! 'Packed by Fresh Express in central California,' it says, good enough right? Although Fresh Express is a huge conglomerate, oh wait, aren’t I employed by an even bigger company!? I look for tomatoes, they look beautiful of course it’s summer, a closer look, yikes…imported from Canada and Mexico. I definitely don't buy!

In summary, where do we draw the line? Since my experiment, I find all over the news, magazines, msn.com, green houses, green companies, green clothes, even Ellen D. has a week long show dedicated to going green, it’s crazy. Maybe I was never aware, my cousin says, where have you been? Her classmates have done a whole study on solar power panels for the past year. Ooopsy. Alright, I can’t be hard on myself, it’s better late than never. I watch the people who stroll down the canned goods and frozen food aisles, wow. At least, my two aisles are the produce and cheese section.

So, Is this experiment over? Nah, not really. I am going to try my best to shop once a week at the farmer’s market and be aware of buying local goods. I learned other ways of going green that slowly but surely I will incorporate it into life. If anything, I’ve realized that we want our kids to enjoy nature, every bit helps.