Go Crazy with Kimchi

Lake shot of the day

I woke up pretty sore from these last few days of running. I looked out the window, realized that I really didn't feel like going outside today (good thing I didn't, because it turned out to be really windy), so I went down to the weight room and did my usual 40 minutes on the elliptical while looking at some stupid book on colleges... I need big books that will stay open. Boring, but at least I got to sweat some.
Breakfast was amazing, if I do say so myself. I plan on eating this amazing gingerbread until it's gone, so I need to get creative here.
Gingerbread Parfait with Caramelized Apple Chutney, Greek Yogurt, and Cashew Butter
Sounds gourmet, no?
Basically, I just layered the ingredients with a drizzle of Whole Foods raw fresh cashew butter, which I'd never had before. Very mild, but refined. Delicious, in fact, but a completely different creature from peanut butter, which is attention-seeking and hogs the spotlight.
I heated the gingerbread first. It went great with my chutney, which has proven to be versatile! My dad ate it with chicken for lunch, and, just as I predicted, it makes a nice accompaniment to meat.
Lunch: leftovers! We must clean out that fridge! More of that seitan pie (now that I think about it, it really isn't a pot pie, because the crust isn't puff pastry and there's a bottom crust), spinach and more vegetables.

And a pear.

I went to the bookstore and bought:
-A better edition of Anna Karenina
-TALES OF BEETLE THE BARD, which I've already read. And all the proceeds are going to charity! Go Rowling!
-There was a 20% off cook book sale, but I couldn't find anything I wanted! I have more than enough cookbooks, but what I really want are some good Japanese, Korean, and African (not just North African) cookbooks.

I was a little hungry later on and had a bowl of Amy's chocolate vanilla bunnies with a little GoLean Crunch, half a banana, blackberries, and soymilk.

Therefore, I wasn't too hungry for dinner, but my dad and I cooked, and I'm really glad we did. We were thinking of just having more leftovers, but we ended up incorporating leftovers into what I made, which was bibimbap! I've never made Korean food at home, but it really wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. The only difficulty was stir-frying EVERY single topping separately. (Check out the awesome peanut oil-pouring shot!)


Toppings we used:
-Carrots
-Burdock (also known as mountain yam... it looks like an extra thick, hairy, brown carrot)
-Cucumber (But only the skins, which is interesting)
-Watercress
-Instead of beef, I used some "soy chicken" from Chinatown, which is basically just tofu rolled up to look like chicken... no TVP here. I seasoned it with sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, and a little sugar.
-Leftover mung bean sprouts
-Leftover Korean zucchini seafood-pancake (literally a tiny piece)-- we used this instead of a sunny side up egg
-MUSHROOMS
-and of course, kimchi.
-AND some pear-- this really evened out the spiciness


(All mixed together)
We microwaved leftover brown rice and mixed it with chili paste and sesame oil, then topped it with the vegetables... and more chili paste.
I ate the entire bowl, minus some of the soy chicken. The carrots and burdock were the best part-- they were a little burned, almost like shoestring potatoes or something!
Mm, this is one of those meals where I just don't want a dessert because I want to remember it. To get rid of that garlicky kimchi taste, I had a tangerine.

I finished Interview with the Vampire. How come nobody told me it was so philosophical and depressing? Any slightly more cheerful vampire stories? Or just good books in general?

Thursday: TWILIGHT!

Sorry, a LOT of updating is in order. As you will see from this post, I've been out a lot.
Thursday was extremely exciting because Page and I saw the midnight (12:01 to be exact) showing of TWILIGHT! AAAAA!
Breakfast (this feels like such a long time ago) was incredible! It might just have been the presentation, but it really didn't take that much more time. Believe it or not, I was inspired by a PAULA DEEN recipe for pumpkin gingerbread trifle. Of course, hers had tons of whipped cream, sugar, and cookies.
Here's my version:
alternating layers of pumpkin (mixed with maple syrup and spices), Greek yogurt, Grapenuts, half an overripe banana, wheat germ, flax, pecans, and a few honey graham sticks. It was so fun to eat!
In Art History, I had a Kashi bar... I'm getting kind of sick of these.
For lunch I went to Noodles Etc., the not-so-great Pan Asian restaurant by school. I ate much later than usual because I find that their noodle and rice dishes make me hungrier the more I eat (refined carbs, probably).
I ordered the Goma-ae, my favorite spinach dish EVER, which you see a lot in Korean restaurants: blanched spinach with a sweet sesame sauce. I also got the Tom Yum soup, which was spicy, with mushrooms, tomatoes and a few shrimp. The bowl was small and this was really light, but it actually filled me up.
In painting, I was starving, and my art teacher had some (slight bruised) apples in the room, so I had one. No photo, though.
After school, Page was going out to a 4:00 "dinner" with her dad, so I decided to go running and meet up with her later rather than go home and wait. It was freezing outside, so my running buddy Mollie and I just ran to the point and back... Maybe 2 miles? Then I went to the weight room and did some abs and lifting.
When I got to Page's I was starving... she and her mom basically don't cook, but I was actually looking forward to trying an Amy's frozen dinner. I ended up trying the Tofu Rancheros, which was tofu scrambled with spices and a little cheese, roast potatoes, and black beans on the side. On the side, I steamed some asparagus that I drizzled with lemon, and I also had a porcini cutlet from Whole Foods. I felt bad for stealing all their food... The cutlet was a little oily, but good, like a veggie burger. Page said the hazelnut cutlets are better.
Page's mom, Teresa's dinner was fried eggs, tater tots and cheese.
Page and I did homework and basically spazzed out before the show. A little while later, we both got hungry, so we had some Honey Nut Cheerios. I eat so much more than her... my bowl had soy milk, a tiny banana, a chopped up apple, and a little peanut butter... and I still went back for a little more!
At around 10:00, we called for a cab. It felt so weird to be heading downtown this late on a school night! Before the show we wandered around trying to find a Starbucks that was open, but we succeeded. Page got a gingersnap (why did they change the name? It used to be gingerbread) latte and I got a nonfat mocha... so good. Next time, I plan on trying their new espresso truffle, which is hot chocolate with an espresso shot... kind of a "reverse mocha," I guess.

We got to the movie really early to get a seat! It was crazy! People were dressed as vampires, or wearing shirts that they had either bought or made. My favorites were "save a volvo, ride a vampire" and "werewolves are the new black" (a reference to Jacob Black, if you've read the books).
The audience in the theater was a weird combination: 12 year old girls in their pajamas, people like us, gay guys, some old guys that went alone, and some couples. SOME ADVICE: DO NOT SEE THIS ON A DATE. The guys are so hot that you will want to stare at them the whole time.
EDWARD, SO HOT. JACOB, SO HOT. THE KISS SCENE: AMAZING.
The movie was so much better than the previews made it seen, and it was really faithful to the book. The author even made a cameo!
We were so exhilarated when we got home at around 2:30 that we wrote on tank tops that we wore to school the next day. Hers: TEAM EDWARD. Mine: TEAM JACOB. Underneath: 11/21/08, 12:01 AM.

Neighborhood eats again

Hyde Park really is improving (and if Obama is elected, who knows what changes will take place?)!
They've even opened a new gourmet foods store on 47th, Zeleski and Horvath. My mom also let me know that Experimental Station on 61st has an organic foods cafe! Who knew?
We still mainly eat dinner at home, but on those nights, especially after swim meets, where it makes more sense to drop by a cheap restaurant and get home by 7:30, my dad and I go out to eat.
We've agreed that Hyde Park's best food is found at the incredibly underrated and decently authentic Seoul Korea, or Cafe Corea... the name of the restaurant is still unclear, since the menu and neon sign tend to say different things...
It had been a while since we had actually eaten at the restaurant as opposed to just getting takeout, and I realized what a cute, family-run restaurant it is. It's run by a Korean couple, and the kitchen and fridge are out in the open. The menu shows that the variety of ingredients is somewhat limited, and yet they are able to turn out three or four pages of different dishes. Of course, a true Korean would turn up their nose at this restaurant compared to the BBQ places on Lawrence Ave, but who am I to complain?
We asked for the small plates of pickles, which are one of my favorite parts of Korean food: soy bean sprouts, spicy potatoes, kimchi, and daikon.
I was tempted by the seafood pancake, which I'd had before, but since we ended up ordering both noodle and rice dishes (CARB LOAD), I opted for my favorite appetizer: blanched spinach with an almost decadently sugary sesame sauce.
We ordered perfectly: we decided to order three dishes, despite there being two of us, and eat them family style. The three dishes were sufficiently different to keep the tastes interesting-- my dad ordered bibimbap (with meat), but i managed to steal some of the vegetables before everything got mixed together.
The other two dishes were a noodle soup with egg, seafood, and vegetables (carrots, onion, scallions). The noodles and octopus provided great chew, and the broth was mild and warming. I would have added hot sauce if the second dish hadn't been so incredibly spicy.
My dad was most impressed by the tofu, vegetable, egg, and kimchi stew (see what I mean about repetitive ingredients?), and I definitely understood why he would say so-- there was something extremely complex in the flavor of the broth and the intermingling of different textures. The spice was more complex than just being hot, and the kimchi was crunchy, while the dofu was tender (nen, as we say in Chinese). The stew had to be eaten with their sticky, short-grain white rice, which I love.
We managed to eat almost everything. Even as I write this I'm getting a craving for some more kimchi...

Neighborhood eats: Park 52

Hyde Park finally has a real restaurant! Park 52 has been opened by the same people who own Gioco, Marche, and Opera!
It's located on Harper court, right by Calypso Cafe and Dixie Kitchen. My mom had already been there and told me that it was pretty expensive, but with huge portions.
Basically what it was was a slightly more upscale restaurant, but still a neighborhood place, and adjusted to fit Hyde Park clients... that is, the food was slightly more "homestyle." My dad claims that a lot of it was more expensive Calypso food, but I don't really think so.
But first of all, mom, the portions were NOT that big. I had to order additional sides, and I still didn't feel full (granted, I came from swim practice).
The atmosphere was almost kitchy, like something out of Cabaret. However, what prevented it from being tacky was the TVs playing the presidential debate in the corner. It still felt like Hyde Park: the waitresses were equally nice and accommodating, and there was no wait for food.
We both ordered salads (me house, him Caesar), and they were definitely more restaurant-worthy than the usual wilted iceberg with gross tomato and raw onion.
I ordered the BBQ salmon over garlic spinach, which was perfectly cooked. The BBQ was more sweet than spicy, but an interesting way of serving salmon. The spinach was almost exactly like my dad's.
On the side, I ordered mashed sweet potatoes, which I feared would be too sugary and buttery, but they seemed to be just sweet potatoes with nothing added.
My dad ordered ribs, although the waitress misunderstood him and brought him a burger first. Still, since the ribs had been slow-cooked, she replaced the dish within seconds. His was served over mashed potatoes. The structure of the dishes was very formulaic and not especially interesting, but everything tasted great and was cooked perfectly. My dad didn't think he had ordered the right dish, although his ribs were good. He felt that he could have ordered them at a place like Calypso and ordered something a little more upscale here.
Despite everything we ordered, I was still hungry! We decided to order dessert. Everything seemed good, but the pineapple upside down cake jumped out at me-- I've been craving one so badly, since my dad and I used to get them at Calypso.
The verdict? like Calypso's, although in miniature, served with tasty sides, and missing its signature rum sauce. In general, Calypso's cake was probably better, but what I loved about Park 52's was its icy pineapple sorbet and a warm pineapple creme anglaise. It was nice and small, so my dad and I could share it without it being too much.
Will Hyde Park continue to change? I hope so. I hope eventually more and more places like this will continue to pop up. Maybe it wasn't the best meal I've ever had, but I would definitely come back and support park 52 and keep it in business. :)

Ethiopian + frozen yogurt = deliciousness

Yesterday began my new regime of investing part of my income (aka babysitting and allowance) into cheap eats. I decided that I should begin with Ethiopian food, since it's one of the few cuisines that I've never ever tried. Last night I went out with my friends Aoife and Michael, who I don't actually know that well, so we had a really good time. Sorry that the pictures are strange... they have an unearthly blue tinge and I'm not sure why!
The restaurant I picked was called Mama Desta's Red Sea Restaurant. It wasn't the best Ethiopian place, but all of those are too far north for us, and this was on Belmont. I was hoping Aoife and I would have big appetites because she had had just had a cross country meet and I had just had a swim meet (4 events, PRed on everything! :) ). The thing was, I got back so late from the meet that I ate lunch late, fell asleep, and woke up shortly before I had to leave. We ended up wandering around Belmont a bit before eating. Everybody used to think Belmont was so cool, and it is, but I still think parts of it are kind of poser and overpriced. People are funny to watch there, though; one guy came up to us and high fived us (Michael thought it had to do with the Cubs game but I thought he was just really weird) and we also saw a bunch of people blowing bubbles for no apparent reason. We checked out all the crazy drag queen shoes in the Alley:
Then we headed over to the restaurant, which wasn't as run-down as all the Yelp reviews made it sound. It was actually pretty cosy: dark, with maps of Africa and folk art (no idea if authentic or not) on the walls.


It took us a long time to decide what to order, but we decided to order a bunch of food and share:
We ended up ordering every single vegetable on the menu, since there was a vegetarian combo of four and the meat combo they got came with two (there were only six):
Yemisir wat-- green lentils,
Metin Shuro Wat-- split peas
Bamyi-- okra
Gomen-- "green vegetable" (which I figured was spinach, since the word is the same in a lot of other languages)
Kantisha Tibs-- white mushrooms with berbere sauce
D'nitch-- potatoes and broccoli
We also ordered:
Yasa Tibs-- fish with onions and green peppers, and Michael and Aoife split the Doro Alitcha-- chicken in clarified butter-- and the Zilzil Wat, a beef dish.
We also ordered rice, even though everything was served with injera, the spongy Ethiopian bread made from teff flour.
The wait was pretty long, but we had a good time discussing everything food related and how we should make this a regular thing.
We thought we had ordered a lot of food, but the portions seemed pretty small (at least for our appetites): everything was served together on a giant platter, with a piece of injera spread out underneath to soak up all the juices. The only problem was that the meat and vegetables were so close to each other that it was a bit hard to avoid touching/ accidentally eating the meat-- I had to be really careful. Also, we definitely didn't get all the vegetables we asked for-- there was no okra at all, and we didn't even realize that the mushrooms had come until we unearth a miniscule mushroom slice under a giant pile of cabbage.

My favorite was the injera that we were also served on separate plates-- I knew it was spongy, but I had no idea to what extent! It was flat, but soft and porous at the same time-- the taste was tart, like sourdough, only with a completely different texture. We ate with our hands, scooping up the various piles of food with pieces of injera. The rice was good, but we didn't finish it (I think it was so good because I have a sneaking suspicion they used chicken stock).
My favorite vegetarian dishes were the spinach (which had a lot of garlic and even reminded me of my dad's stir-fried spinach), the split peas (cooked into a creamy yellow puree, like a dal), the lentils (which held their shape and tasted of cumin and spices).
The fish was decent if not slightly generic tasting. Everything turned out to be pretty cheap, although they still didn't bring us everything we ordered-- it ended up cosing 42.80 something including tax.
This was a good place to get an introduction to Ethiopian food, but I knew what people meant when they said there were better places out there-- there always are, of course.

For some reason, we still didn't feel 100% satisfied, so we decided to set out on a dessert, preferable of the frozen yogurt variety, quest. We were wandering and thinking we were never going to find anything when strangely enough, a woman passed us eating something ice cream-like. I really have gotten more outgoing-- I asked her where she got it and apologized for the weird question. She said, "Oh, it's not weird at all! Other people have asked me before. It's right up there and it's called Yo Berry."
I immediately got excited because I had heard of it before in Time Out's frozen yogurt review. According to Aoife, the layout was exactly like Red Mango, which is a Korean chain that has a branch in Evanston, and according to Michael, it was a lot like Pinkberry. They didn't have any flavors of frozen yogurt-- just plain, and it was nonfat. You could pick toppings ranging from unhealthy (sprinkles, chocolate sauce, oreos) to wholesome (fresh fruit). Michael and Aoife shared one with mango, strawberry and coconut, and I was a pig (well, not really... I still got a small one) and got one with mango, strawberry and pineapple.


The yogurt was great, because I've never had frozen yogurt that wasn't either vanilla, chocolate or some other flavor. It was creamy like soft serve ice cream on top, but for some reason got harder towards the bottom of the cup. It wasn't too sweet at all, and had that tang that really was as though you were eating Greek yogurt. The acidity of the fruit made my tongue sting a little, but it was perfectly refreshing after all the spicy (not hot, but lots of spicy) Ethiopian food.
We have to do that again sometime!