semifreelife: life continues

Friday, September 13, 2024

life continues

we have been at home but still socializing with friends as we head toward the end of our Chicago time this year-

Angela and Lee came for a visit from the UK and the three of them went to a Cubs game and then came over for drinks before heading back to her mom's place in Evanston.

Then Phil spent his weekend at the Evanston Folk Festival and I stayed home- created a new recipe, it is pretty good but too spicy despite the creamy sauce so I made some macaroni and used the leftover in a cold pasta salad with mayo to cool it down a bit.....

Tried out a new combo of things around the kitchen. Pretty happy with this. Hot Italian sausage with an Alfredo sauce over some pasta left over and retrieved from the freezer. While. I was cooking and tasting I decided it needed a bit more acid, so I chopped some tomatoes. I really dislike red sauce as it has always tasted too sweet to me. I like pizza bianco for the same reason. I think this would be even better with a sprinkling of flat leaf parsley

We went to the Bagel one night as it was on our list of places to eat while in Chicago... still good

Haven't been to The Bagel since the long time owner Danny died. Nice to know that the new owners have pretty much kept the place as it was. The food is still the classic deli - the quality is as good or better than it was in the past... Still attracting an eclectic crowd, but not late-night anymore. Sadly it closes at 8 pm. There are no delis in Sevilla, so our pastrami/corn beef fix has to occur during the time we are here in the States.

The next night we ate at Psistaria Greek with Zack & Becky and their girls, Abby 12 and Maya 9. While we were dining with them the debate in the presidential race was going on - an appalling and entertaining evening at the same time. Here are a few memes post debate when Trump said "illegal migrants" were eating dogs in Ohio.

the man is clearly insane... but we move on-

the next night we tried the Bayan Ko tasting menu - it was really tasty and an excellent value IMO.

Highly recommend the Bayan Ko tasting menu at the OG Bayan Ko location. The Diner is a few doors down and we agreed we should check out the dinner menu there (having only had lunch on a prior visit). Tonight we had the five course tasting menu with wine pairings of some tasty and interesting Spanish wines. I started with a Cuban Libre in my grandfather's memory. Then we had the menu and pairings. Each course was really terrific with balanced flavors and textures. We are already talking about who to introduce this experience to, amongst our dining friends. Menu and wine pairings attached. Thanks Lawrence Letrero and Raquel Quadreny

Although the higher end tasting menu restaurant only had one other table (3 top) that night the diner two doors down (also the same owners) was doing more business...

Then we had dinner with Leslie after a session of training - we went to Tre Kronor - a huge disappointment: Sad to report that a favorite from when we lived north of Foster will now be cut from the list. Food still decent (except for missing items from the menu that we weren't informed of until ordering the "we don't have that" choices) They are still nice enough to be BYO, but the server was not adept and we ended up with cork in the bottle.... Requested food be served extra hot as we were outside. Warm but definitely not extra hot. Phil and I looked at each other early in the meal and said "nice gal but not a server, probably a student." And there were no more than three other tables with customers the whole evening:a single woman, a single man, the three of us outside and one occupied table inside (which did turn over from an early bird couple to a three top around 7:30 or so.) I fear they are headed towards being out of business. The building, once a lovely "Kro" design as you'd see in the country in Scandinavia, has fallen into disrepair. Just no longer looking like a "going concern" as my father used to say. So I can't really recommend the place. Better to live on your memories of better times.