a week

zipped by and here we are at Friday already...

We saw Jenny & Eric Tuesday at Jeong and then my cousin Cathy at Cafe Marbella on Wednesday and Thursday we had a concert at SPACE in Evanston with Ron, Mary and Nan

new favorites at Jeong- the mackerel sashimi and the broccoli

back to the evening - as it was served - we ordered tasting menus - one pescatarian and three regular and then added the mackerel the broccoli and the cod from the ala carte menu.... 

silken tofu

mackerel

broccoli

salmon tartare

scallop YUM!

the cod which was more of a soup and we decided too much of bacon flavored for the delicate cod (see we can have criticisms LOL)

duck, kimchi and rice

a substitute course for the duck - sorry don't recall what it was LOL

wagyu for the regular tasting menu

juk which came in place of the wagyu for Eric's menu

the desserts both fab

many courses at Cafe Marbella including the avocado and goat cheese salad with bacon; stuffed mushrooms; filet in peppercorn brandy sauce; sea bass in an almond cream sauce; more duck for Phil and two excellent desserts - a sponge cake made with 43 liquer and a strawberry tart.... but since we don't see Cathy that often we were caught up in catching up rather than photographing the meal LOL

so that brought us to Thursday's concerts-

The Sea, The Sea was a duo with lovely harmonies and a nice pleasant presence on stage.
 

Rose Cousins on the other hand had a dynamite voice and a quirky stage presence that would make her memorable and I LOVED her sensibility- wry and extremely sharp - I would have become a fangirl if only she had sung whole songs LOL.  Her songs were excellent but so short that I likened them to Haiku to our friends... but I liked her well enough that I would see her again if she were nearby.  We had looked to see if she was around when we were in Halifax (her current residence) but she must have been on the road... worth checking out.

tonight - sushi carry in then Phil has a concert -

not Kansas City

but everything will be up to date as of this post-

our Saturday night at George Trois and Sunday night at the home of friends followed on the heels of our Friday night Marbella dinner...

I am going to start with the latest meal first- we went to Kevin and Shari's last night and met John & Stephanie there-

We all were brought things from the book Samarkand written by Caroline Eden, the woman I traveled with in Uzbekistan last year... the bulk of the work was done by Kevin with the appetizer of samsas from me and the dessert from John & Stephanie...

Here is what we had- the samsa

a carrot Koryosam salad

suzma (a fermented cheese) with dill

Shari's challah bread (not in the book but an excellent fit!)

a tomato and cucumber salad with a seasoned flat bread

rice pilaf and beef and chickpea stew (which had a more complex name in the book) which was fabulous!

a special omelet from the Bukharan Mountain Jews-

Pomegranate and vodka sorbet

and the amazing Ruins of a Russian Count's Castle for dessert!

a wonderful send off to our months in the south with excellent people who also double as great chefs!

the night before we had another fabulous meal at George Trois -

here is the menu and the photos follow along course by course---

a terrific meal of very high end ingredients and opulent preparations!

and the night before that was at Cafe Marbella- where we have been many times and love the food- not  too many photos form that meal (falling down on the job I guess LOL)

bacon avocado salad - the the shrimp ala p[lancha and then the albondigas- we had a couple of other things too that never made it to photos- the grilled octopus and fried calamari and ??? this is why we take photos! LOL

so now we are up to today and can move along to tonight's meal and a few more for this week - which include Phil's birthday dinner at Oriole with Lee & Nick and Todd & Evelyn and also the 30th anniversary of my former employing company OMSNIC... (and yes that would be me in the list of "honored guests" LOL- I have gotten THAT OLD!!!!!) I do take some consolation in being both the only female and the only non DDS/DMD/MD

and we are lucky to be welcoming Duke & Cathie (friends of more than twenty-five years) for the weekend... so we have Kiki's and Oceanique planned when they are visiting- as always - we won't go hungry LOL