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 -

back in the saddle

So as you know I have been on hiatus since last October - when I hit the eighth anniversary of blogging and more then 150,000 hits on my blog... I wondered what I would miss and not miss about the ongoing recordation of all things travel and food and theater etc...

here is what I missed-

being able to immediately access the info I am putting into these posts - while many things made it to Facebook they are not as easily accessed

being able to put up as many photos as I wanted for my subject matter as well as additional things such as wikipedia information etc...

what I did not miss - the sense that I needed to get things posted while fresh... so things may not be quite as immediate as they have been in the past as I lean into posting again after six months away...

at any rate- I am back posting and I can think of no more deserving topic for my first post after my return to Chicago and the posting than our dinner last night at JEONG the newly opened destination dining experience from Dave Park and Jennifer Tran!

I will post photos and follow with commentary -
my two favorites -  beef from the a la carte and then salmon from the tasting menu-

the stunning and serene interior is a perfect place for food of such elegance - the deceptively simple listing of ingredients for each dish completely belies the complexity of flavors and textures in each creation.

shown in order as listed above-

in addition to the tasting menu we ordered some extras - things we wanted to taste and simply could not wait until a return trip -

a stellar performance by the entire crew- we couldn't be more thrilled for Dave & Jennifer whose Hanbun was a spectacular success despite its exurban location- the food there was equally as beautiful and tasty so we knew we were in store for a treat!

Here is a trip down memory lane - Hanbun-

so happy for these two - we wish them incredible success with the new venture!!!!!