a favorite for lunch

one of our favorite places to have lunch these days is mfk.  Named for mfk fisher the food writer, this hole-in-the-wall joint with seating for no more than twenty-six has terrific tapas.  The only drawback to dining there is the absolutely impossible parking.  You used to be able to park around the corner at the hospital parking lot but they built a new building there so alas no more parking...

to bring you up to speed - here are prior posts about lunch there- with some excellent recommendations via photos of the food!

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2015/08/hot-lunch.html

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2015/06/two-terrific.html

so today the meal was just a good as always! Can't wait to return (we have reserved for when Steve & Suzanne visit the end of next month when we get back from our grand voyage! LOL)

so off we go-

so first we ate! and then we ate and then we ate some more- we love the food here!

so from the "little bites" section of the menu- we had seven dishes- then two from the "from the soil" and finally one from the "plancha" section of the menu where the dishes are larger....

ceviche!

prawn heads

three kinds of anchovies (in the order shown on the menu)

and the winner in the anchovy taste test - the salt cured ones with lemon zest - wow terrific preparation (gonna make these at home some time!)

then the smoked chicken croquettes and the snails to round out the first bites - LOL - we only missed a couple of the choices - (the brandade and the bread)

then we had two fabulous veg "sides" (haricots verts and the cauliflower) and the finally the meatballs (albondigas!) with polenta and tomato jam

we were totally stuffed but since dinner isn't until post 9 PM we have plenty of time to get over it- LOL....

one of two four-tops in the place - it's tiny but mighty! (out list for check out) -

so on we go... tonight to Oriole (a new place run by two favorite food folks Noah & Cara Sandoval) - we are so excited because we LOVED their last place Senza...  then to round out the week we are finally catching up with friends Brian & Tina and then later in the week Zack & Becky - here's how long it is since we have seen these folks - Brian & Tina have gotten married and Zack & Becky have had another baby...LOL   Seriously - matching schedules with anyone these days is an art form LOL and we are maybe worse than most to catch up with given our travel schedule and lock & leave lifestyle... Oh and good news- our couches are scheduled to arrive on Saturday!!!!! Lucy will be soooo happy and so will I - finally a place to sit down where we can have some kitty lovin time!

so stay tuned for the review of Oriole and photos of the new couches.....

here is a photo of the couch material next to the rug it will be "on" - we chose the lighter on over the navy - change of pace for us but the room in east facing and after about 11 AM doesn't get a lot of light so we thought this would work for this room.... (I got that tray in Tunisia when I was there with my "danger zone" travel buddy Jennifer Bater! )

back later with the Oriole report.... tomorrow we stay home to watch the first woman candidate for the President of the United States of America accept the nomination of her party.

about the picture

You may have noticed I sometimes decide to rotate images as the header photo of the blog- I tend to take them from favorites of travel photos and then try to match a blogger background with the image.  I write this post because I had a huge dilemma today about what background to choose-

I was torn between the one of snow (it is so hot and humid here in the midwest and has been for far too long) or the one of water- also cooling but not quite as emphatic as the snow.  I finally went with water because the photo was taken on the water - when we were in southern Chile visiting the glaciers.  I wish there was sound on this photo because the sound of the glaciers calving is quite impressive.

However the reason I took this photo was the amazing layering of color on the ice floe I still remember it clearly despite the trip having been 13 years ago now...

and here is another of the magnificent views we had on that trip- this one from our hotel room at the Explora Lodge in Torres del Paine...

and, since I have been in email communication with our guide for our upcoming trip to the Baltics and Scandinavia (with St Petersburg) and he is from St. Petersburg I thought I would cull a few Russian favorites as well just because they were there in the same folder...

these next photos are from St Isaac's in Petersburg- stunningly beautiful church...

 
there are people in the lower left - to give you the perspective of how large and dense the white birch are there...

a memorial to those jailed and executed under Stalin

the famous GUM - shopping is Moscow-

this post was just an aside- a Monday morning musing about revisiting old "friends" in my photo archives...

dinner with friends

At the last minute yesterday afternoon, Mike and Leslie called and asked if they could host us at their club here in Chicago (actually Mike's club is in Houston but it has reciprocal privileges around the country and maybe the world...) we ditched (or actually delayed) our sushi dinner and rescheduled it for lunch today and agreed to dinner with friends.

So off we went to the Willis (Sears) Tower and after only a half hour of taking four or five elevators we actually found the place LOL- on the 66th floor (or maybe 67th) - our passes had helpfully said 50th floor....

The room is lovely and we had a light show over the skyline pretty much the entire time since there were thunderstorms moving through the area.  The meal was very good, the service was excellent and the company and wines even better.

Let's start with dessert first- LOL only kidding- this an amuse of a scallop...

then we did four shared starters - the beef tartare, yellowtail crudo, blue cheese mac & cheese with mushrooms (yum!) and the giant crab cake...

then we shared two salads - one with beets and goat cheese and the other with berries and jicama-

then on to entrees-

I had short ribs with risotto and Mike had the Salmon and Leslie and Phil had steaks -

we had paired the wines with the various courses - moving from a white burgundy to a pinot to a Bordeaux....

and of course we had to have dessert as the conversation wasn't even close to being finished.... the wine was a bit closer but would last for the entire meal LOL

cheesecake with salted caramel and tiramisu with drunken cherries and sorbet selection and Phil had something chocolate ... shown first - with berries and dulce de leche ice cream...

a lovely evening memorialized in photos -

always fun to dine with friends - and gee we hadn't done that in 24 hours LOL- actually we had dinner with friends on Monday - Wednesday - Friday and Saturday and were out for a concert Tuesday and a play Thursday... and our friend Gary keeps asking what we do with our time LOL- who has time?  Tomorrow would have been my sister's 61st birthday except she died more than six years ago... and although I miss her all the time, she is a driving force in my life-

"from the cradle to the crypt it's a mighty short trip - you better get it while you can..." (Love you Jane) the quote is from Steve Goodman who didn't even make it as long as my sister Janna... but these are words we live by in our household...

so stay tuned- more adventures coming up....