New food blog

Refinery 29 is constantly turning me onto new things.  And not just new fashion trends but also fun things to do in Chicago, great rooftop bars, online shops, they constantly delight me.  I am particularly pumped about their new slide show "Chicago's cutest guy blogers you'll wanna bookmark"

One that I am particularly excited about is Tim Mazurek who writes a food blog, Lottie + Doof, and currently is featuring the very in season zucchini.  Zucchini Week!

I also think he's got a great little to do list of Chicago restaurants, which being new to the city I always appreciate!

Guac

Avocados are one of those vegetables that I could eat all the time.  And I can put guac on everything.

 My mother is a fabulous cooks.. She is one of those people that opens the fridge, it could be any one's fridge, she looks around, and she find what is speaking to her at that moment .  Then she starts to cook and it always just works.  That is the method I take to guacamole.. I love to have a habanero peeper but if not green onions, jalapeno peeper, green peeper... the possibilities are endless.  So long as there is variety guac always works. ,

It's the perfect summer snack - Just chop up what you have, a lime or lemon is a must, and cilantro does makes world of difference.  It just livens everything up!

Now share with friends!

In.gredients

Happy Monday.  Sometimes I feel like all the super exciting sustainable, eco-friendly things are happening out of my reach. While this can't be possible, Chicago has to have a lot going on, we don't have a no waste grocery store.  In.gredients is a new grocery store in Austin that is boldly doing exclusively local , seasonal and organic food.  With their top priority to be reducing waste.  Customers are requested to bring all packaging for grains and liquids and fill them up.

They also have a great blog filled with healthy information.

Corn on the cob

Coming from Wisconsin, the beautiful land-o-corn that it is, I am incredibly disappointed in myself for not having had corn on the cob yet.  Fresh corn on the cob in the heat of the summer is amazing.  And my father is a pro at grilling, he doesn't half-ass it.  We have this old half broken old webber, litterally the legs rusted off and its just resting on these large stones.  He starts with twigs and newspaper and builds a legit fire (he's pretty much my hero).  The corn grown somewhere in wisconsin and is so delicious and fresh its harbly even needs butter an salt. 

But don't worry I of course I put corn and salt on it! 

Weekend goal - Fresh Corn.

Quinoa or couscous salad..

I have to say my first try at a 101 Cookbooks recipe was a success and I will definitely be trying out other items.  While the recipe is called Lemon-scented quinoa and obviously calles for quinoa all I had was couscous so I went with it.  And I think it turned out richer than it otherwise would have. 

Being a dedicated lemon lover I doubled the amount of lemon, added some red wine vinegar, and jalapenos to the dressing which livened it up a bit gave the salad an extra kick.  

Its a very simple salad that is making for a perfect lunch, especially with this hot muggy city weather. I'll be adding cucumber and possibly tomatoes to it.

I'm a huge fan and I love that it gives me another use for tahini!

Diner en Blanc

 

It doesn't really get any better than this. 10,000 Parisians in all white brought tables, food and wine to two of the largest attractions in Paris the Louvre and Notre Dame.  The best part is it's a huge secret.  how do that many people keep their mouths shut?  

My dining experiences only hope to one day be this fabulous.

Food Book Club

Thank you Tasting Table for finding the slow food book club for me.  While I do not think that I will  recive (considering I just ordered it) and read this month's book, AliceWaters and Chez Panisse by this sunday I now know it exists. 

And I am very excited to learn more about the slow food movement.  It's something that I know I will be behind, simply because I belive in taking the time to cook good local food for your self, friends and family, but I would like to be more educated and aware.

I'll let you know how the book is!