I've been depressed. It happens. I've also been having quite the little pity party. I actually just sent my husband an email that contained the phrase "abject misery." He wrote back that I have to "keep upbeat about your misery."

In an attempt to do just that- some pictures from what was actually a lovely Memorial weekend.

Lemming's in Bucktown is one of my favorite bars, it's walkable, and they have a great beer selection and games behind the bar. Our favorites are Battleship and backgammon.

Josh and I always end up at the same high-top by the window drinking Bell's Oberon.

Umhmm.

I tried my hand at shucking a half-dozen oysters. I think I'll leave it to the pro's in the future.

We met Byron for some day drinking.

I killed some of the best onion rings I've ever tasted. But I was drunk, so who knows.

Thanks goodness we had Monday off!

So, my neighbors owned up to hitting my car- sort of.

They said their nephew did it without their knowledge, and if they would have known they certainly would have left a note. Sure. Whatever. I don't really care.

In a tremendously surprising twist of fate- they don't have insurance!

I know, I know, who could have seen that coming?

Our neighbors, these *upstanding* citizens want me to take my car to their "guy" and have him fix it.

"Trust me honey, he's good." They say.

To be honest my inclination is just to file a police report, and let my insurance company handle it. I don't really want to jam them up, nor do I want to make trouble with our neighbors, but I need my car to drive to work everyday. The only way my insurance company will pay for a rental car is if I file a claim. I'll check up on their "guy" and talk to them about all of this tonight.

The real problem here, is it's just one more thing...

More hassle, more of my time wasted, more inconvenience for me, and just one more thing to make me hate Chicago a little more.

Like I need one more reason...

Josh and I live in a big apartment-house thing with 4 separate apartments. All of the residents have dogs and different hours, and I'm pretty sure that our downstairs neighbors are drug dealers. But whatever, we generally manage to live in harmony.

I do have a fair bit of trouble with the neighbors with whom I share the garage. They generally take up more than their fare share of said garage, but I drive a tiny little Prius and I can generally squeeze close to the wall and get in and out without too much trouble.

Until this morning.

I got a bit of a late start today and didn't leave the house until after 7; hello, nightmare traffic. I can live with that, I'm the one who forgot to reset the alarm. What I can't live with is the huge dent and white paint scrapes all down the sides of my lovely new black car. Their white jeep has corresponding white paint rubbed off just at the point of impact. I know this because I went out front and found their jeep parked on the street. I took lots of pictures. I felt I had to document all this because, wait for it...

They didn't leave a note!

First of all, who hits someone's car and doesn't leave a note?

Second... I know who they are and I know where they live! Did they think I wouldn't notice?

So, I left them a note this morning explaining that if they didn't leave me their insurance information I'd be filing a police report this evening.

This is all so unacceptable. Bear in mind that these people are probably in their early forties, they have children. They aren't some dumb punk kids who don't know any better. Grrr, I'm so angry.

I think I incorrectly identified what I've been feeling lately. I'm afraid it might not be ennui; it might just be plain old homesickness.

After an email exchange with my lovely Jill yesterday I started thinking about what I missed and what I've been actively *not* thinking about.

I've been *not* thinking about visiting my mom while my dad is out of town, grilling in the back yard, drinking champagne and throwing the ball for Murphy for the thousandth time.
I've been *not* thinking about begging off work a few hours earlier and heading over to Suzie's for a nice walk through her gorgeous neighborhood to grab sushi at three in the afternoon.
I've been *not* thinking about meeting Jill for an early happy hour and continuing our quest to find the best salty dog in Denver.
I've been *not* thinking about jumping in the car and heading up to Basalt for a long weekend drinking cheap beer and playing cards with my friends Mak and Katie.

To be perfectly honest it takes a lot of energy to *not* think about all the little seemingly routine things I miss about being home.

A few more things I'm *not* thinking about:
Sleeping on Suzie's leather couches and getting pizza for breakfast; BIA in Basalt, but not on Sundays; tamales at La Casita and rellenos at La Cueva, walking home (and by home I mean to Suzie's house) from Rockbar, camping in Aspen and tubing down the Colorado, brunch at Steuben's, slap fighting after drinking all day, knocker boxing, Rock Pile seats in the sun...

I am feeling uninspired.

Not with blogging, just with life.

I suppose that's worse.

Josh could eat pizza for dinner every night, actually, I think he might have before we moved in together.

I need a little variety, and all that sauce, cheese and pepperoni is a little much for me when the weather turns warm.

But, with a hot grill and some ripe tomatoes I'm sure we can find a compromise...

Continue Reading Pizza For Joshy

Sunday night we threw together a quick pizza on the grill. This is my absolute favorite and quickest pizza for summer. Pizza dough, unlike pie crust, is actually quick and easy to make, but I was deeply involved in a CSI marathon and didn't feel like abandoning it, so store bought it was. Heat your grill*, both sides turned to high for about ten minutes; once the grill is very hot turn one side down to medium. Oil both sides of the dough, and, toss the dough on the side of the grill turned to medium. Let the dough cook long enough that it is crispy on the bottom then turn it over and shut off the flame underneath the dough. Leave the other burner on high.

You'll want to work quickly through the next few steps so you don't lose all the heat you built up.

During the summer I don't really like sauce on my pizza, but I don't want a dry pizza either. Drizzle olive oil all over the cooked side of the pizza dough and top with plenty of dices tomatoes. All the moisture will come from the tomatoes, so add them liberally. Top with torn basil, crushed, cured olives and fresh mozzarella cheese. Close the lid and grill until the cheese melts. The cheese will take as long to melt as the crust takes to cook through. Let your pizza rest for a minute before slicing and dig in. This pizza is simple and delicious; my two criteria for a summer Sunday dinner.

*I have a two burner grill, one burner on each side; this allows me to cook things on the grill on indirect heat; that is, not directly over the flame. It is a very cheap grill, but this one feature was very important to me in choosing it. My parents have a very expensive three burner grill, but all three burners run the length of the grill, making it impossible for them to grill on indirect heat, thereby limiting the number of things they can cook on the grill. However my parents are fancy, and make up for that by also owning a smoker.

I was too tempted by the fresh cream at the Farmer's market on Saturday, but the last thing I need is to have that rich, delicious cream sitting in the fridge, begging to be poured over berries and devoured. I figured this was as good a time as any to try something that has been on my to-make list far too long.

Butter

Here's the thing, it's almost too easy to make butter.

Take a very clean, wide mouth jar. Make sure it is VERY CLEAN. If it has any lingering salsa or pickle ghosts your butter will taste like salsa or pickles. Give the jar a sniff, and if it smells funky, reach for the next one.

Pour in some cream, screw on the lid.

Start shaking. It will start to thicken and stick to the sides of the jar.

If it's your first time you might not think anything is happening. Open up and take a peak, you'll see that the cream is decidedly thicker than when you first poured it in the jar.

Screw the lid back on and keep shaking. It will take on the consistency of whipped cream (yum, try not to eat it all) and it will be very hard to shake. I just kept smacking it against my hand, first the top, then the bottom, and repeat.

So keep shake, shake, shaking and then... all of a sudden... it will make this tiny sloshing noise and it will separate into butter and buttermilk. I didn't save the buttermilk since I only made a little butter, but you could save it and make something else delicious.

Wring out the rest of the liquid; I used a cheese cloth and then spread the butter out on a cutting board and used a towel to sop up any remaining water, sprinkle with salt (helps preserve the butter and tastes good), mix and refrigerate.

This fresh butter tastes so good, I've been eating it on bread. Just what my diet needs.

One day Jilly, Suz and I were walking in the sun discussing a very important philisophical question: What one food would you choose to be fat and calorie free but retain it's exact flavor and texture, if you could only choose one. The both answered cheese, and although I love cheese, I worship butter. Butter whoud be my choice, it is so versatile, and it makes anything taste good. I just had no idea it was so easy to make.

Continue Reading Butter!

Keepin' it classy at the Lincoln Park Farmer's Market.

Continue Reading Hybrid Weekend

Some weekends we get out and about. We go to dinner, we grab drinks we see friends. I think of these weekends as "Josh" weekends; he has a great time and I end up exhausted from all that running around. He's a bit more social by nature than I am. Some other weekends we get some groceries, cook at home, make a few cocktails and sit on the couch to catch up on CSI episodes I haven't had time to watch. I think of these weekends as "Me" weekends. I have a great time and Josh ends up exhausted from all that lounging around the house.

This weekend was a bit of a hybrid. We had a date on Friday night to King Crab on Halsted (Josh was a great sport and actually ate a few oysters), and after the farmers market on Saturday I was done being out. We spent the rest of the weekend at the house.

Armed with our bounty of spring time produce from the farmers market (read: asparagus, asparagus and more asparagus) I set to work in the kitchen. The first thing I made was this chevre, grilled asparagus and bacon quiche. So yeah, yum. It doesn't hurt that the dairy stand was out of half and half by the time we got there so we had to settle for cream*. Talk about your decadent treats.

I use a really basic recipe for quiche and just swap out the fillings:
One frozen pie crust (because I just don't have time to make crust from scratch, I'd rather drink a Bloody Mary on the deck)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups half and half (or cream or milk, but I like half and half)

Bake the empty pie crust and toss in whatever cheese, veggies or meat you like. Combine eggs and dairy and pour over toppings. Bake at 350, this will take anywhere from 40 min to an hour depending on your ingredients, the size of your pie pan, etc. Just keep an eye on it, when it's firm but slightly jiggly, it's done.

Next we grilled up some asparagus and I made two dipping sauces- garlic mayonnaise and a thick balsamic vinaigrette. I used recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking (a gift from my MIL), and I have to admit that now that I've made real mayonnaise I'm not sure I'll ever buy it again. Well at least, as long as my immune system is healthy enough for raw eggs, so, barring any illness or pregnancy or salmonella poisoning.

For the mayonnaise:

Using a food processor makes this job a snap. I tossed three egg yolks** into the food processor and ran it for about a minute, then I added a pinch of mustard powder, a pinch of salt and a splash of lemon juice. Whir that all around for another minute or so. By drops add olive oil and then begin to add it in a small stream. Keep the food processor running and keep adding oil until it all emulsifies, add more lemon juice and salt and I like a little more mustard, and then keep adding more oil until it emulsifies again and reaches the consistency and taste you're looking for.

Yum! So good. Once my mayo had come together, I added a few crushed garlic cloves and voila- one delicious artichoke dipping sauce. Use sparingly of at the very least infrequently since the only ingredients here are egg yolks and oil, this isn't exactly a diet food.

I also whipped up a very quick balsamic vinaigrette for dipping (I love the richness of the mayo together with the acidity of the vinaigrette) in a bowl whish a diced shallot, some salt, some dry mustard oil and vinegar. That's all. If you have the skills you can get it to emulsify a bit, but I don't mind it broken. It all tastes the same. And by the same I mean awesome.

Rounding out our local feast (well, not the artichokes, but everything else) I topped some sliced baguette from the Red Hen bakery with some Capriole Wasabi Chevre and sliced green onions. Good lord, this is one addicting little snack. Seriously, I can't stop eating it.

*Check back tomorrow to see what I did with the leftover cream. I feel so handy and brilliant.
**The recipe in MTAOFC calls for two egg yolks and one whole egg, but I don't care for raw whites. That's not a health thing, it's just my issue as runny and raw whites give me the icks, so I stuck with all yolks.

Lately we've had some very busy weekends, and starting next week it looks like we have plans every weekend through the end of summer, but this weekend we have... nothing.

I've been having a great time meeting new people and making friends the past couple of months, but this weekend I don't want to share my time with anyone other than Joshy. Tonight we have a date, tomorrow we're going to head over to the Lincoln Park farmers market (hello crepe stand!) and then I'd like to hit up McGee's Tavern & Grille (right in our neighborhood) for the 20th Annual Headsuckers Ball (Crawfish, yum!).

The rest of the weekend is wide open, but I'm sure we'll head over to Scoops Sunday morning for "the usual" (two egg and cheese sandwiches, one coffee, one OJ), and then back home for a little sewing, cleaning and Nintendo.

While all this may not sound exciting to you, it's just about the only thing getting me through this unbearably long week.

So, happy Friday to you, and have a good weekend!

P.S. I just found about 40 of your comments in my spam folder, so I apologize if you said or asked something and I never got back to you!

P.P.S. Marriage has not turned me "domestic," I've always liked cooking, gardening and knitting. I just could never afford a sewing machine while I was in grad school, so the sewing is new. And also very cool.

P.P.P.S That's not to say that marriage hasn't changed me at all. I weigh a little more, I drink a little less and I never make out with 20 year old boys anymore.

I used the Buttercup Bag Pattern at Made By Rae.

I took me about an hour. I love it!

I love food. I adore it. I love eating it, cooking it, talking about it, reading about it, and shopping for it. My deepest hearts desire is to open a little neighborhood market that sources local produce and the awesome Italian imports I could never find in Denver (and still rarely find in our neighborhood in Chicago). I'd love to feature inexpensive wines and interesting cheeses; raw milk products that are so tough to find and fresh baked breads.

Alas, I am resigned to the reality that that will never, ever happen. So instead I cook, I eat, I farmers market the hell out of my Saturdays. But what I love to do most, is grill.

I grill on a relatively cheap two burner Char-broil gas grill that my mom gave me as a graduation gift. We could debate the pro's and con's of gas vs. charcoal vs. wood, I think they all have their merits, but for our little patio in the city, this is the perfect little grill for me.

I grill burgers, steaks, sausages, chicken thighs, chicken wings, beer can chickens, pork chops, pork butt, pork loin, fish, mussels, veggies, fruits, you name it, I grill it.

Since I've learned my way around the grill I've begun to branch out on my own, but my go-to for recipes, instruction, techniques and inspiration is Elizabeth Karmel's Taming the Flame.

After a long winter and months of hearty fare my heart leaps a bit at the sight of all the lovely produce in the markets. Baby carrots, zucchini and eggplant; radicchio, bell peppers and sweet potatoes; asparagus, bunches of green onions, big bulbs of fennel- I can't help myself.

When I was single I'd grill up a big batch of this weekly. Josh however, needs more for dinner than just a big plate of grilled veggies. Turns out this recipe for grilled veggies in a garlicky-anchovy sauce is great tossed with pasta or grilled in a Panini. So, I get my grilled veggie fix and he gets a robust dinner.

Win-win.

I don't want to plagiarize, but she does offer this recipe free on her website (along with a few others), I can't recommend it highly enough.

Grilled Antipasto with Mezzo Soprano Sauce

As I'm a bit of an anchovy and garlic freak, I up the amounts of both and take a Pepcid before I dig in. It can take a little while to grill up all these veggies, and they take some minding since they all have different cooking times, so Josh whipped us up a couple of cocktails and a quickie appetizer to munch on while we grilled.

Not-Your-Grandpa's Arnold Palmer
Combine sweet-tea infused vodka, soda water, and a generous squeeze of lemon. You can add a splash of lemonade if you like you cocktails a little sweeter. Serve over ice.

Butter and Radish Open Faced Sandwiches
Butter sliced French bread and sprinkle with a pinch of salt (I like kosher salt of sea salt, anything with a bit of texture), top with thinly sliced fresh radishes (I use a mandolin for paper thin slices). Eat, but be careful not to fill up, these are addictive.

See what I did there, a little play on words? Yeah?

It's not quite summertime yet, but my grilling days are in full swing.

Continue Reading Summertime And The Grilling Is Easy

Lately whenever Josh and I are out I seem to be having too much fun to remember to snap a photo or two.

It was another busy weekend in Eisenbergia- and this was no exception.

On Friday, after yet another long commute (I swear it gets longer every day) Josh and I took a walk down to Sam's; he grabbed a new beer and I picked up some sweet tea infused vodka and some lemonade. Turns our sweet tea infused vodka and lemonade is too sweet, but sweet tea vodka and soda water with a generous squeeze of lemon just hits the spot on a warm Friday afternoon. After a cocktail we met friends for dinner at Yoshi's Café on Halstead. It was the best meal I've had in a very long time. I've had a hankering for oysters ever since the Zombie Pub crawl (don't ask why, but I couldn't shake it) and the oysters at Yoshi's were exceptional. I also had two expertly made dirty martinis, a grilled radicchio salad and a fantastic French dessert. I haven't been so satisfied with a meal probably since our wedding.

Our friends went to a late screening of Star Trek, but I abhor crowds more than I love Star Trek (and I love Star Trek) so Josh and I didn't join them. Instead we hit Blockbuster on our way home, raided the used movies bin and had ourselves a private screening of Hancock in bed.

Saturday we headed down to Indiana to explore some neighborhoods closer to work. Before you freak out, "OH MY GOD YOU GUYS CAN'T MOVE TO INDIANA!!!!!" (I'm talking to you Byron) we were just looking.

Our plan was to hit the Whiting farmers market, and then grab some tacos at the Mexican Inn. They have awesome tacos.

I have never been so disappointed that I forgot my camera. It takes about an hour to get to this small town which is quite close to where I work. We were driving around this little town and saw the signs for the Farmer's Market and then we saw the Farmers Market itself.

This drawing is in no way an exaggeration. It was one guy with one cart. That's it. We went to get pancakes instead.

Sunday I went to Joelen's place for a tea party and baking tutorial. My skills in the kitchen are hot, but I can't bake my way out of a paper bag. I think now I know a pretty decent scone recipe and could probably swing some beignets if the mood ever struck. I had a wonderful time meeting a few fun gals and I am certainly looking forward to more of Joelen's meet-ups in the future. For a few tried and true recipes and a couple of rather unflattering pictures of me visit Joelens blog Joelen's Culinary Adventures.

Sunday night came too quickly. Josh and I fired up the grill and made my favorite spring supper- Grilled Vegetables with Soprano Sauce from Elizabeth Karmel's cookbook Taming the Flame. Tomorrow I'll share some pictures of our feast and my adaptation of this great recipe. Hint: I like a lot more garlic and anchovies- surprise!

Chores in our house are divided thusly- I do the cooking, take care of the bills, manage the vet appointments and clean the cat box. Josh does the laundry, walks the dog, takes out the trash and does the dishes.

Imagine my delight, after a particularly bad commute, to find lovely Josh in the kitchen whipping up some vegetarian lasagna. He greeted my with a big smile, told me to grate some cheese then go ahead and internet for a while- it was under control.

And it was- delicious.

Have a good and hopefully short Friday folks, then go forth and weekend!

It may seem like I'm jumping the gun as it's only the 8th, but really, May has been rough.

Before I got married in January I went back on the BCP, something I'd abandoned a few years ago as it seems to bring out the crazy in me. Well since right now a little bit crazy is preferable to a little bit pregnant, The Pill it is. Before you chime in on how I should try this pill or that one or maybe something else altogether, I don't really want to hear about it. But thank you. I've tried the others, I'm not crazy about this one, but I wasn't crazy about the other ones either.

So the beginning of May found me on a strange combination of an antibiotic and my BCP and PMS, which brought the crazy fo'sho'. It is a testament to Josh's saintliness that we made it through that week chocked full of my arrogance, slight hysteria and frankly, boorish behavior.

We also finally had to address the chaos that had gripped our bedroom. For my part, I finally had to admit that in my closet packed to the gills only three items of clothing fit.

Another side effect of the pill was all of a sudden I have these huge jugs. I know that sounds cool, but I liked my itty bitties. I miss them.

So I packed up all of my clothes. I took them to a consignment shop where they picked through my entire contents of my closet, gave me about a hundred bucks and sent me on my way. I dropped the rest off at the Salvation Army and then went about rebuilding my wardrobe.

Keeping with the reduce-reuse-recycle theme of '09 I hit up a few consignment shops in our neighborhood and found a few shirts for work and a few dresses for weekends.

My closet looks pretty empty now, but the benefits are great. There was seriously nothing worse that trying on ten different things and realizing I couldn't actually get any of my clothes on my body. I was developing a complex, I felt ugly and fat all the time. Now that I have a few things that fit I feel quite good about how I look thankyouverymuch.

Then there was the Seis de Mayo fiasco (yesterday's hangover). I don't know about you, but Jill and I often suffer from what we call drinking remorse. That miserable guilty feeling you get even if you didn't do anything particularly stupid.

So today I'm officially declaring May a do over. I'm giving it a fresh start. If you ask me about the last 8 days I'm claiming temporary insanity.

Standard Operating Procedure's (SOP's) are a big thing here at TheSteelMill.

For every job that must be done there is an SOP somewhere, and if there isn't, well by golly we'd better write one.

Last night Josh and I made an exception to our no-going-out-on-weeknights rule to attend a Cinco de Mayo party. We had plans to leave at 8:30 so I could be in bed at the very reasonable hour necessitated by my long ass commute.

I think this is the third time we've violated the NGOOW rule, and to, invariably, the same results.

SOP- Going Out on a Weeknight

1) Have a margarita. You deserve it, it was a long day.
2) Realize that it is a bad idea to drink a margarita on a Tuesday night. Switch to beer.
3) If you're having fun and your husband is having fun, you may pow-wow and decide to stay just a little longer.
4) Have fun until you are, all of a sudden, not having fun anymore.
5) Look at the clock and realize it is after midnight, if only just.
6) Say good night, hail a cab.
7) Get in a fight in the back of the cab.
8) Yell at and then subsequently over tip cab driver.
9) Stay up until almost two AM fighting with your spouse.
10) Make up. Fighting at two AM when you are drunk is stupid.
11) Wake up just a few hours later. Groan.
12) Throw up that one and only margarita from the night before. How is that even still sloshing around in there?
13) Drive to another state, and work, miserable and hung-over in a steel mill.
14) Count the minutes until lunch and greasy tacos. Watch the minute's slooooooowly tick by.
15) Swear to never again go out on a Tuesday night.

OK, so we didn't get a gosh darn thing done this weekend- but that in no way means it was a waste.

Friday night Josh and I met some friends for dinner and much needed margaritas (I had a rough week). there may be a lot of things I don't like about living in Chicago, but one thing I absolutely love is the subway. No need for a designated driver and anywhere in Chicago is just a short ride away.

Saturday evening Josh and I were on our way to a Kentucky Derby party and our bus broke down! We decided to take it as a sign and walk down the street to grab some dinner before heading over to the party.

I had a watermelon mojito- yum! I can't wait to make these with mint from our patio garden later this summer.

We ate at Jerry's on Division. This was my second time here, and the food has been a little inconsistent, but the amazing beer list more than makes up for it.

A few favorites from this visit; the Lagunitas Sirius Cream Pale Ale, the Bell's Oberon Ale, and finally the Dogfish Head 120 Triple IPA.

We spent all day Sunday at Beth and Nathan's eating, drinking and playing cards. Josh and I had a long list of to-do's, but we had so much fun we didn't care that we didn't get a single one done!

Thanks for all the good words and support this week!

It was great to finally share the finished projects.

And just so you don't all leave with the wrong idea, here is our bedroom as of last night. We are mid spring-clean in the bedroom, and it is not pretty...

...but we have to start somewhere.

Have a great weekend!