Forever ago, Claire and I decided to celebrate our birthdays at Lillie's Q, a new(ish) BBQ place in Wicker Park. Claire had been a few times before, but I was new to it (ok, maybe a few weeks ago we got some carry out food the night we met Jodi's baby). We put a date on the calendar and anxiously counted down the months and days till today. What a glorious evening!
Take a minute to look at this menu. I'll be here when you get back.
I know, right? And did you see the magical thing on there? SMOKED FRIED CHICKEN. Damn.
We decided to order a shit-ton of food--it's our BIRTHDAYS afterall--and then we would take whatever leftovers we had back home to our husbands.
We ordered: Fried Pickles (appetizer) Smoked Fried Chicken (it comes with a crock of honey) Taste of LQ (sampling of 3 meats): Hot link (my fave), Tri-tip, and baby back ribs Side of Baked Beans Side of Green Beans (I also had a bourbon and a beer. They were both served in Mason Jars. Heaven.)
WE EFFING WENT FOR IT.
Look at how happy Claire is:
And we ate every last drop. It was amazing. Even the waiter was impressed.
For
dessert, we split a scoop of "grasshopper ice cream", with mint ice
cream and Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies. DAMN it was good. AND it came in a tiny cast iron skillet! I wish I had gotten a better pic of the skillet. Trust me that it was cute. The perfect end to our meal.
But the best part about the meal? The company. Awwwwwwwwww.
I love days like today. I had the week off from therapy this week, so I took today as my day off in the week to get ready for a baby shower that I am co-throwing tomorrow for my awesome and amazing friends Jodi and Eliot*. I have a distinct menu, and everything on it is super delicious and easy to make. I am all for no fuss all fun! I started the day with some hearty procrastination, but then was a rockstar and washed all the dishes that had been piling up this week. I knew my trip to the grocery store was going to be EPIC, so although we live only a block from the Dominicks, I drove to the store. There's only so much I could carry!
I'm a huge To Do list maker--I have to see at all times everything that I need to do and that needs to get done. I'm also an obsessive calendar looker. I was using a Gmail draft email as a to do list recently, and complaining about how it didn't save from my iPhone to my web gmail, etc etc, so Fuzzy did some research and got me Clear, a new and awesome to do list system. I love it, and I am hooked. I use it for my daily to do list, and I also used it today as a grocery list! It was so handy! Instead of carrying around a pen and crossing things off a paper list (making it all sloppy), I just checked it off my phone and was rewarded with a happy little flourish sound.
My list was an amalgam of both what I was planning on making and what I needed to buy.
Sidenote--Tim Gunn would be horrified, but I don't care what I look like when I go to the store. Today I went in my pajamas with a coat and a hat and no makeup on**. I think the best thing about Chicago winters is that you can run errands and go places without a bra on and no one will ever know cause you am wearing a big ole coat. So when you see me out and about in the winter, there's a good chance I am freeboobing.
Anyways, the list was crucial for my trip today, as I forgot a lot of things here and there and had to make trips all over the store.
I was tasked with getting a case of a certain type of champagne, and I was really happy to see that my Dominicks had it. However, they only had 6 bottles. I've gotten more comfortable with asking employees what they have in the back (it got me an awesome pork shoulder recently when none was in the meat section), so an employee went to the back and returned moments later with both of his arms full of 7 bottles--some looked liked they were going to fall! I ran through people and displays with my cart over to meet him, and yelled "SUPER MARKET SWEEP!" really loudly, but the guy didn't even break a smile. Yes, I really yelled that in the store.
Because of the shape of the champagne bottles, they don't really fit in those wine 6 pack carrying cases. I had one bottle precariously balanced at the top of the cart, and I had a premonition it was going to fall and shatter. 1 minute later, the bottle was careening to the floor, and I winced in horror. When it hit the floor, it...just laid there. NO BREAKAGE! I was so relieved that I didn't have a "clean up on aisle 10" emergency, especially cause I was going to have to ask the nice man to go back and get my another bottle of Korbel Brut.
When I got home, I became a cooking machine! Everything was fun and easy to make, and I washed all the dishes as I went. I AM SO EFFICIENT. Other than accidentally dropping something on the top of my beautiful lemon squares, messing up my lovely powdered sugar topping, everything went well.
The menu:
2 Chocolate Chess Pies
2 Key Lime Pies (seen here without makeup/whipped cream)
1 Pan of Lemon Bars (from my old tried and true church cookbook)
I also pre-wrapped some bacon wrapped dates that I will cook tomorrow. And I am making pulled pork that will cook overnight--God bless the slow cooker.
While the oven was on, I went ahead and made some kale chips--I think these are the best I've ever made (I'm trying to save some for Fuzzy, but it is damn hard.)
I'm also planning a kickass dinner tonight-- filet mignon and caprese salad with grainy bread. HELL YEAH!
Also, I think I say this every week, but I think this week's Drunk Monkeys is my favorite one yet. Don't forget to look for us in iTunes!
* I've been blogging a lot lately about my amazing and wonderful friends. I can't tell you how lucky I am--I have the best friends in the world, and I love you all!
** I "didn't have my face on" as we say in the South. I have a hard time leaving the house without mascara and some sort of lipstick--those are my cosmetics of choice. I feel it is important to share that last night I went to dinner with 3 of my also amazing and wonderful friends, and I wasn't wearing a speck of makeup. My plan was to go swimming yesterday***, and I didn't want to end up all raccoony, so I didn't put any on before work. But then I skipped swimming, cause I was so damn sore, and decided that I if I put some one before dinner, I was just going to have to take it off. That is really rare for me. I am most impressed that I didn't even call it out to the ladies last night. Cause you know me, I love pointing out my flaws.
*** Dammit, I just realized I didn't ride my bike today. And I'm still plugging away on my to-do list. Maybe I can get to it before Fuzzy gets home.
Tonight I'm making salmon croquettes. Having flashbacks of my mom cursing and telling us to get out of the kitchen when she used to make them. Thanks for looking out for us mom--this hurts!
This week over on Four Squirrels, we are premiering a new web series about cocktail mixers and odd liquors called "Drunk Monkey(s)" It features me, Jen Ellison, Dave, the "off stage presence" and it's filmed and edited by Fuzzy. The intro is online now, with more episodes to come! Please go check it out!
You guys--there is a lot of important things to discuss today. But let's not talk about them now. Instead, let's talk about chicken.
We spent most of Tuesday this week in Kentucky, a beautiful state that up until now I have mainly associated with the chicken pox (in a not fun family vacation when I was little. All I remember about it is mom showering C and I at the same time and it being so painful that I screamed and cried.) [WHOA! I just realized this---CHICKEN pox! And here I am talking about how KY loves chicken! CRAZY!!] But as an adult, I can tell you that it is a GORGEOUS state and I highly recommend takeing a drive on the scenic byways instead of the highways. In fact, that is how I would like to travel from now on.
It's no surprise that Kentucky is proud of it's chicken. I mean, it's mainly just known by the initials now, but everyone knows that KFC means Kentucky Fried Chicken (their website has no mention of those 3 words together, only KFC. They do use "Kentucky Grilled Chicken", though). And KFC stuff is everywhere--I even saw grafitti taggers/ gang symbols from the "KFC Krew" (which a quick google search makes me ask--are they not American?) At a tourist info stop we made, there was a giant Colonel Sanders that you could pose with (sadly, the camera was in the car, but the lady that worked there told me that everyone from age 2 to 92 poses with him. I mean, how could you not?) A chicken truck in the parking lot talked about a chicken festival. We saw many other fried chicken chains. Chicken chicken chicken! But I guess, what can you expect from a state that is shaped like a chicken leg?
Sidenote: I have this chicken leg pencil sharpener, that I probably got in elementary school. This pencil sharpener has followed me around my whole life. Even as an adult, when we would stay at mom and dad's house and the cats were allowed in that bedroom upstairs, Allie would always find it and clunk it around the room all night. I've not yet unpacked everything that we brought home from that house, but I bet that I tossed it in a box and it will surface yet again.
Now, everyone who is from the South and now lives in the North knows that the most exciting signage you could possible see when you are hungry and it is now Sunday is the Chick-fil-a logo. Oh, what a dream! It is like a beacon in the night--an oasis in the desert. But how many times have you been thwarted by the color scheme and same font as the Peterbilt logo? You know what I'm talking about. False excitement, sheer disappointment. It happens to me every time, even when I know that Peterbilt is there (I'm looking at you, the one near the Jackson airport.) See?
Separated at birth, no?
Finally, I am wondering if the fact that we now have a Chick-fil-a in Chicago will make it less special to me, since I will be able to get it whenever I want. Part of the glory of the C-Fil-a is seeing one on a roadtrip and knowing that you are approacing the Bible Belt (I am aware that there are some in IN, WI, etc, but in my experience, it is a Southern roadtrip thing.) Will it just become a fast food joint? I've already been twice since they opened and I am going again next week. Fuzzy doesn't think so, since I am barely downtown. But I am concerned. I might need to just not go ever again (after next week) so that I can keep it sacred. We'll see. Only time will tell.
(photos found on the internet via ntu.org, paleoperiodical.com, and then Chick-fil-a and Peterbilt or something like that.)
UPDATE! I call this portion of my tattoo my "chicken leg." Sorry for the blurry photo.
Fuzzy and I cooked all day from start to finish, and aside from a massive slice in my thumb from a butcher knife (I know! Didn't I learn anything from the knife skills class I took?!), it was a success! Here is what we made:
Pumpkin Bread with homemade pumpkin puree Egg scramble with spinach, tomatoes, onion and cheese Black Bean Pumpkin Soup with Ham Weird Green soup (kind of like broccoli cheddar potato, but with lettuce instead of broccoli) An attempt at Viennetta (remember Viennetta?!?! Heaven!) Eggnog (yes, Fz made homemade nog!) Eggnog Martinis Cookie Dough (with pasteurized eggs, so it is safe to eat raw--also used in the nog) Chocolate Chip Cookies Pan Fried Catfish with Black Bean Soup Sauce and Watercress
I am so proud of us! Now to have a thumb that doesn't bleed and someone to do our dishes...
As if Hawaii wasn't amazing enough, they had to go and have amazing food. And you know we Reid Gerdeses love our food.
Many an incredible meal was had. Here are some of them.
Our first poke (tuna) of the trip. It was good, but we had a lot better later.
Beautiful rainbow seafood salad
Hawaii has lots of food trucks, which we love.
This was weird. It was crunchy rice wrapped in thin sliced pork. It was kept cold in a cooler and then microwaved. not very exciting or good, but we were hungry. It was a tide-us-over til we got to a restaurant.
Leonard's Bakery, where we had amazing malasadas.
Malasadas. They were all warm, one had cinnamon, one had sugar, one had a salty sugar, one was filled with chocolate and one was filled with coconut. Oh. My. God.
Fuzzy's pork and cabbage from a shrimp truck
My pineapple lava shrimp. My mouth waters everytime I look at this photo.
More food truck food.
This was one of my favorite meals of the trip. Spicy poke and chicken teryaki.
Dole Whip. A non-dairy pineapple frozen treat.
Fuzzy's fish tacos at Sweet Home Waimanalo.
My BBQ pork. This was another of my favorite meals of the trip. Can anyone guess why?
Lava flow. Pina Colada with strawberry puree. I drank 2 of these in about 10 minutes.
We went to a cook-your-own-steak place. We got the Kona crusted filet. DELISH!
Lucky for me, I had just taken a steakhouse cooking class!
The night we tried to go to the fishmarket that was closed, we ended up going to a ramen place. (Don't tell Fuzzy, but I didn't like it.)
Enjoying some sake.
Pork lau lau and poke from the market near our Kauai hotel. Sadly, I was sick when Fuzzy had this and didn't get to try it. Luckily, by our last day there, I was able to eat again and I got to try the poke and pork with cabbage. Super yums!
OK. So now it is time to talk about something important.
Hawaiian Shave Ice.
It is no secret that I am addicted to SnoBiz. Those of us lucky enough to be raised in Mississippi probably grew up eating it, or at least went there a lot when they were in high school college and beyond. For a while, I knew of every SnoBiz location in the Vicksburg/Clinton/Jackson Metro area. I can eat more SnoBiz than anyone probably should. For years Fuzzy has compared it to a snocone, which was a stalemate argument in our house for years.
Then we go to Hawaii. Where that sort of concoction was born. Where there is a shave ice stand on EVERY CORNER.
I was in Heaven.
The first place we had it in Hawaii was at Matsumoto Shave Ice on the North Shore of Oahu. The condensed milk was flowing. The line was long. The ice was....incredible.
I refer to that shave ice as "The Best Thing I've Ever Eaten Ever." Seriously.
It was literally The Best Thing I've Ever Eaten Ever.
We don't have any photos of it. Only the one of me with the kittens out back. But I see it every day in my dreams...
We had many others after that, and most of them were good. I tried to get some different flavors, but you just can't beat strawberry and vanilla with a ton of sweetened condensed milk. Why mess with perfection?
(Not the best ice, but it is a good photo)
If you look closely at this photo, I am wearing a tanktop from Matsumoto Shave ice at this (non-matsumoto) shave ice place. Yeah. Hardqore.
I mean, come on. The most gorgeous place in the world AND shave ice? I really don't know why we haven't moved there yet.
You can't just get a dinky shave ice machine. You have to go big. Like one of these dudes. Don't think we haven't considered buying one and opening a business. Or buying one for personal home use...
