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Taste of Chicago 2011

July 2nd, 2011 by Suzanne | 2 Comments | Filed in fun trips, yummy eats

To celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary, Husband and I went with Dana and Ryan to the Taste of Chicago today.  The heat index was at 100 degrees, so Marcus stayed home with our parents, who were very excited to hang out with him.

Despite the heat, I managed to eat:
-half a Polish sauasage with unions (Bobak Sausage Co)
- bossap sorbet (still not sure what it was, but quite refreshing – Iyanze)
- half a slice of stuffed spinach pizza (Bacino’s)
- churro with vanilla sauce (Xocoto)
- nibbles of frozen popcorn ball on a stick (Garrett Popcorn shop)
- nibbles of sweet potato cheesecake and of Cajun meatball (C’est Si Bon)
- nibble of tilapia taco (carbon)
- half a boneless rib sandwich (Robinson’s, long one of my favorites)
- half a chocolate chip cheesecake slice dipped in crunchy choclate frozen on a stick (Eli’s)
- mac and cheese bite (cubby bear)
- mustard-fried catfish (BJ’s Market)
- half a piece of mozzarella garlic bread (Polo Cafe)
- two potato pierogies (Kasia’s)
- frozen kefir (Starfruit Cafe)

Depite the layer of salt from sweat dripping into my mouth, everything was great.  We had a nice time gorging and chatting.  It was the perfect way to celebrate our love!
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The Lobster Roll and My Soul

April 21st, 2011 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in Damn, hilarity, Jewishness, random, yummy eats

A few days ago, I looked up which Jewish holidays specifically forbid working. While discovering that there are 13 days impacted by these holidays, I also learned about karet. It seems that breaking certain Jewish laws are so heinous that transgressors are “cut off from the people” and their souls are in mortal danger.

It also turns out that eating leavened products during Passover is one of the things that merit karet. In theory, I am not terribly worried about this, as I am atheistic and not too concerned about God punishing my soul. On the flip side, it strikes me that I am a really terrible Jew for wandering if it would be so terrible to eat a lobster roll over Passover…

A Medical History Museum and Spotted Dick

March 23rd, 2011 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in fun trips, hilarity, I am a bad person sometimes, oh happy day, yummy eats

The weather in London has been amazing. It has not rained the entire time I have been here and the sun has been out at least for an hour a day. The temperature is in the mid- to upper 50s. Delightful!

Yesterday I took another walking tour. One of the stops was at the Hunterian Museum. The Hunterian Museum is a medical history museum with tons of deformed specimens in jars of formaldehyde, skeletons, and surgical equipment. It is part of the Royal College of Surgeons. I tried to visit this museum in 2001, the very first time I was in London, but was told that it was not open to the public; to visit, a surgeon had to vouch for you. At the time, I knew no surgeons. I am so pleased that this policy has changed. My absolute favorite type of museum is a medical history museum. In fact, I would love to write a guide book to medical history museums around the world. This seems expensive to research, but I have visited a fair number already.

After my walking tour, I met my friend Mara for lunch. We stopped into Ye Olde Chesire Cheese pub, which was rebuilt in 1667, and super cool, with lots of wood paneling, fireplaces, short doorways, and cave-like rooms. I didn’t want to eat a heavy lunch, so we headed over to Gordon’s Wine Bar, which is another old restaurant with cave-like rooms. Then we went to Mara’s flat and took an afternoon run along the Thames and by Chiswick House. I really, really love running in London. The parks and scenery are gorgeous.

Eventually we headed back into the denser part of the city for dinner. This was taken at the Golden Hinde, a fish and chips place since 1914. I feasted on fried haddock, feta fritters, peas, and Greek salad. I’ve never been one for fried potato products, whether American or British style chips, so I skipped out on that. (I know – who eats fish and chips without the chips?) For dessert, I had that excellent British classic of spotted dick. This is some sort of raisin bread pudding in a bowl of hot custard. Not only is it delicious, but I can make many awful jokes about eating spotted dick and custard. Sort of the perfect end to a perfect day.

Today I am going to run in Hyde Park, eat some sort of fancy yogurt at lunch, and then go on a “Fair Maids, Feminists, and Philanthropists” walking tour. In the evening, though, I need to get back to working on my novel, so I’ll grab something from Marks & Spence Food on the Move and have a working dinner. I’m actually looking forward to that, too.

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With Love from London

March 21st, 2011 by Suzanne | 3 Comments | Filed in fun trips, yummy eats

I arrived in London early on Saturday morning, somewhat rested. (I sat on one end of a row of five seats, a guy sat on the other end, and we each got 2.5 seats to lie down on, which was not bad.) Husband and I went straight to our friend’s flat. From there, we joined her family at a Purim celebration. I cannot remember the last Purim service I went to, but I am fairly certain it did not involve a BBC announcer narrating the Scroll of Esther.

Although we ate enormous quantities of hamentashen, we still indulged in scrumptious goat cheese tarts for lunch. Then we went checked into our hotel. I planned to crash for a nap, but the dungeon – er, room – to which we were assigned had no hot water. And by not hot water, I literally mean nothing came from the tap. Hence we switched to a non-dungeon room. Then I crashed.

We met my friend and her family again for an amazing dinner at Leong’s Legends, which involved pork. Lots of pork. Plus crispy turnips, which sound nasty but are delicious, and red beans stuffed with glutinous rice and soup dumplings. Afterward, we walked over to Royal Festival Hall for a food and wine festival. At this point I ate the best thing I have ever placed on my tongue: a sweet macaron shells with goat cheese.

On Sunday, I woke up and ran in Green and St. James Parks. It was gorgeous. Husband and I met some other friends for lunch at Wild Honey. For dessert, I had honey ice cream with honey combs. Very nice. Not as nice, however, as savory cheese macarons, so we walked back over to Royal Festival Hall and bought more. I also tried one with cheddar. It was good, but the goat cheese is still the best thing I have ever eaten. Then Husband and I wandered around a bit and headed over to my friend’s neighborhood. We split at ham and leek pie for two at Duke of Sussex. It came piping hot with a large spoon:

Back at the hotel, I slept for over 12 hours.

Today I had a middling English breakfast (bastards did not include sausage!) and then went on an excellent walking tour in St. James. Then I wandered through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens for tea at The Orangery. In the past, I found it to be affordable and delightful. Unfortunately, the quality has declined dramatically. The Earl Gray Tea was good, as was my scone. I got a ton of clotted cream and jam, which was a bonus. However, the sandwiches were bland and the dessert just bad. Oh well.

I walked back to the hotel to meet Husband, then we walked four miles to Brick Lane Beigel Bake on the East End. The bagels are super tasty and filled with salt beef (i.e. – warm thick slices of corned beef) or cream cheese and lox. This place is so inexpensive it is almost insane. The lox and cream cheese beigel is about two pounds and a piece of cheese cake is 50 pence. We rode a double decker bus back to the hotel. Very lovely.

So far, the weather has been great. It is mild (mid-50s to 60s) and even sunny. I love London.

Grocery Run

November 24th, 2010 by Suzanne | 6 Comments | Filed in Asshole idiots, fuck, I love New York, mortification, other rants, What is wrong with people?, yummy eats

One of the best things about living in my neighborhood is the ability to go to the grocery store after midnight when I can’t fall asleep because I am too anxious about the need to go to the grocery store in the morning when there might be holiday crowds. I just rolled out of bed, put some jeans and shoes on, and strolled over to the store. My experience with grocery stores late at night is that it is prime shopping time for oddballs and degenerate. I was not disappointed. It was still pretty crowded and I didn’t find everything that I needed.

Another one of the best things about living in my neighborhood is the ability to walk two blocks up Broadway to the market when the grocery store doesn’t have everything I need in the middle of the night. I completed my shopping and returned home, only to discover that I forgot something. So I headed over the the corner bodega and picked it up.

One of the worst things about living in my neighborhood is the ability to mosey over to stores that sell food at any time of day or night. This means that people who are out walking dogs who suddenly remember that they need groceries will ignore the signs in the store doors that say it is against Department of Health rules to bring animals into the store when they dash in for whatever. I have nothing against dogs, but they do not belong in stores in general and absolutely not in stores that sell food. Two days ago I was at the market and I observed a dog licking the plastic container of a party platter. Again, not the dog’s fault. It smelled something good and tried to get at it. But that is fucking repulsive and now I wonder what else has been slobbered on by dogs. I hate people.

Pears

November 17th, 2010 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in Damn, fashion Suzanne-style, those were the days, yummy eats

Pears are one of my favorite fruits. My grandparents often bought the variety that were rough skinned and yellow, and on the winter Saturdays when my grandfather cared for my sister and I when we were kids while our parents worked, he always chopped one or two up for us. I don’t eat pears often today because, unlike my grandfather, I never pick out good ones and I hate cutting them because of their uneven shape.

I’ve been thinking about pears a lot lately because I am increasingly shaped like one. I’m narrow on top and round on the bottom, with arms and legs supporting my fruit-like torso, a little like the Ms. Pearhead version of Mr. Potatohead except that my face is on my head, which sits atop the pear, rather than on my chest. My pear figure wasn’t obvious until I had my breast reduction in December 1998, which revealed that I actually had a small frame up top. Then it wasn’t a problem, as I was a proportional pear.

Lately, however, the round bottom portion has grown larger while the narrow top has stayed nearly unchanged. There’s nothing so terrible about this except that I can’t fit into any of dresses (whether they are ones I already one or ones that I want to acquire) and every time I get dressed, I feel like I’m staring at a funhouse mirror. Everything looks one way above and below my midsection, but the midsection itself is ginormous.

Gah. I hate it. Fat, juicy pears in Harry & David boxes are excellent. I loved the pears my grandfather served me. Bulging pears in skirts and pants are gifts that I would rather not have, even with my affection for the fruit.

/end of self-pitying post.

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In (Re)flux

October 24th, 2010 by Suzanne | 5 Comments | Filed in Damn, random, yummy eats

A mystery has been solved. On Thursday, I went to the allergist. I’ve had ongoing sinus issues since the summer, and I wanted to get my allergies tested. It seems like a mucus ball has been squatting in my head for the last four months. My goal was to find treatment to evict the unwanted tenants from my sinus cavity.

The allergist listened to my chest and said that it was clear. “Yeah,” I said, “but my chest feels tight anyway. I think it is because I have acid reflux.”

“You have acid reflux?” he asked. “How often?”

“Well, lately I seem to have a lot of heartburn,” I replied.

“Well, that makes sense.” (Here I picture him stroking his beard wisely, although I know that did not happen.) “Acid reflux is a trigger for sinus issues. One of the best things you can do is get the acid reflux under control. Are you under a lot of stress?”

Cue my hysterical laughter. He gave me a prescription for Prevacid (which he warned me that my insurance may not cover, and he was correct) and also for Singulair (which my insurance “covers” although my payment was $128 – seeing that certainly brought on a wave of nausea). When I got home, I read more about acid reflux and discovered that many of the things that have been bothering me lately are symptoms of acid reflux, like how I often feel like there’s food caught in my chest or like food is getting stuck on the way down.

The next night, I went out for dinner with two friends. We split an order or grilled veggies with pesto and eggplant Parmesan. About an hour after eating, the bad feeling of food stuck in my chest plagued me. About an hour after that, my friend mentioned that her boyfriend has acid reflux and can’t eat tomato sauce. Right.

It’s a learning process, that’s for sure.

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How I Made 30 Minute Eggs

September 20th, 2010 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in Damn, Jewishness, mortification, yummy eats

Last night I placed six eggs in a pot and covered the eggs with cold water. I put the pot on the stove and turned it on. I picked up the phone to call my aunt, planning to watch the pot while I spoke with her.

The line was busy, so I hung up and left the kitchen to quickly look something up online. My friend Mara had linked to an NPR story about Witold Pilecki, a Polish resistance fighter who arranged to be imprisoned at Auschwitz in 1940 so he could find out and report what was happening there. That led me to do more reading on Jan Karski, a Polish diplomat who tried to convince Roosevelt and Churchill to intervene before all of Poland’s Jews were killed. That led me to read about Irena Sendler, a Catholic social worker who was part of Żegota, an underground agency to aid Polish Jews. Her bravery saved 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto through the courthouse.

I saw that building while I was in Warsaw in June. My guide’s mother was saved that way, although Sendler was not involved in that incident as far as I know. In the picture below, the viewer is facing the courthouse from what would have been the Warsaw Ghetto entrance:
Warsaw CourthouseThere was another entrance on the other side of the building for “Aryan” Poles. Jews could enter through the Ghetto and bribe guards to exit through the Aryan side.

While I was thinking about all this, Husband asked me about my eggs. Of course, I had forgotten all about them. I ran into the kitchen and almost all the water had boiled out of the pot. It had been about 30 minutes since I turned the stove on. Some of light brown shells had dark brown marks. The smell of gas lingered. Another five minutes and the pot would have burned.

I didn’t want to throw out six eggs, so I figured that I would try one for breakfast and if it was nasty, then I’d chuck them. Turns out that overcooked hard boiled eggs are more or less hard boiled eggs. Who knew? I ate two.

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Get Out of My City! Out!

September 7th, 2010 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in Damn, I love New York, mortification, yummy eats

The weather on Sunday was perfect – sunny and in the low 70s. Husband and I set out for a stroll around 2 pm. We began by heading to Central Park. Upon entering at 72nd Street, I overheard a visitor to my fine hometown talking on his cell phone.

“Yeah, there’s some kind of upscale McDonald’s on Columbus and 77th Street. I’ll meet you there,” he bellowed.

I scratched my head. While I knew that many McDonald’s locations in Manhattan had undergone renovations in the last year and were pretty snazzy, I couldn’t think of any on Columbus Avenue, let alone 77th St. We walked on. Then it hit me. This douche bag was talking about Shake Shack!

Yes, Shake Shack is a burger joint. It is not any fancier than the Golden Arches. Yet for the same price as a quarter pounder, Shake Shack serves us some serious quality meat, custom blended for them by a renowned butcher shop. It’s like comparing Long John Silvers to, uh, Red Lobster. Or something like that.

I wanted to turn around and slap him upside the head. Upscale McDonald’s! Tourist, be gone!

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Sweetness

August 17th, 2010 by Suzanne | 2 Comments | Filed in family, hilarity, yummy eats

A raspberry bush grows in my parents’ backyard. It’s been there for at least twenty years, faithfully returning with its offerings of red gems every summer. As far as I remember, it just sprouted up one day and my mom thought it was a weed at first. Or my bubbe may have planted it. She did things like that in those days, just came over and planted herself in the grass and began seeding or transplanting.

When I was visiting my parents in July, my mom told me that the bush was bursting with fruit and I should pick some. One morning, I went outside with a plastic blue cereal bowl and filled it. Some of the raspberries were so ripe they crumbled as I pulled them off the stem. Others had little bugs on them or were partially eaten by whatever wildlife beat me to it.

I brought my brimming bowl inside. The raspberries were small, about half the size of those grown commercially. It had been a long time since I had fresh ones from the backyard. I popped a few in my mouth. The sweetness surprised me. The berries were small, but full of flavor. It made me sad that the ones at the store – even organic ones that sell for $5 or more a pint – were only half as delicious.

Maybe it is the pollution from the highway in front of my parents’ house that makes the raspberries so sweet.

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