Breakfast dilemna

I’ve never been a breakfast eater.

Sure, when I was little, I had the obligatory Cocoa Puffs or Frosted Flakes or Raisin Bran. On the rare occasion I could eat Toaster Strudel, but I would ultimately ruin that privilege by consuming several strudels in one sitting, thus solidifying my gluttony. And on one or two occasions my mom would allow Danny and I to eat Cookie Crisp, a cereal she deemed way to sugary for regular consumption (a theory I’m guessing was solely based on the name since I doubt Cookie Crisp had any more sugar than Cocoa Puffs). 

But as a teenager, I never ate breakfast. In college, I very rarely swiped the breakfast meal on my plan (smartly leaving me open for a CHOMP run at night or collecting a case of orange juice at the end of the month). Once I started working at a newspaper, where I typically started at 9 a.m., a breakfast bar sufficed.

But now that I wake up at 5:10 a.m. and am awake more than two hours by the time I get to work, I am a hungry hippo by 7:30 a.m. There lies my dilemma every day.

There is no way I can exist on coffee and a breakfast bar between 5 a.m. and noon. So I try to find a balance between eating something that’s filling enough to last me until noon and healthy enough that I haven’t ruined my calories two hours into the day.

I seem to go through phases. One week I was really into Greek yogurt, leading me to determine that if I were a gazillionaire, I would hire someone just to stir my yogurt. I find it detestable pre-stir.

Sometimes I get into an English muffin kick, with either peanut butter or regular guy butter. I was on an omelet run for about a year, thanks to the culinary skills of Alberto, the grill cook in the ADA Café. It got to the point where I would walk in, say “Two whites, one yolk,” and Alberto would get scrambling my spinach, tomato, mushrooms and, sigh, cheese omelet.

Sometimes I’ll treat myself and get off my bus early to stop at Corner Bakery for their Anaheim Panini breakfast sandwich, which has eggs, bacon, avocadoes and green onions all scrambled together on a sandwich. Or I’ll stay on the bus for another stop and go to Jamba Juice and have a smoothie for breakfast. I’d love to have the ability to make my own smoothie at work but I don’t know that keeping a blender at my desk is an option.

My other problem is I get very specific cravings for food. Yesterday, I wanted a cranberry orange muffin. I went to the coffee place at Water Tower Mall in search of one and lovingly discovered a raspberry scone instead. Then I was obsessed with having yogurt raisins.

So the cycle continues. I had said yogurt raisins and a granola bar for breakfast today. What’ll be my kick next week? Who knows!

Unpredictability

I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack …

Back from a lot, it seems. Back from not blogging. Almost back from two stressful home negotiations (more on that later). And not quite back from Anklegate 2011. Here I am smiling a few days after the "accident," with no idea the frustration to come. 

As everyone knows, I broke my ankle on my 30^th birthday thanks to a Sir Chachi Soderlund (Yes, he’s been knighted). I had surgery a week later and am now the proud owner of a bum ankle with a metal plate, five screws and imperfect reattached ligaments. Here's how it looked a week after surgery-fatty alert! (but cute toes-like I've said time and time again, never trust a girl who doesn't paint her toes). 

Having a Terminator ankle and not having used said body part for seven weeks has presented some problems getting back into the walking and exercising scene. I have more good days than bad, but I never know when a bad day will occur. And we all know what happens when something happens that I haven’t anticipated: TYPE A FACE EXPLOSION!!!

When I do work out, my ankle feels fine. I started out just doing the exercise bike and elliptical because those were less stressful on it, but I’ve moved on to running and taking weights classes. The only exercises I have a hard time with right now are walking lunges (can’t even do them on one side), lunges in general (I can do them but I definitely can’t do them with weights on my shoulders or in my hands) and anything involving balance.

The problem lies afterward. I never ever know how a workout is going to affect my ankle. Sometimes, it’s perfectly fine and I’m walking normal. Other times, it’s a little tight and I’m rocking a bit of a pimp limp. And there are times (like after I ran four miles outside) where I look like FDR, the polio days. A few times lately, I’ve had to hit up my babies (i.e. Vicodin-killer buzz) because I’m in quite a bit of pain. 

I’ve found the shoes I wear also have a lot to do with how the Terminator feels. Gym shoes and flat boots seem to serve it well. Sparkle flats or sandals-not so much.  I’ve tried on high heels a few times, and it’s gone from “Omg omg omg stabbing” to “Not so bad, not so bad, OK enough.”  So hopefully I’m getting there, but I think I’m a ways away from rockin’ a 5’8” stature thanks to some stilettos. It’s gotten so bad that I actually saw a pair of Naturalizer flats and said “Oh those are cute!” FML.

I’ve done some research online, and I’ve read it can take anywhere from a year to never for your ankle to feel back to normal. I ran into a woman in the elevator who had surgery on both her ankles 25 years ago and she said she still has issues. Le sigh.

It’s frustrating because I want to be back to working out four to five times a week, but it seems the ankle can only handle three, maaaaaybe four on a good week. A lot of days, after a long day of commuting downtown and walking a lot, it’s just not up for a workout. Oh yeah, it also depends on the weather. I've become a human barometer. 

My short-term goals are to be able to run a 5K by the end of the summer and take a kickboxing class. It's not that I can't do the run, it's more that I won't know how my ankle will feel on race day. Long-term goal is to run another 10K.

Chach’s short- and long-term goals for me is to break another bone so  I can stay home all day with him. Here he is performing his new trick of sitting on the top stair in hopes of tripping me on the way down. 

TNDC: Zed451

Alyssa is 2-0 as far as great picks for the TNDC. After hitting a home run with Province, she followed up with Zed451, 739 N. Clark. Amy was at her scuba diving lesson class (stupid jerk is going to Australia), and I believe Neha was sick.

Now I have to admit, I wasn’t too excited about Zed. It’s a Brazilian steakhouse, and my only other experience at that type of restaurant was in Vegas and I was not a fan. However, I wanted to try one again just to be sure it wasn’t that particular restaurant (Samba Brazilian Steakhouse at the Mirage Hotel).

Zed offers three options. You can do the “Zed Experience,” which allows you full access to their salad bar (I’ll get to that) and all-you-can-eat meat. Or you can do the “Harvest Table,” which is just the salad bar, or you can order ala Carte.

The Zed experience is pricy, $48 per person. We all said we’d be down with that on a Friday or Saturday night but it wasn’t sitting well with us on a Tuesday. So the three of us decided to do the Harvest Table. I was a little nervous I wouldn’t be full but boy was I wrong.

Zed had four separate tables filled with different salads, soups; breads, cheeses, cured meats, fruit, etc. For the salads, there was a traditional wedge salad, but also a fresh seafood salad with tuna, shrimp, avocado and mango in a vinaigrette; an heirloom tomato salad with fresh mozzarella; watermelon salad; octopus salad; etc. etc. etc. There were probably 20 different kinds.

Then came the bread, meat and cheese table: prosciutto, chorizo, salami-ish meats, various types of cubed cheese (including the Best Cheese in the World, which was some type of cheese with rosemary. As I have not eaten every cheese in the world, I could not back this statement up. It was tasty though).

If you’ve never been to a buffet or an all-you-can-drink with me, I can get a little out of control. I basically turn into a Depression-era hoarder, convinced the food or drink will go away unless I eat it all that very second. While Meghan and Alyssa had neat, separate piles of food on their plates, mine was filled to the brim. I went up three times, with the last plate being my “all star plate” with my favorites.

I would highly recommend going to Zed for their Harvest Table. It’s $24 per person and I left completely stuffed.

Meat and cheese table

Their cocktails are also very yummy. I ordered a kiwi strawberry martini, which was made from the crushed fresh fruit. Outstanding. They also had a watermelon mint mojito I am interested to try someday.

The décor and design of the restaurant reminds me of being in a bar in the middle of the Brazilian rainforest. Especially the bar area, which has wood seats and tree trunks for tables and greenery. I believe Zed also has a rooftop but since going up there would only bring us closer to the sun, we stayed inside.

The bad part about Zed is their service is shady. Again, I waited in the bar area for at least 10 minutes before I had to go up to the bar and order a drink. I can’t decide if I just don’t look like I should be served or if we just get to these places so early that their wait staff is just getting started.

But that’s not even the shadiest part. When we sat at the table, the only thing in front of us was a drink menu. Our waitress came over and explained how the restaurant worked but neglected to mention any option except the Zed Experience (the most expensive option). Luckily, we had all gone on the website prior to dinner and knew you could do just the salad bar or order off the menu. We had to bring this up to her and only after the second mention did she offer us a menu.

But now YOU know.

P.S.-Alyssa is 30 now so her choices from here on out may be on the sophisticated side. I’m still 29.

TNDC: Girl & the Goat

What a wonderful dining experience. Hands-down the best dinner club we’ve ever had, and one of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to. We made the reservations at Girl & the Goat, 800 W. Randolph, two months ago. I was worried the buildup would only reveal a letdown, but trust me, it was worth the wait.

If you’re a person who doesn’t like to try new things or gets hung up on what you’re eating or the combination of the foods you’re eating, this place probably isn’t for you. I encourage you to try it, but if your brain can’t come in with a blank slate and just let your taste buds take over, it’s not worth it.

Some background: Girl & the Goat is THE hot restaurant in Chicago right now. It takes about two months to get a reservation during the week, and I have no idea how long on a weekend. I just did an experiment and tried to make a 7 p.m. Saturday night reservation about a month out. The times Opentable.com gives me are in mid-August at 4:30 p.m. on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

The chef is Stephanie Izard, who won “Top Chef.” Food & Wine magazine named her one of the best new chefs, and she’s been featured on a number of other top 10 lists for her culinary skills and the restaurant. She really is the toast of the town right now.

Let me start by saying the service was fantastic. The staff does not treat you like you should feel lucky to be dining at the hottest restaurant in town (SCREW YOU PURPLE PIG!) Amy, Neha, Meg and I arrived a little earlier than Alyssa, so we got a drink at the bar while we waited. The bar was PACKED with walk-in diners who couldn’t get a regular table, but the bartender spotted me right away and handed me a drink menu. I assume my super cuteness also had something to do with this J

Our waitress was great-very knowledgeable about the food, gave us a guide for how many dishes we should order (Girl & the Goat does small plates) and offered us the opportunity to meet Stephanie Izard after we were finished eating.

Here’s what we ordered and my impressions of the food:

-Empanadas with goat. Good, but not great.

-Sautéed green beans with fish sauce vinaigrette and cashews. Delicious. Meghan said, “I don’t even like green beans and those are good.”

-Chickpea fritters. I didn’t think I would like these, but they were great. They had romesco, hazlenut hummus, sesame and goat feta. Kind of like deep-fried fritters.

-Grilled baby octopus with wax beans, radish, favas and pistachio-lemon vinaigrette. This was more like an octopus salad. Not bad but probably my least favorite dish of the evening.

-Ham frites with smoked tomato aioli and cheddar beer sauce. These were French fries with some sort of ham/bacon awesomeness drizzled or salted on them. Best fries I’ve ever had.

-Goat chorizo flatbread with ramp pesto, rhubarb and fresh ricotta. Fantastic.

-Sugo, which was linguini, rosemary and cape gooseberries. Not a huge fan. I think the rosemary threw me off.

-Grilled hanger steak with grilled maitakes, sugar snaps, miso-marcona almond and green almond nuoc cham. I don’t know what half of that stuff is, but the steak was marvelous. Thinly sliced, medium rare and over some sort of goodness sauce. Yum.

-Wood oven-roasted pig face with a sunny side egg, tamarind, cilantro and potato stix. I know what you’re thinking: EW. Not in the least. Hands-down my favorite dish of the night. No, it did not look like I was eating an actual face. It looked like two meat patties with an egg on top (see picture). The server brought it over and told us to “Eat it like we are annihilating it. Mix it all together, cut it up and then eat it so you get all the flavors.” AWESOME. It was sweet tasting, like it was cooked in brown sugar or something. If you ever go to this restaurant, wipe your brain of any pig face fears and order this.

Dessert:

-Rhubarb and lemons with shortcake, buttermilk panna cotta, lemon gelato and salted graham cracker. This came in a mason jar and was really delicious.

-Ganache pork fat doughnuts, yuzu blackberries, salted oat streusel and malted vanilla gelato. My least favorite of the desserts only because it mixed fruit and chocolate and that’s not really my gig.

-Bittersweet chocolate with shiitake gelato and toffee crème fraiche. This was a brownie with mushroom ice cream. Sounds freakin’ weird right? AMAZING. Our server told us sometimes the mushroom ice cream was a little funky, depending on how many mushrooms were in there. I did not eat the ice cream on its own but some of the other girls did and said you could definitely taste mushrooms. I chose to eat it with the chocolate brownie and the other stuff and was not disappointed. Another dish you MUST order if you go there.

One of the best parts of the meal was when we got the bill. After our experience at Sunda last time, I was expecting another pricey meal. It was only $37 a person! We were delighted!

I left in a flash to catch the 7:40 p.m. train, so I did not get to meet Stephanie Izard after dinner (see picture). I’m very jealous but also can’t regret my decision since if I would have not made that train, I would have been on the 8:40 p.m. train, which was delayed an hour because of the storms. If I would have tried for the 9:40 p.m. train, that would have sucked because it was canceled.

I hope after reading this you are ready to make a reservation at this place. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

TNDC: Sunda

Every time I read the Chicago Tribune’s About Last Night blog or US Weekly, it seems as if some celebrity ate at Sunda. For the past year or so, Sunda has been on the tips of anybody who’s anybody’s tongue as one of the new hot restaurants in Chicago.

It’s owned by Billy Dec, who also owns Rockit and The Underground and is a celeb magnet. So popular that he supposedly dated Jen from The Bachelorette.

Naturally, the TNDC was curious. Neha was finally able to make a dinner, and this was her pick. Alyssa was wining and dining her husband in honor of his birthday, so she was not in attendance.

The Trib named Sunda, 110 W. Illinois, one of its top 10 celebrity hangout spots in 2010. The cast of “Glee” ate there last week after their concert at the Allstate Arena. The Tribune also lists the following celebs as frequenters: Miami Heat’s LeBron James, New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter and San Francisco 49ers legend Joe Montana, actors Vince Vaughn, John Cusack, Colin Farrell, Jeremy Piven, Channing Tatum, Josh Duhamel, Jared Leto, Leighton Meester, Jason Statham, Patrick Dempsey, David Schwimmer, Kate Walsh, Lea Michele and Cory Monteith, singers Fergie and Kesha, rapper Common, rock bands Green Day and Soundgarden, the Bears’ Jay Cutler, the Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane and reality TV star Nicole Richie.

On this particular day, it was about 95 degrees in the city. A sweltering, rainforest-like heat wave had blanketed Chicagoland and it proved quite uncomfortable and sticky.

Neha and I decided to cool off at Rockit, 22 W. Hubbard, which ended up being an unfortunate experience. I got there first and was told even though the rest of the restaurant was empty I could only sit in the bar area, which was filled with tall, two-seater tables. We had three, but I did not argue (the heat must have really gotten to me). I waited about five minutes and did not receive any type of drink menu. Then Neha arrived, aghast at the seating arrangements. She asked the hostess if we could sit at a larger table, and she said we should just pull up another chair if we had a third. Grrr. Again, no drink menu. Nobody came over. So we left.

We headed over to Hub 51, 51 W. Hubbard, where a similar experience ensued. Nobody came over! We really began to wonder whether we stank. So we had to walk up to the bar and order our drinks. Tres annoying.

Meghan joined us and the three of us determined we were STARVING so we headed over to Sunda early to order an appetizer while we waited for Amy. We decided on two orders of the Sticky-Icky Rice, which is steamed sweet rice with chicken, mushrooms, water chestnuts and chives wrapped in lotus leaves. It came out in covered bamboo containers, and you unwrapped the lotus leaves to find a thick patty of rice underneath. It looked weird. And once you cut it open, it still looked weird with little chicken bits inside. But it was soooo good. Rice was perfect amount of stickiness, and if you dipped it into the soy sauce, mmmmm. I don’t really have any sophisticated adjectives to describe this dish, it was just freakin’ good.

Amy only eats “fake” sushi, which apparently also includes tempura style sushi so she ordered two rolls. Meghan ordered the “Shaking” Beef, which was “wok-seared beef filet, greens and lime-pepper dipping sauce. She described it as “shish-kabob-style beef” and seemed to enjoy it.

Neha and I decided to split four sushi rolls so we got a rainbow roll, a spicy tuna roll, a hand roll with crab, shrimp tempura, salmon, and spicy tuna and the stuffed avocado, what we thought was a roll. The food came out on four plates and Ne looked at me and said “Kel, what did we order?” The rainbow roll and the spicy tuna roll were standard sushi. The hand roll looked like a wrap, cut in half. The stuffed avocado was not, in fact, a roll but it really was an avocado, stuffed with tuna. It. Was. Delish. The tuna was diced and shaved into little pieces and stuffed inside a perfectly ripe avacado. I highly recommend. The hand roll was OK-Neha liked it better than I did. The other rolls were good too. But given the price of the meal (mine and Neha’s bill was $72 each), I should have been stuffed to the brim and wanting to sleep with the owner for the deliciousness. We felt like we could get just as good of sushi at a cheaper restaurant (South Coast-what what!)

We each graded the meal. Meghan was the most generous with an A-. I believe Amy gave it a B+ and Neha and I decided that while our meal was good, the price to goodness ratio warranted a flat B.

I think Sunda is a great place to have a drink and some appetizers with friends. But if you’re looking for sushi, I can recommend a number of other places with just as good if not better sushi for a better price.

And no, we did not see any celebrities. I looked.

Run for the Reaper

Last year I said I wanted to run a 10K before I turned 30. Well folks, the Grim Reaper appears to be edging closer so I figured it was time to get on it. I am officially signed up for the Huntley Youth Sports Organization Run for the Sun on June 12.

I started running 5K races last year and really enjoy it. I love the camaraderie of my fellow runners, the adrenaline I get in a race environment and the goodie bag swag. But I really never thought I’d be able to get over the 4-mile hump. That’s the most I had run on my own and a 10K did not seem within my reach.

A couple weeks ago, I decided I wanted to try taking it up a notch. I ended up running 4.67 miles, and I was very proud of myself. After that accomplishment, I figured another 1.5 miles was doable.

Before I signed up, I wanted to make sure I could clear more than 5 miles. If I didn’t die at the end of it, I was going to devote my sweat to a 10K. So my friend and I took off on a gloomy Saturday and did 5.5 miles. And we didn’t die.

So there you have it. Come June 12, I won’t be driving to Huntley for the outlet mall but to torture myself by running 6.2 miles. At least I’ll have my home girls Adrienne and Erin to commiserate with.

TNDC: Currents on the River

Maybe the chef was out of town. Maybe, like the menu billed, he was cooking dinner for Van Halen or Madonna. Regardless, whoever was in the kitchen made crappy food.

TNDC was Meghan’s pick this week, and she chose Currents on the River, at Adams and Wacker. We thought it a lovely choice given a possible opportunity to sit outside on the river, the menu looked great online and you can’t beat the atmosphere. All wrong.

Prior to our arrival, we discovered the restaurant closed at 7 p.m. Very odd. But we were fine with it because I like to catch the earlier train the better, and Alyssa was leaving for a conference in the morning so she wanted to get home to pack. Neha was traveling again (South Carolina), and Amy was at the Cubs game, so it was just me, Meggie and Al.

Meghan and I met there for our obligatory cocktail, and the restaurant looked like a Holiday Inn lounge. Pretty pitiful décor, green carpet, standard-issue chairs. The restaurant was in the basement of an office building so we were eye-level with the river. No outside patio. But basically we were face-to-face with one of the boat tour boats, which apparently launched from the restaurant. And that’s when we realized we were possibly frequenting a tourist trap.

Al showed up around 5:30 p.m., and the bartender told us to sit anywhere. The restaurant was empty except for a going away party in the back so we took a table by the window so we could look at the river. About seven or eight minutes went by before anyone came over with menus or water. It wasn’t until Alyssa called the waiter over that he acknowledged us.

The front of the menu says the chef used to be the personal chef for Van Halen, The Eagles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson and Madonna. So regardless of the sub-par atmosphere, we were looking forward to some good food.

Alyssa had eaten a late lunch so she just ordered a chopped salad. Didn’t hear any complaints there. Meghan ordered the Tuscan tortellini, which had grilled chicken, Italian sausage, roasted garlic, parmesan and a chicken veloute sauce. No immediate complaints or accolades awarded. I ordered a steak sandwich and made my opinion well known. The steak was cold. Not cold like it was supposed to be served cold. It was cold like it had been sitting there for awhile cold. It was supposed to have a mango chutney sauce on it and it seemed more like mango marmalade. So picture a steak sandwich with jelly on top. And nothing else. No tomato, lettuce, onion, cheese. It was nasty. Below is a picture of what I thought mango chutney looked like.

Post-nastiness occurred last night with Meghan, who was sick from her meal. “Epic restaurant fail,” she reported this morning.

Don’t go here. Even if you do the architectural tour on the river (which I highly recommend) find another restaurant.