Eat: Found (Evanston, IL)

At Found Kitchen & Social House, dinner–-courtesy of Northwestern–-was served family style:

• kale and swiss chard salad with blueberries - excellent, lightly dressed
• black-striped bass, chinese broccoli, radish, green goddess & walnut pesto - my surprise favorite entrée
• grilled farm steak, roasted baby beets, faro & herbed labneh - good, but I did not taste the labneh
• lemon pound cake, blueberry sauce, apricot ice cream - excellent

We were seated in a private room in the back around round tables, which was a good setup for dinner conversation. 

Eat: Xoco (Chicago, IL)

We had the Goat Barbacoa Torta and Chicken Escabeche Salad, the first time I've had chicken that was perfectly cooked, instead of dry, in a salad. The children had tortilla chips, Chicken Caldo, and Horchata Agua Frescas. For dessert, we had the Dark Chocolate Cherry Tart and Hazelnut-glazed Churro. The adults preferred the tart, which was not as sweet and had more complex flavor, to the churro. We also enjoyed the choice of complimentary still or sparkling water. Service was uniformly excellent, delivered with a real sense of warmth.

Chicken Escabeche Salad

Dark Chocolate Cherry Tart

Hazelnut-glazed Churro

Update (July 25, 2016) - I returned on our last day in Chicago to order their hot chocolate, both the authentic and classic. Both were excellent although the children did not care for bittersweet chocolate flavor, even though both were very smooth. At first, I thought the cups were rather small, but after drinking them, they are perhaps a shade generous given the richness of the drink.

My favorite restaurant experience in Chicago.

Eat: NYC Dining

Brunch at The Grey Dog (Chelsea/Meatpacking District) - salad of avocado, smoked salmon, and poached eggs on arugula was yummy; kids loved the dog bone shaped pancakes. We ended up getting another order to satisfy them. The chicken soup with meatballs was a tad salty but otherwise good. Alas, as with nearly every meal in NYC, it was pricey.

Broadway Bites at Greely Square

Broadway Bites at Greely Square - awesome seasonal pop-up in a park-like setting. I enjoyed the Connecticut lobster roll from Red Hook Lobster Pound. Gua bao from Kaya was decent but doesn't compare to the ones back home in Taipei. Jicama California Street Food - kids enjoyed the watermelon agua fresca (I liked that it wasn't too sweet), taco was decent, and the tamale was a little disappointing (too mushy). But an excellent different experience just minutes from our hotel.

Baked Pacherri Pasta Stuffed with Ricotta Mushroom Filling

This was an experiment as I had a lot of enoki mushrooms and ricotta to use up. I sautéed chopped enoki mushrooms with some garlic, and then folded it into ricotta. I stood the Pacherri on end in a casserole, put the filling into a plastic bag and piped it into the tubes, then covered the whole in bottled pasta sauce and sprinkled with cheese. I baked it in an oven for 45 minutes. Next time I'll actually pre-cook the pasta before as it came out very chewy, but it wasn't bad.

KAF Easy Cheesecake with Thermapen

Mr. Nomad Foodie gave me a Thermapen recently. Tonight I made King Arthur's Easy Cheesecake - it's been awhile since I've made it, and I wasn't paying close attention as I was cleaning up the kitchen. The cheesecake is clearly too brown, and the thermometer bears witness: the pie registered at 190°F when I took it out, 20°F higher than it should be. Tomorrow I'll know for sure how it's affected the texture.

Travel Update

The world (23 countries; 25 if you count Hong Kong and Macau separately, 10% of the world):
create your own visited country map

The United States (29 states, 56%):
create your own personalized map of the USA

Canada (3 states, 23%):

create your own personalized map of Canada

Hot-smoked salmon with dill pasta

I keep buying hot-smoked salmon from Costco in an attempt to up my Omega-3 intake, but most recipes that use smoked salmon refer to cold-smoked salmon (the kind you'd put on your bagel with cream cheese). Then, the packets of salmon just sit around my pantry forever.

Anyways, I found this recipe from BBC Good Food (seems like hot-smoked salmon is more common in the UK than in the US). I didn't have just plain peas, so I subbed the frozen veg mix I had on hand, as well as leftover heavy cream for the creme fraiche. Still quick and delicious!

Little Miss Nomad Foodie seemed to like the salmon and dill, but not as much as the pasta Bolognaise that I made a couple of weeks ago.