07.29 - Love Tastes Good

There's something about food that's prepared by people you know or are close to that makes the food taste so much better. A wise man once said that a home-cooked meal is better than going out to a restaurant because it's touched with love. So, ultimately, either he was trying to say that love makes food taste good or that it doesn't matter what the food tastes like because the love that went into it is what matters. Haha. Either way, I like that theory since a lot of the food I prepare at home tends to struggle a bit. *smirk* Anyway, I had a lot of good, loving food last week. :}

Here's just a little of it:

the dragon roll


the italian

07.21 - Chicken-off-the-Bone Kinda Girl

I just had a sick craving for some rotisserie chicken. The kind that's flavorful and juicy and sorta falls off the bone. There's luckily a decent place nearby that I go to when such cravings arise. So anyway, now I'm here at my desk, cutting into my delicious chicken with a plastic knife and fork, chomping away as quietly and discreetly as possible . . . and the question suddenly comes to mind: to eat the cartilage or not?

Growing up, my brother and I pretty much learned our eating habits from our parents, which meant not wasting food and eating our chicken as thoroughly as possible (yes, that meant skin and cartilage were included). Eating every bit of the chicken till you get a completely clean bone is so rewarding. It's like you've done the chicken justice! :} But I've known many who find chicken-off-the-bone eating a bit disturbing. So how proper is it for me to be chompin' on chicken cartilage at work? I mean, it's bad enough that the delicious aroma is permeating the cubicle walls as my coworkers are trying to do their business. How much worse that my coworkers will be able to hear me crunching on something that can really only be the chicken's joint cartilage? Doesn't that go against in-office eating etiquette?

Anyway, contemplating and writing took too much time. Ha. I ended up just going for only some of the cartilage-- the softer pieces so I could crunch away quietly and not seem like a complete barbarian. *triumphant smile* Mmm, chicken off the bone is quite yummy.

07.17 - All in the Toppings

My buddy JCK came to have lunch with me today and he wasn't feeling up for anything ethnic, so we settled on the tried and true burger. Ah, the burger. Such a boring food by itself. But with a little bit of square-shaped dairy product and other wondrous toppings, you have yourself one heck of a hearty and delicious sandwich.

We went to this pub by my work that's known for its burgers, and I love their menu because they have about 20 burgers will all sorts of toppings. I had trouble deciding on whether to get the mediterranean (feta and olives), the black and blue (blue cheese with cajun spices), or the total burger (sauteed mushrooms, choice of cheese, and bacon). I ended up with the total burger-- as did my buddy. Mmm, good stuff.



I am a sucker for burgers with unique or delicious toppings, but my favorite "normal" combination is cheddar cheese, bacon, and a fried egg on top. Oh man. When it comes to that, I have no self-control. Haha.

Eatery Info: Monk's Pub, 205 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL 60606

07.15 - I Want Some-moah Food

A bunch of Chicago & LA relatives and I headed to San Francisco/Oakland this past weekend for my cousin’s wedding, and we had a great time in the family bonding and eating departments. I was a little disappointed at not being able to eat more “Frisco” foods, though I was fairly content with all the airport, Denny’s, and wedding grub. Ha. Speaking of wedding grub, my cousin married a Samoan so they pretty much had this massive all-you-can-eat buffet at the reception. I wish I could say I was able to distinguish what was Filipino, Samoan, and whatever other cuisine they had there-- but all I remember was everything being really fattening and delicious. Ha.

My Stomach's Weekend Adventures:


my cousin S and I had a 3-hour flight delay at ORD (argh!)...so we made the most of it


breakfast the next morning-- after our long night, Denny's was enticing enough and close enough to our hotel


fried food extravaganza at the wedding buffet


no wedding is complete without Mr. Piggy


my second plate-- I was too busy eating to take a picture of my first


red velvet wedding cake-- so, apparently, it's Samoan custom to offer cake tiers as gifts to special guests (they had like a multi-level10-15 tier cake, but unfortunately, I was not one of those special guests)


post wedding cobbler and coffee-- our waiter looked like Matt Damon and he thought all my choices were like the best thing ever, haha-- my cousins were mad that I didn't care to get his number but, frankly, he was wayyy too excited about their special blend Columbian coffee


Denny's breakfast - Day 2 (there were about 15 of us, so it was the best option yet again)


This was my cousin S's order-- wheat pancakes, egg whites, turkey bacon, oatmeal. *heavy sigh* I have no idea how we get along so well.


And, lastly, here's the clam chowder bread bowl I had at SFO that I tried really hard to pretend I was having at Fisherman's Wharf instead.

07.08 - Take Me Out to the Ballgame (and Buy Me Food, Please)

The boys (A, J, E) and I headed to Wrigley Field yesterday for the Cubs vs. Braves game. Our Cubbies ended up losing so it was quite disappointing (*sigh*) . . . but, on the plus side, the food was quite enjoyable. Instead of getting regular-sized hotdogs, we decided to be indulgent and opted for the footlong dogs instead. Ha. Best. Idea. Ever.

Our Ballpark Menu:
- footlong brat with everything but chili
- footlong hot dog with everything but onions
- footlong hot dog with only a few toppings that I can't remember
- two orders of nachos with cheese and an excessive amount of jalapenos
- fries and an extra container of warm cheese
- chicken tenders with more fries
- a few brewskies
- a bottle of water


yummy yummy in our tummies


close-up of my hot dog (and, yes, that is my hand...)

07.07 - Paddy Fatties

My dear friend D and I had a craving for Irish food yesterday. Actually, this craving had been building up for about . . . 6 months or so. Ha. So we finally headed over to a pub and fulfilled our desires for all things yummy and Irish. ;) We had a full Irish breakfast (complete with rashers, pudding, baked beans, and soda bread) and of course corned beef & cabbage, and we topped it all off with some Irish cider and Irish red ale. I think our waitress thought we were having way too much fun with the Irish theme. Haha. Anyway, it was such a gorgeous summer day, so we were feeling quite full and content. Sadly, I did not bring my beloved new camera so, although I took some phone camera shots of our food, I refuse to put them up. But I did take this decent one while D and I were sitting at the pub window. Good stuff. :}



In other news, we decided to do a bit of shopping at the brand spankin' new Whole Foods on North Ave, and we ran into this gigantic hand sculpture on the way out. The second I looked at it, I felt comforted by its familiarity. And I realized . . . it was my hand, only blown-up, slighly more manly, and extra wrinkly. I'm not exaggerating either. I've had old lady hands since the young age of 2. Ha.



Eatery Info: Paddy Long's, 1028 W Diversey Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60686
Eatery Info II: Whole Foods Market Lincoln Park, 1550 N Kingsbury, Chicago, IL 60642

07.06 - Wrong Expectations

It's always an interesting experience when you expect something from your food . . . and it ends up being something completely different. I had two experiences like that this past week . . .

1) I had a sick taco craving after looking at taco pictures on a random food blog, so I went by a random Mexican place and ordered me some carnitas tacos. I know what carnitas are. I mean, I've had them before. It's pretty much just flavorful, tender, shredded pork. Right?! So imagine my surprise when my carnitas tacos had bits of chopped up intestines in them. Yeaahhhh . . . normally, I'd be a bit grossed out, but I didn't realize it until after taking a bite of the strangely chewy deliciousness. So I went right ahead and ate it all. Ha. Maybe I ordered wrong. *shrug* Oh well. It was darn good.


a deliciously chewy surprise

2) I was at a BBQ (as were most people this weekend) and our very kind hostess asked me if I wanted dessert. My ears perked up and I of course accepted. They had rocky road brownies so she asked if I wanted them plain or a la mode. I of course wanted them a la mode. Cold vanilla ice cream over warm chocolately brownie! Super yummy, right? That is until the hostess chose to go all out with the BBQ theme and decided to warm the brownies on the grill. Then you pretty much got chocolately brownie infused with grilled meat flavor. *nauseated look* I was so disturbed after one bite that I ate all the ice cream, threw the brownies away, and pretty much spent the rest of the night eating and drinking whatever I could to get rid of the grilled brownie flavor that I kept burping up. *shudder* Never again.


good for za meat, not so much for za brownie