12/19/2013 Adventure #1: Eataly Chicago

So now it's time to share Adventure #1, Eataly Chicago. I'm not really sure how to start this? For one, I'm a bit stunned.Why? First of all, I can't do this place justice with one post without rewriting "Crime and Punishment" or something like that. This place got so much acclaim and incredible response in the first week of opening, they closed it one day to catch their breath. As I already said, this is the first of probably 2 or 3 posts on my Eataly visit. This location is actually bigger than its New York City sibling. Eataly came in with such great hype considering the players who are involved (Mario Batali, Joe and Lydia Bastianich). As you will soon see, everything you've heard is true.  

This is from the panini/sandwich section.It looks pretty nice.
Notice the nice ham being sliced on the right? From what I saw, the cut wasn't too thin or too thick. To the left is the Prep station. Once I got inside, I noticed how it was set up. There was plenty of room for staff to move around and not be on top of each other. I've worked in a restaurant and space is a premium. There's nothing worse than being trapped. If I were to place a bet, this was one of the first things the ownership put into place. It's not always the big stuff that makes an operation work. This is one example.

A brief description of the Eataly facility. I don't think you need me to explain further since the sign speaks for itself. This is what welcomes you when you walk into Eataly. The sign below also explains some house rules that speak for themselves. The 3 Eataly Policies in 3 sentences.......

in English ...........

........and Italian!!! Just to make sure everyone is clear. 

Nice looking peppers. So far I've walked about 10 feet into the store. Most of your produce is on the first floor. Pantry items like jams and coffee as well as chocolates, books, gelato, and various other sweets are located on the first floor. 

A brief explanation about Jams. 

...along with the various offering Eataly offers. 

An intro to chocolate.......

.....and some product SOME product offering. 

Looks good, doesn't it? 

An guide to the first floor. 

Kitchen supplies. Mostly the product lines are the owner's line. 

Solid selections of mushrooms. I'll let the pictures do the talking. 

Panini station from the inside. 

While not cheap, the sandwiches are made fresh and look VERY appealing (I ate before I got there). My next visit I will be eating at least one of the various dining options here. 

 More sweets on the right and left.

Coffee section. Mocha galore!!

If you want chocolate ............

 .........you got it.

more chocolate.........

 ........... and more chocolate. I tried one and it was good!! 

Your eyes don't deceive you. Nutella has dedicated space here. From what I saw, it was VERY popular among the visitors. 

More from the Nutella land. 

Now the sign for the second floor.

I decided to keep this first floor post short and let the pictures speak for themselves. This is the opening act. I saw this and felt this would be an appropriate place to stop. What I shared is from the first floor. Now if Eataly stopped  here, that may be good enough. My issue is that I haven't even scratched the surface. This place is absolutely amazing. I have decided that I will break this into 2 (yes I said TWO) other posts. Even if splitting into two other posts, I STILL don't think I can do it justice. I have seen some AMAZING specialty shops in my lifetime and Eataly may top them all. Anything Italian is in the building. I may not be able to write the next posts until after the New Year. I trust you will not be disappointed. For those who have been to this location, you already know what I mean. This place is truly amazing and in the coming posts about Eataly, you'll know why. I look forward to share this with you. For those who have been there, you know what I mean. This is only the introduction. 

12/19/13 Adventure #2: 2013 Christkindlmarket Chicago

Now why would I title this Adventure # 2 when I haven't posted Adventure #1 yet? Yes, I know that sounds strange, right? I actually had two adventures last Thursday. This was the second part of my adventure. Adventure #1 is going to take some time. I also went to a very new and very popular market place. In fact, I tweeted about it a few times over the week. I was so blown away by the first adventure that it may be the most detailed posting I've done. It will be VERY hard to do this. In fact, Adventure #1 will take 2 to 3 parts to do it and I still may not scratch the surface. So, with this being the easier Adventure to write about, I did this one first (although it was the second of the Adventures). I DOUBT you'll be disappointed.

This is somewhat a new tradition for me. About 10 years ago (through a chain of events), I decided to learn German. I had actually wanted to learn German for some time but never pulled the trigger. So I signed up for the class and for the next 3 years, I would take the effort to learn this interesting but difficult language. Right now, I'm a bit rusty but through modern technology I will refresh myself. After the quarter ended (the local college was still on a quarters system), we ended the class with an unofficial field trip. We had dinner at the legendary Berghoff and then went to the Christkindlmarket not far away. The market is located in downtown Chicago in Daley Plaza, which is 3 blocks west of legendary Chicago landmark Macy's (aka, the old Marshall Fields building) on State Street.

I noticed how similar English and German are and in more ways than one. Some of our words are similar but with different spellings (e.g., jogging VS joggen, the sea VS der See, I congratulate VS ich gratuliere, etc.). As I went along, I also took a moment to see how similar our foods are as well. I am a Chicago-area native and this is a melting pot of all people. Not to mention my neighbors to the north (aka, Wisconsin) keeps that old world flavor. Food a prepared the same way as they were done over many generations. Maybe living where I live gives me a greater appreciation for this. In one way, shape of form, the foods meet almost at a crossroads. One will keep a more traditional approach, and others will go a completely different route as the pictures will see. I hope you'll enjoy these pictures. If you go to this market, BRING PLENTY OF CASH (most of the vendors don't accept credit cards now).

I noticed one thing over the years. Germans, like Americans, love their sweets. Above are a variety of peanuts. Some salted and some sweetened. We'll revisit this a bit later. 

Ok, ladies. This is for you. You see chocolate above. Strawberries were the main item of attraction. These were quite popular among attenders. I saw several of them purchased that day. All done fresh!! More chocolate on the bottom as well.  

Looking good, right? I thought so. I can tell you they did taste good as I had them previously.  

Santa's House. What good Christmas Market would be right with out one? Strange that I started with sweets first but that's how the market was laid out.  Now, it time for the meat of the matter. It starts now. 

The closer sausages in this picture are weisswursts. If you're not familiar with weisswurst, it got its name because the sausage is white (more than the bratwurst or knockwurst). This sausage is made with veal (fairly coarse grind) and pork back bacon, normally seasoned with parsley, salt, pepper and onions (some use lemon powder). The texture is MUCH smoother than bratwurst. The German bratwursts served here were a bit smaller than their American cousin. Regardless, they tasted fantastic.  You can have it served with or without sauerkraut. 

Now don't adjust your eyes. You're seeing exactly what you think you seeing. This may be a shock for some of you.  Did you ever associate curry with German food? The name is just what implies. Currywust was born somewhat by accident. As legend has it, a woman named Herta Heuwer created this dish. Not long after World War 2, Heuwer obtained some English curry from British soldiers. At this time, spices were pretty rare to obtain. She managed to experiment with it and the currywurst was born. The modern currywurst has taken some Middle East (specifically Turkish) as well as Indian influence. (1).

In America, we have the fried potato (as do they). In Germany, it's the potato pancake (kartoffelpluffer, if I'm remembering correctly, the literal translation is potato buffer).  Most of them are made with grated potatoes, mixed with spices and sour cream. Sour cream is also served on the side. Also served with applesauce. I found 2 recipes that could serve as a point of reference. The links are below the next picture. This is another German food staple.

I found 2 recipes that might be of interest to some of you,:

http://www.bavariankitchen.com/sides/kartoffelpuffer.aspx (2).

http://www.germany-insider-facts.com/german-potato-pancakes.html#.UrdkJtJDt8E (3).

Now how can a leave such a happy face off this page? She was actually very nice. Bratwurst, potato pancakes among the main features again. 

Stollen from Dinkel's. Chicago Illinois. They served a few different flavors as you can see here. You can buy slices but for future reference, bring enough cash where you can buy a whole one. 

You like Pretzels? You'll get more than your fill here.  Pretty hard to miss, right?

There were SIX pretzel flavors. I kept mine simple but if I recall, there were 

Menu board and one VERY hard working vendor!! It was pretty wild that day. 

Brats galore again. 

 Here's one of my personal favorites in Helmut's Strudel (right and below). I've enjoyed them for a number of years. I try to support the people who come from a long distance and Helmut's delivers consistently. As I touched on earlier, you can buy either a slice of strudel or a whole one. Do the latter and you won't be sorry. What began as a frozen food business grew into something better. I chose the cherry.

 Potatoes anyone? On the left, the price on the menu board. On the right, the actual fried potatoes being cooked. I think this was quite a treat.

Above are nuts, being prepare with sugar. 

The finished product.................

More sausages!!! I bet since they knew they were in Chicago, they knew they BEST stay ahead of demand. Served with Dusseldorf mustard (show below). This style of mustard gets it name from the city in Germany. Some compare it to Dijon, only a but stronger in taste and darker in color. This is more my speed. Some versions have a little more "bite" (or spice) than others. They must contain both brown and yellow mustard seeds. This article does a nice job explaining Dusseldorf mustard: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-05/entertainment/sc-food-0831-dusseldorf-mustard-20120905_1_dijon-mustard-works-national-mustard-museum (4)

Dusseldorf Mustard..... and ketchup?!?! I hope it's not going on any sausage. 

Germknodel.  Until last week, I had never heard of this. It's a yeast dough dumpling mixed with poppy seeds and sugar. Then it's filled with a jam (normally plum). I didn't get to try this but if did look pretty good. Maybe I should try to make this one day. 

OK. There it is in a nutshell. There was a bit I left out. I decided to do this from a couple of angles. The first is to focus on what I didn't do last year. I felt no need to touch on the beer garden since if you've seen one, you probably seen them all. I touched on the chocolate (INSANE amounts of chocolate) and non alcoholic drinks last year. I started a post on last year's market and hope to do it in two parts. So part two never came. Maybe this could serve as part 2. I may post some of those pictures in a different post.Since the is a food blog, I would just focus on food. There is so much to find at a market like this. There are vendors who sell all things German and I do mean just that. Steins, blown glass, Ku Ku Clocks, toys. gifts, you can name it. I got lucky. It was pretty warm the say I went (about 40 degrees Fahrenheit or about 5 degree Celsius). Prepare for the weather.  I wish there was a bit more space. It can get pretty crowded fast and people (sadly) like to sight see instead of walking.  That's my only complaint. Other than that, it's a good time for all. I know I had fun. It's close to public transportation (especially for people like me who took a suburban train into the city). 

 Works Cited:
1. "The Craze over the Currywurst", Roman Kessler, Wall Street Journal Online, August 29, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204884404574364600782551292
2. "Bavarian Kartoffelpuffer, Reidekuchen, Reiberdatschi- Potato Pancake Recipe", Bavarian Kitchen Blog.
3.  "German Potato Pancake", Germany Insider Facts Internet site.
4. "Pass The Dusseldorf", Bill Daley, Chicago Tribune Online, September 5, 2012.

2013 Thanksgiving Dinner

OK. No cleaver titles this time around!! I know it's been a while since I posted something. So what better subject to discuss is my Thanksgiving Day dinner. A time for family and gratitude for those who came before me. As usual, the dinner was fantastic!!! You may have you mind blown when you see the amount of food we had (you'll at least see the main courses). As is customary, my family had dinner at my parent's home. Someone will bring something to eat. Mom did the turkey & dressing. While I can't give out the recipes used (since I don't know them), I'll try to share something close and properly cite where I took the recipe from. Most of them anyway.

This is what happens when you arrive just a tad late. As you can see, mac & cheese, cranberry sauce, ham, & turkey (dark & white meat). Mom made the turkey and the cranberry sauce, my cousin made the mac and cheese (and thank goodness he's no longer a vegan) and my Aunt did the ham. One thing of note. Mom did 2- 15 pound turkeys. She finds there's much less margin for error. She cooked it to 165 degree internal temperature and used a brine. She NEVER stuffs the turkey either. Again, reduces any potential for under cooking the bird or whatever the bird will be stuffed with. Here are some recipes that may be of help:

Brines: http://lifehacker.com/5860136/this-is-how-you-should-cook-your-turkey-next-thursday-or-you-could-waste-hours-of-your-life (1)

http://bbq.about.com/od/turkeybrinerecipes/tp/10turkeybrinerecipes.htm (2)

 Above is the cornbread dressing. This is a staple at holiday dinner (specifically Thanksgiving & Christmas). It's more of a Southern staple as well (I spent all but 4 years of my life living in the Chicago area but many member of my family are from the South). My immediate family lineage is more spread throughout Southern Illinois. This is fairly simple when it's all said & done. Once you eat a good cornbread dressing, forget it!!! You WON'T want anything else. VERY filling and hearty. As a matter of fact, I'll be eating some of this after I finish this post!! Below are links to some good cornbread dressings for your review. You'll notice that the basic steps are the same but slight differences in what goes into it. Mom's includes mushrooms:
 Southern Style Cornbread Dressing.
        http://menumusings.blogspot.com/2011/12/southern-style-cornbread-dressing.html (3)
        http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/southern-cornbread-stuffing-recipe/index.html (4)
        http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2009/11/southern-cornbread-dressing-stuffing.html#axzz2mMMh4nYy (5)

Gravy. I won't waste time with a recipe itself but I'll tell you how I doctored my dish up a bit. I found some fresh garlic heads so I added some on my plate and mixed the garlic, gravy and dressing together. I also added some habanero sauce for some kick. It worked like a charm!!

Yams or sweet potatoes. If there's one dish where there's a tight rope/balancing act, this is the one. You can go from not sweet enough to way too sweet. This version of sweet potatoes, also done by my Mom, doesn't have marshmallows. Did you know that the yam and the sweet potato come from 2 different plants? 

 Yes they are: http://www.freep.com/article/20131128/FEATURES02/311280006/sweet-potatoes-vs-yams-rinsing-turkey (6).

Sweet potatoes: http://www.southernliving.com/food/entertaining/10-sweet-potato-recipes-00417000075762/ (7).

Baked ham. My Aunt did this one. If only time permitted, I might have gone out and smoked on on the grill. No brown sugar or honey. Just the pure taste of ham itself. Some clove, salt, pepper and a dash of sage. This ham was about 5 lbs so the oven cooking time is about  2 1/2 hours as it was bone in. The version you see here was done similarly to this. Included is a reference chart that may be helpful. 

http://www.bhg.com/recipes/how-to/handling-meat/how-to-bake-ham/ (8)

http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/hamcookingchart.html (9)

The turkey was actually cooked whole. Mom let it rest after cooking and then cut it the following day. In an ideal world, you could do what she does. The turkey was done 2 days ahead and warmed. She also put it in a brine for at least 24 hours (she may have done it a bit longer). 

OK. The finished product. I didn't realize I had this much food on my plate. Clockwise from the top. cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, ham, mac & cheese, dinner rolls, green bean, turkey & cranberry dressing. People ask me why I don't go out for Thanksgiving dinner? If you think you can top this meal (all 8 courses of it), I'd love to see you try. The above picture is my "before" as it relates to this meal. I'd love to share a cranberry recipe, but I don't have one as of yet and would be lying if I said I knew how my Mom did this. 

I decided to add some other recipes I will suggest. It's similar to some of the things done here. 

Green Beans. Pretty easy. Get some fresh or frozen green beans and boil. For me, it's salt an pepper. We had enough heavy food on the table where a casserole might have been overkill. You can add bacon or some smoked meat. You could also chop some onions, garlic or something of the like. This version below is like the one I would make. http://www.southyourmouth.com/2013/04/southern-style-green-beans.html (10)

 It's great to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with family and spending time together is great. I look forward to this meal every year. The picture you see below reflects the after.

Any questions?! I didn't think so!! The empty plate explains itself!! Thanks to my Mom and family members for creating such an incredible meal.

Cited works: 

1. America's Test Kitchen's, taken from Lifehacker.com.

2. bbq.about.com 

3. Menu Musings of a Modern American Mom: http://menumusings.blogspot.com/

4. Food Network courtesy of Paula Deen (foodnetwork.com)

5. Traditional Cornbread Dressing, Deep South Dish Internet site, (11/12/2009) 

6. Ask the Test Kitchen's column via Detroit Free Press (11/28/2013)

7. "19 Ways with Sweet Potatoes" via Southern Living Internet site. 

8. "How To Bake Ham" via Better Homes and Gardens Internet site. 

9. Chart taken from Foodsafety.gov. 

10 . "Southern Style Green Beans" via "South Your Mouth" blog.