This will be the first in a series of posts I will explore from time to time called Chicago Hidden Gems. This series will have a affordable inspirational, culinary and travel angle .
Today I showed a dear friend around to my some favorite spots only we could appreciate. We decided to have a weekday Dim Sum lunch (average tab $15-$20 a person) at Phoenix , and then explore Wentworth Avenue, otherwise known as Old Chinatown. Admittedly, I don’t get to that part of Chinatown often but love a hidden little cookware store called Woks and Things. Affordable and huge variety. I left with a Dragon shaped garnish cutter ( suggested uses as cakes, garnish, vegetable cutouts) and the tea cups featured above for $1.25 each ( suggested uses for tea, soups, amuse bouche, starters, mini desserts, spice bowls). We then crossed over to the East side of the street and found Ten Ren Tea and Ginseng shop, one of the oldest and venerated tea havens in Chinatown, let alone Chicago. This is for hard core tea lovers who seek exceptional teas, beautiful ceramics, and a helpful educated staff. Don’t come here for adulterated artificial flavored teas. Amongst the copper tins and boxed teas, I choose a smoky and rich Lapsang souchong (Lap Sang Soo Chong at $17.00 a pound (suggested uses drink, tea smoke fish , chicken, or pork) along with boxed sets of Oolong, and Rose teas .The beautiful tin cannister to store my smoky goodness was an additional $5.75.
Finish your promenade with a stop by Hoypoloi, and Uncommon Gallery and revel in great American based art finds like the prints of Dr. Seuss. And then grab a hot or bubble tea from the younger hipper St.Alps Teahouse .
And there is a great Far Eastern interlude in a corner of Chicago some are too timid to explore in depth. There is a lot waiting to be discovered in Chicago.
Meat….. is something I hear quite often around the house. Certain Someone is a carnivore. When he is around I can’t get away with a meatless dinner, no matter how I try. Don’t get me wrong, I like meat too, but try to vary my diet a bit more. One thing I have control of, is that if we are going to eat meat, I strive to be very careful of the quality of our meats. So when US Wellness Meats contacted me and offered me a range of samples including Grass-fed beef I was impressed.
Because we use the best practices of sustainable farming that allow us to avoid harmful additives like hormones and antibiotics, our grass-raised animals pass the best of their nutrient-rich diet on to you.
Grass-fed beef is rich in omega-3 anti-inflammatory fatty acids (the healthy fat found in salmon), in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a proven cancer fighter and lean muscle-building tool, as well as vitamins A and E, essential nutrients that are known for their antioxidant properties. When it comes to nutrition, grass-fed beef truly is a completely different animal.
I confess when it comes to steaks and beef I’m intimidated. Some chefs are great with certain foods, but not so with others. While I consider myself both a cook and a baker, steaks and certain cuts of beef I always tend to overcook it unintentionally. US Wellness sent me 2 T-Bones, 1 eye of the round, 2 chicken breasts, BBQ sauce, All Purpose Seasoning and a package of Ground Bison. Through out the month we tried all the products and were pleased. I was intimidated by the Eye of the Round as its a cheaper and leaner cut that you want to cook till perfection but not overcook or dry as its more lean.
Eye of The Round Roast Method
I confess this was the method I used and the best one I have ever found for this cut. It cooks it for a short period on a very high temp and then you let meat sit in the oven uncovered for 2 -3 hours. The roast is perfection. I took the leftovers and made the dish on top with the BBQ sauce sample from US Wellness and fried onions served atop a corn tortilla.
Ground Bison
Leaner and healthier, Bison is used as you would use ground beef. Its makes a great substitute.Not only is there a nutritional benefit but an ecological one as well . Bison are grass fed and graze without harming the environment, as nature intended. Their waste and movements both nourish and aid the grounds and land.
Meat Facts and Cooking Temperatures
Meat/ Protein and carbohydrates are considered a TCS food (Temperature Control Safety). Harmful pathogens are controlled by temperature. So cooking and storage of these items should be followed with care. The following are cooking requirements for TCS foods and any recipe containing a TCS food.
Ground Beef is prone to Shiga Toxin -producing E.Coli found in intestines of cattle and should be cooked to minimum temperature of at least 155 F (68 C). This applies to ground pork as well and other meats ( not ground poultry).
Roasts( pork, veal and lamb) should be cooked to minimum internal temperature of 145F (63 C)
Poultry ( ground or whole chicken, turkey and duck) should be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 165 F (74 C)
Seafood (fish, shellfish, and crustaceans) should be cooked to a minimum internal temp of 145 F( 63 C)
source ServeSAFE Essentials National Restaurant AssociationFifth Edition
I am offering a Giveaway sponsored by US Wellness Meats to all US Residents. Sorry it must be within the US ( AK and HI included). The winner will be to shop for $ 100 worth of sustainable products from the Midwest farmlands that are raised according to organic principles. Meats, poultry, fish, and even by products such as soap and candles, ice cream , etc are offered. They even have condiments and spices. All you have to enter is go here and fill out your info. The contest closes Sunday March 13, 2011 at 12 :00 am.
In life you can have many types of friends that each fit into a type of box. I met The Alchemist ten years ago at a French Wine tasting class.The class was composed of five women, who to this day are still in contact, even though we are scattered geographically and politically. I wouldn’t say any of us are best friends, but we are there for each other and always bond over a bottle or two of wine and great food , which is what brought us together in the first place. Out of all the women, The Alchemist is the one I’m closer to and encourages my culinary dreams, when I cant see the potential inside myself. I get so so busy that I sometimes just need to accept an offer of something creative and unique.
“Wanna make some Mead?”, the Alchemist said.
My first thought was , that was the stuff she goes on about at the Renaissance Festivals. And then I started to think of the whole hippy dippy culture that converges onto the annual Renaissance Festival at the border of Wisconsin. I remember tasting the honey based fermented wine once on an extremely hot day with her, and don’t remember being wowed by it.Exaggerated images of her drinking Mead in Renaissance garb popped into my head. It’s hard for me to commit to a lot of things socially , but I blocked off October 31st in my calendar. I really didn’t give a thought to the date having any significance. As the Alchemist has more disposable income than myself, she invested in the wine making equipment. The first Mead was going to be a Pumpkin Pie Mead an I was going to bring the spices of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg along with some label designs. The Alchemist had piles of noted from conversations with Mead experts.Mead making is an exact science with no room for bacterial contamination or error. All of the ingredients were laid out on her granite counter.On her counter sat fifteen pounds of cloudy Wisconsin honey from her mentors own apiary, waiting to be clarified.Earlier The Alchemist had filled cases of old wine bottles, which we would recycle to bottle with water from her parents spring fed lake.We proceeded to boil and sterilize the water, then filter .While clarifying the honey , and heating, and filtering the water, we plotted out a flavor profile and I suggested a few black peppercorns to blend out the flavor.
“Come here”, she beckoned as she stood over the steaming hot water we were about to filter. “It smells like the lake”, she enthused. “It smells like the earth”, I acknowledged.
Mossy and flinty, I understood at that very moment what Terroir in wine making is all about. The flavors of the land infused in your wine. We pondered if filtering would erase that scent that wafted through our nostrils and the sweet pumpkin, honey, and spicy herbs will all converge.
“I will pitch the yeast at the strike of 11:11 “, she said as she sprinkled bee pollen and golden raisins to our Must, the combination of heated water and honey.
The pumpkin would be added later on in the process. She then measured the density of the solution. Still warm from the hot honey, we had to wait for it to reach the proper level. I had noticed she mentioned pitching the yeast at eleven before. But like many things she says I really didn’t gather the significance. The Alchemist then went on to explain the significance of the Samhain or the the date and auspicious Grand Trine timing of the pitching of the yeast. It was all about the Autumnal equinox and this was to be her first series based on the midpoint season of the year. So it wasn’t about cutesy pumpkins on Halloween , but more about paying tribute to our local harvests, resources and respecting the cycle of nature. I took my last appreciative swig of an Apple Mead we drank while working. At the end of the end of day I had new found appreciation for the for the process and the beauty of Mead, the drink of the Gods, and glad I could share a unique moment with my brilliant , scientific, if not quirky friend. I could not wait for the fermenting to succeed and for us to rack our beautiful golden liquid , which be ready by the New Year. We ended up doing a total of three rackings and finally bottled it January 31st to make way for The Alchemist’s new red Mead project. The wine is still young, and a bit dry. By Fall it should be ready to consume befitting it’s theme of Pumpkin Pie. The cycle of nature truly at work. Take a look at the slide show and video for more on the three month process.
Thank You all for the support and love you have shown since last week. As my dining companions said last night , stop saying you were not terminated or eliminated, you are in transition. And if the offers , outreach, and opportunities I have received this week are anything to go by, my future is going to be high style.
One outreach extended towards me, was from the The Peninsula Hotel in Chicago. Their PR department invited me along with with several other influential Chicago bloggers to experience Chalet Nights at their charming European restaurant/cafe/wine bar Pierrot Gourmet. The recently refreshed ski lodge themed restaurant is offering Chalet Night devised by their new Chef de Cuisine Tony Schmidt, who had worked at such other fine institutions as Blackbird, Everest, and Trio.
Each Thursday until March 31 a special Swiss themed menu will be offered for $19 per person ( 2 person minimum) featuring a three cheese fondue( Gruyere, Appenzeller, and Fontina), mountain bread, a Juniper berry smoked Speck ham , house pickled vegetables, and salad with a Dijon vinaigrette. The meal is finished off with Pear flavored Eau de vie.
Having had my share of fondues both at home and in Switzerland, the meal was excellent. and elegantly presented. A comforting buzz ran through the table and I realized I forgotten how fun and sensational Chicago can be with it’s various offerings. Did I mention how exquisite the desserts were? Pierrot Gourmet has a French born Pastry Chef that makes the most incredible variety of flavored macarons that are not too sweet . If you don’t have time for a sit down meal or coffee, the takeout option is there.
Afterward we went over the John Hancock Observatory at the invitation of Zach , the Director of Operations there who partners with The Peninsula Chicago. At the Observatory we were treated to cocktails, and more nibbles at Lavazza’s Expression Cafe before taking to the indoor ice rink. Imagine all of this 1,000 feet above the city! Great fun. The SKYY High Cocktail ( SKYY Raspberry vodka, Blue Curacao, and Lemonade) and The Hawks Cup ( Makers Mark, fresh ginger, muddles blackberries, and lemon sour) must be tried along with numerous other drinks, and hot and cold coffee drinks. After that, I was most definitely too buzzed to skate, but enjoyed watching the others.
Thank You Peninsula Chicago & John Hancock Observatory for reminding me what I love about my city Chicago.
Peninsula Hotel/ Pierrot Gourmet
108 East Superior Street at the corner of Rush and Superior
My regular readers will know postings have been pretty sparse since the new year began. The reason being there was a lot of change going on and to sum it up, I was just exhausted. My longtime boss and mentor had resigned after over 40 years and in entered a new one. As with such things they have their own agenda and all one can do is their best, even if they haven’t been given the tools they needed for a long time to do it. So you plug along in a job essentially set up for failure and do your best to placate and partner with the angry loyal clients who have been given the short end of the proverbial stick along with you.
Yesterday was my last day of working for a much beloved company. You always wonder and fear when it will happen , and one day it does.As I faced the cold new boss and the HR manager , who seems to be doing this chore more and more these days, I felt nothing but cold emptiness. I didn’t say a word and just took the manila envelope proffered to me , held my head high and walked out of there forever. All I cared about was the pictures of my mother , Certain Someone, and my scrap books and photos of my dear colleagues , many who are gone, that worked and toiled along with me to make my accounts successful and viable. Current friends and colleagues were shocked with disbelief as they let three of us go that afternoon. I have never felt more loved than I did yesterday afternoon and evening. When you are made to feel invisible and worthless by management, its nice to know others appreciated and valued you, as I valued and loved them. Even the security guard was visibly upset who greeted me every day since 1998.
A few weeks ago a colleague and friend of Certain Someone asked him why I blog, cook, and dabble in all sorts of things. Certain Someone explained how I had a job that treated me and my accounts like crap, but I stayed on to pay the bills and believed things would get better. My release came at night when I could explore my creativity through my cooking and writing, and now soap making. It was in these areas I found value , worth, happiness , and most important MYSELF. Don’t get me wrong. I admire and respect the company that took a chance on me many years ago. It was an honor to work for legends in Black America. I have learned so much there. The negative change really didn’t occur until a major management shake up years ago. From then things were never the same for all of us, as with the rest of corporate America, along with the challenges of reviving a brand that was dated and lacking innovation.
So now I sit here typing this with sadness, but a sense of relief. As Certain Someone pointed out I haven’t been happy for a long time with my treatment, and they underpaid and used me. Its time to find something I love and will be paid my worth. I can now focus on the things that I couldn’t working a 9 to 5. I will still seek that 9 to 5 , but one that values me and recognizes my worth. My mother always said throughout her short life that there was no greater feeling than being your own boss. I see the young professionals now moving on to a new company every few years. One no longer stays and makes a career or really create anything of lasting value. Loyalty to employees and employers is dying trait. If it’s one thing I learned is this:
You can be up today and down tomorrow, and vice versa. Know that!
Its just a title / job and you are as disposable as anyone else.
It’s not your company and know that.
Give your best and and observe to the signs. When you are not happy , it’s time to move on.
Do what you love and brings joy and the opportunities will follow.
They can take your job, but they cant take the God Given talents and drive that lies within you.
