Minisandwiches

I got home from work late... I passed by the grocery store & the 4 pack of Hawaiian sweet rolls was on sale. So I grabbed some salami and knew I had sharp white cheddar at the house. I made some miniature sandwiches for a quick dinner.

No Keylime Pie

I went to lunch with Dan, when he suggested Hillstone, I was more than happy to go... I love their key lime pie... We had French dips, delish. Then it was dessert time, we were told they didn't have any key lime pie... Why not?!

So we went over to Clarke's Standard and got ice cream cups. I chose mint chip. It was good, but I was disappointed it wasn't bright green!

Dinner for One

After being away for so much of last week, I was excited to go home and cook something.

I stopped by Gristedes on the way home from work to get some groceries to execute on my plan. I grabbed an artichoke, a bag of lemons and a filet of scrod to pair with some brown rice I already had in the cabinet. I trimmed up the artichoke and set it to steam. Marinated the fish in lemon juice, olive oil, dried herbs: thyme, parsley, rosemary, and crushed red pepper. Set up the brown rice in the rice cooker and then sautéed the scrod when the rice and artichoke were nearly done. I made a spicy ranch dressing with sriracha and hidden valley to dip the artichoke and it was off to the races with dinner for one!

Late Day Thai

Meetings meetings meetings!

Scott and I made some time late in the day to go to Thai 51 for some grub between meetings. We were so hungry! Still have to remember to eat breakfast...

I had Fish Cakes and Basil eggplant with squid.

Leaving Chicago with Leftover Pizza

Gino's East was too much food ... We walked out with half of our pie. Which, lucky for me, was an amazing dinner in the airport before my flight.

On the flight I had a Caramash (chocolate covered caramel & marshmallow) from Fannie May. We went in for mint meltaways ... A reminder of our grandpa. But couldn't resist a Caramash when we saw it. A similar treat to a long time favorite at See's. yum!

Chicago Dog

We had Chicago style pizza and pasta. But we hadn't gotten Chicago dogs. We yelp'd the places near our hotel went to the best rated one. America's Hot Dog. We shared a Chicago dog, a Maxwell Street Dog and an order of curly fries.

Mob Pasta

A friend of my sister's recommended Gene and Georgetti's. An old Italian steakhouse, fun little old men as waiters, old style, good cooking.

I had the weekend special, lasagna, which came with a house salad and fried potato. Plus a giant basket of bread and bread sticks. Huge meal. Was full and barely finished a quarter of my lasagna.

Freshii

We popped into freshii and I commented to Andrea that it smelled weird, as most health conscious places do. But we ended up wanting to split a smoothie while we waited on our 3rd unfortunate loss on the Book of Mormon lottery. We had a mango fusion, mixed berry, mango and oj.

Plus we shared a soft and chewy oatmeal cookie...

Deep Dish Pizza

And boy was it deep dish! We were up early, took a walk in the park with our Starbucks, lost the Book of Mormon lottery, again, walked up to Gino's East all before our first food of the day. When we arrived, were informed our small deep dish sausage patty pizza would take 45 minutes. So we started with a salad, tons of lettuce, tomatoes, craisins, and Gorgonzola with a sweet raspberry vinaigrette.

Chop Chop

For dinner, Andrea and I shared a chopped salad with romaine, beets, tomatoes, hearts of palm, chickpeas and corn. What a delicious salad... Despite being called Chop Chop. And oxtail Mac & cheese... cavatappi pasta, cheese sauce and slow cooked oxtail and a tomato sauce. Started with bread and butter and a mango mint iced tea.

Wow Bao

Wow Bao Hot Asian buns... Great name. Couldn't pass them up. I had a combo, 2 bao, I chose Mongolian beef and BBQ pork, plus spicy peanut noodles. Then I got chocolate banana bao for dessert.

EIEIO

We went to Farmhouse tonight. It was a cute spot, decorated like a farm house with rustic decor and the servers shirts salad EIEIO on the back with farm animals on the front.

We chose it for their draft beer option... Local Option Dampf LOC. My sister's boss, Chris Dampf, wanted to give it a try. Thanks to BeerMenu.com we were able to find the closest place. I hadn't had dinner since they are with their vendor. So I has beer battered cheese curds, tomato soup with a sour cherry balsamic reduction, a homemade cream soda and Andrea wanted dessert, too, so we shared stout bread pudding with milk chocolate frozen custard, caramel drizzle and bacon dust.

BTIEA Cinnamon Rolls

My sister and I hoped in a cab to Ann Sather this morning. I has a conference call at 9, so we ordered and ate a bit before I had to dial in.

We went for the cinnamon rolls, per the BTIEA spreadsheet, and had today's breakfast special... 2 eggs over medium, corned beef hash served with 2 sides. One side was 2 cinnamon rolls! The other we went with a fruit cup. Plus, there was a Swedish potato sausage that we wanted to try. Amazing breakfast, awful conference call. Thanks, Ann Sather!

Frontera Grill

On the bus ride from Madison to Chicago I copied the relevant locations on the BTEIA spreadsheet & sent the list to my sister to find the closest one to the hotel.

Carne Asada A La Oxaquena at Frontera Grill was just around the corner. We also has a sweet corn tamale and mango guacamole with fresh tortilla chips.

Pretty great. But not the best thing I ever ate.

Epic Lunch

We had a meeting to collaborate on RAC research priorities so I grabbed much after that. Stew on French bread, pasta salad, Greek salad, brownie and a snicker doodle. Plus a banana and a bag of chips.

Breakfast Hodge Podge

I grabbed a plate on the way to the first session. I couldn't decide what looked good so I got a bit of everything.

Salsa on scrambled eggs. Sausage patty. Cantaloupe. Honeydew. Apple cake. An apple. A yogurt.

Samba for Meat

Some colleagues at Yale, Rochester and Ohio state invited me to join them for a Brazilian feast at Samba.

Course 1: serve yourself, salad bar, Brazilian stew over rice, potatoes, veggies
Course 2: gauchos serving 9 kinds of meat and cinnamon pineapple off of roasting spit posts.

So much meat that we never made it to dessert beyond the pineapple. First photo is salad bar, garlic mashed potatoes and stew over rice in the dish. Second is the first 6 meats added to the plate. Third is the final 3 meats and the cinnamon pineapple. Still full and it's been 3 hours!

Cheese Curds

At snack time between the afternoon sessions ... they put out big bowls of cheese curds and veggies with ranch dip. Is it funnier that they have snack time or that they serve cheese curds as a snack?

Conference Lunch

I missed breakfast at the hotel. I missed breakfast at the conference because it took so long to get through registration. So I was excited once lunch was served. Chicken tortilla salad, Mac n cheese, broccoli salad, and roast beef sandwiches. There was also soup but I didn't have it. Then tried a bit of each of the desserts, these are only partial portions that I split with colleagues at the table.

Buckwheat chocolate chip cookie, banana cake with caramel icing and raspberry crumble bars.

Airport Dinner

I had a flight leaving La Guardia at 6:20. Delta called just as I was leaving for the airport to say it was delayed. Nonie, my colleague who is tracking with me, and I headed to the airport wondering about the security lines due to the sequester. So we rushed out of the office and ended up with a 90 minute window to grab dinner.

We both had the baby spinach salad, with beets, bacon, bleu cheese and a creamy vinaigrette. It was a good salad, but wasn't made with baby spinach.

Caesar Salad and Leftover Pasta

I brought my leftover pasta to share in the office. Scott, Peristera and I all ate it. Scott and I also shared a chicken Caesar salad from Hale and Hearty. It made for a decent lunch.

Pasta & Carrot Cake

I made a quick dinner, since it was my last opportunity to cook for a week.

Corkscrew pasta with a meat sauce and a bit of parmesan cheese.

Then a slice of carrot cake to celebrate a birthday. Homemade carrot cake is my favorite.