Why I Oughta...

Last weekend, we hosted a party for my Dad's birthday.  I made turkey meatballs for everybody but Vic - we made eggplant "meatballs" for her.  I'd share recipes here, but I just kind of 'winged' it.  The 'balls' turned out ok, but the real hit of the party was Crostini with Ricotta and Roasted Tomatoes.  They went fast and were very easy. There's a very famous pizza place out in Arizona - probably the "most" famous pizza place called  Pizzeria Bianco  that is run by a guy named Chris Bianco.  Martha Stewart featured him either in her magazine or on her tv show (or probably both!) and included  this recipe .   I went to Angelo Caputo's to do the shopping, so I came back with some house ricotta which made everything taste better! The party was a lot of fun - and a real team effort.  We made some food, my sisters all brought something (including the birthday cake!) and my mom helped clean up.  Most importantly, we were able to gathe

This was the view looking out from our family room up until last Friday.  Lots of Blue Spruce in the way.  It was pretty, too.  In the winter, snow would pile up on the strong branches.  We'd have some wildlife making their home in the trees.  We liked it.  Unfortunately, they had to go. The tree company made quick work by cutting out the bottoms of the trees and climbing up them.  I was surprised by the size of their saws - they were small - but I suppose that's because they're dangling from ropes as they climb. They moved fast.  The first tree was toppled in 10 minutes or less.   Removing all the branches makes sawing the stumps off easier, I suppose. After the "back" tree was done, they went to work on the larger "front" tree.   And like that...they were gone.  The crew cleaned up the yard while one member ground the stumps. They were good trees.  They'll be missed.  We'll replant something similar in some portion of our yard.  

Last week, the Paupered Chef chronicled the state of the Italian Sub in Chicago.  They went to six different places in one afternoon and hossed down a sangwich at each joint.  An impressive feat.  They settled on J.P. Graziano's as the top dog - and I don't quarrel with that selection.  I haven't been before, so I can not judge. I can, however, recommend that they should have added a stop to their tour.  Lying a mere eight blocks south of J.P. Graziano's is Fontano's Subs on the UIC campus.  Downtown Elmhurst is home to a Fontano's, too.  And that's where I get my Italian sangwich fix. When I say "Italian sangwich", I mean I get to pick one of their SEVEN Italian combos.  Click the photo below to see the left side of the menu board featuring all SEVEN various ways you can mix provolone with salted, cured meats.  (pay no attention to the faux-Wrigley styled menu itself, please!) Seriously...did you click on the photo?  Did you see the left s

My sister Vic and Equation Boy/Man had a new baby this week!  We went to see her on her birth day and both Nat and I got to snuggle a bit with her.  I even changed a diaper - as good Uncles should do. This is my fourth niece and I have three nephews.  My folks now have eight grandkids! EIGHT! I know Vic and Marc are thrilled, but secretly (or not so secretly) Nat and I are probably equally excited that they had a girl.  With the Babe being only 3 months old, she'll be right on pace with her cousin who lives down the block (literally!).  Two girls will grow to be a lot closer besties than a boy and a girl would.   If we're (Nat and I) excited, you can imagine that the new baby's older sister is equally thrilled.  In fact, we had to arm-wrestle the baby out of her hands because she wanted to hold her so much.  She's going to be a great big sister. How fun will it be to be neighbors and cousins!  I know I was never very "close" to my cousins - and I'm no

On Friday, we cut down two perfectly healthy, magnificent Blue Spruce trees in our backyard.  We pushed this day off for almost a year, but it finally came.  Based on the previous owner's recollection, the twin Spruces were planted sometime in the early 1970's.  For some reason, they planted them directly in the middle of the yard.  From our deck, the view looked liked this.  We had no yard because of them. They're both were perfectly healthy.  However, we needed to start clearing the yard for our garage.  For the past year, we've tried (probably more than we should have) to find a home for both of these trees.  First, we looked at Big Trees Inc - a company that specializes in finding mature trees and providing them to folks who want large trees immediately.  Big Trees Inc comes over, digs the whole tree out with the roots and all, scoops it on a truck and pays the tree "owner" a few bucks.  They then take that mature tree and sell it for thousands!  Sounds

Earlier this winter, I wrote about the old Lou Malnati's menu and mentioned that as I was waiting around for my pie to finish up, I spied an old Chicago Tribune article posted on the wall that included the original Lou Malnati's Italian Salad Dressing Recipe.  The Tribune reporter called it "prized".  We were set to host a little pizza party over the weekend, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Here's the article as seen through my mobile phone's camera. I'm not a wine drinker, so the fact that the recipe called for Burgundy wine didn't strike me as odd.  I went shopping at Angelo Caputos in Addison - a really incredible shopping experience - and when I got to the wine section I found Burgundy wine was carried ONLY in those HUGE jugs.  And they were dirt cheap.  The only issue is that needed just 4 ounces.  We ended up with a whole-lotta-wine that Nat won't drink. I've taken the recipe and modified it a bit by eliminating the percentage

Over the weekend, Nat and I decided to enjoy the "nice" weather and took the Babe for a walk in her stroller.  We stopped for lunch (at Fontano's Subs), then walked by the newly opened  Heavenly CupCake Shop in Downtown Elmhurst.  It is sandwiched between Starbucks and the York Movie Theatre on York Street - a prime location. Our hopes were high.  Downtown Elmhurst has a collection of nice stores both retail and restaurant, but we don't have a nice bakery.  When the signs went up both Nat and I talked about how we were hoping that although it was called a "cupcake" shop, they were undoubtably going to be selling more than just cupcakes.  We had visions of a Sweet Mandy B's -type of place:  a bakery - very prominently featuring cupcakes with crazy frostings -  but also a place where you could get cookies/brownies/whoopie pies/cakes/etc. We'd love to have a place we can walk to when we needed to pick something up for a party or for an everyday indu

Recently, Serious Eats asked where you would take a tourist if they came to visit you in your town.  Some Chicagoans chimed in with places like Great Lake, Kuma's Corner, and Hot Doug's.  I'm sure Alinea and Charlie Trotters are on the list somewhere for foodies.  That's fine for you city rats, but us suburbanites live in the land of strip malls and minivans.  There can't possibly be anything worth eating in Elmhurst, right? If that's what you thought....I'm here to challenge that assumption.  Granted, I'm not pointing you to any place that specializes in molecular gastronomy, but it isn't all Burger Kings and Chucky Cheese's out in the Suburbs. Without further delay, here's my list of places you should hit when life brings you to Elmhurst. Seven Ten Lanes   Fitz's Lanes  Fitz's Spare Keys for their Italian Beef pizza with "extra" giardinera .  It really is quite an amazing pie that comes from a bowling alley.  Thin,

A few weekends back, Nat hosted a "Sprinkle" for my sister (not a "Shower", people....a "Sprinkle"!)  Anyway...we were over at Nat's folks place on Friday night and Nat was in charge of making some sort of "coffee cake" -she had one in mind,  but she didn't have the More From Magnolia  Book with her. She remembered that the recipe was the first one in the book, so I dug into the Amazon preview and viola! The preview pages go far enough to catch this one!  Unfortunately for us, this recipe, too, called for a Tube Pan.  Some of you may recall that we don't have one of those (see my post about cream cheese coffee cake here .)! Nat rectified that situation and picked one up at Target ensuring that our coffee cakes no longer have to be impostors. When I went to print that screen grab, the text came through really gray.  So...I quickly typed it out and created a public Google Doc.  I've included the recipe below. I really liked t

We already have Starbucks, Caribou and a local coffee shop First Cup  crowding up downtown.  This weekend, on our walk around town Nat noticed that we are, apparently, getting another.  We snapped this photo on Park Avenue - south of the tracks - right near Lou Malnati's. We're not sure what the "In addition" on the sign means, but I presume the place is set to be named "That Coffee Shop".  I can get behind the desire to support the local place over Starbucks, but can Elmhurst support two indie shops in addition to the 2 national chains?  Both have pretty good locations - near the train - but is that enough?  Our Starbucks recently was rehabbed - no Clover machine , though - and based on the lines there when I go with Nat, Starbucks isn't hurting.  It must be a tough market to compete in. Instead of a coffee shop, why don't any of these entrepreneurs try something else?  I hear from my sister Vic good things about Two Toots .  With all these strol