Thursday, February 7, 2013

Falling In Love with Longman & Eagle (Chicago, IL)

It was our third meal of the night, but a Michelin-starred gastropub wasn't something we wanted to pass up. In the end, we're so glad we went, because we fell in love with Longman and Eagle.

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The cocktails here are excellent and they're only $8 each. I love Chicago! We drank quite a bit that night. There were $2 special Evan Williams shots around the table and conbon found her ultimate Old Fashioned.
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That's my excuse for not really remembering what cocktails I had, but I am guessing this was the La Perla with tequila, Cocchi Americano, grapefruit, and habanero shrub.

We decided to just share a few plates since we were already full, and started healthy with the roasted cauliflower with beluga lentil and yogurt curry sauce
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Steak and edamame with lobster tater tots. Lobster tater tots!
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The desserts sound particularly enticing here. The first was a lightly savory dessert: warm gruyere donuts, fig jam, hazelnut mascarpone, wild flower honey ($9)
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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Honey, Bees, and Outdoor Dinner at Fairmont Newport

It's a little known fact that some of the Fairmont hotels have started honey bee hives on their rooftops, wherever it was possible. This has included the Fairmont in Newport Beach, Seattle, and San Francisco (where you can also try the honey beers made by a local brewery with their honey). I was invited to a dinner at Fairmont Newport a few months ago and got to check out the rooftop bees with a view of the sunset! The hives at Fairmont Newport and maintained and harvested with the help of Backyard Bees.

Rooftop bee hives
We had a honey tasting in the small room on the rooftop. Little did I know just how different honey can taste, until you compare two side by side. The black pan was harvested from these hives in June. This early summer honey is more floral than the August harvest. Both of them were excellent, by the way, and I'm glad they gave us a little jar to take home.
After some cocktails and arancini, we had an al fresco dinner in their beautiful garden, a picture perfect spot for a small wedding with the white gazebo in the back.

Fairmont Newport

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Fresh Dish: Your New Prep Cook

Fresh Dish is another "meal delivery service", but it's a bit different. Instead of sending you prepared meals, they send you meal kits that you can cook/prepare in 30 minutes. They run from $8-12 per person ($32 for a meal for 4 or $24 for 2) and they've included everything in the kit, from the big ingredients to small packets of salt and pepper.

The meats and vegetables are raw, and most things are already pre-measured in their own containers.
The fajita was super easy to make. Just season the meat with salt and pepper and cook on both sides. The tortillas just needed some heating up and then all the toppings like guacamole and salsa were already prepared. The most labor I had to do was probably slicing the steak up.


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