**We interrupt your weekly Leena Cooks to celebrate a week full of farm lovin.**
I. Love. Basil. Especially when it is purple.
Leena Eats: Locally-made lollipops!
Locally-made lollipops by Das foods.
I love a good lollipop. It lasts forever, tastes delicious, and is not messy at all, a plus for someone whose hair acts as a magnet for food. Living in a city where I constantly use public transportation, a nice hands-free candy is always appreciated. So guess who did Balki’s Dance of Joy when she stumbled upon locally made Das lollipops at a wine and cheese store in Chicago, Provenance? Read the rest of this entry »
Leena Cooks: Elia’s Top Chef Waffle of Awesomeness…with a twist.
It all starts with a waffle shoved full of bacon. A thing of beauty, if you ask me.
I heart the show Top Chef. If you have never seen it, I’m sorry, because your life is that much less richer than mine. If you have seen it, girrrrrrrl, then you know what I’m talkin’ bout. A bunch of professional chefs get a series of cooking challenges to compete in during each episode, and the lowest performing chef is kicked off. Unlike many reality game shows, this one maintains an edge by providing creative challenges, ones that really make you think. Like, here is $4.00. Go buy some shit from a vending machine and turn into a 4 star amuse bouche in 20 minutes (all while trying not to fight with the psycho cheftestant hyped up on coke), and feed it to Tom Coliccho and some other famous chef, and you best be prepared to tell them why it isn’t amazing. But no pressure. Read the rest of this entry »
Gastro Fridays: Meeting Celebrities
Me and Dale? Oh we go waaaaaaaaaaaay back. Look how not awkward this photo is.
What is it about meeting celebrities that turns a perfectly normal, intelligent person into a blubbering idiot who can’t string together a coherent thought? For the longest time, I thought I was immune to such behavior. I was always flabbergasted when my friends would burst into tears or start hyperventilating when they got within 100 feet of their favorite celebrities (“Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmyfrickinggod!!”). After all, aren’t celebrities are just normal people (who happen to make a lot more money than we do)? They still get gassy and occasional gastrointestinal distress after Taco Bell like the rest of us. Read the rest of this entry »
Leena Eats: Ribfest Chicago 2009 (Vegans Welcome!)
********We now interrupt your regularly scheduled Leena Cooks for a well-deserved week of Leena Eats. What can we say? This bitch can EAT!********** It is no secret that I love me some ribs. Smokey, charred, meaty, slightly sweet and spicy and sticky as hell–what is not to like? Put a crap ton of delicious ribs in within a 3 block radius, and look out. There is no mountain I won’t climb, no elderly citizen I won’t hip check, no frat boy I won’t shank to get me a taste of that sweet, sweet pork. And there were hip checks a-plenty, thanks to an unbelievably ghetto-packed festival. Seriously, city of Chicago. Could you shove any more clowns into that car? It took a solid 20 minutes just to walk the length of a city block, and that was only if you were aggressive and willing to get a bit of ribs on your shoulders. Unlike last year, this year’s Ribfest made several attempts to cater to vegetarians and vegans, proving that we carnivores do in fact care. Reasons for vegans to go to Ribfest: 1. Vegan ribs and vegan pulled pork sandwiches from de.li.cious coffee shop, along with corn, black bean burgers, and various fried things from other vendors. 2. The thick smell of smoked meats that perfumes the air and almost makes those vegan ribs taste real. 3. Funnel cakes. You’re welcome, vegans.
Nothing says Ribfest like a scalding hot plateful of funnel cake.
Gastro Fridays: Leena wants a Really Goode Job
Happy Friday! This week’s Gastro Friday is definitely a “toot my own horn” edition, and ain’t no shame in that game, especially when a bitch is trying to get a job. For starters, kindly watch the video embedded above. It is my entry for the Murphy-Goode Winery “A Really Goode Job” contest. Here are the contest details: the winery is looking for someone to explore their winery and Sonoma county and blog about it. The winner receives a 6 month job doing this with free accommodation near the winery and $10,000 a month. I KNOW. Damn near peed on the cat when I first read that. The only catch is you have to make a 60 second video of yourself, showing your experience in social media, wine and writing, and it has to be entertaining to boot. So my entry is posted above. If you like it and would like to vote me (or just think I’m funny or hot), go here. On the right side of my video should be a spot for your email. Enter it, and you’ve just voted for me! Doesn’t that make you feel awesome and like you deserve some bacon? Hell yeah! Read the rest of this entry »
Leena Eats: Girls Night @ Provenance & Browntrout
It take a bit of kungfu to start off a girls night right! 2008 Kungfu Girl Washington State Riesling.
It has been a loooong couple of weeks here at Leena Eats, so it was high time for a gals night. Nothing makes me feel better than a night out with my bitches. Rules for being one of my bitches: 1. You must be awesome (no exceptions here) 2. You must like food so much, people sometimes give you weird looks 3. You must own stock in bacon OR have a great love for 80s tv shows. Preferably both. Read the rest of this entry »
Leena Cooks: Spicy Broccoli Soup with Bacon
My spicy broccoli soup with bacon and marinated mozzarella toasts.
When it comes to soup, I must confress I am a dipper. My husband enjoys eating a hot liquid, the process of it, the way it feels in his mouth, so comforting and delicious. But myself? A dipping MACHINE–if there is a piece of bread/toast/cracker/wafer within reaching distance, I will probably slather it with something delicious and dip it in the soup. I dip, therefore I am. I used to feel bad about this fact, and generally avoided eating soup because I figured if I can’t simply enjoy eating soup sans carbs, then I shouldn’t eat it at all. Clearly, I was drunk. I now realize that soup is an equal-opportunity food, open to both those who enjoy it’s liquid aspects as well as those who enjoy it’s dip-ability. Ain’t no shame in my dipping game. Read the rest of this entry »
Gastro Fridays: Eating with Preconceptions (dog food vs. pate)
This is not dog food. It is a very delicious chicken liver bacon pate made by me. Promise.
For this week’s Gastro Friday, I’d like to chat a bit about eating with preconceptions. Not too long ago, the American Association of Wine Economists published a paper entitled, “Can People Distinguish Pate from Dog Food?”. Like the title suggests, the researchers fed 18 participants 5 samples of pate (one of which was dog food)in a blind taste test and had them vote on which one they thought was the doggie delight. This is one of those topics that sounds incredibly interesting, but I am SO glad I wasn’t involved in it. Just the thought of dipping into some Alpo makes me want to power vomit like I would after a good party in college. And trust me–no one needs to see that. Read the rest of this entry »
Leena Eats: Mana food bar
Sweet potato pancake with pear chutney @ Mana food bar.
You can never have enough delicious vegetarian food in your life. I like to swing vego from time to time. Whether you are a vegetarian or a carnivore, a little vegetarian never hurt nobody, ok? It also makes you feel a lot let guilty about indulging a bit later in the week. Sure, I can swing a 50 ounce steak. I had a vegetarian lunch! Right. Read the rest of this entry »
Leena Bakes: A Bitchin’ Blueberry Buttermilk Cake (From Gourmet Mag)
Blueberry buttermilk cake in cupcake form.
Recently my friends Dan and Claire (both guest hosts of my food podcast, Chicken n Waffles) moved into (sort of) my neighborhood and I wanted to help. But my car was being used by my husband, then I got sick, then I threw my back out. The only thing I was sort of capable of doing was baking, so that limited my housewarming gift options. Lucky for me, these bitches can eat, so when the new copy of Gourmet mag arrived at my doorstep, I was stoked. I came across a pretty easy cake recipe for a raspberry buttermilk cake and just so happen to have a pint of buttermilk sitting in my fridge, so problem solved. No more wasting the buttermilk, and I would still get to help welcome Dan and Claire home. Yeah. Ever see someone with a thrown-out back bake a cake? Allow me to paint a picture for you: flour EVERYWHERE (even on the toaster, which I wasn’t even using). Every time I accidentally dropped something on the floor, it stayed there (and when the thing you’ve dropped is batter, get ready for some real excitement). If I couldn’t reach a utensil or bowl stored in our bottom cabinets with my bbq tongs, I couldn’t use it. And hours later, I found egg shells in my cat’s litter box. Go figure. Read the rest of this entry »
