Leena Travels | Leena Eats

Leena Eats: SF, day one- Chouchou

French onion soup @ Chouchou (USD $7). Like a warm hug from a bucket full of kittens.

Back in September, I had the joy of visiting San Francisco for the second time in my life. A good friend from grad school lives in the area, so she picked out a cute little spot to meet up and eat some food, Chouchou French Bistro in the Forest Hill neighborhood of the city. Just a slip of a restaurant, Chouchou was set up with romantic mood lighting and a live music duet in the corner of the restaurant. It was a slightly chilly evening in SF, and a fog was rolling over the hill the little bistro sat atop of. If you are anything like me, you know this is the perfect get chunky weather, so I had to go for my favorite starter of all time, a mother-freaking delicious bowl of French onion soup, covered in gooey, melty and slightly crisp Swiss cheese. Ain’t no messing around here, cuz when that winter chunk hits, you just gotta ride it each cheese-filled bite at a time. That’s just how I roll, you know. Read the rest of this entry »

November 4th, 2009
Posted in Leena Eats, Leena Travels, Nebraska, San Francisco | Comments Off

Sydney Trip, Day Two

(Circular Quay, MCA, Dumplings, Emperors Garden Bakery, 360 bar)

We woke up on our second day in Sydney, and it was gloomy and rainy. We decided to brave weather head on, and went for a morning jog in Hyde Park. It was a nice park as far as parks go. No magical elves handing out cheeseburgers and cupcakes or anything like that. But it did have a nice Anzac memorial, and it seemed to be in the center of a lot of hustle and bustle, and I loved it. It reminded me of home in Chicago. Read the rest of this entry »

August 15th, 2008
Posted in Leena Travels, Sydney | 3 Comments »

A Chunky Guide to Melbourne (it’s a long one, folks!)

Leena eats Melbourne. It tastes like chicken salt.

***NOTE***This post is from November 2007-ish. It is late because I am slow and drowning in homework, but it?s a long one filled with tons of food, so it?s worth it, damn it. ***SECOND NOTE*** Don’t know what chunky means? Find out here. When people think of Australia, they usually think of Sydney and Melbourne. In fact, before I moved here, people would constantly say, oh, Australia? Are you moving to Sydney or Melbourne? Like no other city existed. They were partially right. I had already visited Sydney, and while I loved it, I had to hit up its sister, Melbourne. She deserved some loving too, damn it. Read the rest of this entry »

July 3rd, 2008
Posted in A Leena-made food tour, Leena Travels, Melbourne | 9 Comments »

A Chunky’s Guide to McLaren Vale

D’Arenberg Winery in the McLaren Vale region of South Australia. This peaceful valley gets people drunk all around the world.

***Let me just start out by saying, I had not planned to write this much, especially while working on my dissertion. I just can’t shut up. It’s a disease, people.*** My friend Matt was the first person to actually visit my partner and I in Australia, so we were heaps excited to show him a good time. Matt is a former chef and current food lover, so of course, I had to show him that South Australia could roll with the big boys. Lets be honest. Matt is from Nebraska. The ?big boys? are a TGIFridays and the Buffalo Wild Wings outside of the Super Walmart. But still, I dig the guy culinarily speaking, so I wanted to show him a good time. Read the rest of this entry »

July 3rd, 2008
Posted in Leena Travels, Nebraska | 6 Comments »

Happy Easter, Aussie Style!

Nope. I am pretty sure it is about candy too.

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July 3rd, 2008
Posted in Leena Travels, Nebraska | 16 Comments »

My International Goodbye to Australia

Oh Australia. You and your fried chicken snacks have captured my heart.

On my last day in Adelaide, I was sitting in a taxi on my way home from the Central Markets, taking in my last views of Victoria Square, King Williams street, and downtown Adelaide…and that is when I heard the Japanese love jam rocking on the radio and my enthusiastic Indian cab driver singing along. I say “love jam” because the words “love song” were simply not strong enough to describe this tune. These were clearly Japanese people in love and jamming like their lives depended on it. It was intense. It was a fricking love jam. Read the rest of this entry »

June 20th, 2008
Posted in Improv, Leena Lives Life, Leena Travels | 4 Comments »

Why I’m Gangsta by Leena

What did you say bout my mama?

I am gangsta. My amazing rap skills make me gangsta. My ten inch Wustoff Chef’s Knife makes me gangsta. My ability to put away a pound of bacon like no other bitch this side of Lake Michigan most certainly makes me gangsta. Read the rest of this entry »

June 18th, 2008
Posted in Leena Travels, Sydney | Comments Off

Leena eats the Great Ocean Road (grab a snack, it’s a long one!)

How I spent my summer vacation.

?I dropped my pills.? ?I can?t find my phone.? ?There is corn muffin in my belly button.? It was the first five minutes of our Great Ocean Road trip and I already sounded like a senior citizen. All I could do was hope someone packed the adult diapers, because I had also just drank 42 ounces of water. This was going to be one crazy trip. Woop woop. Read the rest of this entry »

June 18th, 2008
Posted in A Leena-made food tour, Improv, Leena Lives Life, Leena Travels | 6 Comments »

A-D-Dil comes to Australia (Coopers Brewery Tour, The Best Pies Ever, Granite Island, The Victory Hotel Pub)

My brother Dilip and the Malls Balls in Adelaide, South Australia.

“Leena, look–balls, hee hee.” Meet my older brother Dilip. Dilip and I are alike in many ways. We both love to talk a lot and tell jokes in a really loud voice, we are both brown, and we both giggle at silly things like the Malls Balls in Adelaide. Read the rest of this entry »

June 17th, 2008
Posted in A Leena-made food tour, Leena Travels, Nebraska | 6 Comments »

The Parents Visit! (Red Ochre, Cleland Park, Ethiopian!)

Welcome to Australia, Trivedis! My parents under one of the giant Moreton Bay fig trees in Adelaide.

Adam and I were lucky enough to have several friends and family members come visit us in Australia. I say lucky because for a single round trip ticket to Australia from the US, one could feed a small African country for a year and buy a Super Bowl ticket, so we were endlessly grateful for all the love going around. But something tells me we wouldn’t get this many visitors if we had moved to Idaho… Read the rest of this entry »

June 11th, 2008
Posted in Leena Travels, Nebraska | 8 Comments »

Melbourne: The Sequel

Melbourne is a great place to eat. Tons of famous people have eaten here, like…

Any curry that is good enough for the big red man is good enough for me.

And…

Clinton also did amazing things with a cigar, but that doesn’t mean the man should be mimicked OR encouraged.

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June 10th, 2008
Posted in Leena Travels, Melbourne | 4 Comments »

Sydney Trip, Day One

My partner and I have officially been living in South Australia for six months today–a half a year living in another country. It?s sort of crazy when you think about it. It seems like just the other day, I was sitting at my receptionist job in downtown Chicago, fantasizing about moving here, going to school, eating my weight at sausage sizzles. And now I?m mowing meat pies and hugging koalas with the best of them. Read the rest of this entry »

February 14th, 2008
Posted in Leena Travels, Sydney | 2 Comments »

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