A Visit to Chinatown

Last night, Daniel, a visiting friend, and I went to Lao Sze Chuan in Chinatown for dinner.  Lao Sze Chuan specializes in Szechuan Cuisine which originated in the Sichuan Province of China.  Many of the dishes are prepared with the Sichuan Pepper which produces a numbing sensation on the tongue.  The menu is huge with over 200 dishes to choose from.  We took the easy way out and ordered the Garlic Chinese Broccoli (my favorite Chinese vegetable dish), the Crab Rangoon (crab filled fried wonton, recommended on Yelp), and the first three items on the "House Special Spicy Options" page of the menu.  We were not disappointed.  The food was very flavorful and SPICY.  The level of heat continued to to build with every bite.  We will definitely be going back, especially since we have over 200 dishes to try!   

Ma Po Tofu

Chef's Special Dry Chili Chicken

Boiled Beef in Spicy Szechuan Sauce

Lemon Meringue Pie

Citrus from California is the best.  When I went home to California for my niece's birthday, my dad gave me two big bags of lemons and oranges from his trees.  I stuffed them into my carry-on and brought them back to Chicago.  What a treat!  I've made orange marmalade, orange bran muffins, orange spice pancakes, lemon cookies, chicken piccata, fresh squeezed OJ for smoothies, and a delicious lemon meringue pie.

It was 9:30 on a Friday night when I decided to make the pie.  I had never made a lemon meringue pie so it was a bit of an adventure.  I wasn't sure on whether or not the consistency of the curd or meringue were correct but luckily Daniel has a keen sense for all things pie and assured me that I was on the right track.  After the pie was assembled and baked, it went into the fridge.  The unfortunate thing about lemon meringue pie is that it needs to be cool when eaten.  So, we had it for breakfast dessert the next morning.  Absolutely, scrumptious!  I used a recipe that I found on allrecipes.com.  I've listed the original recipe below and it can also be found here: Grandma's Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe.  Also, I used Ina Garten's pie crust recipe, which I use for all pies or quiche that I make.  The recipe called for a pre-baked pie crust.  I found information on pre-baking at http://www.ochef.com/955.htm. 

I will definitely use this recipe again!

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
2 lemons, juiced and zested
2 tablespoons butter
4 egg yolks, beaten
4 egg whites
6 tablespoons white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.
3. To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and
continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

Shamrock Shuffle

Daniel and I have been planning to do the Shamrock Shuffle for the past few months.  We started running last September (I could barely run a mile) and have been running pretty regularly since then.  Unfortunately, over the past 3 months, I've been experiencing problems with my knees, especially the right one.  Since I'm severely flat footed and I over pronate, my knees have a tendency to rotate inwards causing inflammation on the underside of the patella.  I've seen a podiatrist, orthopedic doctor, physical therapist, got new shoes and orthotics and have been working hard to control the problem.  Unfortunately, I wasn't quite able to control it on Sunday.

It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the 60's.  We dressed in our Shamrock gear (thank you $.99 store) and headed down to Grant Park at about 8AM.  There were tons of people, (34,300) and the crowd was very lively.  We checked our bag and headed over to Coral E.  The race started promptly at 9:15AM.  The first 3 miles were awesome.  The course started at Grant Park and traveled through downtown Chicago crossing the river twice Shamrock Shuffle Course.  The were lots of people on the sidewalks cheering on the runners.  Daniel got several compliments on his costume from the fans.  I was loving everything about the race.  The weather was perfect, the cheers were exhilarating, and my lungs and legs were feeling awesome.  Right about when we started the 3rd mile, my right knee started to hurt.  It took about 3 minutes before the pain became really, really bad.  I was determined to keep going because I knew if I stopped I would not be able to continue running and I wanted to start and finish the race as strong as I could.  Daniel ran with me the whole time and was a great motivator.  Because of the pain, I'd say it was the most difficult physical challenge that I've ever endured.  We managed to finish in 50 minutes.  I was so surprised by our time.  Pretty good for a Jenny with a bum knee!  When we got home I opened up a box of See's Candy that Daniel bought for me that previous week.  It was supposed to be a surprise but while cleaning up I had found it the day before.  Daniel picked out each and every candy, all of them my favorites.  It was a great treat!  

We are going to sign up for the Cinco de Miler, which is on May 6th.  The physical therapist gave me a bunch of strength and stretching exercises and I'm going to create a weekly routine and work hard to get my knees into shape.  It's frustrating because cardio wise I can run 5 miles without a problem, it's my darn knees that are holding me back.  I'm determined, though, to work hard.  I've definitely caught the racing bug and will not let my knees hold me back.

A special treat after finishing the race.

Race day dinner of chicken piccata, whole wheat pasta, and broccoli.

Date Night

My favorite "date" with Daniel is our bi-weekly trip to Whole Foods to go grocery shopping.  We usually go in the evening, on a week night, so we can avoid the large crowds of the weekend.  We have dinner there and then head out to do our shopping.  Our Whole Foods is huge, with an awesome salad bar, and plenty of options for hot food: Mexican, Asian, BBQ, Deli, Italian, and a Diner.  I always get the salad bar (I've loved salad bars since my grandma use to take me to Sizzler when I was about 5.  It may have to do with the fact that it was all you can eat.  Yes, that was important to me as a child).  My usual salad runs about $11-$14.  I have a hard time with moderation when there is delicious food staring me in the face.

On our most recent visit we were greeted with a bulk section that had doubled in size.  I went a little nuts and ended up bringing home some staples and a few new things to try.  We picked up yellow split peas, oats, coconut, muli-colored quinoa, appaloosa beans, wheat germ, oat bran, brown french lentils, carob chips, chocolate chips, farro, and millet.  I'm looking forward to trying some new recipes this week.  Happy eating!      

Our Neighborhood

Daniel and I love our neighborhood. With the warm weather that we've had, almost everything is in bloom. Enjoy your visit to Logan Square.

Tulips and daffodils are the first flowers to bloom in the city.

Lula Cafe is our favorite neighborhood restaurant. 

Logan Square

One lap around Palmer Square is 1/2 a mile.  This is our home track!

Crock-Pot Lentil Soup

I was determined not to go to the grocery store and to use whatever groceries we had in the fridge and pantry to get us through the week. I found red lentils, some sad looking carrots and celery, and a couple of sweet potatoes that had been sitting on the counter for 2 weeks. I threw everything into the crock pot with some salt, pepper, and spices. Turned out to be pretty tasty and there was enough for a couple of lunches and dinners for me and Daniel.

1 onion diced
2 large sweet potatoes cubed
2 medium sized carrots sliced
4 celery stalks sliced (including the tops)
1.5 cups red lentils
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
6 cups water
1 tsp better than bouillon stirred into 1 cup of hot water

Layer all ingredients in order of the above list. Sprinkle the spices evenly on the top. Pour in water. Cook in crockpot on low for 6-8 hours.

I cooked it overnight. It smelled delicious but the scent kept waking me up! Maybe I'll cook it during the day next time. Also the color of the soup, a pretty orange, is lovely. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Jenny is Hungry

I love to cook and bake and I have a very strong connection with food and eating. It brings me true joy! I work hard to eat healthy but, I also love to indulge in delicious, rich, creamy, chocolaty, food and desserts. My favorite foods will always be pizza and ice cream. This blog is my attempt to document all of my and Daniel's foodie adventures. Happy eating!