If you missed out on part one of my dinner at Alinea, click here to catch up.  Otherwise, let’s get back into this!  I left off with course #8, which had Amy and me drinking beet juice out of a giant block of ice.  Bizarre.  Tasty, but bizarre. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend [...]

Alright, it’s finally time to tell you all about the grand finale of this challenge!  This past Friday, my friend Amy and I celebrated my birthday dinner at Alinea, Chicago’s only three-star Michelin restaurant.  We had to make reservations three months in advance, and I can see why.  The restaurant is world-renowned and was even [...]

His name was Randy and he was a 1 1/2-lb. crustacean.  I first met him at Dorfler’s Meat Market when he was handed to me in styrofoam box lid filled with newspaper and seaweed.  On the way home, we discussed our childhoods, our hopes, our dreams.  We even talked about a possible trip to Sea [...]

There have been many times during this blogging journey that I’ve felt completely lost.  The time that I almost burnt my apartment down by trying to fry plantains, the time that I attempted to shuck raw oysters, the time that I wandered through Chinatown searching for durian…  But today topped them all.  I never even [...]

I desperately wanted to do this post on New Year’s Eve because – let’s face it – if you eat caviar at all, you eat it once a year and it’s on New Year’s Eve.  Unfortunately, the buckwheat flour necessary to make the blini proved to be quite elusive.  After trips to three different grocery [...]

I could have died last night.  No, seriously, I could have died.  Last night I had fugu, which is highly poisonous Japanese blowfish.  If prepared incorrectly, fugu can cause paralysis and eventual death by asphyxiation in the person who eats it. So why did I decide to play seafood Russian roulette?  For you.  Yes, you.  [...]

I know what you’re thinking right now.  Those hideous, brown, bumpy sticks don’t look like fish.  And you’re right.  They’re quite possibly the ugliest things I’ve ever seen in my life and they look nothing like fish.  But, my friend, I assure you that you are looking at carp.  Well, smoked carp jerky, be precise. [...]

I’m sick   Not puking-my-guts-out sick, but just generally-feeling-like-crap sick.  My throat hurts so much that it kills to even drink water, and I just want to blob out on the couch and never move again. Not only that, but Dan is sick, too.  Oh, and the dog is sick, too.  So we’re one big [...]

The most exciting thing in the world happened to me recently.  I went to a charity dinner with one of my friends, and when we arrived, we found that there was a pretty rockin’ silent auction.  When I was perusing the prizes, I noticed a certificate that said “One Year’s Worth of Bagels from Chicago [...]

This past weekend, I was awoken by the sounds of thunderstorms mixed with live music.  As the hail started to beat down, I remembered, sadly, that my town was having a “Taste of” event that day.  I crossed my fingers all day, hoping that we’d see some sun, and finally, around 6:00pm, the rain decided [...]