Chicago: Day 36 - 38

Dear Diary,

Guess what? Today is officially the 1st of July!! My gosh, it's the beginning of a new month and a new season of exploration :)  I just can't wait to start my activity-plan for this month. Being in Chicago for about a month now, there are just some things I realised that can't be missed.

While June was a month of settling-in and acquainting myself with my surroundings here, July will be a month of gastronomical and cultural explorations. I'm looking forward to going on a Chicago Cupcake Crawl, a Chicago Dawg Trail and/or a Pancake-cum-Crepe-and-Waffle Walk.

Ambitious I know. Given the indulgent nature of my exploration, I definitely need to balance it with a low-carb, sugar-free diet for my other meals. Hopefully, this translates into healthier home-cooked meals on most weekdays!

I've also planned to visit more museums and read more this month. In addition, Steph and I will be heading out of town sometime in mid-July for a bachata festival in San Francisco and a vacation in Vegas. Being the only "free" one, I've been tasked to plan the itinerary - which means I'll need to start doing my research real soon!

So that's a foretaste of what to expect in the coming month;) In the meantime, here's a quick update on what was memorable for me over the past few days and - as you've probably guessed - it's mainly about food! 

Friday *Day 36*
Steph had printed some online vouchers for a neighbourhood tavern situated at the corner of the road near our place. We've been eyeing it for a few weeks now so I was pretty excited when he came across the deal.

One thing I can say about the "Four Farthings Tavern & Grill" is this - it's more of your local neighbourhood joint than your stellar eatery. Hence, service can be a little shabby but the food overall is good. Steph and I were careful this time not to over-order, so we got one appetizer to share and each a main. Here are some pictures that we took:

Relaxing while waiting for our appetizer.

Crabcake, which the tavern is known for. They also have this as an entree.
Worth the price of US$13.

Steph's very first lamb shank ;)

My herbed tilipia. 

According to Steph, my tilipia was fresh. Unfortunately, I did not know how to appreciate it as it tasted a little bland! I liked my side dish of corn and roasted potatoes with grilled onions better. The crabcake though was excellent :) I'll definitely order that as my main dish next time.

Saturday *Day 37*
On Saturday, Steph and I wanted to go to the Art Institute of Chicago. On the way there, we stopped by a farmer's market located at the carpark of Lincoln High School. There were a lot of stalls selling fruits and vegetables from the various farms, including breads, oils and stalls selling hotdogs and crepes. The fruits we tried were really sweet ;) So I hastily got a portion of cherries and some nectarines. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to bring my wallet!

We had to make a detour twice back to the apartment - once to get my wallet and a second time to put the fruits in the fridge. (We doubt the museum would let us in with them.)

To my surprise, the museum was gigantic! We spent some time (about one and a half hours there) browsing the various exhibits and halls. There just wasn't enough time to explore them all! I promised myself that I would go back there again with my camera and savour the various artworks when I have more time. Fortunately, we made it to the Roy Lichtenstein Exhibition, an iconic American pop artist who explored just about every art historical style out there. He is known for painting serial comics and generic everyday products in primary colours shaded with his signature Ben-day dot effect.

Part of Litchenstein's iconic works focuses on the portrayal of women as the "damsel-in-distress" and men as the stereotypical heroes in comic strips.

We had to do some grocery shopping later that evening for Chef Steph's indonesian ox-tail soup. Our search led us to a vietnamese-cum-thai neighbourhood. After scouring 3 supermarkets, we finally found the spice we needed for Steph's dish. We also had the benefit of tasting some really good, authentic vietnamese food:

Finally. Asian condiments.

Fried chilli! :)

We each ordered a bowl of "pho" - vietnamese rice noodles in beef broth with cuts of rare beef, flank, tendon and tripe.
Yummmm.

Additional garnishings that you can add to your soup - bean sprouts, mint leaves (which actually makes the soup taste sweeter) and lime.

Avocado smoothie with tapioca pearls.

Deliciously slurping up our meal. 

The generous portion was enough for me to eat over two meals. And the price was very reasonable too -USD $6.50 for a giant bowl. Even after slurping up the portion I'd taken home, it still left me wanting for more. Unexpectedly, one of the best meals I've had in Chicago ;)

Sunday *Day 38*

Our first Sunday of July, I finally had the privilege of trying Chef Steph's variation of the indonesian dish rawon (i.e. spicy black beef soup). The soup is made of ground mix­ture of garlic, shallot, keluak, ginger, candlenut, turmeric, red chili and salt sauteed with oil until it gets aromatic. The sauteed mixture is then poured into boiled beef stock with diced beef. Lemongrass, galangal, bay leaves, kaffir leaves and sugar are then added as seasonings. Thankfully, all we had to do was to get the pre-mix. The recipe then becomes simple: (1) fry the pre-mix in a pan with some oil and garlic (2) add in some stalks of lemongrass to the pan and continue frying (3) once fragrant, transfer the mixture into a pot (4) add some water or beef broth and (5) boil together with the meat. Enjoy with a plate of steaming, hot rice :)


Note: If using ox-tail, the soup is best left to boil over a small fire. The longer the ox-tail is cooked, the softer the meat actually becomes :)

Indonesian-styled ox-tail soup!

Chef Steph serving up our meal! :)

Ta-daaaah! 

The spice pack behind it all.

We ran some errands thereafter for Laurie's wedding. Steph had dance practice so I stayed at home and caught up on my series of Heroes (yes, I'm backdated! I know) We went for mass thereafter, had a quick dinner at home before heading down to a 24-hour Starbucks nearby to escape from the heat.