Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Happy Birthday Cori

Yesterday was Cori's birthday, and I surprised her with a dish that we had at our anniversary dinner a few months ago. For our anniversary, we had gone to Topolobampo in Chicago. All the dishes were outstanding, but the Sopa Azteca (a traditional Mexican tortilla soup) was truly eye-opening. Thankfully, Rick Bayless has made the recipe available on his website. So I decided to give it a shot for Cori's birthday.




Friday, October 23, 2009

I have a MOLE?!

No, not that kind of mole (but the first person who can name that film gets an invitation to dinner at my place). The sauce...mole...rhymes with frijole. Sounds like a pig-latin word. Mo-lay.

My first taste of mole sauce was during our anniversary dinner this year at Topolobampo, Rick Bayless' restaurant just north of the loop. My entree was roasted lamb with black mole (or mole negro), the same mole sauce that a few weeks later won him the championship on Top Chef Masters. Mole sauce is a classic mexican sauce that comes in many varieties; red mole, green mole, peanut mole, mole poblano...each with it's own traditional ingredients and infinite personal variations. They are generally characterized by rich, complex flavor due to the large number of ingredients. Mole negro is the most complex and difficult to prepare (it can contain 30 or more ingredients).

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A pot of chili, a loaf of bread, and thou.

Ok, so it turned out to be two pots of chili, because "thou" doesn't like beans...and Fred came over for dinner, so I guess it should be: Two pots of chili, a loaf of bread, Fred, and thou...
...but first! Elly had her first non-baby-food food. And of course, it was pizza, bbq chicken pizza...and of course, she loved it.


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On to the chili...

Elly, months 8 and 9

...and just when I got caught up, I didn't post for six weeks and got behind again. Ok, catching up again. Here are months eight and nine.