The best thing I ate today - 12/3

The best thing I ate today was a chocolate peppermint tart at the Lobby in the Peninsula hotel, over afternoon tea at a belated birthday celebration for my dear friend Elina.  It was a perfect ladies afternoon chock-full of girlfriend time, catching up, bottomless tea and lots of edible delights.  The chocolate peppermint tart took on the form of a chocolate cookie crust, filled with a fudgey, minty chocolate ganache, and topped with an adorable dollhouse-sized candy cane.  A sweet treat for sweet friends.

The best thing I ate today - 12/2

The best thing I ate today was the Friday night "let's just stay in" dinner that I made for Marc.  For me, Friday nights are all about comfort food and my go-to for this meal is chicken parmesan with pasta, and molten chocolate cakes for dessert.  The chicken is breaded and baked which gives it maximum parmesan flavor without the extra fried calories.  Our secret sauce is nothing other than bottom shelf Franceso Rinaldi Tomato Basil (who we affectionately refer to as "Francesca"), which we find to taste sweet, fresh and flavorful.  Lastly my lava cake recipe is a throwback to business school where my friend Melissa found the recipe on the Dove chocolate website at the time molten cakes were just gaining culinary traction.  Our comfort food induced bliss was a great start the the weekend.

The best thing I ate today - 11/29

The best thing I ate today was the sweet potato pancake at Snooze in Boulder, CO.  My husband and I became fans on Snooze a couple of years ago while in Denver for a wedding.  I had heard that they expanded to Boulder and there I found myself on a Tuesday morning ready to experience Boulder and hungry for pancakes.  The sweet potato pancake was a little more dense than a regular pancake, which seemed to be the perfect texture to carry the sweet potato puree baked into the cake.  It was topped with a sweet ginger butter which added an additional layer of flavor and buttery goodness.  I only wish this was the kind of Snooze alarm I could hit over and over again.

The best thing I ate today - Special New Jersey Thanksgiving Edition

Happy Thanksgiving!  This year we hit the road (or the skies as the case may be) and visited family in NJ for the Thanksgiving holiday.  3 days in NJ means 3 days to work in Thanksgiving dinner, Thanksgiving dinner leftovers, real bagels, proper NY pizza and Chinese Food that lives above the median.

First thing's first, the Thanksgiving Dinner win goes to my Mom's turkey.  It was juicy, tender and perfectly cooked.  Topped a bit of homemade gravy, this was the top delight of an all-around excellent meal.  Way to go Mom!

Now this New Yorker thought that she had met just about every American Chinese Food offering imaginable...Moo Shu, Kung Pao, General Tso.  But alas, I tried something new in NJ and fell back in Chinese Food love (we have a rocky relationship history due to some bad meals from places that generally have numbers in their names).  The source of love - Won Ton Egg Drop soup.  It combines the best of my favorite Chinese soups and you don't have to compromise.  This particular kitchen had an unusually flavorful egg drop broth and the won tons were perfectly al dente, unlike the many overcooked won tons I have ingested in my life.

Pizza was a bit of a let down.  We strayed from our usual place due to a detour to the mall (hey, it's NJ and Black Friday, how could we not?) and found ourselves at Hollywood Pizza.  Would have been considered "good" if we were in Chicago but it did not deliver the stretchy bubble-filled crust I have come to think of as home.  Serves me right for straying from the unwritten rule of pizza places - they need to end in vowels.

Rounding out the trip were the bagels from Howard's.  Light, fluffy, flavorful and the size of my head is how I would describe these.  A special thanks to my dad for going out to get them fresh the morning after Thanksgiving.  In fact, they were so good that the security officer at the airport pretended that they were are security risk just so that she could try to get her hands on the doezen we packed away to take home.  Not so fast officer, I pulled out my official Jewish bagel eater identity card and we were let off the hook.

Lastly, a special shout out to all of my readers, dining companions (you know who you are) and favorite chefs for making this blog possible.  I am very thankful to you.  Happy Thanksgiving.

The best thing I ate today - 11/21

The best thing I ate today was the burger at Cortland Garage at Trivia Nite.  This neighborhood bar touts their burger (#10 burger in Chicago, according to Chicago Magazine 2009) and it did not disappoint.  And Monday night is the $5 burger special so you really cannot go wrong.  Thick + juicy + topped with tangy smoked gouda cheese and grilled onions = burger perfection.  A special shout out to our friend Nate and his B-school buddies who made us feel part of the group and even let us answer some questions.

The best thing I ate today - 11/19

The best thing I ate today was at the impromptu Friday night dinner we hosted for our friends Susan and Noel.  With Thanksgiving coming up, I had a vested interest in keeping this dinner healthy.  So, instead of going out I made Asian lettuce wraps and one of our old standby dinners was an instant hit with our guests!  The ground turkey and vegetables were nicely seasoned with Asian spices, and fluffy brown rice was the perfect accompaniment.  Best of all, we all saved "points" for dessert and enjoyed Susan's Flirty cupcakes.  It was a sweet end to a sweet evening.

The best thing I ate today - 11/13

The best thing I ate today was a crab cake salad that I enjoyed for lunch.  I made use of the leftover crab cakes I had made for dinner a few nights before.  Tossed with greens, tomatoes, avocado and a homemade Russian dressing, this was a delightful lunch enjoyed alfresco on a 70 degree November Fall day.