My husband and I are both from the same town in Illinois, so we visited our families there last weekend. We’ve only seen my family once since moving to North Carolina and we haven’t seen my husband’s family at all. We were going to go to Illinois for Christmas, but decided to wait until the spring when the weather would be nicer. Because I knew I wanted to do an epic (YES, EPIC!) trip to IKEA while we were there, we ended up driving. So this post isn’t just what I ate this week–it’s what we did this week too…
Virginia is full of hills and fog!
When I was a kid, I thought that rich people and/or aliens stayed at this hotel. And now I’m staying there! (I am neither rich nor an alien.)
We ate lunch at Mitsuwa and shared Japanese fries. Japanese fries are superior to American fries because Japanese fries are flavored with delicious powders. And yes, I know that “flavored powders” basically goes against everything I’m about on this blog. But I’m also about making exceptions once in a while. So there!
…and I got a Japanese pancake filled with green tea custard. I could eat these everyday.
I bought a very life-like artificial plant, curtains (finally!), fabric, and a bunch of other stuff not pictured here from IKEA.
My phone takes pretty impressive pictures while the car is moving. (This is Louisville, by the way.)
And then we got back to North Carolina and felt absolutely sick from all the food we ate in Illinois. It was time for home cooking again. No more green tea pancakes!
Roasted Portabella Mushrooms and Asparagus with Herbed Polenta // This is my version of Everyday Food’s Soft Polenta with Roasted Portobellos and Snap Peas. I added truffle oil to mine and used asparagus instead of peas. This was yet another failure in roasting portabellas–they always turn out so rubbery and watery! (Incidentally, I never know whether to call them portabellas or portobellos. The Mushroom Council calls them portabellas, so I decided to use that spelling, but Martha Stewart, an authority on everything, calls them portobellos. I guess I’ll just have to forego cooking with them until I figure it out.)
I would have another photo of another delicious meal, but I dropped my camera yesterday. The lens broke but I think (hope) that the body is okay, which is a small miracle considering that it fell about 5 feet onto the hardwood floor. My husband managed to put the lens back together, but it doesn’t seem quite right. I am so upset at myself over this.
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Is it weird my first instinct is to ask all of the restaurants you ate at while in Chicago? Or if you made it to Sprinkles? Or which deep dish pizza place is your favorite? If you’ve been to Bent Fork Bakery in the north ‘burbs and if not, why? Or if you’ve gone to all of the John Hughes movie locations? Can you tell I’m bored while the door guys are here? Glad you had a good time!
Well, since we’re from Chicago, we never really do anything interesting when we visit.
So, um, we went to Leona’s because they have the best veggie burger ever that I crave all the time and I’ve never heard of the Bent Fork Bakery and I (GASP) don’t care for deep dish pizza. But did you see–flavored fries?! FLAVORED FRIES!!!
I hate when repair people come over. It’s just awkward and you never know what to do with yourself. Do you talk to them? Do you leave them be? So uncomfortable.
Oh lordy, where can I get some of those FRIES?!!!!!
Don’t be upset with yourself over the camera — accidents happen. Making yourself feel bad won’t help. But I guarantee that from now on you’ll keep the strap wrapped at least once around your arm during every photo shoot.
You’d think that this would be something that would catch on in the US–I’m not sure why it hasn’t. When we were in Japan, we had the best barbecue flavored fries! Oh, they were so good. And this restaurant we went to outside of Chicago has all different flavors too–curry cheese, sour cream and onion, corn soup, wasabi, etc.
The camera was on my tripod–you know how they have that little eject button that lets the top come off? I hit that when I had the camera angled down.
I guess the good thing about this is that because the camera was angled down, the lens took the impact instead of the body. My husband is a genius and put it back together and it’s okay for now, but it’s definitely not as focused and I’ll need to replace it eventually. Sigh!
Oh the fries look amazing but those mushrooms and asparagus look so delicious!!
They were good–I love polenta and veggies!
Next time you’re in Louisville you need to give me a call! We’ll do lunch!
I couldn’t remember if you were in Louisville or Lexington–I thought it was Louisville! We actually did stop there for lunch, at Smashburger. Which is so lame, I know, but it was fast and not McDonald’s.
Those fries look so good! What kind of powder? I make a tomato powder that would be nice on fries. Sounds like a great trip, good eating! Your portobello looks delicious. I’d use either spelling.
My husband ate most of the fries, so he was in charge of the powder–he got wasabi, sour cream & onion, curry cheese, and garlic butter. Garlic butter is my personal favorite. I had no idea you could make a flavored powder like that! I think tomato would definitely go well with fries.
Garlic butter powder? That sounds great! They all do!
Here’s the link to tomato powder, it’s really easy, great flavor.
Tomato powder
Okay, I am definitely going to do this when I have a bumper crop of tomatoes this summer! Thanks for the link!
Green tea custard– count me in! Sorry to hear about the lens. I use my husband’s camera and I’m petrified something like that will happen. I’ve failed to screw it tightly into the tripod before and had it slip— scary.
I am so overly cautious with my camera, but it was just that split second of not thinking! I’m guessing I may need to go lens shopping this weekend…
Oh my gosh, I want a green tea pancake! But after all the adventures are done, there really is nothing like home cooking.
I tried to peek over the counter to see what they were making the pancakes in–they are so, so good and I want to make them myself! They’re much lighter than regular pancakes too, despite the custard filling.
I saw green tea powder in an email from Stash Tea the other day. It’s for cooking all kinds of stuff. I was tempted for a half second, but I’m one of those people whose belly starts aching really bad if I drink (or eat- I assume) green tea
I used to mix green tea with regular or chai spice tea so I could drink it. I gave up on green tea though, I don’t feel like living on the edge every time I have some hoping my tum doesn’t hurt ‘too bad.’
That’s funny, I have the opposite problem–green tea is fine for me, but black tea makes me sick to my stomach! It doesn’t always happen, so I still drink it, but when it does happen, I get so nauseated. I imagine that eating things with green tea powder would be worse for you because it’s more concentrated than brewed green tea…
Mmmm… flavored powders
That pancake looks like a Crabby Patty!
Yeah, I guess I kind of forfeit my foodie card with the flavored powders thing, huh?
And I had to Google Crabby Patty–ha!
So glad you had a good trip. The Roasted Portabella Mushrooms and Asparagus with Herbed Polenta look so good!
Thank you–it was nice to get away for a few days! It’s been a few years since we had a real vacation…
Oh IKEA, one of my favorite places on earth!
Mine too! As soon as we left, I wanted to go back. Sigh.
I thought I was the only one in the world who use road trips for Ikea! When we visit family we always bring a hitch rack so we can load it full of Ikea stuff!! I think I have an addiction
If you have an addiction, then so do I.
Their prices are just so reasonable, it’s hard to shop anywhere else! I’m always thinking in my head, “Well, I could get this cheaper at Ikea.” So we went a whole year without curtains because I knew I could get them when we went to Illinois!
We are going to Chicago in June and we actually signed up for a food tour downtown. Chicago really does have the best food. Welcome back home.
I hope you have a good time–I love downtown Chicago! And yes, it’s definitely a food city. You have to leave your diet behind when you visit Chicago.
Oooh, road trips are the best. I have never heard of a green tea pancake but it certainly looks interesting (might I also add, I love your nail polish in that photo!)
Thank you–that’s my traveling nail polish! I only use the non-toxic kind which doesn’t have much staying power–that’s the only color I own that doesn’t chip after a day, so whenever we travel, that’s the one I use.
I am a sucker for anything with asparagus and mushrooms (as you can see by my most recent post), and I love polenta. And I have wondered about the spelling of portobellos/portabellas, as well. Glad even the “authorities” are confused.
I think I like “portabella”–it seems easier to say. I really don’t know why I agonize over things like this. It’s a little bit sad, isn’t it?
Sometimes it feels like I’m always eating at home and I can’t wait to eat out but whenever we go on a road trip, I’m always eager for some home cooking. I’m in awe at how good a pic you got out the window. My pics are always blurred when there’s even the least bit of movement. Do you have a 4S or the 4? BTW I love your nail polish color!
I have the 4. It’s funny, though, because Chris has the same phone and he can’t get decent photos from it at all–they all look blurry, even when they’re in perfect conditions. And then with mine, I can take pictures of mountains and cities when we’re going 80mph on the highway. Ha! I wonder if they changed something with the camera?
I thought that was a burger, I never thought that they were pancakes but they do sound delicious
Yeah, it does kind of look like a burger!